Performative Activism: Q&A
By: Yewon Lee
First, what even is performative activism?
With the rise of mass social media and networking, activism and awareness can easily be spread through the internet. For countless many reasons, internet activism has its positive upsides: one, it has become incredibly easy to spread a positive message or an educational message about a certain topic that needs to be brought to awareness. With billions of people across the world with access to the web and to social media accounts, current day issues such as the Amazon burning and environmental news were brought to people’s attention even before the mainstream media decided to cover it. In fact, when people use social media for social activism in the right way, it can serve as a powerful way to motivate people to take action.
However, as much as it is easy to get a message out to the internet, it is equally as easy to fall into the trap of performative activism, exaggeration, and the lack of “truth”; even people with the best intentions can easily fall into this trap. The term “performative activism” first emerged in 1990’s Australia when people would show their disapproval for nuclear weapons with actual dance performances and climbing over fences at nuclear sites.
Today, the definition has slightly changed with the rise of social networking as it denotes activism for one’s social status and ensuring popularity rather than a genuine interest in making a change, which can be extremely harmful as it takes the actual essence of change out of the equation.
What are examples of performative activism?
Just earlier this year in 2020, the killing of George Floyd sparked national protest, conversation, and controversy of police brutality, especially against African American communities. While at first there were genuine individuals wanting to create change in the racial scene in America, the movement started to snowball. Many organizations and major companies would participate in the hashtag #BlackOutTuesday or #blacklivesmatter without actually willing to change policies within their organization, without encouraging action at citizen level nor in governmental policy, and without any actual support to the black community that was needed and continues to be needed. At that point, people and organizations were willing to post anything just to maintain their status and their popularity instead of actually effecting change within workplaces and mindsets within their areas. While other organizations may have had good intentions in posting and promoting black squares in the hashtag movement, many of the promoters behind the message failed to address actions that people could take to mitigate racism in America.
How can I avoid performative activism?
Regardless of the negative impacts performative activism could have, please do not let this discourage you from using your platform to bring light to an issue!
There are many ways that you can avoid performative activism while bringing a positive impact to your communities:
Listen: Activism, in many ways, is a dynamic. Policy and mindset changes on an issue usually don’t happen overnight, so expect that you will have people who agree, disagree, or question your message. Listen to what your audience believes or needs, and make sure that you address specific points that could educate them on the issue in a way that makes the most sense for them.
Be Clear: Vague messages with no direction can often be difficult to read through or could discourage your audience from engaging with issues that look too daunting.
Be clear with what your actions are: Start taking action, and show what you have done to contribute to the cause to encourage people that solutions have to start somewhere.
Educate your audience on what they can do: Mention different actions, such as writing to representatives, calling community leaders, marching, leading a discussion, supporting local businesses, etc. as applicable.
Offer additional resources: Further exploration into a topic should be encouraged, including implications of an issue, specific details, historical background, and current context.