{"id":46360,"date":"2026-07-13T13:23:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=46360"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:23:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:23:27","slug":"humanism-and-mauritian-entity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/humanism-and-mauritian-entity\/","title":{"rendered":"Humanism and Mauritian Entity"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Our Archives – A Glimpse into 1961<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

By Abhimanyu Appadoo<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“And therefore, bold to look on painful things,<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong>Free likewise of the world, and thence more bold,<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong>I summoned my best skill, and toiled, intent<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong>To anatomise the frame of social life;<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong>Yea, the whole body of society<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong>Searched to its heart.”<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/em><\/strong>— William Wordsworth<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

At this crucial moment in the history of our island, after the severe shocks of last year, and the prolonged droughts of this year, when we feel the need to collaborate and help, study and plan, for the national good, all communities and creeds are praying to God, after their own fashions, so that He may send us rain. One community, however, is not praying for its own but for all. When we face a common enemy, when we meet dire circumstances, when calamities prevent our smooth course, we unite under a common flag. We stand united to struggle against a disaster which terrifies everybody, even those who have. That is indeed the spirit of true Mauritianism, the spirit for which we are all, consciously or unconsciously, clamouring.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mauritius Times<\/em> has been, since its birth, a militant promoter of Mauritian Entity. That is our ideal. That is our policy. When it will materialise, I cannot say. But I have a firm faith and a great hope in it. If we work hard for it, it will become a possibility. The rising generation is bound to suffer unless Mauritians are made conscious that they are under one banner, under one flag.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think of India some thousand years ago. The subcontinent was the home of many races, hybrids of one single race, each, however, trying to have supremacy over the other, each remaining within its narrow walls of sectarianism. Jealousy and intrigue, prejudice and useless opposition, intolerance and injustice, were rife. What happened to that land? She remained a prey to foreign invaders. She became a slave to outside powers. But look at contemporary India. She is now a united country with a constitution, power, a flag, prestige, and the best kind of democracy. See what love her people have for their motherland. And how, with a sense of responsibility and patriotism, every Indian, in whatever province he may be living, is thinking of his country first and afterwards of his needs. Look at this picture and at ours.<\/span><\/p>\n

What has been said of India is equally true of the history of other lands \u2014 of England and Russia, of France and China. Divisions and social barriers spell ruin in a country. Mauritius, too, will become a slave to outside powers if there is not within us the spirit of tolerance, the idea that we are one nation, not a bundle of creeds and races.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are we separated? This, of course, demands serious study. I am glad to have read a timely article by Malcolm de Chazal in Le Mauricien<\/em> of 25 February 1961. It was dedicated to Mr Andr\u00e9 Masson who, the author says, is seeking humanism (?). I concur with whatever has been said by the author, who, to me at least, is a clairvoyant, a poet of the present, not of the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Malcolm, one must not be just a Christian if one is to follow the religion of Christ which fosters human brotherhood. The emphasis is on what one does, what one is, not on how full one’s pocket is. The medieval concept that money may buy a passport to heaven or to the pinnacle of greatness and fame is dead. A man outside Christian society is not an outcast. A black man, because he is black, is not a savage. True disciples and followers of Christ are those who really follow His principles and not the hypocrites.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why Malcolm considers Gandhiji as the best of Christians. And this is what he writes: “Quand je vois un Gandhi, je me demande : Qu’est-ce qui fait le c\u0153ur v\u00e9ritablement? Et ma r\u00e9ponse vient lapidaire : Le Christ est venu nous porter un universalisme du c\u0153ur<\/em>, un c\u0153ur vaste comme le monde. Cet universalisme du c\u0153ur, Gandhi le poss\u00e8de. Donc Gandhi, n’\u00e9tant pas chr\u00e9tien du fait congr\u00e9gationniste, l’est en esprit. Et Gandhi est dans l’esprit du Christ. On ne peut donc dire que le Christ peut \u00eatre enferm\u00e9 dans les cadres du c\u0153ur dont la chr\u00e9tient\u00e9 organis\u00e9e en tant que congr\u00e9gation aurait le monopole.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Really, hypocrites are they who privately do all sorts of mischief to their friends whilst publicly they go to church ten times a week or profess they are good and honest Christians. Apparently good Christians they are, those who regard the colour bar as a God-sent gift! To them Malcolm asks: “Comment un chr\u00e9tien \u00e0 Maurice peut-il dire : ‘Mes fr\u00e8res les chr\u00e9tiens’, s’il m\u00e9prise un autre chr\u00e9tien \u00e0 cause de sa peau?”<\/em> And the author adds: “Ce m\u00e9pris du chr\u00e9tien par le chr\u00e9tien \u00e0 cause de sa peau n’est-il pas un p\u00e9ch\u00e9 contre l’humanisme?”<\/em> The questions asked by Malcolm cannot be answered if we possess a guilty heart or a gnawed conscience. A heart cannot find place for negations and prejudices if it is already filled with the love of God and the love of fellow men.<\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt Malcolm de Chazal will be taken for a rebel by some, for his views are not compatible with their practices. But in this atomic age might is not right; money cannot buy everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we want Mauritius to progress, we must cast aside all the negatives of life; we must seek and maintain justice in all our dealings. Mauritian Entity cannot be based on the prejudice of colour. Let stubborn, haughty and malicious people of no principles turn towards South Africa, which, despite world pressure and condemnation, still preserves the policy of apartheid. Let them believe that whatever their attainments and moral force, the blacks are always inferior to the whites, although, in fact, the world knows who are superior and who are inferior.<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of the superiority of the whites over the blacks has been advanced by some foolish philosophers. The Greeks regarded foreigners, including even the whites, as barbarians. The Roman general Quintilianus Varus said of the inhabitants of Germania: “It is true, they are men, but except for the voice and limbs of the body they have nothing of human beings in them.” As recently as the eighteenth century, the great French philosopher Montesquieu (1689\u20131755) said: “One cannot well imagine that God, who is so wise, should have put a soul, moreover an immortal soul, into an entirely black body. It is impossible to think that these people are human beings.” He was speaking of the negroes. These, however, sound really fantastic, and I ask myself what use these people had made of their education, which had reduced them to despising others not of their race or creed!<\/span><\/p>\n

