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THE VALUE OF OPPOSITION

28/04/2018 23:25:00 By Jan Sithole

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Today I want to be very simple in expressing my opinion about the value of opposites, as most people in society have very diverse views about opposites and in particular the word opposition, to an extent that some people equate it to enmity, rivalry and undesirable.

They even say it undermines cohesion, uniformity, unanimity, collectively, harmony, oneness, unity to mention but a few misrepresentations.

To me this is a very narrow and limiting understanding of the word opposition, particularly because, we are living in a global space and we are aligned in a variety of regional, continental and international blocks, economically, trade wise, socially and even politically.

constitutions of most countries

I say this because constitutions of most countries are influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Charter (UDHRC) adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1948 whose universality has underpinned the Bill of Rights as the first generation rights. The Bill of Rights comprise the freedom of expression, opinion and speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of association, the freedom of movement and the right to tolerate voices of dissent to mention but a few.

My passion with opposites or opposition in the political realm is that in my opinion, life would be dull and completely different if opposites/opposition were not allowed to coexist with other opinions, ideas and thought processes that differed. Biologically, physics wise, chemistry wise, business wise, in my view it is all true.

communicate with own self

Starting with a biblical example of creation; it is my opinion that when God created man, he ensured that a person would be able to communicate with own self in solitude and sometimes monologues, and can agree with own self or choose to undermine that little persistent voice that always plays a devil’s advocate, plays the role of the opposition and it is always good to have that voice functioning, it is even better to always take note and also consider the messages from that little voice as most of the time when it is disregarded or ignored, the risks for negative outcomes are very high.

Every one of us has that little voice and, I consider it as a healthy opposition, because without it, most good values would go out of control. In siSwati, we usually call it ‘Nembeza’ and when that little opposition ‘the devil’s advocate’ is no longer functioning and /or listened to, we say “Sewufe nembeza” so we need opposition to be balanced beings.

In music, particularly the piano and the organ musical instruments, one needs both the white and black keys and it is only then that good music can be produced. The black and white keys are opposites but produce an even better outcome; darkness and light are opposites but you need light to drive away darkness and you need the darkness to appreciate the light; in photography, one needs a dark background to appreciate bright coloured objects in the pictures or rather one needs a good contrast to have good pictures, because good pictures are those that have good contrast balance which is a combination of brightness and darkness adjustments.

These opposites only produce good pictures. Geographically, we need all seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter while they are opposites, you need all of them to have a good harvest.

In physics, the ordinary car battery has a positive and a negative, electricity wires have a positive and a negative to function properly. Biologically, for reproduction, there is need for a man and women and these are opposite sexes but their co-existence is a necessity for families and nations to continue to exist.

In dialogue forums of nation building and policy making, there is need for diverse views and some of which could be diametrically opposite to each other but, as long as those diverse views, opinions and ideas are allowed space for expression and audience with an open mind in an environment free of fear of intimidation or victimisation, products of such dialogues and forums stand the test of time only because at inception and conception stages inclusivity of diverse opinions were engaged for consultations.

protocols and agreements

The international treaties, conventions, protocols and agreements, are a product of diverse opinions, diverse backgrounds, diverse ideologies, diverse regional blocks, diverse cultures that are allowed to flow across the globe without prejudice in an environment that is equally friendly.

There are only two things that are allowed to remain static and should not be interfered with; those are tradition and church. Mark my comments. I deliberately did not include culture because it must be dynamic and dynamism cannot be static but can be responsive to times, circumstances, people’s practices and periodic dynamic preferences, development and situations.

I want to pick the Christian church as a place that does not and should not be democratic and that should not be negotiable, as such no need for opposition and it is correct not have democracy because there is one God, one Bible, one hymn at a time, one Pastor and the pastor, Priest, Bishop Reverend or whatever we choose to name the leaders, they are believed to be messengers of the Almighty God.

The place where it remains a crime against the universality of the Bill of Rights and the free exercise of fundamental human rights not to have or allow opposition and opposing views and voices of dissent is in ‘politics and government’, so any political governance system that does not allow opposition and diverse opinions lacks the basic ingredient of democracy.

This is so even if elections were conducted regularly and peacefully but as long as the product of that election cannot freely oppose a budget and service delivery that does not address the priorities of the electorate, such a system would be considered acutely lacking in some critical democratic values and principles.