STORM 92 Mai 2011

STORM

        No. 92                 Public Information Bulletin of Australian National Action                 Mai 2011

ANA accept no responsibility for information provided/inferred. STORM is an information source only.

BOOK REVIEW: Holiday In Mauritius by Douglas Alexander (Cape Town: Purnell & Sons, 1973). A simple backgrounder for tourists to the Indian Ocean island group but very revealing. Why review a travel book? Mauritius’ history parallels both Haiti in 1789 & Australia since 2007. How? Like Haiti it was French-ruled with a majority slave population. Unlike Haiti the whites retained rule & avoided being massacred. Like Australia Mauritius had no Indians but within 20 years of their arrival they were the majority. Till 2007 Australia had few Indians. Since 2007 we have imported 300,000 Asians per year, almost one million over three years. Soon, like Mauritius, we will be an Asian-majority State. There are lessons for us in tiny Mauritius.

“Until 1834 there was hardly an Indian on the island. Now Mauritius is swamped with them. What attracted them? Sugar. As in Natal local Africans were unwilling – or unable – to do the work. In Mauritius freed African & Malagasy slaves simply refused to work. Instead they took up unskilled labour or simply lazed in the sun. So there was an influx of Indians. The first Indians arrived in 1834". 

"Within seven years there were 24,000 out of a population of 100,000. Within 27 years Indians were in the majority. By 1861 they numbered 200,000 of the island’s 300,000. They’ve been in the majority ever since. The influx of Asiatics changed the island which ceased to be European or African but became ‘Asiatic’. The original field-workers were Hindu. After them came small traders who were Moslems. The Mauritian government finally halted the influx in 1907 by which time over 400,000 had arrived” (p. 58). 

“The Moslems – with the Chinese – remain the islands’ traders. The Moslems have the terrifying industry of all Indian merchants everywhere & the ruthless business acumen of the jews. The Creoles – whose ancestors were freed slaves - are artisans, teachers & minor civil servants (p.60). And the whites? Their population has shrunk since WWII. More white Mauritians now live in South Africa than in the islands. In 1950 there were still 25,000 whites in Mauritius. Now [in 1973] there are only 11,000".

Why the exodus? The shift of political power to non-whites, racial tensions & unrest” (p. 62) [our emphasis]. Australia, South Africa & Canada all welcome white Mauritians. ‘Mixed’ & white Mauritians flocked to Australia in such numbers – 7,000 by 1971 – that the 3,000 in Melbourne warranted their own Mauritian–born Roman Catholic priest” (p. 66). That’s how our story ends, with whites in exile. But how did it all begin? Here are the details.

“There were no native inhabitants” (p. 16). “Mauritius had a total of 72 colonial governors from 1638 to 1972: 18 Dutch, 22 French & 32 British” (p.15). First discovered by the Portuguese in 1507, the main island is only 720 square miles in area. Lying 2,500 miles from the nearest land (South Africa’s Durban) the three islands (Mauritius, Reunion & Rodrigues) were unpopulated. “The Portuguese put ashore cattle, pigs, goats & monkeys to serve as a source of fresh meat for passing ships” (p.17). The island was not formally ‘claimed’ until 1598 and then by the Dutch.

Their first colony was not established till 1638 but closed in 1658, the Dutch preferring to concentrate efforts on their new refuelling port, Cape Town. In the 20 years the Dutch had introduced Malagasy [Indonesian] slaves to work the sugar cane plantations but many had escaped into the interior. Before leaving the Dutch burnt all forts, building & plantations - to discourage French & British occupation (p.19). The Dutch returned 1664-1710 before finally departing again. Their 400 colonists relocated to Java. Again, all homes & plantations were destroyed.

In their place came pirates. Chased out of the Caribbean by European navies they set up base in Mauritius. France controlled the nearby island of Reunion, then called Bourbon. In 1694 France annexed the abandoned Mauritius to purely to deny a base to pirates then raiding their fleets to French India (p.21). It was another 27 years, in 1721, before the first French colonists arrived on Bourbon. Under French rule:

“Trafficking in slaves resumed. Blacks from Madagascar, Mozambique & West Africa were brought to work the fields growing coffee plants imported from Yemen (p.23). Under governor Bertrand Francois Mahe de Labourdonnais, 1735-1746 the population grew from 950 (including slaves) to 3,200 within four years. Runaway slaves called Maroons formed their own tribes complete with chiefs. These conducted raids on outlying white farms, burning homesteads, [raping women] & butchering all inhabitants” (p.24).

In 1742 Bourbon’s governor, Labourdonnais, annexed nearby Seychelles. By 1789 and with the French Revolution Bourbon’s population had grown to 45,000 - 4,457 whites & 38,000 Black slaves (p.28). On hearing of the Revolution in Paris, Bourbon’s whites formed their own Republican Assembly. Soon after a Royalist Admiral, Irishman Count MacNamara, arrived to enforce Royal writ. To show their loyalty to the New Regime locals murdered him in the street, hacked his head off and mounted it on a pike. In 1791 something arrived from Paris they didn't agree with: the National Assembly had approved a Constitution which granted equality to all – including Black slaves.

