Timely Warning

Mauritius Times – 70 Years

By M.T.

The student believes that the Eskimos live in the north pole or that Everest is the highest mountain in the world or that the surface of the moon is a desert though the shadow on it looks like vegetation. The student believes in these things not because he has any evidence but because his teacher has told him so. The student is a victim of suggestibility. In his case the suggestion has been in a healthy direction but in many cases, especially in the political field, that art is sometimes successfully applied by unscrupulous people in order to harm their opponents or for self aggrandisement.

‘Through the skilful and persistent application of propaganda an entire people can be shown heaven as hell…’ Hitler’s Propaganda. Pic – Histoire-image Org

The man in the street is more often swayed by the quack, the agitator and the political adventurer than by the competent specialist. In twenty-nine words Hitler summed up the mighty strength of propaganda:

“Through the skilful and persistent application of propaganda an entire people can be shown heaven as hell and equally the most miserable life can be made to seem paradise.”

True to this theory, Hitler set up into motion a vast, complicated and scientific machine of propaganda which put a whole nation in a state of frenzy, made them murder in cold blood about six million Jews, got themselves killed by the millions for a HOLY cause and for their Führer. Even adolescents were made to mount cheerfully on the scaffold for Hitler. An organisation of adolescents, the Hitlerjugend, or HJ (Hitler Youth), which was formed by Baldur von Schirach was subjected to such a brainwashing that in the words of Admiral Raeder “the noble destiny of the German Youth was to die for Hitler” and that the founder of HJ has “planted into the young generation the great tradition of death for a holy cause, knowing that with their blood they will lead the way towards the freedom of their dreams.”

In his ‘monumental’ work Mein Kampf, Hiller puts a great weight on psychological warfare. An agitator who is capable of communicating an idea to the masses, said Hitler, has to be a psychologist, even though he be but a demagogue. Commenting on that statement, Mr A.J. Mackenzie, a great authority on Nazism, warned the Allies long before the Second World War that it was the greatest mistake they were making for dismissing Hitler as ‘but a demagogue’. The last war proved Mackenzie’s warning right. But it was too late to mend. Humanity had suffered the greatest blow in its history.

What is happening in Mauritius in the political and psychological fields can to some extent be compared with the rise of Nazism. The complacency and inactivity, both of the Government and of the majority parties — Labour Party and Comité d’Action Musulman — in the field of education of the masses are disturbing. The political and psychological climate is being putrefied by propaganda of an insipid nature. A campaign of lies and hatred is being systematically carried out. The ignorant public is being led to believe that the Ministers go on picnicking to London every three months on public expense, that the Government is out but to help and protect the rich and oppress the poor, that the civil servants, especially the Police, are making the miseries of the small man worse.

Demagogy has reached a height not known in the history of this island. But the surprising thing about it is that neither the Govt nor the party in power is taking up the challenge. No one seems to be prepared to come forward with a vigorous campaign to check the brainwashing propaganda of these people. Many of their intelligent opponents dismiss them as ‘but demagogues’ who will cool down when tired. Exactly the same thing was told when NMU started his campaign of lies and hatred. Though NMU floundered, as it is the fate of all demagogues, but the deadly virus of communalism and hatred which he freely sowed in the quiet atmosphere of the island has taken deep root. How long will it flourish, no one can predict.

People in office tend to create a feeling of complacency about such things, sometimes through no fault of theirs. They have so much useful things to do that they don’t take heed of what is being said against them or against their government. But there are those who deliberately close their eyes and ears to what is going on around them in the hope that all will be well. They rely much more on time to heal the wounds inflicted by demagogues than on their own efforts and pretend that their good work is the best reply to the nefarious propaganda of their opponents. To some extent, that argument is valid; however, living in an age dominated by psychology, one must, whether we like it or not, effectively ‘sell’ their work through well-planned and intelligent publicity

The Mau Mau uprising which came out as a bolt from the blue to the world was not an isolated incident which sparked off all of a sudden. It took years for the storm to gather, but the Kenyan government was slow to appreciate the dark clouds, pregnant with violence and terror, which hanged menacingly over its head. The commission headed by Mr F.D. Corfield which inquired into the origins and growth of the Mau Mau movement summed up in his report — Historical Survey of the Origins and Growth of Mau Mau’ — the Government of Kenya’s failings in matters of security in the following terms:

“The major deficiency disclosed is without any doubt the lack of a properly constituted body, not only to assess the import of the many reports received but also to keep matters of intelligence policy under constant review… Without the freedom afforded them by a liberal Government, Jomo Kenyatta and his associates would have been unable to preach their calculated hymn of hate…”

The Report was categorical in its condemnation of the complacent attitude adopted by the Kenya Government in presence of the danger which menacingly loomed over its head: “A mass of intelligence reports covering all aspects of subversion had flowed into the Central Government in Nairobi. Although these reports may have lacked precision which might have enabled the Government to take more active steps against the main instigators of Mau Mau, the view can in my opinion no longer be held that lack of intelligence was the main reason which permitted the movement to develop so rapidly without the full knowledge of the Government. The basic intelligence was in fact there, but what was not there was the full appreciation of the import of potentialities of this knowledge.” Further, Mr Corfield remarked that the Government of Kenya had built around itself prior to the rising a “wall of self-deception”.

Can these criticisms apply to some extent to our Government and to the parties in power? One has to consult the Report on the disturbance which broke out in 1937 in which five persons were killed. The report stated that the Government was taken unaware. At that time too those in power had built around them a “wall of self-deception”. It cost the life of five persons and material loss of hundreds of thousands for the Government to wake up to the gravity of the situation. Is Government intelligence unaware as to the height to which public contempt is being raised by systematic brainwashing? Do those in office ever bother to know what is being dished out to the ignorant mass, who in the absence of a rebuttal are easily digesting the nonsense?

The Mau Mau uprising cannot be attributed to only the nefarious activities of the Kikuyu leaders. Any serious uprising has a nucleus of legitimate grievances around which it gradually grows and takes shape. A progressive government will find out the cause of discontent, however small, and do its best to remedy it. But at the same time, it will denounce the agitators and weed them out by all constitutional means. No efficient government will tolerate agitators and demagogues to sow the seed of hatred and sap the country’s march towards progress. The Mau Mau uprising and its growth should provide our government and the parties in power with a lesson. Some peace-loving people honestly think that we are getting panicky over trifles. We would have wished that future developments proved this statement true. But the history of all uprisings has shown that an attitude of indifference and complacency always aggravate the situation.

7th Year – No 308
Friday 22nd July, 1960

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 13 June 2025