Javier Bardem at the 2026 Oscars: "No to War, And Free Palestine."

I think the anti-apartheid movement (and lots of other activist movements) benefited from the lack of social media massaging everyone's ego. The grapefruit ladies were not doing this for likes or exposure, they had a super clear and achievable goal, and they focused on that. I'm sorry, but I see so many people, who call themselves activists or progressives, and it's exceedingly clear they become addicted to the ego boost that comes with demonstrating your righteous beliefs publicly. When it comes to actually doing something that is going to negatively impact your own lifestyle and comfort, they say "well it's not something individual action can solve."

I've studied a lot of effective non-violent, and hell also violent, protest and resistance movements, and the common thread I've found is that people really saw themselves as part of wider community and goal, NOT about proving themselves, or their worth, or their heroism. It was about doing what needed to be done. I read "Story of a Secret State" by Jan Karski, who was part of the Polish resistance during WWII, and one of the things he wrote is how annoying some men in the movement were because they only wanted to do work that made them "heroes." They didn't see typing notes or delivering pamphlets as heroic, even though it was just as dangerous, and often only women were willing to do that work. I think we've become progressively less able to put aside our own egos in this work and just do the simple, nameless work that needs to be done. Instead everyone just wants to make a sign, go to a protest, post something on social media, when we probably need to be doing like an equivalent of a freedom summer movement again and actual political organizing for a united cause, even if we don't all agree 100% with everything about it.