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Hi Viv, Janette and Eddie:
From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Oct 17 13:17:01 2004 Fred - I'm surprised at this jaded response! Are you suggesting that Goans might be so money hungry that they welcome non-Goans to their shores only to the extent that there's money in it? Is that the way YOU feel?
That's misquoting me. What I *did* say was that the US marines were welcomed, if at all, because they would be seen as spenders with the Mighty Dollar. The hullabaloo over the painting of two classrooms notwithstanding, you might agree that every war-machine goes along with a well-oiled PR machinery. Would the US navy be any exception? If so, please convince me why. The global reality tells us otherwise.
How sad! I'll be sure not to bring any dollars to Goa in January. Let's see if I'm treated differently.
I would suggest you instead try to contrast the welcome got by White, Western tourists on the one hand, and the migrant-workers coming in to slave-away in low-paying jobs on the other. For this, one would not just have to leave not just the dollars but also the trappings that are usually taken to go with it -- the passport, accent, etc, etc
Wrote Janette D. Souza [EMAIL PROTECTED] on Sun Oct 17 13:24:25 2004
Dear FN, I am really dismayed at your response to a display of generosity from the US marines. Whatever your reaction is to US policies, the actions of US Marines on shore leave is to be commended. I believe these actions are on a volunteer basis only.
In turn, I was dismayed that publicity mileage would sought to be squeezed out of such a token act. Of course, you have a right to your opinion over what I said.
I hate to think that all friendliness in India is based sorely on a dollar spending sailor.
"Friendliness" of the 'natives' in tourist destination is one of the biggest myths created by the modern mass tourism industry. Hawaii has been a well studied case in point. So are the Pacific Islands.
You're assuming there was "friendliness" here in the first place,
specially in this case, where the US navy was concerned.
What do we go by? The PR report that an in-house journo of the
US marines dishes out? Of course Goa is "friendly" for the US navy. But compared
to what? Iraq?From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Oct 17 13:38:07 2004
Is it your view that NRI visitors to Goa are "welcomed" only as dollar-spenders and that generally the locals seek to make a fast buck out of them?
You're putting words in my mouth! It's time expat Goans felt less defensive whenever the unfair and grossly unequal exchanges involved in the global tourism industry are pointed out or mentioned.
Generally, tourism anywhere is based on the motive of money.
Forget what the WTO preaches about the "smokeless industry"
promoting friendship and global understanding ;-) As far as "NRI visitors" are concerned, it would depend
what equation and connection they would have with the
host population. My case is that the US Navy, despite the
hype, had none! I wonder how the US military depicted the
Far East, before converting those places into spots for
R&R (rest and recreation) during the Cold War.And/or that the Goa projects NRIs undertake are only public relations exercises to assuage their guilt?
It depends how tokenistic or meaningful these how, how much impact these have on the ground-level reality, how much PR mileage is sought to be squeezed out of it, what are the intentions behind undertaking the same, how much of a two-sided partnership such initiatives turn out to be, and what is the actual political and social role of the organisers of such events in the wider scale of things.
There are quite a few initiatives which are doing fairly well
and deserve credit, going by such benchmarks. There are even
expats who hare returned home early and started working out
solutions from here. On the other hand, there are some which
are as good, ...er, as painting two classrooms and then making
sure the rest of the world gets to know about it.Tell it to the Marines, as they say?
FN
PS: This is not intended to offend the nationalistic sentiments of any Goanetter, but just to put across an issue as perceived from *one* perspective in Goa.
