La campagne du mensonge ou l’art de rouler le peuple !…
MT 60 Years Ago2nd — YEAR NO. 44 – 11 June 1955
Par Cassandre
Depuis que le monde est monde, on n’a jamais manqué de rouler le peuple comme un tonneau…
Fort heureusement, avec la grande diffusion de la page imprimée, avec tous les apports de la science moderne — radio, télévision, avion, etc. – le peuple pense aujourd’hui, et pense avec une candeur et une profondeur parfois déconcertantes.
Ecoutez la remarque de mon voisin, un modeste charpentier qui lit difficilement son journal, sur l’épineux problème de la Formose :… ‘Oui, monsieur,’ m’a-t-il dit, ‘cette histoire est fort compliquée ; mais pourquoi les Nations-Unies ne s’occupent-elles pas plutôt des problèmes plus importants, tels l’exploitation des Africains par des blancs, dans un pays qui logiquement est aux Africains ?’
J’avoue franchement qu’on ne peut pas toujours répondre facilement à des questions aussi simples.
Un journaliste m’a encore dit une fois lors d’un entretien mené dans notre savoureux patois :
‘Les Américains et les Anglais, mon cher monsieur, sont friands d’un mot : agression… !’ ‘Mais, dites-moi,’ continua-t-il, ‘quels sont les peuples qui jusqu’en plein 17-18ème siècle, faisaient le commerce d’esclaves, avec une Bible à la main et un fusil dans l’autre ?…’
Et tout cela avait lieu autrefois, en vérité, au nom d’une civilisation douteuse et au nom d’un christianisme pervers et combien différent du vrai !…
Aujourd’hui, le peuple pense et pense bien. Le 20ème siècle est bien le siècle du réveil et de l’émancipation du peuple.
Et cependant les plus malins, les mythomanes, les mercenaires payés pour défendre le capitalisme le plus odieux – condamné par le Pape – sont toujours là pour tromper le peuple, l’homme de la rue, par une propagande sournoise, mais subtile ; mais une propagande qui a le mérite d’être scientifique, inspirée directement des méthodes d’un Adolf Hitler ou d’un Hermann Göring.
Cette propagande consiste à répéter, à diffuser jour après jour, avec conviction un mensonge ou un bobard. Et la psychologie élémentaire nous dit que n’importe quel mensonge ou n’importe quelle bêtise finit par s’ancrer dans l’esprit de l’homme, si le mensonge est habilement lancé !…
Le Cernéen n’a jamais cessé de répéter ‘ad nauseam’ que les leaders hindous sont des communistes, des Jagan, etc., qui veulent faire de Maurice une colonie indienne ; et que les hindous, envoûtés par leurs leaders, finiront par former un bloc anti-mauricien, pour dominer finalement toutes les autres communautés, surtout le bloc chrétien-musulman-chinois !…
NMU connaît par cœur ce petit couplet. A l’entendre, on croirait que les hindous sont responsables de l’exploitation des Arabes et des Nord Africains, dans tout le Maroc ou dans toute la Tunisie.
Les hindous sont probablement responsables du régime de Strydom qui frappe d’ostracisme les noirs, les chinois, les hindous et les hommes de couleur, en Afrique du Sud !…
Probablement les hindous et leurs leaders en 1789, en France, causèrent tout le désordre que l’on connaît…
Quand NMU parle des hindous ou de leurs leaders, il en a la bouche toute pleine.
‘Les hindous, les Ramgoolam, les Roy,’ affirme l’ex-agent des lampes goudrons et actif chef d’équipe de fédérations et de comités morts-nés, sont des fanatiques, des exploiteurs, des païens… il nous faut leur barrer la route !
NMU oublie qu’il faut surtout faire la guerre à la bêtise des uns et des autres qui pensent qu’un nom, une couenne, un pedigree douteux, des yeux verts ou bleus ou des particules, constituent des marques évidentes de supériorité !…
Que NMU mène une active croisade contre les ‘gros bonnets’ qui ne connaissent qu’eux-mêmes, qui ne vivent que pour leurs crevettes, leurs cerfs ; gare aux autres qui veulent en manger. On leur réservera du plomb et des balles de 303 !…
Le danger hindou pour nous n’est qu’un mythe bien lancé par quelque malins qui ont tout à gagner à voir leur ‘Etat’ prospérer au sein de l’Etat.
Le danger réel pour nous est l’infernal esprit de supériorité des uns et des autres, des brutes qui ne pouvant arguer avec la langue ou la plume, ont recours à leurs poings et tel loustic, cynique et plus sot encore que Sancho Pança, pense au Cernéen que ce sont de tels moyens qui prouvent la supériorité de l’homme sur son prochain ! Ou l’esprit de supériorité de quelques petits imbéciles qui, sur une plage un jour eurent le courage de dire à un petit blanc qui jouait sur le sable avec un petit noir :
« Laisse ce petit noir ! Laisse ce petit noir !…’
Le danger hindou n’existe que dans l’imagination malade de NMU.
