beyond november

Links & Further Learning

helpful guides, political education, how-tos & more

  • 5 Things to Know When Starting a Mutual Aid Project in Your Neighborhood: City Bureau held a conversation as part of their “Public Newsroom” series with several Chicagoans who launched DIY mutual aid efforts to feed people in the wake of Chicago Public Schools’ decision to pause free meal service in the wake of the George Floyd uprisings in the summer of 2020. The key takeaways and the full conversation about what they learned from these experiences are available here.

  • 40 Ways to Fight Fascists – Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists: Spencer Sunshine, in collaboration with PopMob, created this zine where inside are 40 completely legal tactics—many of which are accessible to people from different backgrounds, skill sets, and identities—that can be used to counter and contain White Nationalist, fascist, and violent Far Right organizing in your community.

  • The Anarchist Library: A digital, open-source library of anarchist readings and political education, available in multiple languages.

  • Big Door Brigade’s Mutual Aid Toolbox: A host of links and resources on a variety of topics related to mutual aid and building infrastructure for safer, more resilient communities, including Bystander Intervention, Cop Watches, Food Distribution, Immigration, Prisoner Support & more.

  • Build Pods to Fight Fascism: A resource created by Never Again Action, a network of Jews and allies fighting the deportation and incarceration of our immigrant neighbors, including a step-by-step guide to organizing into ‘pods,’ structures that can help us understand the needs in our local communities and stand up for our neighbors.

  • Direct Action Resources: The Ruckus Society is a multi-racial network of trainers dedicated to providing the necessary tools, preparation, and support to build direct action capacity for ecological justice and social change movements. On their website, you’ll find tools & resources for direct action, including guidance on safety and community care, action preparation, security culture and more. Select resources available in Spanish and Arabic. 

  • Grassroots Disaster Relief Toolkit: A toolkit of resources to support grassroots, mutual aid-based organizing for disaster preparation, response, & recovery, developed in partnership with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief.

  • Growing Liberation: Survivor-centered culture, media and political ed grown from ChiResists.

  • Free eBooks from AK Press Distro: AK Press Distro is offering free eBooks for a limited time, including Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, No Pasarán by Shane Burley and Joyful Militancy by Carla Bergman.

  • Free eBooks from Haymarket Books: Haymarket Books is currently offering “10 Free eBooks for Getting Free” — titles include Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis, Let This Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, and Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit.

  • How To Create a Mutual Aid Network: A guide created by the American Friends Service Committee, with examples of neighborhood pods, food distribution projects, financial solidarity projects, disability ally projects and more.

  • Power Shift Network’s Organizing Training & Resources Bank: A collection of resources curated by the organizers behind Power Shift Network, a now-defunct youth-led climate justice organization. Topics include Community Defense, Mutual Aid, Digital Security for Organizers, Meeting Facilitation and much more. The resource bank offers a way to search for resources specifically by and for BIPOC & frontline communities. 

  • Neighborhood Anarchist Collective Community Organizing Guide: This guide aims to empower people to become effective organizers in their communities. Organizers bring people together and make it easier for people to take action and succeed. Organizers help people see how they can work together and make an impact. This happens at a group level (convening, facilitating, etc) and by supporting individuals to take on responsibilities and be more comfortable taking action for what they believe in. This guide provides information about some of the basics of organizing: the fundamental principles and the specifics of the most common skills.

  • Queer Liberation Library: Queer Liberation Library (QLL) is fighting to build a vibrant, flourishing queer future by connecting LGBTQ+ people with literature, information, and resources that celebrate the unique and empowering diversity of our community.

  • Red Flags: Before You Join that Org…: Zine with measured criticisms of authoritarian mass movement organizations, warning signs that a group may do more harm than good, and guidance on what to do instead.  

  • Seeds of Change Written Guides: Designed to support organizers in campaigns, co-ops or other long-term projects, Seeds of Change offers a ton of easy-to-follow written guides relevant to any kind of organizing or community building work, with topics including Building Affinity Groups, Consensus Decision-Making, Campaign Strategy and more. Translations of their Consensus Decision-Making resources are available here in Chinese, Spanish, Polish and a handful of other languages.

  • Ward Org Yellow Pages: Another organizing directory focusing on ward and neighborhood-based orgs, created by 33rd Ward Working Families.

  • What if Trump Wins?: A repository of trainings and resources including skill-based training, scenario planning and a choose-your-own adventure-style activity to envision your role and possible resistance during a Trump presidency.