The Mobilization of Civil Disobedience : A qualitative content analysis of the collective action framing of the civil disobedience movement Återställ våtmarker

Abstract: The study “The Mobilization of Civil Disobedience” intends to shed light on how environmental movements frame climate change issues, present solutions and mobilize climate action through their communication on the social media platform Instagram. This study will examine the case of Återställ våtmarker (Restore wetlands), a Swedish movement known for its civil disobedience protests. The study’s theoretical framework consists of Collective action frames, Core framing tasks, and Emotional frames. The qualitative content analysis method is used to analyze the content together with the multimodal analysis tools of modality, lexical choices, denotation, and connotation to analyze both textual and visual modes.   The analysis showed that the organization makes a unique case by communicating strong emotions and opinions through its Instagram content. The main issue is explained as excavated wetlands that produce huge amounts of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The cause of the issue was claimed to be the lack of action from the Swedish government, and they are also argued to be responsible for restoring the wetlands and saving the climate. However, the organization strongly emphasizes the Swedish citizens' democratic and civil responsibility to fight climate change and engage in protests. Occasionally, the organization even blames individual citizens for not prioritizing climate change or saving their children’s futures. The motivational reasons to act are made by an apocalyptic doom narrative, where the climate crisis is explained as urgent and as an ongoing catastrophe or a future “climate hell”. Despite the presence of moral emotions, such as guilt and shame, the organization sometimes offers a more hopeful motivational framing that citizens' collective action is a powerful and successful way to pressure politicians to act.