Political narratives on solidarity during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the narratives and solidarity practices of members of the Movement of Workers for Rights in a peripheral and poor community of Belo Horizonte – Pedreira Prado Lopes – during the covid-19 pandemic. This ethnographic research was developed between 2020 and 2021, based on participant-observation in four Movement of Workers for Rights events; five semi-structured virtual interviews with militants and coordinators of the movement; and the analysis of documents produced by the entity. Based on reflections from studies of urban anthropology and the so-called anthropology of politics, the ethnographic reports, documents and interviews were analyzed to highlight worldviews on politics – thought and lived in the processes of struggle and in solidarity actions. Solidarity was understood as a community strategy for material survival during the crisis, but it was also treated as part of a repertoire of political practices of this group – associated with a certain political project defended by the Movement of Workers for Rights coordination. The discussions and reflections on solidarity actions evidenced values and moralities around the meanings associated with solidarity. The internal divergences about conceptions and practices of solidarity have made explicit the nuances of the process of daily construction of a social movement, in which the ideals of solidarity are directly associated with a shared ideal of collectivity.