Some (I cant think of any, but im sure there are some) may approach a campaign with a genuine solidarity and interpersonal skills to work effectively with diverse people, and others not. This shift can look like adopting someones specific style, brand of swagger, or personal interests without first reflecting on whether we personally identify with these things. They too often obscure the complex dynamics of power and socioeconomic relations in favour of a simple, catch all, solution. And I wonder, how revolutionary can our movements truly be if there is no space for those of us who are living in the context of these conditions and identities? I believe the question posed in the video about how do we connect our good intentions and desire to help with things that actually work is spot on. . Theyre able to get exposure in a different light because social media is so prevalent and pervasive in todays world.. And Im sure we could come up with others that are more recent. Tens of trillions of dollars are stashed away in them, which could be used to eradicate poverty and promote a green and sustainable economy in the world. 2018 Waging Nonviolence. Not everyone needs to have charisma, and not everyone wants to or can be at the front of a room. and followed by Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, the UK, Bermuda, the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, Singapore, etc. To donate by check, cryptocurrency or other method, see our Ways to Give page. So what went wrong? While this line of thinking clearly goes against the values within social justice movements, they are still present in many of our spaces. The backing of an campaign like Stop Hate for Profit is not in fact necessary to make an impact, Tyree says, but it helps to have an established set of goals and ideas to back up the posts. Through the current pandemic, many grassroots efforts are already redirecting their attention and actions, placing the focus on mutual aid and building spaces and practices that facilitate connection and trust; We are developing stronger clarity of collective values, and an unwillingness to bend in our practices or leave any of our comrades behind. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the GO TO ORIGINAL links. Andrs has worked for NGOs in Costa Rica and Uganda in the fields of transitional justice and conflict transformation, his writings featuring in Waging Nonviolence and The Peace and Conflict Monitor . Ahead of the 30th anniversary of Geldof and Bonos Live Aid, The Conversation asks whether star backers cause damage by oversimplifying the politics of power. Ojha and Bloomer also state that spreading awareness through social media is limited to a person's followers and the people the . Andres Jimenez is a conflict-transformation facilitator, a trainer in nonviolent methods of conflict resolution and an international conflict analyst. On the flip side, when we do choose to address harm, our response often results in simply banishing someone from movements and community spaces with no potential to transform and restore relationships or repair harm, which is rarely transformative or revolutionary. Activism may be misused by radical forces. But thats a drop in the bucket. The gap between the haves and the have nots must be narrowed significantly. I admired their ability to financially sustain themselves from their work before celebrating their contributions to principled struggle, and I was often more focused on their personal lifestyle choices rather than their commitment to liberation. Just who I am. We prefer with a note at the top of the article. Social media activism isn't dangerous - it's really powerful, but the lack of context makes it dangerous," she says. Okay, wait, let me calm myself, andhahahahaha! But what are the consequences, and is this something we necessarily want to promote? The world of social media was a little quieter than usual on Wednesday: Celebrities ranging from Kim Kardashian West to Mark Ruffalo froze their Instagram accounts for 24 hours, to protest hate speech and misinformation being spread on Facebook, Instagrams parent company. I am currently getting involved in the LGBTQ movement here in Chile and I will most definitely be asking myself some of the questions you posed. Engaging in another persons work in this way can impact us in a few key ways. How, according to Jimenez, YES, says Andrs Jimnez, celebrity activism can do more harm than good. These people are the Nicholas Kristofs and the Jeffry Sachses of the world who often find their self-assurance and sense of certainty in their Ivy League educations, in the power that their positions grant them or in the titles that they hold. Hyde's chapter on celebrity activism is particularly good. Three factors seem to be: 1) capitalist funding models, 2) uninspiring non-profits, and 3) experiencing personal, physical, emotional, or spiritual overwhelm. Ahead of going public, offering their insights and opinions, even those celebrities most willing to exercise their right to freedom of expression are likely to have sought wise counsel. By Wednesday night, according to Stop Hate for Profit, the Instagram freeze was seen by over 1 billion people. They are currently part of a collective living project, Brick & Mortar Collective, as well as a creative disability justice collective, Relentless Bodies. As Mingus states in her quote found above, this pushes us back into binary thinking. There are a lot of reasons why celebrity culture and individualism are so present in our movements. Introduced in 2010 and championed by celebrities from Ben Affleck to Nicole Richie, the ruling required companies to disclose their use of conflict minerals originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. And while I think it makes sense to listen and learn from clear, accountable leadership, I think this also means learning with leadership, actively engaging by questioning, challenging, contributing, and building. This tends to fracture our movements, creating a culture that rewards individualism and aggressive competition and under-recognizes collaboration. I want to see us hold ourselves and our leader in the full potential of each others humanity, something I do not see us doing when we place individuals on pedestals, refusing to hold space for potential mistakes, let-downs, and harm we all of the potential to cause. 