The Elements of Mutual Aid Release is Set!
We’ve said we’ve been close to having this thing done a half a dozen times, but now we have a release date, set by destiny no less. Our first chapter airs on YouTube, PeerTube, and Pirate Bay on May 1st, a day honoring international workers’ struggle and celebrating summer’s arrival. May Day will also be our premiere in-person showing here in our community in southeast Michigan. From there we’ll head right on down south to start the screening tour and get through the southern stops before it gets too hot. Each of the remaining three chapters will drop weekly on the following Fridays: May 8th, May 15th, and May 22nd.
We’ve been thinking a lot about how different this political climate is than the one we filmed in. But this project feels even more timely. Those in power are wielding new levels of repression and violence over us. That means it’s the right time to boldly stake out our vision for community autonomy. We need all hands on deck building up that autonomy in our neighborhoods and networks. From Minneapolis to Syria to Iran to Palestine to Myanmar to Nepal to Sudan, people are bravely putting their lives on the line to push back against authoritarian rule. And in the so-called US, so many more people are expressing their hunger for radical solutions to confront this moment.
We hope that when this series lands in your community it’s used as a tool to fight back and help build the kinds of communities we deserve. We think it will help invigorate conversations and catch more people up to speed on the depth of our values.
There’s just a little left for us to do before it’s ready. We spent the early winter implementing feedback from our beta screenings, recording narration with William C. Anderson, and getting to “picture lock.” Now we’re working on our final polishing tasks: color grading, audio mastering, Spanish translations, and tour prep.
Scheduling Our Screening Tour
It’s time to start charting our screening tour route. We plan to be on the road in 2026 from May through October, making about 50 stops. We already have a good number of locations decided on but also some openings.
Specifically, we’re looking to fill in a few more tour stops with:
- communities that are often overlooked, especially Black, Brown, Native, rural, and working class communities that can use this series to support their organizing;
- radical bookfairs, gatherings, or larger community-based events being planned for 2026;
- and university stops that could help us with gas money through honorariums.
If this might be you, shoot us an email: [email protected].
We can’t make it everywhere, but with your help the series can. We’re working on a screening guide to support communities putting together their own showings. Ideally, we’ll see communities all over the so-called US and beyond gathering their neighbors to watch the series and share some food and discussion around it. We’ll be posting the screening materials on our blog when they’re ready, so subscribe there if you haven’t already.
An Ask for Social Media Support
Do you have some graphic design chops and free time this May-October? We’re throwing out the ask for someone with social media skills to help us manage our YouTube, Instagram, and Mastodon while we’re on tour. We’ll be heads down going from place to place doing screenings, so managing socials feels daunting. It’s a big ask — especially since we don’t have funds set aside to pay for the help. But it would but a huge boost to the project. Let us know if you might be interested.
We’re starting the countdown till May 1. We really can’t wait to see many of you on the road and learn from the conversations we have with you then. This series is such a small slice of what this movement for mutual aid is. We’ll be humbly offering it and are excited to see the ways we grow our horizons beyond it.