Disaster in the Indian Ocean

Already more than 100,000 people (estimated up to now) died due to the chaotic tsunami event in the Indian Ocean. Just like the tsunami, the worst waves are to come afterwards. More than 5 million people have lost their family, home and possibly identity as well. Many may die because of diseases and lack of clean water and food. Dear readers, please help these people since afterall we are all from the same village, the earth. Every cent and penny will be of great help. Every drop of clean water, food and cloth will be of great help too. Here are some sites where you can start donating: - Disaster Emergency Committee (UK) - Islamic Relief - Oxfam Surely there are many more sites. I just mentioned the ones I know. PS: The waves reached Mauritius as well. Luckily there were no casualties. ____________ Le chaos qui a ete cause par le tsunami a deja porte la mort a plus de 100,000 personnes (estime jusqu'aujourd'hui). Les plus grandes vagues, tout comme le tsunami, viendront apres. Plus de 5 million de personnes ont perdu leurs familles, abris et possiblement leurs identites. Beacoup d'entre eux vont mourrir du au manque d'eau propre et de nouriture. Cheres lecteurs, ke vous en prie de leur aider car apres tous nous somme tous du meme village qu'ons appele terre. Chaque sous, chaque centime, sera util. Chaque goutte d'eau propre, de nouriture et vetements leurs aideraient aussi. Voici des site-web ou vous pouvez faire votre donation: - Disaster Emergency Committee (UK) - Islamic Relief - Oxfam Biensure, il y en a plein d'autres. Je n'ai fait que de mentioner celles que je connais. PS: Les vagues ont atteint jusqu'a l'Ile Maurice. Heureusement personne a ete affete.

Yasser Arafat

As we all know, Yasser Arafat has now passed away. He was a great leader to his people and without him the world would not have known the existence of the state of Palestine (though it is not yet officially recognised). He has fought till his last breath for the recognition of his people. Looking back, this has not been in vain. Many great leaders praised him except the Israelian Government. I was very disappointed with their response because there was no sense of diplomacy in their tone. The Justice Minister of Israel said:"It's good that the world has finally rid f him" Many of his critics have said that his death will pave the way to peace. I just cannot believe that the world has forgotten the Oslo treaty already - the deal between the great late Prime Minister of Israel, Yitsaac Rabin, and Arafat. A deal that was fully accepted on both sides and the Americans. It was a true hope for peace Unfortunately Yitzaak Rabin was murdered and the deal was not completed. Nehu Bin Yamin then became Prime Minister and ignored the treaty by restarted the development of illegal settlements in the Gaza. This was the start of the new conflict. Ehud Barak, who succeeded Bin Yamin, restarted the peace talks with a modified version of the agreed deal. Yasser Arafat did not accept this deal - obviously. Eventually Barak stepped down and Sharon took over the job of Prime Minister of Israel. He started his share of the conflict by his provoking entrance in the sacred mosque. He is known for his harsh military strategy on the Palestinian people and breaking international laws. Since then there has been retaliation after retaliation between Israel and the extreme terrorist group, Hamas. Yasser Arafat was blamed for the failure of not containing the terrorist. How can a torn land be controlled? Gandhi once said:" If freedom does not include freedom of making mistakes, then it is not worth having" Dear readers, think of the positive thing that happened because of him. Would we know of the sufferings of the Palestinians if he were not there? When we think of the people of Palestine, we should not forget the Christian Minorities who are suffering as well. Peace be upon both Yitsaac Rabin and Yaser Arafat for their good will in seeking peace and justice for their people.

