[Music]
in Kerala Moishe our national language
we would say c’mon yeah are you okay
a kike and when people will say coke
sir the history of Mauritius is a
history of rebellion and I am part I
would say of this contemporary rebellion
this is what I’m going to share with you
our rebellion started with our ancestors
our ancestors fought against three
colonizers first were Dutch when the
French and the British when we moved
gradually towards national freedom we
got our independence in 1968 apart from
my official job title when you look at
my business card it is written via
deputy director head of secondary
schools Catholic education apart from
that in fact I am an independent
researcher working in the field of
identity memory and reconstruction for
the past ten years I have been involved
in what we call here in Mauritius
lockers clearly in French we say it
lockers and in English it is the Creole
coos what we schools about it is about
the creole minority group in Mauritius I
am a Creole the Creole minority group
comprises mainly people of African and
Malagasy descents but it also includes
people of mixed origins like me for the
Creole and especially for VAT codes in
which I’m involved it is about the
struggle of the Creoles in Mauritius due
to our historical circumstances where we
have lost our history this course is
about reclaiming but history is to get
back this history to rewrite our own
history
and part of this part of this Creole
course is the issue the issue of
language and identity and is there at
this level but I intervened but I was
engaged in 2005 I will tell you more
about it later
Haram OSI is the language spoken by all
more shots but until 2012 it was not
recognized officially in our schools yet
it is used it has to be used if you have
to explain pupil students at all levels
from primary secondary to tertiary
education you have if you’re a teacher
you have to explain increments but until
2012 it was used just as a support
language it was not the official medium
of instruction it all happened in 2005 I
was assigned by the Catholic education
authorities to pilot a mother tongue
education project especially for
literacy and numeracy for adolescents
who could not read and write who were
dropouts
I had a Harvard really the satisfaction
it was really a mission for me to work
with team of dedicated teachers in fact
they were pioneering teachers you can
see them on this photo it was in 2000
line I am just sitting down with another
friend you can see my hair was not yet
gray and so this is ver team the first
team of teachers who work on Hermosa but
at that time in 2009 it was not yet
recognized officially by the government
by the Minister of Education and in 20
in 2010 so following the work that we
were doing at school level and advocacy
around it we got a special mention for
we got a special mention at
the Commonwealth good Education Award
practice you can see here another
picture so we had a great ceremony here
you know the Commonwealth it’s a an
annual a – it’s an annual award where
the Commonwealth promotes good education
practice award I did not win the award
but we went for the final and there were
200 countries selected and Mauritius was
among the ten countries so this was
really a big achievement it gave us
great encouragement to move forward for
the recognition of coal museum what why
does her Moishe matter so much to me why
does it count to me
this is part of the history of my people
of my own community in 1992 I graduated
at the University of the new Island for
somebody like me in those days we used
to say small Creole mystical mean you
come from a working-class family
it was really an achievement it was
really great to go to a French
University so my mother when I came back
expected but I would speak French but I
would eat camembert French cheese
but I would drink wine and then to
distinguish between white and red wine
she would expect also that I speak
French with my little brother and sister
but deep down inside me deep down my
soul I was Frantz Fanon I was Paulo
Freire I was Steve Biko I was Kwame
Nkrumah I was Arabic
and so when the Catholic authorities
assigned to me this job of piloting the
project the literacy and numeracy
project in coal militia
I could either I could either be
satisfied with the social mobility in
life get satisfied with my executive
chair be satisfied with the
air-conditioned office and give some
orders to the subordinates sending
circular letters all challenged change
the status code what I did I choose to
make change happen
I started rebelling
I wrote newspaper articles I petition
members of national assembly I cut I
rallied the people around them went to
talk to them and then gradually the
people started to rally around backhoes
but the most difficult thing was not to
convince the government but to convince
my own people my own community telling
them that they have been in fact
alienated for years and centuries of
accepting but where linguish should not
be at school I can understand this
because we only role model but we could
have in those days and still today is
that former middle class is the class
which speaks French and English but I
had to convince the people but you can’t
cut off your culture you can’t reject
your face your culture you can’t reject
your language you must speak French you
