As the strike progresses it is interesting to see how different perspectives and rhetorics emerge, propagate and flourish or diminish. In a connected, social media world, this can happen in the time between lunchtime and dinner.

Many of these relate, in one way or another, to the central tenet of the strike – solidarity. Solidarity, and how you demonstrate it, seems to cause a remarkable amount of division. Clearly, there are very obvious distinctions which seem cut and dried; some people are on the picket with the banner, some people are walking past it and going to work. But this black and white differentiation ignores a thousand shades of grey. As a relative newbie to strike action, I’m trying to decide where the threshold that defines solidarity actually lies.

Yesterday, I spent part of the morning writing my blog, some more time travelling into town to find I’d just missed the pickets, an hour trudging home in the rain, and the afternoon at home with my Twitter feed pinging at me, feeling rather sorry for myself. I’d assumed that I could strike by lurking at home, having an impact by withdrawing my labour and getting some much needed thinking time. But I was lonely – yes, I know, less than two days in – I missed my work colleagues and that thinking was already generating work-y ideas I was itching to progress.

On Twitter, however, every other tweet seemed to be about #digitalpickets. Strident voices warned of the dire consequences of checking emails, using online uni systems, tweeting about research. Tweeting about anything non-strike, in fact. I began to feel guilty – I had retweeted an article about natural flood management that morning, and liked a post from a major meeting on refugees and the university that I’d been following for a while. By straying off-message, was I diluting the power of the strike, undoing the efforts of picketers and negotiating teams across the country? Yikes! Am I doing that right now?

Another part of me fought back. No, I’ve withdrawn my labour, the essential functions which my department depends on me for, I’m making a stand by tweeting and writing my blog, trying to unpack the fundamental importance of the strike from a broader perspective than four bullet points on a flier. What’s more – hands off my grey matter! What’s next, #thoughtpickets? Should I suppress those interesting ideas I’d had and try to rethink them next Thursday back in the office? I had a vision of Homer Simpson trying to rid himself of his workplace crush on Mindy: “think unsexy thoughts, think unsexy thoughts…”

Anyway, this morning I found myself on my first ever picket outside the Owen Building. Curiosity? Penance?! I stood for an hour and a half in the drizzle alongside some interesting colleagues from across the university. We waved our placards, handed out some leaflets, smiled at students we knew going in and out (with varying responses). I gave an impromptu interview to someone who said he was a media student from up the road (query to the more experienced – was that wise?).

After the picket I went for lunch with a former colleague from Liverpool who was in Sheffield for the day. Both mid career, he a bit further on than me, we talked about work planning, management, workloads and that tension I’ve mentioned previously between intellectual identity, academic freedom and the job of work we do for our institution. Inevitably, after a beer, the talk drifted towards research and I do hesitate to disclose that we did produce some pretty solid-looking ideas. Did that undo the good things I’d done in the morning? Or was it OK, just as long as I didn’t tell anyone? Ah.

Apologies if I’m being a little facetious. I suppose the point I’m trying to make is about what solidarity looks like. Make no mistake, my support for the strike is strong and it is growing with every day that I participate, every hour that I have as a ‘free academic’ to think and explore further my own and others’ reasons for striking. That exploration includes having conversations about the reasons and rationales for the strike, and for me it includes thinking hard about the relationship between my research life as a whole and the specific projects I develop and run to the benefit of my institution. I’m working hard to promote and propagate the strong messages of solidarity that I’m seeing from all over the country, and add strength to the cause of the strike by adding my own.

But no one owns my solidarity or the way that I express it. Unlike some aspects of university management, the strike needs to accommodate everyone who comes with an open hand and support what they can offer to the cause, in all it’s different forms and to whatever extent they can.

Finally, one thing I’ve been trying to do alongside these ramblings each day is draw attention to other struggles and causes in and around academia globally and locally. This strike is not happening in isolation, and if we forget or diminish the urgent issues of academic persecution in many countries (see www.cara.ngo), the chaos going on around us in British politics (and what that means for the future of the university), or the growing climate crisis (great that UCUHallam will be joining the climate strike on Friday) then we risk losing sight of the purpose in pursuit of the prize.