Discovered by the Dutch, colonised by the French, captured by the British, today
Mauritius is an idyllic gem in the Indian Ocean and a choice destination for honeymooners. Who can blame them from being drawn to the miles upon miles of white sandy beaches, long sunsets, and tropical sun? What’s more Mauritius is a vibrant multicultural gem in the Indian Ocean that has, through smart economic decisions, avoided the worst of the recession. Inhabited mostly by people of Indian descent (a legacy of the nineteenth century British colonial policy of importing labour from India), there are also significant communities of Creoles, Franco-Mauritians, and Sino-Mauritians. Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians co-exist.
Would anyone really want to leave? Well, many did in fact leave. Around 30 000 came to Britain in the Fifties and Sixties as students and to eventually work for the NHS and today with their children and grandchildren they form a relatively small but identifiable British community.
Mauritius gained independence from Britain on the 12 March 1968 under the Wilson Government. This was driven through by the Mauritian Labour Party which formed the first administration and was instrumental in building a welfare state and pursuing other progressive goals in the newly independent country. The Mauritian Labour Party also is a mirror structure of the UK Labour Party and the shared commonalities between the Mauritian and the British Labour Parties are strong.
So in the week that Mauritius celebrates its 42nd anniversary, it is fitting that some British Mauritians, who are UK Labour Party activists and trade unionists, are coming together to form the Labour Friends of Mauritius. British Mauritians are hard-working integrated Britons; but in a world of multiple identities, they are also proud of their Mauritian roots. We have come together to forge strong links between the UK Labour Party and the Mauritian Labour Party, and to strengthen the links between the UK and Mauritius.
There is also a more pressing purpose. We all know the election is going to be tight at both a national and local level. We want to make sure that the Tories neither get the keys to Number 10 nor their hands on local councils where they are threatening to make severe cuts. And the Liberal Democrats are no better. Liberal Democrat administrations up and down the country have opposed progressive policies and have simply not delivered.
If we are to win at all levels, we need to galvanise different communities. Though they should not taken for granted, the vast majority of first generation Commonwealth immigrants have voted Labour consistently since their arrival. Second and third generations are now not so sure. Many of them are turning away from party politics. Our opponents are wooing them with a degree of success. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have a plethora of candidates who look set to win council seats this year; the Tories have ethnic minority parliamentary candidates in “safe” Tory seats. The ethnic minority vote emphatically should not be taken for granted.
However, as a Labour activist myself, I am in no doubt that progressive, left of centre values and policies resonate strongly with minorities. The Labour Friends of Mauritius will go out and campaign to make sure that British Mauritians vote Labour. With a community of up 90 000 strong spread in some of our battleground constituencies such as Tooting and Croydon, their vote is crucial. But we also recognise that to keep Mauritians with Labour, we have to make sure that they have a voice within the Labour movement and that they play a more prominent role in public life in the UK. Again, this is another task the Labour Friends of Mauritius has set itself. Integrating key communities into the Labour Movement is essential in keeping communities voting and campaigning for Labour. The launch of the Labour Friends of Mauritius is the first step in helping to make this happen.
Photo: Frans Zwart 2008