#solidarity - 2/2 - Empathy Action

One of the words we have been sharing at Empathy Action, possibly more than any other over these last weeks, has been solidarity. We’ve been asking each other questions such as how do we stand in solidarity with those in need, with those who are oppressed, with those who are impoverished and struggling in our world today. If the Covid-19 crisis has shown us anything, it’s the absolute importance of community, the need to work together, every one of us, to help each other.

The resonance of the word solidarity has never felt more pertinent than over this last week. We have seen solidarity in action as people take to the streets together, not only in the USA and the UK, but across the whole world, to protest against racism.

A woman wearing a face mask raises her fist during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of African-American man George Floyd, at Hermannplatz square in Neukoelln district, Berlin, Germany, May 31, 2020. REUTERS/Christian Mang (via Al-Jazeera)

We add our voices to theirs across social media and within our own homes. We’ve been reminded that solidarity is also listening and learning. It isn’t always comfortable. It forces us to question how we live our lives and how our world operates. It asks us to do the work. But, within that discomfort, is the possibility of real action and of change.

To stand in solidarity requires two things that mean much to us at Empathy Action. It means having empathy, finding our common connection, our humanity, and then using this empathy to take action, to stand up for those whose voices are not heard, who have not been listened to, both here and across our world. When we stand in solidarity, we stand together.