Lalit EGALITE LIBERTE LIMANITE LIBERASYON FAM EKOLOZI KONT KOMINALISM DAN SISTEM BESTLUZER AGAINST COMMUNALISM of the BEST LOSER SISTEM A Bilingual Program This may not be the final version that was printed in May 2005 Lalit EGALITE LIBERTE LIMANITE LIBERASYON FAM EKOLOZI Kont Kominalism dan sistem Bestluzer Against Communalism of the Best Loser System A Bilingual Program Enn piblikasyon Lalit A Lalit Publication May 2005 Kont Kominalism dan sistem Bestluzer Against Communalism of the Best Loser System 1st Edition ©Lalit for the collection, and each author for his/her article. Published and Typeset by Lalit (a Lalit de Klas publication) 153, Main Road, Grand River North West Port Louis Republic of Mauritius Tel/Fax 208-2132 Email: [email protected] www.lalitmauritius.com Printed by Ledikasyon Pu Travayer GRNW, Port Louis, Republic of Mauritius. May, 2005 Book Design by Alain Ah-Vee and Lindsey Collen Cover Design: Alain Ah-Vee Konteni Contents Preface … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Rejecting Communal Classification and Categorization A MAC document, drafted by Lindsey Collen, adopted by Lalit … … Rezet Klasifikasyon e Kategorizasyon Kominal Enn dokiman MAK, drafte par Lindsey Collen, tradir par Ragini Kistnasamy, adopte par Lalit … … … … … … … Sistem Bestluzer: Kot li Sorti? Enn listorik par Ram Seegobin … … … … The Best Loser System: A Communal Perversion of Democracy A MAC document drafted by Jean Claude Bibi & Ragini Kistnasamy, adopted by Lalit … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Sistem Bestluzer: Enn Perversyon Kominal Demokrasi Enn dokiman MAK drafte par Jean Claude Bibi ek Ragini Kistnasamy tradir par Rajni Lallah, adopte par Lalit … … … … … … … … … … … … Lezot Dokiman Lalit otur size klasifikasyon, Best luzer ek sistem elektoral Deconstructing Community: A Lalit Document (2000) Lalit’s proposals for electoral reform & proportional representation … … … … … Lalit so Sart kont sistem bestluzer kominal (2005) … … … … … … … … … … … Lalit so Propozisyon pu enn Kod kondwit pu kandida, politisyin ek azan dan kanpayn electoral (2005) … … … … … … … … Musicians against communalism Charter … … … … … … … … … … … Sportspeople against communalism Charter … … … … … … … … … … Trak Lalit kont sistem bestluzer kominal … … … … … … … … … … … … Kanpayn “Pa pu dir” amene par Lalit kont klasifikasyon lor baz relizyon pu resansiman … … … … … … … … … Extre depi dokiman Lalit/Lalit de Klas 1976-82 … … Appendices First Schedule to the Constitution (Best Loser System) Supreme Court Judgment (Justice Seetulsingh) after Lalit was challenged for drawing lots to avoid communal classification … … … … … … … … Extracts on the Best Loser System from the Sachs Report … … … … … … Preface Communalism, racism, casteism, nationalism, all rise and fall with the ebb and flow of class conflicts. Everybody knows that these ideologies never stand still. In general the more cornered the capitalists are, the more they turn to the ideologies of race, community, caste and nationalism. And the weaker the working class opposition is to this, the more the capitalists can hope, in turn, to succeed in their push to displace class struggle against themselves and political struggle for equality on to the inter-ethnic plane. On this inter-ethnic plane, at best the philosophic aim is to make inequality look more “just”. And it is on this inter-ethnic plane, that conflicts can become a mortal danger to all citizens, especially the poorer, and not just a danger to the owning and ruling classes. Right now, in this year of a general election, the basic economic crises that the bourgeoisie and the government keep moaning about get worse and worse. And as they get worse, they, in turn, keep producing political crises of all kinds. This context means that the dangers of communalism, racism, casteism and nationalism are upon us. This is why Lalit has launched a campaign against communalism and in particular against the communal Best Loser system, to go hand-in-hand with our campaign for an alternative political economy. Lalit’s action by which our candidates for General Elections draw their community from a hat will probably go down in history as the action that brought about the fall of this iniquitous system of communal best losers. But let us now look back, in more general terms, at the recent struggles against communalism. Last major struggle against communalism The Movement Against Communalism (MAC) twin documents against the Best Loser and against Communal Classification came out at a time when communalism was dangerously on the rise as a direct result of the State’s hideously communal “barter”. What was the “barter”? The Government set up two Select Committees in 1992. The Dulloo Select Committee on Oriental Languages and De L'Estrac Select