Most of the participants at the ICJM conference on the above title and some of our top opinion leaders are of the view that nothing much has changed and that the country is not immune to such riots in the future.
Where have we failed and why ?
Our relatively strong growth performance has brought significant welfare gains to the population but still the situation of the lower class has continued to worsen -increased income and educational inequities, exclusion and marginalisation especially in some geographic areas, dysfunctional families (often female-headed) with large numbers of neglected children, alarming increase in the number of drop-out kids and drug addicts and increase in juvenile crime and high unemployment levels. Despite the multiplicity of poverty programs and organisations, the results have not been forthcoming; we have failed to reach the poorest.
What , then, is the problem ?
Only if there is a strong commitment to allocate a constant flow of substantial resources for the design and implementation of well-targeted poverty programmes and measures , accompanied by essential transformational reforms, will we be able to make a meaningful dent on poverty !
Successive budgets have to provide the steps to give households and people a start in the economy, ladders to help them climb out of poverty, security ropes to prevent them from falling back too deeply and a safety net as a measure of last resort. That should be the crux of our approach -the priority of priorities of our economic and political programs and our long term vision of "leaving no one behind" - the central and transformative promise -in the realisation of the our sustainable development and our sustainable development goals ..
-More resources allocated to the multi-dimensional approach to poverty - targeted, community-based and participatory. In line with these new approaches, necessary structures have to be put in place to provide the appropriate framework conducive to facilitate the integration of the vulnerable segment of the population into the mainstream of productive activities.
-More resources for the economic empowerment of the poor for their integration in productive activities through better access to education, health and credit facilities and the strengthening of capacity-building.
-More resources for training facilities; for the provision of additional low-cost housing schemes for the very poor citizens and homeless and for improving access to preventive and curative health care.
-More resources for the provision of free meals in some very poor deprived areas; facilitating the reach to leisure and recreational amenities to the poor; and expansion of micro credit schemes etc.
The nation’s priority - not the one-off populist measures of for e.g a pension increase or an increase in minimum wage which are very soon eroded by inflation- should be the continuous mobilising and organising of resources to give a strong voice to the poorest of the poor. A committed columnist , Jean-Clement Cangy, once wrote that “ Le Combat contre la pauvreté se gagne dans des actions constantes en faveur des plus démunis”
Have you seen such constancy , such commitment for an overhaul of our education and health systems to start with …a commitment to mobilise more and more resources in favour of the poor from the different regimes since independence ?
The only constancy was the consolidation of the economic and political elite and the pauperisation of the lower classes across communities, which was felt more acutely among one community and was categorised by some social analysts as a typical case of "exclusion or marginalisation sociale”.
Comme le dit Jonathan Ravat, director of ICJM, Il y a des sujets qui restent d’actualité : "la pauvreté, la promiscuité, l’exclusion et la question créole même si maintenant on peut voir une mutation” Why such a status quo at the level of the fight against exclusion and poverty ?
Because if we want to really tackle the poverty and exclusion issue , we will have to carry out some essential reforms - genuine ones that will be needing a complete overhaul not cosmetic ones-, we will have to devote more resources for projects and programs in favour of the poor, the lower class, ....-a transformational change , a rapport de force in favour of the poor. We cannot achieve this by continuing with the same model of development and same model of governance. Otherwise we we will be fooling ourselves . Our fight against exclusion and poverty-“Leave No One Behind”-will remain a mere slogan.
Don't be fooled by the "slogans creux" of some of the present and past politicians and followers who after so many years of our "viv-ensam" are still stuck with their adherence to the vote-catching identity politics , with their Us v/s Them mentality . Quand "Ils ne peuvent plus avancer, aller plus loin et dépasser le cadre de la représentation raciale” , how can we expect them to even think about questioning the status quo-our present economic model and governance structure ?
Many of our thinkers, opinion leaders , our political leaders-present and past- who are hitting the headlines now, affirming their commitment to the fight against exclusion and poverty, are part of the political class or elite that is supporting the status quo- a political elite that cannot or are not willing to bring about the break, the rupture that is called for to achieve meaningful progress in tackling exclusion and poverty.
To bring about “le rupture”, “enn transformation qualitatif” is needed as argued by ReA -enn rupture avek system existan- enn rupture du systèm politik ek economik ki pé touzour krèer sa ban inégalité social ek sa injustis economik ki pé exacerbé azordi avek injustis climatik lor klas travayer ek ban dimoun ki pli au bas de l’échelle.
