Who are we?

Solidarity is an intersectional Marxist organisation that fights against all forms of supremacy (racism, sexism, LGBTQIA+ phobia, etc.), environmental destruction, inequality, colonialism, etc., and against the entire capitalist system.

We are activists within various movements, grassroots collectives, campaigns, trade unions, etc. We come together as Project Solidarity to exchange ideas and strengthen each other, and to develop intersectional strategies within a broad and militant anti-capitalist perspective.

We fight side by side with the working class and groups oppressed by capitalism: women, people of colour, colonised communities, refugees, LGBTQIA+ people, etc. Against a decaying profit system that exploits us and tries to divide us.

We strengthen the organisation of young people, the working class, the oppressed, etc. from the bottom up, in a democratic way. Because only through struggle from below can we achieve change. From demonstrations, direct action, blockades, boycotts, etc. to general strikes, mass uprisings and revolution.

Those who work in the private sector or in public services, people who are chronically ill, people who have had to flee their country, people who are unemployed… all these groups belong to the working class in the broadest sense. The working class, together with others whose standard of living is undermined by the system, comprises the vast majority of the world’s population. As Solidarity, we are part of this diverse working class. Organised, sharpening our political understanding through struggle against crisis and oppression, the working class and young people can become the engine of radical change.

Given the many crises of capitalism today, liberation in the social and economic spheres, in terms of oppression and climate justice, requires a revolutionary break with capitalism. It requires a democratic socialist society: one that is not run by the rich, but by the working class and the oppressed on a global scale.

Together with intersectional marxists in other countries who share our ideas, we are building the foundations of revolutionary organizations that want to change the system.

We do not believe that the struggle for socialist revolution is led by a single organisation, but by a coalition of organisations that – side by side with workers and young people – strive for fundamental social change.

We participate in movements together with other left-wing and anti-capitalist forces and with all workers and young people who take action against this system.

A transition to democratic socialism is necessary. Otherwise, the planet will face further decline and catastrophe in terms of social issues, democratic rights, discrimination and oppression, the environment, geopolitical conflicts and war.

Join us and become part of Solidarity!

What do we do?

As Solidarity, we are inspired by every struggle of workers and young people in Belgium and worldwide. Such as the actions of Code Red for the climate, the campus occupations for Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinian people, Pride is a Protest, the international Gen Z youth protests, mass demonstrations and strikes in Belgium against anti-social policies, Italian dockworkers blocking and striking for justice in Palestine, etc.

Members of Solidarity have helped build – through Campagne Rosa – actions and demonstrations for women’s rights and against gender-based violence and discrimination. In this way, we have put the idea of militant, socialist-feminist actions on 8 March – International Women’s Day – back on the agenda. Action is needed against the anti-feminism of the far right!

In Ghent and Bruges, our members started ‘Pride is a Protest’ in 2021. With this initiative, we want to return to the militant roots of Pride and continue the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights. We also formed Pride is a Protest blocks in the commercial Prides in other cities. In Antwerp, our members are also involved in ‘Reclaim our Pride’.

Our members participate in pro-Palestine actions and in boycotts, blockades and strikes against the genocidal, Zionist apartheid state. We link the struggle against (neo)colonialism in Congo, against the wars in Sudan, Yemen, etc. with the struggle against the exploitative capitalist system at the international level.

We have been involved in anti-fascist campaigns – often together with other left-wing organisations, trade unions, etc. – such as the anti-NSV demonstrations in various student cities (NSV is the fascist student organisation of Vlaams Belang).

Our members are active within the trade unions in the struggle against austerity measures and declining purchasing power. We help build militant trade union networks at the grassroots level. These networks are opposed to social destruction and are also open to activists against fascism, racism, colonialism, sexism, etc., and all forms of oppression (Commune Colère, Social Workers in Action, etc.).

We organise local meetings and open meetings in various cities. In addition, there are working groups on the various aspects of our work. We hold national meetings to exchange experiences, discuss the building of movements, the programme and the struggle needed to move forward and achieve victories, etc.

We strive to be an organisation that creates a combative and supportive atmosphere and is inclusive. We want to structure our meetings and gatherings, as well as national meetings, using interactive and inclusive methods. The well-being of our members is central. Not everyone is active in the same way, but everyone can make a valuable contribution.

Our code of conduct and an organisation free of oppressive and discriminatory attitudes are non-negotiable.

