Political Studies.blogspot.com

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:35:00 +0000

No one can confute the premise that before arguers present and elaborate their political view, they need to organize their argument, taking into account the potential doubt and criticism that they have to face up to.

Data Collection

The speeches which comprise our corpus were taken from one official site of Mr. Benkirane or were found on YouTube. The speeches gleaned from YouTube were rendered either in Arabic or Moroccan Arabic and were translated into English.

Data Selection Criteria

The main criterion for text selections hinges on context; the texts analyzed are deliberately chosen, for they reflect the social, economic and political environment of the country at the time.

Once more I would like to stress that the linguistic forms used in Mr. Benkirane’s speeches are not arbitrary and that they do have specific functions to fulfill.

This work focuses on a critical discourse analysis of the political discourse in Morocco. Before we delve into the analysis of Benkirane’s speeches, it would be appropriate to shed light on the political, economic and social environment that conditioned political argumentation. As I said, before chiseling away at the speeches at hand, it would be convenient to shed light on the historical and social context in which the speeches were produced. Therefore, establishing the context of a political speech is of paramount importance.

The following speech reflects the head of government’s response to the opposition’s criticisms leveled at Mr. Benkirane’s policies; it is worth noting that the opposition within the confines of the Moroccan parliament plays a watchdog function that consists in monitoring and controlling the work of the Moroccan government through the monthly oral questions directed to the Prime Minister.

The minutes of the forty-ninth session

August 13^th, 2012

Speech n°:1

“Although we increased the price of gasoline by 2 dirhams and diesel by 1 dirham, Praise Be to Allah, citizens still find fuels available and with a reasonable price. And Praise Be to Allah, people accepted this. But let me just remind the brother from the National Rally of Independents: how many times was this question of increasing the price of fuel raised in the government as an economic necessity? This never happened, for there was fear and reservation. As far as we are concerned, we are not afraid and have no reservations. We relied on people’s trust in us and addressed them plainly.

However, some ill-intentioned and malignant individuals tried to urge people to demonstrate against fuel price increases. These attempts fell through, though. If what we did was done a year ago, things might have taken a different turn. Therefore, dear respectable representatives, we took over to cope with difficult but not impossible tasks, and If Allah- the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful- Wills, we will make it. We are not over the moon, as some claim. We lied to no one. People voted for us not because of the statistics but because of other things.

Yet, the figures we provided are not deceptive; the figures we talked about we will try to achieve gradually at the end of our term. However, we encountered a circumstantial crisis that was bigger than we had expected. It was me who asked the Minister of Finance and Economy to talk to citizens frankly and to tell it like it is. Actually, there are hurdles which we will overcome Thanks God, the situation is under control. We took the necessary precautions. I’ m still amazed to find that there are some individuals who still criticize the move we made with regard to fuel price increase. I increased fuel price and society accepted the decision; therefore, we can save the government budget 5.7 billion dirham. (…)

We have to realize that we are in the same boat and those who dream of reverting to the old methods of cunning and deception, political control, giving orders to ministers via phone calls and cursing officials must realize that these days are gone; it is no longer possible, no longer possible, do you understand? (…) I’m not one of those who believe that government is created by Allah to live in an ivory tower and send down revelations to believers, I strongly believe in sharing and partnership; we are partners with everyone. (…) let me tell members of parliament that if the Prime Minister makes a mistake, give him away and do so in a useful way that will help the government move forward because a moment ago I laughed in that I’m a human being, this is it …because a woman said to me “how I wish you would make it, but you won’t.” Wewill make it, God willing. Wewill succeed.

Those who are attempting to derail us, using all tools available are afraid of the successful experience of consensual alternation headed by former Prime Minister, Abderrahmane Youssoufi. (…) With regard to fighting corruption, we haven’t returned the sword in its sheath. But let me confess that fighting corruption is no easy task. You know what? The difficult thing is the day you find us engaged in corruption. That would be the gloomiest day. When you come to fight corruption, you broach the subject and the resurrection day comes about, so to speak, you start saying “where am I?” (…) It is our duty to preserve the stability of the country and uphold democracy; we don’t want to drop back and leave the field clear for gatekeepers, who are lying and given over to accusing us of inflaming the street.

On the contrary, we are striving to perpetuate stability in this nation. Do you remember the tale of two women who appealed to the sound judgment of Solomon, Peace Be Upon Him, each saying that the child was hers. Solomon ordered them to bring him a knife to cut the child into two halves. Upon hearing this, one of the ladies said, “Oh, sir, this is not my son.” Then the judge realized that the child was hers. This is how we reason. (…) We are not the ones who brought about the crisis; it is the crisis that brought us to power. We came to stand in the face of crisis. We are not geniuses. We are simply attempting. When you talk to us, Mr. Ahmed or anyone else, and say a good word, we really appreciate that and take it as a gift; even if the word is tough, we build upon it because we believe that national interests should come first. (…) I just want to make Moroccans understand that any Moroccan can be head of government, and after Allah, we have only one king, who is the symbol of our stability and unity.

Discourse Analysis n° 1

To better understand and analyze the following speech, first and foremost a specific emphasis should be laid on the situational context that governs the following political discourse. No doubt, the head of government’s speech comes as a response to the protest of citizens in the Moroccan capital against Benkirane’s government and the high cost of living after price rises of staple goods. Regardless of the pressure that would be felt by ordinary Moroccans struggling to make a living, Benkirane’s government started implementing a fuel price indexation system aimed at controlling oil subsidies and plugging a budget deficit.

Now that we have unfolded the backdrop against which this speech unfolds, it’s necessary to provide sketchy information on the producer of the speech.

Abdelilah Benkirane (Arabic: عبد الإله بنكيران, born 8 April 1954, Rabat) has been Head of Government of Morocco since 2011. He is the leader of the Justice and Development Party.^[1]^[2]^[3] Having won a plurality of seats in the November 2011 parliamentary election, his party formed a coalition with three parties that had been part of previous governments, and he was appointed as Head of Government on 29 November 2011.^[4]^[5]

During the 1970s, Benkirane was a leftist political activist.^[6] He has represented Salé in the Moroccan parliament since 14 November 1997.^[7] He was elected leader of the Justice and Development Party in July 2008, taking over fromSaadeddine Othmani.^[8]

Benkirane's politics are democratic and Islamist.^[^{need quotation to verify}^] In a 2011 interview he said: "If I get into government, it won't be so I can tell young women how many centimeters of skirt they should wear to cover their legs. That's none of my business. It is not possible, in any case, for anyone to threaten the cause of civil liberties in Morocco".^[9] However, he has in the past described secularism as "a dangerous concept for Morocco", and in 2010 he campaigned, unsuccessfully, to ban a performance in Rabat by Elton John because it "promoted homosexuality".^[10]

^{Source :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelilah_Benkirane}

As a third step in our analysis, it is important to identify the medium in which the speech appeared. This first speech is taken from the official site of the Moroccan parliament and more particularly from a section allotted to the monthly meetings of the Moroccan parliament. This comes from an online source:http://www.chambredesrepresentants.ma/ar/مراقبة-العمل-الحكومي/الأسـئلة-الشفوية-الشهرية.

The main themes (discourse strands) that underlie the discourse at issue are as follows: audacity, frankness, trust, good and evil, divine providence, time (now and then). After having coded the discourse strands, it’s time to look at the structural features of the text; we will attempt to identify how the argument that Mr. Benkirane is making is structured. In fact, the head of government goes through several issues, one by one. He first makes a counter-factual case, stating that his government, unlike the previous ones, for the first time, has the audacity to grapple with thorny issues;

He goes on to explain that he is not going to deceive Moroccans and sell them illusions; he starts with making his own argument, namely the fact that his government took a daring decision that consisted in increasing the price of gasoline and diesel, which sparked off a wave of protest in Rabat in which demonstrators asked Mr. Benkirane and his government to step down. We sense a sort of discrepancy between the actual argumentation of Mr. Benkirane, when he mentions the fact that “people accepted the increase in the price of fuels” and the demonstrations staged by ordinary citizens to protest against this decision taken by the government without seeking the opinion of the masses.

To absorb public anger, Mr. Benkirane first attempts to convince the audience through the use of coercion (force or threat), making his listeners accept the fait accompli on the grounds that it was an economic necessity to raise the price of gasoline and diesel. To further woo the hearts of the audience, M. Benkirane, being acutely aware of the overriding importance of religion in the grass roots’ way of thinking, he avails himself of religion to cause the audience accept his false statements as true postulates and support this decision, though it is at loggerheads with their interests. Thanks to this force brute approach, Mr. Benkirane assumes that he has the hierarchical jurisdiction to act as the sovereign ruler and as the sole savior that is in charge. Hence, his listeners (his subordinates) had better know that he is the only one who is capable of extricating them from the jaws of misery.

The exploitation of religion as a manipulative tool in discourse is all too obvious in Benkirane’s argumentation; indeed, he has managed to achieve the consent of the people by creating the illusion that what the government is doing is the right thing to do and have them willingly accept- overtime- the policies and decisions made by the government as their own. So, according to this line of reasoning followed by the head of government, he succeeds in striking a really sensitive chord in mainstream Morocco, namely the frequent invocation of “Allah”; he cites the name of Allah 7 times to give credibility and legitimacy to the policies adopted by the government and as a justification for the decision taken.

