LAITY
… this government has accomplished a mean feat: it has turned dystopia into reality and has managed to do what no prior government has overtly dared to do: force a gag on the persons from whom it will beg for votes next year. It has sent the message that anyone who dares to act in a way that is healthy in any democracy, will be persecuted. For this vile undemocratic measure is not for prosecution purposes but for persecution.
This move is not a battle “pour protéger les bons”, as the President said, probably to give himself good conscience, but rather smells of fear on the part of the government. It seems that “les bons”, in the current state of affairs, means the yes men and women who will heap praises on the government, or those who will submissively stop sharing their thoughts and feelings, out of fear.
This government wants to create such a situation where people are so busily taken in battling for their basics, that they will eventually give up on voicing out. This government is forcing compliance out of the people by denying them of their freedom, which is the basis of any self-respecting democracy. What else can we expect from a government which has kicked the basic principles of democracy in the arse, just by the very fact of being led by a person who has not been voted in democratically?
What does the layperson do in the meantime? Certainly, keep on sharing thoughts and opinions, maybe in a more nuanced manner. For, in any case, not doing so, is absolutely not an option. Today, words have attained their utmost importance in Mauritius. We will not be silenced into submission, instead we have just been fueled to take our expression to the greatest heights.