Topics in Political Discourse Analysis [1 ed.] 9781616680619, 9781604563917

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Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Topics in Political Discourse Analysis, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Topics in Political Discourse Analysis, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

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TOPICS IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

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TOPICS IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

SAMUEL GYASI OBENG AND BEVERLY A.S. HARTFORD EDITORS

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

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Copyright © 2008 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Any parts of this book based on government reports are so indicated and copyright is claimed for those parts to the extent applicable to compilations of such works.

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Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Obeng, Samuel Gyasi. Topics in political discourse analysis / Samuel Gyasi Obeng, Beverly A.S. Hartford. p. cm. ISBN H%RRN 1. Discourse analysis--Political aspects. I. Hartford, Beverly. II. Title. P302.P77O24 2008 306.44--dc22 2007051997

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CONTENTS

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Preface

vii

Chapter 1

Religion and Politics in Malawi Sam Mchombo

Chapter 2

The Search for an Alternative Hegemony: Tradition as the Foundation of Modern African Identity in Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol by Okot P’Bitek Kuria Githiora

1

27

Chapter 3

Proverbs in Political Oratory: A Case Study Kassim Kone

47

Chapter 4

Felicity Conditions of Nigerian Political Speeches Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe

77

Index

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PREFACE This book presents new research on the analysis of language (possibly in conjunction with other semiotic systems) in the course of our lives as citizens of established polities of various scopes. It includes social or human sciences (including political science, psychology, sociology, discourse analysis, linguistics, literary and cultural studies, education, etc.) insofar as they deal with discourse as politic behavior. Chapter 1 - The prevailing attitude about elections and power shifts in many African countries is that religion plays a minimal role in shaping the results. By and large, this seems correct. Nevertheless, religion does play a role in influencing political developments. In some cases, the pulpit has occasionally served more to articulate political aspirations than to preach the word of God. In Malawi, the transition to democracy was influenced as much by the Catholic Bishops’ public stand against the injustices of the Kamuzu Banda regime as it owed to agitation of civil society. With the end of the late President Kamuzu Banda’s autocratic rule and the rise to power of President Bakili Muluzi, a Muslim, the country has been in the grips of speculation as to whether Islam is poised to replace Christianity as the dominant religion. Charges of desire to “Islamicize” the country have had to be consistently refuted by the incumbent. Still, the rise of Islam, an erstwhile minority religion, to a position of virtual dominance through being identified with the presidency, aided by sponsorship from oil-rich nations, and the emergence of strained relations between it and Christianity, have increasingly become relevant factors in current political developments in Malawi. As the general election that will retire Bakili Muluzi from the presidency draws near, the question of the religious affiliation of the next president has acquired significance; it is relevant to prospects of maintenance of peace, calm, and stability. Further, in the current climate of global conflict, couched as it is in a policy of “war on terror,” the

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Samuel Gyasi Obeng and Beverly A.S. Hartford

alignment of Christianity and Islam in these global issues is far from neutral. This paper places these two religions in historical context, comments on recent events in global politics, and examines the role Islam and Christianity are likely to play in shaping political developments in Malawi. Chapter 2 - Africa’s search for an alternative hegemony to replace late western European, late capitalist structures and values continues to haunt and cause anxiety in the continent in the face of the onslaught of an aggressive, marginalizing and dominant globalization. This paper addresses this anxiety, which is evident right from the late 1950s and early 1960s era during the dawn of African independence. This paper demonstrates this in the relationship between westernized and traditional Africans in Okot p’Bitek’s Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol. In the songs, Lawino is the voice of Acoli traditions, and her husband Ocol is the westernized African. The tensions and anxieties between the two cultural sensibilities continue to haunt Africans more than 40 years after most subSaharan African countries gained independence from European colonial powers. Africa’s search for this alternative hegemony remains elusive largely because the colonial state in Africa upon which the modern African state is modeled had numerous contradictions which also contributed to the historical roots of the lack of freedom based on appropriate cultural, literary, social, and political discourses. Africa, therefore, needs a more meaningful and beneficial hegemony based on its varied and rich intercultural discourses with the rest of the global community. This new hegemony, while rich with other global influences, must also be authentically African in its literary, cultural, social, and political perspectives. It is only through this alternative hegemony that Africa will be able to both disabuse and demystify her negative image and the myth of being “a dark continent.” Chapter 3 – Proverbs encapsulate ancestral wisdom. But, used tactically in contemporary discourse, proverbs may be said to mediate the relationship between present and past, becoming a strategy for political gains. A proverb both refers to history and brings history alive. And this dynamic relationship between ancestral precedent and the exigencies of the present is played out in all forms of political speech. In this paper, the author examines one example of contemporary oratory in order to demonstrate the strategic use of proverbs in political life. Quoting from precedent has always been a tradition in political oratory. Church officers in medieval times quoted passages from the Bible or from their predecessors to acquire authority (Morawski, 1974, p. 344) and Biblical quotes are still in use in modern speech. Penfield (1983, pp. 85-86) writes that the multilingual Igbo of Nigeria quote from the Bible in English or paraphrase English quotes in Igbo to enhance the quality of and add power to their message. Renaissance humanists cited Plato or Aristotle because they held the views of

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Preface

ix

these philosophers to be self-evident. More recently, quoting previous political leaders has become conventionalized under some regimes, quotations from Stalin being an example of this in the speech and writing of people who favored the Soviet “cult of personality” (Morawski, 1974, pp. 344-345). A proverb may offer itself as a device of regulatory social [and political] mechanism (Bonnet, 1982, p. 178). Without naming names or events, proverbs sometimes present themselves in the form of a symbolic obviation, especially when the performer wishes to firmly ground his/her intentions in cultural symbols. These symbols could be historical, religious, or ideological. In that, a proverb may have a profound cultural effect in political discourse. “Obviation,” according to Wagner (1978) “is the effect of supplanting a conventional semiotic relation with an innovative and self-contained relation; it is the definitive paradigm of semiotic transformation” (p. 31). Political oratory often contains proverbs which are ideological metaphors intended to insert “an unconventional element “in the way of” conventional reference, so that the new relation comes to supplant, to “anticipate and dispose of,” thus calling into conventional effect (p. 31). When addressing a large audience, any political leader—be he a traditional chief or modern politician—has frequent recourse to proverbial wisdom. Proverbs give legitimacy to a power-holder by evoking ancestral wisdom and precedent. However, proverbs do not simply serve to perpetuate the past; they may inspire or instigate conflicts as well as reduce or resolve them as in nonpolitical use. Accordingly, a speaker’s real intentions may be shrouded in what appear to be customary values. A similar obliqueness marks the relationship between the speaker and his audience since a ruler’s words, like his knowledge of the genealogical charter on which his authority rests, is mediated by a herald or jèli. Whether introducing an idea, supporting, rejecting, or concluding it, the proverb in oratory must embellish itself with ordinary linguistic, cultural, and historical materials that are part of the audience’s repertory and without which the message being sent can only partially be understood. Some of the genres found in oratory may include tales, sayings, and excerpts of epics. Because oratory may be dialogic, it may consist of an interplay of two or several primary genres “each with its own formal and functional characteristics” (Bakhtin, 1986, pp. 60-102, cited in Bauman (1992)). Political speech among the Bamana is an area of verbal art which incorporates many proverbs, as well as excerpts from epic poems, religious rhetoric, and other sensitive cultural genres such as praiselines (pronounced by a praise singer in the course of an oratory). Proverbs are used in it to legitimize or to reject political action. Ideology, which is the backbone of political actions, is itself embedded

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and frozen in proverbial lore. But the controversies involved in politics and the struggle of opposing political ideologies make politics a very fertile ground for both verbal competition and the communication of political messages where proverbs figure not simply as rhetorical devices, but as tools for speech which shape both consciousness and action. Bamana social and political life requires that a leader make use of the service of an intermediary in the person of a jèli, or a herald from some other nyamakala1 group whose oratorical skills are established. The use of the jèli or another artisan caste (nyamakala) displaces responsibility, at least partially, for the negative consequences of a speech, thus protecting a political leader, a hòròn2 (noble), from losing face. Hòrònya (nobility) is a state of mind and also reality that people are constantly aware of and measuring. Hòrònya is metaphorically said to be a gown whose size is measured by the political position of the leader. The more important a political leader, the bigger his figurative gown must be—so big in fact that it drags behind him. For this reason, the consequences of a speech made by a leader are greater than when a common hòròn is involved. Chiefly speech is a perfect model of performance for its style and use of proverbs. Bamana expectations from a chiefly speech are higher than their expectations from the speech of a commoner. This is so because a chief is expected to be a well-seasoned speaker by virtue of having early exposure to oratory (for inherited traditional leaders) and frequent exposure to oratory (for modern political leaders). A proverb encodes Bamana expectations of chiefly speech: Faama ka kumadòn tè hakilimaya ye: faama ni faantan bè kunko bè na fè i ye. The chief’s skillful use of language is not intelligence: matters regarding the powerful/rich and the powerless/poor are all said to him. In this proverb, art in speech is assumed to be associated either with intelligence or with experience associated with political office. Being chief implies being a son of chief, which involves exposure to public speech at an early age. This proverb also states that a chief’s ability to understand the subtle turns and ambiguities, as well as his capacity to perform speech, are not necessarily due to his intelligence. Instead, a chief’s linguistic competence could be due to 1

2

Nyamakala refers to the entire group of artisan castes in the Mande world such as the jèli (bard), numu (blacksmith), garanke (leatherworker), and woloso (descendant of former slave). The hòròn are nobles or free born. They are political leaders, village chiefs, and nominal landowners. Their birthright give them these privileges but prevents them from engaging in the arts of speech, wood and metal work, and leatherworking.

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exposure and experience. It is in Bamana village chieftaincy, where leadership is legitimized by tradition, that a chief’s knowledge and performance of proverbs in the running of day-to-day village affairs can be appreciated. The village chief inherits political, administrative, and judiciary offices from his father or brother (own or classificatory). Being a child of the village himself, since childhood, the future chief must go through the various initiation rites of the village. In the Bamana village, the main initiation rites are the Ntomo (uncircumcised boys’ secret society), bolokoli (circumcision), and the Kòmò (men’s secret brotherhood). Each of these rites of passage offers opportunities when each child will learn esoteric speech and proverbs about life, whose meanings are not always understood by the neophyte or the uninitiated. Also, the chief to be spends his childhood being an uninvited but encouraged overhearer of matters discussed in his father’s meeting house. Such matters concerning village life may range from furukuma (lit., marriage talks), kèlèbankuma (lit., conflict ending talks), dugutigibilon na kumasigi (lit., chief of village’s meeting house talk sitting, usually judicial in nature), kòmòtulakumasigi (lit., Kòmò sacred grove at talk; judicial and very serious matters that need to be discussed in private by the initiated), and diplomatic negotiations with other villages among other situations. Because oratory addresses large and often unfamiliar audiences, a speaker deals with a complex social context, which puts his rhetorical integrity at risk (Yankah, 1995, p. 53). Among the Bamana, the use of a jèli (bard) not only legitimizes political speech delivered in Bamana, but the jèli becomes the filter and takes more responsibility than the speaker, a hòròn (noble), for the vagaries of his speech. Should a message be upsetting, people will always blame the jèli for failing to stop the speaker in time or to convert his words into a socially acceptable message. According to Yankah, the jèli is involved in what Hymes (1975) calls metaphrasis in performance and what Bauman (1977) calls the interplay between the social and the semiotic systems, in the course of which he argues one conventionalized performance genre is reframed into another mode. In village speech, the chief is involved in the face-to-face performance. All important matters are discussed at the chief’s house, and he is required to speak his mind on these matters. He knows everybody, every family, and village history, and he is aware of the matters at hand to a high degree. Each performance of the chief is thus directed to an individual or group of individuals who are known, a context or cluster of contexts which are understood by the audience. The chiefly message is thus expected to go right to the point. He may rely on the nyamakala herald (jèli or numu in the absence of the former) for assistance in public speech, but his early exposure to performance, his thorough knowledge of situations at hand and their contexts, helps make him a good proverb performer.

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Familiarity with the context in a situation is very important for each verbal statement to reach the intended goal of its performer. Verbal statements in general and proverbs in particular need, for some reason or other, to be made known to another person or persons “in order to serve purposes of common action, or to establish ties of purely social communion, or else to deliver the speaker of violent feelings or passions. . . . In each case . . . the utterance has no meaning except in the context of situation” (Malinowski, 1956, p. 307). The competence in performing proverbs in public speech can be achieved more easily in village politics than in regional or national politics. As mentioned above, village political speech occurs in a small area among acquainted members and circumstances that are known at length. A regional or national political leader does not enjoy the advantages of the traditional chief, and even when he is a good performer in oratory, he must rely on the nyamakala. While a nyamakala’s assistance is crucial in public speech, the nature of modern political speech and the ease in reaching masses nationwide through modern media have become a double-edged sword. Modern political speech concerns a much larger audience; its contexts are too wide and complex, and the assistance of the herald is discarded as a filter and editor of speech. The use of other media such as radio and television in modern times has placed the hòròn leaders in very dangerous situations when they decide to address their people in Bamana. This is largely because the message escapes the filtering and editorial monitoring of a jèli. When speaking in the presence of a live audience, a leader will always be surrounded by jèliw (pl.) or have a jèli in the audience; their presence alone is a deterrent against venturing into speech which is not dignified. General Moussa Traoré was caught in this modern trap when he used television and radio to deliver his last political speech. Chapter 4 - In this chapter, the author examines a type of political speech in Nigeria based on addresses of two notable heads of state to the nation or to sections of the nation, adopting speech act theory in the analyses and discussions. Premised on the fact that all utterances not only serve to express propositions, but also perform actions, the author shows that the five macro classes of illocutionary acts—Representatives, Expressives, Directives, Commissives, and Declaratives/Performatives—are found in a relatively well-distributed manner of occurrence in the speeches of both leaders—the late General Sanni Abacha (representing a dictatorial regime) and retired General Olusegun Obasanjo (representing a democratic regime). Also, the author has discovered that, while the representatives and the commissives are usually infelicitous, the directives are often felicitous; for the expressives—largely greetings—do not only function felicitously as greetings, but

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Preface

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also as implicit performatives which signal the beginning or the closing of a series of speech acts. Also, the explicit performatives are almost always felicitous, especially in the Abacha (military) speeches. Lastly, all the speeches demonstrate some tactfulness but flout some of the maxims of the cooperative principle.

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In: Issues in Political Discourse Analysis Editors: S. G. Obeng and B.A.S. Hartford

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Chapter 1

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN MALAWI Sam Mchombo Department of Linguistics University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

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ABSTRACT The prevailing attitude about elections and power shifts in many African countries is that religion plays a minimal role in shaping the results. By and large, this seems correct. Nevertheless, religion does play a role in influencing political developments. In some cases, the pulpit has occasionally served more to articulate political aspirations than to preach the word of God. In Malawi, the transition to democracy was influenced as much by the Catholic Bishops’ public stand against the injustices of the Kamuzu Banda regime as it owed to agitation of civil society. With the end of the late President Kamuzu Banda’s autocratic rule and the rise to power of President Bakili Muluzi, a Muslim, the country has been in the grips of speculation as to whether Islam is poised to replace Christianity as the dominant religion. Charges of desire to “Islamicize” the country have had to be consistently refuted by the incumbent. Still, the rise of Islam, an erstwhile minority religion, to a position of virtual dominance through being identified with the presidency, aided by sponsorship from oil-rich nations, and the emergence of strained relations between it and Christianity, have increasingly become relevant factors in current political developments in Malawi. As the general election that will retire Bakili Muluzi from the presidency draws near, the question of the religious affiliation of the next president has acquired significance; it is relevant to prospects of maintenance of peace, calm, and

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Sam Mchombo stability. Further, in the current climate of global conflict, couched as it is in a policy of “war on terror,” the alignment of Christianity and Islam in these global issues is far from neutral. This paper places these two religions in historical context, comments on recent events in global politics, and examines the role Islam and Christianity are likely to play in shaping political developments in Malawi.

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MUSLIM PROTESTS IN MALAWI On Friday, June 27, 2003, after prayers, the Muslim community in the main commercial city of Blantyre in Malawi went on a protest march. They held a demonstration in the city streets, disrupted traffic, vandalized the offices of the Muslim Association of Malawi, destroying some of the computers there, and generally created an afternoon of tension and apprehension. Other demonstrations were held in Kasungu, a town in the central region of the country. The situation was much worse in the town of Mangochi, located at the southern extremity of Lake Malawi. A locale dominated by the Yao ethnic group, and predominantly Muslim, the Muslims attacked establishments identified with Christianity and with an American presence. They burned down churches belonging to the Assemblies of God, the Presbyterians, Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Police rushed to protect the residence of the Mangochi Diocese Bishop Alessandro Assolari when word reached them that the protesters were headed in his direction. Less fortunate was Catholic Father Gilevulo who was assaulted on the road and had his vehicle overturned and set ablaze. They attacked the property and personnel of Save the Children USA and torched the district office of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) Party. Some of the demonstrators were even quoted as claiming that Mangochi is Muslim territory with no place for Christianity which, together with its American influence and sponsorship, should be ejected. The indignation of the Muslims did have some basis. It was in response to global politics of the modern era. In the summer of 2003, President George W. Bush of the United States did visit Africa. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 (2001) attacks in the United States, attributed to the organization al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden, the world has been required to focus on, and get actively involved in, waging the “war on terrorism.” The September 11 events had as harbingers earlier

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Religion and Politics in Malawi

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bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that targeted American installations. Lyman and Morrison (2004) noted,

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On August 7, 1998, two massive bombs exploded outside of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 224 people— including 12 Americans—and injuring 5, 000. Responsibility was quickly traced to al-Qaeda. Four years later, al-Qaeda operatives struck again, killing 15 people in an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombassa, Kenya, and simultaneously firing missiles at an Israeli passenger jet taking off from Mombassa airport. (p. 75)

In response, the United States Government went after the al-Qaeda infrastructure in East Africa. However, Lyman and Morrison remained critical of the United States Government for focusing on al-Qaeda while, apparently, failing to heed other sources of terrorism. They warned that, while the U.S. has gone after the al-Qaeda infrastructure in East Africa, “the potential for growth of Islamic extremism and other sources of terrorism elsewhere on the continent has not registered sufficiently on its radar screen. By far the most troubling case is Nigeria” (Lyman and Morrison, p. 75). The identification of “Islamic extremism” with al-Qaeda and terrorism does, unwittingly, give to America’s war on terror the appearance of an onslaught on Islam in general. Extremism tends to be identified with fundamentalism. Although the concept of “fundamentalism” may have come from Princeton Presbyterian fundamentalists about a hundred years ago (Chomsky, p.c), the term has, in recent times, been used primarily in connection with aspects of Islam.1 In order to defuse misconceptions about the intent behind the “war on terror,” and to stress that it is not an onslaught on Islam in general, there has been considerable effort in the Bush administration to distinguish “Islam” from “Islamic extremism.” The distinction between them notwithstanding, the implementation of the policy has been perceived as largely indiscriminate. This was reinforced by President George W. Bush’s pronouncement on September 29, 2001 that the “war on terror will be much broader than the battlefields and beachheads of the past. The war will be fought wherever terrorists hide, or run, or plan” (Roth, 2004, p. 2). To the extent 1

Chomsky (p.c.) has pointed out that, with regard to the “war on terror,” “…the current incumbents in Washington declared ‘war on terror’ in 1981, when they took office under Reagan, and that one of their prime targets of that ‘war on terror’ was the Catholic Church. The notorious School of the Americas takes pride in the fact—which it proclaims—that the U.S. army ‘helped defeat liberation theology.’ So, whatever the latest phase of the ‘war on terror’ is supposed to be, Islam is just a target of convenience, like the Catholic Church was the first time around.” Although Islam is a “target of convenience,” the current phase of the “war on terror” appears to be contributing to a polarization of the world along religious lines of Christianity versus Islam.

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that Islamic establishments and regions are taken as locations where terrorists might “hide” or “plan,” they become targets of the “war on terror.” The situation is further complicated by the fact, noted by Roth (2004, p. 2), that “the Bush administration has used war rhetoric precisely to give itself the extraordinary powers enjoyed by a wartime government to detain or even kill suspects without trial.” Thus, one could excuse the tendency on the part of Muslims to view the current United States administration’s policies through the prism of subjugation of Islam and plundering of the oil resources of the Arab world. As plans for President George W. Bush’s visit to Africa were underway, it was imperative that appropriate security measures be taken. Naturally, a major component of those security measures was identification and “appropriate” removal of suspected al-Qaeda members. For three weeks prior to the Muslim unrest in Malawi, it was rumored that five foreign nationals resident in Malawi had been identified by the USA security network (CIA and FBI) as, allegedly, being members of al-Qaeda. These were: Fahad al Bahli of Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim Habachi and Arif Ulasam of Turkey, Mahmud Sardar Issa of Sudan, and Khalifa Abdi Hassan of Kenya. The National Intelligence Bureau of Malawi, apparently working in cooperation with the USA security network, apprehended the individuals and whisked them out of the country to an unknown destination. Rumors were rife that they had been taken to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, the holding place for alleged al Qaeda “terrorists.” It was also rumored that one of the detainees was very ill and that another might already have died. The situation was exacerbated by an apparent official clampdown on coverage of the event. While the local independent print media made some commentary on the incident, and there was extensive commentary in Chichewa (the main local language) on the leading private radio by a Muslim who denounced in no uncertain terms the action of the U.S. personnel involved along with their Malawian accomplices, the national radio and television remained mute.2 The official news blackout was indicative of the degree of interference or control of the media exercised by the government, despite pretensions to democracy and freedom of the press. It was reminiscent of proscriptions on media independence and government control of information disseminated to the public that characterized the dictatorial regime of Kamuzu Banda (see Mchombo, 1996, 1997, 1998b). In fact, the current regime in Malawi has been plagued with charges 2

I am indebted to Owen Kalinga for the information about the commentary made by the Muslim commentator on the private radio station. The individual is, apparently, a regular commentator.

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of corruption, occasionally leading to suspension of international aid, and is viewed as exploiting the façade of democracy with the intent of reverting to autocratic rule (see Chirwa & Kanyongolo, 2000; Mchombo, 2000, 2002). The rumor fanned anti-Christian and anti-American sentiment among the Muslims, who construed the incident as an attack on their Muslim brothers and on Islam in general, and who claimed that the “disappearance” of the five suspects was an effective manifestation of the perception of American policy as it was couched in terms of a “war on terror.” They decided to react violently to register their anger and, through that, to signal their preparedness for Jihad (holy war). Most of the targets which they selected on which to vent their rage and indignation were either Christian or American. The exceptions were the vandalism of the Muslim Association of Malawi offices in Blantyre (and destruction of their computing machinery) and the torching of the district office of the ruling UDF Party in Mangochi. The reasons for that will be seen below.

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BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM IN MALAWI The incident in Malawi could have been ignored or treated as comparable to the occasional student unrest or worker demonstration for upward salary adjustments or improvement in working conditions. That it took on greater significance is due to shifting perceptions about the role that religion has come to play in political developments in Malawi and the belief that there is external sponsorship to “Islamicize” the country. The cold war in the northern hemisphere expired in the early 1990s, but something akin to it persists to this day in Malawi, masked in religious fervor and proselytization. It is useful to provide context for these claims. The recent history of Africa, especially from the 19th century, is one of colonialism by various European nations. Their quest for various raw materials and affordable labor led to the continent being carved up into states that reflected more the European rivalries than the need for internal cohesion of the African colonies. Thus, the legacy of colonialism in Africa includes the creation and subsequent maintenance of highly arbitrarily drawn political boundaries that have placed different ethnic groups within the same countries, while simultaneously spreading some ethnic groups across different countries (see Mchombo, 1998b; Ungar, 1986). The Republic of Malawi, formerly known as Nyasaland, became a British Protectorate in 1892. It attained independence from Britain in 1964. Like other African states, Malawi has a number of ethnic groups within its borders. Of these,

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the major ones are the Nyanja, Lomwe, Tumbuka, Yao, Tonga, Sena, Lambya, Nkhonde, and Nyakyusa. Of these, the Nyanja were in the majority (see Kishindo, 1994; Matiki, 1996/1997, 1997; Mchombo, 1998a; Young, 1949). The Tumbuka, Tonga, Lambya, Nkhonde, and Nyakyusa are concentrated in the northern part of the country. In the north, the Tumbuka constitute, by far, the major group extending into the neighboring country of Zambia to the west. The Nyanja spread from the central plains to the southern parts of Malawi, spreading further into parts of Mozambique and Zambia. One subgroup of the Nyanja, concentrated in the central hinterland of the country, is called Chewa. The Yao predominate along the southern coastline of Lake Malawi, on both the Malawi and Mozambique sides, and spread into parts of southern Malawi. They are more numerous in Mozambique and spread to southern Tanzania. The Yao will be singled out here because, more than the others, the Yao is the ethnic group that converted to Islam much earlier under the influence of Arabs (see Bone, 2000, for a detailed discussion of Arab/Muslim interaction in Malawi). Before the British moved into Malawi, the Arabs had been active, engaging in ivory collection and the slave-trade. Sailing down Lake Malawi from Tanzania, they set up slave trading centers at Karonga near the northern extremity of Lake Malawi and at Nkhotakota on the central shore of the lake. In each of these locations, local collaborators served as agents of the Arabs. In Karonga, there was a series of conflicts between the British and the slave-trader Mlozi, which started in 1887 and continued at least until 1889; although they more likely continued until 1895 when Mlozi was finally captured in battle (see Kalinga, 1980). In Nkhotakota, a deal was struck between the British and the local slave-trade agent Jumbe to desist from further slave-trade. A treaty was signed between Jumbe and Sir Harry Johnston in 1889. The tree under which the treaty was brokered remains as an historical monument a few yards from the main center of Anglican missionary activity in Nkhotakota. The tree is near All Saints Church, the major Anglican church in Nkhotakota, St. Anne’s Hospital, and Linga Primary School, all run by the Anglican Diocese. One other outpost was Mangochi, located at the southern extremity of the lake. The latter was convenient, since it was in the heartland of the Yao, who were allies through their conversion to Islam. The slave-trading outposts of the Arabs, unsurprisingly, became the major locations where Islam flourished in Malawi. In Karonga, there have been pockets of Muslim settlements around the Boma (the local government offices) at Ngerenge lakeshore areas as well as near Kasoba. A small mosque was opened as recently as 2001 at Kasoba by President Muluzi, the president of Malawi from 1994-2004. The Muslims in Karonga were known as BaSwahili (the Swahili people) because of their use of Kiswahili (the Swahili

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language) and their links with Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Interestingly, many of these “Swahili people” were originally Yao from northern Mozambique and southern Malawi. 3 The group of Muslims who were located in Karonga identified linguistically and culturally with Muslims in Tanzania. They had minimal interaction with the majority of Malawian society. Instead, it was the Muslims from the central and the southern shores of Lake Malawi who became more visible in the country. For a long time, Muslims in Malawi were associated with either being of the Yao ethnic group (or with having origins in Mangochi and its environs) or being from the Nkhotakota area. British penetration of Nyasaland was spearheaded by missionary activity, specifically that of David Livingstone and, later, Robert Laws. Evangelization and the spreading of Christianity led to the establishment of a number of denominations in Central Africa, including those of the Church of Scotland (locally known as the Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP)) and the Church of England (the Anglican Church). Because of its active program of recruitment of young graduates in British universities for missionary work, the Anglican Church was popularly known as the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA). The UMCA was formed after Dr. David Livingstone delivered a famous speech at Cambridge appealing to the British to turn their attention to Africa. The UMCA was formed by people at Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, and Trinity College, Dublin, all of which were very much associated with High Anglicanism (see Mphande, 1996). Then there were the Catholic Church, the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, and other denominations. Some of these missionary impulses, especially within the Anglican Church, were initially drawn to abolishing the Arab slave trade. The task of deterring the Arab slave traders and abolishing slavery placed the Anglican missionaries squarely in the coastal locations where Arab activity was most intense. The Anglican Church established its strongholds in Nkhotakota and Mangochi, the very locations where the Arabs had two of their slave-trade outposts and where Islam had been flourishing. In order to monitor the Arab ships sailing down the lake with their cargo of slaves, the Anglican Church established its major cathedral on the island of Likoma in Lake Malawi, making it a convenient observation post. This led to the conversion of practically the whole island population to the Anglican religion, including some of the coastal villages on the Mozambican mainland across the lake from the island. Among the earliest converts were freed slaves who, 3

I am grateful to Felix Mnthali (p.c.) for drawing my attention to the existence of Islam in Karonga, and to Owen Kalinga for indicating that some of those Muslims who were referred to as BaSwahili (the Swahili people) were, in reality, of Yao ethnicity.

