ARTICULATING THE ENEMY IN THE OFFICIAL DISCOURSE OF ARAD MUNICIPALITY
ARTICULATING THE ENEMY IN THE OFFICIAL DISCOURSE OF ARAD MUNICIPALITY

Author(s): Vlad Sfârâilă
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Civil Society, Sociology, Nationalism Studies, Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity
Published by: Presa Universitara Clujeana
Keywords: official speech; the enemy; anti-social character; unmasking the enemy; delegitimization of the Revolution
Summary/Abstract: From the analysis of the actor, the central idea emerges that the enemy is an ethical actor, constructed to delegitimize the revolutionary movement by focusing the discourse on its anti-social goals. Relevant to the official discourse is not understanding the complexity of the enemy as an actor (who is he?, what does he do?, where and when does he act? etc.). We first noted that the enemy's identity is usually portrayed as having an eminently destructive character - capable of destroying statehood, social functions and ideological foundations: 1. challenger of the political-legal, territorial order and aspirant to restore the old order; 2. nationalist/suppressor; 3. delinquent/deviant; 4. externally localized. Then, all references to this actor follow a pattern: the enemy (the actor) carries out an action directed against (the action) the social value system (the object): against independence, territorial integrity, internal stability, internal stability, socialism, with the aim of spreading the uprising/ influencing other actors. We have illustrated, following the model of an established author, Călin Morar Vulcu, how the enemy's actions fall into the semantic area of subversion/disguise. The discursive consequence can only be, in these circumstances, the necessity of intervention to protect this value system. Discourse thus creates the justifying rationale for intervention against the enemy.

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