______________________________ Comme nous le savons tous, Yasser Arafat n'est plus de ce monde. Il était un grand chef a son peuple et sans lui nous n'aurons jamais su de l'existence de l'état Palestinienne (même si celle n'est pas reconnue officiellement). En regardant en arrière, sa cause n'a pas été en vain. Tous les grands chefs des états l'ont prie sauf le gouvernement israélien. J'étais très decu sur la façon donc ils ont répondu sur sa mort. Il n'y avait pas une sens de diplomatie sur leurs tons. Le ministre de la Justice israélienne a dit: " C'est bien que le monde a enfin débarrasse de lui". Beaucoup de ces critiques ont dit que sa mort va enfin apporter la paix. Je ne peux pas croire que le monde a oublie le trete d'Oslo déjà - un agrément entre l'ancien Premier Ministre d'Israel, Yitsaac Rabin, et Arafat. Un agrément donc les deux parties, et les Américain, avaient accepte entièrement. C'était un vrai espoir pour paix. Malheureusement, due au meurtre de Yitzaak Rabin, l'agrément n'avait pas été complète. Nehu Bin Yamin, le Premier Ministre qui pris pouvoir après sa mort, recommença le développement des sites illégal a Gaza tout en ignorant le trete. C'était le début du nouveau conflit. Ehud Barak succéda Bin Yamin et recommença la négotiation pour paix avec une version modifie du trete. Il était évident que Yasser Arafat refusa de compromettre. Barak démissionne et Sharon pris le poste. Il commença sa part du conflit avec son entrée provocante dans la mosquée sacrée. Il est maintenant connu pour ses stratégie militaire brutal envers les Palestiniens et aussi pour aller contre la loi internationale. Depuis ce n'était qu'un conflit de retaliation entre Israel et les terroristes Hamas. Yasser Arafat avait ete rendu coupable pour ne pas pouvoir contenir les terroristes. Puis une terre déchirer être contrôle? Gandhi avait dit: "Si la liberté n'incluse pas la liberté avec fautes, alors cela ne vaut rien." Chers lecteurs, je vous en pris de ne pense qu'aux choses positives qui sont arrive a cause de lui. Est-ce que nous aurons su de la souffrance des Palestiniens s'il n'y était pas? Il ne faut pas oublier des minorités chrétiennes qui souffrent aussi. Paix sur Yitsaac Rabin et Yasser Arafat pour leur bonne volonté afin d'apporte paix et justice a leur peuple.

Posting in two languages

Dear readers I know that it has been a long time since I haven't posted anything. There will be a couple of post soon, so do not worry. Many of you must have noticed some of the silly mistakes in my posts. I use not be like this at all. This is probably the result of stress and the very limited time I get from reading due to the amount of work I have. I fear that I will loose my ability of writing good french as well. So I have decided that for each post I write, there will be a French version attached.

Comments received for "Stealing a Nation" post

It seems that for some reason, some comments are not being displayed on this blog. I have received them through email. Here are two of them:

"I am absolutely ashamed to say that I am British! we owe these poor people their lives!"

You must not feel ashame. Even though your Government is to be blamed, the British and Americans (people, scholars, lawyers) are still the ones fighting for the cause of the Illois.

"The profile of this indefensible case has been recently raised on British television and through the writings of John Pilger in the Guardian Weekly.An excellent site has been created athttp://www.coraltools.com/~jillianbain/home.htmThe next phase is an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and the ethnic cleansing of the Chagossians deserves widespread publicity if we are ever to be truly proud of our respective civilisations and their constitutions.You can help by linking to the site whenever possible and raising the profile of 'Illois' in search engines.Although 'Chagos' and 'Diego Garcia' return many results, 'Illois' returns few relevant to this cause.Power to your elbow.

moon."

Thanks Moon. Publicising this issue is one of the main reason why I have this blog. I do have a link to this site already. Maybe I should rename this link. Thanks for your support if you are already talking about it.

Stealing a Nation - Part review

Readers After watching the programme yesterday (06-Oct-2004), I am out of speech for these poor people. It is amazing how the British government tricked these poor people out of their home land. They also claimed the Ilois to be "floating people" when they had their grand parents fathers and mothers born and bread on the island. All the time up to now I thought that only the British manipulated the evidence and that the Americans only kept a low profile on the issue. I was shocked about the kind of documents the American administrations faked on Diego Garcia. Now, after their battle in the High Court of England, the British Government does not want to resettle them over there because they claim that it will be too costly and it is not worth the tax payers money. How disgraceful. They do not have a heart or even a soul if they think like this. This is a brief description and review of the programme. I will write more later. I must say a great thanks to those who contributed to the documentary.

Stealing a Nation

If you live in the UK, there will be an interesting programme called "Stealing a Nation" that will be broadcasted on ITV1 on wednesday the 6th of October 2004 (11pm). This document contains proofs of what happened to the Ilois of Diego Garcia. Also, in Mauritius, the illois have written a letter to the Queen demanding their rights. They are willing to sleep outside the British High Commission in Mauritius and strike of hunger. Hopefully the British government will apologise on this fact as well just as Tony Blair did concerning going to war on basis of WMD in Iraq. What can we really do for these people. I think the first step is to let as many people around the world know their sufferings.

