Yeah I see people dropping a bunch of money into the stocks and I'm thinking like.... My local Food Not Bombs could use an extra $50 to make sure the houseless in my area don't starve to death. But go off leftist 👑. Surely the stock market needs your money more than any mutual aid in your area.
My feeling is still that this is largely not the best way to spend our time. It's exciting, sure, and it could help down the line, but if you have the wherewithal to figure out stocks I think the energy would be better spent liberating food from grocery stores—many of them simply throw away their food that's close to expiring and will let people take it if you talk to the right person. My local FNB has the schedule figured out where they can get anywhere from $50 to $1000 worth of food every week this way. It's extremely variable, and from what I know is not easy to get the process started, but the benefits are much larger than spending time following stocks. It's just not as exciting or glamorous.
I'm in no position to tell people what to do or what not to do, and if there are plans for mutual aid with the profits, anything is better than nothing. From my point of view though it's just participation in a zero sum system where a working class person is always hurt at the end of the day.
Harder to work directly with other people in the middle of a pandemic when you're immunocompromised, at least if you earn big on the stonks while bankrupting a hedge fund you should be using it to fund things that materially help others
Disclaimer that I do not have any stonks at all, but some of y'all don't seem to think it's possible to walk and chew gum at the same time
I mean, your post did make the assumption that everyone can go out and do face-to-face praxis and implied that doing stonks was mutually exclusive with other praxis
Many local mutual aid orgs will still take food donations, either food rescued from a grocery store (some you can call and ask if they are throwing out expired food, like bread, and they'll give it to you), food you cook yourself (most have a verification process for this, and a food-type req), or simply monetary donations. Outside of food, if you have spare clothes there are places that will distribute to the homeless in the area, or any plastic grocery bags can often be repurposed into blankets and pillows for the homeless (my aunt does this and I give her all my spares). There's a lot of creativity out there for how you can help without going face to face!
Alternatively you can agitate locally. Join your local Nextdoor and spread agitprop, put up flyers, do some more... direct action... if you live near a relevant location, etc. All of these are things you can do alone and without coming into contact with people! Be creative! Show care for your community!
This goes against the grain on this site where most everyone is obsessed with staying as anonymous as possible but spreading agitprop to your friends/family/local community on Facebook, and inviting them to public events (including protests, sit-ins), can actually increase turnout to these and grow the working class movement locally. A lot of my IRL comrades do this and I'm the weird one for not using Facebook.
This is a really fair take, however I would suggest seeing what kinds of safety measures your local orgs are taking! Personally I've found that I can make meals in my kitchen to donate and I can do so without coming into contact with anyone directly. Definitely check what you can do locally before writing off mutual aid :left-unity-3:
If your energy is spent on agitating over... ahem "stonks," and that's where you're choosing to put your money and time...
My only point is that this energy and money has better outlets that don't contribute to a zero-sum system that ultimately hurts the working class. As a mod said, some people are planning on spending the profits on local mutual aid, and I hope they do.
Yeah I see people dropping a bunch of money into the stocks and I'm thinking like.... My local Food Not Bombs could use an extra $50 to make sure the houseless in my area don't starve to death. But go off leftist 👑. Surely the stock market needs your money more than any mutual aid in your area.
deleted by creator
My feeling is still that this is largely not the best way to spend our time. It's exciting, sure, and it could help down the line, but if you have the wherewithal to figure out stocks I think the energy would be better spent liberating food from grocery stores—many of them simply throw away their food that's close to expiring and will let people take it if you talk to the right person. My local FNB has the schedule figured out where they can get anywhere from $50 to $1000 worth of food every week this way. It's extremely variable, and from what I know is not easy to get the process started, but the benefits are much larger than spending time following stocks. It's just not as exciting or glamorous.
I'm in no position to tell people what to do or what not to do, and if there are plans for mutual aid with the profits, anything is better than nothing. From my point of view though it's just participation in a zero sum system where a working class person is always hurt at the end of the day.
deleted by creator
Harder to work directly with other people in the middle of a pandemic when you're immunocompromised, at least if you earn big on the stonks while bankrupting a hedge fund you should be using it to fund things that materially help others
Disclaimer that I do not have any stonks at all, but some of y'all don't seem to think it's possible to walk and chew gum at the same time
deleted by creator
I mean, your post did make the assumption that everyone can go out and do face-to-face praxis and implied that doing stonks was mutually exclusive with other praxis
Many local mutual aid orgs will still take food donations, either food rescued from a grocery store (some you can call and ask if they are throwing out expired food, like bread, and they'll give it to you), food you cook yourself (most have a verification process for this, and a food-type req), or simply monetary donations. Outside of food, if you have spare clothes there are places that will distribute to the homeless in the area, or any plastic grocery bags can often be repurposed into blankets and pillows for the homeless (my aunt does this and I give her all my spares). There's a lot of creativity out there for how you can help without going face to face!
Alternatively you can agitate locally. Join your local Nextdoor and spread agitprop, put up flyers, do some more... direct action... if you live near a relevant location, etc. All of these are things you can do alone and without coming into contact with people! Be creative! Show care for your community!
And part of my point is that nothing says you can't do that and do stonks at the same time, including/especially the monetary donations aspect
This goes against the grain on this site where most everyone is obsessed with staying as anonymous as possible but spreading agitprop to your friends/family/local community on Facebook, and inviting them to public events (including protests, sit-ins), can actually increase turnout to these and grow the working class movement locally. A lot of my IRL comrades do this and I'm the weird one for not using Facebook.
This is a really fair take, however I would suggest seeing what kinds of safety measures your local orgs are taking! Personally I've found that I can make meals in my kitchen to donate and I can do so without coming into contact with anyone directly. Definitely check what you can do locally before writing off mutual aid :left-unity-3:
You also have no idea what they are doing in this regard and perhaps shouldn't rush to judgement.
If your energy is spent on agitating over... ahem "stonks," and that's where you're choosing to put your money and time...
My only point is that this energy and money has better outlets that don't contribute to a zero-sum system that ultimately hurts the working class. As a mod said, some people are planning on spending the profits on local mutual aid, and I hope they do.
Thanks for the call out and reminder. There's a Meal on Wheels where I live I can donate to.