A bitter taste
- By The Rambler
- Published 29th February, 2008
Yahya Paraouty, the president of the Union of Private Secondary Education Employees (UPSEE) must be a very disappointed man; and very bitter too, after the crushing fiasco he achieved last week during the road show he staged in the hope of bringing the government on its knees regarding the subsidy for the SC/HSC exam fees.
With his unfailing charisma and habitual dedication to the causes he usually fights for, he had expected to pull a crowd of at least 200,000 to invade the streets of Port-Louis, consisting of all the college students, their parents, teachers, members of trade unions, all the opposition parties, job seekers, idlers, hawkers, pickpockets. But his dream of bathing in such a human sea was brutally shattered as only some 200 sympathizers turned up for what was described in advance to be a gigantic demonstration.
Even the MMM, which usually champions such causes, played a cautious game. Its presence on the platform was so
timid, it went almost unnoticed. The stalwarts of the party – Bérenger, Cuttaree, Ganoo, Bhagwan – kept a safe distance. They sent their third team to represent them – Lauthan, Labelle, Guness, Barbier, Ramano – and this extremely irked the organizers. They considered this as an insulting humiliation.
As for the MSM, it was very much there, but nobody noticed. Questions of fools rushing in...
The few dozen students who attended the show had much fun and created an atmosphere of school fancy-fair.
They also took the opportunity to enjoy themselves by perpetrating a few acts of vandalism. The rare bins on the roadside were simply irresistible and our brave students could not suppress their instinct which goaded them to overturn them. They also hampered the traffic on SSR street, and even attempted to damage a few vehicles.
Needless to say, these students are desperately waiting for the owners of these vehicles to pay more taxes in order to subsidize their examination fees.
With his unfailing charisma and habitual dedication to the causes he usually fights for, he had expected to pull a crowd of at least 200,000 to invade the streets of Port-Louis, consisting of all the college students, their parents, teachers, members of trade unions, all the opposition parties, job seekers, idlers, hawkers, pickpockets. But his dream of bathing in such a human sea was brutally shattered as only some 200 sympathizers turned up for what was described in advance to be a gigantic demonstration.
Even the MMM, which usually champions such causes, played a cautious game. Its presence on the platform was so
As for the MSM, it was very much there, but nobody noticed. Questions of fools rushing in...
The few dozen students who attended the show had much fun and created an atmosphere of school fancy-fair.
They also took the opportunity to enjoy themselves by perpetrating a few acts of vandalism. The rare bins on the roadside were simply irresistible and our brave students could not suppress their instinct which goaded them to overturn them. They also hampered the traffic on SSR street, and even attempted to damage a few vehicles.
Needless to say, these students are desperately waiting for the owners of these vehicles to pay more taxes in order to subsidize their examination fees.
