[Blog] RAMA’S NEOLIBERAL DREAM

Rama Sithanen’s article in today’s l’Express* is a masterpiece in neoliberal propaganda. It must have been written to please Mauritian neoliberals in power and elsewhere, the World Bank, Trump, Narendra Modi, and other Macrons. 

His wild neoliberal dream must of course ignore facts which dampens neoliberal enthusiasm. So, his articles don’t mention global warming and the consequential climate change. Just like the new PM adviser he probably thinks that the water from melting polar ice will remain in the poles. There will be no sea level rise, no rise in temperature, no more frequent and violent cyclones. 

Bottom line will grow indefinitely in his neoliberal paradise. He totally ignores food security and so, according to him, we must not grow what we eat and eat what we grow; we must not change our eating habits although 20% of the population suffer from diabetes and 40% are overweight. Big business should keep on using our land to build luxury villas to be sold to foreigners instead of having a land tenure reform and a national agricultural cooperative movement. He is not aware that only 25-30% of our population have functional literacy skills – not 90% as all governments have been boasting. 

His dreamlike colourful vision sees no need for major reforms in education for he perhaps believes just like some nincompoops that all Mauritians are literate trilinguals. Rama’s neoliberal dream is in fact people’s nightmare. A handful of rich are going to get richer while the masses are going to get poorer and poorer while the effects of global warming will threaten the very existence of human beings. 2068 will be hellish if we do not drop the neoliberal approach and opt for a new way of life where happiness is more important than wealth; where being is more important than having; where solidarity and sharing replace cupidity and selfishness. 

*(L’EXPRESS OF 23 FEB 2018)

DEV VIRAHSAWMY