ONLINE POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICA Alina ANDREICA (UBB) Veronica MANOLE (UBB /...

ONLINE POLITICAL DISCOURSE

IN PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICA

Alina ANDREICA (UBB)Veronica MANOLE (UBB / Camões I. P.)

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION I. Introduction II Current political situation in Portuguese speaking Africa

• Angola• Cape Verde• Guinea-Bissau• Mozambique• São Tomé e Príncipe

II. Content and tecnical analysis of parliaments’ sites

III. Discursive construction of national ethosIV. Conclusions

Introduction The paper focuses on the online political discourse communicated by means of the sites of PALOP parliaments research premise: online communication is essential within the knowledge based society for expressing organizational, political and societal characteristics Working framework: Susana Salgado, The Internet and Democracy Building in Lusophone African Countries, 2014 We apply website analyses to PALOP parliaments – principles described in A Andreica – IT Management, 2009 We address the impact of global electronic communication facilities in the level of democratization and freedom of speech in African countries – PALOP within an integrated analysis

PALOP Angola – 19 mil inhabitants Cape Verde – 538,535 inhabitants Guinea-Bissau – 1.69 mil inhabitants Mozambique – 24.69 mil inhabitants

São Tomé and Príncipe – 190428 inhabitants A total of ~ 46 million inhabitants - 2014

PAÍSES AFRICANOS DE LÍNGUA OFICIAL PORTUGUESA - PALOP

http://www.legis-

palop.org/

PALOP

Guiné Bissau

MoçambiqueSão Tomé e Príncipe

Angola

Cabo Verde

AFRICA 2014 POPULATION AND INTERNET USERS STATISTICS FOR 2014 Q2

Population(2014 Est.)

Internet Users

30-Jun-2014

Penetration(%

Population)

Internet% Africa

1 YEAR GROWTH

ANGOLA 19,088,106 4,286,821 22.5 % 1.4 % 17%

CABO VERDE

538,535 201,950 37.5 % 0.1 % 14%

GUINEA-BISSAU

1,693,398 57,764 3.4 % 0.0 % 16%

MOZAMBIQUE

24,692,144 1,467,687 5.9 % 0.5 % 16%

SÃO TOMÉ E PRÍNCIPE

190,428 48,806 25.6 % 0.0 % 16%

TOTAL 46,202,611

5,881,273 http://

www.internetworldstats.com/

stats1.htm

http://www.internetlivestats.com/

ECONOMIC AND HEALTH INDICATORS OF PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICA

GDP (US$) GDP / capita (US$)

Life expectancy

(total)

Mortality rate, infant

(per 1000 births)

ANGOLA 124,178,241,815.7

5,170 52 102

CABO VERDE 1,879,402,553.6

3,620 75 22

GUINEA-BISSAU

960,778,479.5 590 54 78

MOZAMBIQUE

15,630,302,814.0

610 50 62


310,684,635.7 1,470 66 37http://

www.worldbank.org/

FREEDOM IN PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICAcountry press internet

ANGOLA not free not free partly free

CABO VERDE free free ——

GUINEA-BISSAU partly free partly free ——

MOZAMBIQUE partly free partly free ——


free free ——

https://freedomhouse.org/

PALOP Institutional Websites Analysis Within this section, we analyze the websites of the PALOP countries parliaments Moçambique http://www.parlamento.mz/ Angola http://www.parlamento.ao/ São Tome e Principe http://www.parlamento.st/ Cabo Verde http://www.parlamento.cv/ Guiné Bissau http://www.anpguinebissau.org/ Analysis ContentTechnical: traffic, web optimization / download speed

http://www.parlamento.mz/

http://www.parlamento.ao/

http://www.parlamento.st/

http://www.parlamento.cv/

http://www.anpguinebissau.org/



Parliament of Mozambique website - Content analysis

http://www.parlamento.mz/ - Home page

http://www.parlamento.mz/

Parliament of Mozambique website - Content analysis News on first page Logical menuParlamento – about the Parliament Presidente – about the Parliament President Deputados – rules about representatives Comissão Permanente – about the Permanent Commission Comissões Parlamentares – about the Parliamentary Commissions Gabinete Comissões Parlamentares - about the Parliamentary CabinetsSecretariado Geral - about the Parliament General SecretariatLegislação Básica – communicates and legislative documents

