ABSTRACT
The speech acts of anti-pipeline activists in Burnaby, BC have been, and will continue to be, failed rhetoric, serving the ideology of the protesters but misattuned to the attitudes of the audience of non-protesting Canadians. Using speech-act theory and Burkean rhetoric, I analyze three key terms-"direct action,” “diversity,” and “non-hierarchical"-and assert that they support a civil disobedience I call “expressive protest,” one which, by privileging the beliefs and desires of the speaker while showing little interest in audience, inhibits its own effectiveness. This chapter points toward more effective protest strategies, where rhetors select their illocutionary acts based on purpose and audience and are mindful of what sorts of perlocutionary effects are even possible.
