on performative activism

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: on performative activism 🔈️ 

with posting black screens during the blm protests in 2020, to now reposting ai-generated images of “save rafah,” it seems performative activism makes its way around again and again.

it’s fine to post these things if you’ve been consistently advocating for a movement or change. however, if your first ever acknowledgement of genocide of police brutality is a repost that everyone is making, you’re just trying to increase or maintain your social capital. 📱 

you don’t really care.

i saw a tiktok the other day captioned, “will israel be doing land acknowledgements in a hundred years?” and it really struck a cord. we talk so much about reconciliation with the indigenous community and condemn the perpetrators of their lost culture, land and languages.

yet, what about it happening right before our very eyes?

will you wait until history repeats itself so you can “reconcile?”

humanity has failed so many communities. i can’t stand living in blissful ignorance when the tragedies we read about in history books are happening in real time — not when it’s happening in my lifetime while i am perfectly aware and capable of making others aware.

“everyone is posting this so i should too.” no. educate yourself, read beyond the misinformation being fed to us, and bring awareness to real stories, real people and real statistics. 📖 

an ai-generated image or a black screen means nothing if you don’t really care. if you have an extra dollar, donate it. if you have an extra minute at the end of the day, read and show others.

activism isn’t a performance. it’s a movement you must believe with your whole being.

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