THE crisis in Sudan is not the first time I’ve seen young people using social media to champion a cause that they are passionate about, remember the Charlie Hebdo shooting?
Every Facebook friend of mine and their aunty customised their profile picture into a French flag (Facebook gave you an option to do so) and that actually set the trend for people to raise awareness about crimes against humanity that don’t see enough coverage on social media or mainstream news outlets.
Although some sceptics feel as if it’s an ineffective way to help people in need, what it does do is raise awareness, which is just as important.
The latest social media, display picture or hashtag campaign was the #BlueForSudan, where mainly Twitter and Instagram users made an effort to raise awareness about the killings in Sudan.
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The reason why the colour blue was used instead of Sudan’s flag colours is because the Sudanese revolutionaries wanted people to stand in solidarity with a fallen protestor, Mohammed Mattar who was shot trying to protect two women during a protest that happened outside the Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council headquarters on June 3.
Mattar’s favourite colour was blue, so it was a fitting tribute.
Even with Sudan’s internet blackout, many of my friends in South Africa and around the world changed their profile picture in solidarity.
A local movement that was inspired by the Sudan campaign was the #JusticeForCapeFlats movement that saw Instagram and Twitter users change their display pictures to the colour orange.
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The colour represented the people of colour in Cape Town facing violence in the Cape Flats area. An ANC Youth League, ward secretary, Sherazaad Liesering, was responsible for the colour change.
Although there aren’t as many of my friends on social media with the display picture like the Sudan campaign, I still chatted to the users on Instagram that do have the bright orange display picture standing in solidarity with the people from the Cape Flats.
Michael said: “I first saw the orange profile picture on Instagram when this stylist from Cape Town that I follow posted it. I did some more research and I started to feel bad about people that live there. As coloured males, we’re stigmatised a lot when it comes to violence and the army will make the situation worse because they’re intimidating and they probably feel that they could fix the violence with violence.”
Michaela Eyoh’s Bubblegum club piece on this issue was perfectley summarised when she wrote: “The generation that literally grew up on the internet is the generation most primed to use it to create change. However, there are gaps. Politics and media are still not written with an intent to be accessible to Gen-Z’s outside of electoral time frames, imbuing them with most of the same stereotypes that float around about millennials and using their youth as a point to disengage with them rather than rope them into political conversation meaningfully.”
Social media can be effectively used to raise awareness, because how many young people would’ve found out about the Sudan atrocities if the news wasn’t coming to them as quickly as it does on social media?
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