Why Rhodes must not fall
Dr Taj Hargey will speak on why statues of white hegemony should not be toppled at a public talk at DUT.
A TALK on why Rhodes must not fall by Dr Taj Hargey, will be held on Saturday 5 March in the DUT Hotel School lecture room, Ritson Campus, Winterton Walk, at 11.15am.
Dr Taj Hargey is a former professor of Islamic studies and African history in the United States and Britain. Aside from his extensive expertise in Islam and Africa, Dr Hargey currently serves as the Director of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford. He is the leading scholar in the UK championing liberal Islam by resisting Muslim extremism and promoting inter-religious harmony. Dr Hargey is also the founder and president of the Open Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa's most inclusive house of Islamic worship.
According to Hargey, history is by far the most critical tool in understanding the present and charting the future. Society will only progress and visionary leadership of any country can only emerge when both learn and absorb the immutable lessons of history.
“Without a solid grasp of the past – warts and all – no nation can turn a new leaf. This is particularly true in South Africa where a toxic combination of colonialism, slavery and imperialism has produced a bitter legacy of institutionalised racism and apartheid. Any puerile move to deny the past by erasing history or eradicating the artifacts of a bygone era serves no useful purpose; it only entrenches collective ignorance and ethnic prejudice,” he said.
This scholarly presentation provides effective counter-arguments why the historical symbols and statues of white hegemony should not be toppled, but be reinterpreted to furnish proper context for all South Africans, thereby furnishing lasting lessons for their future.
Contact Crispin Hemson on 082 926 5333 or 031 373 5499.