Flora of Mauritius

Dear readers This is part two of the unique species of Mauritius. Although there are many more plants that can be found in Mauritius only, I will point out only four. These are The Trochetia This Bush plant is an endangered species. It's flower is the emblem of Mauritius

picture from josie et claude Talipot This unique plam tree only flowers once in a life-time (some says every 100 years). As far as I can recall, this last happened about 15 years ago picture from encyclopedia of mauritius The Black Ebony Ebony itself can be found in many countries. However, the black ebony is unique in Mauritius. It almost got extinct since the time of the dutch while they were exporting the woods to europe. It use to be the finest wood for furniture and even to build ships. This young black ebony tree is the only picture I could find picture from institute for environmental and legal studies The Flamboyant If you have ever been in Mauritius, you may recall these trees along the sides of many major roads. We also call them "Bouquet Bananee" because they flower around new years time. picture from nilesh.doosoye.com I know that this is a brief post but feel free to comment or contribute

Stephane Buckland is a Hero

Athlete Stephane Buckand, representing Mauritius, came sixth in the 200m Men final at the Olympics (in Greece). He did not receive a medal for his performance but he is still a hero for his country. He is now officially the sixth fastest men in the world. I think that is amazing. I believe it is even better than the Americans who got all the medals in this competition. Stephane never had a proper coach. He did not have any proper facilities available to him for his training and did it almost by himself. We should not also forget the not so organised Mauritian committee as well. Stephane may not have won a medal but he can be certain that there were Mauritians around the world watching and supporting him. There are very few Mauritian athletes who have achieve this. He has won our hearts.

Fauna of Mauritius

Mauritius has (and had) a lot of unique sets of plants and animals. Unfortunately the most famous one is already extinct (since the time of the Dutch), the Dodo. Though this might not be the case in the near future. It is somewhat strange to find the dodo club in Australia instead though. Here some of these unique specimens (will post the flora part later): The Giant Turtle of Mauritius (also known as the Aldabra Tortoise) ©David M.Barron/oxygengroup The Pink Pigeon picture from encyclopedia of mauritius The Mauritian Kestrel picture from encyclopedia of mauritius Echo Parakeet picture from encyclopedia of mauritius Paille-en-Queue (White Tailed Tropic Bird) - Logo of Air Mauritius picture from encyclopedia of mauritius My favourite.

Which Angel or Demon are you?

After a visit to Fayrouz's Breakroom, I found this link: "Which Angel or Demon are you". I took the test and here is the result:

Magic ?? Which Angel Or Demon Are You ?? brought to you by Quizilla I think you should try this test.

Anonymous Posts

Dear readers, You can now post anonymously. I guess that this will allow non-blogspot members to comment as well.

About Mauritius

One of my readers asked me to talk more about us Mauritians. So here we go: Mauritius is a tiny island situated east of Madagascar (the large island next to South Africa). The economy is based on Sugar production, Textile and Tourism. Because of competition in the Sugar (with countries like Cuba for example) and Textile (countries like India, China, Bangladesh … where labour is cheap), the government has to find more ways to create new commerce. The latest attempt was the creation of a Cyber City. Basically, Mauritius is working towards being the leader in the IT and ICT industry within Africa. Personally I think that they need to do so much more because more and more intellectuals are moving away. The population consist of (roughly) 55% Hindus, 35% Muslims, 8% African Christians, 1% Chinese and 1% White Christians. There are no racial tensions and in fact there is harmony. Two examples that can highlight this are: 1) Chicken is halal in every shops and takeaways. 2) Everyone understands the reasons behind each other's festival and participates in it (and Eid-Ul-Fitr is a public holiday). Like Mark Twain said: "God created Mauritius first then Paradise". The Arabs first discovered Mauritius, unofficially, and never settled. It is referred as 'Dina Arobi' in their maps dated early 16th century. The Portuguese were the first to settle there and claims to be the first to discover the island in 1511. However they did not stay long because they could not see much interest in the island. The Dutch were the first major settlers - 1598 - 1710. Most of the domestic animals were brought by them (Deer, cats, dogs, rats, …). They also introduced our main crop - the sugar cane. The French then came in 1715. They developed the country and made it a very important place for commerce to such an extent that it was rivalling against the great East India Company - Mauritius was then called 'Isle de France'. The French brought us our way of life and even our spoken language. Part of our legal system is based upon the Napoleon law system (some have been abolished - like the capital punishment). Unfortunately the French were at war with the British during that time. The French corsaire from Mauritius would use every opportunity to sink the British Trade Ships passing in the region and then collect the goods. The British fought and won the island and the French had to leave (1810). Mauritius, at that time, consisted of the Island itself, Rodrigues Island, the Chagos Islands and the Seychelles. Though the British had the islands, they did not really settle. However, they did contribute to the development of the island. They abolished slavery, added new laws and brought tea. Due to the abolition of slavery, there was a lack of labour working in the fields. So they had to lure some Indian labourers over there. (NB: When I came to the UK, I always get into this argument with Pakistani and Indian friends: "Which side of India were your ancestors from" - I do not know). Fighting for Independence was not difficult but there was a hidden catch - has been the case with the other countries to which Britain gave independence (We got our independence in 1968). Until today Mauritius is not complete. They took the Chagos Island from us and create the "British Indian Ocean Territorial" State - one that is not even recognised by the United Nation. They illegally removed the Chagossians from their home and dumped them on the Mauritian main land. The Americans, who obtained the island on contractual basis for an army base, gased all their pets. These people fought and won their case through the British High Court but the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is currently fighting against the ruling (is he for real?). Mauritius is in process of bringing the case to the Hague and is prepared to leave the Common Wealth if required. Any Mauritian reading this post, feel free to correct me and thanks for reading.

