Polarizing figures of resistance during epidemics. A comparative frame analysis of the COVID-19 freedom convoy

ABSTRACT

Using the 2022 Freedom Convoy in Canada as a case study, this article explores divisions between public understanding of resistance to health measures during epidemics and oppositional movements’ self-representations. It derives from a comparative analysis of five mainstream Canadian media (n = 516 publications) and of the Freedom Convoy’s Facebook page (n = 611 posts). The data were submitted to a rhetorical frame analysis and a thematic analysis, each factoring in a temporal dimension. Results show how this movement formed around a specific pandemic policy restrictions became increasingly understood from a binary logic concerning questions of identity. Protesters’ experience and analysis of COVID-19 mandates became peripheral in media and social media content, as the focus was instead placed on who was and was not acceptable in Canadian society. Results show that a dialogic relation between the frames used in Canadian mass media and in Facebook posts constructed increasingly dichotomous identities. The social implications of polarizing a political conflict around public health policies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Protest
• COVID-19
• blame
• polarization
• frame analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We did not analyze social media users’ comments to the posts analyzed for two reasons. First, from a methodological standpoint, we assumed that page administrators were representative of organizers’ perspectives, while other social media users’ level of engagement and support for the movement could vary. Second, and more pragmatically, due to the large quantity of data published on the Facebook page and the numerous followers of the page (264 753 at the time of data collection), this exclusion facilitated a manual qualitative analysis.

2. The Windsor blockade refers to an off-shoot protest of the Freedom Convoy movement, during which protesters blocked the access to the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit (USA) and Windsor (Canada).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.