Forging solidarity

Amy Chin-Arroyo and Jaya Ramji-Nogales explore international solidarity as it relates to global migration, identifying an array of solidarity actors and proposing an epistemology of solidarity, or solidarity as method. Recognizing that solidarity is a broad and contested/contestable term, subject to many meanings and interpretations, the chapter contributes to the goals of this edited volume by elucidating several underexplored theoretical and operational aspects of the concept of solidarity. It begins by considering the definition of solidarity in international law, drawing from the Draft Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity and other international legal sources to examine solidarity as a principle, a right, and a duty, and to underscore the importance of a culture of solidarity. The chapter next explores the dark sides of solidarity in the migration context: negative legal solidarity and anti-solidarity law and policy. The former includes efforts by states to exclude migrants at all costs, and the latter entails the use of law to punish individuals and organizations that facilitate the movement of migrants. In order to combat negative solidarity and anti-solidarity, the chapter explores methods of forging a culture of positive solidarity. Using solidarity as method or an epistemology of solidarity, Chin-Arroyo and Ramji-Nogales look to the Global South to locate knowledge on how to construct a culture of solidarity. Beginning with migrants and those who assist them in transit states, the chapter asks what solidarity means to these actors and which aspects of solidarity are most vital to facilitating mobility. The authors then explore the question of how to forge a culture of solidarity with migrants and what role law might play in creating and supporting that culture. Looking to Article 7(4) of the Draft Declaration, which suggests that states should ensure meaningful participation of those impacted by decision making at national, bilateral, regional, and international levels, the authors argue that in order to prioritize, theorize, an operationalize solidarity rights, academics and policymakers must learn from migrants themselves as well as their facilitators in the Global South, which is where most of the migrant journey takes place. Chin-Arroyo and Ramji-Nogales present a case study of Central American migrants moving through Mexico to determine how to build institutions that can support solidarity amongst both migrants and those who care for them during their journeys. The authors emphasize the importance of human connection and identification to forging a culture of emancipatory solidarity that can challenge borders and legal and political exclusion. The chapter concludes that international law must follow the lead of migrants and their facilitators to support the development and sustenance of a culture of solidarity.