Freedom of speech is often invoked to defend harmful behaviour, but freedom of speech becomes oppressive when it enables harm to others.
Allow me to be the freedom of speech police for a moment. Freedom of speech is oppressive if it means spewing things that can harm others. Today’s agenda is tone-deaf mannerisms.
A great man once said if you are neutral in the face of oppression, then you are siding with the oppressor. This is to say that your neutrality panders to the oppressor.
If you take a stand against something, then it should be with your entire being. Change something, change one thing, change anything within your reach.
We are fast heading to the Women for Change march against gender-based violence (GBV) on 21 November. Among its objectives is for GBV to be declared a national disaster.
Have you gone purple?
One of the movement’s most visible initiatives has been asking people to change their profile pictures to purple as a symbol of solidarity and awareness.
This initiative has proven to be quite successful. It has driven the organisation’s petition to reach over 900 000 signatures. This is to show the importance and significance of this movement.
Beyond the digital show of support, some have taken to wearing purple ribbons, demonstrating a commitment that extends past the virtual world.
I admire these people, and this is a kind of “middle finger” to those who were trashing the purple profile pictures.
My issue with all this is with tone-deaf people who have only one foot in the door.
The groundswell of support has exposed a troubling phenomenon: tone-deaf activism, where people want to be seen as supporting a cause without fully committing to what that support entails.
ALSO READ: GBV national shutdown: Activists stand strong as critics slam purple ‘keyboard warriors’
The struggle continues
History offers clear lessons on this. Apartheid was not defeated by passive observers or selective participants. It took comprehensive strategies and unwavering commitment.
Brenda Madumise-Pajibo, director of Wise4Afrika, agreed, stating that apartheid was defeated by the use of many strategies.
“We boycotted graduation at previous white universities as a form of protest. We embarked on consumer boycotts as a form of protest.
“The face of poverty in this country is that of a black woman. This campaign is asking for 15 minutes of our time,” she said.
She draws a direct line between those historical struggles and the current campaign against GBV.
“A recognition that violence against women, girls and children has no place in our country and the world,” she added.
What did you say?
Boycotting can take many forms; one example is what you say.
Wearing purple ribbons while simultaneously making jokes or inappropriate comments about GBV is not just hypocritical; it actively undermines the movement’s core purpose of education and awareness.
If you are going to wear a purple ribbon and choose a purple profile picture, you should at least read the room.
Performative activism
When its symbolism is taken lightly, the ribbon becomes performative rather than transformative.
True activism begins with personal accountability. It means not laughing when others make these jokes or comments, because silence in the face of such insensitivity is complicity.
It means calling out friends, colleagues, and family members when they display what can only be described as wicked, weird energy on sensitive topics.
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is often invoked to defend harmful behaviour, but it becomes oppressive when it enables harm to others.
Madumise-Pajibo said that a world where the Women for Change movement is successful is one with an engaged citizenry beyond 21 November.
“A citizenry that will show up and demand accountability from itself and those in leadership positions in the various sectors.
“That beyond the 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,” she said.
Let us all stand up when it counts the most and be active activists.
