By Serena Bazzana In today’s fast-paced world, the span of attention on news is extremely short. Events make the headlines until something else eclipses them. Human rights violations are equally soon forgotten, falling into the digital abyss as quickly as they rose. The Mahsa Amini protests in Iran, the movement for Palestinian freedom, and the Ukraine War clearly fit into this pattern. Photo credit: FreePik. The three following graphs show the trend worldwide of the #mahsaamini, #freepalestine, and #ukrainewar on TikTok over three years. As we can observe, hashtags about human rights violations were trending for a limited period and then forgotten by the general audience. However, in Palestine, Iran, and Ukraine people are still oppressed and fighting for their freedoms. Users get bored quickly and require new stimuli and inputs to keep scrolling. Social media have significant shortcomings when it comes to sustaining long-term engagement and commitment to a cause. Therefore, these movements cannot trend forever, just like everything else. The Israeli-Palestine conflict has been ongoing since the mid-20th century. Israel oppressively governs over the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) committing the crime of apartheid under international law. The Israeli government is also guilty of war crimes due to repeated bombing of the OPT. Israeli soldiers and settlers severely constrain Palestinians’ freedoms and unlawfully kill adults and kids daily without being held accountable. In April and May 2021, due to the prospect of forced eviction of Palestinian families, clashes with Israeli settlers escalated. In Iran, Mahsa Amini was murdered by the Morality Police while in custody. Unluckily, her case is not unique as women are continuously persecuted for wearing the veil incorrectly or not at all. After Mahsa Amini’s death on 16 September 2022, Iranians started protesting and demanding more freedom. The Iranian government responded with deadly crackdowns and further oppression of regime opponents. On 24 February 2022, Russian President Putin announced a “special military operation” with the official aim of “denazifying” the Ukrainian government. The full-scale invasion led to violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. More than one year later, the humanitarian crisis is still ongoing and many people, including children, are suffering.
As we can observe, the audience’s attention is briefly captured and everyone hops on the trend by posting with relative hashtags. There is no general pattern demonstrating that international support is critical for a campaign to succeed, yet these trends typically have a positive impact on the movements. Social media activism can raise awareness and demand accountability from international governments and organizations, sometimes resulting in policy changes. Furthermore, social media trends increase international pressure and create a spotlight on illegitimate, unfair, and indiscriminate violence. Governments harshly and disproportionately cracking down on their own population will have a hard time justifying their actions. Social media activism also strengthens the feeling of solidarity by amplifying protests and human rights issues. It is the first step to rapidly spread information to a global audience. Social media campaigns have led to tangible positive change, like fundraising and numerous people taking the streets to express their solidarity with the oppressed. However, after a short period of time, viral movements against violations of human rights will lose momentum and fade into oblivion. Hashtags stop trending and the cause disappears from our collective conscience. As a result, while the international community’s attention shifts, the pressure from public opinion for accountability diminishes. This enables international governments and organizations to turn a blind eye or be indifferent to increasingly violent repression in favor of economic and political “more important” relationships. The world’s gaze moves elsewhere, perhaps also on a different social movement, while violence and oppression continue and intensify with fewer obstacles. Therefore, the rapid rise and fall of online trends can result in a sense of desensitization and disconnection. In this age of immediate information and constant connectivity, online activism needs to go beyond mere trends. It is not enough that for a brief period, millions of people become aware of the injustice taking place, for instance, in Iran, Palestine, and Ukraine, and then everyone forgets about them. Momentary awareness can only bring limited positive effects, which sometimes are canceled out by all the negative ones that happen later and of which few are aware. Activism, in whichever form, must sustain its support for causes after they stop trending. We should not simply forget human rights violations, but responsibly engage by constantly seeking new information and demanding justice and accountability. We need to make sure that our governments do not act following the most convenient economic and political path, but that they act respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In conclusion, the trending hashtags Free Palestine, Mahsa Amini, and Ukraine War serve as reminders of the transient nature of online activism. Social media has an undeniable power to raise awareness, yet its temporary nature can result in superficial engagement. Our generation must strive for a more responsible and sustained approach to activism while acknowledging the limitations of social media. We must remember that the hype may fade, but the violence and suffering endured by individuals fighting for their freedom do not. Bibliography Amnesty International. “Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2022.” Accessed September 26, 2023. https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/. Amnesty International. “Russia’s Full Scale Invasion of Ukraine.” Accessed September 26, 2023. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/latest-news-on-russias-war-on-ukraine/. Chenoweth, Erica, and Stephan, Maria J. Why Civil Resistance Works: the Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. “Iran: Deadly crackdown on protests against Mahsa Amini’s death in custody needs urgent global action.” Amnesty International, September 21, 2022. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/iran-deadly-crackdown-on-protests-against-mahsa-aminis-death-in-custody-needs-urgent-global-action/. Tik Tok Ads. “#freepalestine.” Accessed September 20, 2023. https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/hashtag/freepalestine/mobile/en?countryCode=&period=7. Tik Tok Ads. “#mahsaamini.” Accessed September 20, 2023. https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/hashtag/mahsaamini/pad/en?period=7. Tik Tok Ads. “#ukrainewar.” Accessed September 20, 2023. https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/hashtag/freepalestine/mobile/en?countryCode=&period=7. “West Bank: Escalation of Violence (13 April - 21 May 2021).” Relief Web, June 6, 2021. https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/west-bank-escalation-violence-13-april-21-may-2021. a
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May 2024
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