Hello friends,
Welcome to our newsletter! If you are reading this, I hope that you are from Buffalo and the surrounding area, and asking yourself “Things seem to be bad, so what can we do to help?”
We are creating this newsletter to serve as one method of answering this question. So, you’ve come to the right place!
First: Take a deep breath.
Breathe in, slowly. Breathe out. Think of five objects in the world around you. What color are they? Continue to slowly breathe in, and out. Think of four things you can touch. What would they feel like? Continue to slowly breathe in, and out. Think of three things that you can hear. What are they?
Ready? Let’s get to the harder stuff.
Things are not good right now.
We are in trouble, as a region, as a state, and as a country.
As of this writing, we are seeing the destruction of the social safety net, the cratering of the economy, and the deliberate targeting of members of our community for cruel and unusual persecution.
If you are reading this, I would hope that you disagree strongly with these things. I hope you would agree that we want to live in a community where none of our members want for the necessities of living, and were able to live their lives in freedom and security.
But these problems are big. Ensuring that people are cared for is something that will never go away, and never be fully done.
So what do we do?
What interests you, and what sustains you?
The quest to Do Something About It is a marathon, not a sprint. Luckily, we are not in this alone. By reading this, by maybe deciding to Do Something, we have declared that we, as a community, are working on it.
That means that you are not alone, and you do not have to do the work alone.
So, what can you offer to do? What skills do you have to offer in this community, or that you wish you had? Are you a doctor, who could care for patients? An electrician or a mechanic or a plumber, who can offer their expertise? Are you good at spreadsheets, to keep track of what’s going on and who is doing what? Can you cook? Clean? Watch kids? Are you an extrovert, who can welcome new people into a group and help explain what’s going on?
Can you take an active role in calling your elected officials? Can you help spread the word about upcoming things to pressure them on for better outcomes?
All of these are valuable, all of these are needed. Think of what you’re willing to offer, and how much you are willing to offer it. Remember, we are doing this for the long haul, so be sure to keep in mind that you also have needs, and that you won’t be able to devote maximum energy to this all of the time.
Join An Existing Group, and How Our Newsletter Can Help
The easiest way to get to work is to take your interests, and decide if anyone is doing the same or similar work in the area that you would like to join. This is why we’ve launched this newsletter, to give a list of local advocacy and mutual aid groups in the area, and to inform people about what they’re doing, in case you want to join them to help.
We hope to maintain a list of every event and group that is trying to help themselves and their community, and are inclusive and progressive. We hope to give the opportunity to go and meet people that share our desire to work together, get to know each other, and grow a community.
Start Something New
If you have an idea for something you want to see done, you can start your own project. There is nothing to stop you from putting in the work and…just helping people. You can set the ways you want to do that, decide
In Conclusion
We hope to send this out biweekly, or when there is particularly urgent needs that we are made aware of. If you have any organizations that we should be adding to our list, that should be removed, or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] . Please note that Tuta is an encrypted email provider, but your emails will not be encrypted unless sent from an encrypted email address, such as Tuta or Proton.
In solidarity,
Havoc and the Buffalo Moves Left Team
Further reading: A lot of this was inspired by what Margaret Killjoy has to say about how to get started in organizing. I highly recommend her essay, A Short and Incomplete Guide For New Activists.