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Gabriel Maldonado

Dr. Blair

UWRT 1104 – 029

27th April 2019

The Model United Nations Discourse

The United Nations is coalition of nations with the common goal of solving global issues.

These issues are separated into different committees specialized to deal with them and find

solutions the majority of countries can vote upon. In Model United Nations, the organization

attempts to provide that same critical thinking challenge within a space for students. You are

assigned a country: Jordan, Libya, Egypt, China, etc. Then you are asked to work with other

ambassadors to work towards solutions in your given conference/committee. I chose to work in

the G77 committee. This committee consist of 134 developing nations on promoting their

interest and enchant their negotiating capability in the United Nations. There were two subjects,

I. Combating Poverty in Developing Member States through Agricultural Development and

II. Improving Inter-State Conflict Prevention Strategies. I will take you through the journey of

learning this secondary discourse.

Joining the club is the first key major step in learning the secondary discourse of the UN.

The club consist of the basic assortment of people you would find in any other club: president,

vice president, secretary, etc. Entering the room, everyone was greeting each other and

introducing themselves making small talk. Instantly the room begins to grow quiet, and everyone

sits down as the President introduces herself. She leaves little room for further introduction as

she begins splitting the room in half. “This side is arguing for Trump’s border wall and this side

is arguing against the wall”. I was on the against the wall side. All of the experienced people
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began to get excited and started talking to their group members for a short minute. In total

confused I began asking what was happening. The experienced members then single me out as

the first person to go up and make my argument. Speakers time was 45 seconds, pushed in front

of the 20 – 30 so people I begun speaking. Shuddering at first, I eventually found my footing,

and concocted made a speech saying we should build bridges and help the people in Mexico

themselves. I walk off the spotlight and sit down as people begin to clap. A rush of adrenaline

fills my body and I begin to smile with excitement. I knew from then on this is something I

wanted to do.

This is how the club would end each and every meeting with a debate about a political

topic. The following meetings would teach us about the formatting of debates and how the actual

conference would work. They first taught us how to properly speak in order to achieve the proper

and desired effect behind one’s words. Also allowing us to use key phrases as to conform to the

expectations of our speech. The talking is very structured and uses words of a large alphabetical

capacity in order to demonstrate adequate mastery of language. Most sentences, such as when

asking for a “motion”(To change the format of debate), are structured in a particular way that

only certain words will change. An example: “Thank you honorable chair. The [Insert Nation]

would like to motion for [Insert motion here]”. This type of structured speech is only found in

speaking with the chair. The chair are the main dictators of debate who regulate the talk. A

motion can be anything from asking for a moderate debate on a certain specific topic or for the

end of a debate.

Learning the basics of how to speak and ways of asking for motions is only the start of

learning the secondary discourse. Anyone can know what to say and how to say it, but when you

are actually placed under that pressure, when its your turn to walk into everyone’s eyes. Can you
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still do it? Can you do it without messing up? Can you do it with passion? Application is just as

important if not more important than knowing the words. The club started holding more formal

debating meetings called simulations. Before simulations we were expected to research a certain

topic given to us last meeting. Preventing terrorism, helping war-torn countries, LGBT rights

across the world. We would then be randomly assigned a country the day of the simulation and

have to take that country’s stance on the issue. During these simulations, everything was serious,

and a near mirror of how the conference would take place. I would raise my placards to get

added onto the speakers list. One of my speeches, speaking of immigration, I started off with

passion and a knowledge of what I was saying. Eventually I was stuck on a single word that I

could not remember, I felt like a fool as I stood up silently. I just said, “Thank you chair” and

walked off stage once they said my time was up. When creating a speech, that you invented in

mere minutes before you were step up to speak, it is important that you allow flexibility. If your

speech does not have flexibility you are likely to forget a word and lose momentum. It is best if

you jot down a few key points you want to talk about and wing it for there.

There were only a few weeks left until the conference would start. I was assigned with

the Nation of Jordan on topic number one. I would vigorously study, trying to gobble down

information at a breakneck pace. Stupidly I waited last minute in order to submit my position

paper. A position paper is your ideas on how to solve the issue you were assigned. Since I

received the first topic on agriculture, I came up with the idea to help accelerate desalination

research so that countries in arid regions could have greater access to freshwater. After finally

completing and submitting my position paper, I took this time to improve my speaking skills. I

researched multiple different speeches presented in the actual UN. Specifically, a transcript of a

speech given by the president of the 73rd session of the UN general assembly (Garcés). She
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provides stories and statistics on the cause that climate change has had on developing nations

such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe. With rhetoric such as “2019 must be the year of climate

action; at all levels, with all stakeholders” the speech provides a passionate overview of how UN

speeches are made. Using this knowledge, I created a code in C++ that would provide me with a

random country and issue. I would spend five minutes quickly doing research and present a sixty

second speech to myself in an attempt to improve. After doing this at least a dozen times I finally

felt ready for this conference.