must acquire English these are
international languages they help you to
move forward but you must keep your
roots so I went on on a campaign for the
recognition of coal militia around the
country and at the same time at the same
time we had the emergence in the country
of an afro Creole identity movement this
coin said coincided with the world that
I was doing with his dedicated team of
teachers and it is at that point in time
but I realize that the issue of culinary
science school is not just a question of
communication it’s not just transmitting
knowledge but it’s ours
also it is based in fact it is
underpinned by linguistic and cultural
rights and as I realized when I started
with the group the identity affirmation
movement pure identity affirmation
movement to lobby the government the
general elections we had general
elections in 2010 and what we did is we
lobbied all the political parties we
asked them to put on their manifestos
curl Moishe and we said to them you know
this is the way you have to deal with
politicians if you want us to vote for
you put curl Melissa in the manifesto
and here okay we will vote for you put
hermosa in the manifesto and we did it
and after the elections in 2011 the
newly elected government set up a
high-powered committee I was part of
that committee only not the only one
with of economics and we work for
modalities of curl militia and in 2012 a
historical thing happened this was
really a historical event her militia
was recognized by the state of militias
at par with other optional languages in
fact in our system apart from English
French you have also for sent for I
would say till dating back to British
colonization you have Indy Arabic and
other Asian languages which have been
offered as optional languages and so Col
Moshe got into school on the same basis
as these optional languages and the
launching was done
you by launching was done at Lamone
government school this is work afro
creole attentive mind as you can see
there it is written there wanker I am a
Creole in fact this movement is on the
same basis like the black Black
Consciousness movement in the US where
you have you value your own culture your
own person
your own identity black is beautiful
Creole is beautiful and so this is Ramon
and the official launching in 2012 so
January in an hour education system will
resume school in January so for the
resumption of school of studies in
January 2012 the official launching of
Colonel Morrison was done by the vein
minister of education at LUMO on
government school you will see this
beautiful picture coming here as you can
see okay you are the children here Ramon
is a small village and the western coast
of Mauritius and you can see that girl
here holding proudly a book a school
textbook the first Creole Moishe
textbook maybe you can give a clap for
his children you know there are many
stories like but each story is unique
there are many like me if you go google
you will see so many Larry T’s like this
but the uniqueness of my story
especially from my family and Mary and
in 2005 when I was involved I started to
get involved in bad public advocacy okay
I was 38 years old I’m now 50 my eldest
son Audrina was eight my daughter Noemi
who turns 16 on Monday she’s in the
audience a people do you know me she was
six and my little son was one today is
12 you can imagine when you are involved
in such a public advocacy when people
meet your wife meet your children and we
say what’s your name
you see I am my wife is natalie alleman
my son are you related to uh uh you have
a son of you have the wife of you are
you are as if you are not you so you can
imagine what’s the pressure is on the
family when you are exposed so much
exposing public around such a sensitive
issue so what happened then what
happened in fact my family my wife my
children they became also rebel my wife
became a strong supporter promoter of
calm Alicia she works in a boy school
and each time when the language issue
crops up she’s very to defend that
language but coach and the same for my
children so we became we become we have
become now a family of rebels we we
write in Creole we speak live all at
home we are a middle typical middle
class family where usually you speak
French but we are opted to speak Creole
at home and we pray in Creole so my
message would be my message would be
wherever you are if you believe firmly
in something if you believe in an idea
if you believe in a cause if you believe
that there is injustice and as a human
being any curves such a cosmic ray
occurs in not the cause of only one
ethnic group emerges in fact I have
friends from different communities
versus diverse and during that struggle
in my mind I made it but while fighting
while struggling for backers but very
social harmony but there is peace
because for viscose you need the help of
everyone each and every one so wherever
you are I think in my case it was with
particular cause it could be an idea it
could be a project you have to believe
in yourself you have to find your way
you have to strategize you have to get
people with you and there is one last
thing to do you have to make a
difference it’s not just being a rebel
you have to be a creative rebel and for
that how if you have to make your way I
would say and I end here by saying no
retreat no surrender thank you
in Kerala Moishe our national language
