When those organizations inevitably fail to live up to our expectations, we revert to celebrating specific individuals who we see embodying our values. Many of the policies promoted by the ever-growing influx of celebrity activists have been paternalistic, detached from reality and counterproductive. 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. In addition to everything named here, applying celebrity culture to our movement spaces weighs heavily on how much and if we value care, healing, and other under-recognized and historically-feminized work including logistics planning, cleaning and space-creating, etc. The question then remains as to whether celebrities can really have a positive impact. In July, celebrities and the mega-rich gathered in Sicily for a Google event. Social media has severely exacerbated blurred these lines of relation, easily dissolving the separation between peoples actions and analysis, and their personalities and style, and in this way, we can easily lose our sense of clarity around what we are valuing in someones work. 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. 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. We need leaders who guide, facilitate, initiate, coordinate, listen, commit, clarify, and follow-through. A stark example of this is provided in the new documentary, We Will Win Peace, which tracks the impact of Section 1502 of the USs Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Required fields are marked *. TMS Edtior receives prize for Peace and Social Justice, TRANSCEND Track Record on Conflict Solution 19582018. It is not love. All Rights Reserved. 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. . My new friends began to describe how there had been a massive gathering in the stadium for the screening of a video put together by a foreign NGO. They are currently part of a collective living project, Brick & Mortar Collective, as well as a creative disability justice collective, Relentless Bodies. Full confession I never used to buy into global warning and the need for environmental protection. Thank you to the many friends and comrades who have engaged in vulnerable conversation with me around these ideas. Celebrity activists provide us with a powerful outlet for our guilty consciences and our self-serving views of history. 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. 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. We need to distance ourselves from the powerful desire to follow simple solutions drafted by experts in conference rooms half a world away. Lets invest in building movements that support the needs and value the participation of parents, low and minimum-wage workers, people who rely on public transportation, and people with disabilities. So, what effect does this designation of celebrity activist have on our ability to both hold leaders accountable and grasp their humanity? Binary thinking makes it even easier for us to perpetuate idealizing and idolizing our certain leaders while we discard and disavow others, leaving little wiggle room between the two. To do so, email. Perhaps we should also highlight some good examples of activist celebrities. We are weeding out unsustainable results disguised as solutions, and encouraging each other to envision futures that are breath-taking and irresistible before they are reasonable or palatable to discouraging perspectives or oppressive forces. However, critics argue that some celebrities are doing more harm than good and question where their true motivations lie. I see continually see a massive gap between what is internationally applauded and promoted, and what the local communities actually want, need, or even find relevant. not all celebrities act or are the same. Andres Jimenez is a conflict-transformation facilitator, a trainer in nonviolent methods of conflict resolution and an international conflict analyst. 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. Notes for Celebrity Activism - Notecards Latest police 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. Should celebrities stay out of politics? 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. Social media is a reflection of society, she says. In my case, this urgent feeling that I needed to always to do more for anything else I did to matter, of refusing experiences of joy, was how I was operating for a long time before I was more or less forced to slow down, ask a few people for help, and clarify, first for myself then for everyone else, what I did, and mostly what I did not have to offer at that moment. Celebrity endorsements make a difference as they have a larger impact than that of regular individuals. twitter 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. Rather, it explores how we, as social justice movements, recreate value systems and dynamics of celebrity culture in the ways we idolize leaders in our movements. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Celebrities actors, musicians tend to react emotionally and inexpertly to complex political and economic problems, drawing attention to . I want to see us reject individualist, celebrity culture, and lean into exploring what collectively-led and community-defined liberation might look like for all of us. Restorative justice is a proven holistic approach to addressing criminal behavior. Their organizing efforts have focused on gender justice, labor, environmental justice. 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. Allowing space for the potential of certain leaders to cause harm left me feeling vulnerable, conflicted, and defensive. Many non-profits dont elect leadership or have clear, effective structures to keep us aligned with community-defined vision and goals and remove or take other accountability measures when they fail or cause harm. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have come under fire for promoting green politics and deciding to limit the number of children they have, only to take numerous private flights. Hahahaha! It has also served as a place to present leaders and their impacts (current and historic) through a lens of individualism. Stop Third World poverty by abolishing imperialism, colonialism and capitalism! 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. 