Pandemic Solidarity

Description

In times of crisis, when institutions of power are laid bare, people turn to one another. Pandemic Solidarity collects firsthand experiences from around the world of people creating their own narratives of solidarity and mutual aid in the time of the global crisis of Covid-19.

The world’s media was quick to weave a narrative of selfish individualism, full of empty supermarket shelves and con-men. However, if you scratch the surface, you find a different story of community and self-sacrifice. Looking at eighteen countries and regions, including India, Rojava, Taiwan, South Africa, Iraq and North America, the personal accounts in the book weave together to create a larger picture, revealing a universality of experience - a housewife in Istanbul supports her neighbour in the same way as a teacher in Argentina, a punk in Portland, and a disability activist in South Korea does.

Moving beyond the present, these stories reveal what an alternative society could look like, and reflect the skills and relationships we already have to create that society, challenging institutions of power that have already shown their fragility.

List of Figures

Series Preface

Foreword by Rebecca Solnit

Introduction by Marina Sitrin

About Colectiva Sembrar

PART I - GREATER MIDDLE EAST (ROJAVA, TURKEY AND IRAQ)

1. Communal Lifeboat: Direct Democracy in Rojava (NE Syria) - Emre Sahin and Khabat Abbas

2. “Capitalism Kills, Solidarity Gives Life”: A Glimpse of Solidarity Networks from Turkey - Seyma Özdemir

3. Solidarity Network in Iraq During Covid-19: This Time the Enemy is Invisible - Midya Khudhur

PART II - SOUTH AND EAST ASIA (TAIWAN, SOUTH KOREA AND INDIA)

4. Sharing Spaces and Crossing Borders: Voices from Taiwan - Chia-Hsu Jessica Chang

5. Standing in Solidarity with Those Who Must Refuse to Keep Social Distance: Disability Activism in South Korea - Ji Young Shin (translated by Han Gil Jang)

6. Rethinking Minority and Mainstream in India - Debarati Roy

PART III - SOUTHERN AFRICA (MOZAMBIQUE, SOUTH AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE)

7. Confronting State Authoritarianism: Civil Society and Community-Based Solidarity in Southern Africa - Boaventura Monjane

PART IV - EUROPE (PORTUGAL, GREECE, ITALY AND THE UK)

8. On Intersectional Solidarity in Portugal - Lais Gomes Duarte and Raquel Lima

9. Solidarity Flourishes Under Lockdown in Italy - Eleanor Finley

10. Solidarity Networks in Greece - EP and TP

11. Viral Solidarity: Experiences from the UK - Neil Howard

PART V - TURTLE ISLAND (NORTH AMERICA)

12. Turtle Island - carla bergman and magalí rabasa with Ariella - Patchen and Seyma Özdemir

PART VI - SOUTH AMERICA (ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL)

13. Argentina: Injustices Magnified; Memories of Resistance Reactivated - Nancy Viviana Piñeiro and Liz Mason-Deese

14. On Grassroots Organizing: Excerpts from Brazil - Vanessa Zettler

Concluding to Begin - Colectiva Sembrar

Notes on Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Public Policy
• Social Science
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologie, société et politique
• 21st century
• Sociology
• Social theory
• General officer
• Cultural studies
• Anthropology
• General
• Coronavirus
• Social
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780745343181
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Pandemic Solidarity
Just what we need so desperately in this moment. How we come out of this pandemic will shape the future of humanity. Now, as never before, we have to break the deadly logic of capital. A beautiful and important book.
John Holloway, author of Change the World Without Taking Power
In the midst of a global crisis, we must listen, learn, and build with people from around the world - the essays and insights collected here help us do just that. A crisis is a turning point, and this valuable book can serve as a guide to a better future.
Astra Taylor, director of What Is Democracy?
Our better angels live just around the block, everywhere. These stories teach us of the enormous potential for love and resistance in a world threatened by apocalyptic capitalism.
Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz
Mutual aid, solidarity and commoning become most visible during periods of deep crisis. This is when the structures of the state and of capitalist markets not only fail to address the emergency situation, but they often show their complicity in making it worse. When solidarity is revealed to the majority as the practice that makes a difference, it is as if society en masse were to whisper in our ear its desire to evolve: I want to evolve, I want to evolve, but my evolution depends on you, says society. And again: Make this relational care embedded in solidarity the new gravitational point around which a new world is built. This book listens to this whisper and inspires us all along the path to social change.
Massimo De Angelis, author of Omnia Sunt Communia: On the Commons and the Transformation to Postcapitalism
FireWorks
Series editors:
Gargi Bhattacharyya, Professor of Sociology, University of East London
Anitra Nelson, Associate Professor, Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne
Wilf Sullivan, Race Equality Office, Trade Union Congress


