Will 'Activist' look good on your resume?

After Priyanka Chopra-fronted American show is called out for introducing competition into social causes, insiders discuss the pitfalls of Instagram-age activism: attrition, opportunism, posturing

In an Instagram post dated September 17, actor Priyanka Chopra wrote, “I have been moved by the power of your voices over the past week. At its core, Activism is fuelled [sic] by cause and effect, and when people come together to raise their voice about something, there is always an effect. You were heard… The show got it wrong, and I’m sorry that my participation in it disappointed many of you.”

The show she was apologising to her fans for is The Activist, a reality competition announced by American broadcasting company CBS, and co-producers, global advocacy group Global Citizen, in early September. In retrospect, it may now seem like the show’s team participated in group naivety, if they thought that this would not create a problem. 

Actor Priyanka Chopra said that the 'show went the wrong way' after The Activist, a reality TV concept, was panned for adding competition to social causes instead of collaboration. Pic/Getty Images

Hosted by Chopra, who has in her position as celebrity influencer supported varied causes in the past, including been UNICEF’s Global Goodwill Ambassador, singer Usher and dancer-actor Julianne Hough, the show planned to pit six activists against each other while supporting the cause of health, education and environment. The criteria to judge the ‘contestants’ would be online engagement and social metrics, eventually leading up to them petitioning world leaders for funding and support. The one to get the most funding would ‘win’. Social media erupted with anger and surprise, while the concept was panned for exploring and proving off activism. An op-ed in Washington Post said, “it sounds like the second circle of hell”. environmental online-campaign activist Andy Wilson called it the worst idea “ever for a TV show ever”, and several Internet users accused it of being “performative”, “promoting pseudo activism over real”. Some even compared it to the Hunger Games. 

Since then, owing to the backlash, the show’s makers have decided to replace competition with collaboration, change the format and make it a primetime documentary special. As Global Citizen and CBS said in a joint statement, “It has become apparent that the format of the show as announced distracts from the vital work these incredible activists do in their communities every day. The push for global change is not a competition and requires a global effort.... It will showcase the tireless work of six activists and the impact they have advocating for causes they deeply believe in. Each activist will be awarded a cash grant for the organisation of their choice, as was planned for the original show.”

Social media creators Abhi and Niyu feel that it’s critical that the only reason for activism to originate is from a place of empathy. Pic/Satej Shinde

This show’s concept may be undergoing a transformation, but at a time when “activist”, “feminist” and “humanist” have become tags to sport on your Instagram bio, what exactly determines if the activist, or the cause they support, is genuine and not in it to gain eyeballs or followers. 

The dictionary defines activism as “the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change”. This, in today’s day, could take social media presence, making getting the word out there imperative. But experts we spoke with said, the line between what is kosher and not, is a thin one.  

Harish Iyer and Niyati Mavinkurve

Monica Raheja, co-founder of Pad Squad, a Mumbai-based outfit that has distributed menstrual hygiene products across the city’s slums, surrounding villages and to the tribal-dominated  areas, finds the concept unnecessary. Why have the show when the money to be spent on production and fancy judges can be donated to worthy causes, is how she sees it. But, she does agree that outreach is necessary to make a change happen. 

“There are two types of activism—charity and relief work. In charity, we dip into our own funds. With relief work, I ask people to donate, and then make the best possible use of that money. So, Pad Squad requests celebrities who are convinced about good work to put up a post in support and request donations. But, no one is paid [to do this],” she says. 

Amit Deshpande, Harish Iyer and Neeraj Sharma

The pandemic brought with it a crisis, and the number of needy seeking help, spiralled. With free time on hand during lockdown, a lot of people were driven to join a cause. How many of them last beyond the pandemic is to be seen. “The Pad Squad has grown to 70 members in the last year, and no one has quit even after offices have opened and normal work hours have resumed,” says Raheja, whose day job is as producer. The initiative she launched  in June 2020, with eight people is now a people’s movement spread across 30 cities, with more than eight lakh sanitary products distributed since. 

With opportunity comes opportunism, she rues. While people came out in droves to help, several were more than happy to seek recognition. She remembers receiving a WhatsApp forward from someone seeking a vote for a  “COVID warrior” award. “Several celebrities and privileged personalities were recognised and felicitated. In my opinion, they should have been reserved for frontline workers.” 

Monica Raheja of Pad Squad has expanded the initiative to 30 cities, and distributed eight lakh sanitary products

Mumbai resident Bilal Khan, who works with Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, distributed ration during the lockdowns  and continues the work to date. When an award agency approached Khan, suggesting that he apply for the award, he refused. “It was everybody’s duty to help [in the pandemic]. We were doing it out of humanity,” says Khan, adding that those who are in it for the long haul can’t jump off the bandwagon when the world “returns to normal”. “People depend on us. It’s a 24/7 job, and there are no work hours. But, the not so fortunate who helped despite their circumstances, like rickshaw drivers, are the ones deserving of awards. 
Celebrity power has its uses up to a point. The moment you monetise it, it becomes a problem.” 