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consequently, fell under the patronage of the missionaries and adopted Christianity. For the generation of Malawians currently in mid- to old-age, being Anglican or Muslim amounted to a declaration of one’s (possible) origins. If one were Muslim or Anglican, one had to be from the coastal areas just mentioned. The rest of the country was converted to other brands of Christianity, primarily Catholicism and Presbyterianism (the Church of Scotland).

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ISLAM IN INDEPENDENT MALAWI In 1964, the colonial era in South Central Africa began to end. In July, 1964, Malawi, formerly British Nyasaland, became independent. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, ethnically a Chewa from the central region district of Kasungu, became the Prime Minister. Malawi attained Republic status in 1966, and Kamuzu Banda became President and later, after forcing the necessary constitutional amendment, was sworn in as President for Life. Kamuzu Banda was autocratic and brooked no opposition to his rule or to his political party, the Malawi Congress Party, which became the ruling and sole legal party in Malawi. Critics of his rule and policies, real or imagined, experienced the harshest conditions of political detention or worse (see Lwanda, 1993; Short, 1974). President Banda’s domestic policies, which saw him acquire land and wealth at the expense of the dispossessed masses, enforced “capitalism at its most rapacious,” as Tony Green, a British academic teaching at the University of Malawi in the early 1970s, commented. In foreign policy, Banda opted for open diplomatic relations with the countries that were at the time under sanctions imposed by the Organization of African Unity or the United Nations. These were South Africa, Rhodesia, then ruled by Ian Smith under a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain, and Portugal, which was involved in a tense struggle with Frelimo forces in Mozambique. The crafting of Malawi’s foreign policy was as much a function of global alliances, geo-political factors, and economic incentives as it was a function of the personal character of Banda. President Banda’s foreign policy of cordial relations with apartheid South Africa resulted from the latter’s willingness to provide initial capital for one of Banda’s cherished projects (see Hedges, 1989; McMaster, 1974; Short, 1974). The major thing that Banda did which shaped Malawi’s foreign policy was to move the administrative capital from Zomba, a small town located some forty miles northeast of Blantyre, the main commercial city, to the centrally located city of Lilongwe. The logic for this was simple: economic development in the country had been skewed because power was concentrated in the southern region, which

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hosted both the administrative capital and the commercial center and had the tea estates. The claim was that the country would develop more uniformly if the administrative headquarters were more centrally based. It would stimulate economic activity in the region, already the area for tobacco farming and corn growing. Naturally, it was supposed to be purely accidental that Lilongwe and the central region was also the heart of Chewaland and that Kamuzu Banda was a nationalistic Chewa. The project did not win the approval and support of the “traditional” donor countries (Great Britain, the United States, and other Western countries). They expressed reluctance to fund the project. Diversification of economic activity did not appear to justify the expenditure for shifting the administrative headquarters. In the ensuing impasse, South Africa, noting major political and strategic advantages, offered to provide Banda with the initial capital for the project. Malawi’s foreign policy immediately underwent a major shift to accommodate relations with the apartheid regime. Under the policy of “contact and dialogue,” Banda defended relations with South Africa using the argument that the way to change human relations in South Africa was not through economic boycott, but through discussion. It was a policy that isolated Malawi from the rest of the African countries, and for most Africans, Banda degenerated into “the greatest rogue that went unhung” (for more details, see McMaster, 1974). The criticism derived from the pressure on African countries to demonstrate unity against apartheid and for the liberation of countries then still under white rule. Malawi’s foreign policy of “contact and dialogue” with the white regime in South Africa as well as in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and of maintaining cordial relations with the Portuguese (then still controlling Mozambique, Angola, and Guinea Bissau) amounted to undermining the call for African unity and the liberation of those countries. Admittedly, Malawi was not alone in cultivating or retaining diplomatic relations with South Africa. Despite pretenses, the U.K. and the U.S. supported South Africa too—in the case of the U.S., right through the 1980s.4 However, Malawi is an African country and, as a member of the Organization of African Unity, it was expected to show solidarity with the other nations in their commitment to African liberation. In terms of global alliances, and its pretensions to non-alignment notwithstanding, Malawi had aligned itself with the Western bloc. Kamuzu Banda’s regime pursued a policy of anti-communism in its extreme version. This was reflected in the banning of anything communist, especially communist

4

I thank Noam Chomsky for pointing out this fact to me.

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literature, liberally defined as works either promoting communist ideology or any publication originating from the Eastern bloc irrespective of the subject matter. With regard to the Middle East, Malawi’s policy was very closely allied to the policies of Britain, the United States, etc. In brief, Malawi maintained a pro-Israel policy in the Arab-Israel conflict. This had implications for the spread of Islam in Malawi. With a pro-Israel policy and minimal contact with Arab nations, Arab influence and values remained rudimentary. The history of the Arab slave-trade in Central Africa contributed further to Banda’s political indifference to the Arab states. In one of his public speeches, commenting on his policy of contact and dialogue with the Afrikaner regime in apartheid South Africa, Banda noted that his critics were among those Africans who addressed Arabs as “brothers” despite the historical record of Arab atrocities towards Africans. He remarked that his father would squirm were he to see him being cordial to and embracing (Gamal) Nasser (then President of Egypt). Banda’s allusion to Arab enslavement of Africans was certainly a strand in his approach to the visibility of, or prominence accorded to, Islam in Malawi (see Short, 1974, pp. 297-304). Furthermore, Kamuzu Banda was a puritanical member of the Church of Scotland, Presbyterian denomination. He had studied medicine in Scotland, later opening a private surgery in Harrow, near London. He was such an Anglophile that on more than one occasion he remarked that he regarded Great Britain as his other home. It was no surprise, therefore, that, when Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands, Malawi vigorously attacked Argentina as the aggressor in the conflict. In brief, the value system that imbued Banda’s psyche, ranging from his attire, through diet and language (he only spoke English), to religion, was British (see Mphande, 1996). Given all that, Banda’s tolerance of Islam could be construed as no more than that, tolerance. There was no vested interest in promoting it. Although Kamuzu Banda allowed freedom of worship in Malawi, the churches, just like the media and educational institutions, had, with few exceptions, to toe the party line (see Schoffeleers, 1999). Only the Jehovah’s Witness sect, whose members had been physically harassed and driven out of the country because of their unwillingness to purchase membership in the Malawi Congress Party, exhibited open dissent. However, Malawi was, by general consensus, a Christian country. The spread of Islam may have also been hampered by the Muslims’ lack of investment in educational or health-care facilities. This could also have resulted from interference from the British missionaries and administration. Having effectively ended Arab activities in the region, allowing them to establish social services would negate the objectives of colonization and evangelization. It should

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be noted that the Churches exerted pressure on the British government to colonize Malawi on the pretext that Islam, in the guise of Muslim slave-traders, was a threat to “Christian civilization,” then being implanted in the region. The missionaries had established schools and hospitals, and Kamuzu Banda was among the many beneficiaries of those facilities. The establishment of educational and health facilities by the Christian missionaries placed an onus on Muslim families whose children, in order to secure an education, had to attend missionary-run schools (see Bone, 1985; Chakanza, 2000). For many of them, peer pressure got them to convert to Christianity. To avoid increased defections of the youth from Islam to Christianity, some Muslim families simply avoided sending their children to school, effectively reducing their literacy levels and their competitiveness in job markets requiring skilled labor. This effectively guaranteed employment opportunities and subsequent political prominence to Christians. Islam remained a minority religion confined primarily to coastal areas which had come into contact with Arab influence, or among the Yao in the southern part of the country but predominating in Mozambique.

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TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY AND THE RISE OF ISLAM Banda’s control over Malawi was so absolute, from the media through the judiciary, the military, and the legislature, to the executive branches of government, police and domestic affairs, and foreign affairs, etc., that it was practically impossible to imagine him dislodged from power. The expectation was that he would only relinquish power upon his demise, after which issues of transition would be dealt with. Under his autocratic rule, human rights violations practically became an aspect of ordinary daily life, a fact noted in various publications by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations devoted to monitoring human rights abuses. Africa Watch’s 1990 publication, Where Silence Rules: The Suppression of Dissent in Malawi, provided more details about the human rights violations of the Banda regime. Sam Mpasu (1995), a former political detainee, offers rare insight in lucid prose into the Kafkaesque politics of the Banda regime and the realities of life in Malawi’s notorious detention camps. This is in his non-fictional publication, Political Prisoner 3/75 of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The brutality of the Banda regime made the population yearn for a change to a more democratic system. The altered global politics in the early 1990s, which witnessed the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war along with

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other changes in the regional politics in southern Africa, heralded an era of transition to democratic practice (see Mchombo, 1998b; Zeleza, 1994, 1997). With regard to regional politics, Malawians witnessed a change in leadership in the neighboring country of Zambia. President Kenneth Kaunda, who had ruled that country for some 26 years, was finally defeated at the polls. The government of Frederick Chiluba took over as a result of democratic elections. This conveyed the lesson that seemingly entrenched incumbents could be unseated. The possibility of peaceful change achieved through a democratic process appeared less remote. Then there were changes in South Africa. The apartheid regime that had contributed to Banda’s security apparatus was about to be unseated by the African National Congress under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. If South Africa, with its military might and elaborate repressive internal security machinery designed to oppress the majority population and protect minority interests, could crumble in the face of an unabated onslaught of indomitable aspirations to equality and democratic values, Malawi could certainly achieve similar goals. These changes also had a more direct impact on the options available to Kamuzu Banda. The Chiluba administration in Zambia and the ANC in South Africa had no vested interests in the Banda regime. They had fought for democratic changes in their respective countries, and they were sympathetic to groups fostering democratic values in the region. Just as Banda’s status within the New World Order created by the end of the Cold War had been altered, Malawi’s position in the geopolitical situation was faced with overhaul. The opposition groups based outside Malawi found more support from these new democratic forces that provided impetus to challenge Banda’s rule. These external dynamics had the conspiracy effect of dismantling the dictatorship in Malawi. The regional politics derived extra effectiveness from an information revolution or the technological innovations in information transmission. Information technology facilitated the transmission of news and ideas without prior submission to the state machinery for censorship (see Lwanda, 1993, 1996; Mchombo, 1998b). Before political developments overtook Banda and eventually led to his ousting from office, Islam had begun to receive assistance. Beginning in the early 1980s, there was renewed interest from such countries as United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait to alter the image of Islam and promote Muslim youth in Malawi.5 Muslim youth organizations and activities began receiving 5

Circa 1982 the author, while a faculty member of the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College in Zomba, and as Head of the then Dept. of Chichewa & Linguistics (now renamed Dept. of African Languages & Linguistics), was once visited on campus by a Muslim from either Kuwait

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sponsorship, giving Islam visibility beyond the backwaters where it had survived. The 1980s witnessed a resurgence in construction of mosques in prominent locales that registered the presence of the religion. The visibility was intentional and disconcerting to the non-Muslims who began to see the country as overwhelmed by Islam.6 Banda’s receptiveness to increased Muslim presence was influenced by altered relations within the Middle East. Some Arab states, for instance Egypt under Anwar Sadat, had opened dialogue with Israel in the search for peace in the region. And, of course, there was the oil crisis of the 1970s, which, effectively, made it necessary to maintain relations with the oil-producing countries, mainly Arab, in order to sustain economic activity and reduce inflation. So, Islam began to venture into new territory. Even schools for Muslim students, referred to as madrasa, sprouted up in “highly visible places,” and Islamic Centers were established in many areas. Islam then received a major boost from subsequent political developments. Although for a long time the Church in Malawi had confined its activities to ministering to the spiritual needs of the people, it had also played a great role in meeting the educational and health needs of the population. In all this, the church had stayed clear of politics to the point of being viewed as an ally to the regime. However, the gross injustices prevailing in Malawi under the Banda regime could no longer be ignored as not meriting comment and redress. These included the disappearances of people in political disfavor; inequalities of access to economic resources, medical care, and education; and the curtailment of freedom of speech, of the press, and of academic inquiry. In January 1992, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi met in Lilongwe to review their relationship with the government. The end result was that “the bishops decided to act by writing a letter exposing unjust government policy in several areas of Malawian life.” (Cullen, 1994, p. 36). The letter, an 11-page pastoral document entitled “Living Our Faith,” spelled out the new course for the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church resolved to be more proactive in addressing the temporal problems of the people than had been the case previously. The pastoral letter detailed the ills of Malawian society, such as the increasing inequality between the rich and the poor, the spread of or United Arab Emirates. The visitor was involved in directing or promoting Muslim youth activities in Malawi. He paid the author a visit to review with him, and possibly to secure his assistance in, a proposed project of translating the Qur’an into Chichewa. The promised followup visit for a progress report on the project never materialized. Incidentally, there may now be a Chichewa version of the Qur’an, according to a recent press report in Malawi. 6 Andrew Tilimbe Kulemeka (p.c.) noted that in Lilongwe the minaret of a centrally-located mosque is equipped with speakers that are so loud that the muezzin’s call to prayer can neither be missed nor ignored. It is believed that this is deliberate, serving to underscore the presence of Islam in the country.

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corruption, flaws in educational systems, denial of basic freedoms, cutbacks in health care, etc. There were 16,000 copies of the letter printed in the three major languages of the country (10,000 in Chichewa, 5,000 in Chitumbuka, and 1,000 in English) and distributed to all parishes to be read during the Ash Wednesday celebration on March 4, 1992. The real impact of the pastoral letter lay in the use of the pulpit to provide scope for public comment on the economic and political problems in Malawi, done simultaneously nationwide. This was an aspect of freedom of speech that the government had previously completely curtailed. The public criticism of the government that ensued constituted the real significance of the pastoral letter and the government was never to recover from it. It should be noted that the Catholic Bishops’ Pastoral emerged out of many years of religious acquiescence in Banda’s policies. The acquiescence arose out of earlier clashes between church and state when the then Archbishop of Blantyre had helped Chester Katsonga and others form a Christian Liberation Party along the lines of the Christian Democratic Parties that arose in Europe after World War II (see Schoffeleers, 1999). The creation of such a party to challenge the supremacy of Banda’s Malawi Congress Party, and his eventual rise to power, so angered Kamuzu Banda that, in order to maintain cordial relations between the church and the new government, the Catholic Bishops pledged to distance themselves from politics. The 1992 Pastoral letter was something of an abrogation of that earlier pledge. It had a vigor borne out of a kind of confession and was symptomatic of a kind of contrition, and it galvanized all faiths. The effect of the pastoral letter was to force people to talk openly about it and thus about the things it had detailed. This conversation provided scope for unbridled attacks on the government and gave rise to the emergence of opposition pressure groups, which later became opposition political parties. The major opposition parties to emerge were the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) led by Chakufwa Chihana, a Tumbuka from the north, and the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Bakili Muluzi, a Yao from the south. The political activism that ensued, compounded by international pressure for democratization, a severely weakened economy due to, inter alia, drought and the effects of HIV/AIDS, forced President Banda to hold a referendum on the retention of one-party politics. The referendum was held in 1993 and, with 67% voting for multi-party politics, Banda was handed his first defeat at the polls. In May 1994, a general election was held, and Banda received his ultimate defeat when his party, the Malawi Congress Party, lost to the United Democratic Front. The election results were notable for their ethnic alignments. The Tumbuka ethnic group in the north overwhelmingly voted for the candidate from their part of the country and of their ethnic affiliation, Chakufwa Chihana. The Malawi

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Congress Party, led by Kamuzu Banda, a Chewa, had its best showing in the central region of the country, predominated by the Chewa ethnic group. The southern part of the country, more multiethnic, with a larger percentage of the population, threw their support behind the candidate from their region, Bakili Muluzi, and the United Democratic Front (see Chirwa, 1994/1995; Mchombo, 1998b; Posner, 1995). With the victory of the United Democratic Front, Bakili Muluzi, a Yao and a Muslim, became the second president of Malawi. The irony implicit in the Catholic Bishops effectively paving the way for a Muslim to attain the highest office in the land has to be tempered with the realization that political change and the emergence of democratic practice had been achieved, in part, through the actions of religious figures (see von Doepp, 2000). Religion has remained central to political consciousness in Malawi. Now that Islam, having made the ultimate transition from being a minority religion, slowly expanding with a little help from oil-rich sponsors, to the State House, is now identified with the Head of State, the recurring question among Malawians has been: “Is the genie out of the bottle?” In brief, can Islam be contained and be made to coexist with Christianity? Alternatively, does the change herald the eventual takeover of Malawi by Islam, with prospects, or the specter, of introduction of Shariah law, leading to the kind of unrest witnessed in other countries as was the case in parts of Nigeria?

RELIGION, POLITICS, ELECTIONS, AND BEYOND The charge that a Muslim president may be inclined to make Islam the dominant religion in the country has been recurrent, and President Muluzi has repeatedly dismissed it as unfounded and completely antithetical to his political program. That may be so, but relations between the two religions have manifested signs of strain. During the summer of 2002, a Malawi paper carried a rather disturbing headline on the front page. It referred to the Catholic Church requiring that teachers in Catholic schools be Christian. This was supposed to be in retaliation, or in response, to perceived discriminatory tendencies in Muslim schools where students and teachers of other faiths were not (regularly) admitted. The quest for young minds through educational programs has been compounded by a concerted effort to reach out to the general public through the airwaves. The Muslims established a radio station, Radio Islam, countering, or countered by, Radio Maria of the Catholics. Then, there is the issue of the foreign policy that has been pursued by President Muluzi. The policy has promoted relations with Arab states and other Islamic nations such as Malaysia, with

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corresponding reduction in relations with Western countries such as the U.K. and the USA—countries which are currently viewed as not very supportive of Muluzi. In 2002, when President Muammar Qaddafi of Libya visited Malawi on his way back from the Africa Union meeting in South Africa, it was widely “rumored” that part of his agenda was to ensure that Islam continues to maintain a stronghold in the country. Such rumors have also been fueled by the influx of “petro-dollars” into Malawi. Both Libya, whose leader is viewed as being on a crusade to spread Islam, and Kuwait have poured money into Malawi. There are a number of projects in the country that have been funded by the Kuwait Fund for International Development. Besides the involvement of the Arab nations, Muslims of Pakistani origins have also been very active in revitalizing Islam in the country. They have worked with Muslims in Malawi and South Africa (the Durban area being key) and with those from Arab countries. Through these countries, young Malawi Muslims have been trained in Islamic universities in the Sudan, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries.7 An effort to retain Islam in the State House was a relevant side issue to President Muluzi’s spirited attempts to get the Constitution amended in order to repeal the restriction on holding the presidency for only two terms, each of five years duration. The idea was to replace it with what was called an “open term.” This meant that a candidate could run for as many terms as s/he deemed fit. The open term bill did not garner the necessary votes in Parliament. It departed, however, only to be replaced by a modified version, at least terminologically, called the “Third Term Bill.” The modification was to have the Constitution amended to enable President Muluzi to run for a third term. That got withdrawn when it became evident that it was headed for defeat in Parliament (see Mchombo, 2002). Both the open term bill and third term bill were viewed as subterfuges for President Muluzi to remain in power indefinitely, effectively reverting to autocracy and dictatorship. The year 2004 was an election year in Malawi. After ten years of having a Muslim as Head of State and the United Democratic Front as the ruling party, the question is: What changes are imminent? For Islam, the issue is: Can it continue to hold in those higher positions of political power? Conversely, the Christians must wonder whether their numerical superiority can restore the political patronage that they enjoyed under President Banda. As noted by Felix Mnthali 7

Thanks to Owen Kalinga for this observation. Indeed, the Asian (primarily Indian) community in Malawi was, for a long time, the most visible Islamic community in the towns.

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(p.c.), the expectation is that there is minimal chance that “…the Muslims will hold on to their hegemony in the politics of Malawi. They cannot be more than 30% of the population. The Christians won’t let them get away with whatever they wish.” Indeed, Christian Churches have been active facilitators in current efforts to create a credible opposition coalition to defeat the UDF at the next elections. The Christian leaders formed an organization called the Christian Churches Committee on the Electoral Process (CCCEP).8 Although some of the churches belong to the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), which includes Muslims, the CCCEP are doing this as individuals and their churches are “not involved.” By maintaining this separation, the PAC cannot be associated with any issues relating to the other organization. Further, given that the PAC also has Muslim members, the CCCEP can advance a Christian agenda without implying the connivance or complicity of the Muslim community. Nevertheless, in light of the sponsorship available and the hearts and minds willing to pursue the goal, one wonders whether Mnthali’s comment might not reduce to wishful thinking. Note that there is even a new organization called the League of Islamic Graduates of Malawi. Bakili Muluzi has been a keen supporter of this organization, with which he holds annual meetings (Lwanda, p.c.). Imran Shareef, a university lecturer based at Chancellor College, the main liberal college in the University of Malawi, serves as the Secretary General of the organization. That religion continued to be relevant to politics in Malawi was again made manifest toward the end of Muluzi’s second term. As the political parties prepared for the coming general elections, President Muluzi, having conceded that aspirations to a further term must be abandoned, and lacking the constitutional amendment that would legitimize the effort, decided to select the presidential candidates for his party. Ignoring here the procedural irregularities that accompanied this idiosyncratic selection process in which, apparently, participation by the UDF executive, let alone of the rank and file, was curtailed, President Muluzi selected Bingu wa Mutharika to be the Presidential candidate for UDF, with Cassim Chilumpha as his running mate. Bingu wa Mutharika was one of the intellectuals who joined the UDF at its inception. He had been with Comesa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) and remained there after standing against Muluzi at the UDF Convention in 1993 but failing to win the nomination. This act caused resentment in the UDF ranks, as did his ambition to stand for the presidency in 1999. Later, he was removed from Comesa, but he then formed his own party, the United Party, although he was eventually 8

Thanks to George Nnensa for this point. The Christians’ effort to facilitate the formation of a coalition that could challenge the United Democratic Front (UDF) is not being done through the Public Affairs committee. This remains a nonpartisan body and wishes to protect that image.

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persuaded to re-join the ruling party, which he publicly did. He was rewarded for this change of heart by being appointed to the position of Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and thereby became automatically a member of Muluzi’s economic circle (Lwanda, p.c.). Then followed his accelerated rise to prominence, facilitated by President Muluzi. While strict adherence to democratic practice may have been given short shrift in the selection of candidates, and the general public has consigned that to politics internal to the UDF party, what could not be overlooked is the religious affiliations of the appointed candidates. Bingu wa Mutharika is from the southern part of the country and is a Catholic. Apparently, he was selected to attract or appease the Catholic or Christian voters and the rest of the population in this most populous region of the country. Cassim Chilumpha is from Nkhotakota in the center and is a Muslim. The constitution of the UDF party was also amended—the amendment eventually ratified at the UDF General Convention. The amended constitution provides for President Muluzi to become the Party Chairman when he leaves the office of President. The innovation is that, should the UDF win the elections, the President and the Vice-President will be under the Party chairman. Islam may thus continue to maintain its presence in the highest echelons of the UDF Party. For Christians who see tentacles of Islam strengthening their grip on the country’s leadership, the UDF’s slate of candidates does not provide much comfort. It is noted that, given the relatively advanced age of Bingu wa Mutharika and his perceived political ineptness, his term of office, were he to be elected, might have to be completed by the Vice President, the Muslim. Indeed, some church leaders speculate that Bingu wa Mutharika would have no real power, which would instead be wielded by the Muslim Chilumpha. Add to that the de facto rule by the former President from the vantage point of Chairman of the Party, and Islam will or could remain the religion of Malawi’s leadership. It is against this background that George W. Bush’s crusade to engage in war on terror, fighting Islamic fundamentalism, conducting war in Iraq, routing alQaeda, has to be evaluated. It is perceived as a concerted attempt to reverse the gains made by Islam, to subject the oil resources of the Gulf region to American control, and to subjugate Islamic civilization to Western or Christian values. In addition, there is a certain idealism that sees Islam as the underdog standing up to both America, the sole remaining super-power, and Britain, its staunchest ally. Add to that the perennial question of Palestine which invites sympathy from nonMuslims and Muslims alike, and the Muslim protests in Malawi fit into the larger picture of global politics. Events in countries such as the Sudan, where a civil war has raged for over twenty years, a war that has pitted the Muslim and Arab north against a Christian

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and African south, provides testimony of the consequences of confrontation between the two religions. In this case, the situation is further compounded, albeit subtly, by racial considerations. The civil war broke out when the Muslim (and Arab) north tried to impose its laws on the predominantly Christian (and African) south. This is Shariah law, whose origins date back to the origins of Islam. As noted in one place:

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Muslim jurisprudence is ordered by an imposing set of canonical texts, sometimes going as far back as the origins of Islam which constitute the sunna, the “trodden path” (i.e., by the Prophet). Religious law, called the shari’â, flows directly from it and is wholly inspired by it, sometimes in complicated detail. It is still imposed by governments of several theocracies, such as the Sudan. (Chebel, 2003, p. 11)

Further, there is the case of Uganda, a country that for a long time resisted promoting Kiswahili as a lingua franca, despite the reality of its linguistic ubiquity. This resistance derived from the perceived linkage between Kiswahili and Islamic culture and religion. For a country where, “particularly in Buganda, the Church has enjoyed an enviable esteem” (Whiteley, 1969, p. 69), the spread of Kiswahili was viewed as tantamount to submission to Islam. In fact, as noted further by Whiteley, “the position of Swahili in this land of Christians, was jeopardized from the outset by its association with Islam, a rival and ‘inferior’ religion, about whose alleged vices apprehensive Christians and many denominations were prepared to unite.” In brief, a version of a religious cold war seems to be underway in countries such as Malawi with the usual alignment of forces, allies, etc. The issue of the apprehension of the alleged al-Qaeda members was immediately cast in “Islamversus-Christianity” terms. As noted in the local newspaper, The Daily Times of June 30, 2003, for the Muslims in Mangochi, “the whole issue was between Christians and their [the Muslims] faith” (p .3).

