Collective liberation is a political orientation in which disaster response is understood as part of wider struggles against racism, colonialism, capitalism, and other forms of domination [@madrcorevalues2019; @madrprinciples2020].
Within emergent disaster response, the term matters because grassroots relief can either narrow itself to emergency service or connect itself to broader projects of social transformation. Mutual Aid Disaster Relief’s public principles explicitly frame disaster work through the interconnectedness of liberation struggles and anti-oppression commitments [@madrcorevalues2019; @madrprinciples2020].
Collective liberation therefore marks a current in which disaster work is not politically neutral. It is one site where people try to dismantle what harms them while building other ways to live.
Related terms
- Self-Determination - one governance expression of liberation in disaster settings
- Dual Power - a broader strategy of building alternative institutions
- Survival Programs - one practical form through which collective liberation is organized