Political Solidarity Without Appearance: Minimal Relationality Beyond Manifestation

This paper proposes a reconfiguration of political solidarity by removing manifestation—visibility, recognition, and addressability—as necessary conditions for political relation. Drawing on critiques of phenomenality in the works of Hannah Arendt and Judith Butler, it argues for a model of minimal solidarity grounded not in appearance but in structural endurance. By subtracting manifestation, political relation becomes more resilient, extending solidarity to those rendered invisible, unintelligible, or inaudible by existing structures of power. Minimal solidarity resists the commodification of suffering and the logics of spectacle, offering a foundation for political life that persists irrespective of visibility or recognition. It also broadens political ontology beyond the human, encompassing non-human and future beings. This approach has profound implications for contemporary political practice, particularly in contexts of systemic invisibility, and points toward a more inclusive and enduring conception of political life.