Interesting Blog

Hey readers I found this cool comic blog. I'd like to know what you think of it. http://www.scarygoround.com/

Amazing Graphic Software

As a supporter of open source software I would recommend you to use the following graphic package.  GIMP Get the Windows Version Here Enjoy ...

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures that I have taken in Mauritius: Me and my sweetheart in the air: Artistic pic of cup (joking) A beach spot

Update about the Chagossians

Readers You can get more information on the topic at the following URL: http://www.coraltools.com/~jillianbain/home.htm

Fight for the Chagosians

Readers, Please give your support for these innocent people who have been removed away from their land for nearly 40 years now (Read my first post). The British Government are fighting against any compensation that needs given to them (and especially their land). Add a comment here will be a first step. Thanks

I have added another story to the "Story Blog"

Hi Readers I have added another story to the "And that's how the story goes on ..." blog. So far I haven't obtain any comments but I'll be patient. Hopefully it will go on well in the end. Thanks a lot to all of you who supported me.

Story 1 is on

Dear readers, The first story is on. It's up to you how you want the character to develop. If you have any question feel free to post here till I find a better way to communicate. Good luck

The Story Blog

Dear readers The story blog is ready to start. You may visit here http://thatstorygoeson.blogspot.com/

"And that's how the Story goes on"

To my readers I am going to create a new page that will be called "And that's how the story goes on". The idea is that every week (every Monday) I will add the first paragraph of a short story and you add your bit to the story. The rule is simple, to continue the story as from the last post on the list. Vulgar and any post that causes discrimination of any kinds will be removed. Tell me what you think. If I receive more than 5 positive comments I will start it. You may leave suggestions as well. Faisal ...

Democracy Gimmick

Today, the 28th of June 2004, the Americans have handed over power to the Iraqi people. They will call it democracy. What kind of freedom is that when their government will not be able to have full control of their own country? It is a complete joke especially when their main income will be managed by the US. Let us remember that this government has been chosen by the invaders. They have promised election by next year (They promised the same in Afghanistan) The US and UK claim to be the most democratic countries in the world. To be honest, I do not think there is democracy on earth (partial maybe). Over 2 million people in England marched to protest against the war in Iraq. On top of that, quite a few MPs of the leading party stepped up against this decision. Yet Tony Blair decided to go to war putting his faith on a dodgy dossier - We have to go to war because Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. Even if he had, war was not the solution. In the US some people's phone line are being tapped just because of their name and colour. Give me a break.

Amazing pictures from around the world

Go to this blogger's page and look at some emotional pictures around the world: Cindy

Creative competition from the BBC

In April the BBC anounced the start of a writing competition. The task was simple (or so you think), to complete one of eight stories by eight famous writer. The entrants should not have published any works ever to be eligible. As soon as the BBC released the incomplete stories on its website there were an amazing 250,000 download. The deadline has now passed but there has been 17000 entries. Great idea. Link: www.bbc.co.uk/endofstory

Justice for the "Illois"

The illois are people that has been removed from their land (Chagos Islands)in 1965 by the British and Americans. Many of you do not know this because they are numbered by only a few thousands and does not create a global impact. The point is this is complete injustice especially when you know the reason behind it: to build an American Air base on a so-called "British Territory". In-fact only one of the island, Diego Garcia. There is also something that you should know, all the animals on their island were killed using the holocaust gas. These people live in poverty in Mauritius where the government have been fighting for their case. In 2000 they won their case in the High Court in England but this does not resolve their problem. Why? Because the British Government (in 2004) has decided to go against the ruling of the court and keep these people out of their own land. I think we should help these people and give them their human right. I thought of posting this on the internet where a wider audience of people will be able to view it. I await your response and thanks for Reading Faisal ...