Forthcoming general election: For a genuine ‘vrai changement’

Opinion

Enough of promises – let there be concrete pledges and mechanisms to hold those making them to account!

By TP Saran

Once again, in the run-up to the Labour Day meetings, which are more about politics than about celebrating workers, the call for mobilizing crowds has been ringing in the air. Especially so this year because the current regime’s mandate is coming to an end soon and therefore general elections are going to take place.

As in the past, we have seen that the sizes of the crowds at the opposing political gatherings on May 1st are no indication of either popularity or eventual victory at the next elections. So, in a way perhaps the main opposition alliance comprising MLP and MMM ought not to have worried too much about the cancellation of metro services until 2 pm on May 1st, which their spokespersons alleged was meant to prevent their supporters from attending their meeting in Port Louis.

What they should focus on are the concerns of the people, especially the younger voters many of whom of the Gen Y and Z who will be casting their votes for the first time. A major one is that each election has resembled another in terms of what is served afterwards, and soon enough becomes apparent once the government is installed: bonnet blanc, blanc bonnet – more of the same or plus ça change plus c’est la même chose!

For one thing, a growing rumble among the younger electorate is that the current crop of leaders has been around for too long, and that also includes the current Prime Minister, although he is the youngest of the lot. Still, he is quite old in politics and was in a privileged position to pick up many a political trick from his much more seasoned father, SAJ. Besides, that astuteness of the old fox was what made the son have an almost seamless passage to the coveted prime ministerial position isn’t it.

For another, they want to hear another tune, not for example about further topping up of the freebies like larger pensions or similar largesses that only increase national debt and inflation. With a seemingly inexhaustible war chest, never mind that the Central Bank’s reserves are quasi-depleted, it is no doubt easier for promises to be made by the ruling dispensation.

What no party or alliance has ever clearly spelt out is a real and actionable projet de société, spelling out in clear terms what are their achievable goals to transform the country in both hard and soft terms: a saner, sounder, more balanced society with embedded values. Not just a manifesto with promises. Enough of promises – let there be concrete pledges and mechanisms to hold those making them to account!

On the other hand, given the uncertainties about which party or alliance will win, what the country desperately needs is a larger opposition that cannot be overwhelmed so easily by the majority governing power. Moreover, what is definitely needed is to lift the standard of functioning and of debate and conduct in Parliament. The country needs a better image, and more than anything else, at least in the eyes of the world, it is the Parliament that crucially represents that image. Both literally and metaphorically, that is a major change that citizens should legitimately expect. 

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USA: University campuses turned into battlegrounds

It all started about ten days ago with a protest demonstration by students waving the Palestinian flag at New York’s Columbia University. Student protests are nothing new in the US: they happened in the 1960s/70s to oppose the carnage in Vietnam and against more and more conscription of young Americans barely out of their teens who were being sent to their deaths in a patently losing war. Dr Martin Luther King’s battle for civil and political rights for Blacks also mobilized massive numbers of students.

The current wave of protests has evolved in an interesting pattern. From one campus it has rapidly spread to almost 20 prestigious campuses (that may become more notorious than famous post the current crisis). The next phase was student protesters being joined by outsiders, followed by camping in tents of a standard size and colour(s) on the campus premises, suggestive of a common if not single source of funding.

Initially peaceful and tolerated by both the authorities and the population in the ‘spirit’ of the First Amendment allowing freedom of speech, etc., the demonstrations started to turn violent. Soon, student suspension took place at Columbia, with threats of expulsion looming.

With massive police presence it was almost expected that there would be clashes between them and protesters at some stage. But then, teaching staff also were manhandled and carried away screaming, as happened at Emory university to a female lecturer. One campus in California has announced closure for the rest of the year, so disruptive the demonstrations have been for teaching to continue. At the famed UCLA, students have been stopped by protesters from going to their classes. Obviously, there are still sane, serious students who want to pursue their education, as students should!

On one campus police found that protesters were armed with a taser, and a sword too was discovered. While the violence was spreading across US campuses, the protests started to go worldwide: Canada, UK and several European countries, Australia.

And what is the protest about? This has also transformed from being demand for a cease fire in Gaza, to an end to the war, to being anti-Israel and next, anti-Zionism. It is alleged that a powerful ecosystem is funding the swarm of protesters who are not students, providing tents and other paraphernalia.

Interestingly, the primary trigger for the war in Gaza has almost been forgotten, namely the attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli citizens that included men, women, and even children including babies! Hundreds were violently killed, many were paraded triumphantly in public, many more taken as hostages and are still languishing somewhere in the extensive network of underground tunnels beneath Gaza. Logically, the protesters in addition to demanding a ceasefire should also be pressing for the release of the remaining hostages – the one step that would surely end the war?

But then, crowds are driven by the emotions of mob psychology which are shorn of any logic. And therefore, it is to be expected that there is no clear end yet in sight to either the protests or the war…

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 3 May 2024