“Stories, historias, iсторії, iστορίες”
Why an Autonomous Kitchen Council (AKC)
The Autonomous Kitchen Council (AKC) organizing framework was born by accident. In February of 2023, I was part of a small group of forest defenders continuing conversations from the beginning of the Stop Cop City movement in Mvskoke homelands – so-called Atlanta, GA, U.S.A. We decided to write about these ongoing conversations as a way to mourn and honor Tortuguita, a beloved Indigenous queer migrant comrade fallen on January 18th, 2023 defending the forest they loved so much. They too were part of these conversations.
In early February 2023, we wrote a piece called “Defending Abundance Everywhere: A call to every community from the Weelaunee forest“. The writing was about the things we learned from the forest and its abundance, from each other, the links between abolition, land back and systemic care, the Stop Cop City struggle itself and the spaces we opened while in the forest. The piece was published by Crimethinc in March 2023.
By the Spring of ’24 these conversations carried on all the way to Tennesse, and led us to the re-imagining of systemic care understood from the experience of Abundance. At that time, the participants were all trans woman; we were worried about our care and safety in the years to come given the state of the country and the world. We were thinking a lot about organizing for our care and joy, not just for resisting. We were also feeling that – like many other marginalized groups – often times we have been left out, our care and wellbeing compromised and that the fighting cry “resist” needed a complementary word. Thinking deeper about organizing, group dynamics and the organizing structures and ways we have inherited from the perspective of Abundance, led to the emergence of 4 core organizing principles. We believe those principles should be at the core of any collective organizing efforts and structures:
Considerations Process Evolution of AKC
I. Participatory Structure
II. Rotation
III. Local Solidarity
IV. Sovereign Food Cultures
<4 principles>
It’s worth mentioning that all that have been involved in the creation of the AKC framework (since the winter of ’21 until today), are very proud of the fact that these years of work have been a truly collective labor of love and passion. Our collective consists of people from many territories, identities and experiences, with indigenous, migrant & working class trans and cis women at the forefront of this process.
The goal of this is to familiarize you with our philosophy of Abundance, which is the base of our organizing framework and principles. These can support you, should you decide to open with comrades or neighbors your local AKC.
Led by our philosophy and principles, I hit the road in the late summer of ’24. I visited 6 European countries and 16 cities to share our work with any community, collective or group eager to listen and engage with me. That tour established key connections with communities, collectives and groups. After the tour I kept in touch with many of the comrades and communities I visited.
This past ’25 summer, I went back to Europe to our partners, this time with the goal of starting the process of setting up a network. I revisited 6 countries, 13 cities and held over 20 gatherings. The highlight of this tour was all of us (from Mexico, France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Colombia,The Netherlands and USA) coming together in Basel, Switzerland, for a three days gathering called up by our Swiss comrades. In this gathering we planned meals, cooked together, took care of the spaces opened up by our awesome hosts and of each other. We answered collectively these two questions (also questions for you!):
What can our community bring to this
global network that we want to create?
What do we need from it?