Activism and Protest

2020 - A year where all hell broke loose and the armchair activist became god!

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

We rolled into 2020 on the heels of Greta Thunberg's (Time 2019) chastisement of generational laziness resulting in climate change. Our parents generation, the baby boomers, and the ones before were ridiculed and berated for their lax in looking after the environment. A fifteen year old Swedish girl with Aspergers was able to turn the tide of environmental discourse by her unabashed and unapologetic lecture to the world on their failure. Did this kind of activism inspire or shame?

Fast forward to the next couple of months of 2020 where the Australian bushfires took centre stage around the world, and ignited its own wild fire of environmental blame and failure to policy makers and politicians alike. Armchair activists rose to the call and across the world people everywhere were able to troll and further fan the religion of climate change.

Ironically, as quickly as the Australian bushfires came and went, the global pandemic began and all attention fell on the coronavirus. Within a month of the whole world shutting down,  business, travel, factories, transport and the list goes on, the environment began to heal. Pollution decreased, the air cleared and even native animals coming out into suburbia were reported, with reduced human distraction.

But back to climate change and its peak at the beginning of 2020. What really made climate change a hot topic, was its ability to be shared on social media. Climate activists were able to create news, share on social media and then watch the armchair activists and trolls take it further. I think the reason why causes like this can snowball so readily, is the fact that everyone can jump on board with the minimalist effort of clicking with their mouse. This definition of armchair clicking is called "slactivism" (Christensen 2011), which is the lazy form of caring for a cause. A similar and very popular action is "clicktavism" which according to Halupka, is being able to readily click in support of a political cause impulsively without specific knowledge, but makes you feel like you've contributed (Halupka 2018).  Although the origin and motivation of the cause is real and worthy, the corresponding action of clicking a like or sharing means that the user feels like they have made a difference, when really there was no achieving of the cause's goals.

Seeker (2013) asserts below that Slacktivism could actually harm a cause more than helping.

For digital activism to really have any kind of achievement, there must be a very clear call to action. And not just the action of clicking a share or like, but real action. Going out of your way to support the cause, raising money, engaging other users to support financially or in person. Charities or causes must outline their cause with a very clear purpose and then have a clear way to support.

Leadership is really needed in any social media campaign. Without it, it will go nowhere or supporters rallying will create their own campaigns with a weak call to action. While there is room for raising awareness through clicks and shares, real change must come through action.

Charities and political parties need to put tools in the hands of this generation and not encourage the easiest of actions using slactivism or clicktivism, but empower well-meaning supporters with clear direction and inspiration, and truly make a difference.





References:

BBC News 2020, Australia fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis, viewed 18 April 2020,
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043>.

Christensen, HS 2011, Political activities on the Internet: Slacktivism or political participation by other means?, First Monday, Volume 16, Number 2 - 7 February 2011, viewed 18 April 2020,
<https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/download/3336/2767>.

Halupka M, 2018, The legitimisation of clicktivism, Australian Journal of Political Science, viewed 18 April 2020, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2017.1416586

'Save our Planet' [image], Pexels 2020, viewed 18 April 2020, <https://www.pexels.com/photo/climate-man-people-street-2027058/>.

Seeker 2013, Your 'Like' Doesn't Help Charities, It's Just Slacktivism, viewed 28 April 2020,
<https://youtu.be/efVFiLigmbc>.

Time 2019, 2019 Person of the Year, Greta Thunberg, viewed 18 April 2020, <https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/>.