BACK TO THE MUSLIMS’ PROTESTS IN MALAWI An issue that was left pending relates to why the Muslims vandalized the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) offices in Blantyre, damaging some of the computers, and why they torched local offices of the UDF Party in Mangochi. The prevailing view was that the Muslims were expressing anger at the President for his failure to protect them, and also at MAM’s failure to press President Muluzi to

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take action. Instead, the President had allowed himself to be dictated to by the biggest enemy of Islam and friend of Israel, America. While this seems to provide a unified explanation for the attacks on installations not identified with either American influence or Christianity, the destruction of computers in MAM offices inevitably gave rise to alternative accounts. Speculation was that there might have been information relating to alQaeda activities stored in the computers of MAM. Destruction of the computers can be seen thus as a ploy to eliminate possible corroborative evidence. Regardless of the ranking of these speculations on a veracity scale, the message is explicit. A Muslim president should stand up for his religion, protecting it against the forces bent on its destruction, subjugation, or, worse, annihilation. If Islam remains the religion of the ruling elite, expectation will be that it is a duty that the elite must discharge or a responsibility that they have to bear. There is, however, one significant observation about Islam in Malawi that has been made by Lwanda. He notes that in Malawi the relationship between the ruling Muslim elite and some orthodox Muslims has not been straightforward. A Muslim, Sheikh Bughdad, was allegedly beaten to death by ruling party youth, unfashionably referred to as Young Democrats, in 2002. He had been openly critical of the way “Muluzi was using the name of Islam for his own corrupt objectives.” Some orthodox Muslims did not see Muluzi’s regime as torch-bearers of true Islam. Some political commentators suggest that, like Banda, who used culture, Muluzi has used Islam as a legitimating and leveraging tool (see Lwanda, 2006). Still, the enemy of Islam, personified by George W. Bush and Tony Blair, is viewed as plundering the resources of the Arab world, in part for personal aggrandizement, enrichment, and partly as a means of dealing with domestic problems. It is noted by Power (2003) that “as even a democracy like the United States has shown, waging war can benefit a leader in several ways: it can rally citizens around the flag, it can distract them from bleak economic times, and it can enrich a country’s elites” (p. 96). Critics of the current U.S. war in, and occupation of, Iraq echo the views expressed above. Adamovsky (2004), writing for ZNet, makes the following poignant claim: The hidden link between capitalism, social unrest, state violence, and corruption is becoming more and more exposed all over the world. Iraqis do not need to be explained this: George W. Bush is not only killing them on a daily basis, but also privatizing their economy in record time, while giving most contracts to his family’s and friends’ companies. (p. 1)

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So, the Muslim response emanated from deep-rooted sentiments. Naturally, the destruction of property and the endangerment of lives were swiftly condemned by both the government and the local press. The Nation newspaper of 30 June, 2003, in an editorial, pointed out that

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the Muslims have also attacked people of other faiths like the Catholics in Mangochi. We have reason to believe that fuelling inter religious feuds will only bring lack of security among the many pious people in the country. Christians and Muslims always preach love and tolerance. It is a shame for such institution to start violence…” (Vol. 10, No. 121, p. 2)

This may have been enough of an indictment of Islamic extremism. However, the real boon to the Christian community was in how they could counterpoise their reaction to adversity. Thus, while Muslims could degenerate into acts of intolerance, the Christians responded by taking the high ground of tolerance. They did not retaliate by attacking Muslim establishments. Instead, their reserve showed the content of their religion and their adherence to the tenets of their preaching, as noted in the editorial of The Nation. Clearly, this was as much of a demonstration of the Christians’ respect for the laws proscribing destruction of property as it was an aspect of sheer propaganda. The response may have also been motivated by other considerations. Speculation raged that the Christians’ response had been calculated to deprive the ruling party of the pretext for unwarranted action. It was believed by many, especially in the Christian community, that the Islamic riots could have been instigated by the UDF leadership itself in the hope that the Christians would react violently too, in retaliation. That would have provided the ruling party, the UDF, with an opportunity to declare a state of emergency. Such a declaration might have provided the pretext for the postponement of the general elections, giving the ruling party more time to reorganize itself and purge opponents of the “third term.” The Christians’ reserve, whether construed as respect for the laws proscribing destruction of property and endangerment of life, or as propaganda or fear of adverse repercussions, resulted in (probably unwitting) avoidance of playing into the hands of UDF, assuming that the belief had plausible grounds. The significance of this was to become clearer a little later. At the consecration of a Catholic Bishop, Bishop Peter Musikuwa of Chikwawa, a month later, President Muluzi openly threatened that he would deal with any religious unrest, without referring directly to the Mangochi incident. The pragmatics of this pronouncement was not lost on the Christian community. It should be noted that years later, as far as is publicly known, no action was taken by the President to

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compensate the churches for their losses. Regardless of how the events of June 2003 and the responses to them are construed, it is a reality that, in Malawi, religion and politics have come into a symbiotic relationship, the full ramifications of which have yet to be determined. In closing, it should be noted that the individuals who had been apprehended and were the ostensible cause for the protests were, allegedly, set free in Sudan a month later. Curiously, there are conflicting reports about their release. It was reported in The Chronicle that they had not been interrogated by American security personnel nor had they come into contact with any. Yet, coincidentally, there was an article in The Daily Times entitled “AL-QAEDA SAGA ...Govt. not aware of suspect’s release ... US says release confirmed in media.” In the article, it was claimed that the League of Islamic Graduates of Malawi (see above) wrote to the government inquiring into the fate of the five al-Qaeda suspects and demanding the return of their property. The Ministry of Home Affairs responded with the claim that there was no communication from the U.S. government of any progress. The U.S. government, on the other hand, said that the fate of the five suspects had been widely publicized in the local and international media, hence that there was no need to advise the Malawi government. The events may appear muddled from the standpoint of the Malawi press, and understandably so, but Roth (2004) gives a clearer account. Criticizing the United States government for its adoption of “war rules” instead of following “law-enforcement rules” in its dealings with foreign governments on issues of suspected terrorists, he points out that the administration followed a similar pattern in June 2003, when five alQaeda suspects were detained in Malawi. Malawi’s high court ordered local authorities to follow the law and either charge or release the five men, all of whom were foreigners. Ignoring local law, the Bush administration … insisted that the men be handed over to U.S. security forces instead. The five were spirited out of the country to an undisclosed location—not for trial, but for interrogation. The move sparked riots in Malawi. The men were released a month later in Sudan, after questioning by Americans failed to turn up any incriminating evidence. (p. 5)

Thus, the situation remained ominous and far from reassuring, given the potential for reprisals. In the meantime, Christian Churches, as noted above, were at the forefront of a movement that had almost achieved an anti-UDF (in effect an anti-Muslim) coalition of opposition parties designed to remove the UDF and its Muslim allies from power in the coming elections. Whether or not the egos of the

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opposition leaders would permit this, the message is clear: the divide between Christians and Muslims continues to grow.

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REFERENCES Adamovsky, E. (2004, January 13). On Iraq’s future: Unstable democracy, violence and corruption. ZNet Commentary. Africa Watch Report. (1990). Where silence rules. The suppression of dissent in Malawi. New York: Human Rights Watch. Bone, D. S. (1985). The Muslim minority in Malawi and Western education. Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2, 412-419. Bone, D. S. (Ed.). (2000). Malawi’s Muslims: Historical perspectives. Zomba, Malawi: Kachere. Chakanza, J. C. (Ed.). (2000). Islam Week in Malawi. Blantyre, Malawi: Christian Literature Association in Malawi. Chebel, M. (2003). Symbols of Islam. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, Inc. Chirwa, C. (1994/1995, December-January). Regionalism, ethnicity and the national question in Malawi. Sapem, 59-62. Chirwa, W. J. (Chijere), & Kanyongolo, E. (Eds.). (2000). The state of democracy in Malawi. Draft Report. University of Malawi Centre for Social Research. Cullen, T. (1994). Malawi: A turning point. Edinburgh-Cambridge-Durham: The Pentland Press. Hedges, D. (1989). Notes on Malawi-Mozambique relations, 1961-1987. Journal of Southern African Studies, 15(4), 617-644. Kalinga, O. (1980). Karonga War: commercial rivalry and politics of survival. Journal of African History, 21(2), 209-218. Kishindo, P. J. (1994.) The impact of a national language on minority languages: The case of Malawi. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 12(2), 127150. Lyman, P. N., & and Morrison, J. S. (2004, January-February.) The terrorist threat in Africa. Foreign Affairs, 75-86. Lwanda, J. L. (1993). Kamuzu Banda of Malawi. Glasgow: Dudu Nsomba Publications. Lwanda, J. L. (1996.) Promises, power politics and poverty: The democratic transition in Malawi 1961-1999. Glasgow: Dudu Nsomba Publications. Lwanda, John L. (2006). Kwacha: The violence of money in Malawi’s politics, 1954-2004. Journal of Southern African Studies, 32(3), 525-44.

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McMaster, C. (1974). Malawi: Foreign policy and development. London: Julian Friedman. Matiki, A. (1996/1997). Language shift and maintenance: Social determinants of linguistic change among the Lomwe people. Journal of Humanities, 10/11, 125. Matiki, A. J. (1997). The politics of language in Malawi: A preliminary investigation. In R. K. Herbert (Ed.), African linguistics at the crossroads: Papers from Kwaluseni (pp. 521-540). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. Mchombo, S. A. (1996). The media in emergent democracies in Southern Africa. Marble (online version of Z Magazine) Mchombo, S. A. (1997). The fole of the media in fostering democracy in Southern Africa. The Journal of African Policy Studies, 3(2 and 3), 1-22. Mchombo, S. A. (1998a). National identity, democracy and the politics of language in Malawi and Tanzania. The Journal of African Policy Studies, 4(1), 33-46. Mchombo, S. A. (1998b). Democratization in Malawi: Its roots and prospects. In J.- G. Gros (Ed.), Democratization in late twentieth-century Africa. Coping with uncertainty (pp. 21-40). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Mchombo, S. A. (2000, November 21). Free enterprise, privatization, corruption, all that. ZNet commentary. Mchombo, S. A. (2002, November 25). Malawi: ppen term, third term, and crisis of democracy. ZNet Commentary. Mpasu, S. (1995). Political prisoner 3/75 of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Africa Publishing Group. Mphande, L. (1996). Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda and the Malawi Writers Group: the (un)making of a cultural tradition. Research in African Literatures, 27, 80-101. Posner, D. N. (1995). Malawi’s new dawn. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 133-145. Power, S. (2003, December). How to kill a country. Turning a breadbasket into a basket case in ten easy steps. The Robert Mugabe way. The Atlantic Monthly, 86-100 Roth, Kenneth. (2004). The law of war in the war on terror. Washington’s abuse of “enemy combatants.” Foreign Affairs, 2-7. Schoffeleers, M. (1999). In search of truth and justice: Confrontations between church and state in Malawi 1960-1994. Kachere Book No. 8. Blantyre, Malawi: Kachere, Christian Literature Association in Malawi. Short, P. (1974). Banda. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

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von Doepp, P. (1998). The Kingdom beyond Zasintha: Churches and political life in Malawi’s post-authoritarian era. In K. Phiri & K. Ross (Eds.), Democratization in Malawi: A stocktaking (pp. 102-127). Blantyre, Malawi: Kachere, Christian Literature Association in Malawi. Young, C. (1949). [Review of the book A practical approach to Chinyanja with English-Nyanja vocabulary by T.D. Thomson (Salisbury, 1947)]. Africa, 19, 253-25. Ungar, S. J. (1986). Africa. The people and the politics of an emergent continent. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc. Whiteley, W. (1969). Swahili. The rise of a national language. London: Methuen and Co. Zeleza, P. T. (1994). The democratic transition in Africa and the anglophone writer. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 28(3), 472-497. Zeleza, P. T. (1997). Manufacturing African studies and crises. Dakar, Senegal: CODESRIA.

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In: Issues in Political Discourse Analysis Editors: S. G. Obeng and B.A.S. Hartford

ISBN: 978-1-60456-391-7 © 2008 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 2

THE SEARCH FOR AN ALTERNATIVE HEGEMONY: TRADITION AS THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN AFRICAN IDENTITY IN SONG OF LAWINO AND SONG OF OCOL BY OKOT P’BITEK

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Kuria Githiora Department of English Michigan State University, MI USA

ABSTRACT Africa’s search for an alternative hegemony to replace late western European, late capitalist structures and values continues to haunt and cause anxiety in the continent in the face of the onslaught of an aggressive, marginalizing and dominant globalization. This paper addresses this anxiety, which is evident right from the late 1950s and early 1960s era during the dawn of African independence. This paper demonstrates this in the relationship between westernized and traditional Africans in Okot p’Bitek’s Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol. In the songs, Lawino is the voice of Acoli traditions, and her husband Ocol is the westernized African. The tensions and anxieties between the two cultural sensibilities continue to haunt Africans more than 40 years after most sub-Saharan African countries gained independence from European colonial powers.

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Kuria Githiora Africa’s search for this alternative hegemony remains elusive largely because the colonial state in Africa upon which the modern African state is modeled had numerous contradictions which also contributed to the historical roots of the lack of freedom based on appropriate cultural, literary, social, and political discourses. Africa, therefore, needs a more meaningful and beneficial hegemony based on its varied and rich intercultural discourses with the rest of the global community. This new hegemony, while rich with other global influences, must also be authentically African in its literary, cultural, social, and political perspectives. It is only through this alternative hegemony that Africa will be able to both disabuse and demystify her negative image and the myth of being “a dark continent.”

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INTRODUCTION According to Chinweizu et al. (1980, p. 195), Okot p’Bitek’s poem Song of Lawino (1966) is “possibly the best rounded single work of African poetry in English today.” They also suggest that Okot’s songs, Song of Lawino, Song of Ocol, and Song of Prisoner, deal illuminatingly and well with matters of central importance for contemporary Africa. According to these writers, these songs accomplish this task by “using authentic African imagery, proverbs, laments, invocations and curses, thereby successfully rooting the modern in the traditional” (p. 195). Chinweizu et al. also argue in the past there has been the “hegemonic attempt to annex African literature for European literatures especially when such works are written in non-African languages” (p. 11). On the other hand, Okot p’Bitek, who was born in Northern Uganda in 1931 and who died in 1982, is best known as “a novelist, sociologist, philosopher, theologian, footballer, dancer” and “is internationally recognized as one of Africa’s finest poets.” In addition, “Okot articulates African cultural ways of life, such as dancing, singing, story-telling, proverbs, and myths” (Wanambisi 1984, p. 3). Ngúgì wa Thiong’o (1972, p. 75) also notes in his work, Home coming, that “Song of Lawino is the one poem that has mapped out new areas and a new direction in East African poetry.” He argues that it belongs to the soil, as it is authentically East African in its tone and in its appeal. This, he adds, can be seen in its reception, as it is read everywhere, arousing heated debates. Wa Thiong’o also notes that some critics have even attempted to psychoanalyze the creator of Lawino and that it is the first time that a book of modern poetry has received such popular widespread acclaim. According to wa Thiong’o, the effect on the young poet has been no less stunning, and many want to write like Okot p’Bitek.

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This paper selects Okot p’Bitek’s songs: Song of Lawino (1966) and the response in Song of Ocol (1967) to argue that the songs, which were originally written in Acoli, offer the possibility for the emergence of an new and alternative hegemony for Africa because they are able to use various alternative cultural, literary, and political discourses effectively to resist a negative post-colonialist and late western capitalist hegemony. The two songs partially signify and represent the origin of a problematic modern African identity in both African traditions and westernization, often limited to colonialism. The paper, however, views the two songs as the rooting of modern African identity in African traditions. This is because Lawino, the abandoned African woman protagonist, represents the African tradition and is the custodian of Acoli oral tradition and community. On the other hand, her western-educated husband, Ocol, represents western materialism and individualism. The present work analyses Okot’s two songs by using Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) often contradictory critique of a western based nominalization model and analysis on hegemony where they argue that, in politics, individual subjectivity is discursive and historically fixed and that such subjectivity and the social must be performed and ought not to be rooted in one position. The paper disagrees with them because they both over-essentialize and dismiss ‘Third World’ countries’ experiences, which they claim make it impossible for ‘Third World’ people to recreate themselves as multiplied constituted subjects. The paper also uses Mahmood Mamdani’s (1996) argument that, despite its decentralized despotism, which thrived on “divide and rule” tactics in Africa with opposing roles of “citizens” and “subjects,” colonialism in Africa was not total and unmediated. The paper also demonstrates that, through various cultural, literary, social, and political discourses, there exists constantly emerging and multiple subjectivities in Africa as seen in Okot’s two songs.

HEGEMONY Laclau and Mouffe (2001) argue that classical Marxism is no longer able to achieve Social Democracy based on its fixed perception of subjectivity. They suggest a new hegemony is necessary today, given the need to challenge a pervasive late capitalism and that, through undue dominance, the latter has effectively eliminated antagonism from the political equation, making it necessary to restore such antagonism in achieving an alternative hegemony. For them, the seizure of hegemony in the 1917 Russian revolution by the workers and not the bourgeoisie is an anomaly in the nominalization process of hegemony. In theory,

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for Laclau and Mouffe, articulating the idea of hegemony by the classes involved is important because, the concept of hegemony, of the new logic, of the social implicit within it, and of the ‘epistemological obstacles’ which, from Lenin to Gramsci, prevented a comprehension of its radical political and theoretical potential. It is only when the open, unsutured character of the social is fully accepted, when the essentialism of the totality and of the elements is rejected, that this potential becomes clearly visible and ‘hegemony’ can come to constitute a fundamental tool for political analysis of the left. (pp. 192-193) For the two theorists, linguistic articulation is the only avenue left in writing resistance to a dominant late capitalism. Also, in order to realize an alternative hegemony, the left needs to acknowledge that subjectivity and social class expressions occur in a discursive space. This logic by Laclau and Mouffe is an interesting one because, first of all, it is based on a model that conceptualizes hegemony and modernism along a linear and fixed view of subjectivity. In contradicting their work, they argue that subjectivity cannot be thought of in opposing terms such as discursive versus non-discursive and thereby in terms of language and other forms of communication such as song, dance, myths, storytelling, and mime available in many societies. Laclau and Mouffe end up dividing the world into totalized spaces, which effectively excludes the ‘Third World’ from participating in a unified front with others opposed to the negative effects of late global capitalism. This is because they claim that it is impossible for multiple subjectivities to emerge in the ‘Third World.’ For the two theorists, the ‘Third World’ is not contemporary enough, because “in a colonized country, the presence of the dominant power is every day made evident through a variety of contents: differences of dress, of language, of skin colour, of customs” (p. 127). Ultimately Laclau and Mouffe fail to argue in favor of the emergence of multiple subjectivities in the way they conceptualize the ‘Third World.’ Mahmood Mamdani (1996), on the other hand, argues that, despite dividing white colonial settlers and Africans into ‘citizens’ and ‘subjects’ respectively, colonialism in Africa was not total and unmediated. For Mamdani, the lack of Social Democracy in the newly independent African states can be traced back to the nature of colonialism. Additionally Mamdani suggests that present-day Africa was crafted during colonialism, which took the form of either unmediated or centralized administration or as direct rule. This occurred during the Scramble for Africa in the 19th century, following the Berlin Conference in 1884, which partitioned Africa amongst European powers at the time. This also meant governing instructions came from European metropolises. The other method was through indirect rule, which was the bifurcated and decentralized despotism using

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Chiefs and Local Native Councils. This two-pronged approach to governing colonial Africa was deemed to be effective by the few settlers over a large African majority. Mamdani argues that despotism as a concept and method was another name for apartheid, which he “considers not to be a uniquely South African experience” (p. 8). He also argues that this was the “generic form of the colonial state in Africa,” which was “institutional segregation” as Southern Africa’s Prime Minister General Jan Smuts referred to Apartheid, while the British termed this “indirect rule and the French as association” (p. 8). He adds that indirect rule was administered through Native African Authorities using local customary or tribal laws that suited the colonial administration. Often, according to Mamdani, these customary laws were those that fitted into the colonial matrix of the “monarchical, authoritarian, and patriarchal notion of the customary” (p. 22). For Mamdani, the colonial state in Africa had numerous contradictions. He argues such contradictions contributed to “the historical roots of unfreedom in the African experience” (p. 40). Mamdani also suggests that colonialism thrived on mixing and matching existing tribal chieftaincies based on kinship with those appointed for colonial administration. He concludes that divide and conquer tactics by colonial powers therefore served to neuter such pre-colonial authority by freeing such native authority from “traditional restraint” (p. 40). Consequently Africans were pitted against one another in this divide and rule/conquer strategy. Mamdani also suggests that the European form of decentralized despotism also encouraged the emergence of localized Native Authorities equipped with colonial arms of authority that gave the façade of tribal protection and blessings. Ultimately, according to Mamdani, most of sub-Saharan Africa gained independence with this administrative framework in place. It also meant that postcolonial African leaders began administering their newly independent nations with this handicap in place. This administrative set-up contained a divisive colonial history, which was designed not to serve local African interests, but existing and future interests of western European, late capitalist hegemony. According to Mamdani, this European colonial set-up helped mold Africans as law-abiding colonials through the creation of “a dependent but autonomous system of rule, one which combined accountability to superiors with a flexible response to the subject population, a capacity to implement central directives with one to absorb local shocks” (p. 60). Ultimately, Mamdani notes that this inherited practice survived into the post-colony and was followed, for example, “in the Uganda of Amin and Obote II,” where “it was customary for chiefs to hire out tax defaulters as labor gangs to commercial farmers and pocket their payment as personal gain” (p. 57).

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SONG OF LAWINO

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In Song of Lawino, the abandoned Acoli traditional wife Lawino complains that her husband, the western-educated Ocol, has a bitter tongue, which leads him to despise her and to treat her spitefully. Clearly, the power structures are divided between the educated elite ‘subject’ who imagines he is a ‘citizen’ alongside white settlers and the uneducated ‘subject.’ Lawino’s complaints range from her husband’s bitter tongue to complaints about her competitor, Clementine, the educated and modern woman he is dating, and to complaints about her husband wanting to observe the time during which to breastfeed the baby and the fact that her husband reads too many books, making his house a dark forest of books. At the very beginning of the song, she laments that her husband says that she inherited the stupidity of my aunt; Son of Chief, Now you compare me With the rubbish in the rubbish pit, You say you no longer want me Because I am like the things left behind In the deserted homestead You insult me You laugh at me You say I do not know the letter A Because I have not been to school And I have not been baptized/ You compare me with a little dog A puppy. (13-14)

Ocol is the ‘native authority’ on both Acoli traditions and westernization. Coupled with his despotic self-righteousneous, he takes the side of western hegemony in downgrading his Acoli traditions. He is a member of the modern western-educated elite, and he downgrades his traditional and unsophisticated fellow Africans, including his own wife. But we also notice in Ocol’s responses that Lawino manages to resist his arrogance and dominance by articulating her anxieties and by skillful reasoning, performativity, language, and storytelling and knowledge of her Acoli traditions. Ultimately, Lawino is continuously able to negotiate the re-creating of her own modern African subjectivity given the exposure she gets from Ocol and the often negative western images of the preachers, the nuns, and the catechism teacher in her village.

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So, instead of sitting back and letting Ocol dominate her totally, she refuses to admire all things from the West and resorts to appreciating herself as well as her traditional ways. This is an important lesson for the making of modern Africa. Lawino then proceeds to show us how Ocol, her husband, is part of colonial despotism used to rule colonial Africa when she tells her husband: Listen Ocol, you are the son of a Chief, Leave foolish behaviour to little children, It is not right that you should be laughed at in a song! Songs about you should be songs of praise! Treating me like a salt-less ash. (p. 14)

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Then, as a way of showing how little Ocol cares about his Acoli traditions, Lawino laments that he abuses her together with her parents and that he says terrible things about her mother. She claims, “he abuses her in English and he is so arrogant” (p. 15). She complains that he tells cruel jokes and he laughs at her. He calls her primitive because she cannot play the guitar. He also refers to her eyes as dead because she cannot read while her ears are blocked and she cannot hear a single foreign word. To add to all these insults, he claims she cannot count coins. But when it comes to describing Ocol’s bitter tongue, Lawino likens it to the …roots of the lyonno lily It is hot like the penis of the bee, Like the sting of the kalang! Ocol’s tongue is fierce like the arrow of the scorpion, Deadly like the spear of the buffalo-hornet. It is ferocious Like the poison of a barren woman And corrosive like the juice of the gourd. (p. 16)

The use of the phallus symbol in the penis of a bee and that of a barren woman appear to be useful symbols to Okot. This is because the bee’s sexual potency gives honey, but it stings as well. It also means that Ocol’s tongue, while saying progressive things, is equally poisonous. This comparison to a barren woman renders the potency of his tongue ineffective and unproductive. Words, in this case, are useful signifiers when used carefully but counter-productive when carelessly applied. So, while Lawino is obviously offended by her husband’s insults and attitude, she pities his loose tongue and his uncritical embracing of

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foreign ways, which have made him careless and offensive in spite of his age and (mis)education. It appears that, in so far as Lawino is concerned, Ocol’s character and identity hang in the balance, and she laments that, for example, time for her husband has become his master. It has become her husband’s husband. He runs from place to place undignified like a small boy. To make it worse, he hates visitors—a very non-African thing to do, as visitors are considered blessings. When visitors arrive, her husband’s face darkens and he never asks them i;, and, as for his greeting, he asks them, “what can I do for you?” (p. 95). According to Lawino, her husband is also materialist and thinks that “time is money” (p. 92). When it comes to children, Ocol throws things at the child and says he does not want to hear noises and that children’s cries and coughs disturbs him. To Lawino, this is scandalous behavior because children are considered blessings, for a “homestead where children’s excreta is not scattered all over the swept compound and around the compound” (p. 94) is not a happy homestead. As seen in the comparison with a bee’s penis and sting, sexual imagery is important in The Song of Lawino. It possibly reflects the anxiety caused by the loss of a virile tradition in the face of a seemingly sterile modernity. To Lawino, birth control through the natural rhythm method spoke of responsibility by both man and woman. She laments that turning your back to your husband is a serious taboo but that, when the baby is still a toothless froth, when you see the moon, you are supposed to turn your back to your husband. If you do resist your husband, “your child becomes sickly and thin” (p. 100). She also resents the west through the teacher, who is ugly, in her view, and shameless. He calls her stupid for refusing his advances for which he wanted to pay for with money. He is aged and perhaps has syphilis. To her, this representative of modernization is corrupt, diseased, and decadent. Additionally, Lawino laments that the teachers of the Evening Speakers’ class hate questions. If you go to the Padré, you provoke a fight. If you then took the road and go to the Nun, she’s fierce like a wounded buffalo girl. She screams as if someone has stabbed her at the death spot. As for black teachers, they’re angry and they tell people that asking too many questions befits only Martin Luther and also that, for the stupid Protestants, asking a lot of silly questions cannot be tolerated. Finally, the Padré quarrels, and when he does, his “goatee beard shakes furiously” (p. 136). According to Lawino, the Padré and the Nun are angry at something. They are not married as most normal Acoli men and women of marriageable age are supposed to, and to her, their frustrations must have something to do with this.

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Okot frowns and ridicules the celibate life led by these men of God who nonetheless lust for the young girls:

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The teacher, still drunk He too is coming To hunt for girls At the ‘get-stuck’ dance! He joined the line of youths But they pushed him away! He danced at the edge Singing properly, His large owl-head Moving this way And that way To the rhythm of the drums. Shameless The ugly man Whispered something in my ear! And touched my breast With the rough palm Of his bony hand Cutting it as if with An old rusty knife. (pp. 124-125)

To Okot all the teachers’ hypocrisy is evident in their luscious ways for the African girls: And all the teachers Are alike, They have sharp eyes For the girls’ full breasts; Even the padres Who are not allowed To marry Are troubled by health, Even the fat-stomached Who cannot see His belly button Feels better When he touches A girl’s breasts,

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Kuria Githiora And those who listen To the confessions Peep through the port-hole And stab the breasts With their glances. (p. 126)

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Lawino’s distaste for western education is used, therefore, to critique the serious conflict between the west and traditional African religious beliefs. Lawino explains the uses of specific forms of worship—for example, in offering a tribute to the ancestors during natural calamities, such as famine, drought, and death and If the locust swarms That blacken the sky Stay the night in the homestead And refuse to move The next day, When there’s much trouble In the homestead, It is not for nothing, It is because The ancestors are angry, Because they are hungry Thirsty, Neglected. (pp. 169-170)

There is always a cause for these natural events and she is unhappy when Ocol forbids her (Lawino) from consulting the diviner priest for any purpose and she says, My husband has threatened To beat me If I visit the diviner-priest again, He says The hair-poison does not exist, That it is hook-worm That troubles the people. (p. 153)

Okot uses humor when he shows how childish Ocol has become or even when he describes the diviner priest trooping home carrying all his paraphernalia with him. Okot says that, to make matters worse, Ocol, the modern man who has uncritically embraced western education and Christian religion, views traditional

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religion as superstitious and throws up tantrums, not to mention that he commits sacrilege against the traditional gods. For goodness’s sake he Once smashed the rattle gourd, Cut open the drum And chased away the diviner-priest From his late father’s homestead. The old man walked away, His headgear waving His ankle bells jangling rhythmically And the large monkey-skin bag Dangling on his neck (pp. 157-158)

Ocol has gone too far; and according to Lawino, he even had the audacity to

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take ...an axe And threatened to cut the Okango That grew on his father’s shrine, His mother fell down under the tree, She said Cut me first Then cut the sacred tree! (p. 158)

Ironically, Ocol is opposed to the use of magical charms and yet claims that it does not apply to Christian ones by wearing A small crucifix on his neck And all his daughters Wear rosaries But he prohibits me From wearing the elephant tail necklace, He once beat For wearing the toe of the edible rat And the horn of the rhinoceros And the jaw-bone of the alligator. (p. 155)

The reader should not conclude that Okot seems to suggest that Africans ought to avoid the western form of education. Rather, Okot’s criticism is of the

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African elite and their (mis)education on rational ways of life, regardless of whether they (their ways) are African or western. Even Lawino feels that too much reading is harmful, threatens a productive way of life for Ocol and by implication for Africa, and is ultimately emasculating to her man when she laments: Listen, my clansmen, I cry over my husband Whose head is lost Ocol has lost his head In the forest of books. My husband has read much, He has read extensively and deeply, He has read among white men And he is clever like white men

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And the reading Has killed my man In the ways of his people He has become a stump. He abuses all things Acoli, He says The ways of black people Are black Because his eyeballs have exploded, And he wears dark glasses, My husband’s house Is a dark forest of books. Some stand there Tall and huge Like the tido tree. (pp. 199-200)

In their extremism and (mis)education and as a threat to their virility and masculinity, which makes them loathe anything African, Ocol and his lot, according to Lawino, behave like the dogs of the white man: You may not know this You may not feel so, But you behave like A dog of the white man!

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A good dog pleases its master, It barks at night. The dogs of white men Are well trained And they understand English!

