10/05/2026
A physical location to do things is so damn important and severely needed in most places. Spaces like the Martin Sostre Solidarity House and their library, our farm down here, or People's Exchange.
Meeting at peoples homes that are meant solely as homes gets awkward and unsustainable as your crew, network and community grow beyond the folks y'all have known for years. We need real third spaces. A place where you know you can find a comrade when you need one. A place where folks can interact, build together and actually nurture a sense of community and camaraderie.
It makes you real to people. Anyone can have a social media page and a set of opinions. A building, a farm or a storefront with a sign and open hours tells the neighborhood you are there and not going anywhere. People can see what you are building and develop a relationship with you over time building more credibility than an online following evwr could.
You need things to do stuff and you need somewhere to put those things. Food, tools, books, medical supplies, printers, PA systems, seeds, water, plug in a fridge or freezer, etc. You cannot run mutual aid out of your trunk forever (you can do A LOT outta your trunk and even more out of of a truck bed or van, we will never s**t on mutual aid mobiles, we couldn't do half the stuff we do without ours, shout out to Chehalis River Mutual Aid Network for having one of the coolest in the game)
A physical space lets you accumulate resources instead of starting from scratch every time.
(We ARE NOT saying you should hoard supplies, this is a temporary spot for stuff you're distributing, permanent place for stuff your group needs to use regularly)
with a space you have somewhere to organize without constantly asking permission. Cafes close. Parks have restrictions. Landlords.... just landlords. A space you control gives you continuity. You can schedule meetings, hold workshops, have hard conversations, make noise and build projects without renegotiating your right to exist every time y'all wanna get together.
If everything happens in private homes and invite only meetings, you mostly grow through personal connections. A public facing space changes that. Someone can walk in because they saw a sign or a flyer, needed something from the pantry, wanted to borrow a book, or was just curious. Not everyone will approach a political organization directly, but plenty of people will stop by a garden, check out a library or help fix something.
When you have a space established youre in a better position to respond when something happens. A hurricane is coming. Someone needs a place to regroup. A neighbor needs supplies. ICE is in the neighborhood. If you already have a space, you have a starting point. You are not wasting the first critical hours trying to find somewhere to gather people or store what you need.
People are starved for places where they can exist without working, spending money or performing. A place where you can hang out, cook together, work on projects, read or just sit and talk lets relationships develop naturally. You learn who is reliable, what people need and how to work together. Camaraderie grows through shared work, meals and ordinary time together letting you build an actual counter institution. A free library, pantry, tool library, kitchen, garden or workshop is not just a service. It is a practical demonstration that people can meet needs collectively. Instead of just criticizing the world that exists, you start building pieces of the world you want and preserves knowledge and continuity when people move, burn out and get busy. When everything depends on a few people owning the equipment or remembering how things work, it is fragile. A space can hold records, tools, books and ongoing projects. New people can learn from experienced people and work can continue even when someone needs to step back. When people have borrowed books, attended workshops, gotten food, helped in the garden or spent time with their neighbors at your space, it becomes part of their lives. They have a reason to care if it survives.
You can spread ideas online. You can organize people through a network. But a physical space gives those people somewhere to come together and build something that lasts.
A space is not automatically liberatory. It can become a fiefdom, a financial burden or a source of power struggles. That depends on how it is run, who can access it, who makes decisions and whether people actually practice what they preach. But the potential is enormous. We need more spaces meant to be used but each crew needs to decide for themselves if they can handle the responsibility and financial burden.
