Skip to content
Daily Theology
  • Podcast
  • Shark WeekS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Search
Catholic Social Teaching, Common Good, Guest Post, Solidarity, Theology and Culture, Theology and Technology
by Marcus MescherNovember 7, 20168:30 amSeptember 24, 2020

Resisting Slacktivism, Reclaiming Solidarity

By Marcus Mescher

What does “solidarity” mean? People use this term to imply unity with a cause or group, but for many, it’s not altogether clear what makes solidarity something different from community. In Catholic theology, the line that is often invoked to define solidarity comes from Pope John Paul II’s 1987 encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis (“On Social Concerns”). Here solidarity is identified as a virtue that follows a commitment to interdependence, a moral and social attitude that

is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all (#38).

The problem with this definition is that it puts solidarity in the context of another complex term such that we have to understand what the “common good” means (which, too often, results in a laundry list of quotations where the term has been used, but not always well defined).

Solidarity has also been defined as “social friendship,” a reference to Aristotle’s vision of the virtuous community. Today, we might understand solidarity as an inclusive loyalty: a loyalty that crosses boundaries and tries to forge unity across difference. Solidarity is more than personal; it also is a commitment to build the kinds of beliefs, values, practices, relationships, policies, and structures that build a more inclusive, diverse, and just ordering of society.

#BlackLivesMatter protest (photo courtesy Wikimedia commons)
#BlackLivesMatter protest (photo courtesy Wikimedia commons)

Given how much time we spend online—for many people, even more hours than we sleep — it is tempting to think that we can achieve solidarity on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other services can help raise awareness about various issues and connect us with others who care. Trending hashtags represent opportunities to spread the word and grow the movement. There have been numerous examples in recent years, ranging from the #IceBucketChallenge to #BlackLivesMatter to #PrayforParis. Most forms of hashtag activism (or “slacktivism”) have tragically short windows to marshal support for a cause. (Have we already forgotten about #hurricaneMatthew from last month, even though the $10.5 billion in damages will take years to address?)

Advocates of slacktivism point to the good that can result from these social media campaigns. Notably, the #IceBucketChallenge raised more than $100 million for ALS research, even leading to a medical breakthrough. But critics point to the small number of individuals who actually donated to the cause and question the use of these funds. A better example might be #BlackLivesMatter, which has actually become a political force and resulted in policy changes.

Protesters opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline (photo courtesy Wikimedia commons)
Protesters opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline (photo courtesy Wikimedia commons)

Another current example of slacktivism is the support for the Souix Native American tribe who are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, a four-state, multi-billion-dollar pipeline currently being constructed through sacred land (burial grounds on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation) in North Dakota. Protestors are raising awareness with #NoDAPL on social media and in the last few days, more than 1.5 million Facebook users “checked-in” at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. This came in response to a report that the local sheriff’s office was using Facebook to monitor and arrest protestors, who are called Water Protectors. Although Snopes debunked this story early on, this hasn’t slowed the hashtag activism; in fact, the most recent development is a #12HourWaterChallenge to be in solidarity with the Water Protectors.

The intentions behind the Facebook “check-in” seem to connect with the aims of solidarity: a gesture to change one’s location to represent inclusive social friendship meant to shield the Water Protectors. But taking the few seconds to “check-in” doesn’t fulfill the obligations required by solidarity—especially when it’s so easy to scroll or swipe past this issue and forget about it. Others hold a less charitable view and call this gesture a “waste of time.” Some Native Americans have said they appreciated the gesture and the fact that the Facebook check-in raised more awareness for the protestors, but they also add that solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux requires much more than a single click, as their website outlines.

A main problem with slacktivism is that too many people equate awareness with action or social awareness with responsibility. Awareness does not mean activism; it is neither true that once people become aware of a cause they automatically are committed to that cause. Awareness is just the first step of a long process of growing in solidarity and building more just practices, relationships, and policies.

