Spatiality of Contentious Politics and Solidarity with Displaced Ukrainians in Prague

Since the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Czech government has granted the greatest number of temporary protection visas per capita, and the host society has shown "unprecedented" solidarity. Wishing to support their country and its army, a group of young people from Ukraine united for a common cause of political advocacy in the urban and political centre of the Czech Republic – Prague. Their newly formed initiative quickly became visible and heard, despite the fact that most of its members had been living in Czechia for less than a year before it was set up. They did not only quickly grasp the nuances of the new political environment but also established strong relations of solidarity with the local activists. The newly formed solidarity ties became most pronounced during the joint counteractions in response to the anti-governmental and xenophobic movement with far-right narratives. This movement "Czech Republic in the 1st place" has significantly contributed to the creation of a contentious political environment and rivalry for the most important public spaces in the city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Prague, this paper shows how the practices of solidarity within a contentious political environment (re)shape urban spaces, charging them with new political meanings. Whenever the radical movement gathered tens of thousands at Wenceslas Square (the main square in the urban heart of Prague), the regular presence of displaced Ukrainians and local activists at the National Museum across the square "unmasked" the movement’s xenophobic nature. The specific spatial setting of Wenceslas Square and the contestation for the Prague public space made the aims of the anti-governmental movement visible to the media and general public. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is to show how by combining the literature on solidarity and social movements with urban studies, the complexities of political activism can be underlined. By looking at how the Ukrainian initiative and the actors in solidarity with them cooperated and stood in solidarity against the exclusionary far-right narratives, we see the reconfigurations in the urban landscape, with multiple public places in Prague getting new meanings and becoming the symbols of inclusivity and solidarity.