LABOUR DAY AND REMEMBRANCE – “A Tribute to the Mother of All Mauritian Workers”:  The Martyrdom of Anjalay Coopen and the  Tragedy of the Belle Vue Harel Massacre of September 1943

By Professor Dr. Armoogum Parsuramen (GOSK),

Former Minister of Education, Former UNESCO Director, &

Founder-Chairman of the Global Rainbow Foundation

 &

Satyendra Peerthum (AOYP)

Historian, Researcher, and Lecturer

    Each year on 1^st May, Labour Day is celebrated by thousands of Mauritian workers throughout the island as a day to remember the struggles and gains of the Mauritian working class which was often drenched in blood and marred by oppression. Between 1937 and 1943, this can clearly be seen in the early history of modern Mauritius, when several Mauritian labourers were killed during the labour unrests of Union Flacq of August 1937 and Belle Vue Harel of September 1943. In fact, this year marks the 70^th anniversary of the Belle Vue Harel Massacre which claimed the lives of Anjalay Coopen and three of her young comrades as they fought for their human rights in the face of overwhelming colonial tyranny.

• Prelude to the Massacre

On 13^th September 1943, a major strike began at Belle Vue Harel Sugar Estate which would last for several days. Just like on several other sugar estates throughout the island, the labourers demanded a wage increase and better working and living conditions. Their interests were represented by Hurryparsad Ramnarain and Sharma Jugdambee on the Conciliation Board. On 17^th September, at a meeting of the Conciliation Board, the Labour Department, which supported the interests of Mauritian sugar planters, put some pressure on the two labour representatives to sign an accord which would put an end to the labour dispute.

Unfortunately, without consulting the workers whom they represented, Ramnarain and Jugdambee accepted the proposals of the Belle Vue Harel owners who had the strong backing of the Labour Department. Fortunately, the striking labourers of Belle Vue Harel were wise and dignified enough to reject the agreement which had been reached and they decided to continue with their work stoppage. On Friday, 24^th September, the sugar estate owners announced that workers who would not abide by the agreement and end their strike would have to leave the sugar estate by Wednesday, 29 September.

With each passing day, the situation became tense at Belle Vue Harel, as the owners of that sugar estate, the Department of Labour and the local police were bent on ending the strike by whatever means necessary. Despite a deadline hanging over their heads, the labourers of Belle Vue Harel continued their strike. On Monday, 27th September, the workers organized a baitka in the estate camp itself.

• Slaughter of the Innocents

     Early on that same morning, Constable Thacanamootoo of the police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) was sent to the camp to find out what the striking labourers were doing. He was recognized as being a police informant and beaten by one of the workers. The injured policeman returned to the estate manager’s office and waited for his superior officer to arrive.

More than an hour later, Allan Bell, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, showed up with a police detachment. He was informed of what had happened to Thancanamootoo and decided to arrest the constable’s assailant. On his way to the sugar estate camp, Bell was joined by Mr. Fondaumière, the Assistant Superintendent of Police, who had just arrived from the Line Barracks with a police detachment.

 The Deputy Commissioner of Police proceeded with more than three dozen men to the camp just as the camp residents were still in the middle of their weekly prayer. Anjalay Coopen and her companions were upset that their prayers had been disturbed with the arrival of the police and seized whatever objects they found nearby. The DCP and his men encountered a crowd of between 200 and 300 men, women, and children who were armed with sticks and stones in order to defend themselves.

The police ordered them to drop whatever they were holding in their hands and to disperse, which they refused to do. The attacker of Thacanamootoo was spotted and as the police arrested and took him away, the crowd became hostile and threw their sticks and stones at the policemen. The labourers advanced towards the police officers who were almost surrounded by the hostile crowd. In panic, the police fired sixteen shots at the striking workers, which left three dead with 5 labourers receiving bullet wounds and 12 others were slightly injured.

The three dead labourers were Soondrum Pavatdan, or better known as Anjalay Coopen, Kistnasamy Mooneesamy, and Moonsamy Moonien. Nine days later, a fourth labourer, Marday Panapen died in Civil Hospital in Port Louis as a result of his bullet wounds. Even after the shooting, many of the protesting labourers stood their ground as an act of determined resistance against their tormentors.

As a last ditch effort, one police officer threw a powerful tear gas grenade at the labourers which caused them to disperse. However, the panic-stricken policemen, under the command of DCP Allan Bell, regrouped and beat a hasty retreat to the sugar factory of Belle Vue Harel. Thus, between 10 o’clock and 11 o’clock on Monday, 27^th September 1943, when the hour of truth came, on the field of honour, the soldiers of the Mauritian labour movement fought against their oppressors and triumphed, even though it cost some of them their lives.

• Anjalay Coopen’s Martyrdom

   27th September 1943 is a date which shall forever live in infamy as well as a day of noble sacrifices in the annals of early Modern Mauritius. After all, this was the day when four previously unknown labourers of Belle Vue Harel became a powerful source of inspiration and their valiant resistance to tyranny has served as a strong example to more than three generations of Mauritians. Almost six and a half decades later, the martyrdom of Anjalay still remains a strong symbol of the ultimate sacrifice which some brave Mauritian workers were willing to make during the early history of the Mauritian labour movement.

It is important to note that Anjalay Coopen was born in 1911 in Rivière du Rempart district and, as mentioned earlier, according to archival records her real name was Soondrum Pavatdan  which is confirmed in the Civil Status Records of the KL series in the National Archives Department and by the British Governor’s Information Office concerning the Belle Vue Harel Massacre from October 1943. Her death was registered on 28th September 1943 at Civil Hospital in Port Louis.

Anjalay Coopen was a 32 year-old pregnant woman who was shot dead in cold blood and her child never saw the light of day. She was born on 3^rd March 1911, in the district of Rivière du Rempart, and her ‘ti nom’ or alias was Anjalay. She worked in the grande bande on Belle Vue Harel Sugar Estate and has resided for a few years in the estate camp. Anjalay had married into the Coopen family and she had some links to the industrial association which represented their interests.

A Tribute to Anjalay Coopen

In September 2003, a stèle was unveiled in Cottage by Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth during a national commemoration ceremony, on the spot where Anjalay and her fallen comrades were cremated during a national ceremony where their martyrdom was honored by the Government of Mauritius and the people of Riviere du Rempart district. Anjalay, her companions and all the workers who struggled for better living and working conditions, during the 1930s and 1940s, should always be remembered by the Mauritian nation.

Unfortunately, this stèle has largely been neglected, forgotten, and needs to be restored including the nearby Anjalay Coopen Street sign. In addition, it should also be decreed a national heritage and become a site of pilgrimage for all Mauritian workers after all, Anjalay is the mother of all past, present, and future Mauritian workers. This year also marks the 20^th anniversary of the unveiling of the aforementioned stèle.

Even seven decades after her martyrdom, Anjalay still remains a powerful symbol of the ultimate sacrifice which some brave Mauritian workers were willing to make during the early period of the Mauritian labour movement.  It does not take a far stretch of the imagination to realize, as Pandit Basdeo Bissoondoyal, the great Mauritian Gandhian, missionary, and religious leader once explained that “Anjalay in her death had become the mother of all” and “she was the first lady martyr” of this country’s working class movement. Indeed, in September 2023, she will be remembered during an official ceremony where her bust will be unveiled and a book on the Belle Vue Harel Massacre will be launched.