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Slow-burn Disintegration
Sociologist Charles Tilly, in his landmark essay War-making and state-making as organised crime, argued that the creation of modern European states arose from a need by local powers to monopolise the means of violence against their would-be competitors. These powers (royals, local lords, etc.) sought to raise capital either by extracting it from the population under their control or promoting its accumulation.
Warring became a key factor in their desire to create and maintain a secure boundary. Wars also provided a means of defeating their enemies and further strengthening their monopoly of the means of violence. They could also become a source of capital. Hence, as Tilly explains, those in power had to provide some kind of protection to the people they ruled to prevent popular uprisings.
Governments usually provide protection from both ?local and external violence?, except in the case of failed states. However, protection can be in two forms, according to Tilly. Legitimate protection comes from someone that provides a ?needed shield? against a danger over which it has little control. Secondly, there is someone who creates both the threat and provides the shield, in exchange of a sum of money. This person is a racketeer.
In his essay, Tilly contends that governments behave like racketeers. He writes: ?To the extent that the threats against which a given government protects its citizens are imaginary or are consequences of its own activities, the government has organised a protection racket. Since governments themselves simulate, stimulate, or even fabricate threats of external war and, since the repressive and extractive activities of governments often constitute the largest threats to the livelihoods of their own citizens, many governments operate essentially in the same way as racketeers.?
Thus, sticking to Tilly?s argument, in the light of the spate of violent crime in Mauritius, we can say that the government is not protecting its citizens from ?local violence?. Its protection racket has failed. This failure more or less started in the nineties, but was highlighted by the riots that followed Kaya?s death. The different regimes that followed equally failed to prevent the rise of violent crime.
Low-level crime society</B>
The rise in violence has many root causes, of which growing inequality, the breakdown of communities, economic uncertainty for the population, job insecurity, the failure of the criminal justice system. Furthermore, people see their ?protection? money being frittered away by the government and, in some cases, being used against them (the use of the national broadcaster as a propaganda machine is a glaring example). Since the racket is not being properly managed by the government, leaving the people vulnerable, the latter decide to take matters in their own hands, thus explaining the surge in criminality.
A survey by the Mauritius Police Force and SaferAfrica, a South African NGO, titled Mauritius Crime Survey 2004, lists assault against the person (both serious and minor blows) as third in the Top 30 reported offences. The first two are traffic law violations. Of all crime represented, 80% were classified as contraventions, mainly to do with road traffic regulations, 17.1% as misdemeanours, which include larceny and assault against the person. The last 3.9% is classified as crime, including murder and rape. In general, the report shows a constant rise in crime during the study period. However, the conclusions of the report attribute this increase to higher levels of reporting criminality to the police. This is common to all police forces. A rise in crime is usually due to better administration.
However, the report also points to the fact that Mauritius is a low-level crime society. It says that ?Mauritius shows a rate of 2 murders per 100 000 people, whereas other comparable situations such as Seychelles show a rate of 7 per 100 000 and Jamaica a rate of 32 murders per 100 000 people. On rape, Mauritius shows a rate of 2 rapes per 100 000 people, Jamaica 48, and Seychelles 79 rapes per 100 000.? It acknowledges that the rate of reporting crime might be lower in Mauritius, especially when it comes to rape and petty crime where the victim sees little chance of obtaining justice. One such example would be the case of theft of mobile phones, a trend on the increase.
The fact that Mauritian society might have lower crime levels than Seychelles or Jamaica is not new. Also, crime trends tend to experience ups and downs, for no particular reason. However, alarm has been raised in Mauritius over the prevalence of gratuitous violence, where someone can be murdered for as little as a mobile phone. The other worrying aspect is the level of sexual violence, often with sadistic intent. So too is the rate of paedophilia, especially on toddlers.
While a crimeless paradigm is impossible to achieve, the types of crimes currently on the increase reflect a greater malaise in society, one where it is impossible to envisage a secure and stable future. Our society, like many worldwide, is being rocked by globalisation and governments are not prepared to mitigate these effects. They keep saying that everything is fine, citing the rise in consumerism as a measure of people?s happiness. The reason for this is that consumerism is exactly what underpins post-industrial societies, and thus remains the lifeblood of the ruling class. Hence, the general paralysis and unwillingness to turn things around except by some superfluous announcements of ?zero tolerance? policies, which do not eliminate the root causes.
In Mauritius, the new government is further exacerbating the plight of ordinary people by adopting a ruthless neo-liberal regime, while cutting large holes in the safety net that has traditionally existed. Hence, as Tilly says, the government?s activities are creating new threats for the people. But, at the same time, it is failing to provide the protection part of the equation. This ultimately changes its position from racketeer to outright bully.
Diren VALAYDEN</B> Outlook Correspondent in Dublin</I>
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