Ten anarchists, equal vegetables and a political party

“What does solidarity mean to you?” – Searching for the truth and objectivity, this is what I asked my friends from the different countries of Europe. And here is what I got:

“If to think in the Polish context, “Solidarność” is a political party. And if to think in a general way, solidarity is a support of the opinion or action of the other people” (Inna, Ukrainian living in Poland).

“It is a respect of the principles of fairness” (Alexej, Belarusian living in Finland).

“Solidarity means supporting actions of another person, country or a group of people. For example, when one country supports another in a fight against aggression” (Galina, Russian living in Ukraine).

“We have a joke in Greece. How many anarchists does it take to change a lamp? 10. One to change it and nine for solidarity :)” (Dimitrios, Greek living in Germany).

“Solidarity: helping others even though there is nothing to gain from it for yourself” (Yoeri, Dutch living in the Netherlands).

 “It means for me to be fair and open and to support someone even though the others are against this person” (Florian, German living in Germany).

“The word solidarity was used very often during our school lessons dedicated to Soviet history. When I saw your question, I thought of it for a bit and came to the conclusion that I have a very general understanding of solidarity. How comes I have never read any official definition of it?... I associate this term with an agreement, fairness… Moreover, “Solidarity” is the name of a village, where my aunt lives. I guess all the vegetables are equal there :)” (Yaroslava, Ukrainian living in the Netherlands).

It is interesting to see how cultural background influences the way we think. If you come from Poland or live their now, you would mention that “Solidarity” is the name of one of the Polish parties. Coming from Russia, it is difficult not to interpret this word politically; and experiencing the collapse of the Soviet Union one would logically think of the solidarity as a part of Soviet ideology. But what I have noticed from all of the answers is that solidarity makes us closer to each other. It teaches to listen to the others, to support people with the same or similar views, to strive for more fairness in the world, to be altruistic and sensitive.

Solidarity can be understood on a very personal level, known to a very few, like the name of the village where the family of my friend lives. It can be recognised on the level of a country, as in the case of Poland. Or it can be known as a definition from philosophy or history books. Moreover, there can be solidarity to a specific person, or a group of people, to a particular culture or country. Thus, taking into account how broad this term is, is it even necessary to put it in a strict frame? Or maybe it is enough to see people from different cultural backgrounds unanimously agreeing that solidarity can make our world a better place, does not matter what the exact definition of it is?