Conspirituality Podcast – Episode 282: Mutual Aid Against ICE

Date: November 6, 2025
Hosts: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker
Theme: Examining the rise of mutual aid efforts in the US in response to government failures, especially surrounding SNAP benefit cuts and increased ICE raids, and tracing the roots of mutual aid, its tensions with state authority, and its presence in both street activism and political campaigns.

Episode Overview

This episode investigates the accelerating collapse of public safety nets in America, particularly the withdrawal of SNAP benefits amid a government shutdown and the corresponding surge of community-based mutual aid. The conversation spans the demonization of welfare, the legacy of Social Darwinism, the mechanics of resistance to ICE raids, the philosophical origins of mutual aid, and the role of grassroots organizing in electoral politics. The hosts draw clear lines from current events to longstanding ideological divides about authority, compassion, and power.

Key Topics and Segments

1. Government Shutdown, SNAP Benefits, and Demonization of the Poor

[04:22–12:43]

• Welfare Stereotypes and Right-Wing Propaganda:
  The episode opens by examining the persistent myth of the “welfare queen,” originated and amplified by Ronald Reagan, and how it continues to justify attacks on social programs for the poor.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 06:35):

  “The stereotype is this form of racist violence. ...one of the most effective ways of shutting down any debate over socializing the necessities of life is to instill this deep fear of being accused of stealing or freeloading or harming others by asking for the basics.”

• Recent Loss of SNAP Benefits:
  The hosts discuss how 42 million Americans lost SNAP benefits because of the government shutdown, dissecting political narratives that shift blame away from policymakers and onto the poor.

  Quote (Derek Beres, 07:16):

  “Given that SNAP benefits just ran out for 42 million Americans... those are everyday Americans who are being actually exploited.”

• Uptick in Mutual Aid Responses:
  As state support evaporates, communities in Portland respond by organizing meals for those in need – a grassroots solution spotlighted through the example of Heretic Coffee, which raised over $310,000 in a weekend to support people missing their SNAP benefits.

• Political Resentments and Intragroup Divisions:
  The conversation acknowledges tensions among immigrants and lower-income people, some of whom internalize and repeat divisive conservative narratives.

  Quote (Julian Walker, 08:29):

  “Instead of solidarity with their actual compatriots, there’s this push towards identifying with the ruling class.”

2. Community Resistance to ICE Raids: Documentation and Disruption

[22:03–34:30]

• The Role of Social Media and Citizen Surveillance:
  The hosts detail how regular citizens and immigrants have been tracking, documenting, and directly confronting ICE raids. They mention activists like Angelica Vargas, a soccer mom in LA who streams her pursuits of ICE vans on TikTok, blending resistance and digital activism.

  Quote (Julian Walker, 24:16):

  “Then there are also individual citizens acting alone and posting to social media... posting these dash-cam videos chasing ICE vehicles... She speeds up the footage because these are long chases, and then adds up-tempo Mexican music to the delight of her quarter million followers.”

• Tech Pushback and State’s Digital Clampdown:
  Apple’s removal of ICE-tracking apps (ICE Block) after government pressure is critiqued as an example of corporate complicity in state repression.

  Quote (Derek Beres, 23:28):

  “Apple removed several ICE tracking and reporting apps from the App Store... The main app, which is called ICE Block, had over a million users when it was pulled down. So just another example of someone creating an organizing tool and the state stepping in to force a private company to do its bit.”

• On-the-ground Youth Resistance:
  The episode features a story of Ben and Sam, two white teenage brothers in Chicago who spend five hours a day tracking and filming ICE activity to protect immigrant families.

  Quote (Ben, 28:06):

  “It’s kind of a whole cat-and-mouse game of where they’re going to show up next. ...I woke up a Monday in September and my mom was saying, ‘Hey, ICE is in West Chicago. We have to go.’ ...If we aren’t there to film it, sometimes we don’t get their names. Sometimes... they’re just gone. How are people okay with this?”

• Limits and Dystopias:
  The hosts analyze the risks faced by activists and families, concern about the expansion of ICE’s powers, and the possibility of criminal gangs impersonating agents under the chaos.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 33:37):

  “For those who bear the scars of American imperialism... these scenes are shocking. But they’re not out of the blue... Nobody I know involved in protest movements... would be surprised that an American state is capable of this.”

3. The Philosophy and History of Mutual Aid

[44:55–56:43]

• Origins in Anarchist Thought:
  Matthew traces today’s mutual aid organizing to Peter Kropotkin, the Russian anarchist biologist who argued that cooperation was a fundamental evolutionary force.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 47:01):

  “Peter Kropotkin... writes that the followers of Darwin, ‘reduced the notion of struggle for existence to its narrowest limits... raised the pitiless struggle for personal advantages to the height of a biological principle.'”

• Mutual Aid as Both Response and Inspiration:
  The hosts see a twofold value in mutual aid: immediate relief and proof to all involved that different, less competitive, more caring modes of social organization are possible.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 48:30):

  “By doing that, everybody gets to see what works and what might be possible. ...study and celebrate the ways in which cooperation is a basic human skill—to prove that it works and how and under what conditions and where it fails.”

