Practices Of Solidarity Research Articles

The Ethics of Encounter: Christian Neighbor Love as a Practice of Solidarity by Marcus Mescher

The Ethics of Encounter: Christian Neighbor Love as a Practice of Solidarity by Marcus Mescher

Practices of solidarity in the COVID-19 pandemic

Culture, Practice & Europeanization , Seite 1 - 14

Zlatanović S. Etnička identifikacija na posleratnom području: Srpska zajednica jugoistočnog Kosova. Beograd: Etnografski institut SANU: Čigoja štampa, 2018. 364 s. (Posebna izdanja; knj. 89)

Sanja Zlatanović’s book Etnička identifikacija na posleratnom području: Srpska zajednica jugoistočnog Kosova (Ethnicity in a Post-War Region: The Serbian Community of Southeast Kosovo) provides a valuable picture of the Serbian community of Kosovsko Pomoravlje (South-East Kosovo around Gnilane) during the first years of international rule in the disputed area. The book is based on field research carried out between 2003 and 2006 both in the area and in Southern Serbia with persons displaced from the area. S. Zlatanović describes the subdivisions between “Kosovo old-dwellers” and “Colonists” (of 1920s and 30s); between Serbs and Serbian Gypsies in Kosovo; and between KosovoSerbs and the population of Central Serbia. She also demonstrates the complexity of the Kosovo Serb perception of their neighbours – Kosovo Croats and Kosovo Albanians. The author reviews both the efficiency and limits of the komšiluk (traditional practice of neighbourhood solidarity), cultural similarities with the Kosovo Albanians, and the role of the Raška-Prizren Diocese of the Serb Orthodox Church and its influence upon the community, e. g., by the overcoming of traditional practices of religious syncretism. This ethnological study will be of use both for ethnologists and social anthropologists of the Balkans, as well as for historians and political scientists. The Kosovo Serb identity, their internal subdivisions, and the cultural stereotypes described by S. Zlatanović will exist as a part of the broader Serbian social texture for the foreseeable future.

Solar Goop

Would we know solarity if we encountered it? And where do we look for the potential openings that such a new energy system could enable? Georges Bataille’s The Accursed Share has emerged as a key text in the theorization of energy because of his distinction between the restricted economy of capitalism versus a general economy most clearly figured by the energetic exuberance and abundance of the sun. This article makes use of Bataille’s deliberately unsettling and destabilizing fictions, such as “The Solar Anus” and Story of the Eye, to analyze and assess a set of practices that appear to be unlikely candidates for the utopian visions now predictably connected with the solar. When read in relation to Luce Irigaray’s account of female subjectivity, practices of entrepreneurial feminized self-care, exemplified here by Gwyneth Paltrow’s much-criticized Goop Lab, open up a distinct and unexplored sense of the social relations that could shape the concatenation of solar and solidarity called solarity. This article traces this potential through an enquiry into feminist popular culture and other modes of relationality, such as Sivanandha Radha’s yogic invocation of Light. The overall aim of the essay is to provide another way of mapping solarity—not through the materiality of solar panels and promise of free energy, but through the complex practices of feminized bodies, solace, and solidarity.

Supporting Migrants Mobility Across Securitised Borders

The article focuses on the role of border actors – namely border area residents and local administrators – mobilising on behalf of, and actively supporting, migrants on the move. By shifting the gaze from classical categories of actors involved in border control (state security actors, on the one side, and migrants on the move, on the other) and grounding the analysis on a specific cross-border point between the Italian Susa Valley and the French region of Hautes-Alpes, it shows the relevance of the local level in shaping border policy outcomes through the creation of non-profit “migration infrastructures”, and state’s reaction through criminalization of solidarity practices.

Educational paradigms: in pursuit of a new reference

Considering theoretical assumptions about educational paradigms, this study points to necessary changes in pedagogical concepts towards a theoretical-practical framework capable of nurturing moral and ethical values. It refers to a conception that aims at human development in its wholeness; that values the care of oneself, of the other and the environment; that allows critical and dialogical reflections; and that, through solidarity practices, seeks a new type of society by means of changing attitudes. The study focuses on the ecosystem paradigm, which boosts the enchantment towards education, without, however, disregarding the impacts and/or contributions of the other paradigms to education. As contributions, the paper introduces a profile of teachers who educate and a profile of students who are educated, within the scope of pedagogical trends that permeate educational paradigms.

