by Akiti
Mosab Abu Toha
Just tell me how you would feel if you were 16 years old, going out to buy some eggs for you little sisters before an Israeli rocket kills 8 people in front of you, while a piece of shrapnel penetrates through your neck, just centimeters away from your windpipe.
That was me.
(There are still many stories to come from me and my kids and all of the people in Gaza).
Let’s start with the fact that I’m an OG Archie Comics reader, so I have a natural bias towards any Archie-related creative pursuit, but this Bollywood rendition is one that actually captured the activist in me more than the comic-book lover during a time of widespread activism for freedom from oppression. Odd crossover? Not really when you’ve read the comics and know the Archie gang’s pursuits are founded in collective youth resistance against those who would do harm. This is particularly timely given the launch of the film was during the ongoing Palestinian Genocide that triggered an awakening of humanity and world wide movements in solidarity with our fellow humans, the Palestinians.
“The Archies” protest scene to protect Riverdale’s park.
To summarize the movie, The Archies, an Indian Hindi Language Film directed by renowned director Zoya Akhter and released on Netflix, is about how a group of teenagers navigate life in 1960s India through friendship, romance, and their resistance against wealthy developers who threaten their beloved park. The amount of effort the film’s team have put into their research and preparation for the 1960s setting is evident in the feelings of immersion throughout the viewing experience. Not only did one feel as though they’d been plopped into a different era with the outfits and dancing, but one could also relate to the different generations depicted in that time and how they responded to each obstacle, particularly the call for activism.
While much of the storyline surrounds romance and friendship, it’s the gang’s activism that truly stood out; especially the messages that Zoya and the team imparted on the audience through characterization and music. The activism storyline is very much relevant to the 1960s, an era known for its civil rights movements, anti-war movements, and particularly youth involvement in those movements. So we’ll start with a break down of the activism displayed in the movie and then apply it to the more recent movement for Palestine, which has also been primarily driven by the youth of today – the often criticized, but recently applauded, Gen Z.
This is particularly timely given the launch of the film was during the ongoing Palestinian Genocide that triggered an awakening of humanity and world wide movements in solidarity with our fellow humans, the Palestinians.
We first experience the activist messaging through the characterization of the gang’s parents and Archie in their reluctance to truly engage in the resistance against the power and wealth of the developers. The reactions of the parents range from decisive silence to active, sometimes reluctant, submission to the more powerful parties due to their financial dependence. These reactions shock the youth that believed the adults of their beloved Riverdale had the ability to do something about the injustice, only to realize that they don’t. This ultimately lifts the veil of reliance on entrusting or outsourcing action to people based on age alone. When the gang realizes that they now have to take action, Archie alone is under the belief that he just needs to live his life and is ready to fly off to London and get away from this obstacle. His belief is not uncommon with many individuals who believe that they can keep the blinders on whilst living out their life plan because they don’t get into “politics”. His peers, however, are quick to remind him that everything is related to politics and “you can’t just live your life for kicks”.
This brings us to the next experience with the activist messaging that leads us through the remainder of the movie: the youth taking the resistance against injustice into their own hands, and rallying the masses to join them accordingly. After the gang convinces Archie, he finds a way to delay his trip because he’d regret not doing something for the cause when he knows that he has something to contribute. We then see this passion by Archie and the gang to explore all non-violent, actionable options to prevent harm to their beloved park. This includes reaching out to their elected officials, leveraging journalism, protesting non-violently, activating community skills/talents to relay the message, and initiating a petition. Zoya and team do a phenomenal job in depicting the options along with the struggles one can incur with each tactic. For example, when Reggie finally becomes passionate about writing for this cause and leveraging his father’s newspaper for its distribution, he’s faced with disappointment upon learning his father had to pull the article because the developer is their largest advertiser. This is a common, yet unfortunate, reality where financial dependencies can often hinder your resources. But this doesn’t stop the gang from figuring out a way around this and other obstacles to reach their end goal, which they achieve via leveraging their talents and successfully acquiring enough signatures for their petition to save the park.
One can only hope that the activists against oppression in 2023 have the same success, especially when it is not a park we are vying for but for the life and livelihood of an entire ethnicity that is actively being cleansed from their homeland. The world has became shockingly aware of the level atrocities incurred on Palestinians in Gaza, and learned quickly that the leaders and organization that were entrusted to prevent or end such atrocities were unable to do so. It’s not that these atrocities weren’t happening before October 7th, 2023 (Understand the full background of the Palestinian Genocide), but the world became more intimately aware of what was happening due to social media platforms like Instagram, where we have been and continue to watch the genocide of Palestinians live on our phones. The journalists and bloggers from Gaza have documented and shared the fatal deaths, destruction, and forced displacement of their people while losing too many of their loved ones and even their own lives. While it has been absolute torture to watch it live (not even remotely comparable to what they must feel while experiencing it live), it activated an entire generation to elevate the Palestinian voices and experiences to the point that the world over has seen the brutality of what has been going on for 75 years and how abominable the Israeli occupation has been and continues to be.