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. Even our new climate queen Greta Thunberg got in on the hypocrisy. This is a global problem which requires global solutions, but thats not going to happen if the wealthiest use their voices to antagonise, provoking scepticism and annoyance at the cause. When were in this mental place, it can feel easier to align ourselves with someone elses vision and framework that feels similar to our own. She points to the way the hashtag #MeToo went viral when used in a tweet by Alyssa Milano. This makes me think that you have chronic i.e. Star power - but does the intervention of George Clooney etc.do more harm than good? Its easy for us to support #metoo advocates and survivors of abuse until it interferes with our campaign plans, our community events, our organizational structure. We see these forms of engagement lead to fragmented relationships, uncoordinated movements, and the formation of social cliques. Activists do more harm than good to their cause. Our movements have experienced this over and over. facebook. This can look like expecting our leaders to always be available, always be working, to conflate our leaders with their work, to view them as incomplete without it. Why celebrity activism does more harm than good Should celebrities promote charities? | New Internationalist 18. The gap between the haves and the have nots must be narrowed significantly. Im sharing this from my personal perspective, but this train of thought is something I see in many social and progressive movements today. There are two issues here: One, the actual tags used on Blackout Tuesday posts. Crucially, celebrities may use soft power techniques to facilitate a 'politics of attraction' to reconfigure concepts of global identity, citizenship and solidarity. This guy who comes from Marcy Projects, whos made it to these places were playing Yankee Stadium tonight. In 2017, superstar Rihanna spent a significant amount of time educating her fanbase on the damage caused by Hurricane Maria. This frequently results in uninspired theories of change, and contributing to the rise of individualist celebrity narratives around leaders. Here's What an Expert Thinks. It also doesnt allow movement members to play to their strong suits. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. . 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. Bellafonte is one, for sure. By operating within a framework of globalism, celebrity activists have placed matters of concern on the international agenda, overriding the self-interest of nation states. See link below and let us know what you think , Charity That Hurts [PovertyCure Episode 1] Were all aware that when we view someones accomplishments on social media, we dont see the years of trying, failing, struggling, and compiling small scale victories to get to the flashier results social media is made to uplift. We will try to apply solutions that may have worked in well in their specific situational, geographic, or cultural context without considering why applying it to our situation may lead to a different outcome or require some adjusting and rebuilding in order to succeed. 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. For example: This article was originally published on. 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. Former Vice-President Al Gore, star of An Inconvenient Truth, racks up an electric bill 20 times the national US average. Dr Martin Scurr: Why have I always had a runny nose for 30 years? Many organizations are gradually degrading, their initial visions and goals diluted and redirected under the weight of funder demands while their detachment from communities they claim to invest in expands. Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com. We need to distance ourselves from the powerful desire to follow simple solutions drafted by experts in conference rooms half a world away. In some instances, celebrities can cause more harm than good because of their insincere intentions or bad reputations. If you feel invested in a cause, engage it with all your passion, but tread carefully. Share this article: . Each year has a different theme, and this years was the impact of global warming. Celebrity-led campaigns do often prove to be highly successful in generating broad public support. 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. GO TO ORIGINAL links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. Powered by Tom, Hamish & Aaron. We are mapping the world's opinions to help improve civil discourse. The United States mainstream funding model is inherently misaligned with the vision our movements are fighting for. We demonize people or we put them on pedestals. Read Does Celebrity Activism Do More Harm Than Good? Online 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. We should begin, above all, by focusing on the creative energy already present among the local actors in a conflict in order to discover context-specific strategies that can help us to transform it. Learn how your comment data is processed. These three reasons often feed into and perpetuate one another. It pushes non-profits to compromise on their goals and ability to remain genuinely accountable to the communities they are working with, and present themselves as independent, innovative, and visionary while also presenting as measurable and palatable. Well known personalities can even play a powerful role in shaming and holding to account politicians and government leaders regarding their actions and policies. 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. Three factors seem to be: 1) capitalist funding models, 2) uninspiring non-profits, and 3) experiencing personal, physical, emotional, or spiritual overwhelm. This tends to fracture our movements, creating a culture that rewards individualism and aggressive competition and under-recognizes collaboration. What does celebrity activism accomplish? The Instagram freeze is part of a week of action organized by the coalition, which includes clear objectives like educating people about election disinformation and asking people to register to vote. A people-oriented REAL economy established. 23m ago. 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. As Daniel Drezner writes in When foreign policy goes glam, engaging in humanitarian causes clearly benefits the Clooneys, Jolies and Damons of the world. Thunberg announced that she would attend a UN climate summit by taking a carbon-neutral yacht across the Atlantic. 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. 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. Ojha and Bloomer also state that spreading awareness through social media is limited to a person's followers and the people the . Im writing this as someone whos experience of burn out was severely exacerbated by a broader culture that centers individualist and competitive action, deeply rooted in capitalist value systems. All rights reserved. How, according to Jimenez, But while the boycott temporarily reshaped the Instagram feeds of the celebrities collective millions of followers, it was also met with criticism. You find like-minded people. The crowd ended up having to be dispersed by police and tear gas. Whose voices are you listening to about it? We argue, however, that the project of finding the "right" subject . Though Im sure there are many more, next steps I am envisioning right now begin with investing in relationships with our peers, in deepening our personal visions for what liberation might look like, in studying the organizational and collective contexts under which many of our most dynamic movement leaders developed their thought and action, in joining and actively participating in local organizations and community groups, and learning how to be in conflict with each other, to disagree with one another without expanding violence towards each other, to learn how to respond to harm with compassionate accountability.
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