Entretient avec Jayen Cuttaree

Interview of Jayen Cuttaree at the launching of his book BEHIND THE PURPLE CURTAIN

 

Celebration de la Journee International Kreol

Intervention de Ignavce Ducasse dans le cadre de la journee Internationale Creole

La video plus haut comprend l'intervention de Ignace Ducasse sur le Kreol

Interview de Arnaud Corporan dans le Mauricien

 

Dans quel esprit est célébrée la Journée internationale de la langue et de la culture créoles cette année ?

Il y a beaucoup d’événements qui font que la Journée internationale de la langue créole est particulière cette année. En premier lieu c’est la trentième célébration de la Journée internationale créole dans le monde. Elle a été célébrée pour la première fois dans l’île de la Dominique – à ne pas confondre avec la République dominicaine – il y a trente ans. On a commencé ensuite à la célébrer dans les autres pays dans la zone américaine et Caraïbes. Par la suite, elle a été célébrée dans l’océan Indien et dans les autres pays. Aujourd’hui tous les pays créolophones célèbrent cet anniversaire ensemble. Le même logo est utilisé dans tous les pays. Les publications mauriciennes sont partagées avec les autres pays par le biais de l’internet. C’est donc une célébration transatlantique, transocéanique qui a pris une dimension internationale.

À Maurice cela fait deux ans que la langue créole a été reconnue officiellement, avec une orthographe standardisée, et est entrée dans l’école après plus de trente ans de combat de la part de différents individus, associations, intellectuels, militants. Le combat a abouti il y a deux ans après la reconnaissance officielle. De manière personnelle, il y a un organisme qui a été mis en place et qui est connu comme la Kreol Speaking Union dont j’ai l’honneur d’être le président. Notre conseil d’administration s’est rencontré il y a un mois et c’est donc la première journée organisée par cet organisme de l’État. L’Université de Maurice a commencé à célébrer la journée créole en 2000. Nous avions à cette époque invité Fanfan, Henry Favory et plusieurs personnes que nous aurons l’occasion de récompenser treize ans après avec le soutien de la Kreol Speaking Union qui a été mandatée par l’État pour promouvoir, défendre et faire de que la langue créole puisse entrer dans tous les cercles. Tout cela fait que la journée internationale de cette année est différente et particulière.

Creolism and Mauritius today

Zordi le 28 Oktob tou Kreol dan le monde entire bizin celebre zot kiltir Kreol.
Soyez fier d'etre un Creole et de votre riche culture.
be pround on this day and everyday to be a Creole.

The resurgence of Creolism in Mauritius

The debate has always been whether Mauritius is a Creole Island, a Creole Society or just a melting pot of some cultures which has produced a particular society which some would term “a la Mauricienne”.



If we were to look at history, the “peuplement” of Mauritius has been the same like for other French and British colonies i.e. societe esclavagiste, colonisation, French oligarchy, societe de plantation, liberation des esclaves, the bringing in of indentured labour from India as well as all the others who come on their own free will, like the Arabs, the Chinese, middle and low class Europeans, and so on…

The Mauritian society is only young (200 years old) whose social and cultural development emerged from the days of colonization to the present day and it is still, to my view, a dynamic society. In a paper presented by Thomas Eriksen he argued that in view of the “brassage” of cultures and the evolution of that island society “Tu dimun pu vini Creole”.

Are all Mauritians Creole or a bit Creole or somehow Creole is debatable, depending on the definition of Creole in context and time or whether the definition is narrow or wide whether it is “exclusive” or “inclusive”. The development of a Creole culture in Mauritius has its roots from “les chocs des cultures”o of colonial and post colonial days and led mainly by those of European and Africa descents who become Creoles (born in the colony), mullatoes, free people of colour, les Métis, Ti Creole, etc…The development of the Creole culture in Mauritius is marked by the music, (the sega), the architecture (case Creole) its particular cuisine(rougaille poisson sale) and the oral traditions,(contes, sirandanes) values, joie de vivre, amusement, etc…Many aspects if the Creole culture, if not all, are local creation and easily penetrate into the other cultures in Mauritius and no resistance is met. The same can be said that interaction with other cultures, internal and external, has also led the Creole culture to enrich itself. This is mainly reflected in today’s music and cuisine.

The process of bringing forwards this culture and led other to adopt it or part of it is called Creolisation. A young indo-mauritian solicitor girl told me that “ A Maurice nous vivons tous dans notre quotidien un peu de cette creolite.” The same argument was brought forward by Mr Esoof in one of its editorial. « Un peu » is well defined whereas some the Creoles of Mauritius live it fully day by day. This is probably why some like Jimmy Harmon and Danielle Florigny-Palmyre will argue that we are Creoles and “nous l’assumons, and if others have a problem in saying they are Creoles so they should not see a problem of us saying we are Creoles, because we are. It is a fact.”