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For all our young men Were finished in the forest, Their manhood was finished In the classrooms. Their testicles Were smashed With large books! (pp. 204-205, 208)

For Okot, western education has driven a wedge between the two cultures, thus creating a division. This is perhaps largely due to a refusal to accept the differences between people. For Okot, this binary division between the west and Africa is foolish, leading learned men to behave like children or like the dogs of the white man, not to mention alienating them from their fellow Africans. There are other problems with westernization, and Okot proceeds to ridicule the western preoccupation with teaching and preaching Christianity and textbook education, which leads to lack of proper hygiene, when he describes the local teacher, who represents the west in the village, by saying that Saliva squirted from his mouth And froth flew Like white ants from his mouth, The smelly drops Landed on our faces Like heavily loaded houseflies Fresh from a fresh excreta heap! (pp. 119-120).

The imagery of an unclean western culture reinforces this negative view of the modern world when Okot describes the teacher in unflattering images such as his unclean clothes and body: The collar of the teacher’s white shirt Was black with dirt, He was sweating profusely And his cheeks were rough

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Kuria Githiora Like the tongue of the ox. The comb never touched his head, His hair resembled the elephant grass, The comb never touched his head, His hair resembled the elephant grass, Tall and wiry The teacher looked like a witch. (p. 120)

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So as he embraced the west and the modern, the teacher has forgotten proper hygiene and he’s drunk with communicating the word about the Christian God. The comparison between becoming a Christian and being a slave is important one because Lawino likens joining the catechism class in this manner: Oh how young girls Labour to buy a name! You break your back Drawing water For the wives Of the teachers, The skin of your hand Hardens and peels off Grinding millet and simsin. You hoe their fields, Split firewood, You cut grass for thatching And for starting fires You smear their floors With cow dung and black soil And harvest their crops. (p. 113)

The missionaries even starve the young girls, perhaps after feeding them with the word of God and the promise for a better life in heaven. Thus, postponement of the life here on earth, for Okot, leads to bodily starvation: And when the they are eating They send you to play games To play the board game Under the Mango tree! And the girls gather Wild sweet potatoes And eat them raw As if there is famine,

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And they are so thin They look like Cattle that have dysentery! (pp. 113-114)

Lawino jokes at the Christian names that one has to labour so hard to get through catechism when she corrupts names like “Jackson” to “Jeckson” or “Paraciko” for “Francis” and “Tomcon” for “Thompson” or “Iriko” for “Eric” (p. 127). To make it worse, Christianity has such strong demands for money that Lawino asks:

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Do they buy places In the Skyland with money? The stools On the right hand of the Hunchback, Are these reserved For moneyed fellows, Fat-bellied men The backs of whose necks Resemble the buttocks of the hippo, And the green oils Ooze out of the lined necks? (p. 135)

According to Lawino, the men and women of cloth are terrible representatives of Christianity, and their hostility to questions and their hypocrisy when it comes to food, money, and sex is evident. As Lawino attacks western Christianity and defends Acoli culture and tradition, we become acutely aware of her pride in herself and her way of life. Additionally, given her skillful reasoning with her husband, we can use Mamdani’s (1996) arguments to conclude that colonialism was not total and unmediated in Africa. Lawino therefore represents African subjectivities, especially amongst marginalized and uneducated African women, who we have been lead to believe are second and third class citizens. Such subjectivities can only be ignored at the peril of modernism in Africa. Lawino, like many African women, stands her ground as an Acoli woman who skillfully re-educates her husband Ocol and Okot’s readers on the merits and demerits of her culture. Not all of it is good, but there are rational ways of explaining any culture as opposed to the blanket and totalized condemnation we hear from her husband Ocol.

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Kuria Githiora .

SONG OF OCOL Regarding Song of Ocol, this paper concentrates on politics in Africa, especially in the search for new identity and subjectivity following the end of colonialism in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In this poem, Okot p’Bitek is critical of the new post-independence Africa’s despotism. When lamenting on the discrimination exercised by the foreign-influenced ruling elite, Okot asks:

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Tell me You worshipful mayors, Aldermen, Councilors, You town clerks in wigs, You trade union leader Organizing the strike You fat black capitalist In the dark suit, You sipping the scotch, Bank manager and computerizing overdrafts, You surgeons and physicians… You African Ambassador At the United Nations, Your Excellency Speak, Tell the world In English or in French Talk about the African foundation On which we are Building the new nations Of Africa. (pp. 82-83)

This echoes Okot’s, and by implication many Africans’, displeasure with their leaders and the ruling elite’s uncritical embracing of western values and customs. Many newly independent African leaders in East Africa and in the rest of Africa merely followed the same colonial framework of rule while the suffering masses who fought colonialism and paid with their blood for independence were ignored and are still paupers to date. Okot’s challenge to the new leadership in Africa is seen in Ocol’s disdain for the common folks who tell the masses that:

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We spent years In detention Suffering without bitterness And planning for a revolution Tell me My friend and comrade, Answer me simply and frankly, Apart from the two shillings fee For Party membership, And the dances you performed When the Party chiefs Visited your village, And the slogans you shouted That you did not understand,

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What was your contribution In the struggle for Uhuru? (p. 56)

Ocol is therefore the arrogant politician who does not think he owes the masses anything for electing him to leadership. He has no humility, and he demands monetary recognition and compensation for his political leadership. He tells them: And surely You are not so mean As to grudge them Some token reward, Are you? (pp. 56-57)

It is apparent that Ocol makes a justification for his immense wealth while the masses suffer. He was busy fighting for independence while they were busy being African and traditional. He has “that golden carpet covering the hillside,” namely, “his sheep, wool, mutton…” (p. 61). That is not all, because without shame he can say to the downtrodden masses: I have a nice house In the Town, My spacious garden Explodes with jacaranda and roses, I have lilies, bougainvillea, cann…

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Kuria Githiora Do you appreciate the beauty Of my roses? Or would you rather turn My flower garden Into a maize shamba? (p. 57)

Okot is a very skillful poet who gives Ocol the words to hang himself with as he (Okot) critiques the new In/dependence in Africa, especially the capitalistic hegemony that thrives on contradictions. As a leader who heads many impoverished masses, Ocol has no conscience and, in the same exploitative capitalistic greed, tells this majority that voted him to power: Is it my fault That you sleep In a hut With a leaking thatch?

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Do you blame me Because your sickly children Sleep on the earth Sharing the filthy floor With sheep and goats? Who says I am responsible For the poverty of the peasantry? Am I the cause of unemployment And landlessness? (pp. 57-61)

As a young revolutionary poet, it must gall Okot to witness how the new leaders grew filthy rich at the expense of the landless and dispossessed masses who suffered terribly under colonialism and must continue doing the same under their so-called Independent Africa’s nationalist leaders. If the masses expected change as promised on Independence Day after the Europeans departed, they have not experienced any change, and, if anything, things are worse. The only time they enjoyed life was only on Independence Day: Tell me My friend and comrade, Do you remember The night of Uhuru When the celebration drums throbbed

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And men and women wept with joy As they danced, Hands raised in salute To the national flag? (p. 62)

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Ocol is seen to have internalized self-hatred for his African ways, and his utterances, even as a leader, portray him as a person who cannot attain political justice for those who voted him to political office, because he hates himself as well as the continent. For Ocol, embracing the western ways uncritically and abandoning African customs is the only way forward. He confirms Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) linear and monolithic view of the ‘Third World,’ which indicates the tension between the colonized and colonizer as well as the master-slave dialectic and anxieties when it comes to modernism. Alternatively, Mudimbe’s (2003) notion of a non-essentialized identity is not Ocol’s way forward. Nonetheless, Okot’s final challenge to the African intellectual remains: Tell the world In English or in French, Talk about The African foundation On which we are Building the new nations Of Africa. You scholar seeking after truth/ I see the top Of your bald head Between mountains of books Gleaming with sweat, Can you explain The philosophy On which we are reconstructing Our new societies? (p. 83)

CONCLUSION This paper has argued in favor of an alternative hegemony in Africa largely through a critique of Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) work on the theory and definition of a nominalized and westernized notion of hegemony. Their work

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Kuria Githiora

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argues that, in politics, individual subjectivity is discursive and historically fixed and that such subjectivity and the social must be performed and ought not to be rooted in one position. They have a linear and monolithic view of the ‘Third World,’ including Africa, and they also over-essentialize and dismiss the possibility of ‘Third World’ peoples recreating themselves into multiply constituted individuals with meaningful subjectivities. The paper has problematized these notions based on the understanding that there exists multiple ways of examining subjectivity in realizing an alternative hegemony. It suggests that there are many other avenues to create an alternative hegemony in Africa through various cultural, literary, social, and political discourses. This is clearly evident in Okot’s Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol. Finally this paper suggests that the existence of multiple world histories and cultures that constitute both dynamic and multiply constituted subjectivities in today’s world calls for equally multiply and mutually beneficial forms of cultural, literary, social, and political discourses. This means that Africans must proceed to engage one another as well as the rest of the global citizenry in these multiple ways for mutually beneficial discursive and non-discursive discourses. This is necessary to negotiate new and appropriate forms of hegemony that situate them as meaningful participants and equal members of the global community in the common struggle and search for justice for all of humankind.

REFERENCES Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa Jemie and Ihechukwu Madubuike. (1980.) Toward The Decolonization of African Literature, Volume I; African Fiction and Poetry and Their Critics. Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co., Ltd. Laclau, Ernesto and Chantal Mouffe. (2001.) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso. Mamdani, Mahmood. (1996.) Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Mudimbe, V.Y. (2003.) Globalization and Identity. The New Centennial Review: Globalicities: possibilities of the globe, 3(2), 205-219. P’Bitek, Okot. (1986.) Song of Lawino. Nairobi: East African Publishing House. P’Bitek, Okot. (1970.) Song of Ocol. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1970. Thiong’o, Ngúgì wa. (1972.) Homecoming. New York: Laurence Hill Co., Press. Wanambisi, Monica Nalyaka. (1984.) Thought and Technique in the Poetry of Okot p’Bitek. New York: Vintage Press.

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In: Issues in Political Discourse Analysis Editors: S. G. Obeng and B.A.S. Hartford

ISBN: 978-1-60456-391-7 © 2008 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 3

PROVERBS IN POLITICAL ORATORY: A CASE STUDY1

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Kassim Kone “Ni i tè se kuma la. Ni i tè se jama na kuma la, jamalakuma di jèlilu ma.” “When you don’t know how to speak. When you don’t know how to speak in public, give the public speech to the jèli2 [to do it for you].” (Maninka Jèli Proverb) “A ye hòròn ye cogo min na, hali a tè se ka kuma.” “He/she is so noble, he/she is an incompetent speaker.” (Bamana saying)

INTRODUCTION Proverbs encapsulate ancestral wisdom. But, used tactically in contemporary discourse, proverbs may be said to mediate the relationship between present and past, becoming a strategy for political gains. A proverb both refers to history and brings history alive. And this dynamic relationship between ancestral precedent and the exigencies of the present is played out in all forms of political speech. In

1

2

This article is an excerpt from Chapter 3 in Kassim Kone. (1996). Bamana verbal art: An ethnographic study of proverbs. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University. Jèli refers to the ethnic bard in Mande societies of West Africa. They are also known by the term “griots” in Western literature.

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this paper, I examine one example of contemporary oratory in order to demonstrate the strategic use of proverbs in political life. Quoting from precedent has always been a tradition in political oratory. Church officers in medieval times quoted passages from the Bible or from their predecessors to acquire authority (Morawski, 1974, p. 344) and Biblical quotes are still in use in modern speech. Penfield (1983, pp. 85-86) writes that the multilingual Igbo of Nigeria quote from the Bible in English or paraphrase English quotes in Igbo to enhance the quality of and add power to their message. Renaissance humanists cited Plato or Aristotle because they held the views of these philosophers to be self-evident. More recently, quoting previous political leaders has become conventionalized under some regimes, quotations from Stalin being an example of this in the speech and writing of people who favored the Soviet “cult of personality” (Morawski, 1974, pp. 344-345). A proverb may offer itself as a device of regulatory social [and political] mechanism (Bonnet, 1982, p. 178). Without naming names or events, proverbs sometimes present themselves in the form of a symbolic obviation, especially when the performer wishes to firmly ground his/her intentions in cultural symbols. These symbols could be historical, religious, or ideological. In that, a proverb may have a profound cultural effect in political discourse. “Obviation,” according to Wagner (1978) “is the effect of supplanting a conventional semiotic relation with an innovative and self-contained relation; it is the definitive paradigm of semiotic transformation” (p. 31). Political oratory often contains proverbs which are ideological metaphors intended to insert “an unconventional element “in the way of” conventional reference, so that the new relation comes to supplant, to “anticipate and dispose of,” thus calling into conventional effect (p. 31). When addressing a large audience, any political leader—be he a traditional chief or modern politician—has frequent recourse to proverbial wisdom. Proverbs give legitimacy to a power-holder by evoking ancestral wisdom and precedent. However, proverbs do not simply serve to perpetuate the past; they may inspire or instigate conflicts as well as reduce or resolve them as in nonpolitical use. Accordingly, a speaker’s real intentions may be shrouded in what appear to be customary values. A similar obliqueness marks the relationship between the speaker and his audience since a ruler’s words, like his knowledge of the genealogical charter on which his authority rests, is mediated by a herald or jèli. Whether introducing an idea, supporting, rejecting, or concluding it, the proverb in oratory must embellish itself with ordinary linguistic, cultural, and historical materials that are part of the audience’s repertory and without which the message being sent can only partially be understood. Some of the genres found in

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oratory may include tales, sayings, and excerpts of epics. Because oratory may be dialogic, it may consist of an interplay of two or several primary genres “each with its own formal and functional characteristics” (Bakhtin, 1986, pp. 60-102, cited in Bauman (1992)). Political speech among the Bamana is an area of verbal art which incorporates many proverbs, as well as excerpts from epic poems, religious rhetoric, and other sensitive cultural genres such as praiselines (pronounced by a praise singer in the course of an oratory). Proverbs are used in it to legitimize or to reject political action. Ideology, which is the backbone of political actions, is itself embedded and frozen in proverbial lore. But the controversies involved in politics and the struggle of opposing political ideologies make politics a very fertile ground for both verbal competition and the communication of political messages where proverbs figure not simply as rhetorical devices, but as tools for speech which shape both consciousness and action. Bamana social and political life requires that a leader make use of the service of an intermediary in the person of a jèli, or a herald from some other nyamakala3 group whose oratorical skills are established. The use of the jèli or another artisan caste (nyamakala) displaces responsibility, at least partially, for the negative consequences of a speech, thus protecting a political leader, a hòròn4 (noble), from losing face. Hòrònya (nobility) is a state of mind and also reality that people are constantly aware of and measuring. Hòrònya is metaphorically said to be a gown whose size is measured by the political position of the leader. The more important a political leader, the bigger his figurative gown must be—so big in fact that it drags behind him. For this reason, the consequences of a speech made by a leader are greater than when a common hòròn is involved. Chiefly speech is a perfect model of performance for its style and use of proverbs. Bamana expectations from a chiefly speech are higher than their expectations from the speech of a commoner. This is so because a chief is expected to be a well-seasoned speaker by virtue of having early exposure to oratory (for inherited traditional leaders) and frequent exposure to oratory (for modern political leaders). A proverb encodes Bamana expectations of chiefly speech:

3

4

Nyamakala refers to the entire group of artisan castes in the Mande world such as the jèli (bard), numu (blacksmith), garanke (leatherworker), and woloso (descendant of former slave). The hòròn are nobles or free born. They are political leaders, village chiefs, and nominal landowners. Their birthright give them these privileges but prevents them from engaging in the arts of speech, wood and metal work, and leatherworking.

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Kassim Kone Faama ka kumadòn tè hakilimaya ye: faama ni faantan bè kunko bè na fè i ye.

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The chief’s skillful use of language is not intelligence: matters regarding the powerful/rich and the powerless/poor are all said to him.

In this proverb, art in speech is assumed to be associated either with intelligence or with experience associated with political office. Being chief implies being a son of chief, which involves exposure to public speech at an early age. This proverb also states that a chief’s ability to understand the subtle turns and ambiguities, as well as his capacity to perform speech, are not necessarily due to his intelligence. Instead, a chief’s linguistic competence could be due to exposure and experience. It is in Bamana village chieftaincy, where leadership is legitimized by tradition, that a chief’s knowledge and performance of proverbs in the running of day-to-day village affairs can be appreciated. The village chief inherits political, administrative, and judiciary offices from his father or brother (own or classificatory). Being a child of the village himself, since childhood, the future chief must go through the various initiation rites of the village. In the Bamana village, the main initiation rites are the Ntomo (uncircumcised boys’ secret society), bolokoli (circumcision), and the Kòmò (men’s secret brotherhood). Each of these rites of passage offers opportunities when each child will learn esoteric speech and proverbs about life, whose meanings are not always understood by the neophyte or the uninitiated. Also, the chief to be spends his childhood being an uninvited but encouraged overhearer of matters discussed in his father’s meeting house. Such matters concerning village life may range from furukuma (lit., marriage talks), kèlèbankuma (lit., conflict ending talks), dugutigibilon na kumasigi (lit., chief of village’s meeting house talk sitting, usually judicial in nature), kòmòtulakumasigi (lit., Kòmò sacred grove at talk; judicial and very serious matters that need to be discussed in private by the initiated), and diplomatic negotiations with other villages among other situations. Because oratory addresses large and often unfamiliar audiences, a speaker deals with a complex social context, which puts his rhetorical integrity at risk (Yankah, 1995, p. 53). Among the Bamana, the use of a jèli (bard) not only legitimizes political speech delivered in Bamana, but the jèli becomes the filter and takes more responsibility than the speaker, a hòròn (noble), for the vagaries of his speech. Should a message be upsetting, people will always blame the jèli for failing to stop the speaker in time or to convert his words into a socially acceptable message. According to Yankah, the jèli is involved in what Hymes (1975) calls metaphrasis in performance and what Bauman (1977) calls the

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interplay between the social and the semiotic systems, in the course of which he argues one conventionalized performance genre is reframed into another mode. In village speech, the chief is involved in the face-to-face performance. All important matters are discussed at the chief’s house, and he is required to speak his mind on these matters. He knows everybody, every family, and village history, and he is aware of the matters at hand to a high degree. Each performance of the chief is thus directed to an individual or group of individuals who are known, a context or cluster of contexts which are understood by the audience. The chiefly message is thus expected to go right to the point. He may rely on the nyamakala herald (jèli or numu in the absence of the former) for assistance in public speech, but his early exposure to performance, his thorough knowledge of situations at hand and their contexts, helps make him a good proverb performer. Familiarity with the context in a situation is very important for each verbal statement to reach the intended goal of its performer. Verbal statements in general and proverbs in particular need, for some reason or other, to be made known to another person or persons “in order to serve purposes of common action, or to establish ties of purely social communion, or else to deliver the speaker of violent feelings or passions. . . . In each case . . . the utterance has no meaning except in the context of situation” (Malinowski, 1956, p. 307). The competence in performing proverbs in public speech can be achieved more easily in village politics than in regional or national politics. As mentioned above, village political speech occurs in a small area among acquainted members and circumstances that are known at length. A regional or national political leader does not enjoy the advantages of the traditional chief, and even when he is a good performer in oratory, he must rely on the nyamakala. While a nyamakala’s assistance is crucial in public speech, the nature of modern political speech and the ease in reaching masses nationwide through modern media have become a double-edged sword. Modern political speech concerns a much larger audience; its contexts are too wide and complex, and the assistance of the herald is discarded as a filter and editor of speech. The use of other media such as radio and television in modern times has placed the hòròn leaders in very dangerous situations when they decide to address their people in Bamana. This is largely because the message escapes the filtering and editorial monitoring of a jèli. When speaking in the presence of a live audience, a leader will always be surrounded by jèliw (pl.) or have a jèli in the audience; their presence alone is a deterrent against venturing into speech which is not dignified. General Moussa Traoré was caught in this modern trap when he used television and radio to deliver his last political speech.

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THE IMMEDIATE BACKGROUND TO THE LAST PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS OF GENERAL MOUSSA TRAORE General Moussa Traoré, then President of the Republic of Mali for over 23 years, made this speech right before he was deposed. Because of his mental and emotional state when this speech was recorded, the content of the message, as well as the tone in which it was delivered and the explosive political situation in Mali, Moussa’s close friends and colleagues prevented this address from being aired for fear that it might aggravate a situation which had already gotten out of control. To put this address and the coup d’état in context, it is necessary to cover chronologically some major national events that took place between March 1990 and March 1991: March 28-31, 1990: A meeting is organized throughout the country to mark the eleventh anniversary of the UDPM (Union Démocratique du Peuple Malien), the single party with General Moussa Traoré as its Secretary General. The major theme of this year’s meeting is the exercise of democracy within the one partystate. At the Bamako meeting, there are 26 keynote speakers, 17 of whom declare that they are favorable to multi-party democracy, three support the single party system, and three are undecided. The Political Secretary of the UDPM, Mr. Djibril Diallo, acknowledges people’s desire for several political parties but says democracy could take place in a single party system once Mali is considered as an historical and geo-cultural space. Many attendants reject the UDPM’s claim that multi-party democracy is imported and say that, even if that was the case, the single party system and its constitutionalization were also an import (Maïga, 1990, p. 5). May 28 and 29, 1990: These two days mark a plenary of the Malian National Labor Union, UNTM (Union Nationale des Travailleurs du Mali), which 116 out of the 122 total members attend. In its final resolution, the UNTM ask that the UDPM be deconstitutionalized in order that a multi-party democracy take place in Mali (Traoré et al., 1990, pp. 4-5). The National Labor Union, a former surrogate to the party, cuts ties with UDPM. June and August 1990: Extraordinary plenary of UDPM at which many national representatives of the party-state throughout the country express their people’s desire for political pluralism. October 9, 1990: In celebration of the anniversary of Universal Human Rights Day, a new political party, the ADEMA (Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali), organizes a meeting. The President and members of another new political party, the CNID (Comité National d’Initiative Démocratique), the President of the

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Student Union AEEM (Association des Elèves et Etudiants Maliens), and Bamako students attend this rally. The President and Vice-President of ADEMA and the Presidents of the CNID and AEEM are keynote speakers. They all call for a multiparty democracy in Mali, accusing the present regime for having violated human rights for 22 years. A march, organized by the CNID, is announced for the following day (Kouyaté, 1990, p. 3). October 10, 1990: Around 10, 000 people show up at the CNID march. At the end of this march, hooligans destroy public and private buildings, cars, and traffic lights. Banners at this meeting read in French: “Single Party = Supreme Evil,” “Single Party = Dictatorship,” “One People, yes! One Party, no!,” etc. (Kouyaté, 1990, p. 2). December 31, 1990: The leaders of the Christian and Muslim faiths pay a traditional yearly visit to the Maison du Peuple to express their best wishes for the New Year to the President. In his speech to them, Moussa speaks in Bamana. When he speaks of the political situation in the country, he promises to make hell visit the head of opposition leaders (Kpatindé, 1991, p. 12). Malians who are religious, especially Muslims, are surprised and outraged. The term Moussa used for ‘hell’ is jahanama (a loan word from Arabic), which is only within reach of Allah, who, according to Quranic references, is the only one to make hell visit the head of people. Thus, some Malians began to say that Moussa is thinking of himself as God. January 6, 1991: The UDPM sub-committee leaders of the different quarters of Bamako organize a march in support of UDPM and its Secretary General, General Moussa Traoré, President of Mali. The march ends at the Maison du Peuple where the President’s office is located. The Secretary General of the National Women’s Union of Mali, UNFM (Union Nationale des Femmes du Mali), the Minister of Agriculture, and the Minister of Labor and Civil Service are present. The latter had allegedly blackmailed heads of administrative services by threatening to impose administrative sanctions upon them should their workers fail to show up in great numbers. The President’s official jèli (bard) is present and more than once interrupts the presidential discourse with praise lines. Many other musical groups are invited, and the number of attendants varies from 2,000 to 10, 000, depending on whether the opposition or the UDPM provide the estimates. This rally is politically important for the UDPM and the regime because it is intended to prove that the single ruling party has as much, if not more, support than the ADEMA and the CNID combined. This show of support is also significant because it takes place two days before Malian workers go on strike nationwide for the first time and two prominent ministers are fired: the Minister for Territorial Administration and the Minister of Justice. The two are fired for

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failing to create legal ground and to carry out the legal provisions that would control the free press and prevent the birth of new political parties in Mali. The two fired ministers are replaced with military hard-liners on October 8. In his address to the audience that came to show him support, General Moussa Traoré spoke in Bamana. This speech, made two and a half months before his final speech, is very important in that it puts the final address in context. The speech begins with this Islamic exhortation:

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Excerpt 1. 5 Allahumma Sali Allah [Seyyidinna] Mahamadin Wa Salim! Oh Allah, have mercy and Peace upon our leader Mohammed!

The use of suras or part of them extracted from the Qu’ran in the beginning of speech has several functions in oratory, especially if the audience is Muslim. First, it appeals to their religious sensibilities and functions as an expression of apology for the whole address since many in the audience do not understand the literal Bamana meaning of the rhetoric. Because most of this Islamic rhetoric contains the names of Allah and Prophet Mohammed, it indicates to the audience that the speaker is humble since he puts God and his prophet before himself in speech. Second, it creates an atmosphere of sameness by showing that the speaker is a good practicing Muslim and is well versed in the Koran. Third, as Hoffman (1990) explains, a phrase or two of sacred Arabic or a series of blessings in Bamana win an audience’s attention because it can respond “Amen” at the appropriate moments indicating that “the audience is listening, on some level, to what is being said, paying attention to the rhythms and, perhaps, the content of the discursive frame” (p. 79). The following Bamana proverbs were cited in this January 6 speech and are extracted partially from their original speech environments and contexts: Excerpt 2. Ni an ma Mali jò, mògòsi tè na Mali jò an ye. A ka fò i ma sama, a ka tila ka fò i ma sonsan, o man nyi. Ne ye o fò yan yòrò kelen na a san 22 ye nin ye, wa bi de n’bè sègin a kan... Translation: “If we do not build Mali, nobody will do it for us. That you be called Elephant and later be called rabbit, that is not good. I told this at this same place 22 years ago and I repeat it today.” [Middle part of speech]

Moussa is telling his audience that, 22 years ago when he overthrew President Modibo Kéita’s regime, he had said that Mali could be built only by Malians 5

These passages [proverbs and speech were taken from Les Echos Special 54: 6-7.

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alone. He paraphrases the proverb “Kana sòn i ka wele sama ka tila ka wele sonsan!” which translates to “Do not agree to be called Elephant and later be called Rabbit!” In this proverb, the comparison between elephant and rabbit is based on their size. The large size of the elephant is taken as a metaphor to imply the greatness of Imperial Mali. The use of this proverb is intended to show that Imperial Mali was great enough to qualify for the name Elephant and that Malians should not spare any least effort to prevent Mali from losing its greatness and becoming a mere “rabbit.” Here, this proverb is used to make an historical reference although nothing is explicitly mentioned about Old Mali.

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Excerpt 3. Pariti tè ban mògòsi la...Ji kunankolon tè kumun * [3 times]. Ni i ye shènugu tilelen ye, kala de bè a kònò. Translation: “The Party does not reject anybody... Fresh water without any foreign body never ferments * [3 times]. When you see that the intestine of the chicken is straight, there surely is a stick in it.” [Towards end of speech]

Moussa is indirectly accusing the new political parties of lack of participation in the party-state, the UDPM. Since the UDPM does not reject anybody, there is no reason for people to create new political parties. In the first proverb of this section, repeated 3 times, “Fresh water without any foreign body never ferments,” he is blaming foreign influence for creating and backing the desire of the opposition to create new political parties. The second proverb, “when you see that the chicken intestine is straight, there surely is a stick in it,” is used here to support the same idea: a criticism of foreign influence. Both proverbs censure the cause and effect nature of foreign influence in changing Malian political life. In this passage, Moussa is blaming foreigners and the Malian opposition for creating divisiveness in the country. The country, according to the first proverb, is homogenous like fresh water and becomes fermented with foreign influence and ideas. In the second, the country is sinuous like chicken intestines but becomes straight with the insertion of a foreign body—here, a stick. Excerpt 4. Gèlèya in na, an ye a lajè ka cogoyaw nyinin min b’a to denmisèn kalannen ni kalanbali bèè ka se ka baara sèrè....Kami minèlen jan na ko Ala ma: "Ala n’dèmè! Ala n’dèmè!" Ala ko a ma: "N’i i ye i firifiri, n’bè i dèmè." A ye i firifiri min kè, a bòra jan na. Translation: “In this economic crisis, we have sought to find ways so that both the educated and illiterate youth find jobs...When the guinea fowl got caught in a trap he said to God: "God, help me! God, help me!" God replied to him: "If

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Kassim Kone you struggle, I will help you." When the guinea fowl struggled, it escaped from the trap. [Middle of speech]

Moussa is using this proverb to support the idea that the Party has created opportunities to help all young Malians irrespective of their backgrounds and that they can blame their failure on lack of struggle, not on lack of opportunity. They fail to do as the guinea fowl did when God instructed him to struggle to get out of a trap. Here, we have another comparison between God giving advice to the guinea fowl and the Party giving advice to the people. The guinea fowl follows God’s instructions and escapes, but the people fail to follow the instructions of the Party. This proverb is meant to indirectly blame the masses for their lack of enterprise.

