BLOG 4: ACTIVISM & PROTEST

Since its beginning, social media has provided a platform for its users to express their opinions, feelings and views on topics of their choosing. Through the years, it has evolved into an accessible way for individuals to interact with the global community with a click of a button (Thomson 2018).

(Kulusener 2018)

The Summer of Protest #BLM

George Floyd’s death on Memorial Day set in motion a national reckoning with the systemic inequity that Black Americans have been subjected to in this country for centuries. Thousands took to the streets in protest of anti-Black racism and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The flames of activism and protest continued to burn in the digital space as well, where social movements both macro and micro attempted to chip away at biases and inequities (Rosenblatt 2020).

On Twitter, people began matching donations en masse to bail funds. In one case, more than 50,000 individuals donated $1.8 million in 24 hours to support the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund. This is one of many examples of social media activism forming digital communities online as a way to tackle injustices and have their voices on issues heard.

Social Media Activism and “Slacktivism”

Slacktivism consists of doing the bare minimum to help a social cause, including making a simple post to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (Bryant 2021). This could also include signing and sharing a petition but not going out and trying to make a real difference.

Such as performative less substantial acts, when about 28 million people posted plain black squares to Instagram as part of #BlackoutTuesday, were criticised for subscribing to a kind of “slacktivism” and for drowning out important hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter (Rosenblatt 2020).

(Burztynsky & Whitten 2020)

The #BLM & #MeToo movements have indeed gained traction over the years but in order to hold our performative activist counterparts accountable for their “slacktivism” it is important to perpetuate real change. These movements along with other social events over the years have made it possible to see trueness behind the screen, acknowledge it and then make the change.

#METOO

2017 was a landmark year for the conversation of sexual abuse and violence. In October 2017, the #MeToo movement spread virally as the use of the hashtag on social media platforms brought attention to the pervasive issue of sexual assault and harassment among women (Thomson 2018). In the wake of a string of sexual harassment and assault allegations against high profile Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, the hashtag took off when actress Alyssa Milano took to Twitter, encouraging women to share their own experiences of sexual violence using #MeToo (Fileborn & Loney-Howes 2019).

(CBS 2017)

The simple hashtag #MeToo has added names, faces, and stories to the statistics in what is arguably the most powerful activism in the women’s movement in recent history (Bowman et al. 2019).

While the long-term impact of this global movement is yet to be realised, because of #MeToo, the conversation began to change:

(Opportunity Agenda 2017)

The Future of Social Media-Driven Movements

Like other massively successful hashtags, #MeToo & #BLM derives its power from being concise and memorable, it communicates a much deeper message than the hashtag itself. The fight for equality across gender, race and income lines has become increasingly prevalent and these issues continue to be shared via social media at an astonishing rate (Sossi 2022).

Do you think digital activism has shaped social justice movements for better or worse, thinking about the concept of slacktivism vs activism?

References

Bowman, J, Singh, W, Mezey, N & Singh, L 2019, ‘#MeToo as catalyst: A glimpse into 21st century activism’, University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 2019, no. 22, pp. 371–393, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1658&context=uclf>.

Bryant, C 2021, ‘Slacktivism:’ The issue with performative activism’, The Baker Orange, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://thebakerorange.com/36415/opinion/slacktivism-the-issue-with-performative-activism/>.

Burztynsky, J, Whitten, S, ‘More than 11.3 million #blackouttuesday posts were published to Instagram by mid-morning on Tuesday’ [image], in CNBC 2020, Instagram users flood the app with millions of Blackout Tuesday posts, viewed 04 May 2022, <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/instagram-users-flood-the-app-with-millions-of-blackout-tuesday-posts.html>.

CBS, ‘Alyssa Milano - Twitter’ [image], in KBC 2017, Twitter reveals massive reach of #MeToo movement, viewed 04 May 2022, <https://www.10tv.com/article/news/trending-viral/twitter-reveals-massive-reach-metoo-movement/530-aad45be2-7671-42c0-9093-1970eed56e8b>.

Fileborn, B & Loney-Howes, R 2019, ‘#MeToo and the politics of social change’, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 1–357, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-15213-0.pdf>.

Kulusener, E, ‘Global protest: The pros and cons of social media’ [image], in The University of Manchester 2018, Protest and repression - social media, viewed 14 April 2022,<http<sites.<manchester.ac.uk/global-social-challenges/2018/06/19/global-protest-the-pros-and-cons-of-social-media/>.

Opportunity Agenda 2017, ‘Sexual violence, the #MeToo movement, and narrative shift’, The Opportunity Agenda, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://www.opportunityagenda.org/shifting-narrative/sexual-violence-metoo-movement-and-narrative-shift>.

Rosenblatt, K 2020, ‘How 2020 became the summer of activism both online and offline’, NBC News, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/summer-digital-protest-how-2020-became-summer-activism-both-online-n1241001>.

Sossi, D 2022, ‘And just like that ... #MeToo changed the nature of online communication’, The Conversation, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://theconversation.com/and-just-like-that-metoo-changed-the-nature-of-online-communication-174527>.

Thomson, K 2018, ‘Social media activism and the #MeToo movement’, Medium, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://medium.com/@kmthomson.11/social-media-activism-and-the-metoo-movement-166f452d7fd2>.