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Ugly face of sectarianism
If we follow the bookies’ lead, then the alliance of opposition parties seem favourites to win the election. In such a case, they cannot be described as desperate. Thus, just why they have to engage in petty sectarian attacks seems quite incomprehensible. Despite all previous guarantees, it seems the temptation is far too strong for some. A lack of ideas, cold political calculations and a complete disregard for the real issues of society are threatening to bring down the elections to crass ethic divisions. There has now been a series of events linked to the opposition block, and it would be a travesty of democracy to stay quiet about their implications.
Two events in recent weeks can interlink to explain the mindset of some in the campaign. Let us take the most recent one, which as an isolated case, would be quite funny if the inference was not so grave. It is almost unheard of, a politician who refuses the endorsement of another group. But it did happen. When Cehl Meeah asked people to vote for Rama Valayden, the latter quickly distanced himself from the FSM man. No thank you. Valayden’s MR is part of an alliance which openly embraces its strong Hindu influence and sensibilities would be seriously hurt and bruised with Meeah on the bandwagon.
However, it cannot be denied that this is firmly rooted in the context of Navin Ramgoolam’s little visit to the Human Service Trust (HST) reception of Dhundev Baha- door. We should remember what the leader of the opposition said at that meeting, as reported in this newspaper.
The unnecessary football analogy</B>
He said that if the Hindus were united, the situation would be different. Though this might appear innocuous on the surface, it takes on another dimension under the auspices of the HST. Tied to this there was the whole episode of the ZEP schools and Bahadoor’s nasty comments. Could Meeah’s support clash with that afforded by Bahadoor? It seems more plausible than the MMM/FSM conspiracy theory provided by Valayden. Far from being a trivial moment, this is a clash of religious extremities.
However, our friends in the Social Alliance (AS) did not stop here. It gets worse in terms of crassness. Football, being the national game, becomes handy when a populist analogy is needed. Thus, the reference to the Cadets-Scouts-Fire alliance against the Dodo Club. Put two and two together and the result is nauseating. Despite the fact that clubs like Cadets, Scouts and Fire Brigade are long dead, it is was no mere coincidence that the Dodo club was brought from its now fossilised existence to the forefront of the electoral campaign.
<B>The power of fear</B>
The Dodo club always represented white people, and the allusion is by extension to the Prime Minister. Racism has no place in a modern democracy whatever our grievances over colonisation may be. We could have been forgiven for seeing the irony of Mukeswar Choonee’s words in another context. For, was it not the previous Labour government who initiated the death of the Cadets, Scouts and Fire clubs? Wasn’t this done to remove sectarianism from the national game? This timely revival can only be explained by racist motives.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the people are showing some kind of revival these days and there can be a good lesson to be learnt from the Dutch and French referenda on the EU constitution. It was a concrete proof that people can take back power from the political elite in an election.
And it was done without the usually patronising help of the media. While the mainstream media campaigned with the political establishment for a yes vote, the electorate emphatically rejected the constitution. It showed exactly how the people can reclaim the balance of power from politicians. They did not need the media to chaperone them to the polling stations to agree to everything put before them.
In the British elections, the Conservative party, having decided to play the race card, suffered an equally humiliating defeat at the hands of Labour. However, if these results show a degree of rejection of racist agenda, the trend has been towards far-right politics. In Italy, Austria, Holland, Denmark and France, the extremist racist parties have been gaining ground. They have done so by exploiting the fears and insecurities of the population on immigration. This could be related to the situation in Mauritius, where the politicians are exploiting the sensibilities of certain sections of the population to make electoral gains. But in Mauritius, they have to play on several fronts, hence the complicated sectarian game.
Once the population is apprehensive about something, the easier it is to manipulate it. The fear of communism after World War Two for example, allowed the American government, and many others, to conduct a vicious witch-hunt. The McCarthy era was so successful precisely because government propaganda had people afraid of a supposed “red threat“. Many dictators, stay in power through by a combination of force and fear.
What is happening in Mauritius is part and parcel of the dirtiest tricks of the political game. Far from being concerned with the country and the people, power becomes an end in itself. And what better than create paranoia among a group in the population and then relentlessly exploit that insecurity till the elections are won. In this case, the threat of division among Hindus, their supposed loss of influence in the country, their diluted power, are some of the fears being exploited.
In the midst of this sectarian campaign, there are however two groups which are showing just how elections could be conducted. Lalit, and its offshoot, Rezistans ek Alternativ must be applauded for the way they have consistently fought the ugly beast of communalism. Though, it seems impossible to think of them gaining parliamentary seats, because of our pattern of voting, they offer a beacon of hope in the dark hours of petty sectarian rhetoric.
<B>Diren valayden
Outlook Correspondent in Dublin</B>
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