Solidarity, Not Charity
Charity treats poverty as a tragedy. Solidarity treats it as an injustice.
Charity asks who deserves help. Solidarity asks why anyone needs it in the first place.
The Normalisation of Charity
In the UK, food banks and charitable provision have become normalised responses to poverty. This normalisation hides the political choices that made them necessary. Emergency support becomes permanent infrastructure, and crisis becomes routine.
Charity is often framed as kindness. But kindness does not challenge power.
What Solidarity Means
Solidarity starts from a different place. It recognises that poverty is produced by systems—housing markets, labour markets, welfare policy—and that surviving those systems requires collective support and collective action.
Solidarity does not mean everyone is the same. It means people commit to supporting each other because their struggles are connected.
Charity vs. Solidarity
Charity
Treats poverty as tragedy
Asks who deserves help
Creates dependency
Manages poverty
Does not challenge power
Solidarity
Treats poverty as injustice
Asks why help is needed
Builds collective power
Fights to end poverty
Takes fight to the powerful
At Food & Solidarity, Solidarity Means:
- People organizing together around shared conditions
- Refusing narratives that blame individuals for systemic harm
- Building power, not dependency
- Taking the fight to the powerful
Food on its own does not end hunger. Charity on its own does not end poverty, it's not designed to. Only organized, collective power can do that.
Solidarity is not about being generous. It is about being committed.
Join the Movement
Become part of an organization that believes in solidarity, not charity. Where members build collective power to challenge the systems causing poverty and insecurity.
Become a MemberFrequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between charity and solidarity?
Charity treats poverty as a tragedy and asks who deserves help. Solidarity treats poverty as an injustice and asks why anyone needs help in the first place. Charity can create dependency, while solidarity builds collective power to challenge the systems causing poverty.
Why doesn't Food & Solidarity operate as a charity?
Charity alone does not end poverty—it's not designed to. Food & Solidarity believes only organized, collective power can address the root causes of poverty. Members organize together around shared conditions, refuse narratives that blame individuals for systemic harm, and build power rather than dependency.
What does solidarity mean at Food & Solidarity?
Solidarity means people organizing together around shared conditions, refusing narratives that blame individuals for systemic harm, building power not dependency, and taking the fight to the powerful. It recognizes that poverty is produced by systems and that surviving those systems requires collective support and action.
Does Food & Solidarity provide food parcels?
Yes, but food on its own does not end hunger. Food parcels help people survive while organizing and fighting together for systemic change. They are a starting point for collective action, not an endpoint.
37% of private renters & around 40% of social renters are in poverty after housing costs and that many households are only pushed into poverty once rent is paid.
After housing costs matter because it shows what people have left to live on, not what they earn.
Freezing Local Housing Allowance while rents rise is deepening hardship. We see this every week in the lives of our members. But increasing this allowance in a housing system without rent regulation does not solve the problem.
Sometimes change doesn't start with a big plan. It starts with people talking about what they're seeing every day, and deciding they can't ignore it anymore. That's how this campaign began.
It Started at a Members' Meeting
At a regular Food and Solidarity members' meeting, child poverty came up again. Members talked about how the two-child benefit cap was affecting families, and how immigration rules like NRPF (No Recourse to Public Funds) meant some families couldn't get help at all.
Someone suggested: what if we actually organised around this?
This April, Food & Solidarity is running a practical workshop on housing organising - how to act when someone near you is in trouble, and how neighbours can back each other up instead of dealing with landlords and councils alone.
The day before, we're also taking part in a booklet launch that came directly out of that work.
These events are about what happens when neighbours stop dealing with housing problems alone - and start acting together.