To further achieve the sympathy and acceptance of his audience, Mr. Benkirane makes use of another rhetorical device (allusion); in the course of this speech, he makes an indirect reference to a religious figure, namely Solomon to imbue his argumentation with credibility and legitimacy. In that allusion, Mr. Benkirane kind of likens himself to that religious figure in what concerns goodness of reason and judgment.

The next step in the analysis will be concerned with identifying linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms used by Mr. Benkirane in his speech. The first striking feature that characterizes language use is that the vocabulary is very simple and drawn directly from Moroccan Arabic, with a preponderant use of colloquialism. The head of government deploys Moroccan Arabic terms that are likely to be used primarily in casual conversation rather than in more formal speeches. The purpose behind the use of a language that is accessible to the grass roots that make up round 90% of the Moroccan population is not a randomly chosen linguistic device. Thus the distance between Mr. Benkirane and his audience is shortened. In as much as the speech that is at issue is rendered in English, it’s downright impossible to provide examples to illustrate this.

Another equally important figure of speech used by the speaker in this excerpt is simile whereby he equates the average Moroccan to a child and the government to a caring and responsible woman whose main concern is the well-being of the child. The main object of this technique is to persuade the hearers that redemption can only materialize under his party’s leadership; therefore, the man foregrounds his connection to that salvation that is only possible with him and not with others, for the latter are the ones who did draw the outline map of this deteriorating reality that the country is enmeshed in.

To warrant the audacious decision taken by his own government with regard to the increase in the prices of both staple goods and fuels, he explains, using the technique of repetition as a cohesive device; he keeps repeating some key words (stability/corruption), to mention only a few. Similarly, he strums on the same themes several times, namely the fact the public really approves of all the decisions and policies made by his own government, despite the enemies’ useless attempts to play the public off against them.

The use of direct discourse as part of the linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms is quite patent on two occasions: first, when the speaker smartly quotes what a woman told him to target women in general and to express the idea that the point expressed by that woman is indicative of what women want; to put it differently, he wants to drive home the idea that women approve of the present government for the bravery it has made proof when it has managed for the first time to raise an issue that previous government eschewed for fear of losing the support of the masses.

The second instance wherein we have the use of direct discourse is when the speaker indulges in laying down the stage directions of that religious story by performing the different roles: the role of the wise woman, who stands for the speaker and his own party, the child, who represents the average Moroccan, and the lunatic ruthless woman, who stands for the opposition that doesn’t care a hang about the fate of the child.

By using this story, Mr. Benkirane has certainly managed to touch his listeners in a far more holistic way than flat rhetoric. As a matter of fact, it is only through narrative that the subconscious and the conscious of the audience can be touched, for tales and stories affect both the emotional and rational side of listeners; the latter are enabled to see and feel what is being related. The audience thus becomes involved and part of the story; being cognizant of the efficient impact of this technique, he kind of invites the listeners to share the space with the speaker and imagine what it might have felt like to be in that honest and caring woman’s stead.

The great advantage of storytelling is that it has enabled Mr. Benkirane to touch the hearts as well as the minds of the listeners. Storytelling and cracking jokes to impart emotional closeness between him and the listener is undoubtedly Mr. Benkirane’s stuff, for the former has managed to make the latter feel that they both belong to the same social environment, away from the huge chasm that used to exist between the recipient and the world of politicians before the advent of the current government.

Another powerful tool of argumentation (Number Game) that Mr. Benkirane draws on is the use of rational discourse that rests on numbers and statistics (2 dirham/ 1 dirham/ 5.7 billion dirham) to appear credible and to throw dust in the eyes of ordinary illiterate people that make up mainstream Morocco. So this tool has a double function to fulfill. Recourse to rationalization in the presentation of floating statistics (vagueness) that bears no relation to reality is typical of Mr. Benkirane, who attempts to rely on it in the construction of a logical sequence.

Another linguistic element used by Mr. Benkirane is the preponderant use of “we” and “us” in the speech above. The first person plural subject pronoun “we” is repeated 35 times, and the object pronoun “us” is used 6 times. It stands to reason that through the overuse of “we” in this speech, Mr. Benkirane is deliberately attempting to blur the status of responsibility. Actually, “we” is an important pronoun in political speeches in the sense that it expresses party identity; Benkirane tries, by virtue of the use of “we” to speak as a representative of PJD and on behalf of the platform of his party. The use of “we” or “us” presupposes the existence of “they/ “some” (twice)/ “those” (3 times) or “them”. By establishing this polarization, Benkirane creates an image of the group he belongs to in a positive way and the other group in a negative way.

The purpose behind creating this separation between “us” and “those/them” is to set Benkirane’s party apart from the opposition and their malignant maneuvers and to persuade the listeners not to be part of it. We sense an acute presence of elements of interaction and disconnection through creating, on the one hand, correlations between him and the symbols of goodness and positive change and ascribing to his foes, on the other hand, derogatory attributes. The use of “we” is also inclusive in this speech in that it refers to both the speaker “Benkirane” and the listeners whom he admits are by his side, “people accepted this” / We relied on people’s trust in us/ People voted for us/.

He reminds the audience that he is one of them and can put himself in their shoes and relate to their fears and hopes. This makes him amiable in the eyes of Moroccans and creates a feeling of togetherness. By using “we”, the speaker here is attempting to make others responsible for all the decisions taken by the government; however, at one point, he asserts that he alone -and not his party- is responsible for the price increase in fuels: “I increased fuel price and society accepted the decision.”

The use of modals by Mr. Benkirane to elicit favorable political support from the audience is another efficient discursive device that the man capitalizes on. We will try to pinpoint the ideological underpinnings of the modals used in the above speech. “a. We will make it.”/ b. The figures we talked about we will try to achieve gradually at the end of our term./ c. There are hurdles which we will overcome/d. We will make it/ e. We will succeed/.

The above examples taken from the speech show the use of “will” by the speaker; it undoubtedly reveals the speaker’s political will and commitment. By it, Mr. Benkirane wants to highlight the idea that his commitment towards the well-being and progress of the country. Mark that the use of “will” in b and c are flat promises and pledges made by the speaker; they also reflect a sense of responsibility he has towards Moroccans in terms of his reformatory program.

The modal auxiliary “could” is used once in the above extract. “I increased fuel price and society accepted the decision; therefore, we could save the government budget 5.7 billion dirham.” It is used by Mr. Benkirane to reveal his personal conviction on this issue and to appeal to the listeners’ awareness of his capability to change things for the better.

The use of modal auxiliaries “will” and “can” brings to mind the conditions that govern promises in political discourse and which Levinson, S.C. has laid down in Pragmatics. According to him, a promise (will) is likely to materialize if certain conditions are met; so let’s see if the conditions of those promises made by Mr. Benkirane are met when he vowed to extricate the country from the trammels of the deteriorating economic condition; Mr. Benkirane has the intention of doing so, which means that the first requirement is met. The ability (can) of the head of the government to achieve that purpose remains to be seen, though, for the speaker needs to have the resources to fulfill the pledge made.

The promise made by Mr. Benkirane falls short of the seventh condition set by Levinson in that the addressees, ordinary citizens, don’t want him to increase the price of staple goods in order to solve the economic situation of the country; thereby, the promise will not come true on account of not meeting the seventh condition. And when we try to apply Grice’s four maxims- expounded in the theoretical part of this book- to Mr. Benkirane’s speech, we can infer that as far as the first maxim (quantity) is concerned, the arguer’s verbal communication is more informative than required and this may backfire on the man, exposing him as a liar rather than a truth-teller.

This mendacity calls back to mind George Orwell’s rule, namely the first one that requires politicians, for the sake of transparent communication, to avoid using metaphors and similes. The speech under consideration shows clearly that Mr. Benkirane has violated that rule because he has made use of a simile in which he likens the addressee to a child and his own government to a caring mother.

Similarly, the benchmark of the maxim of (quality) is contingent on the first one, for verbosity in politicians is generally equated with mendacity, and the veracity of his promises is called into question. As to the third measure of (relation), we notice that there is no distance between Mr. Benkirane and ordinary citizens in as much he takes pleasure in addressing them using a very simple, easy to understand, and colloquial Moroccan Arabic. Therefore, we can see how close Mr. Benkirane is to mainstream Morocco. Last but not least, the criterion of (manner) is of paramount importance in as much as it helps us disclose the way the arguer uses diction. This criterion is an integral part of the previous one; to put it differently, the man avoids using ambiguous words that make the purport of his message abstruse and nebulous. Under this maxim of manner, we notice that Mr. Benkirane’s style contains a great and usually an excessive number of words.

When it comes to other modals, we notice that “must” is used only once in the above discourse. Here “must” expresses political obligation. (officials must realize that these days are gone.) In the above utterance, Mr. Benkirane uses “must” to take his opponents to task for their malignant maneuvers. So he calls them into a collective responsibility of moving the country forward; he asks them to stop sabotaging his political program and join hands with him for the welfare of Moroccans.

