Solidarity against gender-based violence is more than a profile picture. True activism requires accountability, action, and standing against oppression every day.
Speech that enables harm is not freedom – it is oppression disguised as liberty. Freedom of speech becomes oppressive when it excuses cruelty, when it allows tone-deaf mannerisms to masquerade as solidarity.
Neutrality in the face of oppression is not neutrality at all; it is siding with the oppressor. If you take a stand, it must be with your entire being. Change something, change one thing, change anything within your reach.
On Friday, the Women for Change march against gender-based violence (GBV) calls for GBV to be declared a national disaster. One of its most visible initiatives has been asking people to change their profile pictures to purple as a symbol of solidarity.
The campaign has already gathered over 900 000 signatures, proof of its resonance. Beyond the digital sphere, purple ribbons are being worn, extending commitment into the physical world. This is a kind of middle finger to those who mocked the purple profile pictures, dismissing them as empty gestures.
Yet the groundswell of support has exposed a troubling phenomenon: tone-deaf activism. Too many want to be seen supporting a cause without fully committing to what that support entails. History offers clear lessons. Apartheid was not defeated by passive observers or selective participants.
It took comprehensive strategies and unwavering commitment. Brenda Madumise-Pajibo, director of Wise4Afrika, reminds us: “We boycotted graduation at previous white universities as a form of protest. We embarked on consumer boycotts as a form of protest.”
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She draws a direct line between those struggles and today’s campaign against GBV: “The face of poverty in this country is that of a black woman. This campaign is asking for 15 minutes of our time.”
Symbolism must be taken seriously. Wearing purple ribbons while simultaneously making jokes about GBV is not just hypocritical, it actively undermines the movement’s purpose.
A ribbon is not a costume. It is a covenant. When its meaning is taken lightly, it becomes performative rather than transformative.
True activism begins with personal accountability. It means not laughing when others make cruel jokes, because silence in the face of insensitivity is complicity.
It means calling out friends, colleagues and family members when they display casual cruelty on sensitive topics. It means recognising that freedom of speech is not a licence to wound, but a responsibility to protect.
Boycotting can take many forms; one example is what you say – or refuse to say.
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Madumise-Pajibo envisions a world where Women for Change succeeds: “A citizenry that will show up and demand accountability from itself and those in leadership positions.
“That beyond 21 November the campaign would have produced many upstanders, standing up against injustice when they see it, being upstanders when a woman is victimised, when a woman is sexually harassed in the workplace, in the church, in a taxi or taxi rank.”
The lesson is clear: solidarity must extend beyond the symbolic. It must live in our words, our actions, our refusals to be complicit. It must be visible not only on profile pictures but in workplaces, schools, homes and public spaces.
The purple ribbon is powerful, but only if it is worn with conviction. Otherwise, it risks becoming a hollow accessory, stripped of meaning by those unwilling to embody its promise.
Let us not be spectators in purple. Let us be upstanders in every space – workplace, church or taxi rank. Let us stand up when it counts, because silence is not neutrality; silence is surrender.
The march is one day, but the struggle is every day. To be truly free, we must refuse tone-deaf activism and embrace the full weight of accountability.
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