The site is very tidy and clear

Parliament of Mozambique website - Content analysis

Notícias Actualidade Comunicados Galeria E-mail

Supplemental options are available on the bottom side of the page:

Laws and Law Projects Estado da Nação Destaques EntrevistaDiscursos - 9ª sessão Galeria de Fotos

http://www.parlamento.mz/noticias

http://www.parlamento.mz/actualidade

http://www.parlamento.mz/comunicados

http://www.parlamento.mz/fotos

http://mail.parlamento.org.mz/

Parliament of Angola website - Content analysis




Ellaborated content, logical structure Vertical main menu with drop-down submenus News on Main page! President biography missing Photo Gallery in :Assembleia Nacional -> Presidente -> PAN IIIL -> Multimédia -> Galeria Fotográfica

Quick links menu on the bottom of the page: Links for: Contactos, correio do cidadão – citizen newsletter, Multimédia

http://www.parlamento.ao/web/guest

http://www.parlamento.ao/web/guest/presidente

Parliament of Angola website – Menu structure


Angola Parliament – home page


Angola Parliament site – Gabinetes locais page


Legis PALOP home page

Parliament of Sao Tome e Principe website - Content analysis

http://www.parlamento.st/


Vertical main menu with logical structure News on Main page + calendar Virtual media tour in the parliament building Good content in uploaded information and news Feed-back form

Parliament of Sao Tome e Principe website - Menu


São Tomé e Principe site - Feed back form

Parliament of Cabo Verde website - Content analysis http://www.parlamento.cv/

Parliament of Cabo Verde website - Menu

Parliament of Cabo Verde website - Content analysis

3 column layout with menu, news and quick links, including the Parliament agenda Some objects are not visible certain problems may appear with the on-line parliamentary session viewing, because of the large multimedia information in respect with the existing communication infrastructure

Parliament of Guiné Bissau website - Content analysis


Parliament of Guiné Bissau website - Content analysis

Vertical menu, Calendar and News on main page Similar structure to Sao Tomé e Principe Horizontal menu:Página Inicial – home pageAuditoria - auditingFale com a ANP – feed-back, contact Mapa deste sítio – site mapCorreio – mail Aceder – acceed

Technical analysis - Moçambique website

The website traffic is very low, few information can be found Site doesn’t enter Alexa rank Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com – accessed May 14th 2015 provides the following results:

Traffic analysis – very important for site popularity and evaluation

Technical analysis - Angola website

The website traffic is low, but much better than Moçambique Alexa ranks it on 6,220,696 global, rising from 8,176,738 3 months ago Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com provides the following results:



Traffic analysis – additional info obtained by Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com


Geography – the locations where users access the site from leading access from Angola – 39.12% Other traffic information is unavailable

Traffic analysis – additional info obtained by Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com

Technical analysis - São Tome e Principe website

The website traffic is low, lower than Moçambique Site doesn’t enter Alexa rank Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com provides the following results (few available info):


Technical analysis – Cabo Verde website

The website traffic is fairly low, ranking between Angola and São Tome e Principe Alexa ranks it on 7,207,107 global, rising from 3 months ago Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com provides the following results:


Technical analysis – Guiné Bissau website

The website traffic is fairly low, ranking between Cabo Verde and São Tome e Principe The site doesn’t enter Alexa rank Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com provides the following results:


Technical analysis: Comparison PALOP Parliaments websites

Results provied by Similarweb analyzer www.similarweb.com

Traffic analysis – lower rank is better

17632962254219

3572583

4667747

5272763

0

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

Angola Cabo Verde GuinéBissau

Moçambique São Tome ePrincipe

Countries

Global Rank


Analyzer: Weboptimization.com

accessed May 14th 2015 provides these results:

Download speed analysis – very important for site efficiency

Download speed - Angola website - recommendations

Technical analysis – São Tome e Principe website




Small site size!

