"The opposition may have the right to doubt every thing, but for myself, I call on opposition to practice its role within limits of objectively, responsibility and country interests"
About this Quote
Doubt is permitted; dissent is domesticated. Ali A. Saleh opens by granting the opposition a classic democratic privilege - the right to question everything - then tightens the leash with a set of conditions that sound neutral but aren’t. "Objectively, responsibility and country interests" reads like a civics lesson, yet it’s also a familiar political maneuver: define the acceptable boundaries of critique in terms so broad they can swallow any disagreement.
The phrasing does a lot of quiet work. "For myself" signals personal humility while actually asserting authority: the speaker positions his standard as the reasonable center. "Practice its role" implies the opposition has a preassigned function, not an open-ended mandate from voters. In other words, politics becomes theater with blocking marks - you can improvise, but only where the stage manager allows.
The subtext is less about epistemology ("doubt") than discipline. Calling for "limits" invites a gatekeeping question: who decides what counts as objective, responsible, or aligned with national interest? Those terms are rhetorically potent precisely because they are contestable. Any opposition that pushes too hard can be recast as emotional, reckless, or unpatriotic. That’s not an argument against criticism; it’s an attempt to control the frame in which criticism is heard.
Contextually, this line fits societies where opposition politics is tolerated but suspect, where stability is prized and nationalism is the default moral yardstick. Saleh’s intent seems to be de-escalation on the surface, containment underneath: yes to dissent, so long as it never threatens the story the state wants to tell about itself.
The phrasing does a lot of quiet work. "For myself" signals personal humility while actually asserting authority: the speaker positions his standard as the reasonable center. "Practice its role" implies the opposition has a preassigned function, not an open-ended mandate from voters. In other words, politics becomes theater with blocking marks - you can improvise, but only where the stage manager allows.
The subtext is less about epistemology ("doubt") than discipline. Calling for "limits" invites a gatekeeping question: who decides what counts as objective, responsible, or aligned with national interest? Those terms are rhetorically potent precisely because they are contestable. Any opposition that pushes too hard can be recast as emotional, reckless, or unpatriotic. That’s not an argument against criticism; it’s an attempt to control the frame in which criticism is heard.
Contextually, this line fits societies where opposition politics is tolerated but suspect, where stability is prized and nationalism is the default moral yardstick. Saleh’s intent seems to be de-escalation on the surface, containment underneath: yes to dissent, so long as it never threatens the story the state wants to tell about itself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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