The war between the government and its people has been declared and an inordinate amount of violence – in all forms and shapes – has been unleashed on the citizens. It started with the economic violence of price increases that have sent a large chunk of the population reeling into poverty and despair. That was followed by moral and physical violence, resulting in the arrest of hapless citizens, intimidation through various means – legal and illegal – injured policemen and a man in hospital agonising and fighting for his life – the result of the police using live ammunition against unarmed citizens!

The cycle of oppression the authorities have embarked on didn’t start today nor was it spontaneous. It is a way of governing that surfaces every time the government is on the back foot. Who has forgotten the road blocks and the snipers posted on rooftops in Port Louis to clear the way for the appearance of a former minister in court as a defendant? And who will forget the sight of the president of the Bar Council being pushed on the floor by cops run amok, while his client was shoved in a police car to be deported IN SPITE OF a Supreme Court injunction!

It is clear that we have crossed the Rubicon. What is less clear is which way we will go from here. How much damage will be done to the country and to our people will depend on how we react to these violations.

This is not the time to unleash a police force that has long lost the respect of the citizens to give the angry protesters a reminder of why it has lost that respect. Our policemen and women have to remember what they are paid for: apply the law and defend the citizens. Going against a court decision puts us in the category of rogue states and will make it very hard for the police to apply a law they are violating themselves. Also, throwing people in filthy police cells on provisional charges that we have denounced so many times will have only one effect: kindle the fire of revolt. Is that what this country needs?

This is the time that those who are draining our resources and impoverishing our people have to rise above their base instincts. It is the time to appease, not stoke the flames of popular revolt. This is not the time for arrogance, sick insinuations and innuendos that pit one community against another. Pravind Jugnauth sadly missed a great opportunity to keep his mouth shut. The comments he made were very unfortunate. We are all aware of the political game. It is however very dangerous.

The violence unleashed on the citizens was above all ill-advised. When has riding rough shod on protesters ever stopped revolt? Have we not drawn any lessons from history? From Marcos in the Philippines to Suharto in Indonesia, going through Ben Ali in Tunisia, when the people have had enough, no amount of violent repression will stop them.

Having said that, protesters and those condemning them also have to rise above the base instinct of thinking that their enemy is the one from a different religion or a different social class. The enemy is a corrupt system nourished by some corrupt and incompetent individuals and their hangers-on who are making the most of it at the expense of the country. Those wasting public funds on grand, useless projects and contracts to obscure companies, cronies and mistresses; those drawing salaries and other fringe benefits completely disproportionate to their ability to do their jobs and topping that up with useless trips to accumulate per diem; those who dismiss murders as suicides when it suits them; those who have excelled in the art of bootlicking to keep their privileges.

Times are serious. We have to stop barking up the wrong tree and be concerned for the state of our democracy or what’s left of it, if any. It is very dangerous not to be!