We learn together from the history of the struggle against oppression, colonialism, capitalism, etc., in order to apply the lessons to today’s struggles.

What do we stand for?

Solidarity is necessary in an antisocial, capitalist society based on exploitation and the preaching of discrimination, hatred and exclusion by right-wing and far-right forces. Discriminatory ideas are often passed on in upbringing, education, the workplace, etc. This often makes solidarity difficult. They are an essential part of this system and are reinforced by propaganda. Because everyone grows up within this system and is influenced by it, it is important that we and our members are open to self-criticism and reflection.

Solidarity is necessary to defend our interests as workers, young people and those oppressed by capitalism. To avoid remaining isolated in the resistance against the profit system and to overcome division. Both in Belgium – against right-wing austerity governments – and internationally.

Solidarity with oppressed peoples such as the Palestinian population, who are facing the horror of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are standing up to denounce and fight this abhorrent genocide. Capitalist governments usually limit themselves to symbolic statements.

A struggle is needed in the region and worldwide for the boycott and overthrow of the colonising, Zionist apartheid state. A mass struggle by workers and young people against genocide through consumer, cultural and workers’ boycotts. Through blockades and strikes. Imperialism feels our resistance even more strongly when it is hit in its profits – when the exploitation machine grinds to a halt without our labour!

For an end to all discrimination throughout Palestine and the reconstruction – under the control of democratic committees of workers and young people – of Gaza. Stop the occupation and colonisation of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Kanaky, Kashmir, Rojava… According to Project Solidarity, the struggle for social and national liberation can only be definitively won in the context of a revolutionary, socialist transformation of the region. Resources must be managed collectively and democratically in order to put a definitive end to national oppression and genocide.

Solidarity with refugees, trans people, women, workers, persecuted minorities, organisations, etc. who are targeted by far-right and fascist forces. The far right feeds on the deepening crisis of capitalism and has nothing to offer but scapegoats.

Solidarity with the victims of the hate propaganda of Vlaams Belang, AFD in Germany, the Rassemblement National in France, Modi in India, etc. For a united struggle against the rise of the far right!

For solidarity with people who are forced to flee. Everyone has the right to shelter, protection and a dignified life. For the regularisation of undocumented migrants. The richest 1% and the multinationals must pay for the wars and instability caused by their system.

The traditional capitalist parties are also increasingly using racism and the divide-and-rule method. They undermine democratic rights – as in Belgium – in order to keep their shaky system afloat. Away with the legal attacks on strike action. Away with the use of GAS fines against activists. We must stand up for the right to protest of trade unions, left-wing organisations, the LGBTQIA+ community, etc.

Solidarity in building networks against racism and fascism in our neighbourhoods, workplaces and schools.

Social destruction, solidarity and anti-capitalism

Solidarity with the victims of the anti-social dismantling policy – workers, the unemployed, the long-term sick, etc. – that has been pursued for more than four decades. Since the beginning of the capitalist crisis in the 1970s. The system has undermined our purchasing power, impoverished us and made us ill.

For social benefits that are real replacement incomes and an end to the freezing of our wages. Do not touch wage indexation! Stop the dismantling of pensions.

The expropriation of billionaires and large companies – who skim off the value we create – would make a four-day working week possible, with no loss of pay and additional recruitment. It would also make it possible to support small shops or businesses with a handful of employees in implementing this measure.

Solidarity does not believe that we can fundamentally defend our interests through bourgeois parliaments. The institutions of capitalist democracy can be a platform to strengthen protest movements on the streets. We will only be able to put an end to austerity policies, declining living standards and oppression if we also fight against the system itself. Capitalism cannot be reformed socially because of its recurring crises and depressions and its inherently oppressive nature.

Solidarity between workers and trade unionists in the struggle against right-wing governments of destruction. To this end, we need anti-capitalist militant trade unionism and a democratisation of the trade unions.

Trade union leaders lack militant, anti-capitalist methods and analyses. Their strategy is aimed at “adjusting” social destruction, not at fundamentally breaking with it. We must stand up for grassroots-controlled action plans and strikes in order to break through the offensive of capital.

Intersectional Marxism

Because the various forms of oppression and exploitation under this system overlap and reinforce each other – and can only be eliminated by putting an end to the capitalist system – we strive for an intersectional Marxism.

