'You Go Collect': A Pragmatic Analysis of Ideological Inclinations in Asari Dokubo's Anti-Protester Speech

This study examines the ideological and pragmatic dimensions of Asari Dokubo’s anti-protest speech titled “You Go Collect,” delivered in the context of the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests. Drawing insights from Mey’s Pragmatic Acts Theory (2001) and Critical Discourse Analysis, the study investigates how language is deployed to resist protest, assert authority, and regulate political behaviour. Data were purposively sampled from the transcribed version of the speech circulated on YouTube, online news platforms, and social media due to its wide reach and strong ideological content. The pragmatic acts and functions foregrounded in the speech include: Exempting: indicating patriotism Resisting: showing unequal power relation Accusing: denoting political allegiance and loyalty Warning: showing exploitation and oppression Blaming: explicating retaliation and resistance Questioning: Justifying: showing normalisation of neglect and political defence Threat: elucidating deference and power display The pacts and functions are explicated by contextual features of inference, reference, shared situational knowledge (SSK), metaphor, relevance, and voice. The study demonstrates that, while protest discourse is deployed to show dissatisfaction and resistance to government policies and programmes, anti-protest discourse in Asari Dokubo’s “You Go Collect” explicates loyalty to constituted authority, political loyalty, and unsolicited support to the government of the day.