Against the Tide: Transnational Solidarity in Brexit Britain

Citation

Baglioni S, Biosca O & Montgomery T (2020) Against the Tide: Transnational Solidarity in Brexit Britain. In: Lahusen C, Zschache U & Kousis M (eds.) Transnational Solidarity in Times of Crises: Citizen Organisations and Collective Learning in Europe. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 181-207. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49659-3_7

Abstract
This chapter discusses UK-based civil society organisations supporting vulnerable groups (migrants, refugees and asylum seekers; disabled people; and the unemployed) which have been on the front line of a decade of austerity and funding cuts. It does so by exploring the relationship between these organisations and policymakers; the impact of austerity on the organisations themselves; the mission and activities of these organisations and the cooperation between organisations at different scales (transnational, national and local). Our findings reveal a tale of ‘two Britains’: one of top-down policies and discourses which are anti-solidarity and re-activate decades-old discourses of dependency and deservingness; and another Britain of grassroots solidarity, (self-)organised from the bottom up, often in partnership with austerity-hit local government.

Keywords
Solidarity; transnational; citizen organisations; civil society

Notes
Results presented in this book have been obtained through the project ‘European paths to transnational solidarity at times of crisis: Conditions, forms, role-models and policy responses’ (TransSOL). Tis project was funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 649435).

People

Dr Tom Montgomery

Lecturer in Work & Organisations, Management, Work and Organisation