Scopes of Solidarity in Times of Crisis: Insights from Poland

Abstract

Poland coped well with the worldwide economic crisis and refugee challenge. However, studies show that the crisis did in fact exist, and the state’s poor response to it was reflected in the citizens who bore its brunt. As for migration, polarised public discourse and the attitude of the government resulted in social tension, including extreme right-wing parties mobilising citizens around migration issues. In this chapter, using qualitative data from the TransSOL project, the authors answer the following question: How have crises and other changing circumstances affected organised solidarity in different social fields, namely unemployment, migration and disability? The chapter argues that, according to the theory of the economic recession’s impact on multidimensional solidarity due to the austerity measures, or the Polish government’s inaction, social solidarity did emerge, but in unforeseen ways and fields.

What Is Solidarity About? Views of Transnational Organisations’ Activists in Germany, Poland, and Greece

“…In contrast to Greece and Germany, momentum for enhanced politicisation of TSOs was thus rather weak. Among the established TSOs, a considerable part seeks to operate in a neural, professional manner and abstains from taking a political stance in order to secure their access to public funds, on which many rely regularly (Petelczyc et al, 2021). 2 While we found country differences in the degree of politicisation noteworthy, it is striking that politically oriented activists are guided by similar normative principles across the three countries.…”

“…This also applies to those that address urgent needs, because of a strong interlinkage of providing support and political activism among the Greek and German TSOs (Kanellopoulos et al, 2021;Misbach, 2015;Schmid, 2019;Vathakou, 2015;Zamponi and Bosi, 2018). In comparison, only a few TSOs from Poland admitted to having any political motives or objectives (Petelczyc et al, 2021).…”