--- Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >In the meantime Santosh and others have demolished >your side of the argument under a torrent of sarcasm: >
I have merely taken the impractical and misguided notions of insulating Goa from outsiders and preserving the myth of a unique Goan identity, to their logical conclusion. In this respect, my contention is two-fold: 1. The real solution to the problem of indiscriminate use and misuse of land does not require us to militate against non-Goans. 2. There is no basis for a single homogeneous Goan identity that can be or needs to be preserved. The identity of each Goan social group, which there are a legion, differs significantly based on religion, caste, subcaste, taluka, village and vaddo. Rajan's cultural identity is not the same as that of Romlo or Remo. My neighbors in Chimbel speak four different dialects of Konknni, and have as many distinct sets of rites and mores. What needs to be preserved and promoted, therefore, is our language, literature, art, music and the wholesome traditions and cultural practices of all the multifarious Goan communities. At the same time we need to weed out harmful elements of our culture, along with xenophobic and intolerant attitudes. My personal experience has been that non-Goans who permanently settle in Goa can do all of this as well as any native Goan, let alone a theatrical Goan cyber-chauvinist. Cheers, Santosh