Also available
Reinventing the Welfare State: Digital Platforms and Public Policies Ursula Huws
Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide Vincent Liegey and Anitra Nelson

First published 2020 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright Marina Sitrin 2020
All publishing royalties will be distributed amongst Colectiva Sembrar, who will then share them with groups and movements doing mutual aid and solidarity work.
The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 4317 4 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 4316 7 Paperback ISBN 978 0 7453 4320 4 PDF eBook ISBN 978 0 7453 4319 8 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 0 7453 4318 1 EPUB eBook



Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Contents
List of Figures
Series Preface
Foreword by Rebecca Solnit
Introduction by Marina Sitrin
About Colectiva Sembrar
PART I GREATER MIDDLE EAST (ROJAVA, TURKEY AND IRAQ)
1. Communal Lifeboat: Direct Democracy in Rojava (NE Syria) Emre Sahin and Khabat Abbas
2. Capitalism Kills, Solidarity Gives Life : A Glimpse of Solidarity Networks from Turkey Seyma zdemir
3. Solidarity Network in Iraq During Covid-19: This Time the Enemy is Invisible Midya Khudhur
PART II SOUTH AND EAST ASIA (TAIWAN, SOUTH KOREA AND INDIA)
4. Sharing Spaces and Crossing Borders: Voices from Taiwan Chia-Hsu Jessica Chang
5. Standing in Solidarity with Those Who Must Refuse to Keep Social Distance: Disability Activism in South Korea Ji Young Shin (translated by Han Gil Jang)
6. Rethinking Minority and Mainstream in India Debarati Roy
PART III SOUTHERN AFRICA (MOZAMBIQUE, SOUTH AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE)
7. Confronting State Authoritarianism: Civil Society and Community-Based Solidarity in Southern Africa Boaventura Monjane
PART IV EUROPE (PORTUGAL, GREECE, ITALY AND THE UK)
8. On Intersectional Solidarity in Portugal Lais Gomes Duarte and Raquel Lima
9. Solidarity Flourishes Under Lockdown in Italy Eleanor Finley
10. Solidarity Networks in Greece EP and TP
11. Viral Solidarity: Experiences from the UK Neil Howard
PART V TURTLE ISLAND (NORTH AMERICA)
12. Turtle Island carla bergman and magal rabasa with Ariella Patchen and Seyma zdemir
PART VI SOUTH AMERICA (ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL)
13. Argentina: Injustices Magnified; Memories of Resistance Reactivated Nancy Viviana Pi eiro and Liz Mason-Deese
14. On Grassroots Organizing: Excerpts from Brazil Vanessa Zettler
Concluding to Begin
Colectiva Sembrar
Notes on Contributors
Index
List of Figures
1.1 Commune collective member distributing food packets in Haseke
1.2 Geography teacher from Qamishlo recording her class for TV broadcast
2.1 and 2.2 Neighborhood outreach material from the Kadikoy Solidarity Network
3.1 Making masks, Samawah
3.2 Preparing food supplies, Samawah. Rasan giving masks to police officers
3.3 Preparing food supplies, Duhok. The dry food is a sample of what Rasan has donated
4.1 The Minnan marionette is performed to elders in Hsin-Kang
4.2 Taiwanese wheel pies stamped with the thank you note were donated to the hospitals in Taipei
5.1 Kwon Suchin working on a placard that reads: Proper COVID-19 Relief for People with Disabilities!
5.2 People dancing on stage with singer Im Ch ngt k
7.1 A South African policeman points his pump rifle to disperse a crowd of shoppers in Yeoville, Johannesburg, on March 28, 2020 while trying to enforce a safety distance outside a supermarket
7.2 Food parcels by the People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) to LGBT people, disabled refugees and asylum seekers during the national lockdown in April, Cape Town, South Africa
8.1. and 8.2 Taken in the context of the Popular Network for Mutual Support in Oporto, by one of the activists
9.1 Solidarity Shopping - Don t Panic: Let s Organize! volunteers pick up food at the local food bank for distribution. Their campaign now feeds over 450 families
