------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.casadegoa.org -------------------------------------------------------
I read in the Goanet and elsewhere a growing tendency in us to condemn a good statesman with a better vision just because he belongs to a party with an agenda that is perceived as incompatible with the notion of good and proper in certain faction of the voting public. This is throwing both the baby and the bathwater out. I shall refrain from naming politicians and personalities here as I perceive this ever growing disease plaguing all democracies worldwide, and restrict my comments and observations to the wider field of franchise rather than as a marked tendency in a specific state or region going to polls. It is an error to assume that we succeed in condemning the person by not electing him into power. Although we do in fact succeed in not giving that person the power to govern us, but/for in these times of coalition governments and party politics, it is as possible for the condemned to influence the mandate of the incumbent politician from the back bench, as it were,of the opposition as from the very front office of power. The condemned does not cease to function, but simply party hops in desperate bid to survive in the field of politics, which alone is important to him if he is to shape HIS dream for HIS state, HIS nation, HIS people in the eventuality of his getting elected. Till that time, he has to survive. And the one thing to do in order to survive is to be in the public mind even by resorting to most ridiculous gimmicks. It is in the very nature of this corruptible field that any fixed principle proves rather a stumbling block than an incentive to grow and thrive because it has its umbilical chord deeply rooted in the vox popupi and that, the public opinion, is in a constant state of flux. For what gives it its raison d'etre is not any fixed noble virtue par se, but a certain - even positive - opportunism which may be understood as prudence of the mass-mind to adapt to conditions created by the politico-economic climate at a given time. The public man can only fight his battles by an association. Man is not a bundle of virtue alone, nor is he constantly enlightened but gropes his way by trial and error through a half fluid,half solid and mostly half lit mass of ideas and emotions and feelings towards his fulfillment, whatever that may, in the ultimate analysis, be. Politics is just one of the areas where he finds for a moment a movement, a shifting, and a flux in his otherwise rather static existence, because it is here that he finds an opportunity to create by association with the like minded favorable conditions for his growth. So as long as masses are divided, as long as men in public tug at that part of the rope that they feel best to create those conditions, there will be 'leaders' seeking opportunities to see the most advantaged group that is most likely to be conducive to his own fulfillment as the public man. If we have seen in the public field staunch leftists pushing the capitalist agenda by calling it a compromise, we should not be surprised at all in future to see a staunch Hindu pushing the Muslim agenda, compromising equally his religion and religious virtue for the more viable creed of economical and political gain. Charudatta Prabhudesai, Khoro Goinkar! _________________________________________________________________ Catch all the cricketing action right here. Live score, match reports, photos et al. http://content.msn.co.in/Sports/Cricket/Default.aspx ------------------------------------------------------- Goanet recommends, and is proud to be associated with, 'Domnic's Goa' - A nostalgic romp through a bygone era. This book is the perfect gift for any Goan, or anyone wanting to understand Goa. Distributed locally by Broadway, near Caculo Island, Panjim & internationally by OtherIndiaBookStore.Com. For trade enquiries contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------