we would say c’mon yeah are you okay
a kike and when people will say coke
sir the history of Mauritius is a
history of rebellion and I am part I
would say of this contemporary rebellion
this is what I’m going to share with you
our rebellion started with our ancestors
our ancestors fought against three
colonizers first were Dutch when the
French and the British when we moved
gradually towards national freedom we
got our independence in 1968 apart from
my official job title when you look at
my business card it is written via
deputy director head of secondary
schools Catholic education apart from
that in fact I am an independent
researcher working in the field of
identity memory and reconstruction for
the past ten years I have been involved
in what we call here in Mauritius
lockers clearly in French we say it
lockers and in English it is the Creole
coos what we schools about it is about
the creole minority group in Mauritius I
am a Creole the Creole minority group
comprises mainly people of African and
Malagasy descents but it also includes
people of mixed origins like me for the
Creole and especially for VAT codes in
which I’m involved it is about the
struggle of the Creoles in Mauritius due
to our historical circumstances where we
have lost our history this course is
about reclaiming but history is to get
back this history to rewrite our own
history
and part of this part of this Creole
course is the issue the issue of
language and identity and is there at
this level but I intervened but I was
engaged in 2005 I will tell you more
about it later
Haram OSI is the language spoken by all
more shots but until 2012 it was not
recognized officially in our schools yet
it is used it has to be used if you have
to explain pupil students at all levels
from primary secondary to tertiary
education you have if you’re a teacher
you have to explain increments but until
2012 it was used just as a support
language it was not the official medium
of instruction it all happened in 2005 I
was assigned by the Catholic education
authorities to pilot a mother tongue
education project especially for
literacy and numeracy for adolescents
who could not read and write who were
dropouts
I had a Harvard really the satisfaction
it was really a mission for me to work
with team of dedicated teachers in fact
they were pioneering teachers you can
see them on this photo it was in 2000
line I am just sitting down with another
friend you can see my hair was not yet
gray and so this is ver team the first
team of teachers who work on Hermosa but
at that time in 2009 it was not yet
recognized officially by the government
by the Minister of Education and in 20
in 2010 so following the work that we
were doing at school level and advocacy
around it we got a special mention for
we got a special mention at
the Commonwealth good Education Award
practice you can see here another
picture so we had a great ceremony here
you know the Commonwealth it’s a an
annual a – it’s an annual award where
the Commonwealth promotes good education
practice award I did not win the award
but we went for the final and there were
200 countries selected and Mauritius was
among the ten countries so this was
really a big achievement it gave us
great encouragement to move forward for
the recognition of coal museum what why
does her Moishe matter so much to me why
does it count to me
this is part of the history of my people
of my own community in 1992 I graduated
at the University of the new Island for
somebody like me in those days we used
to say small Creole mystical mean you
come from a working-class family
it was really an achievement it was
really great to go to a French
University so my mother when I came back
expected but I would speak French but I
would eat camembert French cheese
but I would drink wine and then to
distinguish between white and red wine
she would expect also that I speak
French with my little brother and sister
but deep down inside me deep down my
soul I was Frantz Fanon I was Paulo
Freire I was Steve Biko I was Kwame
Nkrumah I was Arabic
and so when the Catholic authorities
assigned to me this job of piloting the
project the literacy and numeracy
project in coal militia
I could either I could either be
satisfied with the social mobility in
life get satisfied with my executive
chair be satisfied with the
air-conditioned office and give some
orders to the subordinates sending
circular letters all challenged change
the status code what I did I choose to
make change happen
I started rebelling
I wrote newspaper articles I petition
members of national assembly I cut I
rallied the people around them went to
talk to them and then gradually the
people started to rally around backhoes
but the most difficult thing was not to
convince the government but to convince
my own people my own community telling
them that they have been in fact
alienated for years and centuries of
accepting but where linguish should not
be at school I can understand this
because we only role model but we could
have in those days and still today is
that former middle class is the class
which speaks French and English but I
had to convince the people but you can’t
cut off your culture you can’t reject
your face your culture you can’t reject
your language you must speak French you
must acquire English these are