Solidarity as Social Reconstruction

Abstract The neoliberal agenda is based on the rejection of social objectivism and social reason, in favor of individual preferences and subjective values. Reforms carried out under this agenda destroy institutions and practices of solidarity. While the 2008 financial crisis has confronted neoliberalism with a legitimation crisis, an alternative agenda has yet to emerge. In the past decades, this “void” gave birth to the implementation of “regressive communities”. Instead of challenging the neoliberal agenda these communities function as mere authoritarian extensions. By rejecting social issues and defending cultural values they display contempt for social objectivity and reason. A path beyond the neoliberal “all market” approach as well as the subsequent triggerering of “regressive communities” is nowadays sought by social reconstruction through solidarity.

Covid-19 and the Brazilian Reality: The Role of Favelas in Combating the Pandemic.

The consequences of coronavirus in favelas in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) point to social inequality as a structuring factor in Brazilian society. The contagion spread and multiple death cases reveal the multiplicity of existence ways that cohabit the urban context, indicating that in many of these scenarios, access to decent housing, drinking water, and minimum income is not a reality and recommendations from international health agencies are challenging to implement. Against government technopolitics that drive different forms of death to the poorest, black communities, and slum dwellers, territorial insurgencies indicate other paths for the construction of a dignified life and access to fundamental rights, targeted solidarity practices, territorial political organization and the construction of specific public policies to deal with the effects of the virus which takes into account the particularities and distinct realities of the territory. The experiences of community organization around Crisis Offices in the favelas, led by social organizations and supporting institutions, have guaranteed (i) food and personal hygiene items distribution, (ii) sanitization of alleys, (iii) dissemination of information on the virus, and (iv) political articulation for disputes in defense of life preservation in the favelas, in opposition of genocidal processes carried out by the state power. Such local spaces represent practices of resistance to the death policies undertaken by the state policies, which most are not configured as spaces for collective construction and disregard inequalities and different needs in these territories. That way, community associations are presented as an inflection point, a deviation from the normal course of modulated subjectivities by the social principles and practices of neoliberalism, with the indication that the most efficient way to deal with social crises is through the strengthening of the collective and the popular organizations.

The art of mind changing—solidarity in dementia care*

Many studies, across various disciplines, have confirmed that artistic and cultural programs can significantly improve the experience of persons with dementia. While drawing on this data, this paper takes a different angle. It asks what lessons art practiced in the context of dementia care can teach us, as thinkers, carers, policymakers, friends, and all those with the interests of people with dementia at heart. It then argues that these lessons are threefold: firstly, they teach a strikingly actual lesson on the contemporary theories of rationality; secondly, and most importantly, they are a valuable lesson about what we owe each other, about the meaning of solidarity, citizenship, and the fundamental features of a decent society, and thirdly, they give an unusual insight into the theory of art and its meaning in the constitution of solidarity. All of these arguments amount to the conclusion that social practices of solidarity can be salutary both to persons with dementia, and also to the paradoxes of contemporary healthcare and some of the maladies of today's society. Fulfilment of the duties of solidarity (for example, by introducing participatory art programs in dementia care settings) does not require major financial expense. It does, however, require a lot of moral imagination, for which this paper advocates.

On Transversal Solidarity: An Approach to Migration and Multi-Scalar Solidarities

This article develops a conceptualisation of transversal solidarity in relation to migration and migrants. It reflects different ways of practicing, organising and articulating solidarity. We proceed through a conceptualisation of solidarity in terms of ‘transversal solidarity’ relating to three dimensions involved in solidarity practices from below and discuss how to bridge their respective dichotomies: identity and the related in-group and out-group dichotomy; space, in terms of the separation of the local from the national and international; organisation, related to the incompatibility of the social and the institutional. We link this conceptualisation to a typology of solidarity working on three different scales (autonomous solidarity, civic solidarity and institutional solidarity), which reflects these dynamics of solidarity as well as the degree of institutionalisation. We use different examples to illustrate various types of transversal solidarity.

Die Pandemie als Krisenerfahrung

Abstract The Pandemic as a Crisis Experience. On Insecurity, Vulnerability and Solidarity The article focuses on the connection between crisis, uncertainty and risk against the background of the current pandemic. The vulnerability dimension of insecurity is considered from anthropological and social perspectives. Finally, questions about the possibility of solidarity practices are raised.