9.2 Don t Panic: Let s Organize! volunteers organize food like bread, flour and tuna fish for distribution at Ritmo Lento
12.1 Capitalism is a virus, colonialism is a plague
12.2 Free them all
12.3 Mutual Aid Rosie
13.1 Hogar artwork. Monocopy print with nylon and xylography
13.2 School, base for food distribution
14.1 Indigenous community in Jaragua
14.2 Favela da Mar in Rio de Janeiro
14.3 and 14.4 From the MST food distribution
Author photo collage
Flower image/drawing
Series Preface
Addressing urgent questions about how to make a just and sustainable world, the Fireworks series throws a new light on contemporary movements, crises and challenges. Each book is written to extend the popular imagination and unmake dominant framings of key issues.
Launched in 2020, the series offers guides to matters of social equity, justice and environmental sustainability. FireWorks books provide short, accessible and authoritative commentaries that illuminate underground political currents or marginalised voices, and highlight political thought and writing that exists substantially in languages other than English. Their authors seek to ignite key debates for twenty-first-century politics, economics and society.
FireWorks books do not assume specialist knowledge, but offer up-to-date and well-researched overviews for a wide range of politically-aware readers. They provide an opportunity to go deeper into a subject than is possible in current news and online media, but are still short enough to be read in a few hours.
In these fast-changing times, these books provide snappy and thought-provoking interventions on complex political issues. As times get dark, FireWorks offer a flash of light to reveal the broader social landscape and economic structures that form our political moment.
Foreword Rebecca Solnit
There s a remarkable sentence in Marina Sitrin s introduction to this exceptional collection of portraits of mutual aid around the world: Decisions were never based on where there was known solidarity groups and networks, as I assumed they are everywhere. We have often heard about mutual aid and grassroots relief projects as things that suddenly spring up, like mushrooms after a rain, or occur in particular circumstances out of the efforts of particular kinds of people. This might be about defining mutual aid and solidarity too narrowly or not looking hard enough; they are indeed everywhere and always have been and they are what sustains us, the anti-capitalism even in what are supposed to be the most capitalist nations and cities. Layla Ali tells us, in this book, Social solidarity in Iraq existed since long ago before the pandemic. I am used to giving away money for donation each month, even before the pandemic, I also take care of two orphans that I have never met
The generosity without strict rules of reciprocity within families (after all, though you may decades later take care of the parent who cared for you, the contract is unwritten and unenforceable), the work many religious groups do, the work of non-profits and networks dealing with everything from human rights to climate change come to clean up the mess of free market capitalism as ideology and actuality. In fact, capitalism is constantly failing - producing desperation, destruction, alienation - and anti-capitalism comes to undo what it has done and does.
Thus, in many places around the world, civil society, sometimes as the kindness of neighbors and other individuals or casual networks, sometimes as already organized groups, did work that was necessary because of the failure of governments to limit the impact of the virus and meet the needs of people in this crisis. And there were many emergent groups as well, overcoming the requirements of physical distance to find practical, moral, and emotional connection. As Turkish writer Se