I’ve argued before that slacktivism is not established activists slacking but new activists emerging. Here’s one more example of that, from a comment on my recent post for the Open Society Foundations:
Thank you for validating my actions on my Facebook page. I am nearly 74 years old & making FB posts, giving funding to some activist organizations & meditation is about all I am able to do at this stage in my life. I had never heard the word “slacktivism” before reading the FB post on my news feed. Thanks for the encouragement to continue. If you have any suggestions to improve my FB page, please let me know. Thanks again!
This is the micro-activism of the internet at its best: allowing someone who would previously be unable to take political action to do so.
Flickr: Josef Stuefer
Case in point: disability campaigners who for obvious reasons may not be able to take part in more traditional forms of activism, have been doing a lot of campaigning on Twitter. (Sue Marsh pioneered the term ‘from-bed activism’). See for example the hashtags #wrb, #disabledbullies, #spartacusreport, #spoonie