If you’ve ever found yourself chilling with Anarchists, marching with Occupiers, or hanging with union workers, you’re probably familiar with the concept of solidarity. It’s been a rallying cry among progressives and radicals everywhere since time immemorial for one reason: It works. One person staging a strike is unemployed; 100 can get their way. Sticking your neck out for friends and strangers is a beautiful thing, and among other things it’s the reason Sandy was a mitigated disaster.
Social media is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to practice solidarity:
You can organize a march at a moment’s notice, like the students at Northeastern who put together a demonstration against the assault on Gaza the day after it happened. You can communicate between disparate movements the way Occupy did. You can coordinate relief efforts, as people have done through the Occupy media network to relieve hurricane victims in New York.
These are all wonderful things, and it’s only natural to want to be a part of them.
But throwing on a solidarity hashtag at the end of whatever inane tweet you twatted does not count.
If the best help you can give is kind words, by all means fire up your social media accounts, but remember that actions speak louder than the Internet. Right now, the people you are retweeting are giving up their time, money, and comfort for solidarity. Others are sitting on their asses and staring, fishlike, at a glowing box. The choice is yours.