"Slowly but surely, we are acquiring that famous culture of democracy, which is our objective"
About this Quote
"Slowly but surely" is the tell: a lullaby phrase that doubles as a political sedative. Paul Biya frames democracy not as a system citizens practice and defend, but as a "culture" the state can "acquire" over time, like infrastructure or a new administrative habit. The grammar does quiet work here. "We" blurs lines between government and governed, folding the public into the regime's timeline. "Objective" recasts democracy as a destination managed from above, not a constraint imposed from below.
The subtext is permission. If democracy is a culture still being learned, then shortcomings are not abuses but growing pains. Delay becomes virtue; impatience becomes irresponsibility. "Famous" is another slippery word: it borrows legitimacy from global applause without committing to the mechanisms that earn it - competitive elections, alternation of power, independent courts, a press that can be rude without fear. The phrase flatters international expectations while keeping the bar conveniently vague.
In context, it reads like the language of long incumbency: reassurance to donors and diplomats, discipline to domestic critics. Biya's Cameroon has spent decades with tightly managed pluralism - elections that happen, power that doesn't move, institutions that exist yet rarely bite. So the line functions less as a promise than as a narrative shield. It suggests history is on the government's side, that democracy is inevitable and therefore no one needs to demand it urgently. The genius, and the cynicism, is how it converts political stagnation into patient progress.
The subtext is permission. If democracy is a culture still being learned, then shortcomings are not abuses but growing pains. Delay becomes virtue; impatience becomes irresponsibility. "Famous" is another slippery word: it borrows legitimacy from global applause without committing to the mechanisms that earn it - competitive elections, alternation of power, independent courts, a press that can be rude without fear. The phrase flatters international expectations while keeping the bar conveniently vague.
In context, it reads like the language of long incumbency: reassurance to donors and diplomats, discipline to domestic critics. Biya's Cameroon has spent decades with tightly managed pluralism - elections that happen, power that doesn't move, institutions that exist yet rarely bite. So the line functions less as a promise than as a narrative shield. It suggests history is on the government's side, that democracy is inevitable and therefore no one needs to demand it urgently. The genius, and the cynicism, is how it converts political stagnation into patient progress.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
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