The narrative analysis of President Biden's speech on UN General Assembly on 21st of September 2021
THE NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF PRESIDENT BIDEN’S SPEECH ON THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON 21st OF SEPTEMBER 2021
Nilufar Umarova
student, University of World Economy and Diplomacy,
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
US President Joe Biden on September 21, 2021, spoke for the first time as head of state at the UN General Assembly. In his conciliatory speech, the American leader once again made it clear that his political course would be fundamentally different from that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. According to his speech, the main tasks of his administration are to save lives, to make progress in the field of vaccinations around the world and build a better future. He also expressed confidence that the next pandemic will come and indicated the need to take measures to prepare for it. To save lives around the world, action must be taken now, he stressed on. In this analysis the author is going to concentrate on the part of Mr Biden’s speech where he praises democratic values.
“The truth is: The democratic world is everywhere. It lives in the anti-corruption activists, the human rights defenders, the journalists, the peace protestors on the frontlines of this struggle in Belarus, Burma, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, and everywhere in between. It lives in the brave women of Sudan who withstood violence and oppression to push a genocidal dictator from power and who keep working every day to defend their democratic progress. It lives in the proud Moldovans who helped deliver a landslide victory for the forces of democracy, with a mandate to fight graft, to build a more inclusive economy. It lives in the young people of Zambia who harnessed the power of their vote for the first time, turning out in record numbers to denounce corruption and chart a new path for their country. And while no democracy is perfect, including the United States — who will continue to struggle to live up to the highest ideals to heal our divisions, and we face down violence and insurrection — democracy remains the best tool we have to unleash our full human potential.” – President Biden says [1].
In Joe Biden's General Assembly speech, we can see standard emotional and rational stratagems that follow its persuasive strategy to obtain the public’s approval. These techniques consist in revealing a problem to suggest the solution and can be defined in the repetition and the simplicity of the message, the use of a colloquial language and of significant and easily understandable symbols, the attempts in provoking emotional responses. These stereotyped formulas are also used to simplify situations with no need of argumentation. In his speech Mr. Biden used many devices to demonstrate his own trustworthiness and the goodwill of today’s administration: they belong to the people, and they care about them, they will work for their interests, they are not self-centered, they will struggle for democracy and encourage those who stay by their side all around the world. The dominance of the narrative of democracy in Biden's thematic repertoire can be viewed not only as the ideological preferences of the president and his administration (although the connection is obvious here), but also as a reflection of some inertia in working with the symbolic resources of the past and their imposition into the future. Mentioning Venezuela, Cuba, Belarus, Syria, Burma, Mr. Biden did not mention China and Russia, although they both are treated as a threat. But mentioning of human rights activists, journalists, peace protesters itself was a direct reference to the events that took place in both Russia and China. Both powers were mentioned only in the context of their regions: Chechnya in the context of the rights of sexual minorities and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in terms of human rights agenda. If during the Trump presidency, the tactic of "looking into the enemy’s eye" was implemented, then Biden uses a maneuver of pinpoint pressure through the narrative of comparing his opponents with their allies (all the countries mentioned are close both with Russia and China) [2]. On 8 April 2021, hundreds of Sudanese women marched in the capital city of Khartoum to protest gender-based violence and gender discrimination. One group held a banner which read: ‘No defeat, no retreat’ [3]. On election day in Zambia, the local authorities blocked the access to the Internet and social networks. In this way, they reportedly wanted to avoid vote discussions before the results’ announcement. Internet restrictions like these have become commonplace in election processes of many African countries, becoming the narrative of restrictive measures that authorities resort to for insurance beforehand. However, such actions did not give the expected result and consequently, for the first time after 6 unsuccessful attempts, a candidate from the opposition party, leader of the United Party for National Development Hakainde Hichilema became president of Zambia. Similarly, after the election of Maia Sandu as the president of Moldova US embassy urged "elected representatives of the Moldovan people to build a more just, democratic, and prosperous future for all its citizens". Emphasizing that no democracy, including the United States, is perfect, the President has once again made it clear that democracy remains their main tool in the struggle to uphold and celebrate human dignity and potential. After ending the era of war, the president did not give “stop” signal to the narrative of democracy, which will continue to be actualized both in the US (mainly southern states) and in countries of special attention, which have been listed above.
Ruth Wodak and Rudolph de Chillia classify memorable speeches designed to "bring the past back to the present" as an epidemic rhetoric where main function is praise or blame. Speeches of this type solve primarily representative tasks: an official on behalf of the state gives praise or censure to a certain group / community, appropriately assessing its actions and qualities (as with Belarus as an example of blame and Moldova as an example of praise). This genre opens wide opportunities for updating the past, which is useful not only in terms of current tasks (memorable speeches are associated with the schedule of meetings and trips of the head of state and often have diplomatic functions), but also for building a long-term identity policy [4].
Nevertheless, the analysis performed allows at least three conclusions to be drawn. First, inside the framework of the key theme for the modern American regime - theme of "democracy for all"- those who participate in the articulation of the official narrative will continue to use it in the context of struggle for freedom and make it a basis for possible sanctions to be imposed. Secondly, in recent years, the ruling elite has demonstrated a sense of purpose in working on the repertoire of an updated future, which contributes to the gradual saturation of the narrative about America of tomorrow, recognizable by the symbols and images of democracy and liberation. This trend is well illustrated by the president's speech. Thirdly, the US administration is also succeeding in the development of an official narrative for years to come, considering, as Mr. Biden himself pointed out, "the end of the era of relentless war." However, since these conclusions are based on the study of one of the many speeches of the current President, additional research is needed to verify them.
References:
- Remarks by President Biden Before the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly // https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/21/remarks-by-president-biden-before-the-76th-session-of-the-united-nations-general-assembly/ (date of application: 04.12.2021)
- P.Pedrini, Joe Biden’s Inauguration Speech: A Persuasive Narrative // https://globaljournals.org/GJHSS_Volume21/2-Joe-Bidens-Inauguration-Speech.pdf (date of application: 04.12.2021)
- Ruth Wodak: The Discourse of Politics in Action: Politics as Usual // https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruth-Harman-2/publication/263561029_Ruth_Wodak_The_Discourse_of_Politics_in_Action_Politics_as_Usual/links/540b80500cf2f2b29a34204e/Ruth-Wodak-The-Discourse-of-Politics-in-Action-Politics-as-Usual.pdf?origin=publication_detail (date of application: 04.12.2021)
- The women of Sudan are pushing for a feminist agenda // https://www.equaltimes.org/the-women-of-sudan-are-pushing-for?lang=en#.YWFz2aQSy_Y (date of application: 04.12.2021)