One can only hope that the activists against oppression in 2023 have the same success, especially when it is not a park we are vying for but for the life and livelihood of an entire ethnicity that is actively being cleansed from their homeland.
When the attacks began, the world first relied on its elected leaders and the United Nations to step up according to their charter and end this annihilation, only to learn that like the adults of Riverdale these leaders were paralyzed by their financial bindings and alliances to the Zionist Regime. We are now 81 days in to the Palestinian Genocide and the United Nations has failed to enforce any cessation of hostilities (and no, a 7 day ceasefire during the most profitable week in the US does not count). All but 4 countries continue to support the continuation of the astronomical international war crimes, and yet no one has been able to stop the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) from their barrage of attacks and torture. Activists like myself have activated our communities, leveraged our platforms, and spread the message far and wide to call people to action and end this. We’ve leveraged all non-violent measures of petitions, calling/emailing our representatives, protesting, boycotts, and even global strikes, and still the progress is nominal. The inaction has made it abundantly clear to this generation that we have failed humanity in outsourcing our power to these leaders and world organizations because they are unable to take the actions required to protect humanity and basic human rights.
Similar to the Archie’s gang, Gen Z was quick to call out the leaders and organizations that have been perpetrating this genocide and also denounce any lack of action by their fellow humans. The way the gang calls out Archie for choosing to live his life over standing with them is similar to the Gen Z “cancel culture” being used to call out fellow humans that are not speaking out against the genocide. The “cancel culture” has often been denounced by older generations and has suddenly been embraced to cancel any people, businesses, and organizations that support the genocide or are silent on the matter. Similar to boycotts that create financial pressure, this has created social pressure for influencers & celebrities with large followings to make public statements in solidarity with Palestinians and clearly define who is on the right side of history in standing with humanity. This level of social pressure is a new form of non-violent activism which permeates globally when an influencer stands with the oppressed as that thereby influences their global following in the hundreds and millions to educate themselves and stand with that influencer. The reach and impact of this method is clear by the global solidarity that has been displayed in the successful global strikes and polls that show that most of humanity is banded together and does not agree with the ongoing oppression. While it has not made a practical impact for the people of Gaza by ending the bombardment, it has given them strength to know that the people are with them even if the leaders are not.
This new form of activism also comes with its own brand of obstacles, primarily in the form of censorship that has reached new heights. The social activism relies heavily on social media platforms with the most reach, which currently include Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok. These platforms enable the expansive reach aforementioned, but they also are in the hands of leaders that are financed and supported by the very oppressors the majority of people are standing up against. The leaders have tested and gotten away with censorship that goes against freedom of speech for Palestinian supporters that are following platform guidelines while allowing Zionist supporters to openly and freely abuse the same guidelines. Not only that, but the level of suppression of the Palestinian content while actively pushing and promoting the Zionist propaganda is exceedingly detrimental to the journalistic practices of exposing the truth. The active censorship and preferential treatment is contributing to mass misinformation that has been and continues to be debunked, but it harms the level of influence to get the desired results of an end to this violence.
The people are most definitely with Palestinians and, more importantly, are relentless in their pursuit of freedom from oppression for all that are oppressed in the world. The way the Archie’s gang were able to convince their community of the value and importance of their park is similar, even if on a much smaller scale, to the ability of seemingly mere individuals banding together physically, virtually, emotionally, and empathically to convince the world that oppression of any people is an oppression of all people and it must come to an end. While many may criticize the movie and the depiction of the 1960s for a number of reasons, one cannot ignore the brilliance in delivering this message that the younger generations are powerful in their ability to innovate to reach their humane goals. I implore more folks to watch the movie to trigger their inner activist and participate in the global call to action to end oppression for Palestine and for all of the oppressed in the world.
Disclaimer: The intention of this is to activate communities that have yet to engage in the global act of solidarity with Palestine, including but not limited to the Indian diaspora and Indian Film industry (aka Bollywood). Their engagement could be critical in getting the desired result of a permanent ceasefire and freedom from occupation due to their vast global influence both political and socially. I hope this message encourages more people to leverage their talents and observations to communicate the necessary message for humanity and bring freedom to all.
Waqt badal ta rehta hai
Par problems wahi aatein hain
Baar baar history dhaurati hai
AZADI chilaati rehti hain
Translation (adjusted for meaning):
Time keeps changing
But the same problems keep coming
As history keeps repeating
For freedom it keeps yelling
– Akiti –
Akiti 