Can performative activism be positive? (2024)

29May 2024

Earlier this week, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 45 Palestinians who were sheltering in a tent camp in Rafah – an area in Gaza which had been designated as a humanitarian zone for displaced people. Coming after the International Court of Justice had ordered Israel to immediately cease its assault on Gaza, the incident provoked a huge global outcry, and there was one image in particular which seemed to catch the public imagination. It wasn’t a photograph of the real scenes of death and destruction – of which there are many – but a bland, AI-generated picture of a desolate landscape, featuring rows of tents and the caption ‘All Eyes on Rafah’. It has since been shared millions of times across social media platforms, including by celebrities including Nicola Coughlan, Kehlani, Jenna Ortega, Bella Hadid, and Melissa Barrera, among others.

The image has become so inescapable that it has provoked something of a backlash among pro-Palestinians commentators, who were frustrated by its vagueness and lack of humanity. This is an understandable reaction: the image is AI-generated, ugly and – tailing off into a vista of snow-capped mountains – bears little resemblance to Rafah as a real place. It’s a depiction of Palestine that features no Palestinians and an infographic that contains no information. Shorn of context, it doesn’t tell us anything about what’s been happening, nor does it convey the apocalyptic scenes which have emerged this week. There is no call to action beyond “pay attention”; no donation links, no details on how to help. Of all the images which could have gone viral, it’s frustrating that this is the one to have taken off.

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But for all the image’s flaws, I don’t see the point in complaining that Palestine solidarity has become a trend. Of course there are better ways of using the internet, and in an ideal world, everyone would be sharing expert analysis and testimonies from people on the ground. But a critical mass of people expressing their support, however imperfectly, is still a good thing: the ubiquity of the image indicates a shift in consensus and testifies to the movement’s impact. It might not count for much on its own, but it’s a sign that the message is getting through.

We should hold public figures to higher standards, but if I see a distant relative or a friend from school who hasn’t said anything about Gaza in six months finally post an infographic, I see this as a positive development. It’s further evidence that the tide is turning: our politicians and media pundits may continue to defend Israel’s grave violations of international law, but more and more people are refusing to accept this. And while the act of posting a single image might be superficial in terms of its impact, there’s no reason to doubt the sentiment behind it: after the hellish images coming out of Gaza over the last months, why wouldn’t anyone be sincerely horrified? Most people, I have found, don’t like it when thousands of children are killed – that is one of the most normal, unsurprising opinions it’s possible to have. Not having posted about it up until now isn’t evidence that someone didn’t care before, and if an AI-generated infographic really was the thing that opened their eyes to the horrors unfolding, maybe that could spark a more meaningful involvement with the cause. Who knows!

i just think ppl shouldn't post AI images of palestine (specifically rafah) to "raise awareness" when there is plenty of real footage being shared by palestinians. it comes off as wildly performative and disingenuous when the LEAST you can do as an ally is spread the TRUTH.

— autumn⁷ (@ghiblijoonies) May 28, 2024

After the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ image went viral, I saw some people comparing it to ‘Blackout Tuesday’ – a collective initiative in response to the murder of George Floyd, which began in the music industry and eventually saw hundreds of corporations and (mostly white) people posting black squares on their Instagram accounts. In the years since 2020, many have come to view this as a symbol of the most shallow, ineffective and ‘virtue signalling’ kind of online activism. But the context today is different. For better or worse, the establishment was a lot more willing to pay lip service to the Black Lives Matter movement, with just about every major corporation voicing its support and politicians on either side of the Atlantic “taking the knee” in staged photoshoots, regardless of their own complicity in the exploitation and oppression of Black people.

As many Black intellectuals have argued, the willingness of the ruling classes to co-opt the movement for racial justice had an at best ambiguous effect, smoothing the way for some limited reforms while diluting or disregarding more radical demands. But the climate around Palestine today isn’t really comparable: you’re not going to see Nancy Pelosi rocking up to congress in a Keffiyeh, Netflix solemnly stating that “to be silent is complicit” or Disney posting an illustration of Mickey Mouse draped in the colours of the Palestinian flag. Right now, that kind of co-option isn’t happening at a significant scale, and an abundance of superficial support is not something we have to worry about. The Palestine solidarity movement has always faced censorship and repression, and in the last six months, people have lost jobs for signing open letters, posting on social media or engaging in protest. In this climate, we should welcome the movement becoming “trendy”, ie popular. The more people speak out, even if they’re doing so in the shallowest way possible, the easier it becomes for others to do the same – it opens up space.

This is not about you. Saying things like “oh now you wanna speak up.” Is not helping anybody in Rafah, Congo or Sudan. These people are begging us daily to speak up. They don’t care if it was today or yesterday this is real life. This isn’t a contest of who spoke up first.

— GOTHICC (@frankenfemme_) May 28, 2024