Alain Leveque is a writer living in Melbourne,Australia, who promotes the self-determination of the Rodriguan people.
Killing Rodrigues’ Autonomy Softly
Batten down the hatches – The Mauritian Prime Minister, Ti-Ramgoolam is at it again! This time around, he is pushing through yet another amendment to the Rodrigues Regional Assembly Act; prostituting yet another law, to wrest control of Plaine Corail Airport from the Rodriguan people.
This bill, we are told, is not a scantily-clad ploy to chip away at our wobbly Autonomy. No! Apparently losing custody of our airport, we are told, will somehow make it more efficient. This, we are told, is for our own good. Gee, that’s great! So, why aren’t we dancing in the streets?
After all, haven’t ministers from Mauritius visited us in numbers lately? Haven’t they shown renewed interest in our welfare and spread the good word, non-stop – just before our election? Why then, aren’t we Rodriguans eagerly carrying them on our shoulders, embracing each other and weeping openly, that we should have been so privileged?
What! Are we babes in the wood, as well as ingrates?
No, not quite! But we can hear the growling through gnashing teeth in the distance, just as we can see a cigar-smoking totalitarian toff, hell-bent on bringing us to heel, feverishly taking a sledgehammer to Rodrigues Assembly. SOS – Quixote looms large!
Yes, Ti-Ramgoolam is at it again – and lately, it seems, that his mission has shifted into overdrive. Which brings us to the ten-rupee question: how long can this domination last?
KI Skakespeare ti dire la? … De zour en zour, nou mure ek mure, nou fletri, nou disparet! (OK OK, mo fine ajoute enn ti boute) Hence, we can take comfort, not in schadenfreude, but in the certainty, that our bondage will barely endure a few more spins around the Sun.
In any case, long after decrepitude would have consigned a dribbling Quixote to the recycle bin of history – a defiant Rodrigues will still be here – for ages and ages …
Vive Rodrigues … Libre
Alain Leveque
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