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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 20:6 (2021) ► pp.852–872

Strongman, patronage and fake news

Anti-human rights discourses and populism in the Philippines

ORCID logo | Hong Kong Baptist University

Human rights are essential pillars of democracies. But under populism, they are a proclaimed nemesis of political leaders who claim to represent the common people. This article argues that the discourses of strongman, patronage and fake news constitute three prominent right-wing populist ploys that erode human rights in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines. It interrogates the communicative power of populism as a means of disfiguring free expression and press freedom. Drawing from human rights and media reports and interviews, the pro-human rights current is reformatted by strongman pronouncement in the war on drugs, unity of long-established blocs of power through patronage, and belligerent charge of fake news.

Keywords: human rights, populism, right-wing populism, discourse, democracy, Philippines, Duterte
Article outline
  • 1.Populism
  • 2.Human rights and the Philippine context
  • 3.Why human rights under Duterte?
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Discourse one: The strongman leader
  • 6.Discourse two: Historicized unity through patronage
  • 7.Discourse three: Fake news
  • 8.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 2 November 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20039.rag
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