The modal auxiliary “should” is used once as well. “We believe that national interests should come first” is presented as a worthwhile moral obligation that every politician and public official should aspire to and actually needs to have as a strong and unshakable desire. It is used in an indirect way to criticize that selfish and egocentric attitude that has the upper hand on Moroccan politics.

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:31:00 +0000

The winds of the Arab Spring that overthrew the Tunisian tyrant, the Egyptian tyrant and the Libyan tyrant as you all know will hopefully bring about the downfall of the tyrants of both Syria and Yemen. In Morocco, we responded to these winds in our own way. The party of justice and development, in accordance with its erstwhile logic, got involved in the demand for the establishment of necessary reforms that should be grounded in the principle of democracy. But at the same time, the party chose not to jeopardize the stability of the country and his monarchy by taking to the streets. The party adopted a logic based on a golden rule, namely preserving stability, the monarchy and rigor in demanding reform.

As you all know, His Majesty the King responded through the famous, strong and historic speech March 9^th 2011 that relieved the tensions in the country in a very powerful way. Right after that, a Constitution Reform Commission and a follow-up mechanism were appointed. The reforms were composed of party secretaries, that is, general secretaries of political parties. All this led to the vote of the first of July on the constitution by the percentage that you all know, albeit the confusion/disruption that accompanied the campaign.

The premature electoral process then was set in motion. The party of justice and development thought that it was no need to rush to elections and it was possible to wait for the natural timing and which could have occurred in few months. From the very outset, we adopted a method that consisted in giving our opinion, claiming it and insisting upon it, without making a break with the administration. We called for the cancellation of the old lists and reliance on the identity card. We weren’t heard. We also called for raising the threshold and allowing citizens who are abroad to vote and they did vote for the constitution. But we didn’t make a break with the administration, for we went on saying that we would remain part of this process until it would appear to us that things were not that serious and only then we wouldn’t be able to commend elections wherein the will of the people was not respected duly.

We went to the pools, fearing that the number of participants would be small. But the first pleasant surprise that night came when we learned that 45.40% went to the pools. As it is well known, this rate is first of all better than the one registered in 2007. Second, this rate is a rate that is democratically reasonable in several democratic countries. And we, in the General Secretariat, consider it an acceptable rate. Another pleasant surprise was the victory of the party of justice and development. I didn’t only expect this success but I announced it as well.

Thanks God, the results were much better than we expected and imagined. Regardless of the success we regarded as normal, this victory brought joy to the people and the evidence for that was that first and foremost, Moroccans reacted positively to the party of justice and development as it was targeted during a long period of time, and especially in the final stages when brother, Jaafar Hassoune was prevented from running in Taroudant, after being deprived of his right to a lawyer and removed from the judiciary for misplaced reasons.

Today, we can say that Moroccan officials have realized that the interest of the country lies in steering clearly and honestly towards democracy. Therefore, we regard what is going on in Morocco right now as a historic step that allowed people to retrieve their natural rights as a result of their discovering that the party that won the election was the one they had voted for. In other words, they didn’t vote for a party only to find out another party they didn’t vote for. Naturally as stipulated in the constitution, the party that comes first in the results of the elections will be entrusted with the task of forming the government and the future prime minister will be chosen from it.

Without a doubt, you all know the Koutla (a political coalition that includes the party of independence, the party of Progress and Socialism, the Socialist Union of Popular Force) expressed its readiness/willingness to ally with the party of Justice and Development. And we said first and foremost we will not set about contacting anyone, out of respect, until the Prime Minister is appointed. Second, we will ally with any party except one party; no need to mention its name, for you all know which it is. The party of Justice and Development today doesn’t believe that it has come in an ambience of normal process as a normal party that is to continue a normal stage. The party is well aware of the expectations; it is well aware of the social tension; it’s well aware of the fact that the street hasn’t calmed down yet; it’s aware of the political, economic and social problems.

But, contacts are being made from different sides to secure support from businessmen, from a broad range of political beliefs that are not accustomed to responding to the party of Justice and Development. We pin our hope on the future. We’re waiting for the King’s nomination; then if Allah wills we will set about establishing the government. And after that, the work of the government will begin, with the Blessings of Allah. We are certain that Moroccans will notice -from the very first days of the government that will be headed by the party of Justice and Development if Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, wills- positive and strong signs that will reassure them and open the door of hope for the future for them.

This is all I’ve got to say to you. I don’t need to remind you that we won 107 seats from 395. (…) With regard to the 20^th February movement issue, it is a social movement that expresses its dissatisfaction with how things are run in the country. This movement should take into account the fact that something unexpected did happen in Morocco: all parties accepted the outcome of the elections and that international as well as national observers recognized its fairness. Are we going to engage in dialogue with them? Well, I consider the movement as being composed of our brothers and our children, even my son was with them.

On Thursday 24^th, February, Mr. Nabil Ben Abdellah and I engaged in dialogue with the leaders of that movement. So I’m ready to discuss with them anything starting from tonight if they wish, I’ve no objection and I’m ready. Now, suppose the movement came up with something reasonable, why not implement it. If there’s only one person saying something right, we have to listen to him. If he’s right, we stand by him. And if he’s wrong, we have to face him. This is how a reasonable and fair state should be like. And if they want to organize marches and respect the law, I have no problem with that. (…) with respect to employment,

Morocco just like all other countries in the world suffers from this problem. But our country has other problems the root cause of which is corruption and tyranny. We will try to cope with corruption and tyranny and this will have a positive impact upon employment. As far as the election results are concerned, I think it’s a vote of confidence and hope and not of sanction (C’est un vote de confiance et d’espoir) (…) When we were making preparations for the constitutional reforms, the sacredness of the person of His Majesty posed a problem to our frame of reference. What is the meaning of the sacredness of the person of the king? We know that it is borrowed from the Western culture. We asked the commission in charge of amending the constitution to draw the attention of the King to that issue. The reply came in the words of Mr. Al Moatassim, telling us that the King is telling you that Allah is holy and prophets are infallible and I’m king and citizen.

You can imagine the satisfaction we felt upon hearing this. This is a fundamental change that occurred in Morocco and it has constitutional manifestations. (…) let me tell you that according to the constitution the President of the state is His Majesty and he’s still Prime Minister. Let’s be clear, Morocco cannot be governed against the King’s will. And if this is possible, it’s not Benkirane who is going to do it. (…) a French woman journalist asked me “est ce que tu as prix rendez-vous avec sa majesté?” =Did you make an appointment with His Majesty ? I answered His Majesty convenes. If he convokes you, you have to show up and if you’re not convened, then you have to work. Take your decisions. Do you remember former First Minister of Morocco, My Ahmed El Araki? The parted King, May his soul rest in peace, used to tell him if you want something send me a note; if in two hours time, you received no reply, do what you want. That was the tradition during Hassan II’s reign in the sixties. How I wish that the ministers who would be working with us will not hopefully be afraid of losing their posts.

And if ever we’re afraid, we don’t have to be too afraid. If his Majesty tells you something, he’s not going to tell you something “incensé” =foolish and if he tells something that seems to you as such, you can respond in a polite way and if you judge his suggestion incompatible with the interests of the country, you can tell him “I can’t do that, sir”

You know what? Moroccans voted for Justice and development because the latter looks up to their intelligence. Moroccans are smart and can see through your tricks and if they realize that you’re up to no good, then you will pay a steep price. The members of the party of Authenticity and Modernity did pay a steep price for what they did.

Discourse Analysis n° 4

As customary, in order to have a better understanding and appreciation of the above text, it rests with us to unveil the context in which this speech was produced. Abdelilah Benkirane, Morocco’s new prime minister as the leader of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) at a press conference in Rabat on November 27, 2011, after the announcement of the official parliamentary election’s results. The moderate Islamist party won the most seats in Morocco’s parliamentary elections, giving it the right to lead a coalition government for the first time in Moroccan history.

The speech at issue comes as a response to the growing fear among a specific segment of Moroccan society. The latter evinced some sort of misgiving as to the real intentions of this Moroccan Islamist party (PJD) that won the biggest share of seats in the November elections. In the course of his speech, the head of the Moroccan government reassured the audience that the newly elected government would not establish radical changes to enforce Islamic rule. It should be pointed out that this speech came at a time when the expectations of Moroccans were very high, the street was simmering and people were running out of patience.

After having unraveled the backdrop against which this fourth speech unfolds, it is important to identify the medium in which the speech appeared. This fourth speech comes from an online source: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmmxp6_As a third step, we will attempt to bring out the main themes that underpin this discourse, and these are as follows: The man made proof of realism, given the enormity of the social and economic challenges he will have to face up to. In that press conference, Mr. Benkirane made several promises, namely the assignment of cabinet positions based on merit rather on party affiliation. Similarly, he stresses the need for his party to maintain the stability of the country and its regime (the monarchy), which clearly shows the domestication of the PJD by the palace.

Despite the palace’s full control of the political game and the main orientations of the country, Mr. Benkirane made it clear that his party wouldn’t flinch an inch in its rigorous demands for reforms. Here we sense some sort of ambivalence in Benkirane’s argumentation, for how can we reconcile these two opposing poles: how can the PJD initiate reforms in a political environment relatively controlled by the King?

