The article in the UFS News (2/05/2016) reports that I apparently said at the TEDex UFS:
“We shall soon run out of #MustFalls. Maybe it is time that we rise again.”
Come on. I said that we must be thinking about what comes after all the 'Musts' that 'Fallen'. Not that 'we' (?) must rise again. Who is 'we'? But that we must think about the role of the universities, and that we must think about what must rise. And with 'we' I meant everyone, but especially the audience of learners, students, young professionals and academics at the TEDex function.
He argues that we should stop burning down buildings and vandalising properties. What we need is people with intellect to use their words. We, as students, have to take back our voice. We need to stop this self-pitying, and take a stand. Students have the power to change lives. We would be able to reach as many as 1.4 million people with our tweets or instagram accounts.
Indeed, the key to my presentation was to discuss the implications of the #movements in SA, the new student movement, for political culture. Currently, it appears that the only way of being able to voice political interests and get a response is by lighting a match. Yet, what the student movement has shown is that the smartphone, that social media, are far more effective (and less destructive) than burning down government installations (including, currently, school after school in Limpopo!). However, I would not use terms like 'vandalising' since citizens are not 'vandals'; I would never say we are 'self-pitying' and such stuff. That's silly. No.
The really important point was to show that there are new ways available for voicing interests and for making government more responsive: forget about the 'match'... with the increasing proliferation of smartphones, e-government is the future. Social media are an important way of conscientising, mobilising and expressing political interests. Look at #FeesMustFall and how effective it has been nationwide, with hardly any resort to 'torching' buildings.
