A crucial phase... A glimpse of the future

The royal discourse on the occasion of the celebration of the 47th anniversary of the Green March

It is becoming increasingly clear that political discourse is itself a form of political action. In this sense, both political science and communication sciences have become interested in discursive practice as a form of action and interaction. Performing political action through text and speech is more than producing or perceiving a discourse in a political context and by a political actor.

Thus we can consider from this paradigm that a royal speech addressed under the Constitution to the nation or to Parliament is par excellence a form of political action and social interaction, which the King exercises in accordance with his constitutional status as head of state, guarantor of its continuity, as well as of the independence of the Kingdom and its territorial integrity.

In this perspective, His Majesty's speeches delivered on the occasion of the anniversaries of the Green March seem to merit an in-depth study, particularly as regards the structure of his texts, the specificity of their contexts, their semantic field, their modes of argumentation and legitimisation, i.e. the way in which the sender, in his capacity as King of Morocco and head of state, involves himself in the production of his speech and engages his addressees: the Moroccan people, the parties concerned and international society.

When the King of Morocco addresses his people, it is essentially to perform a supreme and distinguished official act, which aims to transform the perception of things, to act on the complexity of reality, and thus to create an exceptional and precious moment of reasoned communication, in the sense of "communicative acting" which, according to Habermas, rests on the anchoring of reason in discourse.

First of all, it should be noted that this year's Green March speech takes place in a regional and international context strongly marked by the presence of Morocco's priority national cause. HM the King addresses the nation ten days after the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution that largely confirms Morocco's position, and four days after an Arab summit that turned into a regrettable diplomatic fiasco.

However, the royal discourse, completely ignoring the enemies of Morocco's territorial integrity and their desperate provocations, adopts a calm and serene tone, proclaiming with an eye to the future that "the process of consolidating the Moroccan ownership of the Sahara has entered a crucial phase". By acting and reacting to this decisive development, the royal discourse intensively and constructively mobilises a certain number of statements expressing the future (soon, possibility, future, perspective, sustainable, strategic, opportunities, present and future generations, as soon as possible, receptivity, project, etc.).

This construction of the future will be done in full openness and collaboration with Morocco's many partners that His Majesty the King does not fail to mention in his speech (Our brother peoples, our brother His Excellency Mr. Muhammadu Buhari President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ECOWAS, Mauritania, Senegal, our brothers in Nigeria, our two brother countries, Africa, Europe, regional and international financial institutions, our partners...).

In addition to the fact that this categorical proclamation on the crucial turning point for the Moroccan Sahara expresses from the very first paragraph of the speech a remarkable interaction of the text with the context; this speech, like all those delivered on the occasion of the anniversaries of the Green March, is not content with describing a pre-existing reality, but strives to construct the representation of the reality that the speaker wishes his addressee to share. It should be noted in this context that HM the King, while welcoming in this year's speech the positive results achieved by the Development Programme for the Southern Provinces, points out that this programme should be included in an integrating vision that associates the defence of the Moroccan character of the Sahara with the development of the region. The progress of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project is presented in order to place it in the perspective of the privileged relations that link Morocco with the rest of Africa. Beyond taking stock of the situation, the King's Word is strongly distinguished by its concern to establish a vision, to put into perspective and to act on perceptions.

Communicative acting" in real discourse also implies producing a political action in which making a decision, setting up a device or triggering a dynamic are crucial concepts in the expression of this discursive rationality, which consists of producing decisions on what to do in regional and international contexts, marked by tensions, uncertainties and risks. It is in this sense that the actual discourse strongly evokes the will to act (we exhort, we call, we affirm.) but also the will to act well and to achieve success (focus, vision, perspective, action, promotion, dynamics, achievement, responsibility, commitment, success).

In addition to the importance of the will-evoking verbal form, we see normative speech acts emerging in actual discourse that are not content with acknowledging, pointing out or describing a situation that the national cause is going through, nor with favouring an option in this respect, or expressing a wish or an opinion about its future. They are speech acts through which His Majesty the King acts, interacts and produces normative statements that formulate an order. By permitting, legitimising, instructing or prohibiting behaviour, the discourse judiciously achieves a dual performative and normative objective: discursive performativity consists in the speaker's own carrying out of what he or she enunciates, creating a specific obligation on the part of the addressee, while through normativity the speaker establishes the norm that suits the situation, i.e. what to do and what not to do. Thus it is that His Majesty the King's speech, by setting the parameters, is concerned with clarification and elucidation, especially when it insists in a rigorous and argued way on calling things by their name, so as to structure the perception of the national cause. Let us recall in this regard that, in 2016 on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the Green March, His Majesty the King had to clarify in a direct tone, ruling out any ambiguity about certain positions regarding the Moroccanness of the Saharan provinces, that "there are no degrees in patriotism or treason. Because one is either a patriot or a traitor".

In the same vein, the fallacious and pretentious denunciations of the so-called "exploitation of natural resources to the detriment of the population of the southern provinces" were judiciously refuted in this year's Green March speech, by means of a discursive strategy based, on the one hand, on the argument of "the integral vision that encompasses political and diplomatic action, and at the same time promoting the socio-economic and human development of the area" and, on the other hand, on a wonderful metaphor that establishes a perfect analogy between "the glorious Green March" that allows the liberation of the plundered land, and the "marches" led by His Majesty to "guarantee Moroccan citizens the conditions for a dignified life, particularly in these areas that are so dear to us".

The speech of His Majesty the King on the occasion of the anniversary of the Green March is thus not the reflecting mirror of a reality, but the incessant builder of this reality, since the reality of the national cause is not a fixed datum to be translated into language, but an evolving process, even a work in permanent construction, as much by persevering action as by sincere and reasoned speech.