VISUALIZING CIVIC RESISTANCE: A BARTHESIAN SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF PROTEST POSTERS IN THE “17+8 TUNTUTAN RAKYAT” MOVEMENT
Abstract
Political participation nowadays increasingly takes place through visual protest media. This study analyzes the poster discourses created in the “17+8 Tuntutan Rakyat” movement using the semiotic theory proposed by Barthes to analyze denotation, connotation, and ideological myth. It responds to the limited research on Indonesian protest posters and informs how they communicate democratic critique, contributing to studies in visual communication, cultural semiotics, and civic discourse. The present study is a qualitative descriptive study with analysis performed on three selected protest posters derived from the “17+8 Tuntutan Rakyat” movement. Data were chosen through a purposive method, showing visual material widely disseminated. By referring to Roland Barthes’s semiotic model of denotation, connotation, and myth, the posters are considered as cultural texts that show symbolic meaning, ideological messages, and civic expressions. Through this approach, the meaning construction in the three selected posters will be explained within the concepts of denotation, connotation, and myth. Constructed by colors, symbols, and slogans, the analyzed posters build up emotional solidarity and historical continuity with Reformasi. Similar to other global and local visual activism studies, the posters serve as an ideological tool that arouses public perception and mobilizes democratic participation. Based on this, it is concluded herein that the “17+8 Tuntutan Rakyat” posters function as semiotic tools in constructing political meaning through denotation, connotation, and myth. The posters are imbued with civic demands, youth-led reform values, and sustained struggle to defend democracy. Recommendations further call for more research, ethical activism, responsive governance, and public critical awareness, noting that visual communication continues to play a key role in sustaining democratic participation.
Keywords: Visual political communication, Barthesian semiotics, democratic protest movements
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