Word: mauritius
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Citizens of the tiny British crown colony of Mauritius, 1,400 miles off the African coast, take their politics seriously. The island's 32 newspapers and one radio station covered the latest parliamentary election campaign in twelve languages from English to Urdu. Interest ran so high that nearly 90% of the eligible voters cast ballots, and Premier Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam's Independence Party, which campaigned on a platform calling for complete freedom from Britain, won 43 of 70 seats in the legislative assembly...
...prospect of losing the 720-sq.-mi. island with its depressed sugar industry, chronic unemployment and dangerous racial tensions does not disturb Britain. But just when it will actually be rid of Mauritius' problems is uncertain. The main opposition to independence comes from a flamboyant mulatto attorney, Gaetan ("King Creole") Duval, 35, whose Parti Mauricien Social Democrate won the other 27 seats...
...Duval's supporters are prone to back up their arguments with such local weapons as underwater spear guns, and they are not about to give up the fight just because they took a beating at the polls. Duval argues that when Britain gets into the Common Market, Mauritius will have an outlet for its sugar (which accounts for 97% of its exports), and that as a fellow member of the European Economic Community, France will throw open its doors to French-speaking Mauritian immigrants...
...problem is going to get worse long before it gets better. More new non-nations are waiting impatiently in the wings; Bechuanaland, Basutoland, British Guiana and Mauritius are all due to become independent this year, and Swaziland and South Arabia will follow soon afterward. Britain's Lord Caradon recently reported to the United Nations General Assembly that 50 colonial territories still remained to be freed around the world-31 in the British Empire alone. Since, in general, the weakest and least viable colonies are the last to be turned loose, the prospect is staggering. All of them, of course...
Since then, she has withdrawn to her home in Lausanne, submerged herself in her two favorite occupations, eating and working. A gourmet with exotic tastes, Capucine has been known to consume anything that has flavor. She has eaten chicken-entrail stew in Cambodia, honey bats in Mauritius, and sheep eyes in North Africa. Despite her exotic intake, she remains a model of gauntness. "I only gain weight when I am terribly depressed," she maintains. Apparently, there is nothing depressing Capucine at present, except the gnawing feeling that the pussycat may be keeping so cool that as a comedienne...