Social justice practices: the role of grassroots mutualistic initiatives during and after the pandemic

In the context of the pandemic, many grassroots mutualistic initiatives were organised to tackle the immediate needs related to the health and the ensuing Covid-related social crisis. While the fact that collective action was able to adapt to exceptional circumastances is a well acknowledged tenet in the literature by now, little is know about how Covid-related experiences influenced actors' identity, role and strategic goals in post pandemic times. Which trasformative potential, if any, has Covid-related activism had on to actors' role ? This contribution tackles this question by an in-depth analysis of the trajectories of two pre-Covid existing grassroots actors in the territory of Milan, both engaged in Covid-DSAa during the pandemic: Rimake and Lambretta. By four interviews and document analysis, the article sheds light on two possible dynamics of interaction between Covid-DSAs and actors' pre-Covid activity: path dependency, as in the case of Rimake, or path breaking, as in the case of Lambretta.