The Turkish capital city suffered three huge terrorist bombings in five months, but received only a fraction of the sympathy and attention given to Paris after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. After the March suicide bomb attack (that killed at least 34 people and wounded 125), James Taylor, who lives in Ankara, shared this powerful Facebook post […]
“Men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them.” – Margaret Atwood Misogyny and sexual violence against women are omnipresent forces in society today. I am constantly confronted with reminders of these forces, whether it’s turning on the radio and hearing reports of 19 year old Sinoxolo Mafevuka‘s murder as an act […]
There was a time when online challenges ruled the interweb (#ThrowbackThursday to the horrific “Neknominations” or the #NoMakeUpSelfie phase). The (arguably) most successful of these challenges, was the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” where people were peer pressured by their Facebook friends to pour a bucket of ice-cold water over their heads in an effort to raise awareness for […]
I was that child who was too nervous to go to classmates’ parties without my mom and the thought of trying literally anything new paralysed me with fear. From about 9 years old, I’d come up with ways of getting myself out of situations that made me uncomfortable. For example, if I rubbed my nose long and […]
No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so. -Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed The #BlackLivesMatter movement began in 2012 after Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Florida. Two years later, Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white policeman in Ferguson, and this was eventually deemed justified by both […]
On the 7th of March 2012 I woke up to an abundance of Facebook posts relating to #Kony2012, instructing me to “STOP KONY NOW” and “MAKE KONY FAMOUS”. Just as every other human in the world utilising social media did that day. I, along with all of my friends, was then invited to a Facebook event […]
CAPE TOWN – Coinciding with the country’s “Anti-Racism Week”, Independent Media has launched the #RacismStopsWithMe campaign in an effort to combat the economic, political, social and cultural legacy of racism in South Africa. The campaign can be followed via various social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. A poster promoting the #RacismStopsWithMe campaign. Image […]
Perhaps the most attractive side of this trend is the knowledge that one has participated in a good cause yet with minimal effort. But can you end world poverty and conflicts by sharing a post on Facebook? Can a hashtag trigger a pivotal change that stops a brutal dictator oppressing citizens? – Hsin-Yi Lo Hashtag activism, […]
#HASHTAG ACTIVISM 