Last week I went to a concert—Black Country New Road (BCNR)—and at the end of the show, there was a vocal show of support for Palestine. The flags came out on stage, the crowd started chanting “free Palestine!”, and there was about 5 minutes of rambling advocation for independence.
Ok great, nobody was hurt, right of assembly, etc, etc, etc. But why then was I struck with this intense feeling of ickiness? It wasn’t the message itself. It was the entire performance of it all.
I think it’s important to first shed some context on the audience demographics; I felt I was the oldest person in the concert, and I am in my mid-20s. The vast majority of the crowd was by my estimates 18 - 21. And I think therein lies the root of my problem. Palestinian independence is the in issue on social media. Specifically for the alt crowd that goes to a band like BCNR, it’s an issue that you can’t be silent about without facing social/parasocial pushback
This leads to a sort of “one-up-manship”. Everyone is trying to signal how much more they care about the cause, how incredibly supportive they are of the Palestinian plight. What this leads to is a virtual garbage heap of canva graphics, TikToks, and reposts. Uninformed rhetoric and a lack of tangible discourse now pervades online and physical spaces, creating a performative arms-race for social activism.
I think the root of the problem for me is that it’s not the issue that young people really care about, but rather the accompanying social clout. Protests on behalf of Palestine have become cool, a way to show how empathetic, geopolitically aware, and well-informed you are.
I just fear that this visible collective strength is but a paper tiger, and as the next new issue becomes trendy, the systemic genocide of the Palestinian people becomes an afterthought.