As no man is a prophet in his own land, the tapping of external sources may be more useful in driving our point that our local politics continue to be influenced by the moves of the old propertied oligarchy. (preferable to railing against the double standards of a partisan media.) The recent report of the BTI 2010 — Mauritius Country Report. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2009 shares our views that “ .... democratic institutions have not succeeded in breaking up the veto power of the old propertied white oligarchy or in bringing it under democratic control. Democracy, a cornerstone of Mauritian national identity, ends on the sugar cane plantation, at the bank and at the factory gate. Under the surface of ethnic and cultural pluralism, the economic dominance of the Franco-Mauritian upper class is still effective. "
