Good afternoon,
Regarding Frederick Noronha's query copied below: Yes, in my series on the
Portuguese-speaking world (Lusophonia) and cultures during last year in the
Goan Observer, I had an introductory article on CPLP,the international
organization called Community of the Portuguese-speaking Countries, eight in
total. I hope it gives some replies to his questions. After this one, I
followed on to each of these countries and its historical and present links
with Goa, besides exploring what potentialities they offer for Goa and
India. They are all available on the Goan Observer archives
(www.goanobserver.com) or on deman by sending an e-mail to me.
Constantino H Xavier
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From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet]Queries about the CPLP
Just came across the Community of Portuguese Language Countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPLP
While Goa is not a 'country', was curious to know (i) how active is this
group (ii) how useful is it (iii) does it allow regions which are not
countries, and where Portuguese isn't the official language, to join in?
Tino Xavier had, if one recalls right, posted something on this in the
recent past. FN
The Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP):
IMAGINATION OR REALITY?
By Constantino Hermanns Xavier
Goan Observer, edition 11 September 2004
SAILING THE lusophone world we have to start with the institutional side,
namely the international organization called Community of Portuguese
Speaking Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa CPLP).
Founded in July 1996 it has Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau,
Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe as the six founding member
countries where Portuguese is an official language. The Republic of East
Timor has officially joined in 2002, increasing the membership to a total
number of eight countries spread over the continents of Europe, South
America, Africa and Asia.
The idea of bringing this global community together is not recent. During
the Portuguese colonial there were many proposals for a lusophone
confederation. Some eminent Goans such as A A Bruto da Costa had proposed
this without success to dictator Salazar back in the 50s. Thus the colonial
war broke out in Africa, but even illustrious anti-colonialist fighters such
as Amilcar Cabral would underline they were fighting the Portuguese
political power and not its people, culture and language which they admired.
And though democracy was established in Portugal in 1976, it took 20 more
years to finally institutionalize the everlasting dream of a global
lusophone community.
The founding declaration of 1996 laid down extremely vague and broad vectors
serving as objectives, namely the political and diplomatic cooperation
between its members and the strengthening of their presence in the
international scenario or cooperation in all domains, including education,
health, science and technology, defense, agriculture, public administration,
communi-cation, justice, public security, culture, sports and media.
The headquarters of CPLP are located in Lisbon. There is the Conference of
Heads of State and Government, meeting every two years and laying down the
main strategies of action. Decisions have to be made by consensus among the
eight members, a procedure that frequently leads to inaction and tends to
block a fresh, proactive and visible agenda. Other bodies are the Council of
Ministers, the Committee of Permanent Communication and the Executive
Secretariat, besides punctual area-specific ministerial meetings.
The vague objectives and the rigid and complex institutional setup outlaid
above prove to be one of the main reasons for the widespread belief that
CPLP has failed. Instead of focusing first on an effective practical
realization of a lusophone community in key sectors such as education,
international investments or cultural and scientific exchange, and then only
move to a diplomatic integration, CPLP has proven to be a mere talking group
and expression of vague diplomatic statements made laughable when compared
to the impact in world politics of a suspension or readmission of Pakistan
into the Commonwealth.
Generally, the main problem with these international organizations is the
lack of concerned and active engagement. Action remains submissive to a mere
exchange of words. Nice words and intentions printed in heavy declarations
and reports and signed in beautiful ink by the heads of state and ministers.
But what counts in the end is effective communication and intercultural
dialogue, something that can only be intelligently explored by people who
truly identify with the lusophone identity and its ideals. I once attended a
Francophonie Contest for Rhetoric in Paris, where brilliant young Law
students from all over the world tried their best in arguing and excelling
in verbal confront-ation, exploring the beauty and richness of the French
language.
But CPLP has also lost an important battle in the domain of membership. It
establishes that only independent countries that have Portuguese as an
official language may join the organization, leaving out a large diverse
reality of lusophone communities spread over dozens of states. And if,
according to several studies, only 8% of the people in Mozambique have
Portuguese as their mother tongue, what legitimates leaving out other
important Portuguese-speaking communities in France (almost one million
people) or in Macao and Goa? Several associations from the northern Spanish
province of Galiza have been demanding a special status in CPLP. Goa has
been a Portuguese-speaking region for almost five centuries and today the
lusophone heritage is still alive, not only in the archives but also in
classrooms and in many homes all over Goa.
A simple look at three Internet websites clearly shows the lack of
engagement in exploring CPLPs potential. Check out the attractive and
informative Commonwealth (www.commonwealth.org) and Francophonie
(www.fracophonie.org) websites and then the outdated and archaic CPLP
website (www.cplp.org). True, both the British and French organizations are
older, have more resources and bring together more than 50 member countries.
But size does not matter in international relations. It is engagement and
intelligent marketing that count in todays competitive world and the
capacity of linking the richness of heritage with modern methods of
preservation and promotion.
The great challenge for CPLP is to shift from an imagined community to a
practical community wrote a former director of Lisbons Gulbenkian
Foundation, Corsino Tolentino. Yet, how to move to a practical sphere if
there has hardly been any imagination? It is also up to Goa to push for new
solutions and new ways of cooperation in this global lusophone community.
(Ends)
