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The Cost of Community

If people want to actively encourage mutual aid groups or mutual support organizations, then they have to get used to the idea of paying dues, membership fees, or otherwise including financial support in their contributions, since so much of what we deal with in the world is facilitated by money. Alas, though we wish it weren't so, not everything can be paid off through labor alone, nor can we always support everyone with garden-based donations. Room or building rentals, healthcare, childcare, funerary expenses, repair bills—all of that, until such a time as we can actively get away from money, requires money, actual cash.

If people want to belong to such an organization or community that engages in mutual support for its members, then they need to realize what actually goes into maintaining—and supporting—that community. It's not just about getting together for whatever ends or purposes; it's also about logistics and sustainability, and that requires more than good feels. In my opinion—for whatever that's worth—balking at mutual-aid organizations requiring dues to facilitate and ensure that mutual aid can actually be feasible is kinda passé and gauche, if not just outright immature. Without committing to actually supporting others, all that's left are thoughts and prayers.

Not everyone can give, sure, which is the point of those organizations, but those who can ought to give, because that's how those organizations focused on mutual aid actually function.