From a Whisper to a Movement: Investigating the Shared Rhetorical Spaces of Whistleblowing and Social Protest

Through substantive case studies on issues of human rights, this collection of rhetorical investigations engages the interactions among whistleblowers, public protest, and relationships of power. While whistleblowers are commonly viewed as disempowered members of institutions who expose acts of wrongdoing, From a Whisper to a Movement argues that whistleblowing acts can occur from an assemblage of persons and places not typically associated with the term. This theoretical foundation affords us the ability to substantively interrogate the rhetorical linkage between solitary whistleblowing acts, scaffolded around a sense of democratic ethics, and the rhetoric of the consequent publics that demand corrective action. As mass social protests often emerge from singular moments of discovery, the connected discourses expose a unique site within the public forum rich with rhetorical significance. While not all whistleblowing utterances prompt public protests, and only some protests coalesce around the disclosure of wrongdoing, recent history demonstrates that exposed abuses of power often prompt collective action in the name of human rights. This volume interrogates how disempowered actors, often working alone, can inform democratic discourse and global movements.