Solidarity Networks Research Articles

“It’s a jungle”: Precarity, solidarity, and ambiguity in small conflict reporting ecosystems

This study, based on in-depth interviews with 22 reporters, stringers, and photojournalists working in Small Conflict Reporting Ecosystems (SE) looks into the ambivalent and ambiguous work of conflict reporters who find themselves in the middle of the conflict reporting hierarchy. It seeks to diversify the understanding of global conflict reporters’ positionalities, broaden the understanding of their precarity and the overall “crisis” of global conflict reporting, and draw inspiration from the diversity of actors and practices creating the current global conflict reporting ecosystems. I address the following questions: What makes the work of SE conflict reporters “bad”? What makes it “good”? How do SE reporters navigate the ambivalence of their work and the ambiguity of their positions? The findings illustrate how SE journalists often turn their precarious conditions and ambiguity into a creative edge and solidarity networks and show how ambiguity (rather than crisis) becomes a key concept helping to understand current conflict reporting.

Ukrainian Popular Music in Times of War: National Identity, Transnational Projections and the Musician as Grassroots Ambassador

This article investigates the ways in which Ukrainian independent popular music after February 2022 has contributed to domestic nation-building and international nation-branding. Taking as case studies six artists who have extensively toured abroad with their musical projects, the article traces the evolution of the internal imaginings and external projections of Ukrainian identity enabled via musical activity. The article shows that the war has generated a reconfiguration of the relationship between the artist and their social responsibility, in which music has become a fundamental weapon to raise transnational awareness of the Ukrainian struggle and to materially influence Ukraine’s defence. This reconfiguration has prompted the performers to take the role of grassroots cultural ambassadors and create DIY networks of solidarity, largely outside of state initiatives. In this process, ideas about Ukraine did not adhere to a standardized framework for the purpose of articulating unity, but rather reflected Ukraine’s unity in cultural diversity.

Planning for autonomy and conservation: ‘Life Plans’ and communal reserves in the Amazonian borders of Peru

ABSTRACT State-promoted biodiversity conservation can either align with or diverge from Indigenous Peoples’ priorities, knowledge, and self-determined development paths. Drawing on fieldwork at the Amazon borders of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, this paper examines Indigenous organizations’ efforts to uphold territorial rights and pursue planning with Indigenous values in landscapes earmarked for conservation. The key question centers on how ‘border configurations’ affect grassroots planning and conservation focusing on the experience of Peruvian Secoya (Siékopai) People. Using expert interviews and ethnographic methods, the paper finds that conservation agencies risk losing credibility without genuine efforts toward social equity and well-being, constrained by mandates that often neglect local needs. The success of Life Plans depends on solidarity networks that balance conservation with viable economic alternatives, equitable power dynamics, and access to services. Ultimately, the paper shows that Life Plans empower Indigenous organizations, offering meaningful options for political self-representation within Amazonian conservation.

Radical care in displacement: Rohingya women’s activism amidst neoliberal humanitarianism and repression

ABSTRACT This paper examines the activism and care work of Rohingya women in displacement settings, focusing on grassroots efforts in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps and transnational advocacy by diaspora activists. Drawing on 43 in-depth interviews and applying a feminist ethics of care framework, we argue that these women's activism constitutes a form of radical care that challenges both neoliberal humanitarian practices and repressive state policies. Rohingya women activists forge networks of solidarity and empowerment that extend beyond conventional humanitarian interventions, providing emotional support and shared experiences that contribute to the social ecology of care for refugee women. Their grassroots work contests the neoliberal emphasis on individual self-reliance, instead highlighting the vital role of relational care in fostering collective resilience. However, these activists face significant risks from multiple sources, including state repression, community backlash, and online harassment. They employ strategies such as ‘strategic invisibility’ and digital activism to navigate these dangers. Despite the transformative potential of their work, it remains systematically undervalued, leaving activists vulnerable to burnout and depletion. By centering the experiences and agency of Rohingya women, this study reveals a complex landscape of resistance, care, and empowerment, offering insights into how refugee women create change amidst intersecting forms of oppression.

