DEV VIRAHSAWMY
5, Edwin Ythier Street, Rose Hill, 71368, Mauritius
limemsa@gmail.com https://boukiebanane.com

FOR JOONEED J? OR JOONEED K?

“We are NOT ‘All immigrants’ on the Mauritius Indocean Archipelago: the Whites came as Masters, Colonisers and Slave/Coolie Owners, the Non-Whites were brought by force as Slave and Contractual Coolie labour… They did not ‘immigrate! – except for a few handfuls of Asian merchants. This ‘We are all immigrants’ is the BIGGEST hoodwinking cliché!”  JOONEED KHAN from Canada

Dear Jooneed,
By ‘immigrant’ I mean non-native. There are 2 types of immigrants: forced and free. Slaves were forced immigrants while indentured labourers came on contract and were able to return to India at the end of their contract, which most did, while some chose to stay after having bought a small plot of land.

My great-grandparents on both sides chose to stay, work hard, and make life meaningful. I follow their steps and have chosen to make my life meaningful through ‘hoodwinking’ efforts to hoodwink myself into believing that it is possible to develop a supra-ethnic national culture.

I wish you joy in your cushy Canadian home, sharpening your plastic sword.

Brotherly namaste,
Dev

08.08.23

DEV VIRAHSAWMY
5, Edwin Ythier Street, Rose Hill, 71368, Mauritius
limemsa@gmail.com https://boukiebanane.com

CLICHÉ VERSUS CREATIVITY

The hoodwinking cliché “UNITY IN DIVERSITY” is the beguiling comfort zone because it helps to delude most Mauritians into believing that Mauritius is the land of cross-cultural creativity when, in fact, it consolidates COMPARTMENTALISATION.

More than 50 years after independence, we are happy to believe that we are a RAINBOW NATION (another cliché), where united multiple colours signify the alliance between creation and the CREATOR. There is no need to go any further for we live on PARADISE ISLAND (yet another cliché).

The hidden truth is that we are mostly “WALL-BUILDERS”, experts at segregation which breaks down the population into groups, sub-groups and sub-sub-groups. Any attempt at building and promoting a supra-ethnic culture, the fundamental essence of a national culture and identity, is vehemently denounced by socio-cultural ignorami as a threat to ethnic integrity. Do they really know the basic values of their ancestral cultures?

We are all immigrants on a CREOLE ISLAND, as defined by Professor Megan Vaughan in her book, “Creating the Creole Island, Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Mauritius”. The present population is made up of Indo-Creoles, Afro-Creoles, Islamo-Creoles, Euro-Creoles and Sino-Creoles. The road ahead is not towards wall-building but towards our own Battle of Jericho to trigger the massive tumbling down of walls.
Half a century after the 1968 formal independence, our country is now being recolonised, this time by India, the present 4th world economic power, with the blessing of the USA. Francophone Euro-Creole racism is now being fast superseded by Hindutva racism.

Is there any hope? Yes, there is. There are some open-minded Mauritians from different ethnic backgrounds who firmly believe that Mauritian and English, two creole languages, are the vital springboard to propel us into an authentic national culture and identity. Work has already started and will surely rapidly develop because it is linked to the greening of Mauritius through the massive cultivation of industrial cannabis, also known as hemp, and the replanting of mangrove forests to help us face climate change and improve sea-food production. The new culture also means efforts in food security based on home-grown staples such as manioc, maize, potato, sweet-potato and arrow root together with new food habits to fight overweight, obesity and pathologies such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

THIS IS THE GENUINE ROAD AHEAD!

07.08.23