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Excerpt 5. An ye an seko kè...Ni gèlèya bè jamana kònò o tè Pariti nò ye... Ni donni bè mògò fila kun, ni kelen ye i kun fori ka bè a kòrò k’a sòrò a ma i sara tòkelen dò la, o bè na ni tòkelen dò kankarili ye. Translation: “We have done our best...That the country is experiencing [economic] difficulties is not to be blamed on the Party...When two people are carrying a [single] heavy load on the top of their heads, when one person withdraws his head from under the load without warning the other, it would cause the other’s neck to break...” [Towards end of speech]

Here Moussa is saying that the Party does not cause the economic problems of the country. However, as implied by this proverb, the economic situation becomes worse if everyone fails to do his share. When the UDPM is deserted without warning, the economy of the country collapses, not because of the failure of UDPM, but because of the evil plotting of the opposition. The UDPM has been left alone to carry the burden and is given no previous notice that support was not forthcoming. This proverb and the previous ones are both symbolic messages for the audience to interpret in its own way. However, in this proverb, the tragic metaphor of the “neck being broken” seems to convey the message that the President believes that the opposition has contributed to the crippling of the partystate. He then discusses the concept of nobility in the following: Excerpt 6. I n’a fò an bèè ye hòrònden ye, an man kan ka nkalon da nyògòn na...Hali ni an tè silamè ye, an kòni ye hòròn ye...Aw ye sabali! Mògòbaw bè sabali fè, Ala yèrè bè sabali fè... Translation: “Since we are all children of hòròn, we must not put lies on one another [Beginning part of Speech]... Even if we do not believe in any religion,

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we are at least of hòròn descent...Restrain yourself...The wise men like selfrestraint, God Himself like self restraint...” [Middle part of speech]

In the beginning of this section, Moussa appeals to Malians’ sensitivities on the Mande concept of hòrònya (inherent nobility and magnanimity). Hòrònya is a polysemic Mande concept which suggests that nobility and virtue are good enough a habitus for an individual who has no other cultural or social background to make a person a complete moral being even if he or she was raised without any other qualities. Hòrònya therefore connotes sociability, the basis of our humanity. But, in this discourse, it could also mean restraint, such as observed by the nobleborn among the nyamakala. In this ambiguous use of hòrònya, Moussa gives a strong blow to the opposition because he claims that he is a noble by the simple fact of his commenting on this concept, implying that the opposing leaders are less noble. In the middle of this passage, Moussa claims again that, even when we do not belong to any religion, we are conditioned enough by our hòrònya to be sociable and restrained. Placing limits on what one is capable of doing in order to do what is socially acceptable is expected of the hòròn, and this virtue is extolled by wise men and by God Himself. Restraint and patience are the same concept in Bamana, and Moussa’s use of it paraphrases many proverbs on restraint/patience. One such proverb is: “Sabalibaga ko ka di Ala ye,” (trans., “God likes he who restrains himself”). Paraphrasing proverbs in speech rather than quoting them is a significant oratorical strategy. January 8, 1991: The National Labor Union, UNTM, orders a 48-hour strike nationwide from January 8 through 9. The strike is observed around the country in spite of national and regional leaders blackmailing workers. The Minister of Territorial Administration and Area Development is fired on October 8. This ministry is re-baptized as Ministry of the Interior, and a military hard-liner who is appointed to lead it leaves his former position as Minister of Education. The same day, the Minister of Justice is fired and replaced by another military hard-liner. Another nomination on the same day installs a well-educated and respected civilian as head of the Ministry of Education (Les Echos Special, 54, pp. 2-3). This civilian and well-respected minister would become the victim of the most unexpected legal provision of the mob after the coup. This mob decreed “legal provision” known in Mali as Article 320, which consists of burning an alleged criminal without judgment. This infamous Article 320 has become proverbial, as General Traoré prophesied in his last address to the Nation (which was not aired). Article 320 derives from the addition of the price of one liter of gasoline, 300 CFA francs then, to the price of a box of matches, 20 CFA francs.

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The act of killing people, dousing their corpse with gasoline, and setting it on fire is previously unknown in Malian political life, but became commonplace during the political upheaval which brought down the Traoré regime. It is this form of killing that became known as Article 320. January 18, 1991: The Minister of the Interior sends a memorandum to the ADEMA requiring that ADEMA cease all political activities. January 21, 22 1991: A student strike paralyzes Bamako on January 21, 1991. The violent riots of January 21 and 22 start when the government, having banned a peaceful march scheduled for January 18, orders the arrest of 22 young people. Rumors spread that the leader of the Student Union is arrested. The student revolt starts on Saturday January 19, 1991, and on the 20th through the 22nd, it becomes an insurrection (Andriamirado, 1991, p. 6). Tanks and military with machine guns are everywhere on the main arteries of the capital. It is January 21. From the Medina Kura hill, where I happen to be, I can see Bamako smoking from all corners. Students destroy government buildings and burn government cars known by their black plate numbers on a red background. It is the last day of my week-long trip to Mali. A friend of mine, working at a ministry, fearing that a coup d’état might take place, advises me to do everything I can to get to the other side of the river where the international airport is located. I leave Bamako and the strike goes on for another day. My friend’s fears are justified, two months and four days later, because the violent repression of this student movement bought Moussa’s regime some time. Classes are indefinitely closed starting January 22.

FINAL PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS OF GENERAL MOUSSA TRAORE Excerpt 7. I am addressing this message to the men, women, young and old of Mali. The beginning of this message goes to those whose relatives lost their lives...in the course of this difficulty...those whose little ones lost their lives in this difficulty. It is not even a difficulty, it is a war. May Allah have pity on their souls! I have said in this country here...not once, not twice...that “it is those who do not know war that start it.” * War, once it starts this is known, the year when it will stop is not known. *

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This address starts with the rhetorical extending of greeting to all Malians with a special greeting to the families of the victims of repression. In using the euphemism “difficulty” first for this condition, the President seems to downplay the extent of the situation, then quickly realizes that it is more than a difficulty and presents his condolences for the dead. In the last part of this segment, Moussa uses the first proverb to claim that he has always told the Malian people that open conflict is provoked by people who know little of its consequences. In the second proverb, he makes a comment on the scale that open conflict may assume. He appears to have claims over these two proverbs when he uses the expression “I have said’ in the beginning of the paragraph. These two proverbs are intended to support the introductory paragraph of the speech by disengaging Moussa’s responsibility for the loss of life in an open conflict he claims he has not started. Excerpt 8. The [Central Executive Bureau of the] political party has embarked on a discussion for a year now. They [Party] said that we must sit down and talk so that sweet agreement...sweet agreement be reached in that. Once this is done, the country will move forward. In the course of this discussion another...came up... another question arose: it was said that many parties be allowed to be created in the country, parties which have to do with politics. The Secretary General of the Big Party [I myself Moussa Traoré] said that it was not a problem. That was a matter, which could not be discussed in one location. It was to be discussed in everywhere [in the country]...in order for everyone to get a good understanding of it. Since it is a national matter, it is the business for all the citizens of the country, so, let us discuss the matter at length. We have begun this discussion for a year this month.

Here, Moussa is referring to the Party’s decision to have national discussions after the regional meetings of March 28, 29, 30 and 31, 1990. At this meeting, many members of the UDPM had expressed their desire to see many political parties. He is saying that he has agreed to have several political parties, but the nation as a whole had to decide to embark on this path. He paraphrases a proverb to make clear his will to reach a sweet agreement through sitting down to discussions. The original proverb paraphrased by Moussa in this passage is “Jè ka fò ye daamu ye” (trans., “Agreement reached through discussions is sweet”). In this passage, the President is arguing that he and the Party have been playing by the rules, as expected by Malian culture, by agreeing to sit down and talk.

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Excerpt 9. This Big Party had a plenary...plenary...E-E had a plenary. This occurred in the White man’s sixth moon [June]. We said that since everyone has not been summoned up, all issues have not been addressed, we...the party...we ... the party...we...party plenary....we will have a plenary session in order that the party...E-E...can gather its leaders to sit and discuss these issues. These discussions took place on the...day...E-E in the White man’s eighth moon [August]. We discussed these issues. Everyone said their mind. We said in it...let us reach an understanding of it [the matter]. Let us make people understand it so that we can reach our goals in the country. Then the Central Executive Bureau, which is one branch of the party, was asked to look at this issue in clear and calm water [to ponder on it] in order that we reach a single agreement. This [agreement] was to be reached...at the plenary...the plenary which...will take place on the 28, 29, 30 and 31 of this month [March 1991].

After two plenary sessions of the UDPM in June and August, 1991, it has been decided that the Central Executive Bureau look at the issue in clear and calm water so that a [sweet] agreement be reached during the UDPM plenary session on March 28, 29, 30 and 31, 1991. That agreement was to be reached on whether or not a multi-party democracy was good for Mali. Here, the use of the expression “look in calm and clear water” (i.e., to ponder) is used again with a fragment of the proverb for reaching an agreement. The use of these two expressions at the end of this paragraph is still meant to confirm that the President has not refused to talk for change. In this passage, we notice that a fragment of the previously paraphrased proverb (“so that sweet agreement can be reached”) is combined with another metaphor (“to look at the issue in clear and calm water”) to convey the same message. Excerpt 10. In the course of these discussions, political parties came to emerge. The Minister of Interior said: “It is true, political parties may emerge. The constitution by which the country is ruled says that there must be a single political party. Let us... adopt this as a law [first]. The day which...be it today, be it tomorrow, when the citizens of the country ask that this [constitution] be amended, after this amendment, your party will be recognized as a political party.” They argued over why this was said. They said that cannot be said..said...ee-e..that..that should not be said. [They said] that do not...now..-e-e obey the constitutional rules that govern the country. They said that they want to skip over the limit. “When you hear that they say that skipping over the limit is not good, “Not good” does not have a particular meaning: when you skip over the limit, the

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limit will not leave you alone until it skips over you.” * “The little calf...it does not know the lion [as a dangerous being] but...the mother [cow] knows it.” *

Moussa is saying that, while the Party was working to find avenues for the constitutional creation of other political parties, new parties illegally emerged in the country, and these parties made it clear that they did not care about the limits set by the constitution (refer to the memorandum sent by the Minister of Interior to the ADEMA on January 18, above). In the first proverb cited, he declares that it is not good to go beyond the limits using the disclaimer “they say that”: “When you hear that they say that skipping over the limit is not good. ‘Not good’ does not have a particular meaning: when you skip over the limit, the limit will not leave you alone until it skips over you.” By going beyond the limits, one loses one’s rights because one has thus skipped over one’s allowable grounds. When a person skips over his allotted grounds, he will get what he deserves because the laws that are set to protect him no longer apply. Thus, this proverb is a threat, and it implies that the brutal repression by the military is justified; it symbolizes the limit that must be imposed on those who go beyond the limit. In the second proverb, Moussa hesitates because he is about to make a desperate threat. Although he naturally stutters, he hesitates because of the political implication of the threat he is going to make to a group of unidentified power brokers in Mali directly or indirectly involved in the political process. The threat expressed in this proverb is far-reaching politically because it makes of Moussa a dictator willing to use force to attain his goals. When he says, “The little calf...it does not know the lion [as a dangerous carnivore] but...the mother [cow] knows it,” he is not only threatening the youth of Mali but he is threatening to show that he is a lion capable of breaking their mothers’ necks (opposition leadership symbolized by mother cow) let alone the soft necks of the youth (symbolized by calf). This second proverb is symbolically significant in another way: it is extracted from a song of the male Bamana secret society of Kòmò. This secret society threatens to kill males and females forbidden from joining the society as well as initiated males who go against its rules. It is implied in this proverb that the youth, who are rioting, do not know the consequences of their actions, but those on behalf of whom they are rioting do. Excerpt 11. The youth came up with...associations...made many associations within the [single national] big youth association. They said that they...that they were relinquishing their membership to the [national] association...that they will make their [own] associations. Since that...that also occurred, more than three months ago today, in Bamako here, students have not spent a whole week studying in

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class. They deserted and deserted classes. They rioted and rioted. They destroyed and destroyed. Bamako has seen enough of that now! We said: “Let us win the youth.” We told them all kinds of things. Men talked [to them]. Women talked. The youth themselves talked. In vain! The youth said that their minister [the Minister of Education] refused to meet them. I asked the latter. He said they have not sought to see him. “They have not sought anything else with me that I have refused.” The Bamana say: “It is easy to ... the dog that has been called upon... to beat the dog that has been called upon.” * What if you have not been called upon? It won’t be easy to beat you, right? And then began a series of riots again, after...the first riots and a war began in the city, in the city of Bamako, Kayes, Buguni, Sikasso, Segou, Mopti, a war which I believe our country has never experienced since independence... except in foreign wars. I have not seen anything like it.

Moussa is blaming the students for creating parallel youth associations and ignoring the Malian National Youth Union, UNJM (Union Nationale des Jeunes du Mali), a surrogate to the UDPM. He blames the creation of that new student union for the numerous strikes that followed and which he and the Minister of Education have not spared any effort to prevent. He claims that no blame can be put on the minister, by using the proverb: “The Bamana say: ‘It is easier to beat the dog that has been called upon than to beat the dog that has not been called upon.’” In saying the proverb, he uses the disclaimer “the Bamana say” and suggests that, when you have several dogs, the dog whose name you call is the one who will rush to you. If it is that dog that you want to beat, then you will find an opportunity to do so. When you do not call that dog, however, you will not be able to beat it. The parallel between the dog and the Minister of Education in the proverb is to show that the Minister has not been consulted, advised, or approached by the students, and for this reason, no blame can be put on him. In this passage, students are accused of not abiding by the rules. By using this proverb in defense of his Minister of Education, Moussa asks a question which he answers himself before asking the audience to judge whether he was right or wrong: “What if you have not been called upon? It won’t be easy to beat you, right?” Excerpt 12. I asked the minister what had happened? He said: “There is no reason for it. They have not sought to see me. They have not sought anything else [from me].” I then ordered him to find out what it is about. We had to force them to tell us that they have nine issues to discuss. They said this had not happened [?]. The day they sent this written message to the minister, the minister replied to them the same day. They said: “No! It is not that! The minister has to...we must see the

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minister in person.” The Minister said: “We will meet. Now, I will like to meet all youth organizations, along with e-e the associations of women and parents of school children. We will meet with all of them so that we can reach an agreement. Each will be given the floor until we have discussed all issues at hand and reached agreement.” The [troubles of the] White man’s first moon [January] the 21st, the 22nd, need not be explained to the Bamako people. That needs not be explained. Proverbs will be created...that water...proverbs will be created for that [event]. Proverbs will be created for that event here. They met with the Minister. They said: “No!” And [they said] that they need to meet the Minister again. What they were looking for, they wanted the Minister to tell them... whether they...whether they will obtain it or not, clear and hot [on the spot]. It is true the dègè is not a hot dish. Drink it [fast] and give me back my ladle; that makes it [feel] hot. *

The President is saying that the Minister went on his own to ask students to do what they should have done in first place: to sit down and talk. When students finally met with their minister, they imposed on him requirements he was willing to seek to fulfill. But the proverb that concludes this segment of the presidential address indicates that students were dictating their desires and demanding that these be satisfied immediately. This type of situation is exemplified by the use of the proverb: “It is true the dègè is not a hot dish. Drink it [fast] and give me back my ladle; that makes it [feel] hot.” The dègè is a dish of boiled or steamed millet flour mixed with milk and eaten cold. Although this is a cold cereal, when you rush someone who is eating it, the person will feel as hot as if he/she were eating a hot food. By imposing their demands and asking that these be met immediately, students were twisting the Minister’s arm. Metaphorically, students were forcing the minister to rush eating the dègè they had served him, and Moussa suggests to the Malian people that the latter has been seriously abused. In the first paragraph of this segment, the President suggests that proverbs will be created for the events January 21 and 22, 1991. In so doing, he is implying that one of the sources from which proverbs spring is a calamity or catastrophe such as the one experienced during the student strike on January 21 and 22: “a war which I believe our country has never experienced since independence...except in foreign wars...” (see conclusion of second segment above). Excerpt 13. The Minister met them. He met them again... Before the members of the Teachers’ Union, before the members Students’ Parents Association, before the members of Women’s Association, before the members of the Youth Association. “What you want to ask...I will... I will...give you an answer. Say it

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Kassim Kone to me. I will do what I can.” I can solve seven of your problems. These can be taken care of right away. Their resolution can get underway right away. Two other questions with regard to ... increasing your stipends, we will have to look into that. Why? The country is having difficulties. I will look into it at my...E-EE...work...E-E...work...E-E..work...ministry...if we can put a gourd in a gourd in order to see...if that is feasible. We will see if the gourd can be..E-E...put in the big gourd. That gourd has been able to fit in the big gourd. He [the Minister] told me he was in discomfort. As for the opening of the dorms in order that...students eat and...sleep...sleep there. He said: “We have this law [already in the land], if we apply it, this will please me very much.” They left. They came back. They said: “We agree. We are pleased by that.” The Minister said: “All right, now you work with my counselors. When you are done, you will tell me.” The teacher’s union, having reached this level [of agreement], said that...that they have decided to withdraw [from the talks]. They said they are not coming to the meeting anymore. The Minister said to the Secretary General of the National Labor Union: “The Teachers’ Union left! Ask them to come back!” He said: “I will ask them to come.” They refused to come. A Friday [March 8, 1991], the students came in their turn. They said: “Everything we have done so far [all agreement reached], all are fine.” This coming Friday, which was actually this past Friday [March 15, 1991], we will come and lay our signature on a paper, a paper that will indicate that we have reached an agreement. You have agreed, we also have agreed. Then, on Saturday, we will go home [on Easter vacation]. Since schools will be closed for ...month...E-E...two weeks, we will spend these two weeks in our families. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday [passed and on] Tuesday [March 19], students said that...what...that their Student leader has decided that the agreement reached was no longer valid. [They said] that they have decided to fight. Why? What they said [agreement reached] was not a serious matter. The Minister came and said: “Mr. President!” He went on: “This is a very difficult matter now.” He continued: “The youth said they are going to fight.” I said: “No! This is not a difficult matter. The youth does not know what to fight means. If they knew what to fight meant...still, those with whom you tried to find a solution to the youth problems, namely the leader of the youth association... national association, the leader of Women’s Association, the members of the Students’ Parents Association, the Teachers...the leader of....the Teachers’ Union, call them and tell them that I have asked them to help encourage the youth not to choose to fight. [Tell them] that what was agreed upon if...if everyone adopts it, that would be beneficial for all. That will benefit them, that will benefit us, that will benefit the citizens of the country also. Why was it that the gourd was able to fit?”

When students twisted the Minister of Education’s arm, the latter agreed to meet seven out of their nine demands by seeking to fit one calabash into another

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(here by making cuts on some expenditures in order to meet other demands). This agreement was reached in front of leaders of many other unions. In the course of these discussions, the Teachers’ Union withdrew from the talks despite subsequent recommendations by the Secretary General of the National Labor Union. Students accepted the agreement reached with the Minister for a few days, then rejected everything and decided to fight without understanding the implications of doing so. The President is ordering the Minister to ask all the associations and trade unions to intervene on his behalf again. This segment ends with the metaphor of the Minister’s success in seeking to fit one calabash in another—an indication that the regime has done all that could be expected of it. Excerpt 14. The members of Students’ Parents Association and of Women’s Association went to ask the youth. The youth said that they are not changing their mind about what they said. That they are holding the iron between their teeth [that they are categorical]. That they have held the iron between their teeth. The Minister asked them: “Then, what should we do?” Well! [They said] that they won’t change their mind. The members of the Teachers’ Union were invited. [They were asked] to look at it in clear and calm water in order that our schools as they are can become better places for education. [They were asked to work] so that our schools become learning places for today [present] and tomorrow [future]. They said: “We will reflect upon it.” They thought about it. These thoughts came to be given birth on Friday. On Friday, which came to be the fight... the day of the fight. As the youth themselves called it the day of the fight, that is Friday. All right, on Friday [March 22] again, Allah knows it, in Mali, the powerless, the powerful, the poor, the wealthy [know], everyone who can pay their head taxes, everyone who can pay taxes to help build the country, and such realizations which are in Bamako, [all know that these] were destroyed. Some people there are rich. Some are there, Allah has not made them wealthy. Some people are there, Allah has made them powerless. Some are there, Allah has made them powerful. What these people have been able to build, these were destroyed. These were destroyed. Stretching the limit, that has been said to be the motto. It has been said that the limits had to be skipped.

The President is trying to show that the youth have been disobedient even to their parents’ association, and the women’s association. Instead of agreeing to the advice of these, as custom requires, they have decided to hold iron between their teeth (they have categorically refused to assume responsibility). This metaphor refers to the bit of the horse that is pulled to force a horse to obey its rider. If a horse decides to grind the bit with its teeth, all you have to do is to apply more toughness to it. The President is implying that the Student Parents’ Association,

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the bit for students, failed to stop them. Here, Moussa is attempting to rouse parents and students against each other and to suggest that tougher measures are warranted. While the Teachers’ Union was pondering ways to resolve the question of our schools, students came to deliver the fight they had promised to deliver on Friday [March, 22]. Moussa goes on to explain how Allah decrees who people should be: poor, rich, powerful, or powerless. He appeals to Malians’ civic, moral, and religious conscience by saying that students have destroyed property that was built with head taxes and other forms of taxation. In so doing, he makes Allah a witness of the students’ destruction and ends this segment by saying that students have once again gone beyond the limits. All this is said in justification of the number of rioters killed that Friday March 22, 1991, four days before he was arrested. The number of dead for this day is officially stated as 27, but in reality, it is close to 100 people. Excerpt 15. In this respect, yesterday [Saturday March 23], the religions which are in Mali, I called their leaders. The followers of the Prophet Jesus and the followers of the Prophet Mohammed. I explained them...the situation. I said: “I am ... asking you to ask the youth and those who are backing them to be patient and that [the bounty of] restraint has no limit. That war is not good.” That it was said like that and I repeat it war is not good. That since this began, last year... from the last month of the year until today. Tell them that I said war is not good. Ask them to be patient. That destruction is not good. No matter the amount of time you put in building, when you want to destroy it, it takes only a little place.

Moussa claims that he has summoned the leaders of all the religions in Mali, asking them to tell students about the need for restraint and the consequences of open conflict. He uses three proverbs, which he had previously given these elders, to back up his ideas. “The bounty of restraint has no limit” implies here that one gains more through negotiation than by use of force. War is not good (repeated three times) emphasizes the tragic implications of an open conflict. The third proverb, which concludes this segment, “No matter the amount of time you put in building, when you want to destroy it, it takes only a little place[time],” shows that it takes a little time to destroy what has been built over the course of long periods of time. Moussa uses the whole segment in an attempt to show that he has tried all possible ways to avoid open conflict. He is still in denial and wants to indicate that he has done his best to stop students by asking them to have restraint and by explaining to them that war has bad consequences.

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Excerpt 16. Today [Sunday 24], these small associations [political parties], those who lead these small associations, I summoned them and told them this. I asked them: “What do you think of this? I am asking you: What do you think of this?” They said that all their small associations had held a meeting yesterday. [They said that] they have made a written request that I have to read. I read that. The message said that...that...I am a tyrant. That Moussa is a tyrant... a tyrant who will not listen to anybody. He who refused that meetings be held to help the country move forward. And that I have made preparations, preparations intended to kill the youth, to kill the women, to kill the old men with guns, very deadly guns. Therefore, [they asked] that Moussa and his government must leave like this...they must leave power. Deputies, they must leave power. They would like to establish new political party, a new political party which will make the country go forward and which is called People’s Salvation Committee. Even if it is the case that you do not belong to a religion... if you don’t belong to a religion, you can still be a hòròn [noble in spirit and behavior]. If you belong to a religion also, you [...]... when you fear Allah, you let go because of Allah [if you behave according to Allah’s path]. When you leave it to Allah, you leave it to yourself. When you leave it to yourself, you leave it to other people. * Let it be that you do not belong to any of these [religions], if you are still a hòròn, there are only three rules to obey: you do not lie, you do not make a promise that you fail to fulfill, never will you say “I said, I did not say today.” In this country...in this country, it is I who first said that everyone is allowed to do everything that they want. It is from my mouth that the word Liberty came for the first time. [This is proven by the fact] that the youth sung it in a song. That day allowed this song also to be sung. “Single king who cannot be criticized/given advice, the father orphans’ support is Allah. * Even if the rabbit is your enemy, you must say [acknowledge] that its ears are long.” * Working according to one’s will, doing things of one’s will, if this can be allowed...that is... that is...that is...Malians can do that. That is what is now happening. Isn’t that [because of] me?

In the first paragraph of this segment, Moussa is asking the Secretary General of the National Labor Union and a few other people accompanying the latter (which Moussa supposes are leaders of the opposition) what they think about the current situation in the country. Bakary Karambé, Labor Union leader, hands him a note, which reads that he is a tyrant, an assassin, and a dictator. This letter, endorsed by several other opposition parties, asks that the President and his government resign and that the Party and National Assembly be dissolved. In the second paragraph, he uses the religious rhetoric asking for restraint: “When you leave it to Allah, you leave it to yourself. When you leave it to yourself, you leave it to other people,” meaning that, when you respect God’s

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teachings, you respect yourself; and in respecting yourself, you respect other people. He is also asking of Malians to ponder the notion of hòrònya (nobility), discussed in Excerpt 6 above. He claims that, even for the nonreligious, hòrònya means sociability and the acceptance of truth as an honorable corollary of social conduct. Concluding this paragraph, he accuses the opposition of lack of hòrònya, something which is proven by their failing to observe the rules of hòrònya: “you do not lie, you do not make a promise that you do not fulfill, never will you [contradict yourself after a first commitment and] say: I did say, I did not say...” In the third paragraph of this segment, Moussa claims that he is the first Malian to speak the word Liberty. He then plays a song from a tape in which there is a proverb that contradicts the message in the letter delivered to him that treats him as a tyrant. A proverb such as “Single king who cannot be criticized/given advice, the father orphans’ support is Allah,” he claims, could be allowed to be played on the national radio only under his regime. This proverb criticizes tyrants and dictators by implying that those who are powerless are orphans and that their father, Allah the Creator of Kings, will always take their side against a tyrannical king. In the conclusion of this segment, Moussa uses a second proverb: “Even if the rabbit is your enemy, you must say [acknowledge] that its ears are long.” In this proverb, he asks the opposition to at least acknowledge that he is a democrat and give him credit as the Champion of Liberty, since he allowed the above proverb to be sung and aired on national radio. But here also, he is accusing the opposition of lack of hòrònya (magnanimity) in not acknowledging the truth spoken by their enemy and in not giving him credit where he deserves it. Excerpt 17. And what is the second point to that? Well! When the character your enemy puts on you...When you are given the character your enemy puts on you, and nobody knows you to fit this description, they will say it is a lie. * From November eighteenth of the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty eight to today, ask the people: Where is Moussa’s house? Ask them that. Where is Moussa’s house? If this was the case [that I own a house], it will be ground for many to say it as a bitter reminder to me [for my dishonesty]. Every three years... every three years I travel across the country... I travel across the country. That [they are saying] is an enemy’s attribution of a character to me. My character... if it was like it is being said, those of you who are here, you would not be here today. If [the events of] November 19 had not occurred at all, you would not have been able...what you are saying, you would not have been able to say it today. You would not have been able to say what you are [now] saying. You could not say the truth [before November 19 1968]. Unless you said it into a

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gourd. You could not say it to your wife. For the enemy’s E-E-E-E-E lie has been put on me. Is that not a self-inflicted harm...self-created....self-inflicted harm? Is there a worse case of self-inflicted harm beyond this? To be put on a lie? In which country a lie can be put on the Head of the country like this?