Gendering the Iron Law of Oligarchy: Or how organizing an official football team became a strategy of “passive revolution”

AbstractThe ongoing debate in organization and management studies regarding the transformation of oligarchic structures through rank‐and‐file participation often overlooks gender dynamics. Drawing from the experience of Argentine women playing football independently, this article argues that promoting gender inequalities and reinforcing masculine stereotypes can preserve class disparities in trade unions. Additionally, it highlights how trade unions, by extending control into women's leisure, can perpetuate oligarchic structures, emphasizing the importance of politicizing leisure as a domain of gender inequalities. In turn, the patriarchal‐oligarchic organization represents a unique form of class and gender domination that reconfigures itself by co‐opting informal solidarity networks.

The veil of resistance in Shaheen Bagh: Muslim women’s activism and the differential solidarity networks

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to comprehensively examine the complex dynamics surrounding the protests of Muslim women at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India. It emphasizes the emergence of distinct forms of solidarity among this unassuming group of women and underscores the significance of their collective action in challenging prevailing narratives within South Asian feminist discourse. The paper posits the CAA protests as emblematic of the evolving interplay between digital platforms, grassroots activism, and scholarly dialogue in contemporary South Asia. Furthermore, the paper elucidates how the modalities of resistance in South Asian revolutionary politics diverge from the traditional binary framework of Gandhian Satyagraha and radical leftist revolutionary strategies. The protests which also interweaved Dalit Ambedkarite politics, digital hashtag movements, counter-ableist politics also exemplified the ways in which identity politics in South Asia could be reconfigured in terms of a differential paradigm. The paper explores how the protests at Shaheen Bagh exemplify a nuanced approach to resistance that transcends simplistic categorizations, thereby contributing to a reconfiguration of established paradigms in the region's political discourse. This analysis underscores the complex interplay between diverse ideological currents and grassroots mobilization, illuminating the evolving landscape of resistance within South Asia's socio-political context.

Analysis of good practices of social impact measurement: the social balance sheet developed by the Spanish network of the social and solidarity economy

Purpose This study aims to analyse the good practices developed by the Spanish Social and Solidarity Network (one of the leading networks in the country) regarding its social balance sheet, created under the perspective of social and solidarity principles. This social balance sheet is implemented by its members for their self-evaluation. Design/methodology/approach By using a qualitative methodology based on triangulation, which includes a semi-structured interview with the manager of the social audit commission, the main good practices associated with this initiative of social impact measurement are attained. Moreover, two organisations implementing the social balance sheet have been analysed to obtain a complete perspective of the tool and the process developed by the network. Findings The main findings include: the social balance sheet dimensions are based on the social and solidarity principles, which enable companies to analyse the compliance of their activity with their philosophy; cooperation is crucial for the success of the tool; the efforts made by the network involve a range of different behaviours, all shared and published on social networks and the internet for free to diffuse the good practices of social impact measurement. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on social entrepreneurship and social impact measurement by analysing the good practices regarding a social balance sheet, designed under the social and solidarity philosophy, whose procedure can serve as a reference for any other representative institutions or practitioners. From this view, this initiative can be considered a social innovation itself since it constitutes a step towards transforming society through the quantification of business activity from a more social perspective and through a process of participative governance by all the stakeholders involved.

The Local Solidarity Network in the Reception of Female Ukrainian Refugees’ Influx of 2022

The 2022 Ukrainian refugee influx is unique due to its speed and gender composition. In less than three weeks, three million Ukrainians, predominantly women with children, crossed the border. Initially, the reception of refugee women in Poland was based significantly on the solidarity of Polish people. In the study we adopt a qualitative approach, primarily utilizing fieldwork observations of Polish local solidarity networks of approximately 90 people, semi-structured in-depth interviews with leaders of these communities (n = 3) and with female Ukrainian refugees (n = 40). We employ grounded theory analysis to uncover the concept of ‘tied first movers’ as a new pattern of migration ties: fleeing women, being ‘first movers’ not accompanied by men, were still ‘tied’ to their family members during their journey. We also discuss the paradigm of female vulnerability and the gendered aspects of autonomy-driven and bottom-up approach of Polish solidarity aid.

