?It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigm?, said Winston Churchill of Russia in 1939. This wry observation could also apply to the problem of poverty, which seems more unassailable than ever. Despite the fact that almost everyone agrees on the need to eradicate the scourge and the mobilization of massive resources, the abyss separating the haves from the have-nots seems to grow ever wider.

Even the citizens of some developed countries, economic models of which Mauritius would like to emulate, are suffering from the phenomenon of pauperization; meaning that even those with jobs are no longer able to meet their most basic material needs.

What is it that makes poverty so difficult to tackle and what should be done to eradicate it? Edited by Sheila Bunwaree and Roukaya Kasenally, Poverty in Mauritius ? An Agenda for Reflection and Action: Articulating the Local and the Regional tries in earnest to answer these questions. Poverty in Mauritius is a compilation of presentations given during a two-day workshop organized by the Institute of Social Development and Peace (ISDP) and the Mauritius Council of Social Services (MACOSS) in October 2007.

The major strength of this book is that it brings together presentations by many different and differing stakeholders, including academics, trade unionists, diplomats, policy-makers, activists and businesspeople, thus providing a broad range of educated and often impassioned views and opinions on the issue.

In their foreword, the book?s editors, Sheila Bunwaree and Roukaya Kasenally of the University of Mauritius, explain that poverty eradication is one of democracy?s core responsibilities. ?Whilst the continent continues to confront a number of challenges, the most important one remains the eradication of poverty. There is an urgent need to reverse the marginalization of the continent and to move away from the generally afro pessimistic picture that is often associated with the continent. It is only when the human condition will be effectively transformed that we will to speak of a true consolidation of democratic governance.?

Each of the book?s contributors has his/her own opinion on the shape this consolidation should take. The chairman of the National Empowerment Foundation, Jean Claude de l?Estrac, for example, believes that the only sustainable way of relieving poverty is by having ?an inclusive education policy?. The current education system results in far too many drop-outs and, by extension, people who feel marginalized by society. He opines that not even the empowerment programmes will significantly impact on poverty levels. ?The lasting solution lies in the provision of an inclusive, relevant and effective schooling to all Mauritian children, to promote social integration and employability.?

<I>?Whichever the reader chooses to believe, responses to the problem need to be holistic and sustained.?</I>

In the chapter entitled Globalisation, welfare systems and livelihoods, Ashok Subron of left-wing political party Rezistans ek Alternativ, provides a fascinating history of globalization, a phenomenon much older than most would be tempted to think. Indeed, colonization was an early form of globalization which sought to impose the interests of the ?joint stock companies like the East-India Company and the Compagnie des Indes Orientales?.

He then goes on to reveal the workings of the Washington Consensus, which effectively strengthened the grip of neo-liberal actors on the world system. Far from trying to resolve the issue of poverty, Ashok Subron avers that ?the proponents of the neo-liberal reform in Mauritius? are, in fact, ?targeting labour laws and other universal provisions of the Welfare state?, the very same welfare state on which the poor depend.

What emerges from Poverty in Mauritius is that unless urgent actions are taken to address the problem, the gap between the rich and poor will irremediably grow wider. Whilst some of the book?s contributors blame the ruthless machinations of a handful of greedy corporations and organizations, others single out systemic inefficacies as the reason for the raging inequality of the world system. Which-ever the reader chooses to believe, responses to the problem need to be holistic and sustained.

The two-day workshop which inspired Poverty in Mauritius also gave birth to The Bell Village Declaration, an ambitious document, which lays out 19 urgent courses of action needing to be taken. It notes that ?aid from the North is often provided with conditionalities. These often highlight the contradictions that exist between a pro-poor discourse and the reality of the struggle for survival by people on the ground?. In his famous description of the Russian psyche, Winston Churchill concluded that ?perhaps there is a key?. Possibly one of the keys to eradicating the scourge of poverty is to first admit that these contradictions do indeed exist and making sure they are consigned to rubbish bin of History.