Popular Mobilization Messaging

This Research Paper examines the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Unit’s (PMU) messaging on the organisation’s website and social media platforms through early January 2017 to develop a more nuanced understanding of the PMU’s outlook, both present and future. After providing an overview of the PMU’s media presence online, the paper discusses how the organisation promotes its core narrative: that it is a cross-confessional and patriotic force for the defence of all Iraqis against a brutal and evil IS. The paper then addresses the PMU’s use of messaging to refute the sectarian portrayal of the organisation in some quarters before turning to the way the PMU approaches regional and international states in its media. Finally, the paper summarises the PMU’s messaging strategy and discusses how this strategy implies a less threatening future for the organisation than is often anticipated.

How to cite: Garrison, J. “Popular Mobilization Messaging”, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague 8, no. 5 (2017). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.19165/2017.1.05 Photocredit: Mstyslav Chernov