{"id":13850,"date":"2018-06-04T09:39:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T05:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=13850"},"modified":"2018-06-04T09:39:35","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T05:39:35","slug":"ngos-protesters-of-double-standards-and-hidden-agendas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/ngos-protesters-of-double-standards-and-hidden-agendas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NGOs & Protesters: Of double standards and hidden agendas"},"content":{"rendered":"
On the surface, they are militating for the people whom they claim are unwitting victims, but deeper down, they are there to destabilize the government, to favour some corporate, and the more sinister one: to break up a country<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n

There are many NGOs around the world that are doing genuine good work, both at country level and at global level. Of the latter, Oxfam and MSF or M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res <\/em>are probably among the best that can be given as examples. Equally, there are some that are not as straightforward as they pretend to be, and that also applies to some protest movements, since they are remotely controlled as part of a larger hidden agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the surface, they are militating for the people whom they claim are unwitting victims, but deeper down, they are there to pursue objectives identified by some parent organization. These can be, for example, to disrupt the social fabric, to destabilize the government, to favour some corporate, and the more sinister one: to break up a country.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBizweek in a recent article about the IPPs pointed out that they supply 60% of the electricity needs of the country via the CEB, and that in the main they use charcoal for electricity production. Did the anti-CT Power protesters ever raise a hue and cry about the use of coal by the IPPs? Never. As someone cynically queried then, was it a question of black coal versus white coal? One cannot help asking if there was an ulterior motive behind this double standard of the anti-CT Power movement, and by extension of the media that were supporting them\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A protest movement in Tamil Nadu in South India, in a place called Tuticorin that turned violent with the death of several people and many more left injured is a good illustration of that given that it has elements of all the aforementioned objectives. Ostensibly the movement was launched by social activists animated by the welfare of people working and living in the proximity of a copper processing plant, named Sterlite and belonging to the Vedanta group. At some stage police had to open fire, and it seems that this happened when anti-social elements attacked the police.<\/span><\/p>\n

They probably took a page from the stone pelters in Kashmir, as they share a similar agenda that is driven from outside. In the case of Kashmir, it is Pakistan; in the case of Sterlite, it is church organizations according to observers who have knowledge of what really is happening. They were the same people who organized the protests against the Kundakolam nuclear plant, also in Tamil Nadu, on flimsy technical grounds which were all refuted. There the State did not give in, and the plant was eventually commissioned, and another one is planned with Russian help as for the first one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sterlite, which has been operating for several years, having been given all the environmental clearances in 1995, supplies India with 40% of its copper and exports regionally. The aim of the protest was to close down the factory on grounds of environmental pollution and damage to the health and welfare of the people, and thus make India a net importer of copper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reacting in panic, the State government has effectively closed down the plant, but what this entails is not only making India import copper, but also the loss of nearly 30,000 direct and about 25,000 indirect jobs, the consequences of which can well be imagined.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a fact that a race is on for dominance in renewable energy, and it is between China and the western world. A third player, India, will distort the economies of scale. The church, which has always been a tool for imperialistic powers, has once again mobilized its flocks to attack the copper plant and destroy jobs. This leads to impoverishment of the masses, which leads to vote bank politics by cynical politicians, and fits it with the goal of missionaries there who move in to harvest the souls of the pauperized effortlessly. Closing down the factory serves the purpose of both.<\/span><\/p>\n

This makes us look back on some of our own protest movements, in particular the one that resulted in the nipping in the bud the project of CT power to produce electricity, on the ground that it would be using coal to do so. The magazine Bizweek in a recent article about the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) pointed out that they supply 60% of the electricity needs of the country via the CEB, and that in the main they use charcoal for electricity production. Did the anti-CT Power protesters ever raise a hue and cry about the use of coal by the IPPs? Never. As someone cynically queried then, was it a question of black coal versus white coal?<\/span><\/p>\n

One cannot help asking if there was an ulterior motive behind this double standard of the anti-CT Power movement, and by extension of the media that were supporting them. This should serve as a lesson to us, that we should try to find out exactly what is the motivation that lurks behind the actions of some NGOs and protest movements, while acknowledging at the same time that there are those which are sincere in their efforts to create awareness on specific problems and giving active support to targeted groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u2018Once Catholic Ireland now approves abortion on demand\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

