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Readers' Response
Shilpa Shetty & Big
Brother
In his
weekly review “It’s your culture, stupid”
(Mauritius Times, 26 Jan 07), Dr RN Gopee rightly reprehends
the racist remarks made against actress Shilpa Shetty on
British TV. On the basis of this one incident, he then goes
on to revile the British for their “extreme cultural
ignorance…, class prejudice, and racism”, and ultimately
blames the whole of western (and westernized) society for
all the ills and woes of the modern world, from
“antisocial behaviour” to “family breakdown”. Indian
culture and values on the other hand are presented as
well-refined, and well-defined.
Having
studied and lived among the British for a number of years, I
found them to be generally polite, friendly, and with a keen
sense of humour. They are an ingenious and a pragmatic
people, who, despite originating from a remote island-state,
founded one of the world’s largest empires, and gave us
the English language.
I
remember regularly visiting the Natural History and Science
museums in London, and gradually coming to appreciate the
creative and inventive brilliance of British scientists and
engineers in all fields of science and technology: the
bicycle, the steam engine, suspension bridges, gravity,
evolution, blood circulation, radar, television and many
more. The British have also made significant contributions
to World Art, Literature, Philosophy, Education,
Exploration, Commerce, Democracy. British sense of justice
and fairness is legendary.
Class
prejudice and racism are certainly present in some sections
of British society, but I don’t find them to be as deeply
ingrained, as widespread, as distressing and violent as
India’s caste system.
On a
recent trip to India, I was shocked at the absence of
civism, disrespect for the environment, indifference to
sufferings of fellow humans, at the lack of courtesy, and
the corruption.
I found
“crass materialism” not only among the “rich and
offensively westernised Indian elite”, but also among
officials, civil servants, the poor, and the destitute as
well. I cannot imagine “samskriti” and “prakriti” to
be of much use to a starving man.
It is
obviously futile to compare two cultures, and affirm which
is better. But the undeniable fact remains that there is a
massive migration of people from the East aspiring to settle
in the West with all its “crass materialism”, and
virtually none in the other direction.
Sudhir
Gopaul
Dr
Gopee’s comments:
(1)
First let me put
the record straight: I have been exposed to, shall we say,
“Britishness” from the time I was in primary school. I
have had a thoroughly anglicized education. My favourite
language is English, I am a great lover of English
literature, poetry (especially the romantic poets) and
philosophy (Bertrand Russell in particular), and like Mr
Sudhir Gopaul I have lived and studied in the UK for several
years, and visited Britain and other parts of Europe a
number of times. Like him too, I genuinely appreciate
several aspects of British/European culture and values. And
again like him, I am aware of and equally critical about
many of the wrongs and ills in Indian society, of which I
have as much experience as of British society.
(2)
All this
notwithstanding, however, I maintain my observations centred
on the two core issues raised in my article which I outlined
in my comments to another reader’s reply in last week’s Mauritius
Times and to which Mr Gopaul may kindly refer.
(3)
I think it is
stretching the matter rather too far to suggest that I have
“reviled” Britain and its people; I would certainly not
be such a namakharam!
(4)
However, I must point out that my source of information
was the leader writers in the mainstream British press,
commenting on these very concerns raised by no less than
their national leaders with the prime
minister Tony
Blair leading the way.
(5)
I do not like to drop
names, but to complete the picture I must mention something
which is germane to the matter under discussion: when I met
Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace way back in 1992,
the conversation turned to the decline in British social
values, about which she expressed great dismay!
(7)
Q.E.D.
Le
Morne: The Missing Link…
I
refer to a certain number of extreme positions on the Le
Morne issue voiced out and published here and there of which
certain, I believe, may rightly be construed as offensive to
the intangible heritage (and nonetheless significant) that
the Creole community has bestowed to this country. As a
matter of fact, there seems to be around some
self-proclaimed pundits echoing exclusively materialistic if
not contemptuous approaches vis-ŕ-vis the legitimate
aspirations and historical requisition of slave descendants
within the nation at large. This, in my humble opinion
being, least to say inappropriate if not condescending as an
attitude.
