Community members gathered at the Capitol Tuesday for a Tax Day protest and all-day mutual aid sit-in to rally community support under the theme, “Capitalism is Killing Us.”
In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to cut federal funding for Medicaid and Medicare, attendees like Julie Mankowski have responded with calls for more community action, citing a lack of support from systems of power, like the U.S. government.
“No one's going to save us, no one's going to protect us from this unless we do it ourselves,” Mankowski told The Daily Cardinal. “If we as individuals, as a society, also follow that mindset, we're just going to turn our country into a machine that chews up anyone who is at a disadvantage.”
Mutual aid is a mode of organization that relies on community support instead of the help of official bodies like the state or nonprofit organizations. The concept encompasses a variety of practices that develop “cooperation for the common good,” often arising when people feel systems of power are not addressing the needs of a community.
For Mankowski, the motivation for mutual aid is simple.
“It's about the fact that this person is standing here across from me is a human being who is deserving of a base level of respect and kindness and I as another human being will extend that to them,” she said.
Mankowski clarified that mutual aid is different from charity or other methods of sharing resources. Instead of giving to others motivated by pity, she said mutual aid helps people empathize with others' situations.
Despite the trickling turnout, which came in different waves throughout the day, the attendees remained committed to their mission. Organizers set up tables in the Capitol rotunda to spread awareness about resources available in the Madison community.
The Community Pharmacy, a worker-run cooperative on Madison's east side which provides customers with affordable options, including prescriptions, herbs, supplements, sexual health, natural body care products and homeopathic remedies, had a table that offered resources for health and harm reduction practices.
P.J. Chamberlain, the outreach head of Community Pharmacy, cited the presence of a gap in care, with a turn to profit instead of caring for the community, as motivation for mutual aid in Wisconsin.
“When you start getting rid of all these things, when you start getting rid of sports services, when you start cutting Medicare, Medicaid, there's nothing else for people, they're working paycheck to paycheck already, they're just getting by, just surviving. And so when they lose these services, it's basically like, starve, go homeless, die,” Chamberlain told the Cardinal.
Protests by groups like those gathered at the Capitol are a benefit to the community, Chamberlain said.
“It's just important for us to show up and protest at a rally, it's important for us to grow our community,” Chamberlain said. “I think that is a big form of protest.”