Among some irresponsible, ignorant, uneducated Indians, too, the spirit of intolerance still persists. The famous caste system, a gross blunder, an indelible blot on Hindu society, is held sacred. The Gita<\/em>, the Vedas<\/em>, Upanishads<\/em>, and the Puranas<\/em> all do, in fact, confirm that varnas<\/em>, or castes, are based on action or karma<\/em>, qualities or swabhava<\/em>, and not on birth, as some fools maintain. I challenge anyone who dares to prove the contrary. What we want, to begin with, is first an entity among the Hindus themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some irresponsible people are launching a campaign to the effect of divide and rule. That policy will not last, as it is just like a house built on sand.<\/span><\/p>\n

The East and the West, the whites and the coloured people, the rich and the labouring classes, idealists and cynics, which make up Mauritian society, must work for the progress of our island, where peace and security, justice and fair play, tolerance and love flourish; where the study of comparative religions, thought and philosophy interests all; where the blending of many cultures, Oriental and Occidental, produces a rich, variegated, noble culture which will be purely Mauritian. Our island is a world in miniature. It is a body of United Nations.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe it will be good if we could build or help to build multiracial societies or associations. I am against the idea of communal or racial organisations. If we are truly Mauritians, why do we not build Mauritian organisations? I think there is no harm if the Koran or the Bible, the Vedas and the Puranas, and other scriptures, are studied side by side. I believe it will be socially good if one learns the many languages and literatures existing in Mauritius. But who will do it? Only time can tell.<\/span><\/p>\n

When all cultures of foreign extraction will fade away, merging into the grand ocean of Mauritian culture, Mauritian Entity will be the long-desired fruit.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the eve of Independence, it will not be good if we still remain in our petty shells of creeds and communalism. If, however, there is a clash of views or religions, if there is a difference of opinion (everyone is free to express his opinion), let it be personal, not general. If there is a disagreement of belief, it may be discussed at home or in the forum in a very friendly, peaceful manner. Let free views and opinions circulate. The basis of liberty is that one is free to criticise and construct, direct and rationalise. Only that will help in building a strong, powerful, peaceful, progressive Mauritius.<\/span><\/p>\n

8th Year – No 340
\n<\/strong>Friday 10th March, 1961<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 10 July 2026<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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