The concept of solidarity in the discourse of liberal irony

Abstract

Modern geopolitics, through the war in Ukraine, has posed numerous challenges to the international community. While Ukrainian society struggles for its identity, the European mentality is undergoing a reconceptualization of the notion of solidarity. In the historical context of Ukrainian society, the concept of "solidarity" is primarily associated with the Soviet era, when social unity was constructed through political and ideological class solidarity. However, the alliance of the working class and the peasantry led to a policy of destroying the Ukrainian peasantry through collective farms, the Holodomor, and the devaluation of Ukrainian agency. Soviet ideology institutionalized the holiday of international workers' solidarity at the state level according to its own internal logic. To be "solidary" meant to support and approve party decisions; otherwise, an individual was branded an "enemy of the people". Thus, solidarity was transformed into an obligation to the Soviet authorities and became an axiom of opposition to "others". In other words, if you were not solidary, you did not support the party line and automatically opposed the unity of the Soviet people. Consequently, the full-scale war in Ukraine has, for Ukrainians, intensified the concept of "identity," which stands in opposition to the Russian stigma of devaluing the Ukrainian nation. Language, culture, and the Motherland have become symbols of resistance and the defense of their territories. Within this framework, reimagining and perceiving oneself within the boundaries of the Ukrainian nation is a crucial step in resisting Kremlin branding. In this sense, identity becomes not only an internal self-awareness of "who I am" through categories of nation, ethnicity, and culture , but it also raises questions regarding the reconceptualization of the category of solidarity. While "identity" and "solidarity" are closely intertwined for the Ukrainian nation through the category of war, migration has become the true challenge for the European community. Therefore, this work is dedicated to analyzing the concepts of solidarity in the works of Paul Gilroy, Richard Rorty, and Lilie Chouliaraki. These authors reject fixed identity and see its continuation precisely in solidarity.