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South Asian Film Festival in Goa from Fri (June 27) to Mon (June 30) At Kala Academy, and ESG, Panaji, Goa http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076384.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GL once again acting as the Goanet Spin Doctor. For the record: 1) I never used the word "slave" or "slaves". This is GL invention or spin produce as you all must have already guessed. If there is something GL is good at, it is spin! 2) It is a fact that Goa was colonised by Portugal. It is also a fact that the Supreme Court of India determined that the Indian Union acquired the Portuguese State of India on the 19th Dec. 1961 by an act of conquest and subjugation. So, according to India we are not liberated but conquered. It is only some of us Goans that shamelessly continue to claim that we have been liberated even after the very clear Supreme Court of India determination. 3) It is a fact that in the last few years of Portuguese rule, Goans were in power in Goa and the Portuguese State of India was almost autonomous. We had a European white Portuguese governor but almost all other important post was occupied by Goans. The judiciary was fully 100% Goan. The Police force had lots of Goans. The Goan civil administration was almost 100% Goan. The civil registries were ran by Goans. And when I say Goans of course it is Goans of all religions. In fact, there were quite a lot of Hindus in high governmental positions as well. The post of Director of Civil Administration of the entire Portuguese State of India was several times occupied by Hindus. In the last few days I met a Goan friend who is compiling his memoirs. He has seen the Indian Union black list of Goans who were not allowed to pass the border from Goa to India and vice versa. According to him, there was an equal number of Goan Catholics and Hindus in that list. 4) We do not know if Portugal would have offered independence to Goa before 1975. After 1974, yes, surely. But before 1974, maybe not. But there are rumours that a Goan-born governor - Dr. Armando Goncalves Pereira - had already been invited by Salazar in 1961 to replace Vassalo e Silva and to calm down the insurgence. He was never officially appointed because he himself told Salazar that it was too late. This according to some may have speeded up the invasion by Nehru. Nehru wanted to prevent a true Goan born to be running the Portuguese state of India because that would increase the chances of Goa attaining full self determination and independence from Portugal. Another interesting fact is that Nehru's cabinet was divided. Half were in favour and half were against the invasion. At the last minute on the 17th Dec 1961, Nehru was warned by the American ambassador to India that he would be doing a mistake and apparently Nehru telephoned his main army general to suspend the operation. But this army general lied to him and said that it was too late and the Indian troops had already invaded Portuguese territory when in fact the operation had not yet started. Ref: Mathai, O. M. - My days with Nehru. (a very rare book which is supposedly currently banned in India). The rest is history... I end with John Menezes' excellent contribution posted in a previous goanet thread some years ago: <<It is interesting to read in: Nehru, the maker of modern India by K. Natwar Singh. The author is severely critical of Nehru when he says: "If Nehru had passed away in 1960, he would have been placed just below Buddha and Gandhiji. Goa in 1961, followed by 1962, did dent his image." It was not just military action against Goa but India's doctrine in the UN Security Council debate that was appalling when C.S. Jha proclaimed, "It is a question of getting rid of the last vestiges of colonialism in India. Charter or no charter, council or no council, this is our basic faith which we cannot afford to give up at any cost." To this the United States' Adlai Stevenson retorted, "But what is at stake is not colonialism; it is a bold violation of the most basic principles of the UN Charter." Goa was already 98 per cent autonomous in its civil administration and 100 per cent in its judiciary. Concurrently, the Soviet Union had been goading China into adventurism in Hong Kong and Macau but the proverbial Chinese wisdom prevailed, until 36 years later when, after 15 years of negotiations, both fell as ripe apples into China's lap with a 50-year mini Constitution for each.>> Best regards Paulo Colaco Dias. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gilbert Lawrence Sent: 27 June 2008 01:04 To: goanet@lists.goanet.org Subject: [Goanet] June 18-- Let the Revolution Begin Related threads and discussions on Telo were "Hyperbole - Par Excellance" and very revealing of the various posters. 1. Paulo stating that Goans were slaves of Portugal. Did I really read that from Paulo? Does this apply to the "Goans rulers" of Goa? 2. Paulo's claim that native Goans are slaves of / in India. This after Goans have had the most frequent elections of any group in India (may be the world) from 1961 to 2008? Does Paulo understand how modern civil societies exercise freedom? No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1516 - Release Date: 24/06/2008 07:53