[Script Info]
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[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.71,0:00:37.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mutual Aid is a guiding factor behind anarchist\Npractice, and an essential framework for understanding
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.55,0:00:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anarchist views on social organization more\Nbroadly.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.78,0:00:43.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So... what is it, exactly?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.25,0:00:48.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well... in its simplest form, mutual aid is\Nthe motivation at play any time two or more
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.26,0:00:52.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people work together to solve a problem for\Nthe shared benefit of everyone involved.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.62,0:00:56.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In other words, it means co-operation for\Nthe sake of the common good.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.96,0:01:02.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Understood in this way, mutual aid is obviously\Nnot a new idea, nor is it exclusive to anarchists.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.73,0:01:07.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, the very earliest human societies\Npractised mutual aid as a matter of survival,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.36,0:01:12.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to this day there are countless examples\Nof its logic found within the plant and animal kingdoms
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.00,0:01:17.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To understand anarchists’ specific embrace\Nof mutual aid, we need to go back over
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.70,0:01:22.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,100 years, to the writings of the famous Russian\Nanarchist Pyotr Kropotkin, who in addition
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.40,0:01:26.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to sporting one of the most prolific beards\Nof all time, just so happened to also be an
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.17,0:01:29.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,accomplished zoologist and evolutionary biologist.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.53,0:01:36.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Back in Kropotkin's day, the field of evolutionary\Nbiology was heavily dominated by the ideas
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.25,0:01:39.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Social Darwinists such as Thomas H. Huxley.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.95,0:01:44.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By ruthlessly applying Charles Darwin's famous\Ndictum “survival of the fittest”
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.45,0:01:48.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to human societies, Huxley and his peers had concluded\Nthat existing social hierarchies were the
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.84,0:01:53.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,result of natural selection, or competition\Nbetween free sovereign individuals, and were
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.42,0:01:57.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thus an important and inevitable factor in\Nhuman evolution.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.83,0:02:02.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not too surprisingly, these ideas were particularly\Npopular among rich and politically powerful
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.38,0:02:07.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,white men, as it offered them a pseudo-scientific\Njustification for their privileged positions
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.17,0:02:12.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in society, in addition to providing a racist\Nrationalization of the European colonization
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.44,0:02:17.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.22,0:02:21.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kropotkin attacked this conventional wisdom,\Nwhen in 1902 he published a book called Mutual
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.74,0:02:26.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Aid: A Factor in Evolution, in which he proved\Nthat there was something beyond blind, individual
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.73,0:02:31.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,competition at work in evolution.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.79,0:02:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kropotkin demonstrated that species that were\Nable to work together, or who formed symbiotic
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.00,0:02:40.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,arrangements with other species based on mutual\Nbenefit, were able to better adapt to their
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.75,0:02:45.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,environment, and were granted a competitive\Nedge over those species who didn't, or couldn't.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.65,0:02:50.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In today’s metropolitan societies, people\Nare socialized to see themselves as independent,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.11,0:02:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,self-sufficient individuals, equipped with\Nour own condos, bank accounts, smartphones
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.66,0:02:56.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and facebook profiles.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.18,0:03:01.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,However, this notion of human independence\Nis a myth, promoted by corporations and states
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.49,0:03:06.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seeking to mould us into atomized, and easily\Ncontrolled consumers, concerned primarily
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.28,0:03:08.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with our own short-term well-being.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.56,0:03:12.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The truth is that human beings are incredibly\Ninterdependent.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.06,0:03:15.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, that’s the key to our success as\Na species.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.06,0:03:19.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do you ever spend time thinking about where\Nthe food you eat, or the clothes you wear
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.09,0:03:20.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,come from?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.25,0:03:24.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What about the labour and materials that went\Ninto building your house, or your car?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.26,0:03:28.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Left to fend for ourselves without the comforts\Nof civilization, few among us would survive
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.83,0:03:33.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a week, let alone be able to produce a fraction\Nof the myriad commodities we consume every
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.73,0:03:34.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,day.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.73,0:03:39.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From the great pyramids commissioned by the\NPharaohs of ancient Egypt, to today’s globe-spanning
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.11,0:03:43.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,production and supply chains, the primary\Nfunction of the ruling class has always been
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.20,0:03:44.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to organize human activity.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.98,0:03:48.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And everywhere that they have done so, they\Nhave relied on coercion.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.59,0:03:53.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Under capitalism, this activity is organized\Nthrough either direct violence, or the internalized
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.48,0:03:58.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,threat of starvation created by a system based\Non private ownership of wealth and property.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.87,0:04:02.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Capitalism can inspire people to do many amazing\Nthings, as long as there is a profit to be
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.99,0:04:03.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.99,0:04:07.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the absence of a profit motive, there\Nare many important tasks that it will not
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.66,0:04:12.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and cannot ever accomplish, from eradicating\Nglobal poverty and preventable diseases, to
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.96,0:04:14.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,removing toxic plastics from the oceans.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.93,0:04:19.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In order to carry out these monumental tasks,\Nwe require a change in the ethos that connects
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.36,0:04:22.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,us to one another, and to the world that sustains\Nus.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.04,0:04:26.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A shift away from capitalism... towards mutual\Naid.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.38,0:04:30.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Glimpses of the Anarchist ideal of mutual\Naid can be seen today in communities of open
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.58,0:04:34.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,source software developers, and in programmers\Ncoming up with new forms of encryption to
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.98,0:04:36.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thwart NSA surveillance.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.56,0:04:41.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They can be seen in neighbours coming together\Nto organize a daycare collective, and in the
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.01,0:04:45.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,aftermath of disasters such as Hurricanes\NKatrina and Sandy, when in the absence of
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.16,0:04:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,state institutions, perfect strangers rush\Nto one another’s aid.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.18,0:04:52.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It can be seen in the bravery of the white\Nhelmets of Aleppo, who risk their lives to
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.94,0:04:57.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pull children from the collapsed ruins of\Nbuildings hit by Assad’s barrel bombs.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.27,0:05:02.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imagine a world in which human activity was\Nnot organized on the basis of ceaseless competition
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.07,0:05:07.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over artificially scarce resources, but the\Npursuit of the satisfaction of human needs…
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.37,0:05:10.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you will understand a vision of the world\Nthat anarchists seek to create.