“The Colonial Assembly on Bourbon promptly passed a resolution stating ‘all laws emanating from Paris are no longer binding’. From 1796-1803 Paris regarded Bourbon as a rebel colony but there was nothing they could do as war had begun with Britain” (p.29).

This refusal to obey a foolish law prevented a repeat of the mass slaughter of whites in Haiti at the same time. By 1803 revolutionary fervor across the French world had subsided enough for slavery to be restored – too late to save the 3,000 whites of Haiti. Bourbon's Colonial Assembly returned power to the Governor. Corsairs - government-sanctioned pirates - began operations against British shipping with 11 English ships plundered in only three months of 1807.

The British Navy reacted by capturing the island of Rodrigues then launching attacks from there on Bourbon. On 29 November 1810 this culminated in a full-scale invasion. By 15 October 1814 Mauritius, Rodrigues & Seychelles had been ceded to Britain. In 1819 Britain announced their intention to ban slave–trading pending abolition of all slavery. Mauritius in 1820 held 87,000 slaves (p.38), the island’s economy depending on their cheap labour. Abolition threatened the sugar industry.

“In 1832 a local French lawyer, Adrien D’Epinay got approval from London for a Legislative Council (p.39) whose first Act was to petition London for compensation to be paid to all slave owners. In 1834, thanks to D’Epinay’s efforts, Mauritius received a large share of the 20 million pounds voted by the British Parliament to compensate slave-owners across the British Empire. Abolitionists in England were all for denying slave owners any compensation. (p.39). Historian Albert Pitot said: ‘if the persuasive D’Epinay had not been in London Abolitionists would have succeeded’ ” (p.40).        

Tiny Mauritius avoided the error of the United States where the issue of fair compensation for private property, black slaves, led to the 1861-65 Civil War. This cost 600,000 white lives & devastated the South. If the US government had not obeyed the whims of fanatics much ruin could have been avoided. The US, however, had no Adrien D’Epinay.

“Mauritius received its share compensation in 1838, 2.1 million pounds. With it they founded the Mauritius Commercial Bank. By then there were 69,000 slaves out of an island population of 100,000. Abolishing slavery ‘changed the character of Mauritius’ (p.40). The slaves, freed gradually over four years, refused to continue working on the sugar plantations preferring to fish or become tree-fellers. They even founded their own towns: Phoenix & Grande Gaube. To replace their freed slaves sugar-planters tried to use Chinese & Malay labourers but found Indians easier to recruit. These came on five-year contracts but few returned home. From 1836 the trickle became a flood. By 1846 there were 50,000 Indians in a total population of 158,000” (p.41). 

Under British governors Sir William Stevenson & Sir Henry Barkly (1857-63) the number of Indians grew rapidly. By 1870 they were two-thirds of the island’s population of 310,000 but as yet had no rights.

“The island entered the 20th century with problems. Vastly overpopulated, it was no longer prosperous. In 1907 political unrest arose with the islands polarized into two political factions: Les Democrats a.k.a. Action Liberale, lead by Indian lawyer, Manillal Doctor wanted to break the power of the islands’ white sugar planters. The planter’s party was called the Conservatives, Les Oligarques or Parti de l’Ordre. These resisted Indian majority rule. In 1911 Indians rioted in the capital. White-owned shops were looted then destroyed (p.47). Manillal Doctor demanded Mauritius become part of India (p.48). Many whites began migrating to Madagascar, South Africa & Canada. This period of unrest was heightened by the marked racial differences of the peoples”. (p.49) [our emphasis].

Unrest continued till 1967 when an election was fought on the Independence issue. Opponents were two rival blocs – one Indian, the other Creole/white. The Hindu’s Labour Party allied with the Moslem Committee of Action (CAM). The Creoles’ Parti Mauricien Social Democrate (PMSD) was funded by the few remaining whites. Britain granted the islands Independence in 1968; bloodshed soon followed. The so-called Creole-Moslem War saw rival ethnic gangs battling in the streets of the capital, Port Louis. 100 died on all sides before the National Army intervened (p.50). Indians won this brief civil war solely through weight of numbers.

After it a new grouping, the Independence Front, took power. A coalition of the Indian-ruled Labour Party, CAM and the Independent Forward Block, a Hindu-extremist group, won 43 seats out of 70 in elections to the new Parliament. The Creole’s PMSD also attracted all the white votes. Whites still controlled much of the island’s wealth but no longer had any political power” (p.50). “By 1973 the islands’ population was 850,000: 540,000 Indians (375,000 Hindu & 165,000 Moslem); 270,000 Creoles; 26,000 Chinese & 11,000 whites. Of the whites 10,000 were French & 1,000 British” (p.58).

AUSTRALIA ANGLE: This issue is extremely relevant for Australian 2010. Since 2007 our Federal government has thrown open the immigration ‘gates’ to Indians with alleged 100,000 arrivals per year. ‘Where will it end?’ some ask. It can end only one way – with our demise. Let us learn from Mauritius & Haiti. When white women refuse to breed, Asians outbreed us. Any Indian entry means eventual takeover. You have been warned!

P O Box 635 Strathpine PS 4500 Australia phone 0448 187 582

Email:australiannationlaction@yahoo.com.au

Blog: australiannationalaction2.blogspot.com.au/