"Hunt for Successor 8: Zambian Intellectuals are Lazy"[1] is a controversial article written by Field Ruwe, a Zambian-American writer. It was published on January 13, 2012 and subsequently updated on January 16, 2012 on UKZAMBIANS, a Zambian news and lifestyle magazine.
It was later retitled "You lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!"[2] by Ghanaian-American novelist and blogger Malaka Grant,[3] appearing in her blog "Mind of Malaka" on 18 January 2012, and subsequently went viral, being re-posted on other blogs and online forums.
It tells the story of a conversation between an African man and a Caucasian man on board a commercial aircraft. In their conversation, Walter blames the "intellectuals" for the deplorable state of Africa.
The article was adapted into a short film titled Intellectual Scum in 2015 which won a Judges Choice Award at the 2015 Slum Film festival, Kenya.[4] It was nominated for the Best Feature by a student award at the Kalasha Film and Television awards 2015, Kenya.[5] and also screened at the 2015 Africa international film festival, 2015. Nigeria (Student shorts film category).[6]