18. Anthropological critics have argued that specific kinds of activism can do more harm than good by imagining people in the "wrong" kind of subject position. If you feel invested in a cause, engage it with all your passion, but tread carefully. . In April, Emma Thompson flew in from America to attend the Extinction Rebellion protests that shut down London, despite the group insisting that flights only be used for emergencies. In this case, the endless runny nose results from irritation of the nasal lining, a spongy membrane that . I realized that, of course, they were talking about the launch of the first Kony 2012 video campaign by the U.S.-based organization Invisible Children. And when we disconnect from this reality, we increasing the potential for future harm they are involved in to go unaccounted for, excused, or brushed aside. When all of us are aspiring to be the most visible and charismatic leaders of a movement, we tend to see behind-the-scenes work, tedious, time and energy-consuming tasks like logistics planning as stepping stones on our ways to greatness, and not as independently valuable. Climate change is a huge issue and everyone ought to take steps to fight it. With the embrace of complexity we are able to discover that the way we seek to approach and work within a conflict must be incredibly flexible and diverse. Putting people on pedestals is part of the binary of how we categorize people into good and bad. For example: This article was originally published on. This guy who comes from Marcy Projects, whos made it to these places were playing Yankee Stadium tonight. One way is a disinvestment in ones own capabilities and potential. not all celebrities act or are the same. As community members and the people who make up these movements, we deserve to be organizing in a culture that is prioritizing our well-being not just as long-term goal of eventually, or maybe when this next event ends, but as we are moving together now. Thank you to the many friends and comrades who have engaged in vulnerable conversation with me around these ideas. Away from the fantasy world of easy-to-understand, black-and-white, single-story views of a conflict lays a world of complexity, depth and uncertainty. Magazines. Perhaps we should also highlight some good examples of activist celebrities. We want to believe we can accomplish more than we can, because we feel a sense of urgency that we need to accomplish more than we can in order for any of our efforts to have value. . Any action taken toward this end is therefore righteous and will to put us a step closer to fixing the problem; surely any little bit of help must be better than nothing. Our lack in stronger organizations and structures to support organizing for collective vision leads to a tendency towards individualistic activism. Activism may go too far. We begin to equate having a lack of boundaries with proving our commitment to struggle. However, critics argue that some celebrities are doing more harm than good and question where their true motivations lie. We have to acknowledge celebrity culture and how it stretches well beyond formal celebrities and into our movements, organizations, groups, relationships just as punishment does. Issues of sustainability, effectiveness, community ownership, local relevance, and adaptability to change, which are the lifeblood of any conflict transformation approach, are hardly taken in considerations by these broad top-down solutions. This puts them in a precarious position where theyre generally the first items to be deprioritized when organizations find themselves lacking in resources (time, funding, capacity), which is frequent and common. Once we make this shift in thinking, our perception transitions from engaging with someone as a movement leader into viewing them as a celebrity activist. The critiques paralleled similar concerns about two other major social-media activism campaigns in recent months: #BlackoutTuesday, for which Instagram users posted black squares to show support for Black Lives Matter, and #ChallengeAccepted, a campaign that involved users posting black-and-white selfies in a declaration of womens empowerment. This is because they draw on the self-serving guilt trips that lead many people to believe that their privileged position has invested them with the burden and the responsibility to save those less fortunate from their plight. "While it's good all of these celebrities stepped up, they inadvertently pinpointed a major issue in celebrity activism: White celebs get the privilege to take their time to speak about issues that don't affect them. Or create a free account to access more articles, Can Celebrity Activism Campaigns on Social Media Actually Make a Difference? Even our new climate queen Greta Thunberg got in on the hypocrisy. They deserve our attention, respect, and engagement, but they deserve to experience this in a way that is not disengaged from their humanity, or the humanity of those supporting and engaging them. This pushes us further into individualist thought. It also isolates leaders from their communities and makes it difficult for us (their communities, neighbors, friends, and families) to see when they are struggling and offer care. