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.