#iwillridewithyou

Martin Place one year on

One year ago today, I was holed up in my office near Martin Place. One year ago, as Floor Warden, I was trying to keep an office full of men and women calm in the face of a virtually unknown threat. One year ago, I had to send an SMS to my wife and children to let them know I was safe before they heard the news when they landed from an interstate trip.

The Martin Place siege, as it has come to be…

Okay, so this video doesn’t take place in Sydney, but it still brings up an interesting conversation about the life of a social justice internet meme (for lack of a better term).

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on the aftermath of the Sydney Siege and the resulting hashtag #iwillridewithyou. Since then, the social media movement seems to have dwindled. There are still new posts under the hashtag, but it seems to be a collection of the adamant few trying to keep that spark alive. 

It’s a really hard thing to watch such a powerful gathering like that die, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

For one, so many Australians seemed so willing to support their Muslim brothers and sisters in safety that #iwillridewithyou didn’t seem like it would need to be a lasting hashtag in the first place. 

Of course, other countries might also say that about American hashtags like #ICan’tBreathe or #WhyINeedFeminism, which have also kind of disappeared from the eyes of mass media. But I think that the overall point of these movements has always been to start a conversation, not necessarily to blow up social media. 

There are some movements like the #Blackout movement on Tumblr and Instagram that are meant to keep on rolling until social stigmas are non-issues, but a lot of hashtags are for 3 main goals:

1. To reveal a support system. 2. To encourage activism in a generation where our word of mouth can spread across the world in a matter of seconds. 3. To start a conversation. 

The third is the most poignant in my opinion. Whether you reveal in conversation that you have some racist or anti-feminist friends or you stick up for someone else’s religious beliefs on the street, the movement polarizes you in a way that you may not have recognized before. 

In the past few months, more people have taken an interest in the discussions surrounding radicalism and Islamaphobia in Australia, France, and the U.S. (recently in North Carolina).

It has raised questions about online hate and a move for tolerance, both socially and politically (coughcoughTonyAbbott). 

Essentially, placing a hashtag on an issue is a little like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with water, one cup at a time (as shown by http://www.islamophobiawatch.co.uk/). You’ll make a dent, yes. But the overall issue is just too broad, and trying to cover the entire thing with one cup is a little ambitious. 

- The man and woman that were killed during the Sydney siege

- The 140+ (mostly children) that were attacked by the Taliban in a school, in Peshawar, Pakistan (this is still going on)

-The eight children, aged between 18-months-old and 15-years-old, that have been stabbed to death in Cairns

But also:

- War veterans

- The girls that were taken, which started the Bring back our girls, they are still absent

And every other death. Every death effects a community, no matter if it hits news headlines, or not.

Hey guys, I have no idea if I told any of you but I went on a tour of Sydney with my twin sister who lives in Sydney (I live in Brisbane) and her school. 4 of my best friends also tagged along. 2 of them being pregnant. We were at Lindt chocolate 10 minutes before it happened, I am not looking for attention or I'd give you my real identity. But the thing is 26 children, 4 Teachers/ Helper parents thangs and 2 pregnant women were nearly stuck in there. WE LEFT EARLY. We were going to leave at 10:00 but decided that we'd go checkout the news station down the road. All of us are alive and well because of me and a teacher having a bad hunch. I never get my hunches wrong and either does the teacher, so the rest of the adults decided it would be best to go. WE WERE SO CLOSE TO BEING CAUGHT IN IT!