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Many of the policies promoted by the ever-growing influx of celebrity activists have been paternalistic, detached from reality and counterproductive. The videos portrayal of the over two-decade-long conflict had deeply angered many of those who had endured it firsthand. And while I support leadership that is accountable and structured according to collective need, I question if and how successfully our current leadership culture fosters this, when we are more readily willing to follow someone based on their charisma, rather than their relationship to the movement and critical analysis. Whose interests are they serving? Many argue that these campaigns do more harm than good by providing participants with a sense of satisfaction that they've taken an action without actually contributing to the cause. It is not love. As Daniel Drezner writes in When foreign policy goes glam, engaging in humanitarian causes clearly benefits the Clooneys, Jolies and Damons of the world. One way I see us doing this is by placing leaders and individuals in our movements on pedestals, ascribing excessive weight and value to their opinions, disproportionately rewarding one persons efforts in a collaborative project or process, and applying unobtainable expectations to them and their work. It can feel comforting to believe that even if we cannot be the super human we think we need to be in order to contribute valuably, at least someone else out there can; that one persons vision is the only one we need in order to achieve collective liberation. Putting someone on a pedestal is not caring for them. This structure glorifies the productivity of individual organizers, pushing them to neglect self-care, rest, reflection, personal boundaries, and to undervalue community care practices, ultimately facilitating burn out and often leading to further harm. As we work to be free of a culture of punishment/revenge, we also have to confront the other side. Hacking the Syllabus; critical solidarities, How We Get Free Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, Mariame Kaba: Everything Worthwhile is Done with Other People, Leaders Need to Build Peer Accountability. We argue, however, that the project of finding the "right" subject . Three factors seem to be: 1) capitalist funding models, 2) uninspiring non-profits, and 3) experiencing personal, physical, emotional, or spiritual overwhelm. The gesture is nice, but Thunbergs choice hurts the environment more. Andres Jimenez said that the do-good awareness campaigns are just motivated by the belief. Finally, I found your closing remarks on what would be good to consider when getting involved in any cause very thought-provoking. From conversation with friends, and what Ive experienced and witnessed, what we cut out often includes investing in personal relationships, acting in solidarity with movements that our work does not center, and contributing to community care in spaces we inhabit. But this kind of celebrity advocacy isnt new, either. Star power - but does the intervention of George Clooney etc.do more harm than good? Won't specify causes because that'll cause controversy. May not always be peaceful. Martin Sheen has done his part in a ton of ways. Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. To offer up the idea that were not going to utilize a platform for a day is not a goalits a tactic that should be used as an overall part of a bigger campaign to evoke larger change.. According to Global Citizen, while celebrities are entirely capable of using their platforms for self-serving initiatives and many often do, there have been a myriad of figures who have not only financially supported important causes, but have made the effort to initiate tangible change and even see it through to completion. It is also charity and insulting to the poor. This pushed many individuals either towards the illicit mining industry or a rebel group, paradoxically exacerbating the very violence it set out to reduce. This frequently results in uninspired theories of change, and contributing to the rise of individualist celebrity narratives around leaders. Looking back at that time now, almost two years later, I can see I was operating from a place of survival. The FBI Paid a Violent Felon to Infiltrate Denvers Racial Justice Movement. Actor George Clooney has taken great interest in Darfur; Madonna and Oprah Winfrey have embraced the fight for girls education in Africa, while Angelina Jolie knocks at the doors of the major centers of power as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador to promote support for humanitarian relief. Celebrity-led campaigns do often prove to be highly successful in generating broad public support. The yacht was her vehicle of choice because of the carbon emissions caused by planes Thunberg has been encouraging people to fly less to save the environment. Credit Waging Nonviolence and link to the original. Often, they trot out a line about carbon off-setting or, to put it another way, were wealthy so we can do what we like. Often unknowingly, I was contributing to this larger dynamic propped up by this celebrity culture mentality. What is already being tried by local actors on the ground? 