Rafah is bombed relentlessly. Palestinians are dying every single day. Don’t stop talking about them. Boycott, boycott, boycott. Let’s urge everyone to do it, including your favorite celebrities, your beloved actors or dancers or rappers or authors or comedians or singers— who definitely have much more power than us. That’s the least we can do to help Palestine. It matters, and it will always matter. As a K-pop fan, I have seen many attempts from lots of fandoms to make their K-pop idol utilize their power and influence for Palestine. From urging their idols to speak up and donate at any chance they can tell them, to boycotting their collaboration with brands that are affiliated with Israel and profiting from the genocide of the Palestinian people. It all went well, so well, until the focus shifted.

We boycott for humanity, the lives of Palestinians, and eventually our own lives too. It should always be like that, right? The boycott is not for our ego, for a competition about which one is doing more than the other, or for us to feel better once our idol finally speaks up and boom! We are back to babying them again and justifying whatever action they take. Sadly, it has slowly become like that.

Not long ago, one of the Korean boy groups, NCT—which has such a big fanbase in Indonesia, announced its exclusive collaboration with Starbucks Korea from May 30 to July 4, 2024. Starbucks has been widely known as an Israeli supporter; the multinational coffeehouse chain began to face boycotts following its decision to sue the Starbucks Workers United (SWU) union for making a social media post in solidarity with Palestine shortly after the October 7, 2023 attack. 

The collaboration triggered massive protests and boycotts from their fans, called NCTzen. Once the collaboration was published, NCTzen jointly boycotted it, unfollowing their favorite group on any social media platforms and raising hashtags to force NCT and its management, SM Entertainment, to boycott Starbucks as well as terminate their contract with the brand. The three group members, Taeyong, who is currently doing his military service, Winwin, and Renjun, posted something allegedly related to the boycott or Palestine on their Instagram accounts shortly after their fanbase protested. While we would never know the actual context of their posts, those actions gained various reactions from many people, including those outside the fanbase. And this was where the focus started to shift.

Various different reactions eventually led to fights, commonly known as fanwars, be it between K-pop fanbases or even within the NCTzen fanbase itself. This especially happened on Twitter (or X as we know it now, but I refuse to call it like that). The boycott seemed to be a gotcha moment to show off which idols contribute more, which of them are ‘morally’ better as they support humanity; a moment to seek validation and justification, where the fans’ main attention was their idols’ posts about anything related to Palestine so then they would feel slightly better in idolizing their faves. This fanwar was also certainly inseparable from arguments of those who thought we didn’t need to pity idols and those who believed we should pity them as we didn’t know their situations, problems, and feelings, and the excuses went on… 

The main focus wasn’t on Palestine anymore but on our idols. We’re too busy fighting over each other when Palestinians are killed all day and all night. We’re too caught up in putting our idols—who are definitely multi-millionaires, if not billionaires first, when Palestinians are crying for help every single day. We’re too busy pitying our idols when Palestinians don’t even know whether they will still make it tomorrow or not. How did we become like this?

I personally believe that we should keep urging celebrities to speak up and boycott the genocide. Their utilizing their influence is genuinely important for Palestine. Let’s not be afraid of holding our own idols responsible if it’s for humanity. Yes, our idols would face consequences; yes they would be uncomfortable in some way; and yes there would be different reactions, including those who thought we were being too much. That’s the price we must pay to fight the genocide that’s fully supported by superpower countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. However, let’s not make it our main priority. 

We are fighting for Palestinians, not for celebrities or our idols, to speak up about Palestine. Let’s keep remembering our initial purpose by not focusing on famous people too much. Our activism shouldn’t start and end by merely urging them to speak up, no? Let’s not wait for them to say something to fight for Palestine ourselves. And if, after all those efforts, our idols still choose to stay silent in any way, then let them be. 

Some people would choose to be ignorant and we can’t do anything about it. But don’t let ourselves be one of them. You know what? I can guarantee that our favorite idols will be fine at the end of the day. They will be safe. But Palestinian people? We can’t even guarantee they will still be alive 5 minutes from now. That’s how much in danger they are. That’s how much they need us to help them stop the genocide. Always remember that we are a human first before we are a fan.

Never ever stay silent in the face of injustice, of ongoing genocide. Never stop talking about Palestine and boycotting any brand that supports Israel until Palestine is free. Do it for humanity; do it for Palestinians.