Please do not get me wrong: I am certainly not one of those
who naively consider there being a radical incompatibility
between development and the necessary respect if not
enhancement of our heritage. My prerequisite being: Provided
that "development" is not solely used to unfold a
red-carpeted doormat for some fashionable specialists of the
"money money money" disrespectful mantra. Apart
from the acknowledged and proven fact that "bread and
butter" is not very recommended as part of a healthy
diet. I sincerely believe that respectful and compassionate
development does exist indeed, and in deeds. It should, and
can be an efficient vehicle for long overdue recognition,
and thereafter channel all the energies revealing to the
world and boosting up the awareness of our ancestors ordeal.
The same one that stirred their spirit of resistance to
tyranny and spurred their struggle for freedom.
We
nevertheless have to move on if we do not wish our
children's future to be forsaken. Well-conceived and planned
development projects can, and should also pay tribute to the
first freedom fighters of our young country. They who are at
long last rightly considered as the initial ground workers
of our emancipation process of which we are today the main
beneficiaries irrespective of ethnic background, colour and
creed (even if one may gather the impression that some tend
to consider themselves as "more equal than
others"). This is the legacy of the maroons and thereby
an essential founding myth of our nation enshrined in Le
Morne. Thus my statement I hereby propose to your esteemed
readers as a contribution to the debate which I wish
courteous and civilised «from the mountain top» and also,
if I may, from its rock bottom grassroots commonsense.
Over
and above historical debates and facts, established or not,
the Mauritian Creole community in its diversity and
contradictions relate to the mountain as a pillar in its
quest for a recognised identity. Through myths and legends,
based on historical evidence, set in Le Morne and its
surroundings, Mauritian Creoles and more specifically the
Creoles of slave descent have reconstituted the
"missing link" in the psyche of popular belief.
What has been or not, what has been thought to have happened
or not has been the playing ground of historians and is of
relative importance at the grassroots and even in the higher
social strata. History and historical facts have thoughout
the centuries set the scene for entrenched guerrilla between
historians their own background serving sometimes the agenda
of economic and political interests. But the important thing
remains: what we believe in and how the Creole community's
ethos crystallises its popular values in the process of
relating with the mountain and therein its founding myths
and legends, encompassing the quest for freedom and
resistance to tyranny of the maroons.
This
has been vehicled from one generation to the other mostly
through oral tradition, the cornerstone of the Creole
culture. The latter throughout the centuries has been
looking back for its origins. Its members, coming from all
walks of life, different ethno-cultural academic and
economic backgrounds have experienced this feeling of being
stuck somewhere somehow in their time-machine trip going
back to their roots.
This situation has generated some difficulty if not
inability to situate in the present and even more project
into the future. In this uncomfortable position, compared
with other ethnic groups of the island who have brought
forward language, religion, culture and values, Le Morne
symbolises that one common denominator to which the Creole
community as a whole and in spite of its inherent
socio-economic nuances, relates to and considers as a
non-negotiable pillar of its multifaceted identity:
ethno-cultural, mythical, genetic, physical, intellectual
political and even virtual. It is thus imperative that
formal recognition be given to the mountain as a landmark
establishing the unreserved and unquestionable sense of
inclusion and belonging of the Mauritian Creole into the
Mauritian community as a whole.
Essential it is that ownership be recognised so that the
sharing of the mountain and its emblem be organised and
planned accordingly with other components of the Mauritian
nation and with the world. The recognition of the
Creole community's legitimate quest for respect of its
values and inputs via Le Morne must be the sole focus as it
will favour its long overdue aggregation into the
nation-building process and the catharsis of prejudice,
stigma of slavery. The missing link thus re-incorporated in
the chain of Mauritian society will reinforce the latter and
provide it with the necessary stamina for its never-ending
construction process. This is far from being nonsense and is
certainly not incompatible with well-planned and managed
compassionate sustainable development projects taking on
board and benefiting all stakeholders starting with the
descendants of the slaves and maroons in a long overdue
venture to welcoming them back in our nation's mainstream.
Jean
Marie F Richard
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