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Some would say that it's the symbols that are important - if Emma Thompson's message is heard, it's worth it in the long run. One of those activists, Chonthicha Jangrew, is a candidate for the Move Forward Party. It is not uncommon for a celebrity to use their status to start. Ive lost count of friends and fellow movement collaborators who have abruptly left positions at social justice-oriented non-profits, exhausted from navigating harm, enduring violence, having their opinions, contributions, or ideas go unvalued, unacknowledged or claimed by bosses, or simply working hard and feeling no sense that they are making a difference. Should we question the motives of celebrities who hire expensive PR experts to sell their convictions? Also, you ignore the progressive activism of some celebrities, who have fought for . Rancho Cucamonga High. Magazines, Digital But in that case, it was . In order for me to accommodate this sense of urgency, I often ended up cutting out parts of my life my well-being really needed me to prioritize. Unfortunately, many of the policies and remedies promoted by this ever-growing influx of celebrity activists have been heavily criticized for being paternalistic, detached from reality and often dangerously counterproductive. DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. its not just celebrity activism that is unhelpful, its the behaviour you described in the article. Its hard to take those dire warnings seriously when theyre immediately undercut by the actions of the speaker. Learn how your comment data is processed. This article includes content hosted on counter.theconversation.edu.au. persistent non-allergic rhinitis. Marx. It doesnt have to be instead of falling down that slippery slope, you could also choose to investigate capitalism, which is the ultimate cause of most of these disasters in the first place. It leads to a shift from thinking of someone as a valuable part of a larger, collective movement, into idealizing their efforts, personal lives, personalities, and relationships, thinking of them as the individualized personification of an entire social movement. It requires continuous and committed effort to maintain collective decision-making and accountability systems, and existing in a social and economic structures that work against this generally leaves these efforts un or under-funded. Why Celebrity Activism Does More Harm Than Good, by Andres Jimenez URL:-good/ Quote: As I listened to the mens account of how the crowds anger turned to violence, I could hardly keep myself from thinking how emblematic and representative such an event was of countless celebrity-fueled, do-good awareness campaigns that I had already had the misfortune to witness over the years. Either a person or their analysis is absolutely flawless and applicable in every situation, leaving no reason to question or challenge, explore otherwise, or develop our own thought, or it is flawed and therefore not worth engaging in. In 1920, Al Jolson, the singer and actor, became the first celebrity to publicly endorse someone for president when he stumped for Warren G. Harding, Mr. Harvey said. If you feel invested in a cause, engage it with all your passion, but tread carefully. Tyree, professor and interim Associate Dean of Howard Universitys Cathy Hughes School of Communications, social media-activism can have a major impactif its done right. When we see stories such as these, your response can only be disbelief sure, they claim that climate change is a major issue thatll affect our future, but they arent quite concerned enough to curb their own lifestyles. Image: Office of the Governor General / Wikimedia Commons. When those organizations inevitably fail to live up to our expectations, we revert to celebrating specific individuals who we see embodying our values. And, most importantly, why should you become involved? First of all, thank you for your article, which resonated a lot with my own experiences. Causes are to celebrities what corporate social responsibility is to business Between the 1930s and 1950s, suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst fought for a fascist-free, and later independent, Ethiopia,. I see the dynamics between large social movements and their leaders manifesting a certain category of leadership Ive recently been referring to as the celebrity activist; a leader who is idolized, placed on a pedestal, and generally engaged with through an ideology of individualism. if interventions do more harm than good most of the time - then things are even easier: have a high prior for opposing . My experience working with armed conflicts and humanitarian crises has shown me the disastrous effects that such views tend to have on the ground. The rise of the digital saviour: can Facebook likes change the world? Not only this, but in these idealized perceptions of individuals, we often disconnect from the reality that even in their greatness, our leaders (now celebrities) still hold the potential to cause harm as we all do. Applying these same practices of adoration in celebrity culture to movement leaders, especially when this is how we determine who we place on top to receive the most resources and the attention, recreates the same value systems our movements resist. The fans who look up to them may change their own approach towards their mental health.. Im sharing this from my personal perspective, but this train of thought is something I see in many social and progressive movements today. mastodon This is the point at which most of us become silent or look in another direction. The conclusion . how idolizing our movement leaders exacerbates systemic burn out and defers the work towards collective liberation, We really need to stop putting people on pedestals. Theres a general sense of moral superiority among these people that means they dont see harm in their own actions. . As Ive delved into these issues, I found a great resource in the book Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi-Piepzna-Samarasinha which shares occurrences of this harm as well as instances of transformative community response. If only enough people knew and cared about a certain conflict or problem, the assumption goes, then the combined energy and support could be harnessed in order to trigger an immediate flood of solutions. Worse yet, we may even start to feel as though proving our commitment to a social issue, or to our communitys wellness requires us to suffer for our work, that celebrating or