Anna Wadia: Solidarity is How We Endure — And How We Win

ID: Black and white closeup of three hands tenderly touching

By Anna Wadia

Last month, just outside of Detroit, Michigan, I stood in a circle of caregivers, organizers, and advocates as they shared what the fight for care means in their lives. There were no cameras, no policy memos. Just raw truth. And dancing. And laughter. And tears. Because even in the exhaustion–or maybe especially in it–solidarity gives us the strength to keep going.

In this historically consequential time for our democracy–with growing authoritarian threats and rising inequality–I’m reminded that care isn’t just policy. It’s survival. It’s resistance. And its unifying force must also be our strategy.

Let’s be clear: authoritarianism doesn’t arrive overnight. It grows quietly through policies that normalize inequality, exploit the economic precarity of families, and devalue workers—especially women of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people. It feeds on isolation, invisibility, and the myth that our fates are not bound together.

Care work, however, reveals the truth that we are all interconnected. Whether we’re talking to a Black home care worker in Detroit, a white mom in rural Ohio, or a young Latine organizing their workplace in New Mexico, people understand what’s at stake when care systems fail. The care agenda is powerful because it’s personal and offers a vision of shared investment in each other’s wellbeing.

In studying countries that have backslid from democracy, one lesson stands out loud and clear: Solidarity is a key part of the firewall. As democracy scholar Maria J. Stephan has noted, “When people feel supported, when they know that others have their backs, they are more likely to engage in courageous acts. Solidarity incentivizes courage–and it creates the will and opportunity to mobilize a lot more people and power for the political fight against autocracy.”

That’s exactly why efforts to erode public goods so often go hand in hand with efforts to keep us isolated. The people waging these attacks want us fragmented and exhausted. Yet across the country, the opposite is taking root. Communities are finding common cause, building alliances, and organizing across care issues in ways that defy those divisions.

“We talk about big-tent solidarity, but too often overlook a sleeping giant: the 60 million people with disabilities in this country who have been under-leveraged and under-organized,” explained Dessa Cosma, executive director of Detroit Disability Power, at the recent Michigan convening hosted by the CARE Fund. “That’s changing. We’re already building a national strategy rooted in disability justice—one that connects local organizing to a broader vision of shared power. We all have less access to the levers of democracy than we did before, which makes it even more urgent to act collectively.”

It’s not just disability care organizers in Michigan connecting local activism to national strategies for shared power. We see it in care workers uniting with immigrant rights groups to defend both fair wages and freedom from persecution. We see it in coalitions of parents, workers, and older adults rallying to protect healthcare, independent living supports, and childcare. 

In fact, people throughout all 50 states have been coming together to demand that our families come first—not billionaires, not authoritarians. They are speaking out against policies that are making it harder for them to care for their loved ones: ripping healthcare from 15 million people, threatening essential care for people with disabilities to live independently, and terrorizing immigrants, including home care and child care workers. These issues transcend party lines because no matter where we live or how we vote, families want the chance to care for their loved ones with dignity and security.

Real change is possible when we choose to show up—not just for those who agree with us, but also for those who may not. What matters is a shared vision of a society rooted in care and free from tyranny in all its forms.

Will that be enough to hold the line in 2025 and inspire the movement we need to realize our boldest goals? It has to be.

There is no cavalry coming. We are the ones showing up, reaching across our differences to build something powerful and lasting. Solidarity is a muscle we strengthen through both shared meals and collective action. It does not guarantee quick victories, but it offers the courage and endurance we need for the long road ahead.

Anna Shireen Wadia is the executive director of the Care for All with Respect & Equity (CARE) Fund.