Moreover, slacktivism operates from a position of power and privilege. It does not demand much from the slacktivist (as the term implies) and does not necessarily lead to learning more about what justice requires, making sacrifices to benefit those in need, or building more inclusive or mutual relationships (as solidarity requires). As part of a commitment to justice and the common good, solidarity must involve transparency, mutuality, and accountability, all areas where slacktivism falls short. In fact, slacktivism operates more like a digital form of toxic charity that disempowers others in need and trains them to be dependent on the good will of others.

Gustavo Gutierrez
Gustavo Gutierrez

Gustavo Gutiérrez argues that, “There is no true commitment to solidarity with the poor if one sees them merely as people passively waiting for help. Respecting their status as those who control their own destiny is an indispensable condition for genuine solidarity.” In other words, if we are to take seriously the command to love our neighbor in a universal sense (as the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 illustrates that everyone is to be considered a neighbor), this neighbor-love means following the Samaritan’s example to go out of our way and into the ditch, to take up the vantage point of the one in need. Solidarity implies that we change our social location in the concrete (and not just digitally) and stand with those who are marginalized, vulnerable, and oppressed. Changing our location on social media might alert our friends and followers to an important cause, but it isn’t the same as standing with those who are being pelted with rubber bullets and pepper spray or hearing firsthand accounts of why this land is sacred and deserves to be protected.

Admittedly, not many of us can break away from our commitments and make the journey to North Dakota to stand with the Water Protectors. But that doesn’t mean that we can fulfill our social obligations through the screen of our phone, tablet, or computer. Gutiérrez summarizes his vision of solidarity in terms of justice that “equally implies friendship with the poor and among the poor. Without friendship there is neither authentic solidarity nor true sharing. In fact, it is a commitment to specific people.” As Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ reflects, we can’t just talk about the poor, we should name them. Solidarity is about a loyalty that moves us closer to the poor; by sharing life with those who are suffering and struggling, we come to not just recognize the dignity of those in need or care about the problems they face, but because we care so deeply about them, their problems become our problems. Out of this genuine concern, we can’t help but dedicate ourselves to working for their dignity, rights, and freedom. And as friendship grows, so, transparency, mutuality, and accountability increase.

Slacktivism might raise awareness and it might be a first step to advocacy that calls on those in positions of power to respond to the needs of those most in need among us. But as Gutiérrez sees it, “the goal is not to become, except in cases of extreme urgency or short duration, the ‘voice of the voiceless’ as is sometimes said—undoubtedly with the best of intentions—but rather in some way to help ensure that those without a voice find one. Being an agent of one’s own history is for all people an expression of freedom and dignity, the starting point and source of authentic human development.”

In other words, solidarity is about building the kinds of attitudes, habits, relationships, practices, and policies that enhance the dignity of all, foster inclusive belonging, and create the conditions under which people can participate in a just society. In our commitment to raising awareness about matters of injustice or organizing activism to bring about right-relationship with God, others, and all creation, our social media activity should flow from and lead to the kinds of decisions and relationships that cultivate what Pope Francis has called a “culture of encounter” that puts us into contact with—and leads us to genuine connection with—those who have been rendered socially insignificant, the nonpersons, the poor. In these encounters, connections, and budding friendships, we can take up the work of solidarity, which, as Gutiérrez writes, is to empower others to become “subjects of their own destiny.”

That is the vision for human flourishing to which we are called. And it requires so much more than a click.

NB: All Gustavo Gutierrez quotes come from “The Option for the Poor Arises from Faith in Christ” Theological Studies 70 (2009), 317-326.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Tagged with: #HurricaneMatthew #IceBucketChallenge #NoDAPL BlackLivesMatter Catholic Social Teaching common good Dakota Access Pipeline Facebook Gustavo Gutierrez Hashtag Activism Marc Mescher Slactivism solidarity Sollicitudo Rei Socialis Standing Rock

Marcus Mescher

All posts

Marcus Mescher is associate professor of Christian Ethics at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. His book, The Ethics of Encounter: Christian Neighbor Love as a Practice of Solidarity, was published by Orbis Books in 2020.