In the beginning of this segment, Moussa paraphrases a proverb. He says, “When you are given the character your enemy puts on you, and nobody knows you to fit this description, they will say it is a lie.” The original proverb is “Danna man jugu, kè n’sòn ye de ka jugu” (trans., “Your character’s being sullied is not bad, but that this be proven to be your true behavior is bad”). In using this proverb, he is claiming that he is not the type of person he is characterized to be. He goes on venting his anger saying that he is now suffering from the wound he inflicted upon himself when he liberated Malians and allowed them to speak to one another rather than speaking their mind in a gourd—i.e., he gave them freedom of expression. Speaking in a gourd is a sad reminder recalling Ancient Mali when people did not trust each other for fear that their speech might be reported to the 13th century tyrannical King, Sumaworo Kante. But since they felt the need to speak their minds, they resorted to speaking into a gourd. When President Traoré says that he liberated Malians and gave them freedom of speech, he is comparing himself to the founder of the Mali Empire, Sunjata Kéita, who liberated Ancient Mali from Sumaworo Kante’s tyranny. However, by simply mentioning that he liberated Malians, he is not behaving like a hòròn, since a noble does not remind people of the good deeds he did for them. It is the role of a jèli to mention the good deeds of a hòròn, not a hòròn himself/herself. One important thing to mention here is the use of a proverbial metaphor deriving from a catastrophe or a tragedy whose context is remembered after centuries. The context is recalled in order to draw parallels between past and present, as demonstrated with the expression to speak into a gourd. To speak into a gourd is not only the reminder of a historical national tragedy, but a powerful proverbial metaphor. This metaphor is an important symbolic obviation that Moussa strategically inserted in this segment to support his contention that he deserves power and that his claim to power is legitimate. Excerpt 18. A second point, in which you yourself are imposing on me, that Moussa and his government must leave power. I said: I refuse!!! I categorically refuse!!! You did not bring...you did not... you did not bring me to power. You did not bring me to power. The way I came to power, I know that. The way I remained in power, I know that. It is the Malians [not “you” the opposition] who said: “Moussa, stay in power!” [They said] that the National Assembly should leave

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Moussa loses complete control of himself here, stutters profusely, and conducts himself in a non-hòròn manner, even when uttering the categorical Bamana hòròn refusal: “N’tè-è-è! N’sèbèkòrò tè-è-è!,” which literally translates as “Me no! Me seriously no!” His anger betrays him by extending in tone and length this expression beyond the way it should be said by a hòròn. This expression is famous in that it is like an oath that a Bamana person makes to show categorical refusal. The way Moussa says it is exactly the way the powerless would say it before a powerful person to indicate his lack of power but his will to remain with his dignity even if death must follow. Moussa’s enunciation of the Bamana categorical refusal is a sign that he is desperate and that he has completely lost power. He is claiming that both he and the members of the National Assembly are elected officials and that they will leave office as the result of an election. This segment ends again with a question (asked twice) about his honesty in his not owning a house. Excerpt 19. I said it here and repeated it that those who are supporting the youth should back off. The ones who are backing them are not even here [in this country]. They are not here. If they stop supporting the youth, they have failed...the youth...the youth...the youth. I have said in my speech, each of us who paid head taxes and taxes... to be used to build the nation should not sit and watch... them destroy these before our own eyes? Whose house among them [backing the youth] has been destroyed? Many of them, some...have arrived at the entrance of their graves [don’t have much left to live]. … has been destroyed? Many of them, some...have arrived ... their graves... at the entrance of their graves. If someone were to go and destroy their homes...they will say... they will leave your case to Allah [they will only rely on God for revenge]. Why? Because they have become old... they cannot do anything to help themselves. They have grown too old to do anything for themselves. Some are there, they sleep in the open. They have no power, no means. What have these done to them [the youth]? They have not drunk it, they have not spilled it.* Allah, you do not sleep...you do not even feel sleepy let alone sleep, thus you see everything. I will be paid back. I will be paid back in a nice way.

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Moussa is blaming the political problem of the country on foreign countries (see Excerpt 2 from the January 6 discourse) and foreigners. He is asking these foreign supporters to back off since they and their families are not concerned with the destruction that is taking place in Mali. Some of these people whose homes were destroyed did nothing to deserve this, and these people, being at the entrance of their graves, do not have any power to rebuild their homes. He is blaming the youth for such unjustified destruction because the victims have not drunk it nor have they spilled it. “Neither drunk it [the milk] nor spilled it [the milk]” is a metaphor that means that a person is being unjustly punished for something he has not done. Moussa says that only Allah, who never sleeps, will avenge of such victims, including himself. However, calling elderly victims people who are already at the entrance of their graves is very inconsiderate and insulting because Moussa is not God to know or decide how much more anybody has to live. Excerpt 20. Who among them [backing the youth] has their children among them [rioters]? None. They have no children among them, the house of no relatives among them has been destroyed. Nothing from them themselves has been destroyed. Surely, they are the ones who have pushed the youth to destroy. Malian citizens, I ask you to follow, if my two hands are not soiled with blood and you know that! This is something that does not add water to milk at all*. It does not add water to milk at all*. Follow me so that we build Mali. The way we built it by digging wells in villages, by building dams, by farming and reaching selfsufficiency in food production. [Follow me] in working on other projects such as animal husbandry. Let us give our hands to each other. They [the youth] are the ones who said...they are the ones who said... they are the ones who said that we sitting down and talking does not lead to sweet agreement. They are the ones who said that. They wrote it down, their mouths said it. The day we will sit down, we will remind them that. We said... I, Moussa said... that we must sit down and talk and reach an agreement on matters. That is sweet.

In this segment, Moussa is blaming those who are backing the youth for the destruction in which their property, lives [youth supporters], and those of their loved ones are spared. He invites Malians to support him and tries to make them believe that he has not played any role in the death and injuries of the past days when he says, “if my two hands are not soiled with blood, and you know that!” He introduces the second paragraph of this segment with a paraphrased proverb: “This does not add water to milk.” The proverb is said originally as “Nònò ni ji kulusen o kulusen, u tè to nyògòn na” (trans., “No matter how you mix milk and

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water, sooner or later they will separate”). In paraphrasing this proverb, Moussa is claiming an unsubstantiated “common knowledge” that he has never killed and that this fact is clear like milk added to water which can easily be checked and known. He continues with the political rhetoric of nation-building, his willingness to sit down and reach sweet agreement through discussion, the lack of hòrònya of the opposition in not observing their own commitment.

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Excerpt 21. The length of a speech, the brevity of a speech, all seek to reach one and the same goal:..they all seek to reach one and the same goal. * For this reason, I will stop here today. Then, I extend greetings to you all, an unlimited greeting. A greeting for trust, I must thank you for the trust you have invested in me, in hòrònya, in Islam [submission to God]. Since we are observing the [holy] month of Ramadan, I pray Allah. Those of you who are observing the fast, those of you who are not observing the fast but who have other means, join me in praying Allah for [the best] of this country. May Allah help get this country forward! Join me in wishing well for the sick [injured] so that Allah grants them health! Join me in praying for those who experienced the destruction of their property without their feet and hands being involved [in this event] so that Allah takes good care of them. May Allah grant them wealth that will make them forget this destruction! They will forget this... those whose feet and hands did not get involved in it. May Allah grant us happiness!

Moussa concludes his last presidential address with a proverb on the function of speech: “The length of a speech, the brevity of a speech, all seek to reach one and the same goal:..they all seek to reach one and the same goal.” The use of this proverb in the last paragraph of the speech implies that there is no need to talk longer and that all spoken communications have a single goal: that of being received and understood at least as far as the intention of the speaker is concerned. Moussa does not suggest what the goal of either a lengthy or a brief speech would be. This proverb is a disclaimer in that he wants not to take responsibility for the vagaries and people’s failure to understand the message he intended to tell them. The address ends with rhetorical expressions in which a leader traditionally extends to his people. Because this speech is made in the Holy Month of Ramadan, he calls upon the Muslim community for prayers and promises that the victims will receive Allah’s compensation for their loss.

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CONCLUSION One remark that we might say of this speech is that it is anything but friendly. It was a message of threat and denial in taking responsibility for the killing of more than 100 people who had died and over the 1000 injured in the disturbances. We noted also that, in his speech to his supporters on January 6, 1991, Moussa uses an extended Islamic expression in Arabic. Although the second speech was delivered in the Holy Month of Ramadan, he failed to use the same type of introduction. Much of what he says in this discourse about Allah is that Allah will reward those who experience loss. He attempted to mystify power and wealth by explaining that God determines power, wealth, and the lack of these. In the empirical material above, President Moussa Traoré’s last political address, we have seen how he makes use of proverbs in different ways in an attempt to resolve a national conflict. He performs proverbs in two main ways: 1) by paraphrasing segments or whole proverbs, thus changing their structure or form and 2) by quoting the proverb in totality. In some instances, we have noticed that President Traoré paraphrases proverbs by saying only a fragment of them or paraphrasing them completely by saying proverbs in a novel form. We notice that, in the cases he chooses to paraphrase or when he elaborates on a given proverb, he is appealing to his audience’s sensibilities. He attempts to convince them that what he is saying can only be the truth. He does this by demonstrating that he has followed the path of tradition in attempting to stop the social unrest, and by using proverbs that ask people to be patient. The paraphrased proverb in the third paragraph of the address, “we must sit down and talk so that sweet agreement be reached in that,” is a good example of this. When saying proverbs to dissuade, to threaten, or to dramatize, Moussa quotes them fully, usually at the end of the paragraph, without any further elaboration. Such proverbs said in this manner are ambiguous, and the audience is invited to make its own interpretation of them. They are usually said in conclusion of a segment in which Moussa tries to justify the actions taken or to be taken by the military. This way of performing proverbs confirms van der Beken’s (1993, p. 7) argument that, in use, proverbs are often said without further interpretation since the performer assumes that everybody understands them or the context of their use makes them explicit. But Moussa’s choice not to paraphrase or elaborate proverbs of threat is intended to leave them ambiguous and also to disengage his responsibility for the killings that had taken place and that were to take place later. The two proverbs at the end of the sixth paragraph of this address illustrate this fact: “When you hear that they say that skipping over the limit is not good, ‘Not

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good’ does not have a particular meaning: when you skip over the limit, the limit will not leave you alone until it skips over you” and “The little calf...it does not know the lion [as a dangerous being] but...the mother [cow] knows it.” Moreover, Moussa brings in proverbs of historical and social significance to legitimize his power and authority. Historically, he takes a famous proverb whose reference point dates back to 13th century Mali, comparing himself to Sunjata Kéita. By comparing himself to the founder of the Mali Empire for ridding ancient Mali of a tyrant, Moussa, a noble, evokes a well-known proverbial expression from nyamakala lore to make use of the past as a way of giving legitimacy to his present regime. Socially and ideologically, Moussa dwells on the notion of hòrònya (nobility) to make assertions about the correct use of speech as legitimizing both power and nobility. The implications for his performing proverbs on what a noble should and should not do are an attempt to reconcile his own political interests with traditional Malian values. Two reasons Moussa’s friends and colleagues prevented this address from being aired were the timing and the contexts of the moment. They probably judged that, due to the recent political repressions by the military, Moussa’s rhetorical devices not only lacked their perlocutionary force, but they would have become a liability, a rhetorical hazard for the regime. Yankah (1989, p. 46) supports that the performance of the proverb is both a practical and risk-taking exercise. According to him, efficiency in proverb praxis is a mark of rhetorical wit, whereas a flawed performance may undermine the social standing of the orator. In this particular case, the flaws in Moussa’s address came not from the performance of the oratory, but in the timing and the context in which the speech was delivered. The flaws in the tone and the content of this message could also be due to the fact that Moussa was barricaded in his palace and was not well informed of the events that were taking place in the streets. This address was videotaped on Sunday, March 24 and Moussa was arrested on the following Tuesday, March 26, 1991. Because this speech was not broadcast before the president was deposed, it did not have the effect on people it might have encountered had it aired before the coup d’état. Therefore, it is impossible to measure the risks Moussa’s speech might have had for himself, his government, and the single party. One can only speculate that, had this speech been aired, it would have increased the violence that was already established by bringing more angry rioters into the streets. The tape from which I transcribed this speech was bootlegged and sold locally right after the coup. When I stayed briefly in Mali in 1995, four years after the events, I interviewed a few people about this speech. Most of the people I interviewed remembered the content of his speech and repeated many of the proverbs in it. But

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many of them vividly remembered and were still upset about his saying that he would make hell visit the head of opposition party members, which Malians interpreted as Moussa’s comparing himself to God. Proverbs constitute a very important tool for political discourse. They are economical in terms of time and cultural efficiency. The built-in cultural presuppositions proverbs carry make them an excellent tool for political discourse. As cultural presuppositions, proverbs may help the speaker, but they can and do also backfire as could have been the case had Moussa’s speech been broadcast before he was deposed.

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REFERENCES Andriamirado, S. (1991, January 30-February 5). Le compte à rebours. Jeune Afrique, 1570, p. 6. Bakhtin, M. M. (1986) [1953]. The problem of speech genres. (V. W. McGee, Trans.). In C. Emerson & M. Holquist (Eds.), Speech genres and other late essays (pp. 60-102). Austin: University of Texas Press. Bauman, R. (1977). Verbal Art as Performance. In R. Bauman (Ed.), Verbal Art as Performance (3-58). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Bauman, R. (1992). Contextualization, tradition, and the dialogue of genres: Icelandic legends of the kraftaskþald. In A. Duranti and C. Goddwin (Eds.), Rethinking context: Language as an interactive phenomenon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bonnet, D. (1982). Le Proverbe chez les Mossi du Yatenga (Haute-Volta). Paris: Selaf. Hoffman, B. G. (1990). The power of speech: Language and social status among Mande griots and nobles. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University. Kouyaté, M. (1990, December 14). Meeting de l’ADEMA: Des faits, tétus.., qui accusent. Les Echos Special, 50, 3. Kpatindé, F. (1991, February 20-26). Mali: le front du refus. Jeune Afrique, 1573, 6. Malinowski, B. (1956). The problem of meaning in primitive languages. In C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (Eds.), The meaning of meaning: A study of the influence of language upon thought and the science of symbolism. New York: Harcourt Brace. Maïga, T. (1990, March 16-30). Démocratie au sein du parti: La Bataille de Bamako. Les Echos, 29, 5.

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Morawski, S. (1974). Inquiries into the fundamentals of aesthetics. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Penfield, J. (1983). Communicating with quotes: The Igbo case. Westport: Greenwood Press. Traoré, A., A.S.D., & M.M.S. (1990, June 8-22). Comment l’UNTM a pu forcer le “sens de l’histoire.” Les Echos, 33, 4-5. van der Beken, A. (1993). Proverbes yaka du Zaïre. Paris: Editions Khartala. Wagner, R. (1978). Lethal speech: Daribi myth as symbolic obviation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Yankah, K. (1989). The proverb in the context of Akan rhetoric: A theory of proverb praxis. New York: Peter Lang. Yankah, K. (1995). Speaking for the chief: Okyeame and the politics of Akan royal oratory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

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Chapter 4

FELICITY CONDITIONS OF NIGERIAN POLITICAL SPEECHES Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe

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ABSTRACT In this chapter, I examine a type of political speech in Nigeria based on addresses of two notable heads of state to the nation or to sections of the nation, adopting speech act theory in the analyses and discussions. Premised on the fact that all utterances not only serve to express propositions, but also perform actions, I show that the five macro classes of illocutionary acts— Representatives, Expressives, Directives, Commissives, and Declaratives/Performatives—are found in a relatively well-distributed manner of occurrence in the speeches of both leaders—the late General Sanni Abacha (representing a dictatorial regime) and retired General Olusegun Obasanjo (representing a democratic regime). Also, I have discovered that, while the representatives and the commissives are usually infelicitous, the directives are often felicitous; for the expressives—largely greetings—do not only function felicitously as greetings, but also as implicit performatives which signal the beginning or the closing of a series of speech acts. Also, the explicit performatives are almost always felicitous, especially in the Abacha (military) speeches. Lastly, all the speeches demonstrate some tactfulness but flout some of the maxims of the cooperative principle.

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INTRODUCTION In this chapter, a discourse analysis of a type of political speeches in Nigeria is carried out—speeches by two notable Heads of State in particular, with the aim of showing whether the speeches were felicitous or not. Four speeches of varied lengths are examined, two by each speaker, with the prevalent speech acts, indeed the prevalent illocutionary acts, highlighted.

AIMS This paper seeks to present prevalent speech acts in the political speeches of these notable Nigerian Leaders, as well as the felicity status of their speeches.

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THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE This is a study in Discourse Analysis, a broad field of linguistic study that has gained some ground since the 1970s. A theory of language is part of a theory of action, simply because speaking is a form of rule-governed behavior (Searle, 1969). Language is rule-governed, intentional behavior and involves performing speech acts. Linguists studying discourse have attempted to categorize the various units that make up any discourse, just as they would classify grammatical units into morpheme, word, phrase/group, clause, and sentence. Unfortunately, such classifications have not been easy, because discourse comprises units that do not easily conform to a hierarchical structure like the grammatical units. Anything from a word to a paragraph or a group of paragraphs could form a text or discourse. Nevertheless, there have been major breakthroughs in the works of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969, 1975, 1979), as well as Hymes (1974) and Sinclair and Coulthhard (1975). The Speech Act Theory (SAT) of Austin, expanded by Searle, Hymes, and a few others through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, serve as a forerunner to other theories on discourse analysis. Speech Act approach to discourse focuses on knowledge of underlying conditions for production and interpretation of acts through words. Words, as utterances, may perform more than one action at a time, and contexts may help to separate multiple functions of utterances one from another. Unfortunately, however, not only does Speech Act Theory “assume that

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meaning is protean, but the underlying model of communication that is assumed does not require symmetry between speaker intention and hearer interpretations” (Schiffrin, 1994, p. 358). This accounts for why some utterances may be infelicitous. Austin (1962), based on his prior claim that, in saying something, we perform a speech act, came up with the following classifications of speech acts:

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1. Constative: A statement, the business of which is to describe a state of affairs or state some fact, and this it must do either truly or falsely. 2. Ethical Proposition: Evinces emotion, prescribes conduct, or influences in some way. 3. Performative: The saying of the words constitutes the performing of an action. A performative can misfire excepting four specified conditions. Constatives look like statements, but they are more of statements of facts that are not intended to record or impart information about such facts (e.g., The sun rises in the east). Ethical propositions are intended solely or partly to evince emotions, prescribe conduct, or to influence it in some way (e.g., I suggest that you see her). Performatives are sentences or utterances (acts) in which the saying of the words constitutes the performing of an action (i.e., I take you Agnes as my wife). These three types of acts were later subsumed under the following terms: a) Locutionary Act: The act of saying something in the full sense of ‘say.’ That is, the production of sounds and words with meaning, a purely linguistic act; b) Illocutionary Act: The act performed in saying something; this is realized as the successful realization of the speaker’s intention, which, according to Searle (1969), is a product of the listener’s interpretation; and c) Perlocutionary Act: This is the actual effect achieved in the “saying of the utterance.” To perform a locutionary act is to perform an illocutionary act. Searle (1969), like Austin (1962), proposes his own classes of speech acts as follows: (1) Utterance Act (which equates to Austin’s Locutionary Act) constitutes uttering words, morphemes, sentences, etc; (2) Illocutionary Act, consisting of a propositional act (which equates to Austin’s Illocutionary Act as well), entails any one or a combination of stating, questioning, commanding, promising, etc. by “referring” and “predicating”; and (3) Perlocutionary Act

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(which equates to Austin’s Perlocutionary Act as well) is the effect of the illocutionary act on the actions, thoughts, and beliefs of the hearer(s). It is important to note that there are five macro classes of Illocutionary Acts generally recognized, which are:

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Representatives or Assertives (not exactly the same): express the speaker’s belief. Directives: expect the listener to do something. Commissives: express the speaker’s commitment to do or achieve something. Expressives: specify the sincerity condition of the state of affairs in a propositional content. Declaratives or Declarations: resemble performatives and are conventional acts; the saying of the words constitutes the performance of the action. (Coulthard & Sinclair, 1975, p. 24)

These macro classes of illocutionary acts have been further broken down into between twenty-two to twenty-four acts by different authors, namely, Informative, Directive, Request/Command, Comment, Evaluation, Commissive, Advice, Performative, Greeting, Summons, Expatiation, Restatement, Warning, Appeal, Threat, Reinitiating, Conclusion, Justifier, Solidarity greeting, Committing, Acknowledging, Eliciting, and Expressive, some of which may overlap. This is premised on the preceding discussion on Austin and Searle’s presentation of SAT, which has been expanded by Hymes (1974), Coulthard and Sinclair (1975), and a host of others. I discuss the illocutionary acts in the four speeches selected.

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS Examples P = Performative/Declaration; E= Expressive; C= Commissive; R= Representative (I) Abacha I: 1993 Maiden Address to the Nation 1. Fellow NigeriansP

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2. Sequel to the resignation of the former Head of StateR 3. And my subsequent appointment as Head of State R 4. I have had extensive consultation within the armed forces R 5. Consequently, the following decisions came into immediate effect P/R 6. The Interim National Government is hereby dissolved P 7. The National and State Assemblies are also dissolved P 8. The State Executive Councils are dissolved – P 9. The Provisional Ruling council is hereby established – P 10. Government is hereby lifting the proscription order with immediate effect P 11. This regime will be firm, humane and decisiveC/E 12. We will not condone or tolerate any act of indiscipline.C/E 13. Any attempt to test our will, will be decisively dealt with – C/E 14. For the International community, we ask that you suspend judgmentD 15. This government is a child of necessity. – R/E 16. With the determination to restore peace and stability to our countryC 17. And on this foundation enthrone a lasting and true democracy.C 18. Long live the federal Republic of Nigeria – R 19. Thank you – P 20. Fellow Nigerians, on the Thursday 18th November 1993 – R

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 21. Our beloved country was adrift – E/R 22. Threatened with imminent disintegration – E/R 23. Critical elements within the society invited the Armed Forces to intervene – R 24. It is therefore clear – R 25. That this administration comes in to perform a mission of national salvation – R/C 26. We have undertaken to lay a solid foundation for … C 27. We must therefore solve our problems ourselves D 28. We must lay a very solid foundation for the growth of true democracy D 29. We are determined to accomplish this… C 30. I shall inaugurate the constitutional conference – C 31. We must warn C/D 32. That our pursuit of this noble objective is and cannot be compromised – C/D 33. Therefore, those elements… must bear in mind the full consequence of their act of disservice…. – R/C 34. No individual or group will be permitted to hold this country to ransom – R/C 35. We acknowledge the interest demonstrated…. R 36. We ask you to continue to appreciate …. – D 37. We indeed hope that …. You should do nothing… D 38. We have a responsibility to achieve this objective C

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39. We ask all members of our society to continue to be peacefulD 40. We should show more restraint D 41. And build a united and peaceful Nigeria D 42. Give us the chance to solve our problems in our own ways D 43. This administration wishes to reassure everybody of our commitment… – R/C 44. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria – R 45. Thank you P

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(II) Obasanjo I: 39th Independence Anniversary Address 1. Fellow Nigerians P 2. I have chosen today, … to address you R 3. It is not about what we have so far achieved as a country R 4. I wish instead to think along with you… R 5. The new course we are about to chart … R 6. We have seen and suffered through a tragic civil war. 7. We have witnessed violent seizure of power E/R 8. We have written and discarded … E/R 9. We have experimented with … E/R 10. Our economy is in shambles, our… in disarray – E/R 11. … as recently as May 29th, … some Nigerians were still asking “ can we really make it as a united country” R

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 12. Can we rise above the defeating forces? R 13. Will the freedom guaranteed by democracy in fact not increase out tendency towards quarrelsomeness and greater division? – R 14. But there is an alternate view … strongly held …during the civil war for instance or in the more recent days of tyranny … R 15. It is tempting to conclude … R 16. Let me remind you that human society never grows to their highest potential R 17. … and we will continue to strive … C 18. When I took the oath of office, it was very clear to me R/E 19. That our administration had to quickly propose … R/C 20. Now, what is this new order I speak of? R 21. As a government, our administration has committed itself to… C 22. We have sworn to and are determined to… C 23. I am convinced then that …E/R 24. I know that …E/R 25. Let me reiterate here once again that this government is not beholding to any group R/C 26. We will punish or reward without fear or favour C 27. Again, I say there will be no sacred cow C 28. I appeal to all Nigerians …D/P

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29. I mentioned only a few of the policies being promoted by our administration -R 30. But we will not, I must firmly say, fold our hands when the integrity and security of the state are at risk. C/D 31. I have presented to you my humble view – R 32. I rededicate myself … let us all run … C/D 33. Finally, let us congratulate ourselves P/E 34. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria R 35. Thank you.P 36. Honourable commission and my LordP 37. I just want to reiterate that …R 38. It is not a commission to …R/D 39. This commission must never, never, I repeat allow itself to be trivialized …-D 40. Your task is both …R 41. Thank you very much. P

DISCOURSE STRUCTURE The characteristic discourse structure for the four speeches being examined takes the format for monologues, as enunciated in Coulthard and Montgomery (1982), and is presented in the schema below with optional elements in brackets. 1. Each speech Event = A Transaction = Sequence = Member(s)/Acts. 2. Transaction = Summons/ Greetings -> sequences -> (Frame+ Focus + Glide + Aside + Sequence) -> Final sequence -> Conclusion: Greeting/ Solidarity greeting.

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ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS

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The four speeches consist of all the five macro-classes of illocutionary acts identified earlier, namely, Representatives, Expressives, Commissives, Directives, and Declarations/ Declaratives Performatives. These five macro classes can also be further subdivided into the twenty-four acts identified above. It must be said, however, that some of the classifications might overlap. For instance, a request is a directive, but a directive is not necessarily a request. Also, it may be an assertive or a justifying act. That is, the force of different illocutionary acts is not always the same, even when the propositional content is the same. We discover that both Abacha’s and Obasanjo’s speeches consist of the five macro classes of speech acts. While Abacha’s speeches exhibit more directives in the form of warnings and threats, as well as more performatives, in form of declarations or declaratives, Obasanjo’s speeches exhibit more representatives in the form of opinions and more commissives. Also, Obasanjo’s speeches consist of longer, and more complex constructions than Abacha’s speeches. A look through the utterances which form the illocutionary acts shows a prevalence of informatives, expatiation, directives with different forces of illocution, threats, warnings, promises and commissives, comments, justifiers or excuses, and greetings/summons.

FELICITY CONDITIONS OF THE SPEECHES Illocutionary acts are portrayed through the force of illocution (illocutionary force), and such force may be effectively portrayed in various ways in any specific language. The proper characterization of illocutionary force is provided by specifying the set of felicity conditions (FC’s) for each force. FC’s are here classified into the following: a) Preparatory Conditions: These concern real world prerequisite to each illocutionary act. b) Propositional Content Conditions: These specify restrictions on the sentence or utterance in the case of the explicit performative. c) Sincerity Conditions: These state the requisite beliefs, feelings and intention of the speaker, as appropriate to each kind of action. d) Essential Conditions: These state that ‘X counts as doing Y’ / ‘doing X counts as Y’

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Thus, Illocutionary Acts (or, simply put, Speech Acts) are to be described in terms of felicity conditions, which are specifications for appropriate usage; they are a part of constitutive rules which specify dimensions on which utterances can go wrong. In other words, what makes a speech act infelicitous? For all illocutionary acts hitherto discussed to be carried out, the following basic conditions must have been fulfilled: 1. Both Speaker (S) and Hearer (H) comprehend the utterance (U) 2. Both Speaker and Hearer are conscious, normal human beings 3. Both Speaker and Hearer are in normal circumstances, not dreaming, not acting in a play 4. The Utterance contains some Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID), which is only properly uttered if all the appropriate conditions obtain

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In addition, other specific conditions peculiar to each illocutionary act— which shall be specified below for each category of speech act—must be met: (1) Informatives (as Expressives or Representatives) Informative Conditions Propositional Content Get to know U Preparatory Condition 1) S wants H to know that U 2) S is not aware that H knows that U Sincerity Condition S believes that H does not know that U

It is the case in Abacha’s speech that the speaker wants the hearers (Nigerians) to know the content of utterances/sentences 2, 3, 4. It is, however, not certain that speaker (S) is aware that hearers (H) know the information contained in 2, 3, 4. In fact, the truthfulness of the propositional content of utterance (U) 2, 3, 4 is suspect as it was not certain whether chief Shonekan resigned, whether Abacha was appointed, or whether any extensive consultations had taken place between Abacha and the Armed Forces hierarchy. The propositional contents of U 2,3,4, however, actually counts as an attempt by S to get H to know that U, irrespective of whether H believes U 2,3,4 to be true or not. Thus, while other conditions seem to have been met, the sincerity condition is greatly in doubt. Therefore, these utterances may not fully “count”; they may not only have informed the listeners, but cast doubts about the sincerity of the speaker in the ears of the listeners.