To ward off any futile bone of contention with regard to the chart proposed by the King in his famous speech, Benkirane underscored the golden rule adopted by his party. This is indicative of his party’s rallying force, calling all the different facets of the Moroccan society to maintain order in the face of economic and social challenges. The Prime Minister goes on to explain that the victory of his party was a sort of a protest vote and another victory for Moroccan democracy.

As a response to Morocco’s 20^th February Movement’s call for a boycott of the constitutional reforms called for by His Majesty and all political parties, he explains that the outcome of the election reflects the will of all Moroccans, and the movement should be no exception. Yet he reminds the movement that his party is ready to engage in dialogue if need be.

The speaker wraps up his speech, laying out the issues, namely employment, corruption and tyranny that make up his political agenda.

Among the discursive methods that Benkirane draws on is quoting influential people and using the word “Majesty”(7 times) and “ King”(5 times) several times in his speech. As a matter of fact, quoting personalities gives weight and credibility to one’s speech (My Ahmed El Araki).

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:28:00 +0000

Speech n°: 3

Minutes of a parliamentary session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZHsWfX58E

Investment in Morocco has encountered some problems. It has suffered as the rest of other sectors from control and monopoly. Control, control of politics, control of culture, control of economy Long time ago, some were told to make money and keep quiet. This was what was said. Today, I want to tell people who are saying this that this is no longer possible. This is what we want to explain to people. What is done is done. We are the boys of today. We are the boys of the future. Morocco cannot function without a single body of law for everyone. Morocco could not operate if there were no equal opportunities for all.

If a man of power cannot understand that what he earns as a salary is enough, he has no right to encroach upon the territory of a businessman and compete with him in an attempt to lead a life just like him; similarly, a businessman cannot lead a better life if he does not work harder. Sometimes, he takes risks and ends up in prison. Sometimes, he may get poor and lose everything he has overnight. We have no right to vie with him. An employee in an administration cannot spy on a businessman and count how much money he makes and then tell him to go halves with him. This control is what needs to be stopped.

Let me tell you that all the problems that you mentioned, namely lot of paperwork, administrative difficulties, estate problems, I swear to God that Moroccans can overcome them. What they cannot overcome and understand is control. Today, businessmen know that this government has come in order to set up a logic of equality among them in respect of justice, a logic of equality in terms of equity, a logic of equality in integrity and transparency.

Today, today, there are some companies… we no longer receive and pay for the travel costs incurred by the families of certain ministers; we no longer receive a number of things that used to exist in the past. The fact is that in this government, we do not have a superman. This government consists of some people whose resources are limited. But this is not a big problem, for we’re not geniuses or prophets. We’re just human beings who are simply trying diligently with good intentions and the people want us and they still want us.

Take a look at the papers and read opinion polls and the statistics, they speak for themselves. We thank Allah for the blissful state our country is in. We are fortunate to have stability in our country and a King; we want to proceed together. Of course, they will not let us work and I’m not going to beg them. I’m not imploring those who, as your mate has said, Morocco has grown tired of: Crocodiles/alligators and goblins; Morocco has not grown tired of them, this is not true.

That man was arrested for those words because the latter, in his own mind, stand for specific persons and both he and I know who they are but cannot say it. He knows. He knows. This is not a problem. He understands. He understands. But what needs to be understood is that those people are gradually losing their credibility in society. They are known. Today people are well aware of the fact that this government has good intentions and is willing to make reforms, and investors are also well aware of the fact that this government has good intentions and is willing to make reforms; all the people, the world, the outside world know that this government is very serious.

And it has taken over to cope with the problems the country is enmeshed in. The government has come not in order to meddle with personal problems of people. There are some who shamelessly accuse us of assigning responsibilities to people from our party. And we have 11 ministers and we appointed 100. I only know three of them that belong to the party (PJD), more than 197 or 200 have no connection to the party and I do not know them at all. They were proposed by ministers and there are some of them I do not even know who proposed them. These people were chosen by committees. It’s possible for us to err in our choice.

Of course, if this happens, we will remove them. This is not a problem. But to go to the length of creating discrimination and the minister becomes fearful the moment he finds a person endowed with competence and belonging to this party, he will start feeling some discrimination against that person, as if we were living in the period of apartheid. At a time when this government is headed by this party, it is preposterous. Today, I want to tell Moroccans: May Allah Lead you to the straight path! You have to be proud of your country. It is visited by heads of states, who express commendation and admiration for it. Let your country move forward.

I’m not telling you not to criticize and not to practice the role of the opposition. Do practice a constructive opposition, a constructive criticism. But, if you go the other way round, then you will simply run up against negative things. We won’t let this happen to our country. We will and to the last breath cling to what procures the stability, the interests and the good of our country. Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah upon you

Discourse Analysis n° 3

Benkirane’s speech comes as a response to the widespread monopoly that permeates a number of sectors: economy, politics and even culture. In his argumentation, he lays a very specific emphasis on the fact that some fat cats (whom he knows and cannot name, as he says) at the top control almost all of Morocco’s wealth; meanwhile a huge segment of citizens remain vulnerable to poverty, joblessness, nepotism, inequality and corruption. According to the head of the Moroccan government, the instant he and his party were elected by voters, it was no longer possible for this uncontrolled monopoly to continue.

After having unraveled the backdrop against which this third speech unfolds, it is important to identify the medium in which the speech appeared. This third speech is taken from the official site of the Moroccan parliament and more particularly from a section allotted to the monthly meetings of the Moroccan parliament. This comes from an online source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZHsWfX58E

As a third step in our analysis, it is incumbent upon us to unravel the main themes (discourse strands) that underlie the present discourse. First, the head of the Moroccan government explains that with the rise of his party to power, uncontrolled monopoly is no longer possible. Thereby, it is part of the man’s agenda to wage a war against lack of government intervention in the economy to protect the poorest social segment of the Moroccan society. It follows from this propounding of Mr. Benkirane’s two major themes: selfishness and callousness as opposed to considerateness and compassion or caring.

The man’s job consists in bringing order to the widespread chaos of society. (Social and economic order) and that’s not all, for the man intends to put an end (so he advances) to nepotism, that is, appointing relatives or friends to positions for which others might be better qualified. As regards the criticisms leveled by the opposition members in parliament at the head of government, the latter invites the former to adopt constructive criticism (positive feedback). Similarly, Benkirane in attempt to draw the addressee’s attention to the rectitude of his party and restore people’s confidence in public institutions, he stresses the fact that the days of assigning responsibilities to undeserving guys are gone.

One of the salient features of this discourse is the distribution of different entities in the temporal dimension. “I/we-today/now” vs. “they-then”. “I/we-today” indicators that facilitate Benkirane’s representation of the discourse situation from the point of view he shares with the addressees. It should be pointed out that “today” is repeated seven times in this speech. Thus, the past occupies the space outside the deictic center of which the speaker and the audience are no longer part of. There is a time signal referring to the past used only once in the speech (Long time ago).The present and the future, however, constitute the space inside the deictic center of which foes “crocodiles and goblins” are not part of. To put it differently, Mr. Benkirane draws a comparison between now and then, pointing out the positive aspects of now and the negative aspects of then.

In the temporal dimension of the excerpt in question, certain facts have come to pass chronologically: in the past, uncontrolled monopoly, control of Morocco’s wealth, poverty, joblessness, nepotism, inequality and corruption. In the present moment, “Today, businessmen know that this government is determined to set up a logic of equality among them in respect of justice, a logic of equality in terms of equity, a logic of equality in integrity and transparency. So, here the speaker establishes a juxtaposition of two opposing poles, with regard to how each one of them runs the affairs of the country.

Benkirane foregrounds a gamut of ways of running the affairs of the nation, from control of Morocco’s wealth, poverty, nepotism, inequality, corruption to a logic of equality in all spheres. “Now” stands for the beginning of a process of change that projects itself into a brighter future. Whereas, the past embodies negative memories that citizens need to put a lid on and Benkirane is trying to convey the idea through his speech that it’s time for citizens to step out of this negative memory altogether and see that memory as if it were in a box, and bury it once and for all.

Two marked and salient signals can be discerned in Benkirane’s speech : the elements of time and space that rest on establishing a relationship between the speaker and the hearer. In the same spatial and temporal frame of reference, Benkirane’s stature is highlighted, for he is regarded as a savior, a kind of reality changer aspiring to extricate people from the jaws of the underworld. Whereas, crocodiles and goblins embody a spatial and temporal frame of reference that citizens have no longer any intention of reliving.

Again Benkirane lavishes praise on himself and his party; this self-praise he indulges in consists in portraying himself as an epic hero whose story is bound to end in triumph and eternal happiness; while that of his opponents is doomed to failure and unhappiness. Foregrounding the man’s connection to that salvation that is only possible with him and not with others is a discursive device Benkirane resorts to so as to warn the hearers that his opponents were the ones who brought about all the problems citizens are entangled in.

