The Media Guru

Apr 23, 2010



Sad, disheartened, frustrated & powerless... that's how I feel after watching this video. Unable to do anything.

Private beaches, ecological reserves turned into privately-owned tourist spots, destruction of lagoons & coral reefs, savage landscaping of mangrove swamps into beaches - this is the dark side of paradise.

Do we really need more shopping malls, Integrated Resort Schemes (a country within a country) & 7-star hotels, at the cost of our environment? I think we need to remind ourselves why tourists come to Mauritius… (PS. It’s for our natural beauty).

Make no mistake, this is just the tip of the iceberg - coal power station, primate exports, harvesting of sea cucumber…
So far we've been only reaping the benefits of this unchecked development. But progress is a double-edged sword & the time will come when the consequences of our actions will come back to haunt us. It might be too late by then.

While we indulge ourselves in petty communal politics, go on with our costly materialistic lives, rant on our slow Internet, the hidden wealth of Mauritius is being plundered… & no one cares.

Video shared by l’Express. Originally uploaded by MPM.
To be aired in a Thalassa special on Mauritius, segment titled “Ile Maurice…l’ange gardien de la côte.”

Blog reactions:
- Quelle honte!
- En attendant le scrutin…


Update:
Photos from one of the IRS mentioned…


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Yashi said...

This is a prestigious French documentary. So, our dear Tourism Minister agrees to an interview while being completely drunk and justifies the leasing of the island to the private sector by declaring that we are communists????

Nothing surprises me anymore. This business of just allocating contracts to private companies without any kind of protocol is sick. Then letting these private companies do whatever they want with out natural resources is even worse!

I think I am going to visit Ilot Gabriel and see who has the nerve to ask me for Rs100 or Rs500 or whatever the amount is. OK the island needs maintenance, but is giving the contract to a dodgy private company which opens a restaurant on it and then charges the Mauritian public Rs100 to visit the island right?? The govt is giving away free transport,why not pay for the bloody maintenance themselves by appointing a proper organisation??

Don't even get me started on these illegal annexing of the coastline by villas and hotels. How many times do we hear of hotels building structures which are damaging to the environment? Who gives a f*ck? Definitely not the govt.

I believe this documentary just shows 0.1% of what really happens while all Mauritians are blinded by 'important' issues like, which politician is going to insult his rival more and whether the govt is biased against their religion.

Tushal said...

Alliance de l'avenir svp!

P:S It should be made legal to kill certain people! fauder 1 2 ministre mort r balle lerla zot pou faire zot travail bien. .
Just curious, will MBC broadcast that Thalassa episode?

Fadil said...

Chaque morisien ki p lire sa alle la police et porte plainte kontre sa lotel ki fouille du sable illegal la.
La plage pou morisien. Lotel la pas bon. Alle la police!
Pas net reste les mains basses ou conte lor politiciens a la con. Fer kitchose. Si zote tou fer sa, lotel la bizin payer pou reabilitation lagon.

Sun said...

:S

The video is really striking. Most of the people who are interviewed gave vague answers & definitely did some 'illegal' & unethical activities for their profit. That too with the approval of the Government.

What should we do? What can we do?

The least i think : Spread the Word.

I hope we do hear of ripples of this in-citation in the local news stream, & proper action taken against whoever(but for the nature).

+1 carrot, for blogging about this.

carrotmadman6 said...

@Yashi
XLD is an idiot for raising such a lame point - we are not communists! Obviously, he was drunk...
As the guy in the video said... at the surface, all is well. But deep inside, it's all f***ed up. :S

@Tushal
All politicians are the same species.
No, MBC rebroadcasts the episodes from TV5 Monde, which is shown much later.
I doubt they'll even mention it in their JT... o_O

@Fadil
La police - sorry missié. Ine gagne l'ordre depi la-haut...

@Sun
What was most striking was the woman (who signed the environmental permit) evading the questions - my hands are tied! I can't do anything!
Yeah, the best thing we can do is make people aware of this situation. I hope the L'Express tweeps are onto it...

Chaya said...

"XLD is an idiot for raising such a lame point - we are not communists!" J'ai cru comprendre qu'il disait le contraire. Seriously, pu arrive ene point kot sa bane poli petits chiens la pu vende moris!

g.i said...

