Twitter users Activism in Commemoration of Halabja Tragedy Victims

Abstract

on March 16, 1988 chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja by Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein, the largest ever chemical weapons attack,killed between 3000 to 5000 civilians, and injured 7000 to 10000 ones.Despite the depth and severity of this tragedy, due to the victims' lack ofaccess to the media, it did not make a clear image in the world public opinion and even among the Kurds themselves; but the proliferation of social media allowed victims to draw global public attention to the crime. This paper is to study the Kurdish activism in cyberspace by a focus on the 33rd chemical anniversary of Halabja through analyzing their hashtag activism on the social network Twitter. Research results show that 8 main axes in Kurdish hashtag activism are highlighted on Twitter, which include:Narration of the Halabja tragedy on Twitter, a manifestation of symbolism in virtual activism by republishing photos of Omar Khavar and his child, pursuing the suffering of this pain in the faces of the survivors, the media coverage of the Halabja tragedy worldwide, Halabja as a common pain, notforgetting the Halabja tragedy, the founders of the Halabja genocide, and switching between online and offline activism boundaries. Based on the research results, Twitter acts as an online public sphere for Kurds, enabling them to develop an alternative discourse on the Halabja tragedy by creating a media stream.

Keywords

• virtual public sphere
• halabja chemical attack
• twitter users
• hashtag activism
• virtual memorial