About
#ScienceMustFall is a hashtag representing a movement to abolish modern science and replace it with a new understanding of science built from the ground up. The movement was started by a group of students known as “fallists” at the University of Cape Town who want to “decolonize” science from western modernity. The movement is also an offshoot of the ongoing #FeesMustFall movement which began is October of 2015. The hashtag quickly became co-opted by those who felt that the movement was absurd and quickly began to point out the apparent faults in such an idea.
Origin
On October 13th, 2016, YouTuber UCT Scientist uploaded a video in which several students fro the University of Cape Town sit before the University’s science faculty to make the case that modern science is too heavily influenced by the West, and that science as a whole needs to be abolished and remade from a new perspective (shown below).
Spread
Following the video’s upload several news sites began to comment and critique it such as BusinessTech,[1] Heat Street,[2] and Times Live.[3] Many sites pointed to specific excerpts from the video, namely one where one of the students equates Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity to witchcraft. Within one week the hashtag gained several hundred tweets including one from well known YouTuber and music critic Anthony Fantano (shown below).
Yo, #sciencemustfall! If you don't like the Issac Newton's equations, jump off a building and let gravity put you out of your misery. LOL!
— Succthony Bloodtano (@theneedledrop) October 15, 2016