Activism in the 21st century
When I think of activism, names like Doctor Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks come to mind, people who dedicated their lives to campaigning for human rights and social causes that brought about change on a large scale. As I began to read about activism in the digital age, I started to wonder what the activists of past generations would make of online campaigning. Would the āI have a dream speechā been as potent delivered via a YouTube video instead of in front of a crowd in Washington? Would the message have had the same result, or would it have been lost within the millions of other videos? And would sharing a hashtag have brought about the same amount of change as the quarter of a million people who descended on the mall in Washington in 1963?
Today, through social media and the internet we are bombarded with charities, causes and videos showing horrific atrocities and society is quickly becoming desensitised and unmotivated to take real action. As a result, a new culture of activism is emerging known as āclicktivismā and āslacktivismā which Reddin (2018) defines as āarmchair activismā whereby ācomplex, serious issues are oversimplified to the point where viewership, likes and clicks is thought to be the equivalent of making a differenceā. Scholar Evgenyi Morozov (quoted in Gerbaudo 2012) take this definition further describing slacktivism as āfeel good activismā that ācreates an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook groupā.
But is activism in the digital age all negative?
Absolutely not, modern movements like #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #MarchForOurLives, #Kony2012, and the Arab Spring are all grassroots causes that used social media in one way or another to further their mission and generate awareness. According to Youmans & York (2012), social media was a powerful tool in bringing about the collective actions during the Arab Spring providing a method to coordinate action, share information and raise public awareness of the issue on a global scale. Further, Rutledge (2010) strongly supports social media for facilitating sustainable activism suggesting that it brings together people who are passionate about an issue and provides them with a way to harness this collective energy and turn it into action.
There is no doubt that social media has a role to play in modern activism. However, as Sophie Egar cautions in her TEDx Talk, āsocial media activism is useless if it doesnāt create awareness that leads to action off the internetā (TEDx Talks 2018). Yes, real change requires action beyond the hashtag, like or share. Weāre not going to change the world sitting in front of a computer.
Iāll finish with a favourite quote of mine ā āitās better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.ā Actions do speak louder than words (or clicks).
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Hi legenwaitforitdarythoughts,
I really enjoyed reading this you certainly have a way with words. I laughed at the tree picture because I have similar thoughts to you. You say that real change requires action beyond the hashtag, like or share and this is true. ThisĀ āacceptance of what happens, without active response or resistanceāĀ (Oxford Dictionaries 2019), is what oversimplifies issues that need to be taken seriously.
You make a good point about the āI have a dream speechā. I too wonder if the message would have the same result.Ā
Ange
Oxford Dictionaries 2019,Ā passivity | Definition of passivity in English by Oxford Dictionaries, viewed 3 January 2019, <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/passivity>.













