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What is solidarity?

Solidarity is action that comes from the shared concerns and goals of people in a movement. Solidarity is more than support. The foundation of solidarity is kinship—standing together against not only sexism but racism, classism, and all other oppressive systems.

Solidarity depends on some idea of what it means to be “us.”

At Peace Over Violence, we believe that in order to build a sustainable movement against gender-based violence, we must unlearn the conditioned belief that some people have lesser value because of their sex or gender identity.

Three critical aspects of solidarity

Solidarity is always about relationships. We cannot be in solidarity alone. Who are we in solidarity with and what defines that relationship?

Solidarity always requires us to be intentional about our commitments. What is the aim of our solidarity and where do those commitments come from?

Solidarity requires actions that also change us, perhaps even a sacrifice. What am I willing to do and give up in order to ensure the well-being of others, whether they are like or unlike me?

Intersectionality & Solidarity

Race and class differences shouldn’t be factors that keep folks from establishing a true kinship with one another. In solidarity, we must work to understand each other and our different backgrounds and experiences. It’s important to acknowledge the experience of safety in our communities and the discrimination and exploitation of different marginalized groups. A movement against gender-based violence that is not inclusive of and centered on women and girls of color, women with disabilities, non-binary people, femmes and any other marginalized group divergent of stereotypical masculinity is not a just or safe movement.

What does solidarity look like in action?

Solidarity looks like respecting diversity, learning about other people’s culture, experiences and background, and combating the tendency toward judging others. Solidarity is based on the knowledge and understanding that we need to stand together to combat sexism, racism, classism and other systems that oppress people around the world.

Why Solidarity?

Today we are faced with the duty to unite against all forms of hate, against all forms of violence. We understand what it feels like to be left behind, left out, forgotten about. And we know that you understand this feeling as well. We vow to break this cycle.

Solidarity in the time of COVID-19

The story of this moment is being written by all of us

As the “crisis blows open the sense of what is possible,” in the words of journalist Naomi Klein, we are forced to imagine new ways of being with one another. We also have the opportunity to rethink our values and intentions, and to re-narrate the stories we tell about who we are, where we belong and with and to whom we share a debt.

In the history of humanity, we have survived through incredibly challenging events, individually and collectively. Moments of crisis are profoundly volatile. We can either lose a whole lot of ground and pay the price for decades to come or we can face it together with great courage and compassion by doing things that didn’t seem possible just a few weeks ago. This is no time to lose sight of ourselves or each other.

We call for the best of us to come forward

We call upon the cooperative, compassionate, collaborative, empathetic, altruistic, open-minded part of us, for our humanity and kinship to manifest during this unprecedented time.

Can we have distance and solidarity at once?

In recent years, technology has allowed for the development of our virtual selves, extensions of ourselves in the virtual world that allow us to form new sorts of communities and connections. This is an emerging capacity that can be utilized in the present situation by alleviating isolation, sharing information, coordinating efforts, staying productive, and supporting each other. We've built up a capacity to construct robust virtual bonds.

Online interactions may be a substitute for in-person ones and may allow us to maintain strong community ties. We can run meetings or hold gatherings using videoconferencing tools to try to replicate the dynamic nature of face-to-face gatherings and interactions.

to be whole

(a collective poem from Detroit center for whole communities gathering)

the work will get weird in these lean times

like minds want to move out of lockstep alignment

to be our whole selves we have to climb out of the

small box of our righteousness

the anxiety of staying on our linear paths

the crisis of self

the stagnation

the resilience that holds what is though it must go

let go of the cynic inside

let go of the bully who must win

relinquish the uniform

close the book on institutions

don’t speak what they taught you

shed the skin

we must forgive ourselves for all we do not know

we are the animators

we must bring the light

walk by in this world together

talk at more depth

let go of this frenetic activism – it doesn’t work

we need to waste time with each other

how do you come, how do you go?

the universe nurtures me

the creativity of the 13.8 billion year old story

the planet, our teacher, says

learn wonder

we are frozen to each other

what is the spring of the soul?

the seed is still there

what will the child think of my life?

the protest politic depresses me

i long for the art of the elephant

for the cosmos

‘we are all star stuff’

i am not impossible

see – i need what you need, want
what you want
and i can carry on

rooted and nurtured

affirmed in community with others

redemption is collective

‘we don’t only inherit land from our ancestors,

we borrow it also from our children’

breathing into this moment in context

with emotional and spiritual agency

risk inside of love

we can remember: being is an act of resistance

we imagined these zoos

now is the time to bring courage and grace

to necessary failures

upending our hows
our hows
which undo our peace

if we can release,

what can evolve?

more chapters.

— jan 29, 2014
 detroit 
by gloria rivera, gloria lowe, shane bernardo, adela nieves, patrick crouch, diana copeland, ginny mcginn, michelle martinez, adrienne maree brown