INCITEMENT, VERBAL VIOLENCE, ARNAUD CARPOORAN AND THE
CREOLE COUP D’ÉTAT !
créole ?
erbal violence and
incitement against journalist Darlmah Naëck
erbal violence and
incitement against journalist Darlmah NaëckOne is at pains to see anything wrong with Darlmah Naëck’s editorial « Pourquoi les créoles posent problème » published in Défi Quotidien of 8th August 2012 to deserve such verbal violence and threats and incitement against him. The authorities should ensure his protection. Since those unwarranted attacks do not say which facts and opinion he stated could possibly amount to incitement to racial and religious hatred, especially given that ‘Creole’ (a term from slavery) is neither a race nor a religion, let us analyse what Mr Naëck really said compared to what Danielle Palmyre of the Diocèse of Port-Louis said in 2000.
Danielle Palmyre of the Diocèse of
Port-Louis and Darlmah Naëck of the Défi Media Group
(1) Mr Naëck said : « votre communauté, dans son ensemble, n’arrive pas
à gravir les échelons sociaux. Le peu qui s’en sortent généralement vous
lâchent et deviennent des faiseurs plus proches des anciens esclavagistes que
de vous [..].Dans d’autres ethnies, c’est le contraire. Les modestes ont un tel
lien avec leur élite que lorsqu’une personne qu’ils estiment être des leurs,
tout en étant pleinement Mauriciens, s’élève ils se sentent fiers même si c’est
une inconnue pour eux. »
There is a lot of truth in what Mr Naëck has
observed. Many of those Afro-Mauritians (Creoles) who do succeed in reaching
high places do tend to become arrogant and identify themselves more with their
masters, descendants of former slavers. On the other hand, this is not so
amongst Indo-Mauritians, who tend to take success modestly without alienating
fellow Indians who have not reached their heights. What Mr Naëck has observed
is also observed by many others and not intended to incite racial or religious
hatred.
(2) Mr Naëck said : « Le mode de
vie de la majorité des créoles est-il compatible avec la percée scolaire, clé
principale pour la mobilité sociale ? »
He merely asked a pertinent question for people
to reflect. This is not inciting racial or religious hatred. In her article « Construction et
stratégies identitaires pour les Créoles » (le Mauricien 31/01/2000 and
01/02/2000), even Mrs Danielle Palmyre of the
« Diocèse de Port-Louis » recognises that the term 'Créole' is
associated with a panoply of pejorative and degrading terms which she describes
as : « Crépus », « Créoles ti sévé », « mo noir », « zanimaux », « paresseux
», « propension naturelle pour l'alcoolisme », « sentir mauvais », « culture et
langue comme inférieurs ». The terms used by Danielle Palmyre are much more degrading and offensive
than any of the terms used by Darlmah Naëck in his editorial. Why wasn’t there
any upheaval at the time? Can Danielle Palmyre be regarded as one of the few
who « gravissent les échelons sociaux », as Mr Naëck puts it in his
editorial?
(3) Mr Naëck said : « Au lieu de passer votre temps à montrer du doigt
les autres de vos compatriotes pour votre malheur, il est temps de vous
regarder vous-mêmes. Votre religion est celle de vos anciens tortionnaires.
»
He stated a fact. It
is well known that Creoles like to play the victims, « malaise créole », etc.,
and blame others, especially the Hindu majority for their lack of progress
because they say they are discriminated against in the Civil Service, even in
the appointment of Ministers (ref. Priest Jocelyn Grégoire). He rightly
pointed out that they follow the religion of their ancient masters whose
descendants they should turn too for help. This has nothing to do with inciting
racial or religious hatred.
(4) Mr Naëck said : « La hiérarchie de l’Eglise catholique devrait
analyser le mal qu’elle est en train de faire aux créoles. La seule chose
qu’elle ait réussie à transmettre à ses ouailles, c’est la prétendue
supériorité de la culture européenne. »
That the Catholic Church were owners of slaves
is again a fact. So, Mr Naëck appropriately told the Creoles that the only
thing which the Church has been able to pass on to them is the superiority of
the European culture which is harmful to them. Creole is neither a race nor a
religion. Similarly, Coolie is neither a race nor a religion. The difference is
that the so-called Coolie has not rejected his Indian identity in favour of a
European identity. Perhaps they should reclaim their African identity because
Creole is more of a European than an African identity.
(5) Mr Naëck said : « Savez-vous, par exemple, que lorsque la procession
du cavadee passait, dans le temps, devant les églises catholiques, on fermait
celles-ci ? Le
cavadee est dédié au Dieu tamoul Muruga. »
Again, he stated a fact and is not an
incitement to racial or religious hatred. If I may add my own experience, when
I went to St Helena Church with my friends during my primary school years at St
Jean Bosco in Curepipe in the 1960’s, the front rows were reserved for Franco-Mauritians.
Should a Creole occupy the front seat and a Franco enters the Church, the
priest would order him to move to the back seats.
