“In defense of President Saleh’s achievements”
No I haven’t been bought. This is the title of an op-ed in NewsYemen by Nabil al-Soufi, who from what I can tell is an independent thinker. And he makes the (valid) point that President Saleh did many important things during his rule. A primary achievement was to establish both the mechanics of democracy (although they are not functional now) and to encourage the broad based consensus for democracy among the Yemeni people.
Further, and I know this first hand, Yemen’s press was and perhaps still is the freest in the Middle East, providing a political space unavailable in other neighboring countries. The brutal and repressive atacks on Yemeni journalists now is an attempt to shrink that sphere of dialog.
The political party system is another positive legacy of the Saleh era, although the ability of some parties to consistently represent and articulate the concerns of the broader membership and society at large is hampered by concerns of self-interest and, in some cases, self-preservation. al-Soufi aptly describes the narrow scope and agenda of some of the parties:
Another achievement of President Saleh was without doubt, allowing the formation of political parties.
Nevertheless, partisanship remains an evil in our country because it retains a culture of marginalization of others. All parties fiercely defend their entities, their rights and their alliances only. Furthermore, political parties in Yemen have sadly not yet developed a culture or policy of service to others.
Coming back to our subject, Saleh, the President, was extremely liberal and open-minded in dealing with the idea of forming and managing political parties. The political community in Yemen also seemed ready to accept a reality with new political parties and demonstrated a unique ability in establishing legitimacy for political parties and their objectives.
Hence, there were very few obstacles that hindered change towards a multi-party system jam-packed with partisanship. This had indeed facilitated Saleh’s mission.
Another achievement of Saleh is unity, according to al-Soufi. Some scholars have described the policy of the central government toward the South not as a democratic partnership but rather as “annexationist” (internal colonialism).
al-Soufi says: Under Saleh’s rule, unity was not established on clashing ideologies, even if those ideologies had a unionist vision. Saleh was able to build a united country based on respect of the other side. Without Saleh’s vision of mutual respect, unity would not have been established unless one side wrecked the other. Again the vision of a government policy of mutual respect, like the visions of a policy of democracy and a free press, is a noble one that has yet to be translated into action by the regime.
The decade-long deployment of these concepts (democracy, a free press, multi party system, and unity) if only on an ideological level without their authentic or maximal physcial embodiment is what is driving the tide of rising expectations in Yemen and the popular demand for real reform. So for this Saleh deserves credit.
I’m glad this al-Soufi wrote this article because he is rational and unbiased and I can listen to him without twitching. He makes a valid point and provides both the broad context and a specific baseline to the turmultuous political scene in Yemen. So read the whole thing. Its a good article that covers more ground than what is summarized here.
