Solidarity Network – The Binding Chaos Lexicon

In this way, they became part of an extended solidarity network of all the campaigns I worked on.

Expanded explanation

The solidarity network is what Marsh offers in place of solidarity, and the difference is that nothing is demanded. A network of this kind is built from people who have worked together and remain available to each other, without shared identity, shared principles or any standing obligation. Her description of how one forms is practical. Wiser people kept her on their list of friends so she would always be willing to step back in when necessary, and in that way they became part of an extended solidarity network covering all the campaigns she worked on, with the participants being a very supportive extended solidarity network for each other. What it supplies is amplification at moments when a small campaign needs it. She campaigned for the Canadian captive Omar Khadr for almost 13 years and could always ask the others for amplification at key times, and when 100 captives began a hunger strike she launched opGTMO on its 100th day together with Anonymous and other collectives, joining multiple parallel campaigns from advocacy groups and large non-profits. All the Guantanamo advocates together could not have created the awareness boost that the extended solidarity did. The reason this matters structurally is that small groups spend years or decades on a single cause, and burnout and exhaustion are the enemies of activists, so a network supplying replenishment without demanding membership addresses the depletion directly.

In Heather Marsh’s words

Marsh describes an arrangement built from past collaboration rather than from agreement, which is what distinguishes it from solidarity.

“being a very supportive extended solidarity network for each other”
Stigmergy

Examples

Nothing demanded: Availability rather than agreement is what the network runs on, so no shared identity or principle is required.
Amplification at key moments: A long campaign needs sudden reach occasionally rather than sustained support, which is what the network supplies.
Against burnout: Small groups working for decades exhaust themselves, and replenishment without membership addresses the depletion directly.

How others use it

Coalition building is the standard term in movement organizing and is usually understood to require negotiated common positions. Mark Granovetter's weak ties argument shows why loosely connected networks outperform dense ones for reach, which is the mechanism behind the amplification Marsh describes. Mutual aid networks provide practical support without formal membership. Research on activist burnout documents the depletion she names. Her contribution is to make the absence of agreement a feature rather than a limitation, since a network requiring no shared position cannot be split by discovering that its members hold different ones.