Graphic Militancies: Posters and Transnational Solidarity between France and Latin America 1970-1980

La presente investigación explora las redes de solidaridad entre Francia y América Latina entre las décadas de 1970 y 1980, cuando esta última sufrió gobiernos dictatoriales. A partir del hallazgo de la colección de carteles de la Biblioteca Pierre Monbeig (iheal, París), este artículo muestra las posibilidades del cartel como fuente para el estudio de estas redes. Desde la historia y los estudios visuales, el cartel revela la extensa constelación de entidades implicadas, desde las altas esferas oficiales, hasta los grupos “desde abajo”. Probamos que París es un laboratorio para cuestionar lo local y lo global, donde la colaboración y la negociación se despliegan por encima de fronteras nacionales. Los carteles revelan las coyunturas, redes y prácticas de la solidaridad, y más allá, permiten indagar en la existencia de una “cultura visual” transnacional.

Does Organisation Matter? Solidarity Approaches among Organisations and Sectors in Europe

European citizens continue to engage in solidarity activities in support of vulnerable groups within and beyond their own countries. Many of these organised practices of transnational solidarity provide research with important insights into the features and conditions of organisational forms of support. This article makes use of a unique dataset of transnational solidarity organisations in eight European countries during a period of economic recession and immigration crisis, and aims to empirically describe the different forms and types of solidarity prevalent within three different organisational sectors. It strives to identify the organisational features explaining the elective affinities between organisational forms and solidarity approaches. The empirical analysis validates that organisational traits and types matter when favouring vertical and/or horizontal forms of support towards vulnerable groups. Findings corroborate the relevance of professionalisation, aims, and values, in addition to action repertoires to explain organisational profiles and collective approaches to solidarity-based practices.

Transnational Activism for Global Crises: Resources Matter! Transnational Solidarity Organisations in Comparative Perspective

In recent years, the global financial crisis and the ensuing austerity measures in European countries have resulted in dire cuts to public services, massive job losses, and diminished incomes. At the same time, and parallel to the economic crisis, a refugee crisis has arisen. In this context, ordinary citizens and new or re-energised networks of cooperation among civil society actors (e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs), churches, trade unions, cooperatives, grassroots initiatives) foster (transnational) solidarity practices. These practices grow in importance as they try to address people’s needs, often unmet by national governments given their lack of financial resources. This article investigates whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities. Moreover, it seeks to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational activities. The article critically analyses the initiatives and practices of Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) in eight European countries on the basis of data on transnationally oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment, and assistance to refugees). The analysis aims to contribute, through fresh empirical data, to the scholarly discussion in the field of transnational solidarity mobilisation and organisations by pointing out that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level(s) and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. Transnational activities are associated with formalisation and professionalisation. Moreover, maintaining a web of transnational partners, being able to communicate with such partners, and conventional action repertoires seem to be conducive to transnational activism. Organisational values linked to cosmopolitanism are also important, but their impact on transnational solidarity actions is mediated and conditioned by the TSOs’ level of formalisation.

Taking Care of Us from the Neighborhoods in Times of Quarantine. Citizen Solidarity Practices in Vallcarca, Barcelona (Spain)

In the last weeks and months, COVID-19 has challenged and changed societies and social life around the world. In the case of Spain, the health crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic led to the declaration of a state of alert by the central government, which involved partial home confinement. Given this exceptional situation, neighborhood activation through mutual support networks has been very important in the city of Barcelona. This article describes and analyses, based on the method of autobiographical imagination, the example of a citizen solidarity practice Xarxa de Suport Mutu Vallcarca [Vallcarca mutual support network] in the Vallcarca neighborhood. Its main objective is to carry out actions of social support to palliate the effects of the confinement, fundamentally in the areas of care and support, as well as childhood and education. From 2008, the creativity of the neighborhoods and citizens has been a relevant motor and multiplier for social protection and change.

What is Left of Migrants’ Spaces?

This article deals with the political legacy of migrants’ spaces across Europe that are the outcome of border enforcement policies but that are also shaped by migrants’ struggles and movements. It interrogates what is left, after their vanishing forced eviction, at the level of spatial-political traces, as well as in the collective memory of the citizens of those places. The main argument of the piece is that in order to come to grips with these spaces beyond their ephemeral dimension, we need to consider the temporality of migrant struggles and of solidarity practices – between migrants and citizens. The article focuses, first, on the French-Italian Alpine border, and analyses how the sedimented memory of the struggles in that valley has been reactivated in the present to support the migrants in transit. Then, the article moves on by developing the notion of transversal alliances through an insight into the Gilets Noirs movement in France, a collective of undocumented migrants which mobilised towards getting to permit to stay and accommodation, while at the same time framing their struggle as a broader battle against precarity and exploitation. The piece concludes suggesting that by bringing in the genealogy of struggles and solidarity practices, migrants’ spaces appear as part of a precarious mobile common in the making.