Geographies of missing data: Spatializing counterdata production against feminicide

Feminicide is the gender-related killing of cisgender and transgender women and girls. It reflects patriarchal and racialized systems of oppression and reveals how territories and socio-economic landscapes configure everyday gender-related violence. In recent decades, many grassroots data production initiatives have emerged with the aim of monitoring this extreme but invisibilized phenomenon. We bridge scholarship in feminist and information geographies with data feminism to examine the ways in which space, broadly defined, shapes the counterdata production strategies of feminicide data activists. Drawing on a qualitative study of 33 monitoring efforts led by civil society organizations across 15 countries, primarily in Latin America, we provide a conceptual framework for examining the spatial dimensions of data activism. We show how there are striking transnational patterns related to where feminicide goes unrecorded, resulting in geographies of missing data. In response to these omissions, activists deploy multiple spatialized strategies to make these geographies visible, to situate and contextualize each case of feminicide, to reclaim databases as spaces for memory and witnessing, and to build transnational networks of solidarity. In this sense, we argue that data activism about feminicide constitutes a space of resistance and resignification of everyday forms of gender-related violence.

The Paradox of Humanitarian Recognition

Eritreans experience what I call the paradox of humanitarian recognition. Beneficiaries of some of the highest refugee-recognition rates in Global North countries, Eritreans nevertheless experience kidnap, ransoming, extortion, and pre-emptive detention in countries of transit like Sudan and Libya. Efforts by the European Union to address these abuses under multilateral anti-trafficking agreements—as well as broader efforts to externalize European borders and asylum—have further contained and criminalized networks of solidarity that extend beyond countries of transit into countries of settlement such as Italy. Based on twenty months of participant observation and interviews with Eritreans in northern Italy, this article analyzes Eritrean migrants’ experiences of violence in Libya, a country of transit, and efforts of Eritrean activists to both bring this violence to light and to aid recent refugees. Eritreans’ experiences of seeking asylum upend the binaries between legal inclusion and exclusion on which refugee exceptionalism is predicated.

Just Participatory Research with Young People Involved in Climate Justice Activism

This commentary reflects on the tensions inherent in enacting creative, co-produced, and participatory methods with younger co-researchers who are also climate justice advocates. Whilst participatory research with young people involved in climate justice work has the potential to build intergenerational networks of solidarity, such research is contoured with complexity. The authors, two university-based researchers, juxtapose the social justice agenda at the foundation of participatory research, with the climate justice agenda, and consider the resonances and tensions between research and social movements. They advocate for an intersectional climate justice approach to participatory research that positions young people as co-researchers and co-authors, aiming to counter epistemic injustices and amplify the voices of those first and worst affected by climate change. Simultaneously, the felt value-action gap (between the justice sought and the injustices that persist within research) generates questions about the profound differences, even incommensurability, between university-generated research and the pursuit of climate justice in movement spaces. A series of questions are offered to those engaged in participatory research with younger people to prompt collective reflection on research processes and practises. The commentary concludes with a call for university-based researchers to engage critically with the power structures within academia and to prioritise the needs and goals of younger climate justice advocates over institutional demands.

Decolonising Solidarity?

While the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état against the government of Salvador Allende in Chile invites to reflect on past and current experiences of solidarity between Latin America and Europe, the present contribution seeks to foreground the rather overlooked international solidarity efforts of and with the indigenous Mapuche. As a result of their forced exile to Europe after 1973, Mapuche activists began to organise themselves as a diasporic community in Europe and to form a transnational advocacy network in support of their people. This contribution aims to showcase how international solidarity of and with the Mapuche in Europe evolved over time, how they relate to non-indigenous, Chilean solidarity networks, and which underlying Mapuche notions of solidarity they reactivate in order to weave their transnational advocacy network.

Reading the Assistance Process After the Earthquake Through the Phenomenon of Solidarity

Solidarity in society can be seen in various values. A common belief, a common ideology, and common interests can help solidarity in society become concrete. The concept of solidarity, stemming from daily necessities and varying interests, signifies unity in confronting a societal macro-issue, facilitating mutual support among individuals. Following the earthquake disaster that took place in our country on February 6, 2023, and affected 11 provinces, various examples of solidarity were shown in our country. This study provides a framework for the concept of solidarity. It was prepared with the aim of explaining the solidarity networks that took place after the earthquake in the context of formal and informal.