Men’s rights activist Amit Deshpande sees Khan’s point. He argues that the problem is in the very nature of the social medium. “While without it, those in need may never learn that help is available, most people today drawn to activism put up a post without delving into the nitty gritties of the cause, without enough reading up or research. They drop out soon after. The attrition in activism is high.”

Activist Bilal Khan says that activism needs to be sustained, since communities depend on activists and volunteers who work for them

Celebrities end up walking the thin line between being questioned for concerning themselves with nothing else but glamour and overindulging 
in a cause so that they can stay squarely in the limelight. 

Actor Deepika Padukone first came out publicly about her struggle with depression in 2015. It was also the year she launched her mental health advocacy outfit, Live Love Laugh. Did it make for a good interview headline, was it publicity for her next film? Following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s shocking death last year, Padukone’s post attributing the death to suicide and depression saw her being mercilessly trolled. “Repeat after me: depression is treatable”, she had said. The line became inspiration for memes, with several accusing her of assuming Singh had taken his life when the police investigation was still underway, and using the depression card to gain sympathy. 

Bilal Khan

And yet, the famous continue to stand behind causes and charities. Anushka Sharma has been an ardent animal rights advocate; Bhumi Pednekar used her social media handles during the second Coronavirus wave towards “identifying resources to enable facilitation and access to medical supplies, plasma request and donors”. Pednekar is also known for her love for nature conservation and adopted a no-plastic policy on set while shooting for the film Durgamati. Her 2019 social media initiative, Climate Warrior, saw her create awareness about environmental change. And it’s all paying off. Later this month, she will be speaker at the Climate Week in New York alongside Aaditya Thackeray, state minister for tourism and environment.  The Climate Week, now in its 13th year, is run by international NGO Climate Group in partnership with the United Nations, COP26 Summit and the city of New York.

Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha is a content creator who enjoys, along with wife Niyati Mavinkurve, an enviable 2.1 million following on Instagram as Abhi & Niyu. He says, each to his own. “It’s all very personal. Someone may think they need to step away from the limelight for the core of the cause to get highlighted, while another may believe that the cause may get more attention if they step into the limelight.” Niyu sees the difference between assistance and exploitation clearly. “Exploiting someone’s condition, for gain other than that person’s, is wrong.” 

The couple, who shot to fame with the Instagram series, “100 reasons to love India”, continue to support a variety of causes. Their posts sometimes seek to empower followers with information (How rich is the Taliban?), or they goad them to adopt healthier habits. Sometimes, it’s simply about spreading awareness. “For most, activism has become a [way to] show off. People do start caring about something, but forget it soon enough,” says Abhi, adding, “but, trolling is of no help. We should encourage every kind of activism.” 

Would it be right then to assume that the makers of the controversial reality show had the right intention, but messed up the execution? An activist, who was contacted by the casting executive for The Activist, shared on Instagram, that her story and cause were deemed not emotional or dramatic enough for television. Industry insiders will argue, but that’s what reality TV needs—emotions, over-the-top reactions and drama. 

A creative director with a production company in Mumbai, requesting anonymity, says that the folly was in putting one activist or cause against another. “And still,” she argues, “reality TV was the format for it because it’s the easiest way to get eyeballs. But then, they should also know that the people who will come to the show as audience will come for the drama, not the cause.” Perhaps the social media naysayers are not part of the show’s audience. 

Neeraj Sharma, the man behind The Content Team, the creative producers for hit music reality revision shows Indian Idol, and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, looks at the issue from the eyes of a content creator. “I don’t think the idea behind The Activist was a bad one, if in the end all they wanted to do was spread awareness. If the issues are real, then those issues get a big platform [via the show], right? I think if the contenders are competing, it makes it more interesting than watching a simple documentary.”

When the controversy broke, British activist and presenter Jameela Jamil had tweeted, “Couldn’t they just give the money it’s going to take to pay this UNBELIEVABLY expensive talent and make this show, directly to activist causes? Rather than turning activism into a game and then giving a fraction of the much needed money away in a “prize…?” People are dying.” 

Queer activist Harish Iyer sees a problem in that statement. “Forget reality TV, even in the real world, causes are pitted against each other. When we speak for animal rights, some say, ‘but, people are dying’. When we highlight the exploitation of women, some say, ‘but what about the queer?’ Each one thinks their cause is bigger than the other. We belittle a cause by building a hierarchical structure of causes. The show was going to do exactly what we do in real life. The show’s makers got it right—every cause is fighting every other cause these days, and that’s the truth.”

Six
No. of activists the CBS show was originally pitting against each other in various challenges meant to raise the profiles of their respective causes

The Activist judges and their causes

. In 2007, Usher launched his campaign in “Change in the South” in Atlanta, Georgia, in support of then presidential hopeful Barack Obama. In October 2015, Usher partnered with the organisation Sankofa, which focuses on issues of social injustice that disproportionately affect the disenfranchised, the oppressed, and the underserved. New Look, his non-profit founded in 1999, is aimed aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged children and adolescents.

. Julianne Hough has joined forces with the Kind Campaign to create and host Kind Camp, empowering and encouraging girls to be confident, beautiful women, and to eradicate bullying.

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