Deepa BHOOKHUN
14 March 2008
column
Port Louis — I read in a Sunday weekly newspaper the thoughts of a few youngsters on independence.
One of them, a teacher at Loreto College of Port-Louis, aged 26 - I won't name her as I don't want to embarrass her even though I think she has managed to embarrass herself - said: "I think we have reached a point where we need to go back to colonialism." She obviously has her own reasons for thinking this, none of which are worth mentioning here. But over and above the fact that this young lady will be transferring this ridiculous notion to her students - and this is something that should worry us -, I think that, 40 years after independence, we need to ask ourselves where we went wrong if there are still people who are so ignorant about what the notion of independence is, that they are prepared to say out loud that they think colonialism is a better alternative to dignity, to freedom, to independence.
Obviously we cannot be held responsible for people's stupidity but this young woman's stand probably has to do with what her parents and her teachers have taughther or at the very least, with their prejudices.
So where did we go wrong? Is it because politicians have this tendency to hijack "the fight for independence" as well as every achievement that the country has made? Let's face it - history in Mauritius depends on what government is in power.
If it's a Labour-led government, you would think the country's history starts with Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and ends with Navin Ramgoolam. And that, in between, nothing of consequence happened. Sir Anerood Jugnauth?
He might as well be just a figment of your imagination!
When it was an MSM-led government, the history of Mauritius began in 1982. In 2004 and 2005, only three people mattered - Paul, Raymond and Bérenger.
I know politicians have massive egos and everything is about scoring points but shouldn't issues as important as history be exempted from this settling of scores?
The thing is I don't think politicians - used to thinking short term - realize what harm they are causing this country they pretend to love when they mould history to suit their sorry purposes. They don't realize that, when history is tinted red, orange, purple or blue, it doesn't unite people. Any wonder then that some will not be interested in this tinted history, those tinted battles and those tinted victories?
This part lie that history has become is further desecrated when every 12th of March, political agents and cronies are given the highest distinction of the Republic in our name.
In retrospect, when I think about it, the fact that some people could be indifferent to our country's story of determination, courage, hard work and success is inconceivable. And yet many of them are.
And it's not as if the relevant facts haven't been publicized; we know where we came from and we know what we have achieved.
Then how come it leaves some people cold?
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