Hi, we’re writing from Woodbine, an autonomous space in Ridgewood, Queens where we have been running a food pantry since March 27th. Every Wednesday and Friday at 10am we distribute hundreds of bags of fresh produce, bread, meat, prepared meals, and snacks to our neighbors for free. We are also distributing free masks, and are making home deliveries for those who are currently experiencing coronavirus symptoms, or who are otherwise unable to pick-up on-site.

Commune Magazine has just published our report on month two, “Organizing for Survival in New York City” https://communemag.com/two-months-of-mutual-aid-in-queens/ The text is an extended reflection on our last month, and a potential horizon of where this can go. It’s a follow-up to our text in e-flux from last month, “Mutual Aid, Social Distancing, and Dual Power in the State of Emergency”: https://conversations.e-flux.com/t/mutual-aid-social-distancing-and-dual-power-in-the-state-of-emergency/9686 which was translated into French, Greek, and Portuguese.

We’d love to hear what you think, what you’re doing, and how to expand on our mutual aid organizing as the crisis extends. As we write in the text, “How can these mutual aid hubs become sufficiently powerful and coordinated autonomous bases to organize strikes, occupations, and other mass actions? This is where we can imagine such hubs forming the basis for a new disaster confederalism…”

We hope everyone is feeling safe and cared for and ready to get through this. Earlier this year Woodbine re-launched its website: https://www.woodbine.nyc/ Our new site features an archive of the hundreds of discussions, workshops, poetry readings, classes, assemblies, clothing swaps, lectures, report backs, and screenings we have hosted since 2014. It has links to all of our past videos and writings, and it also includes a press archive documenting all of the coverage Woodbine has received on both television and podcasts, in large outlets including New York Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, and in local newspapers like the Ridgewood Times and Queens Ledger.

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