#BlackLivesMatter: Armchair activism that works

And no, FFS, no, this is not a suggestion that you put a black square on your social media and stop posting for a week. I know some people did that with kind thoughts and good intentions but FFS NO! Shutting up and going away has never been an effective form of protest and I have no idea why people think it would be.

‘Armchair activism’ has a bad reputation (probably because of well-meaning but easily fucked up stuff like the above black squares.) OK, liking and sharing and retweeting and all the rest of it can help raise awareness, but it’s not generally enough on its own.

Right now, though, mid-pandemic, there are a lot of people who want to help but are not in a position to do much offline. They may be sick, shielding, or have a household member who is highly vulnerable to the virus – and, sadly, going on a demo at the moment will increase your risk of catching it and/or bringing it home. This isn’t to say, baaaa, stayhome stayhome stayhome – you may decide that the risk to you and anyone you live with is acceptable, given the importance of the cause. Another effect of the virus is that a lot more people have a lot less money to spare for donations.

But Zoe Amira has come up with a brilliant way to offer genuine support from the comfort of your own armchair. All you have to do is turn off your YouTube adblockers, if you use them, and WATCH THIS VIDEO. the revenue generated by people watching this ad-laden compilation is going straight to assorted relevant fundraisers. You can pop it on and go and have a bath, or a wank, or read a book or wash the pots – whatever you want, as long as it keeps playing. (But apparently it’s better to watch it through once, watch a couple of other things and then come back to it later. So it doesn’t look TOO orchestrated and upset the algorhythms.) I’m genuinely thrilled that it’s now possible to engage in real armchair activism and do proper good when you are not in a position to send money or too vulnerable in health terms to go on a demo, but want to be able to offer more than ‘thoughts and prayers’. It’s a trick that probably won’t work for long once every niche cause cottons on to it, but right now it’s easy and effective. With the additional bonus of giving you a chance to discover artists and creators whose work you will love. I’ve been playing it repeatedly just to hear this again…