Le véritable danger pour nous c’est la pauvreté intellectuelle et culturelle de tous ces ‘fadas’ qui ne connaissent rien de l’économie de leur pays, d’ailleurs lorsque l’Hon Vaghjee développa sa remarquable motion sur l’extraction du sucre beaucoup ne purent rien dire, sinon des niaiseries, et le petit hindou noir l’emporta brillamment sur toute la ligne !…
* * *
Subsidies to Christian Ecclesiastics
A Historical Survey
By D. Napal, BA (Hons)
As early as December 1723, when the island was under the rule of the “Compagnie des Indes”, Louis XV, by letters patent from Versailles, recognized the Roman Catholic Church as the only lawful church of the islands of Reunion and Ile de France. The Lazarists, four of whom came with the French Governor de Nyon, were the first priests to land on our shores. At this time the Church was independent of the government.
The French Revolution left its mark on religion as on other matters. As soon as it was known here that the National Assembly had confiscated church property, the “Assemblée Générale” which was in power at that time in the island proceeded to follow in the footsteps of the mother country. It passed a “Décret de Confiscation” and took upon it the responsibility of ministering to the spiritual needs of the island. According to a pamphlet published by W. Green in 1883, since the 17th February 1791, the Roman Catholic priests were to be paid by the government. From this time it was declared that the necessary taxation to meet the expenses were to be imposed on the whole population and not on the Catholics alone.
Religion continued to undergo other changes, in accordance with what happened in France. In 1801, Napoleon made a treaty with the Pope known as the “Concordat”. This treaty recognized the position of the Roman Catholic Church in all French territories. The Government undertook to provide buildings to be used as places of worship and to provide for the salaries of the clergy.
One thing which is certain about religion in Ile de France is that it was the preserve of the masters, very few of whom were sincerely religious. They were living in a slave owning island where they had unlimited power upon their blacks, who in matters of religion as in other matters depended upon the whims of their masters. If they happened to have a master who was religious minded, so much the better for their souls. If not, and this was more often the case, the religious instruction of the slaves suffered a gross neglect. The indifference of the masters in what concerned the religious instruction of those who were so directly under their control was proverbial. Hence the Code Noir enacted that “every master was compelled to see that his blacks were taught the principles of religion, that they were regularly married among themselves and that their children were regularly baptized.” The law was there but it is a matter of doubt how far it was enforced.
Such was the position of religion in the island when in 1810 the English took possession of it. In the Act of Capitulation, it was enacted that the “inhabitants shall preserve their religion, laws and customs”. The word “inhabitants” in the Act of Capitulation implied the minority of masters who were in the island at the time of the capitulation for the slaves and the coloured population who on an aggregate comprised two thirds of the population had no civil and political rights. They were, so to say under the tutelage of the whites. They could have no voice in matters concerning “religion, laws and customs”.
The Report of the Royal Commission of 1909 had its comment on this clause of the Act of Capitulation.
We read in the Report: “As, however some witnesses endeavoured to persuade us that the maintenance of the Roman Catholic Church at the expense of the state was in some way guaranteed by the British Government in consequence of the Act of Capitulation of the Island, it may be well for us to state that we are unable to accept this claim.”
Two other churches which receive grants are the Church of England and the Presbyterian Church.
When the British (most of whom were Anglicans) came in 1810, the military chaplains were the only resident priests who ministered to their religious needs. It was in 1812 that the Church of England had his first Cathedral Diocese established in what was the Old French Powder Magazine, which underwent for the purpose many alterations and additions. Governor Sir James Higginson opened the first Scotch Presbyterian Church, the St Andrews, in the year 1853.
With the abolition of slavery and the immigration of Indians a new problem was created which has not been solved till today, after more than a century. The Hindus, Chinese, Muslims and some Christian sects as the Seventh Day Advent, who altogether form more than two thirds of the population receive no subsidies from the Government, though they contribute their share of rates and taxes, from the proceeds of which the three ecclesiastical establishments benefit.
We are no more living in an age when blood was shed in the name of God. The study of comparative religious has done much to dispel the misty belief that only the souls of Christians will be saved, while those of heathens (the word itself is reminiscent of something base) will burn in Hell-Fire. It is a recognized fact today that there are other religions, besides Christianity, which are age-old and deserve the respect of cultured people. In the light of these facts it is deplorable that many religions, whose adherents form the majority of the population, are totally ignored by the Government.
- Published in print edition on 7 August 2015
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