Dear Alain Gordon Gentil,

As you have just been appointed to the position of Director General of the MBC by the newly elected government, we are writing this letter to share with you two points for your consideration. We do so, first, to make a general point and second, to make a specific request.

We welcome your comment as you took office, “Alain Gordon-Gentil souhaite que toute la population de la République de Maurice s’identifie à la programmation de la MBC,” reported on the MBC website on 16 December. Your express wish/commitment highlights one of the objectives of the Corporation perfectly, as stated in the MBC Act, which at Section 4(f) obliges the Corporation to “strike a fair balance in the allocation of broadcasting hours among various ... political … standpoints.” (MBC Act, 1982). More importantly, it is philosophically sound that the MBC aims at fairness in representing different political currents. We have seen how different political parties sharing the same political standpoints operate in re-shuffled political alliances during elections and/or joining an alliance in power. These political parties can, logically, thus be considered as belonging to the same or a similar “political current”.

The general point we wish to make in this letter addressed to you as newly appointed director general of the only public broadcasting television station in the Republic of Mauritius is that the MBC-TV seems to have kept Lalit’s general political standpoint under-represented, even unrepresented, thus the Corporation has not been fulfilling one of its objectives, i.e. to strike a fair balance amongst political currents.

Threat of extinction

As you know, a party like LALIT, while not being “electoralist”, while suffering the unintended consequence of the first-past-the-post system that favours two big alliances, and while not having other parties to ally with, nevertheless has very well-known standpoints, and well-argued positions on many national and international issues, and these exist over time. As we live in times, when the mainstream opinions world-wide are not responding adequately to the existential issues facing the world like the threat of extinction through climate collapse, species collapse and of nuclear war, we need to include currents that do propose responses. As the promises of past revolutions for liberty, equality, “fraternity” (“comradeliness”?) and democracy have all fallen drastically short: restrictive laws abound, inequality grows, communalism remains, and democracy dwindles, so new revolutionary ways of thinking are called for.

Since November 1976, over the last 48 years to date, during elections and in-between two elections, LALIT has consistently published extensively on paper, and from 2003 in digital form too, and we have initiated and participated in political campaigns to put on the national agenda multiple national and international issues, often working in broad common fronts with unions, women’s organizations, and so on. We refer to some of the issues: how to assure food security by implicating sugar estate lands; how to democratize the National Assembly; importance of the mother tongue Kreol in cognition and for precision of thought; the need to prevent arbitrary cancellation of the citizenship of a citizen; the need to separate people’s banks from investment banks; how to better confront patriarchy.

What is strange is that, even when our political current on an issue – for example the issue of Israel’s unlawful actions – is massively supported both nationally and internationally, the MBC coverage fails. Over the past 15 months the MBC follows not the position of the State of Mauritius, which literally all political parties including LALIT share some consensus on, nor that of the quasi-totality of UN member-states, representing over 90% of the world’s population. Instead it cowers to the United States of America, which is isolated on the issue. As recently as 19 December, 2024, we have the example of MBC ignoring, as far as we are aware, the stunning news of the important UN General Assembly Resolution calling on the ICJ to give an Advisory Opinion on Israel’s flaunting of the UN system, itself. The State of Mauritius voted in favour. Only TEN miserable countries out of 193 Member States voted with Israel and the USA. (See two attachments for the facts involved in this one example.) The news should have been considered for the main headlines of news broadcasts.

Related to this general point, our second point is, in fact, a specific request on the question of Diego Garcia-Chagos.

Mauritius has won the legal battle at the ICJ, and has even won the political battle at United Nations General Assembly, which massively voted declaring UK dismantling of Diego Garcia-Chagos from Mauritius to have been, and still be, illegal under international law. Moreover, Diego Garcia-Chagos “sovereignty” talks over a bi-lateral deal between UK-Mauritius initiated under the previous MSM government are currently underway under the newly elected Lalyans Sanzman government. LALIT, over the last 47 years, is the only political current which has been actively calling for the complete decolonization (re-unification of the totality of Chagos including Diego Garcia into the Republic of Mauritius), demilitarization (the closing of the US military-nuclear base on Diego Garcia) and the right of return (free circulation for all Mauritians, in particular Chagossians, on the totality of the Republic of Mauritius territory as stated in the Constitution of Mauritius).

LALIT is the only political party which has a different viewpoint on this important issue. Political parties in the National Assembly and most extra parliamentary parties may differ on the details, but in general agree, inter alia, on the leasing of the US military base for a rent. It is important for the Corporation to reflect our important standpoint on this question in its news coverage, so that people of the country can understand what is really at stake. Some of the questions to be included as introductory facts in any MBC-TV news coverage and programs are, to name a few, International Law – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the excision of Chagos from Mauritius and its conclusion that the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when Mauritius acceded to independence; the concept of Indian Ocean as a zone of peace; the environmental implications of this nuclear military base, particularly in relation to the binding Pelindaba Treaty for an African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone that Mauritius is bound by; the implications of the Republic of Mauritius being drawn into wars, in which we are not a belligerent, even illegal wars; in this context, the implications of the Indian military presence on Agalega Island also need to be included, as well as implications of any access to Mauritian ports granted to any war ships, in particular those run by nuclear powers; the need for freedom of movement for all citizens on all our territory; the need for a Constituency for Chagossians, and Agaleans.

As the only public broadcaster, news or programs on the MBC-TV have an obligation to include various political viewpoints which have stood the test of time. And, we hope as Director General, you will endeavour to meet one of the objectives of the Corporation to restore the fair balance amongst political currents and will ensure, for example, that your journalists give fair cover events organized by LALIT when the Press is invited and LALIT’s communiqués and public positions copied to the Press – precisely because we represent a different political current.

We hope you will take our letter into consideration as you are in the process of reviewing coverage of the MBCTV to meet your wish to inform and strike a fair balance in its news coverage.

We take this opportunity of wishing you and all your colleagues a very good New Year, in these somewhat difficult times.

Yours sincerely,

Ram Seegobin and Lindsey Collen for LALIT.