IF you’ve been wondering how you can help with the situation in Gaza, there are now specific filters and sounds you can use to do just that.
TikTok has over billions of active users each month and is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. In the Philippines, there are over 49.09 million people on the app, amounting to around 41% of the entire population.
One may be used to opening TikTok to learn new dances, look for outfit inspiration, or simply relax, but the thousands of people suffering in Palestine do not have that same luxury.
The situation at hand
At this point, an estimated 800, 000 people have been forced to flee southern Rafa after being assaulted by Israeli forces, with a majority of them having no idea where to go, as Rafa was one of their last places of refuge given the descent of the Israeli military.
Over 35, 000 people in Gaza have been killed, with 52% being women and children.
While the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu states that 30, 000 people have died and of these 30, 000, 14, 000 were terrorists, no evidence has since been shown to prove this to be true.
How we can help
People from other parts of the world have started to feel helpless amid this genocide; they are unsure of what to do to help given that they are so far away, hence why many content creators and artists have taken the initiative to raise awareness to the issue through the only way they know how.
One such example of this is a watermelon filter that’s grown popular on the app, uploaded by 27-year-old AR creator Jourdan Johnson. Here, you drag a watermelon down a line to collect seeds, with the watermelon representing solidarity with Palestine.
This is because, in 1967, Israel banned people from publicly displaying the Palestinian flag, hence why people started using watermelons instead, as they bore the same colors as the flag.
Johnson has explained that the filter would help to generate money through the app’s Effect Creator Program and that any money generated by the filter, he would donate to charities aimed toward helping people suffering in Gaza.
Since then, she’s been able to raise about $14,000. It’s as simple as that: posting a video on TikTok, whether it be public or private, and you’ve taken part in helping those in Gaza. Other creators have also made many other filters since then to help with the cause at hand.
Many artists have also started to do what they can to help. Popular rapper Macklemore, most famous for songs like “Thrift Shop,” “Same Love,” and “Can’t Hold Us,” has released a song entitled “Hind’s Hall” as a means of support for the ongoing pro-Palestine protests happening in the U.S.
The title of the song is about a Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces, and to Hamilton Hall, which a group of people occupied after Rajab’s death. It also criticizes those in the music industry who have continued to stay silent despite the situation currently happening in Gaza, directly making a jab towards Drake in one of its lines.
He has since stated that all proceeds he would be earning from the song would be going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
While some may be skeptical of whether or not these filters are actually doing anything to help, the fact still stands that it takes less than a minute to make a video, and doing so will help raise awareness of the Palestinians suffering.
Here are some filters and sounds that you can use to help out:
