REFERENCES to COLONIALISM, COLONIAL, and IMPERIALISM Mauritius Truth Commission
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REFERENCES TO COLONIALISM, COLONIAL, AND IMPERIALISM Mauritius Truth Commission Abstract A list of references to colonialism, colonial, and imperialism in the Mauritius Truth Commission. Chelsea Barranger Links to Data Visualization This section contains links to all data visualization for the Mauritius report. Comparison Charts • References to Colonialism, Colonial, and Imperialism chart • References to Colonialism, Colonial, and Imperialism excel list Word Trees • Colonial • Colonialism • Imperialism References to Colonialism, Colonial, and Imperialism This section contains all references to colonialism, colonial, and imperialism from the Mauritius report. <Files\\Truth Commission Reports\\Africa\\Mauritius.TJC_.Report-FULL> - § 942 references coded [3.69% Coverage] Reference 1 - 0.01% Coverage a) (b) (c) (d) (e) make an assessment of the consequences of slavery and indentured labour during the colonial period up to the present; conduct inquiries into slavery and indentured labour in Mauritius during the colonial period and, for that purpose, gather information and receive evidence from any person; determine appropriate reparative measures to Reference 2 - 0.01% Coverage its observations, findings and recommendations. The Commission has, therefore, focused, in the first instance, on the continuities in history up to the present, especially, from an economic and social perspective, and then, on specific themes relating to colonialism, slave trade, slavery and indenture. We shall, therefore, elaborate on the resulting observations and findings before elaborating on the recommendations. We shall elaborate on our Reference 3 - 0.01% Coverage live up to this day. For long, there has been a dearth of literature on the real history of slavery in Mauritius. The history of the colony of Mauritius was first viewed as the history of the ruling class consisting of French colons and their descendants. Most of the descendants of ex-slaves live in such total ignorance of the history of their ancestors, that an attempt to unveil their history is very recent. Further, it is not easy to assess the exact number of citizens who claim ancestry of slaves of African Truth and Justice Commission 1 Reference 4 - 0.01% Coverage THE TRUTH AND JUSTICE COMMISSION and Malagasy origins, as these are lumped in the group of ‘General Population’. The Housing and Population Census of 2000, however, indicates that this group of citizens should number well above 250,000. Our historical research has demonstrated convincingly that the process of exclusion of descendants of slaves, prevailing today, originated at the time of abolition of slavery. The cheap labour policy adopted then by the plantocracy and the Colonial State, contributed into their leaving the plantations. Further development in the 19th and 20th centuries would confirm this trend Reference 5 - 0.01% Coverage Chairperson. Truth and Justice Commission The President shall establish a Truth and Justice Commission whose objects shall be to make an assessment of the consequences of slavery and indentured labour during the colonial period up to the present. The Commission shall make recommendations Reference 6 - 0.01% Coverage shall – (a) (b) (c) (d) conduct inquiries into slavery and indentured labour in Mauritius during the colonial period and, may, for that purpose, gather information and receive evidence from any person; determine appropriate measures to be Reference 7 - 0.01% Coverage THE TRUTH AND JUSTICE COMMISSION Specific areas of study were outlined by this committee, much more specific than the present Commission. These were the capture and procurement of slaves, the transport of slaves to Mauritius, the sale and acquisition of slaves as chattel, the treatment of slaves and a demographic, historical and sociological study of slaves and their descendants. It was also meant to examine the extent to which private and public bodies and Colonial Authorities supported slavery and its continuation, and how far the same restricted efforts of freed slaves went to rediscover their roots. It was also asked to consider whether any form of compensation should be granted, and who should be the beneficiaries. In 2002, another attempt was Reference 8 - 0.01% Coverage THE TRUTH AND JUSTICE COMMISSION The Commission is aware that however substantial our Recommendations are, they cannot adequately respond to the hurt, the suffering and loss of dignity which many Mauritians have experienced in the past. We cannot bring back the dead, but if the measures we propose are implemented, it will markedly improve the quality of life for descendants of both slaves and indentured labourers who have suffered during the colonial period. I now submit our recommendations Reference 9 - 0.01% Coverage and creation of new institutions. Mauritians have come from different corners of the world to settle, many forcibly. Each wave of migration has been characterised by specific linguistic cultural and religious traditions. All these groups, in one way or another, have serviced the colonial economy and continue to do so in modern Mauritius. The outstanding question to be dealt with is how to best address the fundamental class, ethnic and gender divisions that still exist in Mauritian society today. The question remains: what are the forces that benefit from divisions? Who works against national unity? In this, the Mauritian economic elite is joined by the intellectual community and the established political class. The Commission has found that Reference 10 - 0.01% Coverage between the two groups since. The strategy of ‘divide and rule’ has not, however, been always been successful. The period leading to independence provides a good example of this situation. Before the 1960s, there is no evidence that there were ‘divisions’ between the working classes. The decades of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s were years of intense class battles between the British colonial authorities, the local economic elite and the working classes. With moves being made for independence -government, the traditional fear of the economic elite of the working classes uniting against it, was shared by the British colonial government. The fear was now that Mauritian working classes would unite and fight for independence and introduce a more democratic society and economy. The work of division takes on a new turn. Not all Whites and not Reference 11 - 0.01% Coverage with increasing vigour and intensity by African people around the world; and by African people, I mean people of African descent, wherever they live, whether in Africa itself, in the United States, in Great Britain or in former British Colonies”. “The issue is this. The Reference 12 - 0.01% Coverage is debt to the West”. “On the other side of the Atlantic, the African captives were cut off from their families, their land and their language. They were forced to be owned as chattels and to work as beasts of burden. When finally, emancipation day came – in the British colonies, in 1838 – the ex-slaves received nothing. It was the ex- slave owners who were compensated for the loss of their property”. “The slavery experience has left Reference 13 - 0.01% Coverage MAURITIUS-THE SLAVE LEGACY, 2010) The Commission strongly supports the undisputable truths, as stated so powerfully by Lord Gifford. In particular, the Commission underlines the need for former Colonial Powers to accept responsibility for the wretched system of slave trade in Mauritius. Further, the Commission endorses Lord Gifford’s statement that “the inhuman philosophy of white supremacy and black inferiority was incalculated into European peoples to justify the atrocities which were being committed by a Christian people upon fellow human beings. That philosophy continues to poison our society today.” We therefore recommend, in this spirit, that the Government of Mauritius approaches the former Colonial Powers, Holland, France and the United Kingdom, to accept their several responsibilities for the slave trade, slavery and its consequences still experienced today in Mauritius. Although the conditions were not the same, the Commission further recommends that the Mauritius Government approach the former Colonial Power, the United Kingdom, to accept its responsibility for indentured immigration after the abolition of slavery. The recommendations made by the Reference 14 - 0.01% Coverage existence going into the future. 28. THAT A SYSTEM AND POLICY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION be implemented in Mauritius to address the social and economic imbalances created and fostered under Slavery, Indenture and Colonialism. 29. DISCRIMINATION AT ANY LEVEL Reference 15 - 0.01% Coverage Truth and Justice Commission 58 VOLUME 1: REPORT OF THE TRUTH AND JUSTICE COMMISSION 1.COLONIALISM AND MAURITIUS The emergence of Capitalism as an economic system in Britain and in other European countries created the conditions for the development of Colonialism. Colonial expansion and colonial wars were essentially economic in character: the spice trade with Asia, the quest for markets for the industrial produce of the Colonial Powers, the development of plantation economies and societies in the colonies to produce cheap goods for European countries, the resulting demand for unwaged labour of enslaved people and, later, for cheap labour of indentured labourers, and finally the demand for raw materials. Underlying these historical processes was the insatiable pursuit of profits and capital accumulation by the Colonial Powers, in particular the traders, the emerging mercantile and industrial