Pictivism for solidarity

The series of bans on artistes, writers and sportspersons from across the border has triggered the idea of raising your virtual voice to express your concern and show solidarity to fight for a cause. One such recent campaign is #ProfileForPeace, a hashtag campaign going viral on social media, with thousands of Indians and Pakistanis as well as those living in the US, UK and UAE changing their profile pictures to one with a little love note scribble that says where they are from, that they don’t hate each other, and are only being divided by hate politics. We speak to the brain behind the campaign and others about whether social media activism can actually bring about a positive change.

Ram Subramanian, who calls himself an ‘artivist’ and is the brain behind the #ProfileForPeace campaign puts forth, “I read an article about Shiv Sena banning Ghulam Ali from performing in Mumbai and this followed after a series of bans and attacks on creative minds. This irked me. When you are closing the doors to art, you are opening them to dark, unwanted and unpleasant things. Riled by these recent incidents of Pakistani artistes being banned in the country, I decided to express my concern over the matter in my own way and this triggered the idea for the campaign.”

Subramanian changed his profile picture on social networking websites to a picture of himself holding a placard that read: ‘I am an Indian. I am from Mumbai. I don’t hate Pakistan. I am not alone. There are many people like me.’ He urged others who agreed with the message to do the same. This small change has now become a viral phenomenon, with people including celebrities like Vishal Dadlani, Abbas Tyrewala and Fatima Bhutto showing their support for the campaign by posting similar photos. Ram adds, “The main purpose of this campaign was to show who wants war and who wants peace. If most of us want peace, then please speak up and show your face and tell us who wants war I firmly believe in the power of one man speaking up and then what follows is a chain reaction. I changed my profile picture on social media, others quickly followed to spread the message and finally the campaign went viral.”

“This speaks of the power of social media and how it can be used effectively to express your opinion,” he affirms.

Agreeing with Subramanian, Avantika Ghosh, a PhD student at Delhi University also believes that ‘pictivism’ or ‘artivism’ not only encourages the questioning of political agendas through the means of art but also raises awareness about important issues. She elaborates, “Artivism is ‘bigger than hip-hop’, to quote author and filmmaker M.K. Asante. I personally believe that changing profile pictures is more effective than posting a comment or tweeting. A display picture is one of the first things that one’s followers and friends notice. It is like the top fold of a newspaper or the cover of a magazine, which can’t go unnoticed. This can be a very powerful tool for advocating your cause and it bolsters efforts across channels and spreads awareness. It introduces users to a topic they may have never heard about and also inspires them to do their own research on the trending topic and get involved.”

For social worker Ruhi Kapoor, getting involved in virtual activism is fine but one must connect with real life campaigns too. She adds, “I strongly believe that changing display photos to a pink ribbon, rainbow or tricolour, or painting graffiti art with a social message may be honourable, but your campaign needs to drive people to real action. Showing support and solidarity for a cause is absolutely fine but it should not merely end there. One needs to move beyond social media and work at the grass root levels to bring about a positive change. We need more initiatives like #ProfileForPeace but more importantly, such campaigns should be able to draw the attention of government authorities effectively.”

While there are some who believe ‘clicktivism’ can be a campaign thriller, there are others like activist Sukanya Kumar who has her qualms about it turning into a campaign killer instead. She says, “Changing profile pictures doesn’t help any more than candlelight marches, marathons for a cause or wearing bands and ribbons. This is another example of short-lived mass enthusiasm that sizzles for a couple of days and then fades away. Changing pictures is, in fact, a nice way of doing ‘armchair activism’ but does not really make a viable difference. With a cause like cementing Indo-Pak relations or supporting the LGBTQ community, it’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and think that we’ve done our share by changing our Facebook profile photo but these issues can’t be resolved merely by hashtag activism. One must not forget the old school of philanthropy. Look up from your screens, get your hands dirty and see the direct result of your efforts making a change in someone’s life.”