Download speed - São Tome website - recommendations

Technical analysis – Cabo Verde website




Download speed – Cabo Verde website - recommendations

Technical analysis – Guiné Bissau website




Download speed – Guiné Bissau website - recommendations

Comparison – PALOP countries – download time

42.43

28.81

12.839.76

2.79

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Guiné Bissau Angola Cabo Verde Moçambique São Tome ePrincipe

Site download time - on a Gb connection

Guiné Bissau

Angola

Cabo Verde

Moçambique

São Tome ePrincipe

CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION IN PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICA All Portuguese speaking countries in Africa have a – more or less sui generis – form of semi-presidentialism, the political regime adopted in Portugal. Scholars do not define a “lusophone model of semi-presidencialism”, but there is the claim that some “family resemblance” does exist. => diffusion of the Portuguese political regime. Learning process in which Portugal was the reference:a) the cultural ties from the colonial periodb) maintaining of Portuguese as the official languagec) Portuguese jurist played an important role in offering legal consultancy to these governments

PRESIDENT VS. PARLIAMENT ANGOLA – the president had great or total autonomy to dissolve parliament. For example, if parliament approved a motion of censure, the president could respond by dissolving it. This made parliament totally dependent on the president’s power. GUINEA-BISSAU AND SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE – the president can also dissolve parliament, but with some time limits on this prerogative. CAPE VERDE AND MOZAMBIQUE – the restrictions are both temporal and political. In other words, the constitution specifies both the time limits and political circumstances under which the president can dissolve parliament.

THE DIRECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, 1990–2010 ANGOLA effected constitutional changes in 2010 in order to make room for a “multiparty democracy” (preamble of the Angolan constitution). Now the president is no longer directly elected. Instead, he is the leader of the most voted party in the legislative elections. The figure of the prime minister is eliminated, with the president becoming the sole head of government. The president can only be removed by impeachment. The constitution created an all-powerful president facing a relatively powerless parliament.

THE DIRECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, 1990–2010

In CAPE VERDE, a constitutional amendment designed to curtail presidential powers was approved in 1992. GUINEA-BISSAU – the transition to multipartism that took place from 1991–1995 witnessed the promulgation of no less than four constitutional revisions. Despite the attempts to revise it so as to curtail presidential power, the constitution has been essentially unchanged since the 1990s. In the case of MOZAMBIQUE, a new constitution was promulgated in 2004. The new rules effected no substantive changes to the powers of the president, who retained the prerogative to dissolve parliament if the latter does not approve the government programme SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE parliament enacted a constitutional revision designed to curtail presidential powers. The main changes were effected in 2002.

POLITICAL IDENTITYTypes of political identitiesa)PROFESSIONAL POLITICAL IDENTITIES (e.g. members of institutions or organizations, such as the government or the parliament)b)RELATIONAL POLITICAL IDENTITIES (e.g. members of the opposition, leaders of parties, members of political action groups, activists)

While speaking in parliament, the MPs may display complex identities: social (e.g. Gender, class, age, nationality, ethnicity) and political (e.g. MPs, members of the opposition, member of a political party)

CORPUS – DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE HTTP://WWW.PARLAMENTO.AO/ 2012-2015

1 parliamentary debate (22.05.2012)

Over 60 discourses and political declarations:Political parties: MPLA, UNITA, PRS, Casa CE, FNLAPresident of the ParliamentPresident of the Republic

VISUAL ASPECT

NÓS – O PAÍS1. No contexto africano, queremos afirmar-nos como um País do

desporto. [...] Nós temos potencial para ir mais longe. Vamos ajustar a nossa Estratégia de desenvolvimento Nacional do Desporto à nova realidade, definindo melhor os objectivos, os programas específicos e as metas a atingir, a médio prazo...

2. Não estaríamos aqui e não estaríamos onde estamos hoje se não houvesse, antes de nós e mesmo nos nossos dias, cidadãos que, tendo consciência do seu dever patriótico, deram o melhor de si para a libertação do nosso País.

3. Nós precisamos de empresas, empresários e grupos económicos nacionais fortes e eficientes, no sector público e privado, e de elites capazes em todos os domínios, para sairmos, progressivamente, da situação de País subdesenvolvido.

NÓS – ANGOLANOS 1. Angola atingiu um nível de estabilidade política,

económica e social, reconhecida internacionalmente, e cabe-nos a nós angolanos zelar para que esta estabilidade, resultado da paz, seja preservada.

