In the wake of COVID-19, a range of civil society actors, from grassroots groups, social movements, and NGOs, stepped in to provide support and assistance to communities. Alongside providing material support (e.g., food, medical supplies etc.) and mutual aid, civil society organisations have been at the forefront in campaigning for better policies and social protections for communities. In this panel, we bring together speakers who have been working with communities across the globe, from Chile, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and the US to document practices of solidarity, resistance, and mutual aid.
They will discuss how civil society organisations are responding to the new challenges and examine the forms of solidarity and agency that are emerging. As we ponder the question, “How do we get to a post-COVID world?", we need to consider the ways in which actors across civil society are not only meeting immediate needs, but more importantly, how through prefigurative forms of action they are imagining and enacting new social relations and practices of wellbeing and care.
Meet our speakers and chair
Paul Apostolidis (@apostopc) is Associate Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Government at LSE.
Irene Guijt (@guijti) is Head of Evidence and Strategic Learning at Oxfam GB.
Armine Ishkanian (@Armish15) is Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme in the International Inequalities Institute at LSE.
Anita Peña Saavedra (@anpenasaavedra) is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and Associate Researcher in the Laboratorio de Transformaciones Sociales at the University of Diego Portales, Chile.
Fabrício Mendes Fialho is a Research Officer at the LSE III Politics of Inequality research theme. His work lies at the intersection of political psychology, comparative public opinion research, and quantitative methodology to examine political attitudes, inequalities, and intergroup behavior.
More about this event
The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
The Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme is a Global South-focused, funded fellowship for mid-career activists, policy-makers, researchers and movement-builders from around the world. Based at the International Inequalities Institute, it is a 20-year programme that commenced in 2017 and was funded with a £64m gift from Atlantic Philanthropies, LSE’s largest ever philanthropic donation.
Twitter Hashtags for this event: #LSEInequalities #AtlanticFellows
Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.
Podcast & Video
A podcast of this event is available to download from Civil Society, Solidarity and Emergent Agency in the Time of COVID-19.
A video of this event is available to watch at Civil Society, Solidarity and Emergent Agency in the Time of COVID-19.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.