This is the title of an article by Frank Sellers in \u2018The Red Pill Times\u2019 of May 26, 2018 about the recent referendum in Ireland which has voted overwhelmingly and unexpectedly in favour of abortion, coming very close to the prediction of exit polls of 68% for and 32% against. This outcome is considered as being another victory for feminism and equality in this staunchly Catholic and conservative country whence, it may be recalled, the \u2018Brothers\u2019 in the Catholic confessional schools in Mauritius came from at one time.\u00a0<\/span>Almost ruefully, the author writes: \u2018What was once referred to as \u201cCatholic Ireland\u201d is now just Ireland. All memory of what once was is to be brushed away by modernism. Contraception, divorce, and sodomy were all forbidden in the eighties, but by the nineties, contraception and divorce were legalized. Ireland then became the first country in history to allow same-sex marriage by public referendum, and by no small margin. Now as this article is being written, exit polls are showing an approval of abortion by 68% in favor, 32% against. This is unprecedented! This far exceeds the expectations of anybody with their eye on the situation.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

He goes on to add: \u2018Even though the West has been moving more toward secularization for decades, few would have thought that Ireland would vote this overwhelmingly in favour of abortion. Ireland was once seen as a hold out of traditional morality in the West. The legalization of infanticide will no doubt take that illusion away from us all now. It seems that the West is unable to maintain religious values, they can\u2019t be kept in even a small pocket. Chalk up another victory for the feminism and equality. As those are the only values left in a society that cares about nothing else.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

It may also be pointed out that a few years ago, Ireland scored a first in allowing teenage girls to buy contraceptive pills directly over the counter from a pharmacy, without the need to have them prescribed by a general practitioner as used to be the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

These developments go totally counter to the position taken by the Vatican, which is absolutely against use of the pill (even by married women) and of course abortion too as well. And even in Italy for that matter, and in several other Catholic countries women do resort to the pill, and to clandestine abortions if they cannot afford, as the well-off do, to travel to neighbouring countries for the procedure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in Mauritius, where abortion was a question of great controversy, amendments were brought to the Criminal Law, dating back to 1838, which made abortion illegal. Extensive discussions were held with all stakeholders by the government before passing a Bill in Parliament in June 2012, following a unanimous decision by the Mauritian Cabinet. The amendments to the Criminal Code were \u2018to authorise the termination pregnancy in specified circumstances, namely, in cases where<\/span>
\n\u2013 the continued pregnancy will endanger the pregnant person\u2019s life;<\/span>
\n\u2013 the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant person;<\/span>
\n\u2013 there is a substantial risk that the continued pregnancy will result in a severe malformation, or severe physical or mental abnormality, of the foetus, as assessed by the appropriate specialists; and<\/span>
\n\u2013 the pregnancy has not exceeded its fourteenth week and results from a case of rape, sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 16 or sexual intercourse with a specified person which has been reported to the police or a medical practitioner.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

It is to be noted that the term \u2018termination of pregnancy\u2019 was preferred to the more controversial term \u2018abortion\u2019. No doubt this has been a significant piece of legislation that put our country ahead of many others where women continue to suffer complications or even die from being forced to undergo illegal abortions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, parallel to the change in the Criminal Code to make abortion in specific cases legal, there was a change in the Medical Council Act to make provision for hospitals and clinics with qualified doctors who will be allowed to do abortion. Furthermore patients and responsible parties were required to sign consent forms before the termination is done, in a now safe and clean environment as provided for in the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 1 June 2018<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the surface, they are militating for the people whom they claim are unwitting victims, but deeper down, they are there to destabilize the government, to favour some corporate, and the more sinister one: to break up a country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":13808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10123],"tags":[10667,10663,3112,10670,2200,10660,10661,4141,5070,10668,10665,10672,10671,10669,10662,10659,10664,114,10666],"class_list":["post-13850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-titbits","tag-abortion","tag-bizweek","tag-ceb","tag-criminal-code-mauritius","tag-ct-power","tag-double-standards","tag-hidden-agendas","tag-independent-power-producers","tag-ipps","tag-ireland-referendum","tag-kundakolam-nuclear-plant","tag-mauritius-family-planning-welfare-association","tag-medical-council-mauritius","tag-medical-termination-of-pregnancy","tag-missionaries","tag-ngos-protesters","tag-sterlite","tag-tp-saran","tag-vedanta-group"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Coal.jpg?fit=1200%2C642&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-3Bo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}