Whereas elsewhere, liberal democracy is making history - Obama, Sunak, now Harris, …?
Ki fer pas capav ena enn Dev, Prem, Vidula, Sushil, Rajesh, Uteem, Joneed… kom leader(vrai pas paravent) MMM ?
Our political institutions ( moreso, by making the ethnic declaration of political candidates obligatory) feed the communal and casteist division of our society and undermines our nation-building…. Many of our political parties still abide to the communal and casteist political game provided by a system which suits them and their adherents- A Vaish as PM, someone from the general population as the first DPM and a Muslim as second DPM …a Ravived as President…a Rajput as …
What about our social institutions ? Systemic racism seems to ripple through our social institutions and into our daily social interactions, whether in our shopping or in the newspaper we purchase, the radio channel we listen to, the friends we have, the team we support, the leaders we admire and follow and the comments we share on social media in the echo chambers and the polarised silos reinforcing our biased convictions .
And many of them -who are foolishly applauding one of “Us” becoming PM while refusing to change their mindset about choosing a Mauritian PM on the basis of competence -these very people, side with the mainstream political parties in feeding the communal and casteist game, especially the best loser system, under the guise of “local realities’! How many of them supported the ecologist party ’s decision to go to the Privy Council challenging the ethnic declaration requirement for general election candidacies ?
We are all hypocrites . We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others. André Gide rightly said “The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity”. AND OUR LOCAL MEDIA EXCELS IN THAT.
If we have decided to play by identity/ethnic politics, by “Nou Ban”, by US v/s Them, by divide and rule , …the end result will have to be in terms of caste and community.
Our systemic racism inhibits (rather than prohibits like in the past) people’s ability to actualize all aspects of our vivre ensemble, our true Mauritianism, “viv to morisianism”