(6) Mr Naëck said : « Pas étonnant que la plupart des catholiques, même
le peu
qui sont instruits, ne connaissent pas la religion des autres. Et ce dans un pays multiracial. Les autres ont fait un effort dans ce sens. » « Pourquoi faire des efforts quand on croit que sa culture est basée sur l’Europe et sa religion est la meilleure ? »
qui sont instruits, ne connaissent pas la religion des autres. Et ce dans un pays multiracial. Les autres ont fait un effort dans ce sens. » « Pourquoi faire des efforts quand on croit que sa culture est basée sur l’Europe et sa religion est la meilleure ? »
This is generally true and not an incitement to
racial or religious hatred. Catholic Creoles (generally) do not tend to learn
about the religions of others which they consider inferior to theirs. I have
personally witnessed many of them making fun of Hindu Gods and regard the Gods
worshipped by Tamils as « scary ». They tend to have the same prejudices in
matters of clothing and music. They would refer to saree-wearing ladies as « enveloppées
» and to dhotis as « calçons vissés » - « Bateaux langoutis pé vini
» was a favourite slogan against independence in the 1960’s. An Indo-Mauritian
would listen to and even dance the séga, generally regarded as creole music,
but I have been to parties organised by Creoles where it is forbidden to play
Indian songs and music because they consider themselves too Europeans (rather
than Africans or Mauritians).
Violent reactions
The many facts and sparse opinion which Darlmah
Naëck has stated are so true that obviously they have not pleased the Creoles,
which explain their violent reactions against him, even though Mr Naëck has not
infringed any law and simply done his job as a journalist by addressing the
problems concerning his “frères Créoles” in Mauritius, problems which they have
been consistently complaining about for many decades. However, to appease their
anger, Mr Naëck tendered an apology for any « maladresse » on his part (« Mes
excuses », Défi 11 August 2012). Obviously, different journalists have
different styles, some more direct than others.
However, such violent reactions against Mr
Naëck is very alarming and he is well advised to seek Police protection. On
facebook, Christian Lefevre even went to the extent of inciting revolt when he
said « Par la brutalité des propos de M. Darlmah Naeck, on ne peut que se
révolter », and accused him of « hereditary racism », when Creole itself is
a discriminatory slave term coined by Europeans. The matter has even been
allegedly referred to the Police « à travers l’île dans différents postes de
police », with a (legal?) demonstration of around 40 people before the Défi
HQ at Grande Rivière Nord-Ouest (Matinal 10Aug12), with a complaint lodged with
the National Commission for Human Rights (what human rights?) and several
threats being made to lodge private prosecutions against Darlmah Naëck, the
Editor in Chief of Le Défi as well as against the distributor and the printing
press of the Défi Group. Good Lord, they think they own the country! They want
to intimidate the authorities into incriminating Darlmah Naëck when he did
nothing against the law, hence their threat of private prosecutions. Compared
to what Danielle Palmyre had stated in 2000, Darlmah Naëck is an angel.
The Mauritian authorities must not allow those
hot heads to push the country off the cliff through their provocation,
incitement to revolt and numerous threats against a journalist and a newspaper
which has dared tell them their « quatre vérités ». Darlmah Naëck never
at any time incited racial or religious hatred. Creole is a very badly defined
and badly understood term anyway. It is neither a race (African, Indian,
Chinese, European) nor a religion (Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism). It
merely refers to an African slave identified by the language imposed by the
slave master, which term has been passed down generations. Some are trying to distort
the term further by arguing that a Creole is someone who is born on an island.
What utter nonsense!
Conclusion
In any complaint to the Police, first and
foremost, the Police should ask the complainant what he/she means by Creole
based on which legal definition, how creole is a race or religion, again based
on which legal definitions. Even though the term « communauté créole » is used
in common parlance, the Police will also have to establish the legal definition
of « communauté » since a Creole can belong to any religious community, which
is why the journalist Gilbert Ahnee refers to the « société créole ».
Mr Naëck would be well-advised not to make any
further public statements. Their strategy is to intimidate journalists and
muzzle the press to keep the truth away from the people so they can proceed to
the continuing creolisation of Mauritius through the abolition of the Best
Loser System, Electoral Reform, infiltration of their regressive language at
every level, including the Mauritian Parliament, an agenda fully supported by
the Catholic Church. No wonder, the Franco-Mauritian Paul Bérenger, leader of
the opposition, wants to see more draconian laws concerning incitement to
racial (and religious) hatred (l’Express, 11h August 2102) in order
to curtail freedom of expression.
If Indo-Mauritians value their civilisations,
their cultures, religions and languages (which have nothing to do with
slavery), value their parents, their grand-parents and ancestors, they should
resist such onslaught on their identities which date back thousands of years
and which they are proud of. This onslaught has been happening for over half a
century. It is high time to put a stop to it.
M Rafic Soormally
London
12 August 2012
cc. Hon. PM
Dr Navin Ramgoolam
STAR
Culture africaine
Danielle Turner: “On ne doit pas avoir honte de ses origines”
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