The Iraqis' Reaction to the UN's Role in October Revolution (2019-2021): A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

    The Mid East witness many protests at the end of 2019 in Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Iran. The Iraqi Protests which is known by the month in which it started on as October Revolution or Tishreen Revolution takes great echo around the world because it continues for a long time in the most dreadful circumstances ever. The protest was in Baghdad, the capital, as well as all the southern and the mid provinces of Iraq. The protesters who are of different age, sex, religions and social class started their protest on 1 October 2019 calling for their rights and asking for a complete change in the governing system. They emphasize their peaceful protest regardless of all type of violence that they face, such as cutting off the internet, snipers, tear gas, hot water, hot pepper gas, kidnapping and live bullets, leading to massive deaths and injuries. This paper aims to highlight the most significant linguistic choices coupled with the ideological point of view of the participants. To achieve this, the researchers analyse the UN posts on Facebook and a couple of the Iraqis comments on each post using critical discourse analysis. Therefore, the researchers employ Wodak's (2001; 2009) discourse-historical approach and van Leeuwen's (2008) sociological categories of actor representation approach. The findings of the analysis have revealed that the main topoi are topoi of death and disappointment in both the UN's posts and the Iraqis' comments. While the UN tends to use semi-formal nomination out of respect for the people they mention, the Iraqis mostly use informal nomination without any honorification to represent their anger from the current situation.