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Multiple Identities or Multiple Laicité?

10 mai 2010, 00:00

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To survive, you suggested the MMM to focus on among other things, La laicité, and on the individuals rather than on communities. Fair enough! Comme suggestions. Mais de quelle Laicité parlons-nous?  Is it « L’Exception Française, with the “ ONE SIZE FITS ALL MODEL », for which you yourself has been very critical of in the past, or “à  l’ANGLAISE- ( wrongly described by the French as being “Communautariste” ( here in Mauritius, some analysts translate as Communalisme”), but which you have been full of praise! Or will it “ une laicité à L’Indienne, where God, or shall be more precise, Deities, is/are ALIVE and KICKING and very much in the PUBLIC DOMAIN, or à  L’Américaine, a MELTING POT that never was, but where Communities ( Jewish, Italians, Irish, natives Americans and Afro-Americans) are recognised as such with distinct needs and values but unified under a common Citizenship.

Our pluralistic identity and heritage is a dynamic one and not a static intolerant one.  Our communities, despite their complexities and the ever present threats that they face, are always in a process of continuous change. It reflects the dynamics of gender, religion, generations, globalisation and even the internet era.

Despite their inherent uniqueness, our different communities are not isolated from each other and actually overlap on their own terms, borrowing from each other as they deem fit. There are many examples where members of different communities display a natural ability to accommodate several modes of life as if they are “cross-cultural” navigators.

To ensure that our One Nation Mauritius is a place where every colour is a good colour and where every individual of any community is valued and respected, where racism and discriminations of all forms are not only checked but eradicated from our landscape and above all from our psyche, we need to address a formidable challenge and invite several searching questions.

We need to identify a core of COMMON VALUES and loyalties that must be shared by all communities and individuals alike in the One Nation. But such sharing of common good cannot be achieved in a climate of social exclusion. The principle of equal moral worth cannot take root and flourish within a structure of deep economic or social inequalities. Every stakeholder must own up to their responsibilities, be they communities or individual citizens. In addition, we need to strike the right balance so as we can achieve the need to treat all citizens equally yet at the same time treat them differently. A different treatment does not mean a less treatment or an inferior treatment nor does it mean be relegated as second class citizen.

PLOUM PLOUM