William Gumede and Leslie Dikeni caused quite a stir with the publication of their The Poverty of Ideas: South African Democracy and the Retreat of the Intellectuals. Some have received the book as a timely critique of our democracy whereas other have questioned its main thrusts. Here is an excerpt for those keen to decide for themselves:
‘Now, it is a fact that an intellectual is someone who fails to mind his own business.’ Jean-Paul Sartre
The debate on what constitutes the role and responsibility of the intellectual in South Africa generates much acrimony. We believe that it is appropriate to revisit this debate at this moment in the life of our new democracy. Our starting point is that active and engaged public intellectuals play a crucial part in the ongoing life of democratic societies, perhaps even more so in new democracies like ours. As Barney Pityana has said, the capacity of a nation to conduct public debates is an important foundation in building a democratic society. ‘In such debates the nation examines its shortcomings and strengths, surveys the infinite variety of views and opinions and treats everyone with respect, exercising tolerance and promoting meaningful communication’.[2] But instead of active engagement, intellectuals in South Africa have increasingly since 1994 beaten a retreat.
Until the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane in December 2007, the space for debate, dissent and public dialogue was significantly narrowed during the Mbeki administration. Even mildly critical patriots were seen as disloyal, as opposed to the ‘people’. Sadly, some intellectuals resorted to ‘nativism’, to exclusive, rather than plural, definitions of South Africanness. Criticisms were assessed on the extent of one’s blackness, on whether one was on ‘our side’. Such was the hostility to new ideas that critics wondered whether they would have their passports confiscated and their citizenship revoked.
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