international languages they help you to
move forward but you must keep your
roots so I went on on a campaign for the
recognition of coal militia around the
country and at the same time at the same
time we had the emergence in the country
of an afro Creole identity movement this
coin said coincided with the world that
I was doing with his dedicated team of
teachers and it is at that point in time
but I realize that the issue of culinary
science school is not just a question of
communication it’s not just transmitting
knowledge but it’s ours
also it is based in fact it is
underpinned by linguistic and cultural
rights and as I realized when I started
with the group the identity affirmation
movement pure identity affirmation
movement to lobby the government the
general elections we had general
elections in 2010 and what we did is we
lobbied all the political parties we
asked them to put on their manifestos
curl Moishe and we said to them you know
this is the way you have to deal with
politicians if you want us to vote for
you put curl Melissa in the manifesto
and here okay we will vote for you put
hermosa in the manifesto and we did it
and after the elections in 2011 the
newly elected government set up a
high-powered committee I was part of
that committee only not the only one
with of economics and we work for
modalities of curl militia and in 2012 a
historical thing happened this was
really a historical event her militia
was recognized by the state of militias
at par with other optional languages in
fact in our system apart from English
French you have also for sent for I
would say till dating back to British
colonization you have Indy Arabic and
other Asian languages which have been
offered as optional languages and so Col
Moshe got into school on the same basis
as these optional languages and the
launching was done
you by launching was done at Lamone
government school this is work afro
creole attentive mind as you can see
there it is written there wanker I am a
Creole in fact this movement is on the
same basis like the black Black
Consciousness movement in the US where
you have you value your own culture your
own person
your own identity black is beautiful
Creole is beautiful and so this is Ramon
and the official launching in 2012 so
January in an hour education system will
resume school in January so for the
resumption of school of studies in
January 2012 the official launching of
Colonel Morrison was done by the vein
minister of education at LUMO on
government school you will see this
beautiful picture coming here as you can
see okay you are the children here Ramon
is a small village and the western coast
of Mauritius and you can see that girl
here holding proudly a book a school
textbook the first Creole Moishe
textbook maybe you can give a clap for
his children you know there are many
stories like but each story is unique
there are many like me if you go google
you will see so many Larry T’s like this
but the uniqueness of my story
especially from my family and Mary and
in 2005 when I was involved I started to
get involved in bad public advocacy okay
I was 38 years old I’m now 50 my eldest
son Audrina was eight my daughter Noemi
who turns 16 on Monday she’s in the
audience a people do you know me she was
six and my little son was one today is
12 you can imagine when you are involved
in such a public advocacy when people
meet your wife meet your children and we
say what’s your name
you see I am my wife is natalie alleman
my son are you related to uh uh you have
a son of you have the wife of you are
you are as if you are not you so you can
imagine what’s the pressure is on the
family when you are exposed so much
exposing public around such a sensitive
issue so what happened then what
happened in fact my family my wife my
children they became also rebel my wife
became a strong supporter promoter of
calm Alicia she works in a boy school
and each time when the language issue
crops up she’s very to defend that
language but coach and the same for my
children so we became we become we have
become now a family of rebels we we
write in Creole we speak live all at
home we are a middle typical middle
class family where usually you speak
French but we are opted to speak Creole
at home and we pray in Creole so my
message would be my message would be
wherever you are if you believe firmly
in something if you believe in an idea
if you believe in a cause if you believe
that there is injustice and as a human
being any curves such a cosmic ray
occurs in not the cause of only one
ethnic group emerges in fact I have
friends from different communities
versus diverse and during that struggle
in my mind I made it but while fighting
while struggling for backers but very
social harmony but there is peace
because for viscose you need the help of
everyone each and every one so wherever
you are I think in my case it was with
particular cause it could be an idea it
could be a project you have to believe
in yourself you have to find your way
you have to strategize you have to get
people with you and there is one last
thing to do you have to make a
difference it’s not just being a rebel
you have to be a creative rebel and for
that how if you have to make your way I
would say and I end here by saying no
retreat no surrender thank you
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