NÓS – OS DEPUTADOS1. Espero, igualmente, que possam considerar este Seminário de relevante e que as vossas recomendações possam ser tidas em consideração para o identificação de futuras acções de capacitação, no interesse de melhor servir o povo angolano por nós representado.2. Nós, os Deputados, em nome do povo que aqui representamos, queremos, Senhor Presidente, ter a possibilidade de agirmos em conformidade com o direito constitucional que nos assiste de pedir, com coragem, contas àqueles que gerem os recursos de todos nós, em nome da boa governação e da transparência. 3. É de todos o interesse realçar que, no quadro das suas competências previstas na lei, com destaque para a função de legislar e fiscalizar as acções do executivo, a Assembleia Nacional continuará a desempenhar o seu papel com a vista a honrar o compromisso para o qual nós

Deputados fomos eleitos...4. Do nosso povo recebemos o mandato e a legitimidade para os representar. Porém, cabe-nos a responsabilidade de valorizar a

confiança em nós depositada e, sobretudo, valorizar as ideias políticas constantes dos projectos de governação

NÓS – FUNCIONÁRIOS DO PARLAMENTO1. Mas acima de tudo, quero que todos nós,

deputados, funcionários e agentes parlamentares, possamos, no decorrer deste mandato, dizer que todos nós somos amigos uns dos outros.

NÓS – O PARTIDO1. Para nós, CASA CE, o trabalhador angolano está e estará sempre

nas nossas prioridades em todos os actos da ação Parlamentar e Executiva.

2. No reconhecimento que nós, CASA CE, temos dos entes privados, como parceiros sociais e cooperantes na realização do bem comum, conferimos um papel de actores de garantia da distribuição equitativa da renda nacional...

3. É por esta e outras razões que nós, UNITA, tempos vindo a aconselhar que V. Exas. dialoguem primeiro com os parceiros sociais, em vez de correrem para os “copy-paste” de orçamentos antigos, mudando-lhes apenas algumas datas e outras coisinhas.

4. E mais uma vez, teremos razão, nós da UNITA, quando exortamos os nossos irmãos do MPLA e o Executivo por si apoiado, a partir rapidamente para as autarquias, única forma de resolução desses problemas.

NÓS – O PÚBLICO

1. As nossas diferenças doutrinárias são enormes e a nossa concepção da sociedade Angolana talvez não coincida necessariamente, mas para a edificação de uma Angola próspera temos aqui de empregar o espírito da doutrina do justo meio onde todos nós nos possamos reencontrar e partilharmos os mesmos valores. Construir na diferença a grande obra que há de congregar gerações vindouras inteiras.

2. Reitero os meus agradecimentos a todos os presentes que partilham connosco este momento tão importante para todos nós.

NÓS – PLURAL DE MAJESTADE1. As últimas sessões neste Parlamento, sobretudo a do dia 4 deste

mês de Novembro, revelaram comportamentos que criam em nós sérios temores de que esta Assembleia Nacional está cada vez mais a fechar as portas para o debate plural e igual.

2. Dizer, como homem comprometido com a Paz - e nós acreditamos piamente nisso - o que pensa fazer de concreto para, por via pacífica e só por ela, trazer a paz para Cabinda, em vez da insistência no recurso teimoso das armas contra os cabindas.

3. Começo por agradecer, as palavras que me foram endereçadas em vosso nome, pela Deputada Carolina Cerqueira. Nós agradecemos, mas temos consciência, que estas palavras aumentam a nossa responsabilidade.

Conclusion E-media provides efficient online communication facilities These can be related to freedom of speech and democracy We address online political discourse communicated by means of the sites of PALOP parliaments We perform an integrated analysis comprising: Website content analysis Website technical analysis – traffic, download time Discourse analysis

Conclusions The most accessed site anmong the studied ones is the site of the Parliament of Angola The fastest site (with a good content) is the site of the Parliament of Moçambique E-media create the image of a good communication in all PALOP countries, though only in a few cases this is practically implemented Therefore, detailed and integrated indicators have to be taken into account and analyzed in order to evaluate the extent and effectiveness of the electronic content The content is to be carefully analyzed and additional topic analyses have to be performed so that results may synergically be integrated

Selected References Alina Andreica, IT Management, EFES, 2009 Susana Salgado, The Internet and Democracy Building in Lusophone African Countries, Ashgate Publishing, 2014 - https://books.google.ro/books?id=WC3jBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Dr+Susana+Salgado%22&hl=ro&sa=X&ei=_AFWVa74IIGrswGls4CQCQ&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Similar.com traffic analyzer - www.similarweb.com/ Alexa.com traffic analyzer – www.alexa.com Weboptimization.com – download time analysis

ONLINE POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICA Alina ANDREICA (UBB) Veronica MANOLE (UBB /...

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