Towards building networks of solidarity: A co-designed training model for non-professional interpreters and translators in regional Australia

Despite ongoing efforts by different levels of government, barriers still exist for diverse communities in Australia when it comes to accessing culturally and linguistically appropriate social services. These barriers have detrimental effects on the sense of belonging and social inclusion of migrants, as highlighted by recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. In rural and regional areas, where access to resources and support can already be limited, these issues are particularly pronounced during crisis situations. Non-professional interpreters and translators have played a crucial role in facilitating effective communication in these circumstances, as they are often trusted members of their communities and understand their needs. However, relying on volunteers to provide multilingual communication in times of crisis is neither equitable nor sustainable. In response to this issue, the IMPARO pilot project has been implemented in the regional hub of Shepparton, Victoria, with the aim of providing training and professional development opportunities for non-certified community interpreters and translators. This project utilises principles of co-design and participatory initiatives to foster relationships and associations that promote inclusive practices and solidarity. Using action research and digital platforms, the project ensures equitable access to resources for its participants, who not only strive for professional certification and improved employability but also recognise the value of building intercultural networks of solidarity as a solid foundation to promote sustainable forms of knowledge sharing among diverse communities.

Epistemic justice as energy justice: reflections from a transnational collaboration on hydropower and Indigenous rights

ABSTRACT Addressing the climate crisis requires renewable energy, however, developing renewable energy should be equitable. In this article, we analyze a 15-year-old transnational hydroelectric power development conflict involving Indigenous rights in Mapuche-Williche territory, Chile and a Norwegian state-owned company, Statkraft. We seek to advance the field of energy justice by evaluating injustices in this transnational conflict. At the heart of the conflict is a threatened Ngen Kintuantü (the spirit guardian Kintuantü), which is part of a ceremonial and pilgrimage site of utmost importance in Williche territory. We argue that epistemic justice – the radical inclusion of different ways of knowing – can be a central tenet to understanding and redressing the harms connected to energy development, especially via networks of solidarity with Indigenous rights claims. Yet currently, the right to consent for energy projects, – which is informed by the international legal mechanism Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and Chile’s codification of a less stringent Indigenous consultation – is limited by its formation within liberal legality. Despite these limitations, the Traditional Organization of the Ayllarewe of Ngen Mapu Kintuantü, an organization of Mapuche-Williche communities, is crafting and demanding their own form of territorial consultation. Drawing from a solidarity network of research across the Global South and North, we find that existing tools like FPIC can and must be strengthened through Indigenous and local guidance, but that justice, in a broader sense, cannot be achieved without returning land and broader legal reforms.

Critically unlearning about madness and distress: Reflections on social work education and activism in Ireland

This article draws from my involvement in critical social work education and my position as an aspiring ally of the Mad movement in the Irish context. I use a reflexive auto-critique as a methodology to consider a significant shift in my engagement with Mad matters which has led to new ways of (un)learning critically about madness and distress in education and activism. This is a shift from celebrating criticality and inclusion strategies, and in particular service-user involvement in education, to problematising criticality and its potential to perpetuate power inequalities within mental health and education systems. It is a shift from viewing critical education as a process of knowing about distress and Mad people to a process of knowing with and from Mad people, service-users, and survivors. The emerging field of Mad Studies provides a conceptual framework to inquire about knowledge and knowers, to consider issues of co-option and epistemic injustice, to focus on pedagogies for unlearning, to ask questions about representational politics and the complexities of being an engaged academic and Mad positive ally. Guided by Mad Studies as a mode of analysis, I recognise that inclusion of madness in university curricula can work in ways that continue to pathologise and subjugate Mad people. This is an unsettling recognition that leads to an interrogation of my own praxis as an academic and an aspiring ally of the Mad moment. I propose that prefigurative politics are central in these considerations as genuine engagements with mental health matters need to model the changes we aim to achieve. Engaging with the tensions of inclusion politics, the complexities of madness, and the unsettledness this engagement generates, can be a source of knowing through epistemic humility and a resource for networks of solidarity.