This year more than ever the debate about Creolism in Mauritius has been raging…if it started with “malaise Creole” and the “Kaya murder” some years back, in October 2006 it turned to a new dimension when the Catholic Church decided to celebrate “La zourne Internasyonal Kreol”. The celebration which lasted over two weeks was more of a “prise de conscience” with the slogan “ kreol asim to lexiatans, celebrer nou valeur”.  

 JMR always outspoken pointed out, in on of his many pieces, that it was more than legitimate for the church to celebrate the Creole culture as most of its adepts are from this group. JML and his team successfully bring an awareness of many facets and richness of the Creole Culture to the wider Mauritian public. The debate on Creole leadership, the homely of Fr J Gregoire are still music to the ears of Creoles of Mauritius and food for thought for the politicians who think they can take the Creoles for granted, larzan contant in the Creole terminology. “No more” should we all answer, and may the message be loud and clear to all of them. From this day Creoles of Mauritius know that they should not expect miracles from others but to rely on their own force, courage and perseverance.

 

The other event which will surely have a great impact of giving Creolism a boost in Mauritius is the International Creole Festival put forward, very courageously, defying all odds, by the Minister for Tourism Xavier Duval. Many of us, no matter our political conviction, agree that it was a brave endeavour because for the first time in the History of Mauritius this is organized “au niveau de l’etat”. There is no hegemonic intention behind this manifestation, no political recuperation, and no other community should see a treat of “Creolisation” coming from this event. I am also particularly happy to see that no criticism has come neither from the MMM nor the MSM against this festival, I therefore understand that it has tri-partisan support. Well done, we are growing. 

 

Coming back to Creolism, it has always been resistant to any form of deculturation and threat to exterminate it. It survived the harsh rule of ‘French colonisation” and now winning the battle against cultural globilisation coming from Uncle Sam. Some intellectuals like Raphael Confiant and Mgr Gilbert Aubry would even put it that “Nous sommes precurseurs de la mondialisation”. This is echoed by all members of the IOCP who think that the more we are threatened the more we fight back and the stronger we become. The work and vulgarization and support the IOCP is receiving each day is the blatant proof. The increasing awareness of Creolism (the local culture Made in Mauritius) will help the country to regain its soul and become stronger against the looming threat of invasion from East or West, from the Orient to the Occident.

Let the spirit live on.

Louis de Lamare

IOCP

Le mois Octobre est le mois Kreol

October is the Creole Month

 

During this month of October, creoles all over the world celebrate their culture.

Australian politics: The bad start of Tony Abbott's government

Tony Abbott missed the boat by GDL

It has now been a few weeks since the conservatives took control of the country. In these first few weeks they have been on the wrong foot and soon realised that making promises via slogans from the opposition is very different from governing Australia. They very quickly realised that they do not know the ropes of governing and stubbled through mistakes over mistakes.
The first one was their discrimination towards their own women as they considered that only one women from their ranks was good enough to be cabinet minister. They were criticised from all corners as it was a lie to say that there was no other women worth the promotion. The Guardian newspaper listed five elected female candidates who were more qualified that many of the men  selected by Tony Abbott. This discrimination revealed the true Tony Abbott who has a problem with women since his days at the university.
The second stubble was on the diplomatic front, when Julie Bishop was told upfront by the Foreign Minister of Indonesia in Washington that Indonesia will not accept violation of the territorial waters of Indonesia by turning back the boats. Julie Bishop lied when questioned about the meeting. She said everything was all right that they had a nice and cordial conversation. To prove that she lied, the content of the meeting was leaked to the press by the Indonesians. When they went to Indonesia they were careful on what to say. They were like little dogs with their tails between their legs. They had but praise for  the government of Indonesia. (Operation charme par Mikey Mouse and figure Dubois.)
They suddenly liked the Indonesians after have been anti-Asians all their lives.
The next stuff up came from the arrogant Minister of Education, Christopher Payne who took upon himself to say that he would cut services to universities and impose a cap on the number of intake. He was immediately rebuked by his leader who said that this policy was not what they took to the elections. Since then Christopher Payne has disappeared. Tony Abbott also made clear that minsters should not talk to the press without his prior knowledge. ( I am the King, he wanted to say)
The other big stubble was their inability to stop the boats and prevent people from drowning. Since the new government sworn in, some 1,000 boat people have arrived and some 100 have drowned.  Furthermore the new government embraced fully the policy of the Labor government to sent boat people to Manus Island and Nauru. What is new ? How many boats have been stopped or turned back so far ? Zero.
That's not all, after having talked down the Australian economy for 6 years and criticised the deficit, the fat man and the German after having had a closer look at the books and briefed by Treasury, suddenly found out that the budget is in a better position. They will, keep all the hard economic measures taken by Labor to bring the budget back in surplus in 2016. Big Joe and the German  could not say when they will bring the budget to surplus. What a farce !!
Its not over, Tony Abbott caused a diplomatic row in locking out the Indonesian journalists from his press conference in Jakarta, He was accused of being undemocratic and breached Indonesian laws.
Next good one, the talkative Scott Morrison Minister of Immigration, suddenly went blank and dumb. He would not reveal to the press when boats arrive to our shores and when they will turn back the boats. He was ridiculed by a people smuggler when he said that people smugglers would use these information. He was laughed at and told that boat people have mobile phones and use the internet in detention centres to communicate with people smugglers. Scott Morrison  is now hiding himself behind a veil of secrecy, running away from the press gallery as he has still cannot stop the boats and prevent people drowning.
The other big scandals are how the coalition members have been abusing of their privileges to pump from taxpayers money for private trips overseas, to weddings and others...Tony Abbott is also involved in this misuse of public money. These are they same people who criticised Peter Slipper!!!. Now they are caught red handed.  What has been discovered by journalists so far could be just the tip of the iceberg. Is it not Senator Brandis who was going to impose a code of conduct to parliamentarians ?  He should hide or hang himself in shame.As for Barnaby Joyce he is shameless about using public money and seems reluctant to give the money back. He is probably the worst among them all; but if one is rotten they are all the same.  Birds of the same feather flock together Shame on them who wanted to give lessons of high moral grounds to the Labor ministers.
As for their stuff ups and their amateurism, one can say that it is teething problems but these people have been in politics for years and eleven of them have been minsters under John Howard. They have been criticising the Labor government for 6 years and prepared to take over. So they have no excuse.
.
Sapp dan ppilon tomb dans dife.

