"The Arab People Have Woken Up"
By Tawakkol Karman
Purpose: to recognize the conditions currently in the Arab world and necessity for support; to convince the audience to uses peaceful methods of revolting rather than violence; to emphasize the sheer importance of unity; to invoke confidence in hesitant citizens
Audience: Arab citizens who want revolutionary change in government, citizens who may be hesitant to protest and revolt, other Democratic nations (America)
Context:
- Arab Spring:
- revolutionary wave of demonstrations, protests, riots, civil war throughout Arab world (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Western Sahara, and Palestinian Authority
- began December 18th, 2010
- caused dissatisfaction with rule of local governments, wide gaps in income levels, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty
- Tawakkol Karman:
- Yemeni journalist politician, human rights activist, and senior member of Al-Islah political party
- first Arab woman to earn Nobel Prize
Section 1: Recognizing Current Situation with Arab Spring
Purpose: To bluntly point out the awful conditions in Arab world such as the extreme poverty and unemployment; to express the necessity to support oppressed people and to unite under the same cause--> fight against the unruly government
Appeals: Using pathos in order to show the absolute seriousness and need for unity and support against the government; also using pathos by using emotional diction such as "divine messages ad religions", "all mankind", and "oblige".
Technique: Uses hyperboles to express the immense dependability from mankind on the unity and success of the protests in the Arab world such as "ALL ideologies...ALL divine messages...ALL mankind". Uses and allusion when referring to MLK.
Effectiveness: Very effective. Use of emotion and hyperboles puersuade audience to support her.
Section 2: Revolting Peacefully
Purpose: to convince the audience how powerful and effective a peaceful revolution is
Appeals: Uses pathos to identify the positives of peace and her love for her Yemen and their accomplishments during the protests; also builds ethos by dedicating Nobel Prize to entire revolution
Technique: Uses parallel structure to emphasize her patriotism for Yemen-"the Yemen, the Yemen..." Uses a slight antithesis when referring to "human community"; a community is usually small and comparing to the entire human population makes it extremely contradictory but effective in proving the importance of these protests.
Effectiveness: Very effective. Establishes the need for a peaceful approach to the Spring instead of the use of violence.
Section 3: Emphasis on Change
Purpose: to reiterate the ultimate purpose of the Arab Spring; to invoke confidence and courage for Arabs to stand up for their rights
Appeals: uses Pathos to create a sense of determination and desire in citizens for their civil rights and freedom from corrupt governments. Shows true passion for fighting for freedom, building her ethos in the process.
Technique: Uses active and denotative diction to emphasize and prove her point in a frank manner.
Effectiveness: Very effective in using confident and firm tone. Very effective in pointing out the ideal view of a revolution-consisting of weapons and wars. Does a good job of incorporating thoughts about fear and caution, similar thinking to Aung San Suu Kyi.
General Evaluation:
Extremely effective speech. Portrays the devastating state of Arab countries very artistically, incorporating not only the problems, but future steps in order to succeed such as peacefully marching, supporting oppressed people and giving a step by step on how to overthrow the government:
- topple dictator
- topple security and military
- establish institutions of transitional state
- move towards legitimacy and establish a modern civil and democratic state
Her tone is frank and blunt but also firm and confident. She carries herself in a very respectful way in her writing. Effectively persuades her audience on fighting for what is right without sounding desperate. Build her ethos by showing her true desire for freedom rather than hidden motives (or fists). Uses sophisticated diction and establishes purpose clearly and concisely.
