Street Riots or Street Power

Editorial

Recent events worldwide have brought vivid scenes of popular upheaval, notably British nationalists in the UK clashing with its increasingly vocal immigrant minority. Some might be forgiven for thinking that parts of the country now resemble certain suburbs of Karachi. While many European nations grapple with illegal immigration and asylum-seekers, these unprecedented events mark the first serious test for the newly elected Keir Starmer government, which now must handle the legacy of twenty years of lax border policies and significant infiltration under successive Tory governments.

UK town centres and suburbs are ablaze with fury, anger, resentment, and even hate, leaving many shocked observers questioning the British model of integration, while others consider the power of false rumours on social media to inflame unbridled emotions, particularly in the wake of the murderous stabbings and deaths in Southport. Was the timing, so shortly after Labour’s coming to office, coincidental ask still others?

Elsewhere, many countries were largely unprepared for tumultuous street demonstrations amid the ongoing dramatic conflict between Israel and Iranian-funded proxies (Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, namely) and the brutal excesses of Netanyahu’s response to the perceived existential threat to Israel’s very survival as a nation. These street demonstrations and public space occupations have not diminished the Israeli government’s resolve, despite some shifts in traditionally supportive US policy, particularly among Democrats.

In Bangladesh, mostly student protesters, irate over Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s inflexibility regarding job quotas for the descendants of its “freedom fighters,” forced her resignation. She fled to India, where she may seek asylum elsewhere. The army took over and responded to student demands by appointing the respected Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as caretaker PM, entrusting him with the urgent task of restoring peace before new general elections are held. Prime Minister Modi, like most of us, wishes him success in this hour of dire need for his countrymen.

Whether massive street protests and demonstrations influence policy in any country depends on many factors, including cultural, demographic, and historical contexts. In Nouméa and New Caledonia, for instance, France has been grappling for decades with subliminal resentment between the indigenous Kanaks and the settler Caldoche communities. These tensions erupted into weeks of rampant violence following a poorly conceived measure by President Macron aimed at granting more electoral power to settlers. Although the violence has subsided, the complex underlying issues remain unresolved. This brings us to our shores.

Many NGOs have observed that Mauritians do not participate in street demonstrations against situations that might warrant such protests. Resentment over rising costs of living, high fuel taxes, and instances of gross mismanagement of public funds tends to be restricted to viral social media phenomena, combined with an oppressive heavy hand by the authorities. That oppressive hand may have been influenced by a couple of years of Covid-related restrictions on population movements when the Police Force had legislated rights to limit free space and movement for the greater good. Yet it was during the pandemic that Mauritius witnessed its last massively attended demonstration, protesting the government’s handling of the worst maritime and oil-spill disaster in our history, with many questions still unanswered.

A couple of weeks ago, on July 26th, media and NGOs commemorated the wreckage of the MV Wakashio in 2020 on our Pointe d’Esny coral reefs. After being left to wallow helplessly against the waves for days of official inaction, the ship finally broke in two, spilling its oil into the pristine lagoons of the southeast. Despite Covid restrictions, thousands of masked volunteers from every corner admirably concocted and transported artisanal booms to contain the spill, as it appeared the authorities neither had nor released suitable booms from port stores. On August 7th, the PM belatedly declared a state of Environmental Emergency, and in an even more tragic twist, on Monday, August 31st, a barge carrying oil from the stricken MV Wakashio collided with the tugboat Sir Gaetan Duval, causing three confirmed deaths.

Government inaction during the critical period when the MV Wakashio could have been towed out of the reef, its failure to detect the ship’s trajectory heading straight for Mauritius for at least two days before impact (as satellite images confirmed), its inability to prevent the vessel from crashing onto the reefs, and the weak excuses put forward by the ship’s officers were among the factors that roused the population to the streets of the capital in the largest popular demonstration the country had seen in recent years.

Mauritians may not have taken to the streets over financial or economic distress, but no one could doubt that when larger issues of gross mismanagement coupled with environmental consciousness struck their hearts, they did rise up. More than one hundred thousand swamped Port-Louis in February 2021 at the call of several civic NGOs, attended by all Opposition political parties, noisily expressing their pent-up frustrations —though few would claim that it led to significant changes in government policy.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 9 August 2024