At the crack of dawn, I button up my shirt and place my suit jacket over it. Stepping off

the train I am greeted by a giant glass structure which scraps the sky itself. The Omni Hotel, a

four-star hotel with every commodity one could ever ask for in a hotel. Giant glass chandeliers

dotted the roof of the room. To the left a bar with glass tables and multicolored bottles on

shelves. To my left a grand piano sat peacefully close and without a hint of dust on top. I

walk up the escalator to see an open door leading to a room. A room with proportions similar to

that of Godzilla, graces my vision. A massive congressional hall filled with at least a thousand

people all awaiting the opening ceremony to begin. After the speeches I head to my committee, a

smaller yet still large room. I place my placard down on the table and let out a sigh. Months of

preparation have all led up to this very moment, as I hear roll call asking for Jordan, “Thank you

honorable chair. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is present and voting”.

“Thank you honorable chair. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan would like to motion for

a 30-minute suspension of debate for an unmoderated caucus”. I asked if we could stop the

debate and basically roam freely to chat with other representatives. The motion went for a vote,

everyone voted yes so it was past, and everyone got up from their chairs. I began greeting

people, shaking hands left and right, specifically hoping to talk to other middle eastern nation-
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states. As time goes on you never actually call people by their names, you refer to them and

call them by their country name. Bob because Syria, James becomes Germany, and Sally

becomes Spain. We all sat backdown, my name was next on the speakers list. The sense of fear

and anxiety grips you before you go up and make your first speech. A hundred eyes all gazing

upon you analyzing every word you say. I gave a speech about my plan for desalination research,

the way it would function and why desalination (Removal of salt from seawater) was so

important for arid nations. Many nations came to me asking for more information about my plan.

Eventually I conglomerated a coalition with a few countries such as: Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine,

Iran, and a few others. It was incredible to witness the amount of people who took interest in my

plan. A plan in which I felt so unconfident and nervous to speak about before my speech. This

instilled within me a sense of confidence in my ideas. My idea was agreed upon. Although

whenever my group members would go up to speak, they would talk about my idea but provide

the credit to themselves. I would also get constantly interrupted and questioned about my ideas.

Eventually I had to put my foot down and make it know the idea was mine and explained how it

was a good idea and quelled any fears it would not be adequate. There will be people who will

attempt to take your ideas and make them their own. You need to stand up to these people

and confront them.

There are many different characters that you will meet during your time in conference.

There will be the person who is willing to work with absolutely everyone but is unable to

actually contribute to any working papers. A working paper is where you place all of your

polices down and any changes to certain functions you want to make. For an example of the

previously mentioned person, the country representative of Somali. He was signed off on

three out of four of the working papers, spreading his ideas so thin it was almost not worth
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it to have him part of the group. Another type of person is the very confrontational person who

is difficult to work with. This person typically has good ideas but expects their ideas to be held

above everyone else and outright refuses to compromise. Although the worst people to deal with

are those who are on other working papers, attempting to undermine yours. A nation from a

different group wanted to talk to me in private. He told me my idea interested him and that I

should leave my group or completely cancel our paper. Claiming that our paper would have no

chance of surviving past the voting stage. I had to, in the most professional way possible, tell him

“Screw off, I am standing with my group”. What I actually said although was more similar to

“As much as I appreciate your concern for my paper, I am quite confident in the efforts my team

put in. I would advise that you continue to work on your paper else it is most likely to fail”. I had

to stand my ground yet be respectful, it taught me how I need to confront people and not look

weak.

Eventually voting came around and went about how you would expect on a topic about

agriculture. Nothing was voted down and there was not much tension, no one is going to say,

