Category: Lartik / Articles

Nouvo youg lor baz!
Pa get letid ousa laz.
Nek get so bataz.

The new era’s here!
Learning and age lead nowhere;
Just watch for new gear.

In the good old days, politics was conceived along the ‘LEFT, CENTRE, RIGHT’ spectrum. The demarcation lines were rather clear but not rigid. But today, everything has become blurred. The left has been marginalised; the centre has melted into the right; and the right is slowly creeping into the far right. Look at the Mauritian scene and you’ll understand.

The PTr of Fabian origin is now its own opposite. Fabian socialism believes in evolutionary socialism as opposed to revolutionary socialism (Marxism) but today this party rejects socialism as ‘palaeontological’ and is controlled by neoliberals who are prepared to worship Narendra Modi, a far right leader. Moreover, that party which was the political arm of the Mauritian working class which consists of Hindus, Catholics and Muslims has become the instrument of Hindu power and the next step could be Hindutva with its Varma, Juggoo and Baichoo.

The MSM – Mouvement Socialist Militant – is led by a neoliberal who worships the far right Indian leader.

The MMM which advocated socialism and nation-building in its early days has changed into a neoliberal party which has become the conservative political arm of the Euro-Creoles of Mauritius and is a constant wooer of any force which can help it into power.

The PMSD is ‘social-democratic’ only in name for the leader is a convinced neoliberal who is prepared, if needs be, to coalesce with the far right.

NOT ONLY IN MAURITIUS

This is not a purely Mauritian situation. It is a wide world phenomenon. In France, for example, since WW2, the political struggle has been between left and right – socialist and bourgeois – ideology. Now the left wing organisations are shrinking like ‘peau de chagrin’ and the contest is between the right and the far right with the latter having an edge over the right as working class people driven by racism and xenophobia are dragged into the political mire. We see the same thing happening in the UK, the USA, in Europe in general, in Isreal. In India the anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim sentiment is getting stronger with the growth of BJP popularity.

Do not be surprised if eventually a coalition between MSM and PTr is ordained by their lord and master. Do not be surprised also if that political arrangement is blessed by Mauritian big and medium money of all colours for business with the Ambanis and Co. is very alluring.

WE NEED NOT WORRY TOO MUCH

The situation is alarming but not desperate. Throughout the world, in Hong kong, Latin America, Arab countries, the USA and Europe, common people are taking to the streets to challenge despotic and corrupt state power with some success. The more repressive the authorities, the more determined the people will be. Moreover, the global ecological situation will see a rapid degradation and the known state organisation and savoir-faire will be totally ineffective. Consequently, new and original social organisations will emerge. Humanity will have to invent new ways of production, distribution and consumption.

17/11/19

LIR
Met bann sign ansam
E souden enn gran laflam
Ekler mo lasam.

READ
Put signs together
And suddenly like summer
Light shines with laughter.

Recently, a www.lexpress.mu reader wrote on literacy: “The figure I quoted is from UNESCO. In fact, adult literacy rate is 93.5% for male and 90% for female in Mauritius. Adult means 15 years onwards.”

The gentleman is right. But we must ask ourselves if the UNESCO figures are reliable. No, they are not. The UNESCO figures cannot be trusted. Regularly, UNESCO sends a form to be filled by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry of Education to update its data bank on literacy. The officer in charge regularly puts down figures related to ‘SCHOOLING’ (school attendance) and then the form is sent back to UNESCO which publishes it in their report on literacy. The figures are related to schooling, not literacy. This is how the state of Mauritius fools the world and eventually fools itself and the whole population.

This is done on purpose to hide a nasty truth: a great majority of boys and girls after 7-10 years at school remain for all intents and purposes, either semiliterate or plainly illiterate.

We cannot blame UNESCO which is misled by government and unscrupulous civil servants.

WHAT IS LITERACY?

In very simple terms, it means the ability to read, write and count – a combination of literacy and numeracy in at least one language.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens created the spoken word over 200,000 years ago and consequently as a result of evolution we are genetically programmed to speak. Children start to develop language skills in the womb and by the time they are around 10 years old, they have an adequate mastery of the mother tongue to cope with their immediate environment. However, writing is a very recent phenomenon, not older than 5,000 years. Neuro-linguists are aware of difficulties to be faced by learners of literacy and they all agree that it should start in the child’s mother tongue.

This view is also upheld by Ms. Irina Bokova, former Director-General of UNESCO (2009-2017): “Mother languages in a multilingual approach are essential components of quality education, which is itself the foundation for empowering women and men and their societies.”

According to UNESCO, basically literate people should be able to write a text of about 150 words to say who they are in any language of their choice provided the text is grammatically correct, respects spelling and punctuation. This test has never been done in Mauritius and according to my research less than 20% of Mauritians over 10 years old would pass this test. IT’S NOT AN EXAGGERATION!

Please also note that to live in a modern society, basic literacy is insufficient. Citizens need functional literacy which are skills needed to read and understand opinion pieces and leaders/editorials in l’Express for that matter. I doubt that more than 10% of our adult population can do this (about 100,000 adults).

LITERACY AND THE BALLOT PAPER

UNESCO also believes that literacy should start in the mother tongue of the child, not in 3 foreign languages at one and the same time, as it is done in Mauritius. Remember that English, our official language, French, our semi-official language and Hindi, Urdu (identity languages) etc. are foreign languages for most children. Mauritian (Mauritian Creole) on the other hand is the mother tongue (L1) of 90% of the whole population and the second language (L2) of the remaining 10%.

If the UNESCO figures quoted at the beginning of this piece were a reliable expression of reality, there would have been no need for political symbols on the ballot paper (key, cock, sun, heart etc.). Don’t they rather tell us that we are a nation of semilinguals, semiliterates and illiterates?

I am sure that some hysterical half-baked readers will choose anonymity to insult and slander on www.lexpress.mu. This is quite understandable because Mauritians hate to face the truth. They want to hear that they are admirable, beautiful, bright and wonderful. Is not Mauritius “All things bright and beautiful”?

TO CONCLUDE

Depriving children of the right to learn to read and write in their mother tongue is tantamount to a crime against humanity. Is it not a political ploy to keep people in the dark?

But if people choose to remain in the dark, what can we do?

15/11/19