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Intersectional Solidarity: the freedom and opportunity to build collective resistance and resilience through shared vulnerability

Intersectionally inclusive participation transforms individual struggle into shared vulnerability and sense-making. This dynamic process develops through participatory democratic practices grounded in lived experiences. Rooted in Black feminism, an intersectional lens (Crenshaw 1991) calls for attention to how multiple intersecting layers of oppression and advantage shape participation in democratic life. From a capabilities perspective, these may lead to “corrosive disadvantages” (Wolff and de Shalit 2007) but also pave the possibility for transformative change on individual and collective levels (Collins 2017: 36). Here, solidarities are flexible and dynamic, rather than fixed around predetermined categories of identities (Collins 2017). Through inclusive participation, shared vulnerability becomes a foundation for collective resilience, resistance (Masungo 2024: 213) and more equitable policy development (Bussu 2025).

Downstream Enablers of Intersectional Solidarity in INSPIRE

„ Time-aware approaches recognise that time in participation is not neutral (INSPIRE Safe(r) Spaces Deliverable D3.2, forthcoming; Bussu et al, 2025b). Intersectional inequalities shape temporal inequalities, and this can be addressed through flexibility to depart from planned schedules and respond to different time needs and resources.

„ Power-sensitive methods like Theatre of the Oppressed (Boal 1979) and related methods are designed to reflect on how power is experienced in everyday life and help to make connections between individual or personal battles and structural systems of oppression.