Solidarity: A Meme Whose Time Has Come

Note: Cross-posted at The Left End of the Dial

In late September of last year, I came upon a post by Cernig (An Argument for a Coalition of the Left) in which he argues for some an American political movement, using Poland’s Solidarity Union as a template. Over the next several days, he further fleshed out the concept (Dinosaur Democrats; American Solidarity – Time To Stand Up). Suffice it to say, I rather liked the idea (and expanded on some of my initial thoughts near the end of the first week of October). Other bloggers around the same time really dug the idea: Comments from Left Field, Shakespeare’s Sister, P!, etc. We have an American Solidarity blogroll that weighs in at about a dozen bloggers from that initial spark. Not exactly huge, but memes take time to spread.
Well, it turns out that over in another corner of blogtopia, another bunch of bloggers have been discussing the Solidarity idea. A blog called I Cite has recently published a series of articles on the Solidarity idea: In Search of Solidarity — In These Times; What the Hell is Wrong With Solidarity? (or “we are all of the rabble”); and Solidarity and the phenomenology of the picket line. Before the Law has also been riffing on the concept here and here. Long Sunday provides a Solidarity roundup of bloggers who’ve been discussing the concept:

• Mark at Long Sunday: Touched by Bloodless Abstraction
• Craig at Long Sunday: Why Not Vote?
• Scott at The Valve: More Groovy Street Theater?
• Charles at Long Sunday: difference without apologies
• Alain at Long Sunday: Nation’s Snowmen March Against Global Warming
• Jon at Long Sunday: smoking and drinking together
• Ken at Long Sunday: Beating an Undead Horse: Imagining the New Left Imagining
• Matt at The Weblog:  The Politics of 1999
• Jodi at I Cite: Solidarity?  Justice? and the Third (crossposted here)
• Jon at Posthegemony: solidarity
• Adam at Before the Law: Agamben and Derrida on language and the political
• Angela at the archive: Rational-isations #2
• Jodi at I Cite: In Search of Solidarity — In These Times
• Jon at Posthegemony: mediation
• Ken at Ghost in the Wire: Zizek and Levinas
• Lenin at his Tomb: Free speech, political correctness and solidarity
• Jodi at I Cite: We know, but nevertheless…
• Nate at What in the hell…: … is solidarity
• Norm at normblog: Rescuers 1
• Old at The Weblog: Cell Politics
• Richard at Commie Curmudgeon: Much-Needed Definitions of “Solidarity”
• Jodi at I Cite: What the hell is wrong with Solidarity? (or, “we are all of the rabble”)
• Jon at Posthegemony: campaign
• Carl at Long Sunday: The real realness

 And the beat goes on…  

• Chris at Attitude Adjustor: Why We Fight History
• Adam at Before the Law: On Solidarity (I)
• Jodi at I Cite: Solidarity and the phenomenology of the picket line
• Scott at the Valve: Do You Believe In Magic? Literary Thinking and the New Left

   And by author…  

• Adam at Before the Law: Agamben and Derrida on language and the political; On Solidarity (I)
• Alain at Long Sunday: Nation’s Snowmen March Against Global Warming
• Angela at the archive: Rational-isations #2
• Carl at Long Sunday: The real realness
• Chris at Attitude Adjustor: Why We Fight History
• Charles at Long Sunday: difference without apologies
• Craig at Long Sunday: Why Not Vote?
• Jodi at I Cite: Solidarity?  Justice? and the Third (crossposted here); In Search of Solidarity — In These Times; We know, but nevertheless…; What the hell is wrong with Solidarity? (or, “we are all of the rabble”); Solidarity and the phenomenology of the picket line
• Jon at Posthegemony and Long Sunday: solidarity; mediation; campaign; smoking and drinking together
• Ken at Long Sunday and Ghost in the Wire: Beating an Undead Horse: Imagining the New Left Imagining; Zizek and Levinas
• Lenin at his Tomb: Free speech, political correctness and solidarity
• Mark at Long Sunday: Touched by Bloodless Abstraction
• Matt at The Weblog:  The Politics of 1999
• Nate at What in the hell…: … is solidarity
• Norm at normblog: Rescuers 1
• Old at The Weblog: Cell Politics
• Richard at Commie Curmudgeon: Much-Needed Definitions of “Solidarity”
• Scott at The Valve: More Groovy Street Theater?; Do You Believe In Magic? Literary Thinking and the New Left

Some interesting stuff to check out. Hopefully we can get a cross-pollination of ideas going.