In recent months, K-pop fans have made tremendous efforts to advocate for Palestine. Known for their passionate and organized support of their favorite K-pop stars, fans have banded together to urge their favorite singers to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians by Israel. They utilize resources like petitions, group chats, and boycotts to mobilize for Palestine and create change.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian militant groups launched an attack on Israel that resulted in the death of 1200 people. Over 200 hostages were taken, and over 100 reported missing. In response, Israel began sending airstrikes and organizing military campaigns against Palestine.
Since then, over 37,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 87,000 have been injured. The city of Gaza has continuously been destroyed as Israel’s assaults pummel the city and destroy buildings, homes, hospitals, and schools. More than 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced.
Many are calling Israel’s military besiegement an act of genocide against the Palestinian people. In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take steps to prevent any conduct that violates the Genocide Convention.
The Genocide Convention states that member nations cannot commit, conspire to commit, encourage, attempt, or be complicit in genocide.
The Origins of the Palestine-Israel Conflict
The suffering and violence experienced by Palestinians are not new; these issues have persisted for over 75 years, reflecting a long history of systemic oppression and conflict. In 1947, after a conflict between the Jewish people and the Arabs, the UN proposed a plan to separate the two. However, Arab leaders were not pleased, resulting in a war that the Jews eventually won.
Jewish people were eventually granted land in Palestine, which they used to build a new home. This resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land.
And although there have been talks between both nations throughout the years, violence has continued to erupt.
As the current genocide Israel is inflicting upon Palestine continues to impact countless lives, a group has organized to voice their support for Palestine: K-pop fans. Utilizing their influence and organizational prowess, these fans are rallying for a cause greater than themselves.
Rallying for Palestinian rights
Some think K-pop fans are just a bunch of mindless, screaming girls who are desperate for attention from their idols. This stereotype is deeply misogynistic and ignorant. And as someone who has been a K-pop fan for almost a decade, I know personally that this is just not true.
K-pop fandoms are extremely educated, diverse, and organized groups. This is evident to anyone who has taken the time to engage with their communities. Their impressive organizational skills and proficient use of public resources enable them to accomplish a lot.
Throughout the years K-pop fans have utilized the skills they have acquired while mass streaming new music, trending hashtags, and organizing fundraisers to mobilize for important causes and organizations.
In the last couple of months, as many have watched in horror as Israel systematically executes the displacement, starvation, and murder of countless Palestinians, K-pop fans decided to take action.
Twitter has become a critical outlet for them to engage in networking and advocacy. Fans have taken to Twitter and started using the hashtags: #KpopDivestFromZionism. Additionally, they alter tags to correspond with fandom names. For example, fans of the K-pop boy band Stray Kids use #StayForPalestine, while followers of the group Ateez use #AtinyForPalestine, and so on.
Fans increase the cause’s online visibility on social media by making these hashtags trend. They take advantage of these viral opportunities to criticize and pressure K-pop music companies like JYP Entertainment, SM Entertainment, and HYBE, to break their affiliation with Zionist interests.
That includes no longer having their artists work with well-known Zionist artists, actors, and writers/producers.
K-pop fans have also used the site to link to GoFundMe pages and petitions that others can use to support Palestinians who need money, food, and other resources.
The Art of the Boycott
Boycotting/striking has been one of the most common tactics used by K-pop fandoms in recent months.
Fans have been boycotting products connected to companies that support Israel or profit from the genocide of Palestinians, like Coca-Cola and Starbucks. Additionally, they are coordinating media blackouts in which fans refrain from posting and liking posts of the group they stan, and instead demand they speak up for Palestine.
They seek to hold K-pop stars and companies accountable for their actions and, more importantly, their inactions. This challenges K-pop companies to take responsibility and put morals before money.
In April, K-pop mega group Stray Kids announced a new single featuring pop singer Charlie Puth. Any excitement their pro-Palestine fans (known as STAY) had for a new Stray Kids single quickly diminished upon finding out that Charlie Puth, and another Zionist producer, were attached.
Puth frequently likes social media postings that support Israel and portray them as the victims. He has exclusively concentrated on the Israeli hostages taken, ignoring Palestinian victims. It seems that he refuses to acknowledge the apartheid and genocide that Israel is committing against Palestine.
Puth has also made inappropriate, disgusting, comments about women and sexual assault. And has shown support for racist, homophobic, convicted felon Donald Trump.
Fans were disappointed, to say the least, that Stray Kids’ company, JYP Entertainment, would allow the group to collaborate with Puth. Moreover, they made no effort to acknowledge fan’s concerns.
[*JYP Entertainment has not immediately responded to my inquiry for a statement*]
Fans decided to take attention by boycotting the song. This included not streaming the single, liking, or retweeting relevant posts, or participating in any promotion.
Instead, fans promoted Palestinian aid organizations and trended hashtags to call out JYP Entertainment and urge Stray Kids to speak up.
Influencing Idols
Through their efforts, K-pop fans have raised significant funds for those suffering in Palestine. Additionally, they have successfully encouraged some of their favorite K-pop stars to speak up.
Late last year, Fatou, leader of the international K-pop group Blackswan, supported the liberation of the Palestinian people on her live broadcast. After fans commented “Free Palestine”, the idol responded by stating:
“Free Palestine? Yes of course, Palestine. Like any…decent human being would want that. Any human being that has a heart would want that.”
In May of this year, Lee Taeyong, leader of the K-pop group NCT, posted the word “Boycott” to his Instagram story. Fans believe he was referring to his group’s collaboration with Starbucks. Taeyong seemed to be acknowledging global efforts to boycott Israel-aligned companies in support of Palestine.
Matthew Kim, Korean-American rapper and member of co-ed group Kard, urged fans to pray for Palestine on Twitter and drew attention to all of the lives being lost in Gaza.
The efforts of K-pop fans are effective and have not gone unnoticed.
Conflict Within
With the push to speak up for Palestine, and subsequently boycott, not all fans have been supportive of the movement.
Some K-pop stans aren’t willing to boycott projects like ‘Lose My Breath’ because they see it as being disloyal. They are willing to give up their morals for an artist. Furthermore, some have attacked those of us who choose to participate in boycotts.
This is one of the reasons I joined other STAYs in a Boycotters group chat on Twitter a few months ago. I like having conversations with other STAYs who choose to advocate for Palestine because it fosters a feeling of community and reassurance.
I am not alone in wanting to call attention to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
And yes, that includes calling out and encouraging my favorite group to speak up. They are capable of making their own decisions because they are mature adults. It’s important that instead of coddling them, we fans hold them responsible.
The messages that many K-pop groups put in their songs are about empowerment and using your voice. We are asking that they take their own advice, step out, and speak up for Palestine.
