Solidarity without owners: an ethnography of Canada-Colombia relations 'from below'

Globalization ‘from below’ implies the convergence of contentious globalizing forces from a diverse multitude that challenges the logic of neoliberal capitalism in a variety of ways. Scholars and activists understand these phenomena using varied analytical tools. This study starts from globalization from below as rhizomatic and rooted in the resonance of resistance beyond multiple borders, emphasizing the horizontal construction of solidarity as the basis for ‘weaving’ alternative relations of people autonomous from the state and capital. How is solidarity realized as an everyday experience? Through ethnographic description of the activities and transformations of members of the La Chiva Collective (Canada) and the Tejido de Comunicación (Cauca, Colombia), this study examines solidarity as a local and transnational experience and a political possibility that prefigures alternative relations of peoples across borders. Solidarity ‘without owners’ is a living concept, an incipient everyday political practice rooted in mutual aid, accompaniment, affinity, and affection.