Australian elections 2013

Vox populi vox dei by GDL

The people of Australia have spoken loud and clear. They have voted on September 7, 2013 for a change of government as they were not satisfied of the Labor government way of governing, The Australians have voted for Mr Tony Abbott to be the next Prime Minister and for his team to lead Australia for the next three years.
The victory of the Liberal/national coalition was resounding. The opposition won with a majority of some 20 seats, thus having a comfortable majority in the lower house. With such a majority, the new government will have the free hands to implement its policies of going back to a surplus, reduce spending, cut where required, scrap the carbon tax, stop the boats and build a stronger economy and review the tax system. Three yeas to realise all these promises might not be enough but at least there will be some first steps and actions towards the change.
The people of Australia have severely punished Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and the Labor party for having been a dysfunctional government with their internal divisions and changed leaders without consulting the people. Australians hate uncertainty and rightly so are scared of instability which a minority government was providing. The good policies of the Labor party like saving the country from the Global Financial Crisis, building the school revolution, the National Disability Scheme, the Gonski Education reform have been overshadowed by the budget deficit, spending too much of  public money and their inability to stop the flow of illegals coming to Australia by boats.
The results of the elections can be explained by a loss by the Labor party rather than a win for the coalition but credit should be  given to the opposition to have conducted a remarkable campaign. The opposition, since electing Tony Abbott as leader, has been very effective and pushed the government in the corners. The opposition has been consistent and has thrown everything at the government of both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. The opposition since 2010 was always in a winning position according to the polls. Under such pressure the Labor government was accumulating mistakes over mistakes to the point of annoying the people who were not listening anymore to Julia Gillard.
The return of Kevin Rudd as leader has not proved so beneficial to Labor although it must be acknowledged that Kevin Rudd saved part of the furniture and avoided a wipe out. He left the party in a position to be  a strong opposition. The Labor party will now reflect on its defeat and revamp. The first step is to put behind all the divisions of the past and find a leader who will unite and modernise the party.
As for Mr Abbott and the coalition there is no doubt that they will try to be very united and effective and hold on to their promises as people of Australia do not caution lies, like the big one of Julia Gillard. Tony Abbott will have to unite the country and govern for all. It would be impossible for the Liberal ( a centre right party)  to govern from the right. They will have to move closer and closer to the centre and open up to the working class and the lower middle class. Paradoxically the Liberals owe their victory to these people who used to vote Labor but this time vote liberals for the first time.
"Australia is under new management and open for business," said the Prime Minister elect, Tont Abbott.
Today is a new dawn for Australia and only time will tell if the change is for the better or worse. Rendez vous dans trois ans ou peutetre avant.