The use of religion as a political maneuver of manipulation by Benkirane is quite too obvious. Actually, many of those who have walked the halls of Parliament around our country have never used religion as a weapon in their political arsenal. Benkirane appears to insinuate that he is a savior coming down from heaven to throw off the yoke of corruption as symbolized by the former government and the current opposition, and to bring justice and dignity to the masses. “ Today, I want to tell Moroccans: May Allah Lead you to the straight path!”// “Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah upon you”

As a cunning speaker, Benkirane knows that religion does not only constitute a solace through which suffering ordinary citizens can assuage their pent-up rage, but it is also a system of belief that brings meaning where there is seemingly senseless life. As a result, I must admit that the man has scored points with the masses because the latter take delight in feeding on religion, a form of escapism for most of them, so to speak.

Another outstanding linguistic feature that crops up in the text with a very high frequency is the use of negation. Negative statements are more marked than affirmative ones. It is a foregrounding device typically used with a high frequency by Benkirane in order to deny or criticize a previous proposition that is explicitly mentioned; by this technique, Benkirane intends to dissipate the audience’s lingering fear of reliving the same nightmare they experienced previously under the previous governments.

Undoubtedly, there is a preponderant use of negative statements in the text around 24 times. “no longer” is used 3 times- “no” is used 3 times- In all these instances, negation has the function of readjusting and updating information so as to modify and criticize information previously introduced in the text. More importantly, the statements that involve negation in the text can be taken to fulfill the function of advancing propositions and creating new alternatives.

The use of animal imagery is another technique that is used by Mr. Benkirane to turn up to ridicule his opponents. First, the word “Crocodiles” refers to malignant and disobedient men, and this name includes the men who control the Moroccan economy and whose companies hold sway over all aspects of commercial and industrial life in Morocco, as economic actors par excellence, for their economic clout and far-reaching investment enable them to substantially intervene in shaping the political map and influence the crystallization of government choices, or exploit the economic status and press for the abolition of some of the economic trends that the government is attempting to embrace, in as much as those government choices do not tally with their interests.

The term “Goblins” refers implicitly and indirectly to all those invisible and unseen actors who actually control the ebbs and flows of power; their control of the decision-making process comes as a result of the exceptionally intellectual qualifications and abilities with which they are endowed. Hence, they find themselves in a better position to translate their ideological orientations into political clout.

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:26:00 +0000

Speech n°: 2

Minutes of the eighty-second parliamentary session

February 11^th, 2013

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious,

Praise Be to Allah, Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family and companions.

Mr. President,

Dear Brothers, Respectable Representatives,

Dear Sisters, Respectable Deputies,

My assistants and I always get ready for the issue to be discussed with the representatives of our nation and I come to talk about it and when we get into the heart of the discussion, I’m surprised to hear other issues; I have no objection to that, but we need to be clear, for I cannot change the official figures I have got with impressions and rumors But, I’m afraid, dear brothers, when I ask you to name an item the price of which has increased, you get confused. Of course, from time to time, there is a big increase in the price of an item; I do agree with you on the fact that there is some suffering, but that suffering has nothing to do with the rise in prices right now.
Tell me is there any rise in the price of bread, sugar or oil? Is there any increase in the price of gasoline and diesel? I’m afraid but that increase in fuel was accepted by Moroccans eight months ago. So when will you stop crying over this?

That increase in the price of that product has saved 5 billion dirham, and if we keep on saving, we will have saved up to 13 billion dirham by 2013, and in that way we would reach up to 55 billion dirham in the compensation fund. Tell me, what do you want? Do you want to gloat over your willingness to kill this country by submerging it and suffocating it in water? And then tell the people that what you want is the common good. Tell me, well, Mr. Abdelillah, Moroccans are complaining about poverty and I will agree with you. But was this poverty engendered by Mr. Benkirane the year he took command? Wasn’t it the upshot of years and years of poor previous government management? Do you really want Mr. Benkirane and his government to cope with the problem of poverty in just one year? It’s impossible.

I want to tell Moroccans through you:” be careful and do not let others get hold of your brains. How could you believe there was a rise in the price of bottled gas when you purchase it at 40 dirham?” As a matter of fact, there is a rise in the price of some products such as: chickens, tomatoes and other items. And I do stand in solidarity with you, but do be careful of rumors put about by those people; look them in the face. If you meet people who do really care for you, people whom you have known for a long time and whom you will remember for what they did for you. And if you are sure that these people are sincere, then trust them. However, if you gaze at strange faces striving to put about rumors, do be careful because these people have no intention whatsoever of decreasing the prices of goods; their intention is to impair this successful government experience. Be careful, dear brothers.

And just say to yourselves: is it not natural for a new government to be given some time. When the experience of alternation was in power and we were in the opposition, we gave them time…And in my view, we could have continued in our support of it. But, when I hear remarks and criticisms, I say this is not bad. On the contrary, it is in my best interest to face and be aware of these criticisms. But, when it comes to rumors, I know that the intention of those behind those rumors is something else. Therefore, I want Moroccans to take up responsibility and remain on their guard.

When we took over, nobody staged a demonstration, or asked us to increase the amount of your children’s scholarship. (…) You, brothers, you always keep on talking about the compensation fund; but when an individual is the head of government, the only thing he is thinking about is to maintain balance as far as the budget is concerned. This is just like a father managing the budget of a household. Do you really want to know what the actual budget of our country is? It is not 340 billion dirham, as a representative said. The income of Morocco is 210 billion dirham. If I’m wrong, the minister of finance will correct me. We borrow 50 billion dirham each year. Do you want us to borrow more? At the back of every Moroccan’s mind, credit engenders problems; it also leads to family disruption; and this is what this government is attempting to ward off. (…) the compensation fund is a thorny issue.

When we came, we tried to fix the problem. How? through gradual subsidization, and in a way that will not affect ordinary citizens. And we will take money from this fund and give it to those who are in need. Let me remind you that, this year, we allotted 40 billion dirham to the compensation fund. If we subtract taxes from that money, we’re left with 24 billion dirham and this will allow us to give families around 3 or 4 million. But when rumors were divulged, we came to the negotiating table again. So when I’m providing numbers, I’m not lying. I’m telling you the truth. (…) this government, our brothers, is talking to you in plain terms; it is not willing to feed on your woes.

This government came to alleviate the pressure of life that citizens are to feel; it came to do some bit of justice. It is unreasonable that whenever we touch on an issue, others kick up a storm. (…) when a citizen repairs to the administration, he finds it malfunctioning and corruption-stricken, and he knows that this specter is not new but dates back to the past; it has its advocates and lobbies that profit from it. Allow me if I use the animal lexicon, “Indeed, Allah is not Timid to Present an Example, That of a Mosquito or what is above it” Sura Al-Baqara Aya 26. When I give examples, I’m telling things the way I feel it in my innermost heart.

Discourse Analysis n° 2

Again to better understand and analyze the following speech, first and foremost a specific emphasis should be laid on the situational context that governs the following political discourse. With the cost of food, fuel and other basic goods on the rise in Morocco, members of Parliament raised the issue with Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.

Prices have continued to climb without any measures put in place to protect the purchasing power of citizens, National Rally of Independents member Hassan Bouhrize said during the February 11th parliamentary session.

“The indicators are worrisome and we note an increase in the unemployment rate. A large segment of society lives below the poverty line. Many people who have taken micro-loans cannot pay them back,” Bouhrize said.

The same alarm bells were rung by the chairman of the parliamentary bloc of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, Abdellatif Ouahbi. He argued that the real problems were unemployment and limited incomes. He accused the government of lacking a clear vision with regard to the economic problems facing society.

Urgent measures must be implemented to address the high cost of living and avoid a negative impact not only on ordinary citizens but also on the viability of domestic firms, according to Socialist Union of Popular Forces (UFSP) MP Abdelhadi Khairat.

“In the face of higher prices, more and more people resort to smuggled goods from China and Turkey, which affects negatively Moroccan firms,” he said.

In the midst of these criticisms, Mr. Benkirane has to explain the position of his government and provide Moroccans with a cogent justification because his government has been doing nothing else except increasing the price of fuel and other basic goods since they took over.

After having unraveled the backdrop against which this second speech unfolds, it is important to identify the medium in which the speech appeared. This second speech is taken from the official site of the Moroccan parliament and more particularly from a section allotted to the monthly meetings of the Moroccan parliament. This comes from an online source: http://www.chambredesrepresentants.ma/ar/ مراقبة-العمل-الحكومي/الأسـئلة-الشفوية-الشهرية.

As a third step in our analysis, it behooves us to unearth the main themes (discourse strands) that underlie the present discourse and these are as follows: the first theme that grabs our attention is that of self-righteousness and narcissism. From the very beginning of this speech, Mr. Benkirane makes it clear that he is always right and all others (the members of the opposition are wrong. Mr. Benkirane seems to be a narcissist in that he has a distorted and inflated sense of self. Indeed, he has a hard time seeing others points’ of view or seeing flaws in his own thinking.

He often feels that the Moroccan society owes him something and has the expectation that everyone puts him on a pedestal. Because of this personality disorder, Mr. Benkirane is sometimes exasperating. This is too evident when he responds to the opposition’s stance on the increase of the prices of some basic goods: “So when will you stop crying over this?” It follows from this the fact that the man confers legitimization upon himself and strips others of it. The first person singular pronoun “I” is used in this speech twenty-two times, which represents a very much higher use of that pronoun than expected and accepted; by definition, the pronoun “I” is used when the speaker wants to speak as an individual rather than a representative of a group.

