Science is what causes things to fall

Decolonisation is a tricky subject and the word itself is giving many a South African academic sleepless nights, even in the Science Faculties. We learned last Friday that poor old rational science is in danger from some revolutionary elements who would like to see someone with lightning powers taken more seriously than Isaac Newton’s laws of physics.

Some laughed, some cried, but it was refreshing to see the majority of South Africans agreeing on something – that gravity is actually a thing, not just an invention of “western modernity”, as has been alleged. So at least not everyone in this country has taken the red pill and started bending spoons and flying over rooftops with the powers afforded by a decolonised mind.

@Ryk_van_Niekerk: How can you demand #sciencemustfall if you don’t believe in gravity?

@Jonathankillow: this #sciencemustfall, can someone please tell me y is that girl studying , and not opening her lightning academy

@Katley_FBO: You're saying #sciencemustfall while using a phone and internet, how intelligent

@WakeUpAdam: I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. #ScienceMustFall

#FeesMustFall hanging in there

And on it goes — more rubber bullets, more property damage, and amidst it all, many students are still trying to study and complete the academic year. Anyone able to get through it and pass their exams should get a medal, because we couldn’t imagine trying to concentrate with the whiff of teargas in the air and assaults taking place outside the library window.

Meanwhile, Wits FMF leader, 32-year-old Mcebo Dlamini, has been denied bail because of videos that reportedly show him assaulting a police officer and holding sticks and rocks. The court was sceptical that protesting peacefully was anywhere near his agenda. Dlamini and his supporters say that his arrest was purely political, and while it may be, we also can’t forget Dlamini’s declaration of love for the decidedly not peaceful dictator and mass murderer, Adolf Hitler, which casts more than a little doubt on his noble-mindedness.

Rain has fallen

At last! Gauteng was drenched repeatedly by some long-awaited storms. It may be a little too early to lift water restrictions but at least it’s something. Also, some of us received a free car wash which was badly needed (because saving water was more important than a clean car, not because we were lazy).

The streets of Bloemfontein were briefly transformed into something reminiscent of a Canadian winter, with cars buried to the wheel-wells in hail. Bulldozers served as snow ploughs to clear the roads, giving the Free State a small taste of a very foreign commuter problem.

If you don’t believe us, see for yourself here. 

US politics dominating the global news cycle is (hopefully) due to fall

We’re almost there – the last debate is done and soon the US elections will be over and we won’t have all of this polarising nastiness invading our lives … if only. Unfortunately, we’re still going to have one of them in the White House running the show, and so their polarising nastiness will have real authority instead of just rallies and a Twitter account.

As many American are saying, it’s a case of choosing the lesser of two evils, but just how evil is that? Hopefully the lesser evil is just nastiness, because we can live with nastiness. But one remark in the debate left a particularly nasty taste in the mouth, nastier than any border wall or basement email server –Trump declared that he might not accept the results of the “rigged” election, implying different things to different people, but none of them good. We can only imagine how many of those “Second Amendment people” of his are already locked and loaded. Chilling indeed.

And on we march, towards another week.