“No we shouldn’t help farmers”. It was rather unexciting and uneventful 20 minutes, with no one

disagreeing with any of the passings. The next topic is where the true difficulty began, where

there would be vast disagreement and lots of in fighting. This was the topic of my partners, I had

hardly anytime to study his points and what he wanted to do with this topic. I was extremely lost

on what I needed to do and even talk about. I had to talk to my partner about what I needed to do

in order to get back on track. I read his position paper over a hundred times during the times

when people were up on the podium speaking. I eventually reached a point where I felt confident

in what I knew on the topic. We joined an already established group and added our own work

onto the paper. I went to work acting as an ambassador, asking other groups and nations if I can
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gain their support for our paper. I have never been more questioned and dealt with more

skepticism in my life. Each and every little thing you say has the potential to start tons of

controversy and drama between your group and theirs. Each nation has two representatives, and

each representative can work with a different group. We had Libya working within our own

group and the group I was talking to. Both of the Libyan representatives were providing us both

with the same exact idea. It sparked a lot of infighting within both groups trying to find out who

would keep the idea. There was lots of tension going on

It is important to keep a journal about the events that just happened, and what your next

plans are. You have talked to this particular nation-state, maybe things didn’t work out entirely

in your favor, talk to their other representative. You have convinced Libya to support your paper,

maybe you could try getting Iran to support it as well since they are close allies. This is

especially helpful when writing your speeches, allowing yourself to have a few bullet points in

order to speak on everything you want to speak about. A journal is also useful for sending

messages back and fourth between other states. When you receive messages, it is useful to keep

them in a time-ordered manner to view the entire conversation. Lots of people and their actions

will be completely sneaky and downright nasty. It is important to keep track of that, so that if it

goes downhill you can see it before you’ve reached the bottom. There was this Latin American

group who wanted to prevent gang members from killing civilians. I agreed to join their group

since my idea was based on weapons tracking which can be useful across the world rather than

just in the middle east. Me and Syria were the only two non-American nations within the group,

eventually I began noticing a secret separate paper was getting created by the Latin American

groups. We were within one massive circle but as it turns out people from across the circle were

all working on this paper I had never seen before. I talked to Syria and we both agreed it seemed
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like they were attempting to kick us out. Over time more and more people began to criticize both

Syria and my own ideas. In a way to gently kicking us out I assumed. I took this moment to leave

the group myself and join back up with my other partner. The journal helped me throughout that

situation.

The tension in the air was palpable as we all sat down in our chairs for the final time.

Constant drama and infighting left everyone feeling quite exhausted. Voting procedures began,

everyone would walk up to the stage and grab the copies of everyone’s work to read it over.

Everyone sat in complete silence reading over the papers of the other groups. “Everyone, we

shall be voting on document 1-1 by acclamation”. This meant if no one apposed it, then the vote

will pass, but if even one person did a placard vote would begin. Which is just a vote by

majority. Hands shot up covering up the ceiling like a canopy in the forest. We moved on to

voting by majority. I raised my placard in favor and so did many others, but in opposition there

were just as many this was going to be really close. “Document 1-1 has passed”. A sigh of relief,

my document has passed even if barely, passed by only two people. The next documentation had

lots of controversy around it, the document charges multiple nations for funding terrorism. No

one would want to agree that they fund terrorism, which caused a lot of tension. Vote by

acclamation, failed. I decided to abstain (not vote). Many people sat ever so quietly as the chair

asked to raise our placards if we disagreed. The document failed, the group who made the

document stared off disheartened by what had occurred. Some people stood up and cheered other

sat silently.

The chair then began speaking, telling us about how glad they were we could all come

and experience this. We worked hard and longs, this whole event took place over the course of

three days, 8am to 10pm each day. Over twelve hours each day and we finally came to the end of
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it all. “All in favor of a suspension of debate permanently, raise your placards” We all raised our

placards and cheered, clapped, and some even danced strange enough. No longer were we

nations but just a bunch of college students once again. Conversations were a lot less serious, we

all joked at the events that’s took place and had a good time. Even the guy who told me my

group would fail, we had a good time together making jokes about the situation and he

apologized for it. In order to understand the secondary discord of the United Nations, one must

place themselves in positions where they will be constantly questioned, and one must defend

themselves.

Sources

Cummings, Sarah, et al. “Critical Discourse Analysis of Perspectives on Knowledge and the Knowledge
Society within the Sustainable Development Goals.” Development Policy Review, John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd (10.1111), 12 June 2017, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dpr.12296.

“Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .:. Sustainable Development
Knowledge Platform.” United Nations, United Nations, Sept. 2015,
sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld.

Garcés, María Espinosa. “Climate and Sustainable Development for All | General Assembly of the United
Nations.” United Nations, United Nations, 28 Mar. 2019, www.un.org/pga/73/2019/03/28/climate
and-sustainable-development-for-all/.

Guterres, António. “Remarks on Climate Change Secretary-General.” United Nations, United Nations, 10
Sept. 2018, www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2018-09-10/remarks-climate-change.

Trump, Donald. “Remarks by President Trump to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General
Assembly.” The White House, The United States Government, 25 Sept. 2018,
www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-73rd-session-united-nations
general-assembly-new-york-ny/.