Another important theme that permeates this discourse is empathy. Mr. Benkirane seems to exhibit a behavior that contradicts his idealized self-image. As we can see in this speech, he tends to downplay ordinary people’s concerns over rising prices. Instead of implementing urgent measures to address the high cost of living and to avoid the inevitable negative repercussions that this might have on ordinary citizens, he rationalizes the dissonance by saying that he cares about the sufferings incurred by ordinary citizens “As a matter of fact, there is a rise in the price of some products such as: chickens, tomatoes and other items. And I do stand in solidarity with you” and by blaming others, “be careful and do not let others get hold of your brains”// “However, if you gaze at strange faces striving to put about rumors, do be careful because these people have no intention whatsoever of decreasing the prices of goods; their intention is to impair this successful government experience. Be careful, dear brothers.”

By establishing polarization, Benkirane creates an image of the group he belongs to in a positive way and the other group in a negative way.

The purpose behind creating this separation between “I” used 22 times and “you” used 15 times is to set Benkirane’s party apart from the opposition and what it stands for as malignant maneuvers and to persuade the listeners to not be part of it. We sense an acute presence of elements of interaction and disconnection through creating, on the one hand, correlations between him and the symbols of goodness and positive change and ascribing to his foes, on the other hand, derogatory attributes. It is worth noting that the pronoun “You” is also used 9 times by Benkirane when he directly addresses Moroccans.

The use of “we” is also inclusive in this speech in that it refers to both the speaker “Benkirane” and the listeners whom he admits are by his side, “if we keep on saving, we will have saved up to 13 billion dirham by 2013, and in that way we would reach up to 55 billion dirham in the compensation fund.// When the experience of alternation was in power and we were in the opposition, we gave them time…And in my view, we could have continued in our support of it// When we came, we tried to fix the problem.

By using “We”, he reminds the audience that he is one of them and can put himself in their shoes and relate to their fears and hopes. This makes him amiable in the eyes of Moroccans and creates a feeling of togetherness. However, when he makes use of “You” the speaker here is attempting to make others responsible for all the decisions taken by the government, “Do you want to gloat over your willingness to kill this country by submerging it and suffocating it in water? And then tell the people that what you want is the common good”. //“But was this poverty engendered by Mr. Benkirane the year he took command? Wasn’t it the upshot of years and years of previous poor government management?”

Benkirane criticizes and vilifies others (opponents) but hates it when others criticize him. In this speech, we can see that he is a master of disguise and can lie very convincingly, especially when he said, “I’m afraid but that increase in fuel was accepted by Moroccans eight months ago.”, which is utterly a big fat lie, for ordinary citizens did take to the street to protest against the high cost of living that resulted from the increase in the prices of some basic goods.

To create a plausible reality, Mr. Benkirane first attempts to convince the audience through the use of coercion (force or threat), making his listeners accept the fait accompli on the grounds that it was an economic necessity to raise the price of gasoline and diesel; he has actually managed to cause the audience accept his false statements as true postulates and support this decision, though it is at loggerheads with their interests. Thanks to this force brute approach, Mr. Benkirane assumes that he has the hierarchical jurisdiction to act as the sovereign ruler and as the sole savior that is in charge. Hence, his listeners (his subordinates) had better know that he is the only one who is capable of extricating them from the jaws of misery. “This government came to alleviate the pressure of life that citizens are to feel; it came to do some bit of justice. It is unreasonable that whenever we touch on an issue, others kick up a storm.”

The exploitation of religion as a manipulative tool in discourse is all too obvious in Benkirane’s argumentation; indeed, he has managed to achieve the consent of the people by creating the illusion that what the government is doing is the right thing to do and have them willingly accept- overtime- the policies and decisions made by the government as their own. So, according to this line of reasoning followed by the head of government, he succeeds in striking a really sensitive chord in mainstream Morocco, namely when he quotes a verse from the Quraan “Allow me if I use the animal lexicon, “Indeed, Allah is not Timid to Present an Example, That of a Mosquito or what is above it” Sura Al-Baqara Aya 26”.

By this religious citation, Mr. Benkirane makes a clear reference to the previous governments and their involvement in corruption and to specific parties, personalities and the benefits they reaped from the Moroccan state and from various forms of corruption. It is at the same time an attempt of his to give credibility and legitimization to the policies adopted by the government and a justification for the decisions taken.

The next step in the analysis will be concerned with identifying the linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms used by Mr. Benkirane in his speech. The first striking feature that characterizes language use is that the vocabulary is very simple and drawn directly from Moroccan Arabic, with a preponderant use of colloquialism. The head of government deploys Moroccan Arabic terms that are likely to be used primarily in casual conversation rather than in more formal speeches. The purpose behind the use of a language that is accessible to the grass roots that make up round 90% of the Moroccan population is not a randomly chosen linguistic device. Thus the distance between Mr. Benkirane and his audience is shortened. In as much as the speech that is at issue is rendered in English, it’s downright impossible to provide examples to illustrate this.

Another equally important figure of speech used by the speaker in this excerpt is simile whereby he compares himself (head of government) to a caring father whose main concern is the well-being of his family and the management of the budget of the household in a rational manner. The main object of this technique is to persuade the hearers that what his government is doing is the right thing to do; therefore, Moroccans need to understand that the increase in some staple goods is in their interest in that it will enable the government to save money that will be given to people in need. Again, we infer from Benkirane’s argumentation that redemption can only materialize under his party’s leadership; therefore, the man foregrounds his connection to that salvation that is only possible with him and not with others, for the latter are the ones who have brought about this deteriorating reality that the country is enmeshed in.

Another powerful tool of argumentation (Number Game) that Mr. Benkirane draws on is the use of rational discourse that rests on numbers and statistics (5 billion dirham /13 billion dirham /55 billion dirham/ 40 dirham/340 billion dirham/210 billion dirham/50 billion dirham/24 billion dirham/3 or 4 million) to appear credible and to throw dust in the eyes of ordinary illiterate people that make up mainstream Morocco. So this tool has a double function to fulfill. Recourse to rationalization in the presentation of floating statistics (vagueness) that bears no relation to reality is typical of Mr. Benkirane, who attempts to rely on it in the construction of a logical sequence.

The use of direct discourse as part of the linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms is quite patent on two different occasions: firstly, when Mr. Benkirane directly addresses the members of the opposition in parliament, criticizing the kinds of questions they formulate and unraveling the malicious maneuvers they resort to, especially when they deliberately propagate false rumors (so Mr. Benkirane asserts) to nip in the bud his government’s policies; secondly, when he directly addresses Moroccans through members of parliament, warning them to remain on their guard against the false rumors circulated by the opposition, “I want to tell Moroccans through you:” be careful and do not let others get hold of your brains.”

The use of modals by Mr. Benkirane to elicit favorable political support from the audience is another efficient discursive device that the man capitalizes on. We will try to pinpoint the ideological underpinnings of the modals used in the above speech. “We will take money from this fund and give it to those who are in need.”// “this will allow us to give families around 3 or 4 million.”

The above examples taken from the speech show the use of “will” by the speaker; it undoubtedly reveals the speaker’s political will and commitment. By it, Mr. Benkirane wants to highlight his commitment towards the well-being and progress of the country. Mark that the use of “will” in both instances is tantamount to flat promises and pledges made by the speaker; they also reflect a sense of responsibility he has towards Moroccans in terms of his reformatory program.

The promise made by Mr. Benkirane falls short of the seventh condition set by Levinson in that the addressees, ordinary citizens, don’t want him to increase the price of staple goods in order to feed in the compensation fund and solve the economic and social situation of the country; thereby, the promise will not come true on account of not meeting the seventh condition. And when we try to apply Grice’s four maxims- expounded in the theoretical part of this book- to Mr. Benkirane’s speech, we can infer that as far as the first maxim (quantity) is concerned, the arguer’s verbal communication is more informative than required and this may backfire on the man, exposing him as a liar rather than a truth-teller.

This mendacity calls back to mind George Orwell’s rule, namely the first one that requires politicians, for the sake of transparent communication, to avoid using metaphors and similes. The speech under consideration shows clearly that Mr. Benkirane has violated that rule because he has made use of a simile in which he likens himself to a father who has to manage the budget of a household.

Similarly, the benchmark of the maxim of (quality) is contingent on the first one, for verbosity in politicians is generally equated with mendacity; hence, the veracity of Benkirane’s promises is called into question. As to the third measure of (relation), we notice that there is no distance between Mr. Benkirane and ordinary citizens in as much he takes pleasure in addressing them using a very simple, easy to understand, and colloquial Moroccan Arabic. Therefore, we can see how close Mr. Benkirane is to mainstream Morocco. Last but not least, the criterion of (manner) is of paramount importance in as much as it helps us disclose the way the arguer uses diction. This criterion is an integral part of the previous one; to put it differently, the man avoids using ambiguous words that make the purport of his message abstruse and nebulous. Under this maxim of manner, we notice that Mr. Benkirane’s style contains a great and usually an excessive number of words.

