There is no denying that certain Mauritians accumulated their wealth through the exploitation of labour. Once the African slaves were freed by the sugar estates, they were replaced by impoverished indentured labourers from India. Rather than pay higher salaries more labour was imported, ensuring that supply outstripped demand.
In the 1980s the textile sector was introduced to the country and gave jobs to many of our women folk. Did this emancipate them or exploit them as they were exempt from the workers rights that men enjoyed? Whichever the case, history repeated itself when they expected better pay. They were replaced by foreign workers from countries whose citizens were more desperate than our own. What is shameful is that such a high level of exploitation exists today. Read the rest of this entry »
