What happens when our society is faced with an existential crisis?

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