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:20:00 +0000

In this book, I attempted to demonstrate the overriding importance of the use of language in Moroccan political argumentation and how politicians are acutely aware of the key role played by this tool of communication to achieve specific goals. How a political actor can further his aims by way of language use is a question of an unending interest. No doubt, language is a sort of tool kit that provides icons and symbols that enable its users to represent reality to the public, thus passing on information to hearers or listeners, who are in turn supposed to decode what is being delivered, for communication is not unidirectional.

Since political speakers are cognizant of the fact that language, to some degree, reflects reality, they are extremely interested in producing a plausible reality in which they give the audience the impression that -contrary to their opponents’ doomed and failed strategies- their policy will undoubtedly lead the nation to progress. This is exactly what Mr. Benkirane does, as shown throughout our analysis of some of his speeches, every now and then whenever an opportunity presents itself, he resorts to the excessive use of details and promises to make what he is saying appear appealing and true. It might appear on closer inspection that it is precisely the shrewd use of language that creates the illusion of reality.

To analyze Some of Mr. Benkirane’s speeches, I have mainly drawn on some tremendously important references written by some outstanding authorities in political discourse analysis such as Grice, H.P, Jacob L. Mey, Steven C. Levinson, Paul Chilton, Wooffitt, Robin, Linda Thomas & Shan Wareing, Deborah Schiffrin, Deborah Tannen, and Heidi E. Hamilton, and Teun A. van Dijk.

From our analysis of some of Mr. Benkirane’s speeches, it turns out that there are some recurrent rhetorical devices that virtually permeate Benkirane’s argumentation and which can be summed up as follows:

1.Conferring legitimacy upon oneself while stripping others of it, and this comes out in different respects:

a. Assigning authority to action and reaction and anticipating the opposition through the act of getting inspired from a legacy of traditions, customs and laws.

b. Quoting influential people, national and religious symbols.

c. Creating impressions through determining cultural, intellectual and political factors.

d. Relating the ideological affiliation that is deeply entrenched in the nation to similar notions enjoying worldwide acceptance and success.

Therefore, we find the man repeating more often than not the word “King” or “His Majesty” as well as reiterating verses and hadiths. At times, he engages in providing some historical events that endorse his stances. In some discourses, he explicitly or implicitly establishes links between his ideas and those of the Party of Justice and Development in Turkey and the Global Muslim Brotherhood.

Sometimes, the man mentions the names of very powerful countries and quotes influential personalities to buttress his standpoint, albeit the irrelevance of the connection.

On certain occasions, the man takes delight in passing on moral value judgments and establishing dichotomies between two divergent poles: good vs. evil / good vs. bad / halal vs.haram, and all this is to be found in references to the previous governments and their involvement in corruption and in allusions to specific parties, personalities and the benefits they reaped from the Moroccan state and from various forms of corruption.

e Rationalization in the presentation of floating statistics that bear no relation to reality and attempts to rely on it in the construction of a logical sequence.

f. Storytelling and cracking jokes to impart emotional closeness between him and the listener, and to make the latter feel that he and the speaker belong to the same social environment, away from the huge chasm that used to exist between the recipient and the world of politicians.

g. Self-praise that consists in portraying himself as an epic hero whose story ends in triumph and eternal happiness; while that of his opponents is doomed to failure and misery.

2. Two marked and salient signals can be discerned in Benkirane’s speeches: the elements of time and space that rest on establishing a relationship between the speaker and the hearer. In the same spatial frame of reference, Benkirane’s stature is highlighted, for he is regarded as a savior, a kind of reality changer aspiring to extricate people from the jaws of the underworld.

a. Foregrounding the man’s connection to that salvation that is only possible with him and not with others, for the latter were the ones who did draw the outline map of this deteriorating reality.

b. All this is to be construed in a general context the gist of which is that the man, unlike his predecessors, who are from a rich milieu, comes from mainstream Morocco. And unlike his predecessors who are held accountable for the woes of this country, he is unmistakably the bearer of change.

3. We sense an acute presence of elements of interaction and disconnection through creating, on the one hand, correlations between him and the symbols of goodness, positive change and ascribing to his foes, on the other hand, derogatory attributes (when referring to them as crocodiles and goblins. In the man’s discourse, those “crocodiles” and “goblins” are closely intertwined with forces of evil, corruption and reversion to the times of injustice during which the rights of citizens were unfairly violated.

In this interaction and disconnection, the man attempts to put forward as an alternative effective ways of negotiation and questioning reality, while launching an acerbic onslaught on what transpired during the reign of his opponents; in the same vein, Benkirane advocates communication and keeping the citizen abreast of government activity, thus coloring his reign with signs of imminent prosperity and progress.

4. The element of anticipation and enthusiasm seems to permeate Benkirane’s responses to the citizens’ aspirations; the man’s answers to the citizens’ questions are tantamount to rosy promises and realizable goals and all that is required, according to the man, is time and patience.

5. The conspicuous use of the first person pronoun (I) , (my) and (my government) in Benkirane’s argument.

6. The prevalence of duality in the man’s speeches: good and evil, patriotism and treason, freedom and oppression meant to provide the hearer with a choice between good as represented by Benkirane and evil as epitomized by his foes, thus leaving the hearer no other alternative but to plump for the speaker’s stance.

7. The concept of roles remains central in Benkirane’s speeches, for he lays a specific emphasis on the different functions, be them political, social, religious and military, fulfilled by the various participants in his discourse, thus sanctifying the role of the ruler and the subjects, the prince and the believers, the president and the people, the government and the opposition, militants and corrupters.

8. The use of metaphors by drawing on some equivocal terms such as: crocodiles, goblins, corrupters, opportunists who did take advantage from the state and rendered no service to the country.

9. The man’s position on the ethnic and religious differences in the kingdom has constituted a big handicap to the man, for he dealt with the issue of Amazigh and the issue of religious minorities using a discourse that entails different interpretations, which constituted the guy’s occasional lapses in this regard.

10. It is worthy of note that Benkirane’s speech is more often than not tinged with some human emotions that are inextricably linked to action and political reaction; whenever the guy delivers a speech, he is kind of being carried off his feet by strong emotions, inflaming the spirit of patriotism in himself and removing that same spirit from his opponents and rivals. This also holds true, especially, when the man strums on the sensitive cords of his ardent zeal for religion, his adherence to preserving the sanctities and holy things with a view to furthering his aims.

11. Drawing a clear-cut distinction between on the one hand the ego as an essential component and linchpin of all oppressed people and the other as a competitor or enemy, with a specific emphasis on the fact that the ego, whose roots are deeply entrenched in the grass roots, stands for all that is good and upright. Hence, we can talk about a “collective/inclusive ego”

12. Whenever the man addresses specific issues, he tends to make use of floating or equivocal speech, and whenever he is assailed with his opponents’ questions, he resorts to calling his questioners’ political past into question, thus gagging them and referring them back to the “damned period” during which they served selfishly without caring a hang about the interests of mainstream Morocco. Indeed, the man is really good at flinging back any stone he happens to be pelted with.

13. Any stickler for accuracy will notice that the diction used by the man is exactly the same terms as the ones that were once used during the era of Moroccan former prime minister, Abderrahmane El Youssoufi, such as “political alternation”, “democratic transition”, “elections”, “pockets of resistance”, “Moralizing public life”, “major development projects”, “sustainable development”, “ rural development”, “good governance”, “shadow government”, “witch hunt”, “departure from the democratic course”, to mention only a few.

14. The snag with the frame of reference used in Benkirane’s political discourse is his adoption of a religious ideology (Islamic democracy) that he himself destroys through practices and deportments that run at variance with freedom and religion, which creates confusion in his argumentation. In fact, the man uses some big moral slogans that he himself doesn’t dare to implement in as much as -up to now- he has not been able to efficiently face the lobby of corruption that he keeps on mentioning in his speeches.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that there has never been anything like this prominent discourse phenomenon in the Moroccan political scene as the one epitomized by Mr. Benkirane . The man’s political speech combines emotion and cognition, provocation and demagogy, which makes it at times very difficult to grasp. This unintelligibility can be ascribed to its equivocalness and not to its depth, which further accounts for the man’s overexcitement and confusion.

All in all, albeit the absence of rationality, logic and constructive criticism in political discourse at the time, that kind of rhetoric was really appropriate given the nature of that period of time that was characterized by a war of words between the government and the opposition, thus making the political debate become a caricature of what genuine political discourse should be.

At no time in Moroccan history has the Moroccan political dictionary reached such a very low degree of deterioration and disgrace; in fact, the parliamentary sessions have turned into an arena rife with jarring abuse, slander, defamation and the use of obscene vocabulary, thus reflecting the political socialization of politicians in our country. The last act of this ludicrous political comedy was the last parliamentary sessions that the Prime Minister attended. Actually, everyone was looking forward to seeing the government highlighting the achievements hitherto attained only to be disappointed by a government that seemed to be heedless of the citizens’ burning issues, namely the cost of living that was going up.

