Translating solidarity: Charting an emerging field

In this context, this special issue seeks to highlight the importance of translation and interpreting for the practice of solidarity.Although this is a powerful and frequently used concept, it is also conflicting and has generally remained undertheorized (as argued by Bayertz, 1999;Pensky, 2008;Featherstone, 2012).Although it generally involves ¨a readiness to act and/or to make sacrifices¨ (Bayertz, 1999, p. 3) out of a sense of duty towards other individuals or groups, its key point of contention is precisely how to define the motives and affinities that foster this moral "readiness"; in other words, to clearly establish with whom we are morally expected to be solidary and on what grounds.As Sangiovanni and Viehoff (2023) show, the range of moral relationships can be rather diverse, from the class-based solidarity advocated by socialism to the 'national' and 'civic' solidarity that enabled the emergence of modern nation-states.A central contribution to contemporary understandings of solidarity has been David Featherstone's monograph Solidarity (2012).Here, Featherstone argues (2012, p. 5) that solidarity should be understood as "a relation forged through political struggle which seeks to challenge forms of oppression".Importantly, this also implies that solidarity is 'transformative', as it constructs "relations between places, activists, diverse social groups", while creating "new ways of relating" (ibid).In other words, solidarity does not need to happen exclusively between groups that are similar and homogeneous; quite on the contrary, it can be innovative, developing unexpected links between previously unconnected realities.In this light, the practice of solidarity shows strong similarities with the work of translation and interpreting, as both seek to establish new connections between individuals and groups.In fact, translation can be the decisive factor