Frames and Intertextuality of the Discourse of Protest

The study focused on the discourse of protests in tweets covering disagreements, opinions, and criticisms in the Duterte administration. These protest tweets were grouped according to the following: (1) COVID-19 response, (2) West Philippine Sea issue, (3) red tagging and (4) human rights violation. The research wanted to establish that these political discourses, in the form of protests, provide an opportunity for formal sharing of informed opinions on which several possible courses of action should be taken to address social issues. Further, the study gave considerable credence to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) while employing quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data revealed that the protest tweets constitute diagnostic framing that is stating a social problem in a clear and understandable manner. Additionally, diagnostic framing entails the expression of injustice; thus, protesters assert the injustices they have personally experienced or witnessed during the Duterte administration through their hashtagged tweets. At the micro level, protest tweets employ extreme conceptual mappings to exacerbate pre-existing tensions and demonize the administration, expressing strong negative emotions such as anger or fear through the use of language. In the meso level, intertextuality provided inextricable link between social interactions and contexts through direct quotations, song-related tweets, direct retweets, and formulaic expressions. At the macro level, the social psychology and intergroup behavior construct Us versus Them was manifested since a majority of protest tweets examined employ diagnostic framing that implies injustice. Lastly, the protesters’ mental constructions were heavily ascribed with power by the politicians they criticize.