Isolamento solidário em tempos de pandemia: diálogos entre a saúde e a hermenêutica filosófica

A covid-19 tem gerado grande mobilização por parte das sociedades contemporâneas. Como forma de prevenção e controle da doença, o isolamento social tem sido uma medida eficaz, recomendada por diversos órgãos da saúde. Por isso, pensar o isolamento social como prática solidária tem sido fundamental. Nesta perspectiva, o presente artigo busca problematizar o isolamento social enquanto isolamento solidário. Para isso, partimos da tematização da enfermidade, até agora conhecida, seus modos de prevenção e controle e, por conseguinte, o diálogo entre a Saúde Coletiva e a Hermenêutica Filosófica, na tentativa de repensar o isolamento criticamente, para além de uma questão biomédica. Assim, discutir o isolamento solidário como noção essencial ao enfrentamento da pandemia da COVID-19 significa contribuir para uma visão mais ampla de saúde, ao passo que se encontra em jogo o restabelecimento da vida comunitária para além de sua concepção biomédica.

Reflexiones filosófico-políticas en torno a la criminalización de las prácticas de solidaridad hacia migrantes y refugiados en la actualidad. El caso de Carola Rackete (2019)

En este artículo ofrecemos un análisis filosófico político de un caso “ejemplar” de criminalización de la solidaridad hacia migrantes y refugiados en la actualidad: el caso de Carola Rackete, capitana del Sea Watch 3, que en 2019 protagonizó un salvataje enel Mediterráneo. Con base en desarrollos teórico-conceptuales de autores centrales de la filosofía contemporánea como Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Judith Butler, Étienne Balibar y Jacques Derrida, buscamos abordar las contradicciones ético-políticas que conllevan hoy las prácticas de solidaridad hacia personas en situación de movilidad internacional. El manuscrito se encuentra divido en cuatro secciones: en la primera, analizamos el nivel jurídico del caso; en la segunda, abordamos la lucha jurídico-política en torno a la definición de “lugar seguro” y el problema del “tráfico de fronteras”; en la tercera, indagamos la cuestión de la personalización de las acciones solidarias como estrategia de despolitización del campo humanitario; y, en la cuarta, insistimos en la necesidad de reposicionar el alcance político del derecho humanitario hoy.

Queering the periphery and challenging the center: Transgender students in Israeli higher education

This article discusses the experiences of Israeli trans students in higher education as a spatial phenomenon, demonstrating that their experiences are shaped by spatial locations – both geographic and cultural. Based on the thematic analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with Jewish Israeli transgender students from different spatial locations (‘central’ and ‘peripheral’ alike) and from varying academic fields and personal backgrounds, we maintain that trans students are engaged in a dialogue with hegemonic spatial discourses while reflecting critically on their spatial locations. The findings indicate that trans students experience periphery institutions as supportive, enabling them, through practices of collaborative activism and home-making, to create a politics from the ‘margins’ that displaces the ‘center’ as a site of inclusive queer activism. Accordingly, ‘peripheral’ locations enhance trans students’ social activism aimed at fostering change from the ‘margins’, radicalizing the ‘periphery’, and contributing to social change. On this basis, the present study demonstrates how peripheral spatial locations contribute to queer activism by undermining homonormativity while fostering ‘identification politics’ that promote solidarity and collaborative practices with various social sub-groups. This sheds light on the transformative aspects of peripheral locations and their contribution to social change, expanding current knowledge on the relationship among space, gender, and activism.

\u201cLe Grand absent Europ\xe9en\u201d: solidarity in the politics of European integration

The appeal for more solidarity is a recurring pattern in political discussions of how to cope with the crises the European Union (EU) confronts. This became most palpable in two major challenges—the Eurozone crisis and the refugee and migrant crisis. However, there is a yawning gap between the rhetorical commitment to solidarity and member states’ practices of solidarity: Even though the EU and its members regularly refer to solidarity as one of their fundamental values, the concept regularly fails to translate into concrete and common action. This lack of solidarity when it comes to problem resolution not only renders solidarity a weak principle within the EU’s political framework; it also precludes more effective crisis management. Drawing on the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein as well as (neo)pragmatism, this paper argues that a language- and practice-based reading can offer a new perspective on solidarity as one of the EU’s fundamental values. It can also explain why solidarity does not play a more vital role in the EU today, especially in times of crisis, when it is most needed.