#illridewithyou and Rising Beyond Clicktivism

By
Meredith Haggerty
On the Media | Dec 15, 2014

In the wake of the hostage situation that took place over the course of 18 hours in Sydney, Australia a hashtag rose up on Twitter, #illridewithyou. What does riding have to do with the locked down hostages at the Lindt Chocolate Café?

Early on in the crisis, hostages held up a generic Islamic flag in the window of the Cafe, leading many to the conclusion that this act was one of religious terrorism. As tensions increased and the situation dragged on, fear of an Islamophobic backlash grew. A woman named Rachael Jacobs updated her Facebook status to express pain about and support for a stranger she had seen on public transport. Jacobs had been sitting next to a “(presumably) Muslim” woman on the bus when the woman nervously removed her hijab, apparently out of fear of misplaced retaliation. When the unnamed woman exited the bus, Jacobs chased after her. Jacobs writes:

“I said ‘put it back on. I’ll walk with you.’”

The Muslim woman hugged Jacobs and wept, but walked off alone. Still, this exchange inspired others on social media, starting with Twitter user @SirTessa who wrote:

@SirTessa’s tweet set off the #illridewithyou movement in earnest, and since 11:30 EST last night the hashtag has been used thousands of times. Many seized on the real world utility of the hashtag, which offered not just lip service solidarity but practical support and even friendship.

#illridewithyou in Melbourne if you feel unsafe. We can talk about our lives, food and love, and we'll laugh. We'll become friends.

— Carly Findlay (@carlyfindlay) December 15, 2014

To make it easier for Australian Muslims to identify people who wanted to offer a safe space, supporters posted selfies on social media and affixed the hashtag to themselves in real life.

And it actually worked, at least one documented time. Lawyer and writer Mariam Veiszadeh tweeted that she took two women up on their goodwill, sharing a cab and then receiving a ride home.

A kind lady named Mica drove me home after a cab that we shared from Sydney'sCBD wasn't able to drop me off all the way home #illridewithyou

— Mariam Veiszadeh (@MariamVeiszadeh) December 15, 2014

In a moment of anxiety and tragedy, Australians have banded together to push back at the reactionary paranoia that typically follows a terrorist act. #illridewithyou attempts to offer an actual service to traditional Muslims who may be or feel targeted following the hostages crisis, and simultaneously exists as a loving and important reminder of the difference between a religion’s adherents and the extremists who pervert it. The tag created a sense of solidarity, presumably the opposite of what the man now identified as Man Haron Monis wanted to achieved when he stormed the downtown Sydney café with a gun.

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Meredith Haggerty

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