An informal anonymous survey consisting of Likert-scale questions and freeform responses was carried out between May-June 2024, and completed by 248 participants. The largest subset:
- lived in the United Kingdom and United States (42.5%)
- was between 35-54 years old (49.3%)
- was predominantly White/Caucasian (62.5%)
- were women (60.5%)
Responses showed that when the enablers of speaking up (moral outrage and gains in action-promoting knowledge) outweigh the barriers (feeling inadequately informed, potential risk, and feeling ineffectual), people find their public voice.
“I realized my silence was part of the problem.”
– Survey respondent
Most survey participants support Palestinian human rights and had said so publicly by the time the case for plausible genocide had been established by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 26 January 2024.
Reasons for delaying speaking up, and the proportion of the sample for whom that reason was relevant, are summarised here from highest to lowest. Future research with a non-skewed sample is required.
Conclusion
Overall, the results tend to validate observations from social media in terms of what holds people back from speaking up and what finally empowers them to do so. The survey also successfully prompted people within BNM’s network to raise a voice they were previously struggling to find. The numeric data from this survey helps quantify the size and spread of trends, and the qualitative data (e.g. freeform text responses) capture some nuances that numbers cannot. These initial findings and feedback are being used by BNM to guide the selection of educational materials and future work in support of human rights that reaches the intended audience of BNM – bystanders. This may include, for example, collaborating with anti-Zionist Jewish groups and workers’ unions.
To access the full survey report, click here.