I am going through newly recovered boxes of Rhoda Kadalie's papers, as I continue to tinker with the manuscript of her biography. Among the files, I found a collection of papers belonging to the late Professor Anthony Holiday, a philosopher who was a close friend of Rhoda's and -- in her description, and probably his -- a guttersnipe of the most esteemed sort. He served a prison term during apartheid for his role in the Communist Party, but later renounced communism, saying that he had "left the community of closed ideas."
He also had "friends in low places" -- the drug dens and brothels and the rest of it -- and therefore had lots of political dirt, which he exploited to the full to gain inside accounts of what was going on in the new South African government.
Anyway -- few others reckoned quite so deeply with the paradoxes of South African life, and the clash between left-wing idealism and reality. He wasn't always on target -- he had really hackneyed ideas about Israel, and suggested (perhaps tongue-in-cheek?) that local Zionist groups be banned. I wrote a very strident response to the local newspaper about that, when he made the case in an op-ed. How could a banned former communist want anyone banned? Nobody's perfect.
Anyway, in a paper on "The Idea of an African University," given in Cape Town in November 2001, he concluded:
"To achieve this recovery of what colonialism and slavery have interred, a generation of artists, historians, scientists and philosopher[s] that is growing up among us must brave the twin dangers of scientism disguised as science, on the one hand, and superstition parading as African religion on the other. It will have to endure the cynical mockery of Eurocentric skeptics as well as the accusations of disloyalty which Africanist ideologues are bound to heap on it. Above all, this generation of seekers will have to withstand the dark night of intellectual loneliness which travelers towards goals of this sort must inevitably traverse. It will find no companions among the politically orthodox. But there may be those from other cultures, spaces and times, who will join the pilgrimage and, whatever its perils, not betray it."
"[T]he dark night of intellectual loneliness" -- I can relate to that, lately. So could Rhoda.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
