Who are we?

The People’s Fund - Claremont is a collective of students and community members who aim to monetarily support people building power (through mutual aid) in Sudan, Gaza, and eastern Congo. We are grounded in anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, and disability justice values. We know our comrades here and internationally withstand and resist genocides, land-grabs, imprisonment/besiegement, and horrific violations because of systems of violence (such as violent resource extraction) — mainly, capitalism, imperialism, and white supremacy.

We, as students and community members, have direct and indirect access to immense wealth gained by forcefully stealing land, labor and resources from their rightful stewards through capitalism and imperialism. Students and community members are well positioned, as people inside the belly of the beast, to return the spoils of their imperial state to revolutionary struggles in colonized and highly targeted lands.

We know there are many revolutionary struggles that need monetary support. However, we firmly believe that when these specific brutal imperial projects fall because of popular resistance fronts, all will subsequently fall.

What do we do?

We redirect funds to comrades sustaining their communities on-the-ground. In doing so, we work to expand the scope of the pro-Palestine student movement into financially supporting mutual aid efforts. We hope that centralizing collective funds to a single system encourages more folks to return wealth to people fighting deadly battles against imperialism, capitalism, and white supremacy.

We fundraise because where we settle — the united states — is built on the imperialism that facilitates every genocide we see and don’t see. We fundraise because all our comrades’ inevitable victories will greatly impact the struggles of the subjugated in the west and internationally. Fundraising is the least we can do.

Why Sudan, Palestine, and the Congo?

We understand people here and internationally are calling on us for monetary solidarity. At the moment, we expect to have capacity to send significant sums to 3 locations. These funds are concentrated in three contexts because building meaningful, long-lasting relationships with our comrades is important to us. This way, a significant amount of stolen wealth will be returned to each site of violent imperialism.

Nonetheless, we as settlers of occupied Turtle Island are (perhaps) the worst people to select which imperial project to redistribute funds to. Since we can only sustainably send to 3 locations, our focus is on sites of great oppression and therefore great resistance. We know that in sites of great oppression/resistance, the people have the power to not only tip the scale in the fight against imperialism, but turn the vicious system on its head. Congo, Palestine, and Sudan are critically important sites of resistance. When our comrades win there, the same enemy everywhere will be dismantled — subjugated people here and there will no longer be subjugated. Since they are fighting such critical and brutal battles, it is our role to return stolen wealth to their liberation efforts—including mutual aid.

Congolese and Sudanese people especially have identified an unforgivable lack of solidarity from comrades in the west. We understand Anti-Blackness is a driving force for the lack of international attention, normalization of Black suffering, and brutal imperial violence in Congo and Sudan.

Why mutual aid?

Mutual aid — giving what we have and not what is left over — is a necessity for a successful revolution: it sustains and requires people power, while other forms of aid build a culture of hierarchy and dependency.

We support mutual aid efforts for two reasons. First, redistributing collective funds is what is being requested of us by our comrades globally because of our privileged access to stolen wealth. Second, redistributing collective funds is one way we stand in solidarity with our comrades. We adopt a solidarity approach because it is mutual and it has no hierarchical forms of power.

We have a commitment to other comrades to care for each other unconditionally; neither humanitarian aid or charity have our best interest at heart nor will they ever save us. There is no requirement to fulfill to receive the stolen wealth, and we wholeheartedly trust that on-the-ground trusted comrades are spending the forcibly-extracted money how they best see fit.

Suggested Monthly Student Subscription (based on non essential spending)

Pledge $10-20 if you’re spending $3-5 a week (equivalent to chips or snacks).
Pledge $20-40 if you’re spending $5-10 a week (equivalent to boba or two coffees)
Pledge $40-80 if you’re spending $10-20 a week (the cost of multiple streaming platforms)
Pledge $80-160 if you’re spending $20-40 a week (the cost of doordash or takeout)
Pledge $160+ if you’re spending $40 a week (going to a sit down restaurant)

If you usually spend more and have consistent access to wealth, consider following the guidelines for community members.

Suggested Monthly Subscription for Community Members

If you make less than $40K, donate $10-20 (= spending $3-5 on snacks a week)
If you make $40–80K, donate $20-40 (= $5-10 weekly on coffee/boba)
If you make $80–100K, donate $40 -100 (= multiple streaming platform subscriptions)
If you make $100–150K, donate $100-200 (= $25-50 weekly on delivery or take-out)
If you make $150–250K, donate $200-320 (= $50-80 weekly on nails/a sit-down restaurant)
If you make $250–500K, donate $320+ (concert tickets)
If you make $500k+, donate $2,000 (car payment/airfare)

People's Fund

Redistributing money to its rightful stewards