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In the Obasanjo speech, sentences/utterances 6,7,8,9,10, the speaker wants the hearers (H), Nigerians, to know and indeed be reminded that U 6,7,8,9,10 is a premise for U 5,6. For them to reason along with Obasanjo (U5 and U6), they should know that U 6,7,8,10) holds: we have seen and suffered through a tragic war; we have witnessed violent seizure of power, our economy is in shambles etc. It is uncertain whether the Hearers are aware of U6-10 or not. The Propositional content, the sincerity, and the preparatory conditions which are known are presumed to be unknown/not in place by the speaker. This is deliberate, to reinforce the “truth condition” of these utterances. Hence, these informatives indeed count as Representatives, as they not only “inform” but jolt the senses of the hearers to the truth. (2) Performatives (as Declaratives/Explicit Performatives) Performative Conditions Propositional Content Act A is performed now Preparatory Condition 1) Situation A must be changed/achieved 2) S believes H knows that he (S) has the power to change or achieve situation A Sincerity Condition S wants situation A to change or be achieved now Essential Condition In the utterance U, situation A changes or is achieved

In Abacha’s speech, for the performatives in sentences/utterances U 6-10, hearer(s) H know that: The Interim National Government no longer exists. The National and State Assemblies, as previously constituted, no longer exist. All state executive councils, as previously constituted, no longer exist. A body called the Provisional Ruling Council now exists. On the closed media houses, the proscription order has been lifted

Thus, with state authority and force backing up these utterances, all the performatives/declaratives are felicitous, especially since the coup that brought the speaker to power has proved successful; he has the power to do whatever he says. In Obasanjo’s speech as well, the performatives are not explicit performatives, but more of declaratives and rather few comparatively, as in

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sentences/utterances (U) 2,4,31,32,33. The speaker, in making those utterances, has actually: Addressed the people that day; Engaged in thinking along with the hearer(s); Presented his “Humble” view; Hopefully, rededicated himself to the stated cause; Congratulated himself and his listeners.

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His utterances have been felicitous. However, his own performatives are somewhat different from those of Abacha, although also backed by state authority as a duly elected Head of State. (3) Greetings (as Perfomatives/Expressiives) Greeting Conditions Propositional content Gratitude is being expressed or phatic communion is being initiated Preparatory condition 1) H must be recognized, acknowledged, or appreciated for his time/attention 2) H expects S to recognize, acknowledge, or appreciate him (H) for his time/attention Sincerity condition S wants to recognize, acknowledge H, show appreciation or gratitude for H’s sparing time to listen Essential condition In the utterance of U, appreciation, acknowledgement, or recognition is being shown/given

In sentences/utterances (U) 1,18,19,44,45 of Abacha’s speech, just as in U 1,34,35,36,41 of Obasanjo’s speech, we recognize some forms of greetings. As noted by Adegbija (1993), greetings or farewells in human communities perform the following roles: production of attention, identification of the interlocutor, reduction of anxiety in social contact; and they begin a series of communicative acts, define and affirm identity and rank, and manipulate a particular relationship for achieving particular ends. These roles apply in the four speeches; each speech opens and closes with a summons or greeting/solidarity greeting. The summons “Fellow Nigerians” or a listing of members in the audience is normally felicitous. This is because it successfully draws the attention of Nigerian listeners to the speech, which is usually a radio or television broadcast. The hearers believe that the speaker is about to begin a series of acts (e.g., directing or requesting that they do something,

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making some declarations, warning or threatening, etc.) and that the speaker is going to be observing the principles of conversation, such as Grice’s (1975) Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle. Greetings, on the other hand, do the converse of summons in that they “close” the series of acts initiated by the very first summons in the speech. Such greetings in the four speeches are also felicitous; they achieve their goals, are well received, and are correctly interpreted by the hearers. Lastly, we examine two similar pairs: 1) Request, Advice, Command as Directives and 2) Promise, Threat, Warning as Commissives. (4) Directives (Request/Advice) Propositional Content Preparatory Condition

Sincerity Condition

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Essential Condition directive

Conditions S asks H to do X 1) S is in a position to ask H to do X 2) H is able to do X, if willing 3) The directed act is not yet done 4) The directed act is in S’s interest S truly wants H to do X, in S’s interest and it is desirable to X Doing X counts as performing H’s

(5) Commissives (Promising Acts/Threats) Conditions Propositional Content 1) S is committed to doing X= promise 2) S is committed to doing X if Y = threat Preparatory Condition 1) S has the power or authority to do X 2) S is willing to do X 3) X has not yet been done by S or any other person 4) S intends to do X if Y 5) S has the authority or power to do X if Y Sincerity Condition S truly wants to do X S truly wants to do X if Y Essential Condition U counts as an undertaking that S will do X

Assuming that the four universal felicity conditions are in place, the additional conditions stated for directives above must be met for these directives (as requests, advice, or commands) to be felicitous (see U14 of Abacha’s speech).

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For the directive in utterance U14 in the Abacha speech above, it has the typical linguistic form of a directive, but it is a request, asking the hearers to do something. The preparatory conditions 2 and 4 can be questioned. Is H willing to suspend judgment? Is a suspension of the said judgment really in the interest of S and his larger community (Nigerians)? Answers to these two conditions may not be positive; hence the felicity conditions for this act—suspend judgment on our actions—can be said to have been violated. Therefore, this directive, like many more in the speech (see examples U36,39 in the Abacha speech) is not felicitous. However, explicit directives (U27-28,40,41,42) are more felicitous, as the felicity conditions are not easily violated. In Obasanjo’s speech, there are much fewer directives, especially explicit ones (e.g., U4,17,30,38,39), but they are felicitous and do count as directives. For the Commissives in the Abacha speech (promises/committing acts and warnings/threats), let us assume that all four universal felicity conditions are fulfilled; the conditions stated above must also be met. Given the pragmatic content of the speech and based on past experiences with previous leaders and unfulfilled promises, H (Nigerian addressee) believes that S has the power and authority to do X or to do X if Y. But does H believe that S truly wants to do X (U11,16,17)? Will this regime be firm, decisive, yet humane? Can they restore peace and stability to the country? Or can they enthrone a true and lasting democracy? For Abacha’s speech, H is not sure that S is willing to do X (i.e., to fulfill the promise), but H is sure that S is willing to do X if Y (i.e., to carry out the threat). This is not so for Obasanjo’s speech, given the fact that ‘some people are above the law ’in Nigeria, and many regimes had left with unfulfilled promises (U21,22, 26,27,30). Can Obasanjo’s government be trusted as committing itself to true democracy? Will they truly punish without fear or favour? Or will there be no sacred cow? The sincerity and preparatory condition are questionable for most of the commissives (refer to item (5) above), and this makes most commissives in speeches of this nature infelicitous. The hearers take them with a pinch of salt, believing that the speaker is speaking with his tongue in his cheek.

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SUMMARY We have been able to present felicity conditions for the following illocutionary acts that make up the five basic speech acts identified earlier, excluding Rogatives/eliciting acts (Peccei, 1999, pp. 50-53), which are very rare in the speeches, although more prevalent in Obasanjo’s speeches:

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(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Declarations/Representatives – Largely informatives, assertives Expressives – Greetings and Summons Directives – Requests, Advice, Direct Commands/Warnings Commissives – Promises, Threats/Warnings Explicit Performatives/Declarations Rogatives – Questioning/Eliciting

For the Representatives and the Commissives, because the sincerity condition is often questionable and some of the preparatory conditions are also violated, especially in the Abacha (Military leader) speeches, these classes of speech acts (and their illocutionary acts) are often infelicitous. Also, for the Directives, explicit directives are often felicitous because their felicity conditions make them ‘count.’ However, implicit directives often lack sincerity, and their preparatory conditions are often questionable; hence they are also usually not felicitous. For the Expressives (greetings and summons), they do not only function felicitously as greetings but also as implicit performatives, which signal the beginning or the closing of a series of speech acts. This fact is undoubtedly clearly accepted by Nigerians, and the beginnings and endings of Texts 1-4, which are archetypal, buttress this fact. The explicit performatives are almost always felicitous, especially in the Abacha (military) speeches, as well as in the Obasanjo (civilian) speeches. This is probably so because Nigerians have come to accept that every explicit peformative by a Nigerian Head of State always ‘counts’ and cannot be challenged or questioned, especially in the Abacha (military) speeches since they are fully backed up by State authority and machinery. Lastly, each of the speeches demonstrate some degree of Tactfulness (Adegbija, 1995) but obey, as well as flout, some of the maxims of the Cooperative Principle in particular—the maxims of quality, quantity, relevance, and manner. Abacha’s speeches withhold more information, while Obasanjo’s speeches give too much information.

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REFERENCES Adegbija, E. (1993). Greeting norms in Nigeria and Germany: Their place in intercultural understanding and misunderstanding. L.A.U.D. Series B: Applied and Interdisciplinary Papers. Paper 241 (Monograph). Adegbija, E. (1995). I, Major-General X: Discourse tacts in military coup speeches in Nigeria”. Text 15(2), 253-270. Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Coulthard M., & Montgomery M. (Eds.). (1982). Studies in discourse analysis. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole and J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics, 3: Speech acts (pp. 41-58). New York: Academic Press. Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Peccei, J. S. (1999). Pragmatics. London: Routledge. Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning: Studies in the theory of speech acts. New York: Cambridge University Press. Schiffrin, D. (1994). Approaches to discourse. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Sinclair, J. M., & Coulthard, R. M. (1975). Towards an analysis of discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

APPENDIX Text 1. Abacha’s Speech I: 1993 Maiden Broadcast to the Nation 1. Fellow Nigerians’ 2. Sequel to the resignation of the former Head of state, of the interim National Government and commander in chief of the Armed Forces, chief Sonekan 3. And my subsequent appointment as the Head of State and commander in chief 4. I have had extensive consultation within the armed forces. 5. And other well meaning Nigerians

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 6. In the bid to find solutions to the various problems which have engulfed our beloved country 7. And which have made life most difficult to the ordinary citizens of this nation. 8. Chief Ernest Shonekan took over as Head of State and commander-inchief of the Armed Forces at a most trying time in the history of our country. 9. Politically, economically and socially there were lots of uncertainties. 10. However, driven by the belief in himself, his constables and love for his country. 11. He accepted to face the challenges of our time. 12. I will therefore like to use this opportunity to pay tribute to him for his selfless service to the nation. 13. He showed great courage 14. By taking on the daunting task of heading the Interim National Government 15. Even a greater courage, knowing when to leave. 16. Many have expressed fears about the reappearance (at this time) of the military. 17. Many have talked about the concern of the International community. 18. However, under the present circumstances, the survival of our beloved country is quite above any other consideration. 19. Nigeria is the only country we have. 20. We must therefore solve our problems ourselves. 21. We must lay a very solid foundation for the growth of true democracy. 22. We should avoid any adhoc or temporary 23. The problems must be addressed firmly, objectively, decisively, and with all sincerity of purpose. 24. Consequently, the following decisions came into immediate effect. 25. The interim National Government is hereby dissolved. 26. The National and State Assemblies are also dissolved. 27. The state Executive Councils are dissolved. 28. The brigade of Commanders are to take over from the government in their state. 29. Until administrators are appointed. 30. Where there are no Brigade Commanders, 31. The commissioners of Police in the States are to take over. 32. All local government stand dissolved.

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33. The Directors of Personnel are to take over the administration of the local governments 34. Until administrators are appointed. 35. The National Electoral Commission is hereby dissolved. 36. All former sectaries to the Federal Ministries are to hand over to their Directors General 37. Until minister are appointed 38. The two political parties are hereby dissolved 39. All processions, political meetings, association of any type, in any party of the country, are hereby banned 40. Any consultative committee by whatever name called, is hereby proscribed 41. Decree 61 of 1993 is hereby abrogated 42. The provisional Ruling Council is hereby established 43. Which will comprise the Head of State of the federal Republic of Nigeria as chairman 44. The chief of General Staff as Vice Chairman 45. The Honourable minister of Defence, the Chief of defence staff , service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Internal Affairs Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister and the national security Adviser. 46. Legislative Power will reside in the council. 47. States will be governed by civilian administrators to be appointed later 48. Also, a federal Executive Council will be put in place. 49. Our Security system will be enhanced 50. To ensure that lives of citizens, property of individuals are protected and preserved 51. other economic crimes such as 419 must be tacked and eliminated. 52. On the current strike throughout the nation, following the increase in the price of fuel 53. I appeal to all the trade unions to return to work immediately. 54. We cannot afford further dislocation and destruction of our economy. 55. The fuel issue will be looked into. 56. On the closed media houses, 57. Government is hereby lifting the order of proscription with immediate effect. 58. We however appeal to the media houses, that in this spirit of national reconciliation, 59. We should show more restraint

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 60. And build a united and peaceful Nigeria. 61. Fellow Nigerians, the events of the past months which started from the annulment of the June 12 presidential election 62. Culminating in the appointment of the former head of state, chief Ernest Shonekan, are well known to you. 63. The economic downturn is undoubted being aggravated by the political crisis. 64. We require well throughout and permanent solutions to these problems. 65. If we are to emerge stronger from them. 66. Consequently, a constitutional conference with full constituent power will be established soon. 67. To determine the future of the constitutional structure of Nigeria. 68. The constitutional conference will also recommend the method of forming parties 69. Which will lead to the ultimate recognition of political parties formed by the people. 70. While the conference is on, 71. The re-organization and reforms of the following major institutions will be carried out: 72. The military, the police, the custom, the judiciary, NITEL, NNPC, NEPA, the banking industry and our higher institutions of learning. 73. This regime will be firm humane and decisive 74. We will not condone or tolerate any act of indiscipline. 75. Any attempt to test our will, be decisively dealt with. 76. For the international community, we ask that you suspend judgement, 77. While we grapple with the onerous task of nation building, reconciliation and repairs. 78. This government is a child of necessity. 79. With the determination to restore peace and stability to our country 80. And on this foundation enthrone a lasting and true democracy. 81. Give us the chance to solve our problems in our ways. 82. Finally, I appeal to al Nigerians, particularly our traditional rulers and community leaders, for their maximum support and cooperation. 83. Long live the federal republic of Nigeria. 84. Thank you.

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Text 2. Abacha II: Reference to his maiden broadcast, legitimizing the military entrance into government 1. Fellow Nigerians, on the Thursday, 18th November, 1993, in my media broadcast, I referred to what has become obvious to every Nigerian. (Anaphoric reference) 2. Our beloved country was adrift. 3. Threatened with imminent disintegration. 4. Some component parts of the nation threatened secession 5. Critical Elements within the society invited the Armed Forces to intervene 6. To secure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Nigerian. 7. State and to stem the tide of dangerous national descent into chaos and disorder. 8. As a result of this nation-wide concern about the state of our country 9. And following intensive consultation with a wide range of interests, including the principal actors of the June 12 crisis. 10. The Armed forces, along with other patriotic Nigerians, took the initiative of devising a way forward 11. By forming a government of a grand National Coalition to facilitate reconciliation 12. This coalition consists of eminent, tested leaders from all shades of political opinions. 13. It is therefore clear 14. That this administration comes in to perform a mission of national salvation 15. Fellow Nigerians 16. We have undertaken to lay a solid foundation for the growth of genuine democracy in our country. 17. This is the agenda of the administration 18. We are determined to accomplish this historic task, firmly, objectively, decisively and with all sincerity of purpose. 19. Drive .. wise, from the best political insight available in the country, we consider all options that could move the nation forward. 20. Some of the options were practical but undemocratic 21. Others were emotional but not practical. 22. After exhaustive appraisal of all options , 23. we recognized that our best choice is the convention of a constitutional conference.

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 24. The constitutional conference is an opportunity for the duly elected representatives of all Nigerians to come together for unfettered national dialogue and discussions on a wide spectrum of issues confronting us as a nation. 25. I have already signed into law, the decree establishing the conference on 27th June. 26. I shall inaugurate the constitutional conference. 27. The conference agenda has been derived from more than 1,000 memoranda (received from individuals and groups from all strata of our society, across the length and breath of this country). 28. Let me state categorically, our firm determination to see the successful implementation of the programme towards democratization. 29. We must warn 30. That our pursuit of this noble objective is and cannot be compromised. 31. Therefore, those elements in our society engaged in the act of 32. confrontation, sabotage, rumour mongering, false alarm and distortion of facts, must bear in mind the full consequence of their act of disservice to the nation. 33. They must also be prepared to face the full force of the law of 34. the land. 35. This nation is greater than any individual or group. 36. No individual or group will be permitted to hold this country to ransom. 37. We have heard enough and we have seen enough. 38. All well-meaning Nigerians condemn the attempt of some individuals and groups 39. Seeking to translate their personal ambition into a national trauma. 40. It is clear 41. That the constitutional conference will afford any group or individual with genuine grievance, ample opportunity to discuss them. 42. Choosing the path of confrontation and subversion at this time of our national history will not be tolerated. 43. Such acts will be sternly punished 44. We acknowledge the interest demonstrated by The international community, concerning our great nation. 45. We know most of you are doing so with very good intentions. 46. We ask you to continue to appreciate fully, the magnitude of our problems. 47. And give support to our determination and courage to grapple with them: 48. We indeed hope

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49. That in the true spirit of our national interest, you should do nothing to encourage the idle dreams of self seeking individuals 50. Or parochial interest of small opportunistic groups within our society who are bent on acts of destabilization under various covers. 51. The administration appreciates the political and economic crisis confronting us today, 52. But we are determined to contain and control the painful effects of these on our people. 53. Indeed, the economic policy of this administration has been realistic for appraising both the depth of the crisis 54. As well as in proferring genuine short and long term solutions 55. Fellow Nigerians This administration has a solemn responsibility to maintain the corporate existence of Nigeria. We have a responsibility to achieve this objective Through the enthronement of the principle of justice, equity and fair play. 56. Our mission is to ensure that we establish a very enduring democratic base That will form the bed rock for a sustainable nationally acceptable government for our nation. 57. We enjoin all patriotic Nigerians to participate in this great national endeavour. 58. Government wishes to thank all our citizens for their patience and show of understanding at this critical moment of our history. 59. We ask all members of our society to continue to be peaceful and law abiding. 60. This administration wishes to reassure everybody of our commitment and determination to protect all lives and property. Long live the federal Republic of Nigeria. 61. Thank you. Text 3. Obasanjo’s Speech I: 39th Independence Anniversary Address 1. Fellow Nigerians. 2. I’ve chosen today the 39th Anniversary of our independence to address you on an issue which I consider of the utmost importance to all of us Nigerians. 3. It is not about what we have so far achieved as a country. 4. neither is it so much about what we hope to achieve in the future. 5. I wish instead to think along with you about the moral foundation that should be given all our actions.

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 6. As we continue to search for a just, free and affluent community in Nigeria, 7. it is opportuned to do this at this relatively early stage in our administration, 8. and as we are at the threshold of the 3rd Millenium. 9. The new course we are about to chart will enable us to meet the demands of the next century. 10. We have experienced in the short span of 39 years, what many other countries have undergone in a hundred years and more. 11. We have seen and suffered through a tragic civil war. 12. We have witnessed violent seizures of power. 13. We have written and discarded numerous constitutions. 14. We have experimented with many visions on the role of the state in our life. 15. We have continually agonized on what should be the proper relation between the federal government and the constituent states of the federation. 16. Our economy is in shambles. 17. Our Social services in disarray. 18. For these and many more reasons there have indeed been times when many Nigerians have wondered aloud whether the very idea of Nigeria is a viable one. 19. Whether it is a powerful enough idea to override all our fears about ethnic and religious discrimination for instance. 20. In fact, even as recently as May 29th of this year when our administration took office, some Nigerians were still asking “can we really make it as a united country?” 21. “Can we even in a democratic setting rise above the defeating forces in our society?” 22. Will the freedom guaranteed by democracy in fact not increase our tendency towards quarrelsomeness and greater division? 23. But there is an alternative view of our destiny, equally strongly held by a vast majority of our country men and women. 24. That view is that there must be some divine purpose behind everything that has happened to us as a country. 25. But even in the darkest days of the republic, during The Civil War for instance, or in the more recent days of tyranny, many perceptive Nigerians have stubbornly held on to two basic concerns of our existence, namely:

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26. That Nigeria shall remain one and indivisible, 27. and that it shall be governed by the people through their representatives and in accordance to the law. 28. Indeed, when you consider the abundance of our human and material resources, our energy as a people and our seeming exception from the terrible natural disasters such as earth quake, hurricane, cyclone and long drought that afflict so many other countries, 29. it is tempting to conclude that we are without doubt, a blessed and fortunate people. 30. and that all we need to conquer therefore is not nature but only ourselves. 31. Let me remind you that human society never grows to their highest potential merely by upholding the preeminence of material value. 32. A great society does not fully thrive merely by offering its citizens hospitals and water, electricity and good roads, schools and affordable fuel, security from external aggression and protection from the criminals in our midst. 33. These things are important and they are very important. 34. And we will continue to strive to make them available to the largest possible number of our citizens. 35. But material well – being alone can just have easily been provided by a monstrous tyrannical faith and by a democratic order. 36. Nigerians however, have overwhelmingly rejected tyranny and dictatorship in favour of democracy and freedom. 37. And it must follow from this that there is something more we need from life. 38. Something more fulfilling for us as citizens in a dynamic society, which we expect to derive from a democratic culture. 39. It is this extra quality of our lives as citizens, this essence, that transcends material values, which I define as the anchor, the center, the moral and spiritual core that must bind and hold together everything that we do as government and as citizens of this country 40. It is also the absence of this centre that has earned us so many wasted, frustrated years. So many years in which we have merely thrown money at our problems. 41. Years in which every individual had simply looked out for himself, not caring for what happened to the common wealth itself. 42. When I took the oath of office last May, it was very clear to me that our administration had to quickly propose a new moral order that was absolutely essential.

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 43. if we were to fully understand our problems 44. and move promptly towards resolving them. 45. As I survey the canvass of our national life, I saw little more than confusion, greed, corruption in high and low places, selfishness, pervasive lawlessness and cynicism. 46. The very state itself in which we were all required to be loyal had become a state full of malice and meanness. 47. Public officials appeared to have forgotten what selfless service meant. 48. Private citizens felt a profound distrust of, if not hatred for the state. 49. But the new moral order which we are anxious to put in place not only has to be simple and straight forward,. 50. it has to be permanent and applicable in all circumstances. 51. and it has to be so structured as to command the voluntary support of a majority of Nigerians. 52. but without their support, the entire project will be doomed to failure. 53. Now what is this new moral order that I speak of? this anchor, this center? 54. First of all, we all rightly admit that we do have a number of basic rights which are guaranteed by the constitution. 55. and which can and should openly be protected through our courts and our legislators. 56. But the constitution and our laws do not always specify in details what our responsibilities are. 57. Yet we are obliged to pay our tax and other lawful levy. 58. and generally observe the law of the land. 59. And when we do not do so, the law sometimes catches up with us, and we pay the stipulated penalty. 60. But the fact remains that the responsibilities of the citizen that truly matters are not written in any book, 61. are not encoded in any sense. 62. Those responsibilities come from inside us; 63. they primarily enjoin us to be our brothers keeper, 64. to do to other citizens as we will want them to do to us. 65. We accept and discharge these responsibilities because we all live in a community; 66. a community whose well being depends on all of us living together towards a single goal. 67. Laws are made mainly to preserve the integrity of the state,

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68. but the added responsibility we speak of here are intended to preserve the spiritual basis of our community. 69. As a government, our administration has committed self to a small number of basic comprehensive principles. 70. We take it as our primary duty to protect and defend the oneness of Nigeria. 71. We have sworn to and are determined to obey the constitution and the laws of our country. 72. But beyond this, we bring the values of justice, equity, fairness, accountability, and transparency as fundamental tenets of our dream, 73. because I believe it is the surest way we can build a country and a community of our dream.. 74. I will not be tired of emphasizing that I do not see our duty against any doubt simply as fulfilling the letter of the law and constitution. 75. I am convinced that there is much more to governance than that, 76. and it is that extra value, that spiritual imperative that can bring governance closer to the people. 77. I am convinced then that they too have duty to discharge for themselves and for the rest of our community. 78. I know that the word compassion often provokes laughter among the cynics in our midst, 79. but it is not an empty or hollow word. 80. It is the essential quality that brings life into the mechanical provision of law. Political leaders from the president to the lowest local government councilor are invested with immense power. 81. That power can be and is often abused. 82. It is the quality of compassion that imposes limit on the powerful, 83. and compel them to realize that leadership that is not selfless service is hollow and not of God. 84. Before the advent of this administration and because of the nature of governance, Nigerians were used to perceiving official actions, polices and programmes ,as being determined by ethnic prejudice, religious bias, sectional interest or even personal agenda. 85. This perception of government and government action and decision still linger on. 86. And people are still inclined to see our administration in the same light. 87. Let me reiterate here once again that this government is not beholding to any group or individual.

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 88. The government was democratically elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. 89. Otherwise, the government has neither political affiliation nor obligation to any political, religious, ethnic, geographical, sectional or linguistic interest group. 90. We are resolutely committed to fairness and justice as the basis for dealing with all issues affecting the lives of Nigerians. 91. We will punish and reward without fear or favour. 92. Again I say that there will be no sacred cow. 93. The path of reformation, reconstruction and revamp is the task for all Nigerians, 94. and requires all hands on deck. 95. I appeal to all Nigerians to join the crusade to make Nigeria great again. 96. Together, we can make it ; 97. and we will make it by the grace of God. 98. Alleviating the poverty and suffering of our people is the fundamental objective of our administration. 99. It is the single principle that underlines everything we have done and we do. 100. For those who are tempted to believe for instance that our struggle against corruption is a Utopia, I say to them that we have no choice in the matter. 101. Corruption is not only illegal, 102. it is bad 103. because it corrupts the very soul of our community. 104. In practical terms, it makes nonsense of all planning and budgeting. 105. It woefully depletes our inadequate resources; 106. it breeds cynicism, 107. it promotes inequality; 108. it renders it almost impossible for us to address the objective of equity and justice in our society with seriousness. 109. And in the end, it destroys the social fabric of our society, 110. leaving each individual on his own to do only whatever is best for himself. 111. Corruption corrupts, destroys and kills. 112. It is this same spirit also that we have introduced through the National Orientation Agency, the new Campaign for national rebirth.

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113. This campaign is intended to emphasize not only the obligation of government to diligently seek to improve the total condition of our citizens. 114. Far beyond that; we are deeply concerned to redirect the consciousness of all our citizens, 115. so that they will accept it as a routine principle of conduct that each and every one of us is an indispensable participant in the great project of transforming our country for the challenges of the coming century and beyond. 116. The Universal Basic Education Programme which we have just launched is a complimentary project. 117. We have expanded the whole programme to now include all Nigerian Children in Primary and Junior Secondary School. 118. It is intended to enable all our children not only to learn how to read and write, 119. but also to acquire basic technical and other skills. 120. We also hope to use the scheme to teach them at an early age about their rights in democratic cultureand their responsibility both to the state and to their fellow citizens. 121. The Universal Basic Education programme takes all comprehensive adult education, literacy, and numeracy, to improve the management of every citizen’s life. 122. In view of our commitment to equity and justice in our country, the proposed Niger Delta Development Commission which is now being debated in the National Assembly, is only a different side of the same coin. 123. It is our hope through it, to begin to right the wrong on for too long in that part of our country, which for many years have suffered from official neglect. 124. We anticipate speedy passage of this proposal into law. 125. I mentioned only a few of the policies being promoted by our administration, 126. not as an exhaustive catalogue of what we have been doing or prepare to do. 127. I do so rather, to explain as carefully as I can, how all these policies are linked and tied together by a single moral and spiritual conviction. 128. That conviction is that in order to achieve the greatness which we all want for our country, we must all move beyond the notion that only government has obligation to the governed.