• Misreadings of Darwin and Competing Ideologies:
  Derek reminds listeners that social Darwinism, which the influencer right often references, is not actually Darwin’s idea but a later, co-opted notion.

  Quote (Derek Beres, 49:37):

  “Darwin himself had nothing to do with social Darwinism, right? ...He also felt that social instincts like sympathy and cooperation were equally important.”

4. The Tension Between Mutual Aid and the State

[54:04–56:43]

• Anarchist Skepticism of State Authority:
  The discussion draws distinctions between anarchist and Marxist analysis of the state. For anarchists, the state is an inherently oppressive institution that replaces organic forms of mutual support; for Marxists, it’s a tool that can be seized and transformed—for a time.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 58:55):

  “Kropotkin as an anarchist sees the state as an inherently oppressive mechanism of domination that’s inseparable from capitalism…”

  Quote (Derek Beres, 59:38):

  “So you're saying, Derek, that pure capitalism has never really been tried.”

  Julian (laughing): “We need a purity test for our capitalisms.” [59:47]

5. Grassroots Politics: The Mamdani Campaign as Mutual Aid in Politics

[56:59–64:45]

• Organizing at Scale:
  The episode features the campaign of Mamdani in New York, who draws on mutual aid ethos—eschewing paid pamphleteers in favor of thousands of volunteer organizers—to mount a major mayoral challenge coupled with forward-thinking socialist policies.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 60:58):

  “So those volunteers knocked on—this is their self-report—1.6 million doors. ...They organized community events. ...If we were all going to do things together, this is how we would start doing it.”

  Policy proposals include:

  • Freezing rent
  • Universal childcare
  • Free public buses
  • 200,000 affordable housing units
  • Path to $30 per hour minimum wage by 2030

• Tension Around Leftist Leadership:
  The hosts note anarchist critiques of any leader or state power while also reflecting on the need for large-scale organizing to effect change at the policy level.

6. Islamophobia, Political Smears, and Public Dignity

[64:05–69:06]

• Islamophobia and Political Smear Tactics:
  In the last election cycle, Mamdani faces 9/11 conspiracy smears and anti-Muslim rhetoric from politicians like Cuomo and Adams.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 64:45):

  “What these ghouls are doing is resurrecting the—oh yeah, there were thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11 by dancing as the smoke blackened the sky—story. But that didn’t happen. But it’s still a persistent lie... built on the weaponization of 9/11 trauma.”

• Claiming Dignity and Visibility:
  Mamdani’s response is a proud, assertive affirmation of Muslim identity and presence, calling on the city’s Muslims to “step into the light.”

  Quote (Mamdani, quoted by Matthew Remski, 67:57):

  “I will not change who I am, how I eat, or the faith that I am proud to call my own. But there is one thing that I will change—I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.”

• Encouragement for All Mutual Aid Efforts:
  The hosts tie this back to mutual aid—whether for immigrants resisting raids, or communities ensuring access to food—as an assertion of dignity and a refusal to tolerate abandonment by the dominant systems.

  Quote (Matthew Remski, 68:41):

  “The venn diagram between his claim to dignity here and the politics of mutual aid... is pretty much a circle to me. ...people have to get about organizing locally... is the feeling that they can actually do it and that they can feel their own dignity.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It is also beautiful seeing so many people come out to do what they can. And that is what community is about and mutual aid is about. And as long as we still have that, there is some level of hope.”
  — Derek Beres, [18:51]

• On confronting ICE:
  “Sometimes this behavior of being a collective persistent nuisance makes the Gestapo just get overwhelmed and leave. ...I'm sure I'm not alone in cheering on those scrappy resisters...”
  — Julian Walker, [22:03]

• Ben (17yo ICE monitor):
  “They say they’re targeting, like, murderers and drug dealers. It’s like, no, you’re targeting the wife who’s working to support the family. ...If we aren’t there to film it... they’re just gone.” [28:06]

• On mutual aid history:
  “...the close dependency of everyone’s happiness upon the happiness of all and of the sense of justice or equity which brings the individual to consider the rights of every other individual as equal to his own.”
  — Matthew Remski, quoting Kropotkin, [47:01]

• On the paradox of optimization rhetoric in right-wing podcast spaces:
  “The bro podcast sphere has latched on to the competition angle as the be all, end all, which again, while partially true, doesn't even come close to fully explaining how we evolved as animals.”
  — Derek Beres, [50:57]

• “Mutual aid is necessary because the function of the state is to... do the opposite.”
  — Matthew Remski, [58:55]

• “We need a purity test for our capitalisms.”
  — Julian Walker, [59:47]

Conclusion

This episode is a tight synthesis of philosophy, activism, policy, and personal story. It surfaces the ways mutual aid becomes both a lifeline and a quiet revolution when state authority abandons—or directly assaults—those most in need. Whether through feeding their neighbors, confronting paramilitary police, or organizing cities, people are inventing new forms of resistance rooted in care and solidarity. The episode closes on the aspiration that mutual aid, dignity, and courage—rather than overwhelmed resignation—become the defining forces of this turbulent era.