We stand for a Marxism that sees every social struggle – against sexism, racism, LGBTQIA-phobia, colonialism, inequality, redundancies, etc. – as an integral part of our class struggle.

If you are angry about the injustice you see happening, about discrimination, colonial oppression, the greed of the richest 1%,… then Project Solidarity wants to be a tool to take action against it. Experiences of racism, sexism, exclusion, the antisocial greed of bosses, transphobia, loneliness,… are profound.

For those who do not experience oppression, it is sometimes difficult to empathise. Project Solidarity aims to be a space where people can share their experiences, build solidarity and a sense of community, connected to action and the development of a programme to stop injustice and exploitation.

The fight against sexism is also a fight against racism, when the far right blames certain minorities for violence against women in a reprehensible way. Whereas this violence is part of the patriarchal, capitalist system in all its cultural forms. The destruction of countries by war is a human catastrophe and a catastrophe for the environment.

The Palestinians’ struggle against colonialism is linked to that in eastern Congo against colonial and imperialist interference. And to the struggle against our own capitalist governments in the West, which attack our social rights and also exploit the rest of the world.

Solidarity between all movements fighting against discrimination, oppression, austerity and exploitation is necessary. Only when we defeat the capitalist class together can we lay the foundations for genuine social liberation and freedom from oppression.

Solidarity with countries oppressed by imperialism in the neo-colonial world. We see that young people and sections of the working class in Asia, Africa and Latin America are increasingly rebelling against a capitalist system that offers no future. For international solidarity with all oppressed people worldwide!

Solidarity between the victims of the climate crisis. Capitalism is directly responsible for the lack of decisive climate action and the continued growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is causing more floods, droughts and extreme weather phenomena.

Under capitalism – based on competition and the pursuit of profit – measures to save the environment are always too little, too late. “Green capitalism” is not possible. There is an urgent need to opt for mass public transport, for an accelerated transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, for the insulation of buildings, for sustainable production instead of products that are made to break down quickly, etc. The first meaningful steps in this direction can only be taken on the basis of a socialist revolution. To really combat the climate crisis, a democratically planned, socialist economy on a global scale is needed.

Solidarity with workers, the poor, women and children… who suffer from increasing wars and inter-imperialist conflicts. We live in a world order divided into competing capitalist camps – an era of disorder and militarisation.

The threat of war today is a direct consequence of the slowing growth and accelerating crises of the capitalist system. The ruling elites are striving for an imperialist redistribution of spheres of influence and markets.

The geopolitical, economic and environmental crises reinforce each other. For international solidarity and resistance against the various capitalist blocs. Project Solidarity stands up for the right of nations to self-determination, against militarisation and for a global struggle of workers, the poor and young people against the warmongering, bankrupt ruling classes. The slogan ‘socialism or barbarism’ is acute today and a call for organisation, awareness and action.

Democratic socialism

Project Solidarity does not take the former Stalinist countries as its model. These were totalitarian and bureaucratic regimes, without democracy in the workplace. This lack of democracy, right to criticise, etc. led to their collapse.

We stand for a pluralistic council democracy, as it initially existed during the Russian Revolution.

We stand for democratic socialism. A socialist society in which democracy is organised from the workplace. With free elections for democratically elected committees or councils in workplaces, neighbourhoods and schools. With the possibility of permanent recall of elected representatives and an end to highly paid career politicians.

Such a system would allow work to be shared, less work to be done and more free time to be enjoyed. People would have more time for their families, to develop themselves, away from the exhausting, competitive system that capital and billionaires impose on us. A transition to collective, democratic management of the enormous wealth would allow us to build a truly solidary society, which makes an end to all discrimination and oppression a priority.

Democracy and engagement

Project Solidarity aims to build an intersectional Marxist organisation based on militant members and supporters, diversity and democratic functioning, with a focus on personal well-being. An organisation that constantly renews its revolutionary programme in dialogue with the various movements. An organisation that also wants to continue to improve internally by fighting for inclusivity and creating an environment free of unhealthy or toxic masculinity.

Global capitalism no longer offers a future for people and the planet. Together with the working class and young people, we have a world to win! If you are interested in the ideas, programme and functioning of Project Solidarity, please contact us for a conversation or additional information. Let us fight for a world free from all exploitation and oppression, a socialist world. Let us build a united struggle of the working class in all its diversity, based on cooperation and solidarity.