post #3

Most of the forms of mutual aid we studied were usually activists or at least members of a community united by fighting for or against a common cause. It could be tight-knit small communities such as the farmers on Okinawa conducting protests to protect local property or an international movement such as the Vietnam anti-war protests that united people of multiple nations under the feeling of exhaustion of colonial and imperial treatment. I was particularly touched by Yuki’s story of initially being shunned by TB patients at the University Hospital and then having to make a spectacle of herself in order to be accepted by an equally socially outcast group. I think it goes to show, that even people in the worst positions in society will find a way to look down on others. It reminds me of the current situation in Japan where a lot of hospital workers and nurses are shunned for being “dirty” and the social fear that they are more prone to carrying the virus.

I think something like Japan’s treatment of victims during the pollution crisis could help alleviate the current situation. By the 70’s there was great effort made in compensating those affected by the pollution and insuring that the citizens could live in a safe environment. Whereas, in the United States my first thought when issues come up regarding companies potentially causing collateral damage to their citizens are things like Dakota Pipeline and the War on Drugs. None of this communities received much reimbursement from said companies, instead getting a slap on the wrist in the form of a lawsuit. In the current COVID situation in seems like anything even close to the Pollution Research Committee has all been eliminated under the current administration. Most of the victims have all been forgotten about in this lethargic, stand-still quarantine.