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 129. Every citizen in whatever situation he finds himself, must come to accept that building a country is a collective project, 130. and that it is best achieved when we all approach our duties as free men and free women, working towards a goal we have voluntarily chosen for ourselves. 131. Furthermore, that goal can be better and more efficiently achieved, if we all approach the task in the certainty that it is not just a leisure requirement but rather it is a moral obligation that we owe one to another. 132. And here, I must not fail to draw attention to the growing act of challenges the nation is facing from a number of groups from across the country,who may have completely misunderstood the true meaning of the freedom which our new democratic culture confers on us all. 133. Freedom does not confer on us the right to bear arm against the state or against ourselves. 134. The new phenomenon of ethnic, religious, cultural, and private army is clearly unlawful, 135. and is most certainly in breach of the moral imperative of the shared responsibility I have been talking about in this address. 136. Government has been patient and will naturally continue to prefer dialogue and debate to dispose of all genuine grievance. 137. But we will not, I must firmly say, fold our hands when the integrity and security of the state are at risk. 138. Peaceful protest is fundamental to democracy and we acknowledge this as such. 139. We are open to dialogue, 140. but we will not succumb to intimidation, violence and criminality. 141. All culprits will be punished. 142. In this regard, I will like to commend the magnificent work the media in Nigeria has been doing. 143. I am impressed that for the most part, the media has discharged their responsibility well. 144. They have been indispensable partners as they should be in our moral and ethnical crusade, 145. and they deserve to be congratulated for this. 146. But I must also observe that while it is true that the pen is mightier than the sword, it most certainly cannot be supposed to be mightier than the collective wisdom of the representatives of the people. 147. I urge the media to persist in their work,

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148. but to avoid being compromised by narrow ethnic, regional or religious prejudice. 149. Fellow Nigerians, 150. I’ve chosen on this occasion, not to bore you with the traditional recital of our achievements, our prospects, and the difficulties ahead of us which are numerous. 151. As we approach a new millenium, we ought to spare a little time to define the moral and social scope of the national project we are all engaged in. 152. Nigeria is potentially great, a great country. 153. But in order to achieve that potential, we must all work hard towards achieving a moral onsensus. 154. That consensus should consist of the following minimum principles, namely: 155. that our country Nigeria shall remain an indivisible state. 156. that it is the obligation of government, not only to faithfully observe the provisions of the constitution and our laws and also to seek to alleviate the suffering and poverty of our people; 157. That government cannot achieve this, 158. unless it commits itself to promote justice, fairness, equity, transparency and accountability. 159. And finally: that while every citizen shall be protected in his enjoyment of all the rights guaranteed him in our constitution, 160. he must also voluntarily commit himself to the fundamental moral precept, which is that we are, each of us, our brother’s keeper. 161. I have presented to you, my humble view of the moral foundation of our administration; 162. What we have done, why and what we propose to do and the responsibility of every citizen has been made clear. 163. What remains is to indicate how our actual conduct can be measured and judged. 164. To this end, I recently approved a white paper based on the recommendations of the Presidential Policy Advisory Committee. 165. This paper will soon be made public, 166. and shall constitute our operational procedure. 167. Furthermore, I will establish a Policy Analysis and Monitoring Unit in the Presidency

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Agnes Adebukunola Atolagbe 168. that will serve as an internal ombudsman that checks continuously the performance of government departments and the efficacy of government policy. 169. Fellow Nigerians, we have got the moral and ethical call to sustain and propel us as a nation into the 21st Century. 170. I rededicate myself to this value. 171. Let us all run to live up to this standard. 172. Finally, let us congratulate ourselves for this 39th anniversary of our national day. 173. May God Almighty help us all. 174. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the 3rd Millenium. 175. Thank You. Text 4. Obasanjo’s Speech II: Address to members of Oputa’s Panel 1. 2. 3. 4.

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5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Honourable commission and my Lord, I just want to reiterate that for me and I believe for many Nigerians, this commission is a serious commission, established to do a serious job of establishing truth and forging reconciliation. It is not a commission to review the findings of past Commissions of Enquiry neither is it a higher appellate court. This Commission must never, I repeat never allow itself to be trivialized away from the purpose for which it is established, and that is, I repeat, to establish truth, secure remorse and forge reconciliation and forgiveness as basis for peace and unity in our country. Your task is both a monumental one and in a way one can say a divine one and all I can say is that God Almighty may be with you and direct you as you confront this onerous task. Thank you very much.

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INDEX

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A academic, 8, 13 access, 13 accidental, 9 accomplices, 4 accountability, 31, 103, 107 activism, 14 administration, 4, 10, 12, 22, 30, 31, 82, 83, 84, 85, 95, 97, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 107 administrative, xi, 8, 9, 31, 50, 53 administrators, 94, 95 adult, 105 adult education, 105 aesthetics, 76 Africa, viii, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46 African languages, 28 African National Congress, 12 afternoon, 2 age, x, 8, 18, 34, 50, 105 agent, 6 agents, 6 aggression, 101 aid, 5 al Qaeda, 4 Allah, 53, 54, 58, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73 allies, 6, 19, 22

alternative, viii, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30, 45, 100 ANC, 12 anger, 5, 19, 69, 70 Angola, 9 animal husbandry, 71 annihilation, 20 antagonism, 29 anti-American, 5 ants, 39 anxiety, viii, 27, 34, 89 apartheid, 8, 9, 10, 12, 31 Arab countries, 16 Arab world, 4, 20 Arabs, 6, 7, 10 Argentina, 10 argument, 9, 29, 73 Aristotle, viii, 48 armed forces, 81, 93 Armed Forces, 82, 87, 93, 94, 97 arrest, 58 arteries, 58 articulation, 30 ash, 33 Asian, 16 associations, 61, 62, 63, 65, 67 Atlantic, 24 atmosphere, 54 atrocities, 10 attacks, 2, 14, 20, 41 attention, 7, 54, 89, 106 Attorney General, 95 attribution, 68

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110

Index

authority, viii, ix, 31, 32, 48, 74, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92 autonomous, 31 avoidance, 21

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B backfire, 75 backwaters, 13 banking, 96 banking industry, 96 basic rights, 102 behavior, vii, 34, 67, 69, 78 beliefs, 80, 86 bias, 103 Bible, viii, 48 bin Laden, Osama, 2 birth, 34, 54, 65 birth control, 34 black, 34, 38, 39, 40, 42, 58 black tea, 34 Blair, Tony, 20 blame, xi, 44, 50, 56, 62 blaming, 55, 62, 71 blood, 42, 71 bone, 37 boys, xi, 50 breast, 35 Britain, 5, 8, 10, 18 British, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 31 brothers, 5, 10, 102 brutality, 11 buildings, 53, 58 burn, 58 burning, 57 Bush administration, 3, 22 business, 59, 79

C California, 1 candidates, 17, 18 capacity, x, 31, 50 capital, 8, 9, 58

capitalism, 8, 20, 29, 30 capitalist, viii, 27, 29, 31, 42 cargo, 7 cast, 19, 87 Catholic, vii, 1, 2, 3, 7, 13, 14, 15, 18, 21 Catholic Church, 3, 7, 13, 15 Catholic school, 15 Catholics, 15, 21 censorship, 12 centralized, 30 certainty, 106 CFA, 57 chaos, 97 chicken, 55 childhood, xi, 50 children, 11, 33, 34, 39, 44, 56, 63, 71, 105 Christianity, vii, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 15, 19, 20, 39, 41 Christians, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23 CIA, 4 circumcision, xi, 50 citizens, vii, 20, 29, 30, 41, 59, 60, 64, 70, 71, 94, 95, 99, 101, 102, 105 civil society, vii, 1 civil war, 18, 83, 84, 100 Civil War, 100 civilian, 57, 92, 95 classes, xii, 30, 62, 77, 79, 80, 86, 92 classical, 29 classified, 86 classrooms, 39 Co, 25, 32, 46, 108 coastal areas, 8, 11 cohesion, 5 cold war, 5, 11, 19 Cold War, 12 colonial, viii, 8, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 42 colonial power, viii, 27, 31 colonialism, 5, 29, 30, 31, 41, 42, 44 colonization, 10 commander in chief, 93 commander-in-chief, 94 commercial, 2, 8, 23, 31 Common Market, 17 communication, x, 22, 30, 49, 79

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Index communism, 9 communities, 89 community, viii, 2, 16, 17, 21, 28, 29, 46, 72, 81, 91, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102, 103, 104 compassion, 103 compensation, 43, 72 competence, x, xii, 50, 51 competition, x, 49 competitiveness, 11 competitor, 32 comprehension, 30 computers, 2, 19, 20 computing, 5 concentrates, 42 confession, 14 confessions, 36 conflict, vii, xi, 2, 10, 36, 50, 59, 66, 73 confrontation, 19, 98 confusion, 102 Congress, 8, 10, 14, 15 consciousness, x, 15, 49, 105 consensus, 10, 107 conspiracy, 12 Constitution, 16 constitutional, 8, 17, 60, 61, 82, 96, 97, 98 construction, 13 consulting, 36 contracts, 20 control, 4, 11, 18, 52, 54, 70, 99 conversion, 6, 7 conviction, 105 coping, 24 corn, 9 corrosive, 33 corruption, 5, 14, 20, 23, 24, 102, 104 courts, 102 coverage, 4 covering, 43 credit, 68 crimes, 95 criminality, 106 criminals, 101 criticism, 9, 14, 37, 55 crops, 40 Cuba, 4

111

cultural, vii, viii, ix, 24, 27, 28, 29, 46, 48, 49, 52, 57, 75, 106 culture, 19, 20, 41, 59, 101, 106 cyclone, 101 cynicism, 102, 104

D dating, 32 death, 20, 34, 36, 70, 71 decentralized, 29, 30, 31 decisions, 81, 94 Declaration of Independence, 8 defense, 62 definition, 45 degenerate, 21 degree, xi, 4, 51, 92 democracy, vii, 1, 4, 20, 23, 24, 52, 53, 60, 81, 82, 84, 91, 94, 96, 97, 100, 101, 106 democratic elections, 12 Democratic Party, 104 democratization, 14, 98 Democrats, 20 denial, 14, 66, 73 desire, vii, 1, 52, 55, 59 desires, 63 destruction, 5, 20, 21, 66, 71, 72, 95 detainees, 4 detention, 8, 11, 43 dictatorship, 12, 16, 101 diet, 10 dignity, 70 directives, xii, 31, 77, 86, 90, 91, 92 discomfort, 64 discourse, vii, viii, ix, 47, 48, 53, 57, 71, 73, 75, 78, 85, 93 discrimination, 42, 100 discriminatory, 15 dishonesty, 68 dislocation, 95 disorder, 97 division, 39, 84, 100 dogs, 38, 39, 62 dominance, vii, 1, 29, 32 donor, 9

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112

Index

dream, 103 dreaming, 87 drought, 14, 36, 101 dung, 40 duration, 16 duties, 106

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E ears, 33, 67, 68, 87 earth, 40, 44, 101 eating, 40, 63 economic, 8, 9, 13, 14, 18, 20, 55, 56, 95, 96, 99 economic activity, 9, 13 economic crisis, 55, 99 economic development, 8 economic incentives, 8 economic policy, 99 economic problem, 56 economic resources, 13 economy, 14, 20, 56, 83, 88, 95, 100 education, vii, 11, 13, 23, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 57, 62, 64, 65, 105 educational institutions, 10 educational programs, 15 educational system, 14 efficacy, 108 Egypt, 10, 13, 16 elaboration, 73 elderly, 71 elders, 66 election, 14, 16, 70, 96 electricity, 101 elephant, 37, 40, 55 emotion, 79 emotional, 52, 97 emotional state, 52 emotions, 79 employment, 11 enemy combatan, 24 enemy combatants, 24 energy, 101 England, 7

English, viii, 10, 14, 25, 27, 28, 33, 39, 42, 45, 48 enslavement, 10 enterprise, 24, 56 epistemological, 30 equality, 12 equity, 99, 103, 104, 105, 107 estates, 9 ethical, 108 ethnic groups, 5 ethnicity, 7, 23 Europe, 14 European, viii, 5, 27, 28, 30, 31, 44 Europeans, 44 evidence, 20, 22 evil, 56 excuse, 4, 86 exercise, 52, 74 expenditures, 65 explosive, 52 exposure, x, xi, 32, 49, 50, 51 extremism, 3, 21, 38 eyes, 33, 35, 70

F facilitators, 17 failure, 19, 56, 72, 102 fairness, 103, 104, 107 faith, 19, 101 false, 98 family, xi, 20, 51 famine, 36, 40 farmers, 31 farming, 9, 71 fat, 35, 42 FBI, 4 fear, 21, 52, 67, 69, 84, 91, 104 fears, 58, 94, 100 federal government, 100 fee, 43 feeding, 40 feelings, xii, 51, 86 feet, 72 females, 61

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Index fire, 58 fires, 40 firewood, 40 focusing, 3 food, 41, 63, 71 food production, 71 foreign affairs, 11 foreign nation, 4 foreign nationals, 4 foreign policy, 8, 9, 15 foreigners, 22, 55, 71 forgiveness, 108 fowl, 56 freedom, viii, 4, 10, 13, 14, 28, 69, 84, 100, 101, 106 freedoms, 14 fresh water, 55 fuel, 95, 101

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G games, 40 gangs, 31 gasoline, 57 general election, vii, 1, 14, 17, 21 generation, 8 genre, xi, 51 Germany, 93 girls, 35, 40 glasses, 38 globalization, viii, 27 Globalization, 46 goals, 12, 60, 61, 90 God, vii, 1, 2, 35, 40, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 103, 104, 108 governance, 103 government, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 21, 22, 58, 67, 69, 74, 81, 84, 91, 94, 96, 97, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108 government policy, 13, 108 grants, 72 grass, 40 Great Britain, 9, 10 greed, 44, 102 groups, 5, 12, 53, 98, 99, 106

113

growth, 3, 82, 94, 97 Guinea, 9 guinea fowl, 55, 56 guns, 58, 67

H hands, 21, 67, 71, 72, 85, 104, 106 happiness, 72 harm, 69 harmful, 38 harvest, 40 hate, 34 head, 35, 38, 40, 45, 53, 56, 57, 65, 66, 70, 75, 96 health, 10, 11, 13, 14, 35, 72 health care, 14 heart, 9, 18 hegemony, viii, 17, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 44, 45, 46 hemisphere, 5 hip, 43 HIV/AIDS, 14 homes, 70, 71 homogenous, 55 honesty, 70 honey, 33 horse, 65 hospitals, 11, 101 host, 80 hostility, 41 House, 15, 16, 46 human, vii, 9, 11, 53, 84, 87, 89, 101 human rights, 11, 53 human sciences, vii humane, 81, 91, 96 humanity, 57 humility, 43 hurricane, 101 husband, viii, 27, 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 41 hygiene, 39, 40 hypocrisy, 35, 41

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114

Index

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I id, 2, 9, 56 idealism, 18 identification, 3, 4, 89 identity, 24, 29, 34, 42, 45, 89 ideology, 10 idiosyncratic, 17 imagery, 28, 34, 39 images, 32, 39 implementation, 3, 98 incumbents, 3, 12 independence, viii, 4, 5, 27, 31, 42, 43, 62, 63, 99 Indian, 16 Indiana, 47, 75, 76 indication, 65 individualism, 29 inequality, 13, 104 inflation, 13 infrastructure, 3 inherited, x, 31, 32, 49 initiation, xi, 50 injuries, 71 innovation, 18 insertion, 55 insight, 11, 97 Inspector General, 95 institutions, 96 insults, 33 integrity, xi, 50, 85, 97, 102, 106 intelligence, x, 50 intentional behavior, 78 intentions, ix, 48, 98 interaction, 6, 7 interference, 4, 10 international, 5, 14, 22, 58, 96, 98 interpretation, 73, 78, 79 intestine, 55 intimidation, 106 investment, 10 Iraq, 18, 20, 23 iron, 65 Islam, vii, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 72

Islamic, 3, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 54, 73 island, 7 Israel, 10, 13, 20 ivory, 6

J jobs, 55 judge, 62 judgment, 57, 81, 91 judiciary, xi, 11, 50, 96 justice, 24, 45, 46, 99, 103, 104, 105, 107 justification, 43, 66

K Kenya, 3, 4 killing, 3, 20, 58, 73 Kuwait, 12, 16

L labor, 5, 31, 41 land, 8, 15, 19, 64, 98, 102 language, vii, x, 4, 7, 10, 23, 24, 25, 30, 32, 50, 75, 78, 86 laughter, 103 law, 15, 19, 22, 24, 31, 60, 64, 91, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 105 laws, 19, 21, 31, 61, 70, 102, 103, 107 lead, 41, 57, 67, 71, 96 leadership, xi, 12, 18, 21, 42, 43, 50, 61, 103 learning, 65, 96 leisure, 106 liberal, 17 liberation, 3, 9 Libya, 16 linear, 30, 45, 46 linguistic, ix, x, 19, 24, 30, 48, 50, 78, 79, 91, 104 linguistically, 7 linguistics, vii, 24 linkage, 19

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Index links, 7 listening, 54 literacy, 11, 105 literature, 10, 28, 47 local authorities, 22 local government, 6, 94, 95, 103 location, 22, 59 London, 10, 24, 25, 46, 93 long period, 66 losses, 22 love, 21, 94

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M machinery, 5, 12, 92 maintenance, vii, 1, 5, 24 maize, 44 Malaysia, 15 males, 61 management, 105 Mandela, Nelson, 12 markets, 11 marriage, xi, 50 Marxism, 29 masculinity, 38 material resources, 101 materialism, 29 matrix, 31 meanings, xi, 50 measures, 4, 66 mechanical, 103 media, xii, 4, 10, 11, 22, 24, 51, 88, 95, 97, 106 medical care, 13 medicine, 10 membership, 10, 43, 61 men, xi, 22, 34, 38, 39, 41, 45, 50, 57, 58, 67, 100, 106 messages, x, 49, 56 metaphor, 55, 56, 60, 65, 69, 71 metaphors, ix, 48 Middle East, 10, 13, 16 military, xiii, 11, 12, 54, 57, 58, 61, 73, 74, 77, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97 milk, 63, 71

115

millet, 40, 63 Ministry of Education, 57 minority, vii, 1, 11, 12, 15, 23 misconceptions, 3 missiles, 3 misunderstanding, 93 MIT, 76 mixing, 31 modernism, 30, 41, 45 modernity, 34 modernization, 34 mold, 31 money, 16, 23, 34, 41, 101 monolithic, 45, 46 morphemes, 79 mothers, 61 mountains, 45 mouth, 39, 67 movement, 22, 58 Mozambique, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 23 Muslim, vii, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 53, 54, 72 Muslims, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 53

N naming, ix, 48 nation, xii, 59, 70, 72, 77, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 106, 108 nation building, 96 national security, 95 nation-building, 72 natural, 34, 36, 101 natural disasters, 101 neck, 37, 56 negative consequences, x, 49 neglect, 105 negotiation, 66 network, 4 New World, 12 New York, 23, 25, 46, 75, 76, 93 Niger Delta Development Commission, 105

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Index

Nigeria, viii, xii, 3, 15, 46, 48, 77, 78, 81, 83, 85, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108 NITEL, 96 non-Muslims, 13, 18 normal, 34, 87 norms, 93

O

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obligation, 104, 105, 106, 107 oil, vii, 1, 4, 13, 15, 18 oils, 41 online, 24 opposition, 8, 12, 14, 17, 22, 53, 55, 56, 57, 61, 67, 68, 69, 72, 75 opposition parties, 14, 22, 67 oral, 29 oral tradition, 29 organ, 52 organization, 2, 17, 96 organizations, 11, 12, 63 orthodox, 20

P Pakistani, 16 Palestine, 18 paper, viii, 2, 15, 27, 29, 42, 45, 46, 48, 64, 78, 93, 107 parents, 33, 63, 65 Paris, 75, 76 Parliament, 16 party system, 52 passenger, 3 pastoral, 13, 14 peer, 11 penalty, 102 penis, 33, 34 Pennsylvania, 93 perception, 5, 29, 103 perceptions, 5 performance, x, xi, 49, 50, 51, 74, 80, 108 permit, 23

personal, 8, 20, 31, 98, 103 personality, ix, 48 Philadelphia, 93 philosophers, ix, 48 philosophy, 45 physicians, 42 planning, 43, 104 Plato, viii, 48 play, vii, 1, 5, 33, 40, 87, 99 poison, 33, 36 poisonous, 33 polarization, 3 police, 11, 96 political, vii, viii, ix, x, xi, xii, 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 25, 28, 29, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60, 61, 67, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 95, 96, 97, 99, 104 political crisis, 96 political ideologies, x, 49 political leaders, ix, x, 43, 48, 49 political parties, 14, 17, 52, 54, 55, 59, 60, 61, 67, 95, 96 political pluralism, 52 political power, 16 politics, viii, x, xii, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 42, 46, 49, 51, 59, 76 poor, x, 13, 50, 65, 66 population, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 31 Portugal, 8 postponement, 21, 40 potatoes, 40 poverty, 23, 44, 104, 107 power, vii, viii, ix, 1, 8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 23, 30, 32, 44, 48, 61, 67, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 83, 88, 90, 91, 96, 100, 103 powers, 4, 30 pragmatic, 91 praxis, 74, 76 prayer, 13 prejudice, 103, 107 preparedness, 5 presidency, vii, 1, 16, 17 president, vii, 1, 6, 15, 20, 74, 103 pressure, 9, 11, 14

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Index pressure groups, 14 private, xi, 4, 10, 50, 53, 106 privatization, 24 proactive, 13 production, 78, 79, 89 program, 7, 15 progressive, 33 promote, 12, 107 propaganda, 21 property, 2, 21, 22, 66, 71, 72, 95, 99 protection, 31, 101 Protestants, 34 psyche, 10 psychology, vii public, vii, x, xi, xii, 1, 4, 10, 14, 15, 18, 47, 50, 51, 53, 107

Q questioning, 22, 79

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R radar, 3 radical, 30 radio, xii, 4, 15, 51, 68, 89 radio station, 4, 15 Ramadan, 72, 73 range, xi, 32, 50, 97 rat, 37 raw materials, 5 reading, 38 reality, x, 7, 19, 22, 49, 66 reasoning, 32, 41 recalling, 69 reception, 28 recognition, 43, 89, 96 reconcile, 74 reconciliation, 95, 96, 97, 108 reconstruction, 104 reduction, 16, 89 reforms, 96 regional, xii, 12, 51, 57, 59, 107 regular, 4

117

relationship, viii, ix, 13, 20, 22, 27, 47, 48, 89 relatives, 58, 71 relevance, 92 religion, vii, 1, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 36, 56, 57, 67 religions, viii, 2, 15, 19, 66, 67 religious, vii, ix, 1, 3, 5, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 36, 48, 49, 53, 54, 66, 67, 100, 103, 104, 106, 107 religious beliefs, 36 Renaissance, viii, 48 repression, 58, 59, 61 research, vii resentment, 17 resistance, 19, 30 resolution, 52, 64 resources, 4, 18, 20, 104 responsibilities, 102 retaliate, 21 retaliation, 15, 21 retention, 14 retired, xii, 77 revolt, 58 revolutionary, 44 rhetoric, ix, 4, 49, 54, 67, 72, 76 rhythm, 34, 35 rhythms, 54 risk, xi, 50, 74, 85, 106 risks, 74 risk-taking, 74 routing, 18 Russian, 29

S sabotage, 98 sacred, xi, 37, 50, 54, 84, 91, 104 salary, 5 salt, 33, 91 sanctions, 8, 53 Saudi Arabia, 4, 12 scandalous, 34 schema, 85 school, 11, 13, 15, 32, 63, 64, 65, 66, 101 science, vii, 75

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118

Index

search, viii, 13, 24, 27, 28, 42, 46, 100 secret, xi, 50, 61 Secretary General, 17, 52, 53, 59, 64, 65, 67 security, 4, 12, 21, 22, 85, 101, 106 segregation, 31 seizure, 29, 83, 88 seizures, 100 semantics, 93 Senegal, 25 sentences, 79, 87, 88, 89 separation, 17 September 11, 2 series, xiii, 6, 54, 62, 77, 89, 90, 92 services, 53, 100 settlements, 6 settlers, 30, 32 sex, 41 shame, 21, 43 shape, x, 49 shaping, vii, 1 sheep, 43, 44 shocks, 31 shores, 7 sign, 70 signs, 15 skilled labor, 11 skills, x, 49, 105 skin, 30, 37, 40 slave trade, 7 slavery, 7 slaves, 7 sleep, 44, 64, 70 smoking, 58 sociability, 57, 68 social, vii, viii, ix, x, xi, xii, 10, 20, 28, 29, 30, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 57, 68, 73, 74, 75, 89, 104, 107 social class, 30 social context, xi, 50 social fabric, 104 social services, 10 social standing, 74 social status, 75 socially, xi, 50, 57, 94

society, xi, 7, 13, 50, 61, 82, 83, 84, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 104 sociologist, 28 sociology, vii soil, 28, 40 solidarity, 9, 89 solutions, 94, 96, 99 sounds, 79 South Africa, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 31 sovereignty, 97 Soviet Union, 11 specter, 15 spectrum, 98 speculation, vii, 1 speech, viii, ix, x, xi, xii, xiii, 7, 13, 14, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 spiritual, 13, 101, 103, 105 stability, vii, 2, 81, 91, 96 starvation, 40 sterile, 34 stings, 33 strain, 15 strategic, viii, 9, 48 stress, 3 strikes, 62 students, 13, 15, 53, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66 subjectivity, 29, 30, 32, 42, 46 sub-Saharan Africa, viii, 27, 31 Sudan, 4, 16, 18, 19, 22 suffering, 42, 69, 104, 107 summer, 2, 15 superiority, 16 superstitious, 37 suppression, 23 surgeons, 42 surgery, 10 surprise, 10 survival, 23, 94 suspects, 4, 5, 22 swarms, 36 sweat, 45 symbiotic, 22 symbolic, ix, 48, 56, 69, 76

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Index symbols, ix, 33, 48 symmetry, 79 sympathetic, 12 sympathy, 18 syphilis, 34 systems, vii, xi, 51

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T tactics, 29, 31 takeover, 15 Tanzania, 3, 6, 7, 24 targets, 3, 4, 5 taxation, 66 taxes, 65, 66, 70 tea, 9 teachers, 15, 34, 35, 40 teaching, 8, 39 technological, 12 technology, 12 teeth, 65 television, xii, 4, 51, 89 temporal, 13 tension, 2, 45 territorial, 97 territory, 2, 13 terrorism, 3 terrorist, 23 terrorists, 3, 4, 22 testimony, 19 Texas, 75 theology, 3 theoretical, 30 theory, xii, 29, 45, 76, 77, 78, 93 thinking, 17, 53, 89 Third World, 29, 30, 45, 46 threat, 11, 23, 38, 61, 73, 90, 91 threatened, 21, 36, 37, 97 threatening, 53, 61, 90 threats, 86, 91 threshold, 100 timing, 74 tobacco, 9 tolerance, 10, 21 Tonga, 6

119

toughness, 65 trade, 6, 7, 10, 42, 65, 95 trade union, 42, 65, 95 trading, 6 tradition, viii, xi, 24, 29, 34, 41, 48, 50, 73, 75 traffic, 2, 53 transformation, ix, 48 transition, vii, 1, 11, 12, 15, 23, 25 transmission, 12 transparency, 103, 107 trauma, 98 travel, 68 trial, 4, 22 tribal, 31 trust, 69, 72 Turkey, 4

U Uganda, 19, 28, 31 uncertainty, 24 unemployment, 44 unions, 65 United Arab Emirates, 12, 13 United Nations, 8, 42 United States, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 20, 22 universities, 7, 16

V vacation, 64 values, viii, ix, 10, 12, 18, 27, 42, 48, 74, 101, 103 vandalism, 5 Vice President, 18 victims, 59, 71, 72 village, x, xi, xii, 32, 39, 43, 49, 50, 51 violence, 20, 21, 23, 74, 106 violent, xii, 51, 58, 83, 88, 100 visible, 7, 13, 16, 30 vocabulary, 25 voice, viii, 27 voters, 18 voting, 14

Topics in Political Discourse Analysis, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

120

Index

W

Y young men, 39

Z Zimbabwe, 9

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

war, vii, 2, 3, 5, 10, 18, 20, 22, 24, 58, 62, 63, 66, 88 war on terror, vii, 2, 3, 5, 18, 24 Washington, 3, 24 water, 40, 55, 60, 63, 65, 71, 101 wealth, 8, 43, 72, 73, 101 wells, 71 West Africa, 47 Western countries, 9, 16 western culture, 39 wisdom, viii, ix, 47, 48, 106 witness, 44, 66 wives, 40 women, 34, 41, 45, 58, 63, 65, 67, 100, 106

wood, x, 49 wool, 43 workers, 29, 53, 57 working conditions, 5 World War II, 14 worm, 36 writing, ix, 13, 20, 30, 48

Topics in Political Discourse Analysis, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,