Australian Politics Elections 2013

The wind of change by GDL

The election campaign is nearly over. The political advertisings are closed but the media can still cover and write about the campaign. The Murdoch media, TV and newspapers,will continue to demonise the government, and continue their disrespect for the Prime Minister as usual. The Murdoch press and its cheque book journalists will have played an important part in this elections by freely backing Tony Abbott and the opposition. Freely because a full front page advertising in a newspaper and one minute on prime time Television cost millions. The Murdoch media have thus given millions to  Tony Abbott and the opposition during the campaign. There is no doubt that by backing the opposition, Murdoch and his so-called journalists have their reasons. They represent big business and they know that the Liberal's ideology is in their favour of protecting big business and so the rational is clear. Once in power the Liberals have a debt to Mr Murdoch that they will have to pay back in one way or another. After having backed Mitt Romney in the USA and the scandalous phone hacking leading to the closing down of the News of the World in England, Rupert Murdoch is now betting on Tony Abbott in Australia to save his empire.

Election campaign in Australia is very different from the rest of the world. There is no meetings or rallies; people follow the elections and make up their minds and choice according to what they read, see and hear. Elections are manipulated by the media. Radio broadcasters like Allan Jones and Ray Adley for example, have a big influence on their listeners although their credibility and knowledge are not the best. In Australia a good broadcaster is only a good talker even if what he says is full of air, even if he makes racist comments or breaches the code of practice and even if he is often reprimanded by ACMA,  or temporarily suspended by his own radio station. There is not a day that Allan Jones and Ray Adley have not discredited the government and never said a positive word about Labor's policies like Better Schools, the NDIS, support for low income earners, effective foreign policy, but it has been  all negativity and never allowed their audience to make a balanced opinion. It has been and continues to be all spin and  propaganda always complimenting the opposition for what ever they say and do.
But this is also Australia, this is democracy and the free press. Australia is not Russia or China or Cuba or North Korea, neither is it like in Mauritius or Indonesia or other third world countries where the press is controlled, where there are censorship. In Australia freedom of opinion and expression is sacrosanct, so is a free press.

After five weeks of campaign, all the polls are indicating that there will be a change of government on the seven of September. The polls in Australia have always been right. The Labor  party of Kevin Rudd will surely and squarely lose the elections and the Liberal/National coalition will win with a considerable majority there is no doubt. Kevin Rudd's big return has not worked, the strategy of the change over from Julia Gillard has had limited results. With Julia Gillard as PM, the Labor party has made many mistakes and has never been in a winning position. If Julia had remained leader, the Labor party would have been wiped out. Kevin Rudd has only managed to keep some seats and can pretend to be a strong future opposition.

The opposition will win the elections on the weakness of the government. Labor  has mishandled  the government finance ( the people's money, the budget,) the continuous deficit and spending are not well regarded by the voters. The opposition has been effective in scaring  people on the deficit and debt although the overall  economy of Australia has never been in a better shape with a AAA credit rating. But it seems a strong economy is not enough to win the elections. John Howard was flatly defeated in 2007 with a strong economy and a $50 billion surplus.
The other big issue that sank the government's boat is the 50,000 asylum seekers coming by boats under the Labor government. They have never been able to stop the boats coming; the PNG solution came too late.
The other problem of the Labor party  is that during the six years in power, they have been dysfunctional and the changes of leaderships and instability within the party have not been seen with a good eye by the voters. The biggest mistake has, however, been the Julia Gillard's alliance with the Greens and the introduction of the carbon tax. This policy has been toxic and dealt the Labor party the deadly blow.
The voters also opine that Labor has been too long in power and coupled with the many mistakes and problems they faced, the people of Australia is looking for a change.

The change is necessary according to the people even though this change is uncertainty. The people have already made up their minds and want a change even though they have not studied and understood clearly and fully the policies of the opposition and even if they have no idea how the opposition will fund its promises.A change is legitimate as long as it is a change for the better, but having seen the Labor party in action for six years, most people think that it cannot be worse. It was indeed so bad, they say.

The Labor party is a centre left party which has governed mainly from the centre all while being sincere to its ideology of caring for the working class, the lower middle class and  strong on social policies. The Labor party has always been the party of the poor, migrants, pensioners, the party of the disabled, the party of education, medicare and superannuation for all ,but in Australia not many people understand the left ideology. This is well demonstrated when workers and migrants are turning their backs on Labor, when the pensioners and the middle class are voting for  the Liberals which is a centre right party.
The people do not care anymore if the Liberals favour the rich and big business at the expense of the working families and those at the bottom of the ladder.Ideology it seems, has been relegated for a change for a new government in the hope of a less dysfunctional government, looking forward to a more stable government which can mange the public finance better, make savings and one that will stop the boats and scrap the carbon tax..
The change is only two days away and according to Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition who will be the PM on Saturday 7th September, the change will occur in the first 100 days.