experiencing joy or fun is somehow a betrayal to our community, an idea articulated by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk in their book, Trauma Stewardship. Roger Waters Questioned in Depth about Ukraine, Russia, Israel, U.S. He lives and works in San Jose, Costa Rica. These three reasons often feed into and perpetuate one another. This piece isnt about scolding ourselves for our flaws; its meant to help identify our shortcomings and adjusting to strengthen ourselves and our movements as we move forward. facebook. It may be convenient for a while, giving us a fabricated sense of security, but I fear as we continue to collectively refuse to hold these uncomfortable truths, and include them in the image we build of our leaders ultimately, we are opening gaps for potential harm to go unacknowledged, and are creating opportunities for our communities to disempower, silence, and neglect those speaking out against harm caused by our leaders. Speaking from personal experience and drawing from conversations Ive had with a few trusted comrades, when organizers are working with less than we need, running on fumes while facing problems bigger than all of us, it is often difficult to accept our own limitations. A3F1C265-A945-4BA3-A3E3-28A92E8EDE68.png - 8:21 4 a [1' I 4 Drive Essay 4. I saw them as unquestionable, unable to make mistakes or have short comings, and sometimes, I even started to see them as unable to cause harm or enact violence. According to a 2015 article in The Guardian, celebrity activism has become far more popular over the years. Being told that you have an urgent responsibility to act in order to help solve a conflict that you hardly even knew existed in the first place is the first step down a slippery slope of continuous despair, wasted goodwill and neo-colonialism. . This shows up when we dont give ourselves a reasonable timeline or enough resources to coordinate logistics for an event, expecting it to just work itself out, when we do not communicate effectively with those leading behind-the-scenes efforts, but give them a round of applause during the closing remarks of a conference. According to Andres Jimenez, what fuels "celebrity-fueled, do-good awareness campaigns"? How Can the Peace Movement Be More Effective? It erases away our humanity: our human complexities and contradictions; our human capacity for growth, change and transformation, our human capacity for both harm and love. Mia Mingus (IG). The advocacy circuit for change in Africa lacks celebrity participation in bottom-up movements, as opposed to top-down campaigns.. As recent research has shown, the problem with celebrity causes is that they tend to de-politicise activism. As I sat in the stands of Pece Stadium in the northern Uganda town of Gulu on a sunny Sunday morning, a couple of young men made their way close to where I was sitting. All Rights Reserved. What does celebrity activism accomplish? After all, social media is programmed to de-center collective efforts, and hyper-fixate on individual achievements. We also have to put the mirror to ourselves and understand that this is really a reflection of who we are as a society.. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Additionally, when we consider how we relate to someone and their work we can ask ourselves whether we are seeking to replicate or replace the role someone holds, or motivated to expand, adopt, and build alongside an area of work, value, or practice. This issue is defined and analyzed thoroughly in the report, 12 Recommendations for Detroit Funders, put together by Allied Media Projects and the current Design Team of the Transforming Power Fund, a community-led fund that, through practice, is creating a template to address some of the funding issues named above. September 17, 2020 4:44 PM EDT. It tends to fracture our movements by creating a culture that rewards aggressive competition, under-recognizes collaboration, and glorifies suffering for the sake of productivity through lack of self-care and rest, neglecting personal boundaries, and undervaluing community care practices, facilitating burn out, often leading to further harm. Celebrity-led advocacy campaigns can also draw in huge sums of charitable donations. The Dodd-Frank campaign should have involved asking local activists, populations and mining experts in the eastern DRC about mineral supply chains, he writes, to check whether they could be altered to improve the situation. There are far too many climate hypocrites to list, but here are a few recent examples. To first lay some groundwork, mainstream celebrity culture is rooted in violent and oppressive systems, and perpetuates falsehoods that argue human connection and value is most efficiently achieved and effectively experienced through commodified goods, individual success, and popularity. Here are some powerful examples of the complexities of intervening in international conflicts which might help you better understand the point I tried to make in the article: http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/whats-wrong-with-the-bill-gates-bono-approach-to-saving-the-world.html, http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/10/is_george_clooney_helping. It is this mindset that has motivated celebrities like the rock star Bono to take up the causes of debt cancelation, the increase in foreign aid and the promotion of the Millennium Development Goals. The ideas Im sharing here are grounded in stories, practices, and frameworks rooted in the transformative justice and disability justice frameworks, and from what Ive learned following the work of the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, Transform Harm, Project NIA, API CHAYA, Emergent Strategy Ideation, Detroit Safety Team, Detroit Represent!, and so many others.
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