Committee on Confessional Schools reports, and both were made public by December 1993. One Select Committee on how to count Oriental Languages for ranking of pupils moving to secondary school, and in direct “exchange”, the other one allowing the Catholic Church (Roman Catholic Education Authority) to reserve 50% places in its Government-subsidized Secondary Schools and to choose pupils as they wish, and to give only half places for the Government to send children to these schools on the basis of their ranking. Lalit members at once knew that it was important to oppose this kind of institutional communalism, this setting “communities” one against the other, and, together with some 15 organizations, we set up MAC. The MMM-MSM’s whole “barter” went bad, of course, just in the way this kind of plot can be expected to. The main very material reason for this was that most people who are supposed (in the imagination of the politicians who thought up this hair-brained scheme) to benefit from including Oriental Languages in exam result calculations do not, in reality, care much about the issue, and this for many reasons. The main reason is, of course, that most children fail anyway, their parents know beforehand they will fail and do not even know or care (quite rightly) on what day examination results will be out. The ranking only concerns 2,000 out of some 30,000 pupils, and the people in their wisdom, know this. Others believe that their children are over- loaded for examinations as it is, without adding any other subjects. Secondly, the 50% reserved places is loathed by almost everyone, who all firmly believe that they are discriminated against because of it. Half the parents think they are discriminated against for not being of the correct religion, and they do not intend getting baptized to get into a good government-subsidized school. The other half firmly believe that they are discriminated against by the Church authorities on the grounds of their race and/or class, even though their religion should assure them a place in the “reserved seats”. So, the main reason for the crisis, is that all parents felt doubly discriminated against by the barter from the very outset. Then, in addition, the whole bad thing started to go mad as well. First the Supreme Court of the land said that Oriental Languages could not be included in the sums for ranking. The same Court said that the 50% reserved places was perfectly constitutional. So, the State having offered a “barter”, saw it all fall apart, and one supposed “communal side” of the barter got to get both supposed “advantages”. This was a very unstable situation. And one that had been engineered by the State. Then, the Privy Council decided otherwise. And made it equally unstable, only in the other direction. There is nothing unconstitutional, it said, about Oriental Languages being included in the sums for ranking, so long as time is given for those who did not do the subjects before to catch up. But, it said, the Church was not allowed to use discrimination in the choice of pupils to accept in its 50% reserved places. This represented a total revirement. Now, the other “communal side” of the barter was set to supposedly get both “advantages”. Political alliances were meanwhile falling apart, and Governments disintegrating because of the issue, political leaders accusing each other of being communalist. PTA’s and self-appointed religious groups and those representing teachers with clear workplace interests rallied supporters here and there. The Government, stymied, then decided to take a leap forwards. There would be no more ranking. And not only that, there would be no more “star colleges” to fight over either. And every child would get education, free and compulsory, until the age of 16. And even more advanced, the Government announced that the mother tongues of children (meaning Mauritian Kreol and Bhojpuri) would be included in schools in written form for the first time. But, communal injuries remained. And as the economic crisis looms, with the end of both the Sugar Protocol under the Lomé Agreement and the Multi-Fibre Agreement, and as unemployment gets worse and worse, communalism can be expected to become a dire problem once again. At the time, in May 1995, MAC knew that in order to fight communalism, one has to include in one’s strategy the fight against communalism in its institutionalized forms. And the institutionalized form par excellence of communalism in Mauritius is the pernicious communalist Best Loser System. This system infects the very democratic process, the National Assembly, the Cabinet, the Prime Ministership, with communalism. And citizens are forced by the State to classify themselves just to stand as candidates for the National Assembly. A Schedule of the Constitution