Fueling racism in Seychelles

There has recently been a lot of debate on the subject of racism in Seychelles where there have been a lot of fingers pointed at the Mouvman Seselwa Rasin, led by Chrsitopher Gill. The Mouvman Seselwa Rasin, literally translated "Seychelles Roots Movement" have been critical to the government's policies regarding giving certain foreigners, both powerful and not so powerful, special rights compared to Seychellois. Foreigners have in recent years been able to literally purchase Seychellois citizenship or obtain it through dodgy and rather secretive ways well hidden from the public.

The one that has gotten most focus is undoubtedly Sheik Khalifa of the UAE who in addition to having been given a plot of land(well, he actually had to pay the net sum of about USD 0.2 for it) at the location of the previous US tracking station at La Misère, a mountain community 10 minutes drive from the capital Victoria. Khalifa has not only been given valuable land, but also a bunch of priveleges along with it. Amongst these are tax free import of the construction materials for the 7 story palace he is building, free import of a 2000 man workforce that has by-passed immigration and free import of expensive SUVs. All those have caused the small republic to lose millions of dollars in duty that could have helped a great deal to its shattered economy. If all that wasn't enough, the straw that broke the camel's back were the pollution scandals at the construction site where first diesel polluted a drinking water source followed by human excrements that leaked from the toilets at the site. The pollution case has been taken to court, but dragging of feet have so far had no impact on the polluter and the compensation sum is still being argued about. So far the only one who has felt any form of reaction from the Seychelles authorities is the contractor doing the work, this after recieving a relatively minor fine under the Pollution Act, undoubtedly a fine dealt out for symbolic reasons.

Sheik Khalifa is one of many foreigners in Seychelles who have been given special rights and immunity against the law that is supposed to apply for all Seychellois. Other well known new Seychellois are Dr Vatinasamy Ramadoss, an Indian physician who arrived in Seychelles owning the clothes he was wearing and a pair of flip flops. Ramadoss was quickly adopted by the former president France Albert Rene who put him under his wings and paved the way making Ramadoss one of the country's richest. Other familiar new Seychellois, named 'Fabrike'(translated: fabricated) by the Seychellois Roots Movement are the Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir, known for his connections with the mafia and ends up in the media for that very reason wherever he goes. Another 'fabricated' Seychellois is the rather sensitive Marc Jeyasingh, another Indian who is alledged to have helped white-wash money on behalf of certain government officials.

The Seychellois born, called 'Rasin'(translated: roots) have in other words had more than enough reasons for feeling neglected by their own government with regards to priveleges given to foreigners when they themselves feel reduced to second rate citizens in their own country. This grabbed the attention of Christopher Gill, a Seychellois born lawyer and previous MNA who spent a good deal of his life in the USA controlled island of Guam in the Pacific before returning home with international experience and US citizenship. Christopher Gill has, together with his brother Leonard Francis Gill, been the driving force behind STAR Seychelles, a blog page where actualities are brought up, mostly critic of the SPPF/PL government. The blog page has been active for several years, but only recently took off completely in popularity and number of visits not to mention participants in the sometimes rather hot political debates.

Increased criticism of the SPPF/PL government has naturally led to a counterreaction from the party and their supporters where Christopher Gill has been accused of promoting racism through the Seychellois Roots Movement who denies any involvement in racism, but promotes a strong support for the Seychellois and the taking back of the land given away to foreigners(and nationals) in dodgy and illegal deals made with the corrupt government. I our modern day where Globalism has become a trend and to an extent a necessity, it is easy to see that a movement that is promoting and protecting its people is seen to be racist. Recently signs have been put up along the La Misere road near the site of Khalifa's palace where there have been written slogans like "Arabs go home", "We won't drink shitty Arab water again" and similar. Naturally the PL will use the racism screen against the Seychellois Roots Movement in the coming election campaign, saying that they are racists, but before doing so the PL should turn the history books back 3-1/2 decades to the same spot the slogans hang today outside where the US tracking station once was. Only then they read 'Yankees go home'. Only then they were hung up there upon orders from the father of the PL, France Albert Rene.

If there is an increase in racial hate in Seychelles it is certainly not the fault of Christopher Gill or the "Mouvman Seselwa Rasin', but the sole fault of the PL government who have literally surpressed the Seychellois and sold of Seychelles to any Tom Dick and Harry with bog enough wallets to pay off politicians and purchase Seychellois citizenship, some even with diplomatic immunity.

Today’s Nation contains an article where the Seychellois are asked to take great care in preserving water and not wasting it by for instance not watering their lawns, showering briefly and even not letting the tap run when brushing teeth. The same article however, fails to mention huge building projects that are consuming large amounts of water to take care not to spill. The same article does not mention a word about swimming pools etc. The PL government is literally asking the people to wash themselves downstream in the same river that the more fortunate have already washed themselves in.

And we wonder why the man on the street is enraged and posts up posters saying we refuse to wash in your dirty water? And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing the last 30+ years all thanks to the SPUP, SPPF and now the PL. Of course it's convenient to blame the Mouvman Seselwa Rasin for it. God forbid if they, the PL, saw their own faults.

Patrick X