When I was born in Mauritius…
When I was born in Mauritius and took my first breath of air, I was simply glad to be alive. I did not choose to be born here but there I was, on this land, by pure chance. My birth-land which welcomed me with open arms! When I went to pre-primary school, I learned to sing the National Anthem and always remember, till now, the especially high-pitched part ‘As One People, As One Nation.’ When I was in primary school, I learnt about the rich history of my country and my heart beat with pride, that we had come such a long way. When I made the transition to university, I believed that the young fresh minds would merge and create a better future for our little island. When I moved abroad, I was so proud of my Mauritian roots and culture and each Mauritian party was awaited with eager anticipation.
When I returned to Mauritius, the land of my birth, I was shocked into a brutal truth that I could not simply be Mauritian…No, this right is denied to me…And so many angry questions have started cropping up in my uncomprehending head:
Why do others try to categorise me as X-speaking, when my mother tongue is the Mauritian Kreol and not X?
Why do I have to justify my ethnic roots on some official records although I was born in Mauritius and my true ethnicity is Mauritian?
Is ‘One People, One Nation’ nothing but a childhood myth, the echoing remnant of my school years?
Why don’t people understand that I am happy just being Mauritian?
O Motherland of Mine! What has become of you? Are some people to whom you gave birth so ashamed of you as to deny that they are first and foremost Mauritians?
Commentaires
nice article
TO CONNE SA SANTE LA KI DIRE : MO TI NE GANGA ? SA MEME APELLE PAYS MORIS SA !!!
AM HAPPY TO BE A MAURITIAN LIKE YOU. EVERYONE MUST THINK LIKE YOU AND MAKE THIS RACE/CAST DISAPPEAR OFR EVER. GOOD WRITING BHAWNA
Please do not cofuse ethnicity with religion,the last twi cincepts with NATIONALITY /CITIZENSHIP!A fter the BLS will have long gone,rthnicity will still prevail!The Mauritian citizens do emanate from a number of ethnic groups.One can be of anyone of the ethnic groups present in Mauritius but is still a Mauritian and that's how it is in the real world!The ethnicity of any person matters in the medical world and this is the case all around the world!An all white population of a country may harbour people of different ethnic groups.Russia,for example!BLS did not only allowed the concept of 'communalisme scientifique' to prevail , but it distorted the results of a democratic election...allowing people qho have been rejected by the voters to get in par lafnet!To decry BLS id onr thing,to be againdt the declaring one'e ethnic background at an election is one thing..however to suggest that one's rthnic origin prevents one from being Mauritian is rather naive!
I see your point and I certainly am not confusing ethnicity with religion. In the wake of the debates on BLS and some of our MPs' unwillingness to adopt a change to allow us to declare ourselves purely and simply Mauritians, this is honestly getting frustrating and tiring! Also, you cannot deny the power of the socio-cultural groups which are increasingly messing with politics and play the ethnicity card as a blackmailing power. Yes, ethnic groups are here to stay, am not denying that BUT nationalism has to prevail first and foremost. This is the point I wish to make.
Nationalism breeds division also. We should rather opt for patriotism.
You would think/wish that the upcoming generations would mark the social landscape with a certain open-mindedness, but the cycle is alive and perpetuating,and,unfortunately, it is as much the politicians' fault as that of the parents.
Hi Ryan, you may not remember me but I used to take maths tuition with your dad in Rosehill and I know you small. Your dad himself was an example of interculturality. Greetings.
What is so wrong about declaring ethnic roots? It does not make one intolerant or a fanatic. It is just a reality. It is fashionable in the so-called global village not to declare ethnic roots.
In the context of 21st century Mauritius, in order to stand as a candidate for the general elections, you need to declare your ethnic roots otherwise your candidature is rejected. Now, is this for real? What about if I want to say I am simply Mauritian? Am I not entitled to this basic right in my own country? Hats off to Rezistans and Alternatif who have have fought against this system and won. I don't find the compulsion behind declaring my thenic roots particularly fashionable. I want to be considered as Mauritian, full stop, otherwise I should have been born in another land!
Our Constitution does not have a classification for Mauritians.
As an Englishman married to a Mauritian I've found the division of candidates by ethnic origin hard to understand in a country that prides itself, with pretty good reason, on being a 'rainbow' nation. I'm not sure where else you would have to be born to find yourself officially categorised by ethnic group rather than as simply a citizen of your own country.
If it's such a good idea, why haven't other countries adopted it? I can only imagine the uproar if the UK or US government suggested that political parties should now list candidates by skin colour or religious affiliation. And I don't see what this has got to do with being proud of your roots; that's a personal thing, not a political statement. Anyway, increasingly those roots cut across ethnic and religious boundaries, which makes tick-box categories look clumsy and irrelevant.
Surely we just want to be represented by the best person available, not someone who has only reached a list because of where their ancestors came from 150 years ago. Perhaps when the system was introduced the intention was good, but to an outsider it looks like an anachronistic colonial hangover that's well past its 'use by' date and should have been consigned long ago to the compost heap.
Hats off to Rezistans ek Alternatif for their efforts and to you, Bhawna, for an insightful article.
Thank you! Let's see how much time it will take to change this rotten system and do away with these limitations. I believe that where there is a will, there is a will but have our MPs got it and are they willing to work on a consensus in order to do away with declaring one's ethnicity as well as the BLS, which is in all honesty, well past its expiry date?
Excellent stuff which ought to make decent people sit up and understand that our politicians and self appointed 'religious' leaders have only one aim in life: divide and rule.Nothing else matters to them.They will always try to highlight our differences whilst protesting that they are Mauritians first...These leaders really give hypocrisy such a bad name!
like :)
Bhavna needs to consider who instituted the Caste and Communal system in all aspect of Life NOT JUST POLITICS...WHO DECLARED THEMSELVES ' VAISH'' for it allows ''Privileges'' first from the english, who believed that such caste are Supervisors and was it NOt VAISH who publicly said that ONLY VAISH can be PM in MAURITIUS.... BHAVNA needs to look objectively at the Hypocrisy the deviousness the deceit that is contained and practised by those who use ''HINDUISM' as a Business to gain Privilege to appropriate wealth of others and above ALL TO SUBTLY deny rights of existence to others BUT THEN VERY SUBTLY nOCTURNALLY whislt preventing MAURITIANISM as it existed and evolved with MANY OTHERS WHO HAD ACCEPTED THE NEW CULTURE OF MAURITIUS and to INCLUDE even REV FATHER JACQUES D LAVAL.