As the Moroccan saying goes the vacuous always tends to dissemble their stupidity by resorting to belligerence, and this is to some extent true for both the majority government and the opposition, for they are both of them good at slinging mud at one another. To combat his foes, the prime minister makes use of some stigmas such as “fools”, “bandits” and “thugs”. As a response, his opponents smirched him using other damaging attributes such as: “hangdog”, “impostor”, “pro-Daesh”, to mention only a few.

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:16:00 +0000

support a thoroughly educated and informed public, a tolerance for the questioning of authority and the spirit of solidarity. The more educated, the more questioning, and the more civic we become, the greater the chances of having a brighter and better future will be. No doubt, it doesn’t make sense to follow blindly orders emanating from above without knowing how our government functions and how it should be running to ascertain that it is running efficiently for everyone and to make sure it is not corrupt.

I daresay that citizens should question authority, for no governing authority should ever have absolute sway over people, and that calling authority into question is a vital element in the movement for change, for there would be no be no social, political, environmental and whatnot change on this planet, had there been no questioning of authority by the people. If this questioning of authority never occurred, where would we be right now? The less citizens question authority, the more power a select few have. And when a select group of selfish individuals have absolute power, then calamity follows naturally.

As a matter of fact, there should be no delegated responsibility without accountability; the latter is a management monitoring process that entails providing feedbacks with respect to a person’s performance. Any person holding an office in any given government is held accountable to the citizens he is supposed to serve for the promises made along the campaign trail and for the work performed during his/her term. If an official is found guilty of misappropriating public funds that were placed in his/her care, (s)he normally has to face up to punishment and restitution. Not only is (s)he obliged to return the money that was embezzled, but he has to incur further penalties as well, like incarceration and fine to set an example for prospective wrong-doers. Therefore, punishing an offender ruthlessly is designed to achieve the goal of deterrence.

I think that a democracy with no protest or visible dissent must be either extremely efficient and representative or suffering from deplorable public apathy. It is high time we stopped fleeing from the ugly truth of being unable to be true to ourselves; we had better give up wearing the mask of pretending to be virtuous, for living this lie is our deep dark secret. Imagine, for just a second, a world where no one lies to himself/herself, where everyone is being his/her real self, where each individual steadfastly adheres to moral guiding principles regulated by pangs of conscience.

Can you feel and taste the delight of being your true real self for once? Can you sense the freedom you will feel as a result of deciding to throw away the mask that you so habitually wear? Are you afraid of being authentic? Well, it is really draining to constantly pretend to be someone else when you do know that you are not the person you are portraying for others to see. I think that the best way to knowing oneself is to begin knowing oneself. We have to know who we are, to set goals in life, to have the audacity to acknowledge our shortcomings and limitations, and to come to terms with our vulnerability that is protected by the mask we wear. Exposing our true imperfect self will help us establish genuine and fruitful relationships with our fellow citizens.

Throughout the book, I went over the different historical stages of the Kingdom where the state had updated the constitution several times; As a matter of fact, each epoch has its own legitimacy. The national economic and social legitimacy during the late King’s era could no longer fit in with the democratic spirit of modern times. In the past, the Moroccan regime had successfully managed to contain internal crises; however, these “achievements” should not be regarded as long term victories, for the increasing power of the state presaged the erosion of its legitimacy.

It dawned upon the political regime that to adopt democratic values and principles had become an ineluctable reality. Thereby, the departed king laid the foundation stone for free and prosperous Morocco under a constitutional monarchy, launching constitutional reviews in 1970, 1972, 1992, and 1996. Despite the existence of some new constitutional clauses that were meant to revitalize parliamentary democracy, the King did not abdicate some of the key prerogatives that he still enjoyed. For instance, according to article 27, the King could still dissolve the chamber of representatives by decree.

The turning-point came when King Mohammed VI, on March 9, 2011, delivered an extraordinary televised speech to his people in the aftermath of protests that had spread to a number of cities in Morocco. In that famous speech, the King proposed a new constitution (the sixth constitution) that would guarantee “rule of law” and would reduce the powers of the King and increase those of the elected government. No one can deny that there are some limits set by the new constitution to the King’s prerogatives. Yet, he remains very powerful in that he retains complete control of the armed forces, foreign policy, the judiciary and matters pertaining to religion.

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:13:00 +0000

A democracy with no protest or visible dissent must be either extremely efficient and representative or suffering from deplorable public apathy.

noreply@blogger.com (Prof.hamzaoui) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:00:00 +0000

The roundtable discussions I have had with my students have given rise to a book “An Investigation into Political Apathy amongst Students: A case study of Cadi Ayyad University. In this respect, I would like to express my thanks to my students, who have shown exemplary patience, ready and generous availability of advice and information

What actually sparked off this qualitative research undertaken within the confines of the Faculty of Humanities in Marrakesh was a pressing need to assess the veracity of the assumption that underscores the existence of an inextricably intertwined correlation between political interest and political involvement. To that end, undergraduate students were kindly invited to participate in interviews and focus group discussions. No undue influence was exerted on them, for they were free to respond to an array of questions with regard to the current situation in the country, major political actors, and the upcoming elections.

The focus group discussions were held in a classroom with me acting as a moderator, using the tape recorder unobtrusively so that students might not hold back on their responses to the above-mentioned talking points. The survey results show that there is a growing chasm between the majority of students and political life, on account of a number of reasons that are exhaustively laid bare in the book.

It turns out that the agents of political socialization, that is, parents and school, did not influence the formation of political involvement among students here in Marrakesh. Therefore, the development of political interest did not start during childhood; it only began to take roots by the time those students had made the transition into adolescence.

Two major conclusions emerge: First, with regard to panelists (Group A-B-C), parents did not play a key role in the political education of their children. Thereby, respondents entered adulthood without a strong parental cue giving. Second, students associated with group D entered adulthood with a strong parental influence and were likely to embrace their parents’ political attitudes.

Our survey findings about students coming of age have demonstrated a palpable change in the level of political interest among informants belonging to group A-B-C as a result of their assuming new roles; to put it differently, the acquisition of political knowledge among informants belonging to these three groups was to begin to take place the instant they left their patronizing parents to pursue their undergraduate studies in Marrakesh. As to the students hailing from Marrakesh, it was only when they enrolled at the university that they started to crystallize an independent political outlook of their own.

Actually the context in which students have grown up has largely conditioned their political awareness and development; a clear allusion is made here to two tremendously important socializing agents, namely family and the school. It follows from the data collected that the formation of political engagement among most of the informants has not come to pass during their childhood. In fact, that period is a crucial one in that during these impressionable years, the students (then kids) were readily responsive to agents of socialization.

However, the respondents at that time were not fortunate enough to acquire political cognition, for the direct transmission of parental political values to their offspring did not occur; moreover, parents with low socio-economic status had nothing to bequeath to their children.

Be that as it may, I explained to my students that they should engage politically and not leave the political field open to ill-intentioned religious hardliners and radicals. As a matter of fact, extremists always target young Moroccans suffering from social and financial problems and attempt to capitalize on these problems to brainwash those psychologically frail young people, who remain amenable to the noxious ideas propagated by extremists.

Those ill-intentioned parasites make those psychologically fragile young creatures believe that the root causes of their woes are to be ascribed to the government that does not care a hang about them, and are thus turned, through financial incentives and skewed religious indoctrination, into living bombs waiting to go off at any time.

It follows from the survey findings that politically uninterested students are unfortunately less likely to be mobilized and attempts to enhance political participation are likely to have no impact whatsoever on them.

While debate over political apathy among young people rages in Morocco, there is still a likelihood that religious hardliners will continue to lure alienated and marginalized young people to their cause. Furthermore, lack of civic education and lack of moderate religious instruction have provided a breeding ground for political disengagement and radicalism. Therefore, it has become imperative to find an efficient antidote that might hopefully extricate young people, whose faith in politics and politician has shrunk dramatically, from the jaws of extremism.

To get out of this, focus group respondents stressed the need to focus on civic education as an efficient catalyst for the development of political involvement among young people; they unanimously agreed on the fact that exposure to civic education at an early age is sufficient to get those prospective voters to the polls, for civic habits formed early in life.

Among the suggestions advanced by the informants to encourage political interest and involvement among students revolve around the same factors that switched them off politics: a. Politics should be made more interesting and more accessible. b. Media credibility. c. Incorporating politics as a taught course. d. Politicians should be more open and more responsive to the needs and concerns of young people. e. Facilitating young people’s involvement in the political process by offering them opportunities to engage in politics.

Under this last recommendation is subsumed a number of requirements, namely, reforming our educational system, encouraging political participation, refocusing education, fostering the use of social networking, revamping political parties, and moralizing political life.

As mentioned previously, the upshot of political apathy in Morocco is the growth of extremism and to contain this pernicious specter, political parties and religious pundits should raise awareness by mentoring and tutoring young people, stepping outside their comfort zone once in a while and getting closer to their communities to understand their needs. It is high time both politicians and religious men stopped ignoring their role as educators.

All the informants across the sample agreed that to forestall the propagation of fanatic ideologies and prevent marginalized young people from being transmuted into suicide perpetrators, a number of social problems need to be addressed: poverty, marginalization, corruption, favoritism, nepotism etc. The more these problems are addressed, the greater the chances will be of igniting young Moroccan’s interest in politics.