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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Zulu wins Colombia Prize

Columbia University's highest oratorical honours went this year to a full-blooded Zulu, who won the annual contest yesterday for the George William Curtis medal. ka Iasaka Seme is the name of the winner. He is a mission student and a member of the class of 1906. His subject was "The Regenrarion of Africa"

This is how the talk started:

I have chosen to speak to you on this occasion upon 'The Regeneration of Africa.' I am an African, and I set my pride in my race over against a hostile public opinion. Men have tried to compare races on the basis of some equality. In all the works of nature, equality, if by it we mean identity, is an impossible dream! Search the Universe! You will find no two units alike. The Scientists tell us there are no two cells, no two atoms, identical. Nature has bestowed upon each a peculiar individuality, an exclusive patent - from the great giants of the forest to the tenderest blade. Catch in your hand, if you please, the gentle flakes of snow. Each is a perfect gem, a new creation it shines in its own glory - a work of art different from all its aerial companions. Man, the crowning achievement of nature, defies analysis. He is a mystery through all ages and for all time. The races of mankind are composed of free and unique individuals. An attempt to compare them on the basis of equality can never be finally satisfactory. Each is himself. My thesis stands on this truth; time has proven it. In all races, genius is like a spark, which, concealed in the blossom of flint, bursts forth at the summoning stroke. It may arise anywhere and in any race.
(http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/seme.html#Hermon)

As we know, he was one of the founding members of the ANC. How I wish that this theme of individualism were maintained...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Typo











The letter from Mandela in Alan Donald's book does not say "liberation movements", which I am sure they meant. Our little movement did contribute a little I would say, but not enough that one would get Mandela to mention it however.