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Article published In:
Language, Politics and Media: The Hong Kong Protests
Edited by Guofeng Wang and Ming Liu
[Journal of Language and Politics 21:1] 2022
► pp. 117–142

“We shall not flag or fail, we shall go on to the end”

Hashtag activism in Hong Kong protests

ORCID logo | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
| University of Sydney
Focusing on the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong, this article presents an analysis of Twitter posts adopting the hashtags #antiELAB, #NoChinaExtradition and #HongKongProtests. The analysis explores the public narrative among the collective identity of Hongkongers opposing the extradition bill as events unfolded during mid-2019 in Hong Kong. To do so, we adopt Bhatia’s (2015) multi-perspective framework for the Discourse of Illusion, which takes a three-prong approach to the study of argument construction and establishing legitimacy. Specifically, through the interrelated components of (1) historicity, (2) linguistic and semiotic action, and (3) social impact, the dimensions of the hashtag narrative that emerged on Twitter were explored.
Keywords: hashtag activism, Discourse of Illusion, Twitter, Hong Kong Protests, social media discourse
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Collective identity and connective action
    • 2.2Social media narratives and subjective ideologies
    • 2.3The discourse of illusion
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Analytical framework
    • 3.2Data collection and procedure
      • Coding and analysis of Twitter data
      • Analysis of CE Carrie Lam speeches
  • 4.Analysis and discussion
    • 4.1Representation of Hong Kong
    • 4.2Representation of government actions
    • 4.3Representation of police
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 5 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.21020.bha
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