Solidarity is not an act of charity but the iron law of social transformation

Refugee child at Hungarian-Serbian border (AP Photo:Darko Vojinovic) Sept 18 2015

“The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives & him that takes.” –Shakespeare

It isn’t just mercy that refugees require because that has a sense of noblesse oblige & solidarity is a very different thing. But if you substitute mercy with solidarity in this beautiful passage from The Merchant of Venice, the message is the same.

Solidarity is not an act of charity but a recognition that our fates are tied together, that we are bound by economics, politics, colonialism & war–& that social transformation is forged only by our unity as brothers & sisters to end tyranny & make this world suitable for children to live & love in.

This little girl is in Serbia at a locked down Hungarian border crossing. Children may be the future but we are the present & have every obligation to fight for them so their lives are blessed.

(Photo by Darko Vojinovic/AP)