Two months since we started the newsletter – what do you think?

Tell us how we're doing and how we can improve.

Hello and welcome to this issue of our newsletter. Every week, Ariel and Khalil, writers based in Mauritius, investigate the impact the oil spill is having on the country and its people, politics and nature.

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This is the tenth issue of the #MauritiusOilSpill newsletter. And we’re going to keep it short.

When we launched the newsletter two months ago, we committed to:

• keep you informed about the oil spill – the fallout, the impact

• give a voice to inhabitants, volunteers, experts

• tell you how you can help wherever you are

We thought now would be a good time to ask you all: how would you say the newsletter has been delivering on those fronts? Well, so-so, not well (click and a new window will open).

Also, thanks to all those of you who have emailed us with questions and suggestions about what to look into next. Some of you are wondering whether the shipping industry is compatible with nature. Some of you want us to write up long interviews with people from impacted regions to help people better understand the consequences of the ecocide. And many of you have asked whatever came out of the investigation into the deaths of the dolphins. Over the next few months, we are going to look into those.

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In this issue

• Japan is not providing formal compensation

• Mass eviction in areas affected by the ecocide

• The state allies itself with Big Capital

My parents hiking on the south east shore years before the ecocide

The latest

⚫ Is Japan paying off Mauritius?

The governments of Japan and Mauritius seem to have reached an agreement whereby Japan will offer “economic assistance” to Mauritius following the ecocide caused by the Japanese-owned vessel MV Wakashio. Japan says it has a moral obligation to provide “assistance”, which will be in the form of grants or (presumably interest-free) loans.

Note the word “assistance” here. Or rather note how there’s ZERO MENTION OF THE WORD “COMPENSATION”. That’s important because providing “assistance” because of “moral obligation” rather than paying compensation means Japan is not recognising any legal responsibility in the ecocide. Convenient, is it not?

More: This report by Nikkei goes into more details. Legal responsibility or not, at least people affected by the oil spill will be getting some financial help from Japan, right? Well …

⚫ People from impacted areas are being evicted from their homes

“Economic assistance” provided to the Mauritian state is no guarantee that capital will flow to the people. Far from it. It’s been two months since the Mauritian government announced it would give a monthly allowance to people in impacted areas. No one has seen the money yet. (Big hotel chains have seen a lot of green though – more than six billion rupees ($150m) has already flowed from the state to major hotels, some of which were in the red even before the pandemic.)

With no revenue, some people are losing their homes. One of them is Jean-Marie Sophie, an artist who’s lived in Mahébourg, one of the most affected coastal villages, for 46 years. He could no longer afford rent and was kicked out. He’s now staying in Curepipe at a friend’s house. Curepipe’s a completely different town, miles away.

How many more people have been evicted from Mahébourg? How many people have friends who are able to offer them free accommodation?

More: Read the heartbreaking interview with Sophie in Le Mauricien (in French)

⚫ Abolish loan debt for fishers

People are literally going homeless because of an ecocide. But private banks still expect them to pay back loans. Trade unionists representing fishers are now asking for all debt to be repudiated.

Meanwhile, the Fisheries minister, elected by the people, decided he would cease any negotiations with the trade unionists. He has since been forced to u-turn and go back to the negotiation table by, presumably, his boss.

This is the upside-down world we live in. Where those elected by the people de facto ally themselves with Big Capital and preside over the mass eviction and starvation of the people.

More: Short article in Top FM about the fishers’ demands (in French).

Thanks for allowing us into your inbox. If you think more people should know about the newsletter, consider clicking the heart icon. An algorithm will then suggest the newsletter to more people. – Khalil.