Multiculturalism, Individualis

Mauritius and Modes of Inter-ethnic Compromise Mauritius is one of the polyethnic countries that has the most peaceful and stable democratic.Basically the concept of the multicultural country is based on the balance between the difference and the equality and, most importantly, something that every citizens shares(compromises) together, in this sense, 'Inter-ethnic Compromise'. I now would like to explain this kind of function in Mauritius, which I believe it is one of the most efficient. An important element in the Mauritian political system is the so-called arrangement, which guarantees the presentation of all ethnic groups through alloting a limited number of parliamentary seats to runner-up at general Election. The best loser are selected so as to ensure the representation of all ethnic groups in the Legislative Assembly. In this way, I think the right to be different is more emphasized than the right to be equal, since as a democratic country, every ethnic needs to have voice in the parliament. Other elements are religions, schooling system and official languages.I would like to empasize on the schooling system, which here the right to be oqual prevails over the right to different.Thus core circula are uniform island-wide, as are exams.However, classes in 'ancestral languages' are offered as optional subjects.It could be said ,therefore, that Mautiriusn scholing system stresses on equal opportunity yet allows for the expression of symbolic diffences. By this way We can see that,as I mentioned at the outset, the concept of 'Inter-ethnic compromise' or the balance between equal right and the right to be different depends upon the need of the society. However,there are still many paradoxes in the island,which I think they are somewhat inevitable for the multicultural society. Contradiction and Paradoxes This will haveto do as a general introduction to public policies relating to ethnic differences and national cohesion in Mauritius.First of all, I would like to show two possible scenarios of Mauritius proposed by Henri Souchon,an Mauritian Catholic priest. Souchoon proposed 2 scenarios pf his country. One is fruit salad, where the components are clearly distinct , ethnic boundaries are inytact and reflexively 'rooted identities' are secure and stable. Another one is fruit compote, where the different fruits are squashed and mixed together with subsubstantial use of force. We can basically say that Mauritius is nowadays fruit salad, which has a syrup (public conpromise and voice from every ethnic in parliament), rather than fruit compote. However, there are many confilicts between equality and difference since the tension between sharing and difference is endemic to the island. Baisacally conflict and paradox arise when the line between the equality and difference is hard to mark. The examples are the Catholic school case, Muslim Personal Law case and the failure attempt of some policians to make a neutral religious culture (see the paper for details). Finally the conclusion from these 3 cases are (1) According to the situation, sometimes the principle of difference is superior to the equality,but sometimes it goes vice versa. (2) It can be dangerous to accord special rights to groups, for groups inevitsably cosists of persons with often highly discrepant values and interest. (3) The most improtant priciple. it should be noted that universalist principles have been adopted by the Mauritiun population with respect to political culture. In so far as discrepant religious or otherwise cultural practices do not interfere with the universalism guaranteeing individuals equal rights, there is no good reason to chastise them. Similarity and Difference and indivialism as a key factor The author suggests that both equal right and the right to be different msay in particular situation lead to discrimination and the violation of commonly agreed upon individual human rights.Since the right to be equal may oppress the minorities to assimilate to public culture, whereas the right to be different here may lead to power discrepancies. Moreover, Some research suggests that politicla leaders and others are frequently prone to exploiting notions about cultural uniqueness strategically to strengthen their position. 'Tradition' and similar catchwords are positively evaluated in political discourse of our time, and are often used rhetorically to justif privileges and politicla positions. Another viewpoint, which I would like to discuss later is about the concept of fruit compote and fruit sald, in Mauritius there are many people who reject root and purity and rather prefet to be cultural hybrids. So after all, as we have seen there are many conflicts and paradoxes in multiculturalism,so the question arises that why Mauritius is such a peaceful and democratic country? The key factor here is 'Individualism'. Most basically, it should be noted that cultural conflict and ,Farcism, ethnocentrism and such come when people among two ethnic groups lack of individualism.In other words, the people lacks of understanding and respect of difference between each other. But in the case of Mauritus, Indiviualism is embeded in the citizens'mind in many ways. Individual human rights is a mainstray of Mauritiun political culture.