By Zambu Sakala
CO FOUNDER OF THE HEAL ORGANIZATION
When news of a fast spreading and highly contagious flu-like virus that originated from Wuhan China reached most of us, we didn’t know that it would completely change the world as we knew it. The Pandemic changed all of our lives, from the way we conduct business to the way we learn.
The pandemic meant that activists could not hold rallies, organise walks or hold events. For a long time physical presence was a prerequisite in advocating for change. However, there’s a solution for every challenge. In this case, it meant online activism.
Social media for a longtime has been regarded as a powerful tool for impacting change, however there’s a misconception that social media is not a real place and therefore any activism or advocacy done on social media platforms does not lead to any substantial change or has very minimal impact. We forget that people behind those accounts or twitter handles are real people.
The pandemic was a terrible time for all of us but it allowed us to see that one can make use of various tools to make social impact, one such tool is social media. One can carry out social media campaigns. This should not be seen as a substitute for ground work but rather a way to supplement efforts made in the community. Zoom, google meet and Microsoft teams provide an alternative to holding physical rallies. We could not hold rallies or mental health talks but the next best thing was employing the use of these powerful tools to hold virtual talks and rallies. People didn’t not pay a blind eye to this, they attended and participated.
The world is opening up again, we must not neglect the tools we used during the covid era but rather we must embrace them and use them to supplement our advocacy and activism on the ground. An example of this is having a mental health awareness talk while streaming it so other people can participate remotely, this can also include hybrid seminars or summits. Therefore, these tools present vast opportunities to reach people in different areas even when travel might be different.
As activists and change makers, we must not look at the internet as a fictional place without actual people; rather, we must embrace the power of the internet to advocate, to network and to build community. The change you’re making online is not in vain, some people will never come to rallies but will be impacted by a social media post. The world is changing, let us move with it or we’ll get left behind without reaching out and educating a large number of people because we were scared or unsure of this new territory.