Why squash something that has been laid to rest thanks to the betrayal of those who don't believe they can have an African Galileo in this day and age?
"How long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look? Ooh!" - Bob Marley
"Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, lived from 1564 to 1642. In 1610, he was the first person we know of to use the newly invented telescope to look at the stars and planets. He discovered the satellites of Jupiter, which showed that Ptolemy's and the Church's idea that there was only one center of orbits in the Universe (namely, the Earth) was incorrect. Based on his observations, Galilei argued for the heliocentric model of Copernicus. He noticed that stars look like little points even when seen through a telescope, and concluded that stars must be very far away indeed. In part because Bruno (a convicted heretic) supported them, the ideas of Copernicus were condemned by the Catholic Church in 1616, and Galileo was tried and convicted of heresy in 1633. He was forced to publicly deny the ideas of Copernicus, and was held under house arrest until he died in 1642. In 1979 a reinvestigation of this conviction was started by the Church and finally the conviction was overturned, about 340 years after Galileo's death. A famous story, but perhaps untrue, has Galileo mutter (of the Earth) "And yet she moves!" on his death-bed. Yet, Galileo, like Bruno and Aristarchus before him, had no proof that the Sun and stars are alike" - Stanford SOLAR Center -- Ask A Solar Physicist FAQs - Answer
You cannot tell me anything I don't know about Galileo, why, while my peers were following the curriculum I was burrowing through his escapades with the popes, and "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" in 1991. I often go back to him in my atheism paradigm shift here in JF.
I also find the whole idea of "African Galileo" self defeatist. Especially for an Africanist, as every Pan-African is supposed to be.
It is like when people who think they are complimenting Arusha by calling it "The Geneva of Africa". I find the whole analogy offensive. Why do you call Arusha the "Geneva of Africa" and no one calls Geneva "The Arusha of Europe".
Why do you call Mbeki the African Galileo? Do you lack African examples to draw from?
And you are telling me that you who do lack enough of your history to draw an African analogy is the ideologue in this joint? I wonder what the lazy bastards are going to say? They probably don't even know who Imhotep was!
You may want to squash something that has been laid to rest for the sake of reiteration and providing a commensurate timeline.
For the same reason the Tanzanian government never tired of condemning apartheid. The Nyerere administration never tired of dispelling apartheid because it was such a despicable setup.
If Mbeki was still feeling the same stance, he would see this question as an opportunity to open more eyes to his worldview.
But what does he do? He clams up. Why? Because he realizes the arrow of time which no Hegelian hyperbole could stand against, is not in his favor. He might be a hyperbole, but he is no fool.
He realizes that scientific research has moved beyond what he could hyperbole back in the days. Why, people are talking about understanding enough about HIV to whip up a cure in a decade or two.
Mbeki might not be exceptionally smart, but he has been privileged enough to know that he is better off not answering this question.
He measures the pros and cons of answering this question.
He sees the quotes in the next days dailies all over the world "Mbeki maintains". "Die Hard Mbeki". "IdeologueTo The End". "Old Boy Still Spins". "Shameless". "Inside Out With Unrepentant Ex-Communist" etc etc.
He decides no. I have neither the courage nor the dsire to deal with this. Ten years ago, maybe, now? I am too old for this.
I need me a Lushoto like old boy den back in SA. Where I could read my parallel universe extra intellectuall novels, and dream of a better world in peace. Why did I even come to Dar? Who is this Dr. Mkumbo? He must be a counterrevolutionary force.
(Supressing a yawn)
No thanks.
'I will not respond to that pinching question'