A Rhetorical Discourse Analysis of the Student Facebook Group UWO Students Against Israel Apartheid Week

This MRP will examine the use of rhetorical strategies in an online political discussion group. The Rhetoric of Social Intervention (RSI) model will be used to perform a rhetorical and textual discourse analysis of the comments that users post in the Facebook group Each element of the RSI model (attention, power, need) helps group members to communicate their message through a persuasive approach, possibly leading to the enactment of some type of online or offline political change. Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) is a valuable case study because this annual event occurs in an attempt to instill the ideology that global society should view Israel as an apartheid state. Since ideology and rhetoric form the underpinnings of the RSI model, this lens is relevant to evaluating the use of rhetorical strategies within this particular group. The rhetorical dimensions of online discourse must be further explored in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the role of online political communication within a digital era.