Framing the performance of politicized collective identity in suicide protest : Hong Kong protestors' suicide notes as a case study

The demonstrations and protests against an extradition bill in Hong Kong have led to a number of suicides with a written note addressed to political figures and the general public. Suicide notes serve to manage the blame accorded to both their author and the recipients, can be symbolic gestures aimed at re-establishing normal aspects of human exchange even in the face of an extreme act, especially when others have somehow failed in their social obligation to the suicidee. Through various acts of protest can be counted as group-based actions with a price can be beneficial to others, suicide protest as a protest tactic with a collective cause serves as an alternative way in which the suicidee bears the highest cost. It is also documented that suicide protest may galvanize the construction and diffusion of collective identity among protestors, their views on the socio-political landscape through the lens of group membership, and their struggle for power with an out-group, contributing to a possible outcome that protestors desire, such as to advance political change and a willingness to fight for the in-group.This paper adopts a discourse analysis from a frame perspective to study how suicide notes of protestors provide a context for shared grievance and visualize a public performance of a nested politicized collective identity. The discourse analysis of the selected suicide notes will be conducted by framing the four core aspects: Diagnosis of social ills, prognosis of movement possibilities, motivation for further actions, and the politicization of protestors’ collective identity