Come on! we can't blame only the tourist or hotel industries. The Mauritian mass itself cares less about the health of the lagoon and beaches. We say that beaches are public and belong to Mauritians right? But just have a look at the state of those public Mauritian beaches. We litter everywhere. We illegally extract sand. Our fishermen pollute our own lagoon and say we don't have fish anymore.
Its not a matter of politics and govt alone. We are the first one responsible.
Last time i went for some para-sailing at Grandbay and I was horrified to see how a speed boat destroyed some corals, and the fools riding the boats didn't seem to care at all!

carrotmadman6 said...

@Chaya
We're in the 21st century & talking about communism is so passé.

@Girish
Of course we are responsible by our carefree attitude & total disdain for the environment... but don't we need someone to constantly remind us what we need to preserve?

Yasir said...

of course it's a shame!!! Eveytime I go to snorkel @ pereybere I see bottles, cans, thrown in the sea. They are actions of tourists!! because they travel by boats most often..

Eddy Young said...

Let's get this straight: these beaches are not out of bound to mauritians! Security may try to move you from the premises, but all you have to do is take a stand.

Eddy.

Anonymous said...

Je ne suis pas une grande fan de la mer, les plages etc... Mais, comme elles font partie de notre patrimoine, de plus en plus, nos mers sont de plus en plus polluées, ou bien, certains ont trouvé comment en tirer profit ... A titre d'exemple, je ne vois presque plus les "sea cucumbers", les "hache-d'armes", les oursins...

Who cares?

Comme on dit, "tanbour vide fer boku tapaz" !

Solenze

Anonymous said...

It's above all a pity some guys sold the reputation and the image of their country for some bucks.... thank you Mr. Vassen, you'll definitely get some money to spend 'professionnal holidays' from some kind of ONG...
... le linge sale se lave en famille...
presenter l ile maurice comme un pays ou la repression sevi si on parle contre le systeme, c' est pousser le bouchon un peu loin..
c' est une emission realise avec bcp de mauvaise fois et dans le but de montrer une tres mauvaise image de notre pays, c' est un fait palpable tout au long du reportage...

PS: cette reponse n a rien de politique.. c' est tout simplement la reaction d' un mauricien patriotique apres avoir connassance des reactions des amis etrangers qui ont vu le reportage. d' un autre cote je suis tente de penser que les motivations d un tel reportage a cette periode (electorale) est empreint d' une teinture des plus politiques.Et si tel est le cas, comment accorder du credit aux dires de quelqu 'un qui accepte de 'monnayer' l image de son pays pour de telles motivations?

Anonymous said...

so rightly said, talking about the last post... Well, I believe, our country needs definitely new blood >>>> so maybe, as a Patriot, may I suggest that you become our future Prime Minister? :)

Angelique de Sang-C...

Anonymous said...

kel exemple xavier..tu aimes faire la fete...tu le feras bien apres le 6 :)

Anonymous said...

ki xavier duval boire sou kouma cochon sa pas nou problem mais leffet ki line donne sa lile la fanchette so kamarade sa ki illegale. leffet ki line donne autorisation pou detruire nous lagon sa c illegal. mais mo kestion c , eski ti ena tender pou allouer sa lile la? eski ti passe dans lassembler sa? pas ziste xavier ine fer magouille la dans, ena navin ramgoolam si ine donne so famille ile aux gabriel sans tender et sans passe dans lassembler. eski kapave avoye sa devant lonu?

akagugo said...

Xavier ti capave reponne:

- "Parceceque je le vaux bien"
- "Mauritius, c'est mon plaisir"
- "Ce droit à l'excès, je le dois à mon père, ce héros"

Mais surtout pas ki "l'acces aux plages de Maurice est gratuit". This is epic lameness!

C'est vraiment enn bourde inexplicable... Mo plito penser ki so "coup de soleil" inn faire li gagne illusion ki camera-la ti pou MBC-sa, samem "il s'est laissé aller". Li ti cwar journaliste français aussi serviable ki MBC...

Anonymous said...

Good job MTM..wateva the new political party emerging. Is this a threat? Wot if you get elected and be presented with a whole lot of paisa to sell the island? ..Or you get to buy Macabe Forest for e.g. for a fortune project? Think before crticising dude..YOu are all in the same basket. To pe fermal kifer pa toi..1 lot ki p kokain. Kan toi si to pou kokain n lot pou fermal pou toi. Kit foi kan to pou vine ministre, pa kav koner..tourist pou fini aret vine maurice parceke les malins auront deja tué la poule o E d'Or.

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