Robots après tout…
School used to bore me. For most of the time I spent there, I considered it to be a prison confining young bodies and minds within four walls for seemingly endless hours where we would be trained to learn everything by heart. This suited most of those around me perfectly but the idea of being a parrot never tempted me much, so I chose to remain human.
This meant that I was often the only carefree soul amidst frenzied ones which allowed me to keep my mind fully functional, or on a more comparative style, to paraphrase Kipling’s opening line of If, I was keeping my head when all about me were losing theirs. In my high school years, my understanding of the academic world had not changed.
I was in one of the “Star Colleges” where “la crème de la crème” was pooled and subsequently pitched against each other. Throughout these formative years, I witnessed some humorous incidents that still bring a smile to my face as I pen this column learners crying because they were not in the premier position in class, mindless competition between my peers resulting in depression or the greater belief in God.
As from the age of 16, the uncompetitive nature of my world seemed too appealing to make the journey to cold Curepipe every morning. Instead, I read everything that I could find at home. Luckily for me, my parents being both teachers, I had innumerable classics to choose from. And thus I discovered Poe and Faulkner among others. And I was happy being as I was… doing what I loved to do.
Not everyone shared my happiness though. I quickly learned that the system treated ‘nonchalant’ beings who were disenchanted with the memorised learning process as ‘rebellious misfi ts’ that had to be reformed. And who else to carry this noble task of administering the cold verdict than some unthinking teachers who had decided that if you did well you were intelligent and if you could not be moulded into a robot, you had to be treated with such encouraging lines that would do wonders to your confidence ‘Sa sujet la pou ban intelligents sa. Ou pou fail ou’.
No longer do I bear any grudge against those instructors. This so-called tradition of excellence which consists solely in the transforming of children into trained monkeys has been perpetuating itself long before my passage in academia and unless we get serious about it, shall continue in the future.
The myriad of issues that is correlated to the appropriateness of a country’s education system is daunting. The creation of mechanical beings that are only concerned about themselves and who like modern Daedaluses are proud of their own attainments and whose sole satisfaction in life consists in adorning some copies of paper credentials on their walls while remaining indifferent as the world around them sinks further into decadence.
An absence of interest in active citizenship where many prefer dowsing themselves in networking on Friday evenings exchanging visiting cards in vain attempts of avoiding what they loathe most: anonymity. Instead of thinking how we could do something for that country of ours and reject the status quo. I look at this young democracy of ours with its ever-increasing number of educated citizens but few of them bothering to think and question issues. Unconcerned about what is happening around them, only preoccupied about climbing the corporate ladder.
All we need is a bit of soul in our lives…and it starts with the way we raise our children.
Chetan Ramchurn
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Ouver to lizier kamarade (Le Mauricien 08.02.2010)
Ouver to lizier kamarade
Hier tone voter, zordi tone blier,
Promesses in fair, zamais pou realiser,
Mafia in augmenter, la zistis p crier,
Ek toi? to lizier fermer.
Ouver to lizier kamarade.
Zordi anou esperer, ki ene lot dimain exister
Kot to kapav respirer, ek nou pays progresser
Kot asoir to tifi kav marcher, sans ki to bisin prier
Ouver to lizier kamarade.
Met n la main pou nou recreer
Pou ki dimain to zenfan pas plorer.
Ouver zot liziers kamarades
Chetan
Hier tone voter, zordi tone blier,
Promesses in fair, zamais pou realiser,
Mafia in augmenter, la zistis p crier,
Ek toi? to lizier fermer.
Ouver to lizier kamarade.
Zordi anou esperer, ki ene lot dimain exister
Kot to kapav respirer, ek nou pays progresser
Kot asoir to tifi kav marcher, sans ki to bisin prier
Ouver to lizier kamarade.
Met n la main pou nou recreer
Pou ki dimain to zenfan pas plorer.
Ouver zot liziers kamarades
Chetan
Let the production of freaks continue (L'Express 12.02.2010)
Education : Let the production of freaks continue
Chetan Ramchurn
PONDERING on my scholastic journey, I now look at how things could have been better. I won’t indulge in any profound critique of what the past few Ministers of Education have tried to accomplish. Most of the endeavours initiated by them being inspired from Scandinavian best practices and going in the right direction, I would rather offer insights as a product of the system and my suggestions on how to improve the current state of affairs.
Scrap the elitist system: Finland, which is the benchmark as far as educational excellence is concerned, has a structure that thrives on equality whereby it willingly chooses to put those that do well and those that do not do so well together up to the age of 16. This form of impartiality which allows children to remain with the same cohort of friends also leads to the creation of a more humane cadre.
Rightly dubbed by experts as a “ philosophy of inclusion”, this is in line with the nine- year schooling principle. However, to achieve this, there is the need to eliminate our sordid obsession with assessments and as importantly to stop the public disclosure of results. Our discriminatory system, which in its state, is purely based on getting egos as infl ated as possible has been crippling our society for all too long.
Value teachers: Another vital condition for a novel knowledge system would be to enhance the value attached to knowledge imparters. Better salaries would be the fi rst step. This would act as a supplementary source of motivation for existing teachers and it would help attract high calibre candidates to teaching jobs. Greater accountability would also be required to ensure that corrective action is taken to help teachers.
In my own eyes and based on my personal experience, few teachers stood out. Beside being exceptionally good and creative at teaching, these educators treated pupils as human beings and not as mere machines trained to memorise everything.
While others were ever so ready to sound the hallali against those children that were not meeting their expected standards, these good instructors genuinely cared about their pupils.
Time for a mentality change for parents: this is a request to the parents reading this article. I would urge each and every one of you to accept your wards as they are and encourage them in order to nurture in them the desire to continuously discover new things and not be zombielike fi gures with no emotions at all who live and die by that all too limited book knowledge.
Another appeal would be to refrain from using children as a means of achieving your ambition. If you do so, you are
helping create future members of an unthinking majority where academic education is considered as an end in itself.
Limit the number of hours in class: While the Enhancement Programme is an attempt to cure the tuition issue, having students confi ned till 1730 does not bode anything good in the long term. Shorter timed classes are a must if we want to create a more conducive atmosphere to learning. Children cannot be expected to stay focused for this long. Cramming up minds has never been the best of ways to create educated citizens. Foster creativity in the classroom: The use of games, role play, storytelling and at secondary level the renditions of thought leaders are to be promulgated as early as possible. The dearth of moral education could in this way be addressed and greater profoundness given to academia.
Education cannot be the battleground for vested interests: the debate on the education of tomorrow cannot be perverted to cater for the vested interests of some people or ethnic organisations. This area is about our shared future. Kindly do not mess it up.
I’ll end my piece by quoting Socrates, “ I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing”. Till this be understood, let the production of ‘ freaks’ continue.
Chetan Ramchurn
PONDERING on my scholastic journey, I now look at how things could have been better. I won’t indulge in any profound critique of what the past few Ministers of Education have tried to accomplish. Most of the endeavours initiated by them being inspired from Scandinavian best practices and going in the right direction, I would rather offer insights as a product of the system and my suggestions on how to improve the current state of affairs.
Scrap the elitist system: Finland, which is the benchmark as far as educational excellence is concerned, has a structure that thrives on equality whereby it willingly chooses to put those that do well and those that do not do so well together up to the age of 16. This form of impartiality which allows children to remain with the same cohort of friends also leads to the creation of a more humane cadre.
Rightly dubbed by experts as a “ philosophy of inclusion”, this is in line with the nine- year schooling principle. However, to achieve this, there is the need to eliminate our sordid obsession with assessments and as importantly to stop the public disclosure of results. Our discriminatory system, which in its state, is purely based on getting egos as infl ated as possible has been crippling our society for all too long.
Value teachers: Another vital condition for a novel knowledge system would be to enhance the value attached to knowledge imparters. Better salaries would be the fi rst step. This would act as a supplementary source of motivation for existing teachers and it would help attract high calibre candidates to teaching jobs. Greater accountability would also be required to ensure that corrective action is taken to help teachers.
In my own eyes and based on my personal experience, few teachers stood out. Beside being exceptionally good and creative at teaching, these educators treated pupils as human beings and not as mere machines trained to memorise everything.
While others were ever so ready to sound the hallali against those children that were not meeting their expected standards, these good instructors genuinely cared about their pupils.
Time for a mentality change for parents: this is a request to the parents reading this article. I would urge each and every one of you to accept your wards as they are and encourage them in order to nurture in them the desire to continuously discover new things and not be zombielike fi gures with no emotions at all who live and die by that all too limited book knowledge.
Another appeal would be to refrain from using children as a means of achieving your ambition. If you do so, you are
helping create future members of an unthinking majority where academic education is considered as an end in itself.
Limit the number of hours in class: While the Enhancement Programme is an attempt to cure the tuition issue, having students confi ned till 1730 does not bode anything good in the long term. Shorter timed classes are a must if we want to create a more conducive atmosphere to learning. Children cannot be expected to stay focused for this long. Cramming up minds has never been the best of ways to create educated citizens. Foster creativity in the classroom: The use of games, role play, storytelling and at secondary level the renditions of thought leaders are to be promulgated as early as possible. The dearth of moral education could in this way be addressed and greater profoundness given to academia.
Education cannot be the battleground for vested interests: the debate on the education of tomorrow cannot be perverted to cater for the vested interests of some people or ethnic organisations. This area is about our shared future. Kindly do not mess it up.
I’ll end my piece by quoting Socrates, “ I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing”. Till this be understood, let the production of ‘ freaks’ continue.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
2009: Another Year in Paradise
2009: Another Year in Paradise
The author shares his insights on the present situation of Mauritius before the ‘peuple admirable’ gets ready to forget the many injustices it endured during the year choosing to embark on that safe selective retention mode while the country’s democratically elected Chief Entertainer gets ready for his white X-Mas. In an annum marked by Navin’s multiple historic trysts with world greats, the No.8 elections and numerous other scandals arising from the laissez faire style of the country heads, the unthinking majority chose yet again to postpone its baptism in active citizenship sine die.
What you should not forget...but you’ll forget anyway
No exit clause, no excuses: We witnessed how at the Air Mauritius, a real life version of Pope’s The Rape of the Lock unfolded where poor decisions resulting from the incompetence of some meant that the company had to compromise its short and medium term profitability. In the process, our Phaeton Rubicola effectively lost its credibility but the situation also highlighted the inability of the Great One to put the right people in the right place.
And Justice for all?: The travesty of justice in several cases continued to grab headlines with favouritism now openly practiced with the rooting for the interests of family members, political acquaintances and corporate entities (read political financiers). The King of hollow speeches shouted with all his might that he has managed to turn this country around and thereby salvaged our collective destinies from ‘l’oligarchie sucrière’. The majority of the population heeded his words believing that the much needed democratisation of the economy would materialise. Unfortunately for our motherland, the sly fox had been veiled as the protective shepherd back in 2005 and we failed to notice it.
Capitalism x 2: A double dose of Sithanenomics in this post-crisis year, with most experts close to the nantis lauding the greatness and profound intelligence of the Minister while the public, as is customary now, unable to overstand the many issues now accepting the visionless minister’s actions as a boon. How our national maven, for all his knowledge in economics and political science, managed to submit his resignation to the wrong person in 2007 still riddles our minds. Till today, many of us still rue this missed opportunity.
Welcome to the Navin Show:
Our glorious leader managed a master stroke by garnering all the credit for Pravind's win in the No.8 family feud.However, his haughtiness reached new heights with his ever growing desire to be perceived as someone highly important at global level. And who has to put up with the renditions of his discussions with the heads of economic powerhouses? We do. Puerility on Navin’s behalf? No, more pernicious than that, pure unbridled adulation of oneself. Part of the press that answers to Ramgoolam’s every beck and call also managed to instill in our minds the idea that the outcome of the next elections was already finalised.
Protection Montagne: How we managed to let ethnicity be the leverage for success, or how politics was perverted to tolerate illegality (with the latest example being the efforts of the former Lord Mayor squashed as a means of ethnic baiting) was another defining feature of 2009.
Occult forces continued to operate in several sectors providing an almost endless supply of money to fuel businesses. Of special interest was the greater use of greeting codes that are now that all powerful sesame and which possess the unique ability to open locked doors. This today offers the ability to show one’s appartenance to the right clique in public (extending to radio waves) and private spheres thus resulting in a flawed system where some of us are allowed undue privileges because of their racial affiliations.
The No.8 elections showed that the new king makers were vain individuals from socio-cultural organizations that continued to let their destructive influence tarnish an already soiled democratic space. A long way from “Ene sel lepep, ene sel nation”.
Other Issues: The MMM? Still lost.Pravind? Sans envergure.
A glimmer of hope.
Eliminating the rat race: Bunwaree laid the foundations for a thinking society with such bold propositions that included the projected scrapping of the elitist system. This was followed, as expected, by such simplistic comments from pseudo experts as “akoz ou zenfant pas laureat ou p dire sa”. This is far from being an issue springing out of any form of jealousy or feeling of resentment. It has to do with the simple realization that this present system which thrives on parrot learning is ending up doing more harm than good. It also has to do with the return on investment which is simply not worth the amount of money devoted to such an endeavour. Especially so, if the greater part of the country’s nationally funded eminence grise’s only aim is to pad its bank accounts by working abroad. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But not with studies financed by taxpayers’ money.
Others claimed that they would not return to the country because of the lack of meritocracy and corruption that phagocytes it. But are those acute issues pertinent to Mauritius only? Are they not present in even the most developed of countries? The greatness of all responsible citizens consists in helping change their country for the better instead of deciding to escape to foreign shores. Equally vile were the attacks on the Minister’s reforms were the conservatives’ claim that it constituted a form of ethnic bashing. Until we extirpate the debate on education from the communal gutter, no expected outcome will ever be translated into reality.
The Mauritian(s) of the year award:
2009 belongs to Sam Lauthan and Jack Bizlall. The former for being noble in a party that is no longer so and for having the class of leaving politics untainted selecting to stick to his beliefs while others have long succumbed to their gluttony for power. The second one for having the ability to say things in the ‘overcrowded baracoon’ that confirms that not all of us have given up their quest for a better society. Both of them militans (the coaltar not the caviar versions). The rarest of breeds these days.
The untimely departed
James Burty David, that quick-witted, courageous soldier, peerless in loyalty among labourites shall be missed by many. Hardworking with an unwavering attachment to the venerable institution that the Labour Party is, JBD shall be an example for many aspiring and practicing politicians. Chapeau bas!
Vivement 2010.
Chetan Ramchurn
The author shares his insights on the present situation of Mauritius before the ‘peuple admirable’ gets ready to forget the many injustices it endured during the year choosing to embark on that safe selective retention mode while the country’s democratically elected Chief Entertainer gets ready for his white X-Mas. In an annum marked by Navin’s multiple historic trysts with world greats, the No.8 elections and numerous other scandals arising from the laissez faire style of the country heads, the unthinking majority chose yet again to postpone its baptism in active citizenship sine die.
What you should not forget...but you’ll forget anyway
No exit clause, no excuses: We witnessed how at the Air Mauritius, a real life version of Pope’s The Rape of the Lock unfolded where poor decisions resulting from the incompetence of some meant that the company had to compromise its short and medium term profitability. In the process, our Phaeton Rubicola effectively lost its credibility but the situation also highlighted the inability of the Great One to put the right people in the right place.
And Justice for all?: The travesty of justice in several cases continued to grab headlines with favouritism now openly practiced with the rooting for the interests of family members, political acquaintances and corporate entities (read political financiers). The King of hollow speeches shouted with all his might that he has managed to turn this country around and thereby salvaged our collective destinies from ‘l’oligarchie sucrière’. The majority of the population heeded his words believing that the much needed democratisation of the economy would materialise. Unfortunately for our motherland, the sly fox had been veiled as the protective shepherd back in 2005 and we failed to notice it.
Capitalism x 2: A double dose of Sithanenomics in this post-crisis year, with most experts close to the nantis lauding the greatness and profound intelligence of the Minister while the public, as is customary now, unable to overstand the many issues now accepting the visionless minister’s actions as a boon. How our national maven, for all his knowledge in economics and political science, managed to submit his resignation to the wrong person in 2007 still riddles our minds. Till today, many of us still rue this missed opportunity.
Welcome to the Navin Show:
Our glorious leader managed a master stroke by garnering all the credit for Pravind's win in the No.8 family feud.However, his haughtiness reached new heights with his ever growing desire to be perceived as someone highly important at global level. And who has to put up with the renditions of his discussions with the heads of economic powerhouses? We do. Puerility on Navin’s behalf? No, more pernicious than that, pure unbridled adulation of oneself. Part of the press that answers to Ramgoolam’s every beck and call also managed to instill in our minds the idea that the outcome of the next elections was already finalised.
Protection Montagne: How we managed to let ethnicity be the leverage for success, or how politics was perverted to tolerate illegality (with the latest example being the efforts of the former Lord Mayor squashed as a means of ethnic baiting) was another defining feature of 2009.
Occult forces continued to operate in several sectors providing an almost endless supply of money to fuel businesses. Of special interest was the greater use of greeting codes that are now that all powerful sesame and which possess the unique ability to open locked doors. This today offers the ability to show one’s appartenance to the right clique in public (extending to radio waves) and private spheres thus resulting in a flawed system where some of us are allowed undue privileges because of their racial affiliations.
The No.8 elections showed that the new king makers were vain individuals from socio-cultural organizations that continued to let their destructive influence tarnish an already soiled democratic space. A long way from “Ene sel lepep, ene sel nation”.
Other Issues: The MMM? Still lost.Pravind? Sans envergure.
A glimmer of hope.
Eliminating the rat race: Bunwaree laid the foundations for a thinking society with such bold propositions that included the projected scrapping of the elitist system. This was followed, as expected, by such simplistic comments from pseudo experts as “akoz ou zenfant pas laureat ou p dire sa”. This is far from being an issue springing out of any form of jealousy or feeling of resentment. It has to do with the simple realization that this present system which thrives on parrot learning is ending up doing more harm than good. It also has to do with the return on investment which is simply not worth the amount of money devoted to such an endeavour. Especially so, if the greater part of the country’s nationally funded eminence grise’s only aim is to pad its bank accounts by working abroad. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But not with studies financed by taxpayers’ money.
Others claimed that they would not return to the country because of the lack of meritocracy and corruption that phagocytes it. But are those acute issues pertinent to Mauritius only? Are they not present in even the most developed of countries? The greatness of all responsible citizens consists in helping change their country for the better instead of deciding to escape to foreign shores. Equally vile were the attacks on the Minister’s reforms were the conservatives’ claim that it constituted a form of ethnic bashing. Until we extirpate the debate on education from the communal gutter, no expected outcome will ever be translated into reality.
The Mauritian(s) of the year award:
2009 belongs to Sam Lauthan and Jack Bizlall. The former for being noble in a party that is no longer so and for having the class of leaving politics untainted selecting to stick to his beliefs while others have long succumbed to their gluttony for power. The second one for having the ability to say things in the ‘overcrowded baracoon’ that confirms that not all of us have given up their quest for a better society. Both of them militans (the coaltar not the caviar versions). The rarest of breeds these days.
The untimely departed
James Burty David, that quick-witted, courageous soldier, peerless in loyalty among labourites shall be missed by many. Hardworking with an unwavering attachment to the venerable institution that the Labour Party is, JBD shall be an example for many aspiring and practicing politicians. Chapeau bas!
Vivement 2010.
Chetan Ramchurn
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Nail in The Coffin by Chetan Ramchurn (Le Mauricien 29.09.09)
1969-2009-MMM
NAIL IN THE COFFIN
Time to annihilate this archaic version of the MMM… let the vitriol from my Parker Sonnet flow…
My faith in the Purple Heart has not wavered since I chose to be part of it. Has not faltered, despite the hateful salvos of the arrogance-inebriated propagandists so keen on reducing the party to néant and has not vacillated in the face of accusations of our supposed surgically-precise partitioning of different communities. But the fact that we are stuck in that damning navel gazing mode where we celebrate our past glories and overlook the many inglorious episodes that have led us to be branded as obsolete have made the last few months the nadir of my young political days.
Succinctly, before our eyes, plagued by an abysmal absence of vision, the party mires into fibrillation with an intellectual side that has stopped pumping for far too long. What we should ask ourselves at this defining moment of the party’s existence is how we never managed to shake off that infamous “Le Parti des Minorités” tag that others slapped on us or how when in power we failed to bring much needed changes with electoral reforms or more transparency in the public and private sectors and as importantly in political financing, or as from 1983 onwards how everything that we stood for became confined to the realm of ideas and was never translated into action (bar the reform of the education sector), how corruption that lynchpin of so many other societal wrongs was seen to be tolerated by us…or that the self-professed Noble Party witnessed backroom shenanigans where worthless candidates were promoted in favour of more able ones for positions of power to suit the whims and wishes of some of the party heads.
Trapped in culpable inaction, the Militans, guardians of the moral sacredness of the MMM need to understand that if they follow this treacherous path, no return to the genesis of the party can be achieved. No longer can they let themselves be frogmarched into accepting the unacceptable; the promotion of insipid figures chosen because of their past affiliations, the loss of ideological foundations to our lutte. Or the relinquishing of that ingredient that was at the origin of this whole journey; the fight against all forms of racial divisions and the celebration of Mauritianism (Ene sel lepep, ene sel nation). Indeed, has the party that advocated class warfare stooped so low that our winning formula for the next elections resides in the return of that crucial missing piece that led to our defeat in the 2005 elections? (“Aujourd'hui la désillusion de l'électorat musulman face à l'Alliance Sociale est totale et il revient en masse vers le MMM.” Bérenger/ Week-End 20/09/09).
But maybe I am veering away from what I should be doing as the archetypal ‘militan’, going beyond merely being a beni-oui-oui and engaging in something that is so rare within the MMM ranks these days; thinking. My interest in and subsequent decision to be a contributor to Mauritian politics was strongly motivated by the Kaya Riots and l’Affaire Amicale, both incidents showing the sinister side of Paradise Island. The first one reminding us of the frailty of our society and the second one demonstrating the intolerance the human kind was capable of. In 2008, I joined the MMM. Convinced that if there was one party that could prevent our motherland from falling prey to intestinal divisions, it would be one that combined the teachings of former Labour greats with that of Marx and which had an unrivalled history in its formative years of fighting for the proletariat.
Listening to the self-professed opinion leaders pullulating on our radio waves, the conclusion would be that Bérenger is the root cause of all woes within the MMM. With his place alongside the likes such illustrious Mauritians like Anquetil, Curé ,Rozemont, Bissoondoyal and SSR now firmly enshrined, the leader of the MMM might have slipped into solipsism choosing to heed only to himself and has failed (until recently, with le retour aux sources) to give the needed strategic thrust to the party. And in the meantime, philanderers of the MMM temple abounded, all indulging in some form of ideological molesting with a party conceptualised by utopians.
The time has come for us to change the way we do politics. We should refrain from mechanical mudslinging and abstain from what Navin did back in 2005, rely on demagogic “Le Grand Soir” style discourses and foster ideas that are adapted to modern realities. Let us genuinely strive to alter how party members view their role and ensure that the now famous line “Dans la lutte pena recompense” is an ode to meritocracy and not simply used to thwart those petits copains that the party fails to serve. Let us stop playing the ostrich game and question ourselves and start from scratch with militans that genuinely care about the future of this nation.
I am not worried about what lies ahead. The MMM will rise again from its present ideological and intellectual blackout. Having read with optimism the paper “Qu’est-ce qu’être militan en 2009” and having spoken to some of my peers, I know that there are other inhabitants of Planet MMM that share my views. Yet, more than ever now, there is the need to discard those ideas and people that have made us so hollow over the years. The ambition of the party at its creation was to eradicate the trenches between the different communities and was based on socialist principles such as the establishment of a more egalitarian society… ideals that like the MMM simply will never die.
Here is my cri de coeur, “Thinking militans, unite”
Chetan Ramchurn
A Young Member of the MMM
NAIL IN THE COFFIN
Time to annihilate this archaic version of the MMM… let the vitriol from my Parker Sonnet flow…
My faith in the Purple Heart has not wavered since I chose to be part of it. Has not faltered, despite the hateful salvos of the arrogance-inebriated propagandists so keen on reducing the party to néant and has not vacillated in the face of accusations of our supposed surgically-precise partitioning of different communities. But the fact that we are stuck in that damning navel gazing mode where we celebrate our past glories and overlook the many inglorious episodes that have led us to be branded as obsolete have made the last few months the nadir of my young political days.
Succinctly, before our eyes, plagued by an abysmal absence of vision, the party mires into fibrillation with an intellectual side that has stopped pumping for far too long. What we should ask ourselves at this defining moment of the party’s existence is how we never managed to shake off that infamous “Le Parti des Minorités” tag that others slapped on us or how when in power we failed to bring much needed changes with electoral reforms or more transparency in the public and private sectors and as importantly in political financing, or as from 1983 onwards how everything that we stood for became confined to the realm of ideas and was never translated into action (bar the reform of the education sector), how corruption that lynchpin of so many other societal wrongs was seen to be tolerated by us…or that the self-professed Noble Party witnessed backroom shenanigans where worthless candidates were promoted in favour of more able ones for positions of power to suit the whims and wishes of some of the party heads.
Trapped in culpable inaction, the Militans, guardians of the moral sacredness of the MMM need to understand that if they follow this treacherous path, no return to the genesis of the party can be achieved. No longer can they let themselves be frogmarched into accepting the unacceptable; the promotion of insipid figures chosen because of their past affiliations, the loss of ideological foundations to our lutte. Or the relinquishing of that ingredient that was at the origin of this whole journey; the fight against all forms of racial divisions and the celebration of Mauritianism (Ene sel lepep, ene sel nation). Indeed, has the party that advocated class warfare stooped so low that our winning formula for the next elections resides in the return of that crucial missing piece that led to our defeat in the 2005 elections? (“Aujourd'hui la désillusion de l'électorat musulman face à l'Alliance Sociale est totale et il revient en masse vers le MMM.” Bérenger/ Week-End 20/09/09).
But maybe I am veering away from what I should be doing as the archetypal ‘militan’, going beyond merely being a beni-oui-oui and engaging in something that is so rare within the MMM ranks these days; thinking. My interest in and subsequent decision to be a contributor to Mauritian politics was strongly motivated by the Kaya Riots and l’Affaire Amicale, both incidents showing the sinister side of Paradise Island. The first one reminding us of the frailty of our society and the second one demonstrating the intolerance the human kind was capable of. In 2008, I joined the MMM. Convinced that if there was one party that could prevent our motherland from falling prey to intestinal divisions, it would be one that combined the teachings of former Labour greats with that of Marx and which had an unrivalled history in its formative years of fighting for the proletariat.
Listening to the self-professed opinion leaders pullulating on our radio waves, the conclusion would be that Bérenger is the root cause of all woes within the MMM. With his place alongside the likes such illustrious Mauritians like Anquetil, Curé ,Rozemont, Bissoondoyal and SSR now firmly enshrined, the leader of the MMM might have slipped into solipsism choosing to heed only to himself and has failed (until recently, with le retour aux sources) to give the needed strategic thrust to the party. And in the meantime, philanderers of the MMM temple abounded, all indulging in some form of ideological molesting with a party conceptualised by utopians.
The time has come for us to change the way we do politics. We should refrain from mechanical mudslinging and abstain from what Navin did back in 2005, rely on demagogic “Le Grand Soir” style discourses and foster ideas that are adapted to modern realities. Let us genuinely strive to alter how party members view their role and ensure that the now famous line “Dans la lutte pena recompense” is an ode to meritocracy and not simply used to thwart those petits copains that the party fails to serve. Let us stop playing the ostrich game and question ourselves and start from scratch with militans that genuinely care about the future of this nation.
I am not worried about what lies ahead. The MMM will rise again from its present ideological and intellectual blackout. Having read with optimism the paper “Qu’est-ce qu’être militan en 2009” and having spoken to some of my peers, I know that there are other inhabitants of Planet MMM that share my views. Yet, more than ever now, there is the need to discard those ideas and people that have made us so hollow over the years. The ambition of the party at its creation was to eradicate the trenches between the different communities and was based on socialist principles such as the establishment of a more egalitarian society… ideals that like the MMM simply will never die.
Here is my cri de coeur, “Thinking militans, unite”
Chetan Ramchurn
A Young Member of the MMM
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Far From the Madding Crowd/Chetan Ramchurn/Le Mauricien/10/09/09
OF MASS CONSUMPTION, CULTURE AND US
Far from the madding crowd
Port Louis can be distressing… had Descartes been through its hectic streets on a normal day, no further proof would be required for him to proclaim that mind had effectively lost against matter. A cauldron humming with very important people with very important files on their very important laptops, accents so fabricated you would swear there must be some kind of oral deficiency with those using them, discussions so very important you would think the future of the world must be depending on their outcomes, characters so shallow and pavlovian in their fabric that you would bet they were plucked from Huxley's influential work. Come Friday, the noise slowly dies… the sanctuary of consumption leaves behind desolate and desert streets.
When the HRDC haughtily announced its idea to have this concrete Mecca buzzing for 24 hours ; where there would be no noticeable difference between night and day, I shuddered. Port Louis can be excruciatingly boring during daytime, why bother replicating ennui to night time. Some say the 24/7 was all good, it showed the resilience of the Mauritian economy to the crisis, it demonstrated that Mauritians are still avid consumers and no longer fettered by the ambient economic morosity. Consumption is well and truly our soma, a blissful, self-gratifying activity that entangles us in a world where we are reduced to what we consume.
A New Mauritius cannot be built on those consumerist ideals ; certainly there must be other ways of uplifting Mauritian souls than by having them engaged in buyer-seller relationships. Would our government not be more inspired to organise a 24/7 of culture next time as opposed to last time's 24/7 of consumption ? This would give the ideal platform to creators and thinkers to show the richness of our society.
Ateliers would be on hand for aspiring entertainers, reading sessions of masters of prose like Cabon, Poe, Joyce and Balzac would allow whole generations to discover the power of words, historians would tell of the unique destinies of our land and its people, live musicians would confirm the greatness of our diversity, street theatre performers would demonstrate the mettle of our artists, local filmmakers would get to show us creations inspired by Mauritian life, contemporary sages would interact with various audiences offering a rich blend of ideas… ultimately creating an atmosphere that would make us grow as human beings.
Let us set our minds free…
Chetan Ramchurn
Far from the madding crowd
Port Louis can be distressing… had Descartes been through its hectic streets on a normal day, no further proof would be required for him to proclaim that mind had effectively lost against matter. A cauldron humming with very important people with very important files on their very important laptops, accents so fabricated you would swear there must be some kind of oral deficiency with those using them, discussions so very important you would think the future of the world must be depending on their outcomes, characters so shallow and pavlovian in their fabric that you would bet they were plucked from Huxley's influential work. Come Friday, the noise slowly dies… the sanctuary of consumption leaves behind desolate and desert streets.
When the HRDC haughtily announced its idea to have this concrete Mecca buzzing for 24 hours ; where there would be no noticeable difference between night and day, I shuddered. Port Louis can be excruciatingly boring during daytime, why bother replicating ennui to night time. Some say the 24/7 was all good, it showed the resilience of the Mauritian economy to the crisis, it demonstrated that Mauritians are still avid consumers and no longer fettered by the ambient economic morosity. Consumption is well and truly our soma, a blissful, self-gratifying activity that entangles us in a world where we are reduced to what we consume.
A New Mauritius cannot be built on those consumerist ideals ; certainly there must be other ways of uplifting Mauritian souls than by having them engaged in buyer-seller relationships. Would our government not be more inspired to organise a 24/7 of culture next time as opposed to last time's 24/7 of consumption ? This would give the ideal platform to creators and thinkers to show the richness of our society.
Ateliers would be on hand for aspiring entertainers, reading sessions of masters of prose like Cabon, Poe, Joyce and Balzac would allow whole generations to discover the power of words, historians would tell of the unique destinies of our land and its people, live musicians would confirm the greatness of our diversity, street theatre performers would demonstrate the mettle of our artists, local filmmakers would get to show us creations inspired by Mauritian life, contemporary sages would interact with various audiences offering a rich blend of ideas… ultimately creating an atmosphere that would make us grow as human beings.
Let us set our minds free…
Chetan Ramchurn
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Rethinking Mauritius (L'Express 07/07/09/Le Mauricien 10/07/09)
C’est l’histoire d’un homme qui tombe d’un immeuble de cinquante étages.
Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien.
Mais l’important ce n’est pas la chute, c’est l’atterrissage.
(”La Haine” de Mathieu Kassovitz)
Rethinking Mauritius
Like most of you reading this column, it pains us to see our nation trapped in a tortuous downward spiral with no one bothering to send even so much as a lifesaver to it. We should all be worried, lest there should not be any sand left in the hourglass to salvage the destiny our motherland from what awaits it.
No need to be a modern day Pythia to see what lies ahead; the greater divide between the wealthy and the needy, the complete loss of trust in our political leaders (government and opposition alike, even more now when distinguishing them would require a combination of Sherlock Holmes’s and Miss Marple’s sharp minds), the burying of meritocracy, the absence of thinkers in the future (A country without thinkers is one that is bereft of a moral compass, it sails aimlessly towards an illusory destination) and the death of Mauritianism.
Those enjoying the benefits of this flawed system (the political nominees, the hardened capitalists and the conformists) will choose to believe that the views of the ones penning this article are grossly exaggerated and offer an Orwellian portrayal of our society. Yet the advocates of progressionism will recognize that if we fail to act now, we run the risk of reaching a point de non retour…For this is not only about us; this has to do with what we bequeath to the upcoming generations. Either we leave them with a society in a state of advanced moral decomposition or we choose to act now.
Here are two young idealists’ take on issues that warrant our urgent attention.
·
For a transparent political finance regime: The creation of a truly balanced mixed economy with a government that can act as the champion of the oppressed can only materialise if and when our decision makers are no longer mere puppets of financial juggernauts. In the same vein, the democratization of the economy, a must go through path to create a better society, will be translated into reality when power is effectively placed in the hands of the people and where their representatives in the Legislative Assembly are truly concerned about the lives of the masses instead of the bank accounts of their financial benefactors. The need for a truly independent political finance regulator is a must for a more prosperous nation.
·
Where education would no longer be about, what Einstein has dubbed, “the crippling of individuals”: No longer can children be mere robots trained to puke what they’ve memorised. Now is the time for young souls to finally experience the joys of learning; where one’s desire would be fueled by curiosity and where imagination and creativity would no longer be banned from classrooms. Education, if limited to the mere amassing of paper credentials, defeats its purpose. It is only when moral and ethical values gain prominence in schools and universities that we shall have a nation of responsible citizens. Another negative trait of the present Mauritian society lies in the way those that fail to achieve academically are treated. A truly humane society thrives on giving those outcasts other paths than academia where they would feel valued and respected. The makings of an ‘intelligent’ society would require that we do away with an archaic method and embrace an educational system that would reap thinking individuals.
· The creation of a real rainbow nation:.. Where strength to love shall be possessed by one and all where we would learn to understand and tolerate the differences that exist between us and celebrate the common traits that bind us. Of equal importance is the understanding that until we ostracize religious leaders that have at heart only their personal gratification and create a laical society where socio-cultural organizations would not dictate the future of a country, we will remain divided.
·
Ode to meritocracy: With clear examples of those at the end of the ladder having to foot the bill for the poor decisions of unmeritorious people grabbing headlines on a daily basis, our country can no longer afford to let those who have failed be entrusted with new positions of power. No more can the private and public sectors be allowed to operate opaquely. Herein lies our doom…
To those that share our hellish view of the present situation, now is the time for them to come forward and start making a telling difference. Yes a Sisyphean task awaits us, but there is still hope. Together, we definitely can.
Chetan Ramchurn & Arnaud
Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien.
Mais l’important ce n’est pas la chute, c’est l’atterrissage.
(”La Haine” de Mathieu Kassovitz)
Rethinking Mauritius
Like most of you reading this column, it pains us to see our nation trapped in a tortuous downward spiral with no one bothering to send even so much as a lifesaver to it. We should all be worried, lest there should not be any sand left in the hourglass to salvage the destiny our motherland from what awaits it.
No need to be a modern day Pythia to see what lies ahead; the greater divide between the wealthy and the needy, the complete loss of trust in our political leaders (government and opposition alike, even more now when distinguishing them would require a combination of Sherlock Holmes’s and Miss Marple’s sharp minds), the burying of meritocracy, the absence of thinkers in the future (A country without thinkers is one that is bereft of a moral compass, it sails aimlessly towards an illusory destination) and the death of Mauritianism.
Those enjoying the benefits of this flawed system (the political nominees, the hardened capitalists and the conformists) will choose to believe that the views of the ones penning this article are grossly exaggerated and offer an Orwellian portrayal of our society. Yet the advocates of progressionism will recognize that if we fail to act now, we run the risk of reaching a point de non retour…For this is not only about us; this has to do with what we bequeath to the upcoming generations. Either we leave them with a society in a state of advanced moral decomposition or we choose to act now.
Here are two young idealists’ take on issues that warrant our urgent attention.
·
For a transparent political finance regime: The creation of a truly balanced mixed economy with a government that can act as the champion of the oppressed can only materialise if and when our decision makers are no longer mere puppets of financial juggernauts. In the same vein, the democratization of the economy, a must go through path to create a better society, will be translated into reality when power is effectively placed in the hands of the people and where their representatives in the Legislative Assembly are truly concerned about the lives of the masses instead of the bank accounts of their financial benefactors. The need for a truly independent political finance regulator is a must for a more prosperous nation.
·
Where education would no longer be about, what Einstein has dubbed, “the crippling of individuals”: No longer can children be mere robots trained to puke what they’ve memorised. Now is the time for young souls to finally experience the joys of learning; where one’s desire would be fueled by curiosity and where imagination and creativity would no longer be banned from classrooms. Education, if limited to the mere amassing of paper credentials, defeats its purpose. It is only when moral and ethical values gain prominence in schools and universities that we shall have a nation of responsible citizens. Another negative trait of the present Mauritian society lies in the way those that fail to achieve academically are treated. A truly humane society thrives on giving those outcasts other paths than academia where they would feel valued and respected. The makings of an ‘intelligent’ society would require that we do away with an archaic method and embrace an educational system that would reap thinking individuals.
· The creation of a real rainbow nation:.. Where strength to love shall be possessed by one and all where we would learn to understand and tolerate the differences that exist between us and celebrate the common traits that bind us. Of equal importance is the understanding that until we ostracize religious leaders that have at heart only their personal gratification and create a laical society where socio-cultural organizations would not dictate the future of a country, we will remain divided.
·
Ode to meritocracy: With clear examples of those at the end of the ladder having to foot the bill for the poor decisions of unmeritorious people grabbing headlines on a daily basis, our country can no longer afford to let those who have failed be entrusted with new positions of power. No more can the private and public sectors be allowed to operate opaquely. Herein lies our doom…
To those that share our hellish view of the present situation, now is the time for them to come forward and start making a telling difference. Yes a Sisyphean task awaits us, but there is still hope. Together, we definitely can.
Chetan Ramchurn & Arnaud
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