These are some of recent events and statements making the news:
-Treize ans de prison pour avoir violé sa cousine
-Poignardée par son compagnon à Bel-Air .
-Il écope de neuf mois de prison pour avoir volé la carte bancaire de son père
-Saisi d’un colis de drogue de synthèse dans la forêt de Wooton
-Un enfant victime de « bullying »
-Un guichet automatique vandalisé
- "Beaucoup de gens vivent dans des conditions difficiles au niveau matériel, physique ou spirituelle."
-"la drogue qui fait des ravages."
-“Nous devons réfléchir ensemble à des solutions pour résoudre les problèmes qui affectent la vie de nos enfants “.
Our society is on the wane; the pillars that once helped to give life meaning have all eroded; there is an erosion of social morals against a backdrop of an ageing population and a lack of social cohesion-we are gradually moving towards a society of hate and fracture.
What are our social-cultural/religious groups doing ? How are they helping us to face these social challenges ?
In our context, socio-cultural group is a term which is used to refer to private organisations whose primary objectives are to consolidate human and moral values, strengthen the family unit and promote religious and cultural values. Are they doing that ?
No, their priority is not to help us tackle these challenges; but they are good at organising shows/ celebrations/festivals /special events where the politicians are invited-recently at Surinam, MGI,Pointe-aux-Piments .... They are good at bargaining for more for their community, a greater share of the national cake , more of concessions to their community, more of this and that , and of course , more of land to build more churches , temples and mosques and what not…
Our PM, our Padre, was so proud at announcing the allocation of land at La Vigie for Mauritius Tamil Temple Federation, the Hindi Speaking Union, the Urdu Speaking Union and the Indo Mauritian Catholic Association and he even chided the organisers of these traditional shows/celebrations for bringing a long list of requests on these august occasions- "that’s not the place for such demands" our Padre said.
U see how generous our Padre is, distributing 'manna" to the paupers, to the hangers-on; he is above petty politics, he ensures that the drug mafia gets their share of state-owned lands as well as the socio-cultural/religious groups . So impartial is our Padre, keeping everyone so contented…and but how cheap the representatives of our communities have become-ban rôdeur boutes- and our intelligentsia proud of being present and part of "nou ban", part of the identity politics ,nodding foolishly and acknowledging unashamedly at those gimmicks . "Nou pé defan nou communauté, what ! " they will holler proudly trying to hide their unease, hiding the true "ethnic Mauritian" that they are behind the mask of "Mauritain national" that they usually wear.
Hats off , continué défan ...pendan ki pei pé koulé et nou tous nou pou koul ansan san distinction !
Nou zenes pé bez dan la drogue, zot pé lager pou congé publik , ena baizé là !
THE RÔDEUR-BOUTISM OF OUR SOCIO-CULTURAL /RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS, THE COLLABORATIVE INTELLIGENTSIA TO SUCH “NOUBANISM” AND THEIR NUMBERS GAME OF CONVERSION/ PROSELYTISING MAY LEAD US TO DOOM .
But there is hope. There are many NGOs who on the front-lines tackling civil society and societal issues. These NGOs have taken the task of trying their best to leave this world a slightly better place than how they found it. Why don’t our socio cultural/religious organisations join hands with these NGOs in helping the blossoming of our children, inculcating values and traditions for their all-round development, nurturing children to get back in touch with our value system and develop into better human beings?
Values like compassion, kindness, forgiveness, generosity, respect, sincerity, integrity, contentment, etc. are intricately woven into every society. Nuclear families, the influence of media, lack of time and fast-paced life are disconnecting children from our rich heritage and inculcating human values.
That’s a wake up call ; they have to come out of their silos and join hands with each other and other NGOs to inspire our children to imbibe core values, develop the best qualities and have an appreciation for our rich culture and its diversity. These programs will complement the learnings in schools and bring about an overall development in children, with a strong foundation of values.
