Resisting the Red Label: Discourses on Red-tagging in the Philippines
(2025) SIMZ31 20251Graduate School
- Abstract
- In the Philippines, being labeled as “red” is akin to being given a death sentence. Red-tagging is a political strategy, most notably employed by national security forces, to accuse, denounce, and persecute individuals and civil society organizations as members or supporters of front organizations of communist guerrilla groups. It is the act of indiscriminately associating individuals or organizations as communists, terrorists, or subversives. Its effects span multiple layers on both the societal and individual level, where most of its targets are political opposition figures, activists, human rights defenders, environmental advocates, labor unions, or anyone critical of the government. This research seeks to inquire how red-tagging... (More)
- In the Philippines, being labeled as “red” is akin to being given a death sentence. Red-tagging is a political strategy, most notably employed by national security forces, to accuse, denounce, and persecute individuals and civil society organizations as members or supporters of front organizations of communist guerrilla groups. It is the act of indiscriminately associating individuals or organizations as communists, terrorists, or subversives. Its effects span multiple layers on both the societal and individual level, where most of its targets are political opposition figures, activists, human rights defenders, environmental advocates, labor unions, or anyone critical of the government. This research seeks to inquire how red-tagging functions not merely as a form of state repression but as a discursive tool to maintain state hegemony and power. Most of the red-tagging in the Philippines transpires in the digital public sphere of social media platforms, such as Facebook, where online red-tagging is increasingly wielded to brand and hound any perceived enemies of the state. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Gramsci’s hegemony and counterhegemony, Fraser’s subaltern counterpublics, and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), it explores red-tagging as more than a threat but also as a discursive and ideological act that reinforces dominant state discourse on democracy, security, activism, dissent, and terrorism. More importantly, this research examines the counterhegemonic themes constructed by those red-tagged—the subaltern—in order to challenge and resist state hegemony. Using publicly available Facebook posts from select actors to extract data as discourse, findings reveal five (5) key hegemonic discursive themes constructed by the state and five (5) key counterhegemonic discursive themes constructed by subaltern groups. The thesis concludes with insights on how the contestation for hegemony affects the digital public sphere, while showing how discourses shape and reflect existing social structures. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9211338
- author
- Lüning, Natalie LU
- supervisor
-
- Anders Uhlin LU
- organization
- course
- SIMZ31 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- hegemony, counterhegemony, subaltern counterpublics, discourse, red-tagging, Philippines, critical discourse analysis, digital public sphere
- language
- English
- id
- 9211338
- date added to LUP
- 2025-09-19 13:36:24
- date last changed
- 2025-09-19 13:36:24
@misc{9211338,
abstract = {{In the Philippines, being labeled as “red” is akin to being given a death sentence. Red-tagging is a political strategy, most notably employed by national security forces, to accuse, denounce, and persecute individuals and civil society organizations as members or supporters of front organizations of communist guerrilla groups. It is the act of indiscriminately associating individuals or organizations as communists, terrorists, or subversives. Its effects span multiple layers on both the societal and individual level, where most of its targets are political opposition figures, activists, human rights defenders, environmental advocates, labor unions, or anyone critical of the government. This research seeks to inquire how red-tagging functions not merely as a form of state repression but as a discursive tool to maintain state hegemony and power. Most of the red-tagging in the Philippines transpires in the digital public sphere of social media platforms, such as Facebook, where online red-tagging is increasingly wielded to brand and hound any perceived enemies of the state. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Gramsci’s hegemony and counterhegemony, Fraser’s subaltern counterpublics, and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), it explores red-tagging as more than a threat but also as a discursive and ideological act that reinforces dominant state discourse on democracy, security, activism, dissent, and terrorism. More importantly, this research examines the counterhegemonic themes constructed by those red-tagged—the subaltern—in order to challenge and resist state hegemony. Using publicly available Facebook posts from select actors to extract data as discourse, findings reveal five (5) key hegemonic discursive themes constructed by the state and five (5) key counterhegemonic discursive themes constructed by subaltern groups. The thesis concludes with insights on how the contestation for hegemony affects the digital public sphere, while showing how discourses shape and reflect existing social structures.}},
author = {{Lüning, Natalie}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Resisting the Red Label: Discourses on Red-tagging in the Philippines}},
year = {{2025}},
}