  • Dr. Mescher on Twitter

1Comment

Add yours
  1. 1
    No Innocent Space: Confronting Racism Here – Daily Theology on October 26, 2020 at 9:43 am
    Reply

    […] and entertainment, we can get used to seeing ourselves more as spectators or than stakeholders, and slacktivism can too easily supplant a struggle for justice. Hashtags can raise awareness, but they don’t […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Like us on Facebook!

Like us on Facebook!

Recent Posts

  • On The Privileges of Personhood
  • Invitation to an Antifascist Reading Space
  • Beyond Kendi: Antiracism and Non-White Sovereignty in the US Political Economy
  • Sinful and Holy: The Human Nature of the Church
Advertisements

Archive

Advertisements

Follow DT on Twitter

My Tweets
Advertisements

Like us on Facebook!

Like us on Facebook!
Advertisements

Tags

Advent Anti-Racism Catholic Catholic Church Catholicism Catholic Social Teaching Christianity Christmas Church College Theology Society discipleship faith Holy Spirit Hope Jesuits Jesus Jesus Christ Lent liberation theology love Mercy Oscar Romero podcast podcast season 1 Pope Francis Prayer racism Saint Leo University Saints spirituality Stephen Okey Stephen Okey Podcast Episode Theological Shark Week theology theology and culture
Advertisements

Authors

  • Amanda Osheim
  • Alexandria Griffin
  • Benjamin Durheim
  • Brian Flanagan
  • B. Kevin Brown
  • Brianne Jacobs
  • erik martin
  • Catherine R. Osborne
  • Christine E. McCarthy
  • Leo Guardado
  • Kelly L. Schmidt & Billy Critchley-Menor, S.J.
  • The Editors
  • Guest Post
  • DT Podcast
  • Dave de la Fuente
  • Dannis Matteson
  • Heather M. DuBois
  • Gunnar B. Gundersen
  • John DeCostanza
  • Jessica Wrobleski
  • Kevin M Johnson
  • John P. Slattery
  • Katharine Mahon
  • Katherine Wrisley Shelby
  • Kathleen Bellow
  • Br. Ken Homan, SJ
  • Kevin Ahern
  • Katherine A. Greiner
  • Krista Stevens
  • Andrew Staron
  • Lorraine Cuddeback-Gedeon
  • Marjorie Corbman
  • Michael L. Avery
  • Marcus Mescher
  • Michael Rubbelke
  • Meg Stapleton Smith
  • Katie O'Neill
  • Paul Louis Metzger
  • Stephen Okey
Advertisements
Advertisements

Categories

Advent Catholicism Catholic Social Teaching Christian Life Church Community Conversation Conversion Current Events Discipleship Doing Theology Ethics Faith Guest Post Jesus Christ Justice Lent Mercy Podcast Politics Pop Culture Pope Francis Racism Saints Shark Week Social Justice Solidarity Spirituality Theology and Culture Vatican
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements

Tags

#Laudato Si Advent Anti-Racism Catholic Catholic Church Catholic Higher Education Catholicism Catholic Social Teaching Christianity Christmas Church College Theology Society Community conversation dialogue discipleship education Ethics Eucharist faith Forgiveness grace Higher Education Holy Spirit Hope Incarnation Jesuits Jesus Jesus Christ John DeCostanza John Paul II Kevin Ahern Lent liberation theology Liturgy love Martin Luther King Mary Media Mercy Ministry Oscar Romero peace Pentecost podcast podcast season 1 podcast season 2 Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Prayer Public Theology Race racism resurrection Saint Leo University Saints scripture Shark Week social justice spirituality Stephen Okey Stephen Okey Podcast Episode Teaching Teaching Theology technology Theological Shark Week theology theology and culture Thomas Merton Vacation Bible School Vatican Vatican II vocation war white supremacy
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Website Built with WordPress.com.
Footer navigation
  • About Us
  • Theological Shark Weeks
  • DT Podcast
  • Who We Are

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Follow Following
    • Daily Theology
    • Join 8,346 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Daily Theology
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d bloggers like this: