Nation Building : A Myth or Reality?

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"12728","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-20965 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"220","height":"233","alt":"Lindsey-Collen"}}]]Lindsey Collen: “We have to act to become dignified” For Lindsey Collen, member of left-wing political party Lalit, Mauritius has not achieved the status of a nation despite being independent since 1968. “It’s been 48 years since the decolonisation of the country. However, there are major points which have not occurred yet to allow the emergence of a true nation. We have territorial issues – that is part of Mauritius is still colonised and militarily occupied, namely the Chagos archipelago and Diego Garcia. These major problems need to be addressed especially in the light of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Mauritius has every right to reclaim the Chagos. Boundary issues have created a mental pathology whereby the elite especially politicians, top officers, academics and others confuse Mauritius as a State and a country rather than a nation. They are confused with this romantic and ideal image.” According to Lindsey Collen the appellation ‘Government of Mauritius’ is pure colonial rubbish. “There never has and never will be a ‘Government of Mauritius’. Mauritius is in favour of military colonisation from the UK and the USA that is why we suffer from this pathology,” she explains. Lindsey Collen also believes that the language used in Parliament is the second obstacle to nation building. “We still use the old colonial language. Our lingua franca, which is also our mother tongue, is Creole and most people understand it. Yet we still think it as inferior because we have that colonised mind. We have that linguistic issue. We need a decolonisation of the language.” She argues that Mauritians are prepared to embarrass themselves in order to flatter an imaginary coloniser. Lindsey Collen declares that people and government have to act to get back the Chagos. “We have to act to become dignified. In addition we must have the right to choose the language of the Constitution. I trust that both Creole and English should be the language of the Parliament. We have to look for what’s good for ourselves. The word to achieve nation building is ‘dignity’. We must not be under some else’s thumb.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"12729","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-20966 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"203","height":"329","alt":"Faizal-Jeeroburkhan"}}]]Faizal Jeeroburkhan: “We do not have the title of a true nation” Faizal Jeeroburkhan, from Think Mauritius, affirms that till now, we have not achieved the title of a true nation but there is an urgent need for it. “The fact that our education system is more based on competition, our children do not understand the meaning of patriotism. For our children, Independence Day is only a celebration where they go to school and eat cakes and get back home. Our school curriculum does not feature any programmes that help in developing patriotism. For example, schools do not have programmes that promote team work, social activities, and benevolent activities like going to homes and helping people. In Singapore, children from a small age are imbibed with values and patriotic feelings.” Moreover, he argues that parents also lack patriotic feeling. “Adults also are not patriotic enough. Hence, it is difficult to make the new generation believe in patriotism. A change in mentality is needed in order to make Mauritius a nation. A patriot is every energetic and makes the country progress as well as develop further,” he avers. As claimed by Faizal Jeeroburkhan, we are living in an egoistic society. “An egoistic society cannot be patriotic. For petty works they ask for favours or recommendations. There is no meritocracy. There was a time when people used to be religious. All religion preaches sharing and discipline. Sharing is a form of patriotism. In the modern life, values are losing ground. There is no sharing. Individualism and materialism is prevailing. Earlier, we could see solidarity among citizens. Now, for the people it is more ‘my house, my car, my land.’ They do care about their neighbourhood as it used to be. Some people can even take the litter from their yard and throw it on the road.” However, as stated by Faizal Jeeroburkhan, in some extreme circumstances we can see solidarity prevailing. “Usually, what happens is that whenever a group of people make a particular move, many others join in. People are easily influenced.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"12730","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-20967 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"192","height":"266","alt":"Michel-Chiffonne"}}]]Michel Chiffonne: “We are only half a nation” “Every person who takes birth on the Mauritian land becomes a citizen of the Republic. However, we have not yet transcended our history. There are still some colonial remnants. Many people feel they are excluded,” says Michel Chiffone, from the left-wing political party Rezistans ek Alternativ. He adds that: “We have 700,000 working people who are striving daily to make both ends meet while on the other side, we have the capitalist class – those who do not need to work. There is discrimination at the job level. I believe that we are only half a nation as we are not economically and politically independent.” Despite becoming a Republic in 1992, Mauritius does not recognise its people as citizens at election time. “When you are running for an election, you are representing the whole nation and not a specific community. This is a perversion of the democracy. In addition to that the government, just like previous ones, is working in its own interest and not viewing Mauritius as a nation. They are colonising our country by selling, for example, our harbour to multinationals. It is only when Mauritius will transcend those issues that we will be able to become a nation. We are losing our sovereignty. On the other hand, 70% of our land belongs to sugar estates. Agricultural reform is another issue which has not been addressed since Independence,” he argues. “There is still a long way to go.”