'Where There's No Fight for it There's No Freedom': On Scholars and Social Commitment in Southern Africa. Which Side Are You On?

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Periodical article

Title:	'Where There's No Fight for it There's No Freedom': On Scholars and Social Commitment in Southern Africa. Which Side Are You On?
Author:	Melber, Henning
Year:	2006
Periodical:	Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Volume:	24
Issue:	2
Period:	May
Pages:	261-278
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Southern Africa South Africa Zimbabwe
Subjects:	political philosophy intellectuals responsibility human rights Bibliography/Research Education and Oral Traditions
External links:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02589000600770023 http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=44C696331F9F0F77FF82
Abstract:	This essay puts the concepts of freedom, human rights, and civil disobedience mainly into the context of former settler-dominated societies in southern Africa. It positions the subject by means of some concrete examples - including the opportunistic political attitudes of a scholar from Zimbabwe - and then summarizes the notion of civil disobedience. Finally, it argues for the need of a permissive postcolonial sociopolitical system allowing for dissenting views, including manifestations of critical loyalty through the articulation of dissenting views, taking democratic South Africa as an example, and concludes with an appeal to opt for such a sociopolitical commitment. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]