Just Around the Corner: How Cross-ethnic Solidarity Is Established Between Locals and the Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in a Local NGO

AbstractThe paper examines how an NGO, established by a group of Hong Kong students, an academic (myself) and a group of asylum-seekers and refugees from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, have worked through different barriers to create a network which builds on diversity to achieve cross-ethnic solidarity within the local community. It seeks to understand what makes a cross-ethnic solidarity network work in a local community. Using the concept of solidarity, the study looks into how the local NGO builds on a mix of diversity of race and gender and (non-)citizenship status to establish solidarity through community activities, advocacy and friendship. Based on ongoing ethnography between 2014 and 2020 and continuous activism work through 2014 until current, and interviews with 50 members of a local NGO, I argue that empowerment through solidarity needs to adopt a ‘neighbourhood’ approach based on mutual support, respect for diversity and empathy when building a solidarity network. An organization which takes on a ‘community’ and ‘neighbourhood’ approach by establishing friendship, focusing on relational aspect amongst local people and the asylum-seekers, is very effective in creating a lasting solidarity with trust. The study shows how solidarity built on differences could work effectively when migrants are in the host countries. More importantly, the results suggest that local population will need to take a more proactive approach to connect to the migrant community so as to build solidarity and achieve recognition and support from a wider community.

Coming of Age While Challenging Borders: Networks of Solidarity and Resistance of Swedish-Afghan Youths on the Move in Europe

This article examines the strategies of resistance enacted by an informal network of solidarity comprised of Afghan youths on the move in Europe and their Swedish allies. In 2015, thousands of Afghan children fleeing from the Taliban regime arrived in Europe as unaccompanied minors. Many have been hosted in Sweden and lived there for several years, until coming of age. Reaching 18 years prompted a series of consecutive losses, as the Swedish state limited their opportunities to remain in the country or even illegalized them. Subjected to threats of detention, deportation, and ill treatment, many Afghan youths re-escaped into other European countries, crafting networks of informal solidarity to help them resist border violence. This article is based on an ethnographic study that delves into the lived experiences of four Afghan youths who lived in Lisbon between February 2019 and February 2020, particularly focusing on the journey of Ahmed, a young man of Hazara ethnicity. The empirical data shed light on the solidarity enactments that enhanced the youths’ resistance in hostile environments, inviting reflection on the impacts of the European border regime and the importance of agency, care, and political contestation.

Return Intentions of Romanian Migrants From the United Kingdom: An Exploratory Approach

Return migration is a complex phenomenon driven by a combination of individual, familial, societal, and economic factors. This study aims to discover the key reasons that limit return intentions of Romanian migrants from United Kingdom to their country of origin. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods, semi-structured interviews with experts involved in the integration of Romanians in the United Kingdom, and an online survey among Romanian migrants, this study identifies a series of factors that determine Romanian workers’ return intentions. The results indicate that available jobs in the communities of origin in Romania where they have families, and where family solidarity networks are created, are important drivers of return migration. The need to improve government measures to stimulate the return of Romanian workers must be seen in the broader context of the functionality of families with migrant workers, considering both the positive and negative consequences of labour migration for the quality of family life, and the care provision for dependents (children and elderly people).

‘SOSpesa’: Service Design Leveraging Neighborhood Solidarity Networks to Tackle Food Poverty, Food Surplus, and Sustainability of Local Commerce

This paper illustrates a project to redesign a charitable initiative against food poverty into an innovative solution called "SOSpesa", implemented in a neighborhood of the city of Milan named NoLo - North of Loreto. The paper outlines approach, methodology and strategy to move from an activist initiative to a service with more than charitable purposes and outlines the new service configuration in its opportunities and limitations as emerged from the pilot project. It focuses on strategies to harness a network of neighborhood actors to achieve a goal of solidarity, combating food waste and supporting local shops. Based on the assumption that the local context is a strength of the service, the project activated a wide range of actors, from volunteers to third sector organizations and businesses, under the coordination of a team of researchers, to experiment with different service configurations in search of overall sustainability. Finally, the paper discusses design strategies for scaling up grassroots social innovation through replicability, not to distort its spirit and bottom-up engagement.