"…Activism' is picking on individuals as targets. The current obsession is with Babush Monserrate, rather than what he represents…In fact, the sensational nature of this case could well deflect public opinion from wider processes Goa is struggling with. Corruption, the hegemony of a small group over everything including the framing of public concerns, political representatives who have ceased to represent, an Opposition that fails to play a critical watchdog's role, and Big Money simply running amuck in a small state…
"…Babush is not alone when it comes to listing controversial politicians, but he gets targeted while others sit without being noticed. Politicians who cut into the interest of the citizen so blatantly have no right to keep manipulating us. But, here, for sure, the cure being offered now looks than the disease. " Frederick Noronha's article in the Herald, October 22, subsequently posted on Goanet, and two snippets of which preface this comment and give weight to it, makes for disturbing reading. If only for the fact that it may be the first time this redoubtable Goan journalist may have had his optimism put to the sword. Whether Fred gets this great quality of his back or not, the fact is that a threat to his faith in activism is an imminent threat to *ours*. No one, but *no one* disputes that Goa needs to be spared from the rapacious thrusts of its moneybag politicians and 'industrialists', both of whom have *never* seen beyond their own pockets and greed. Or remain immune to the violence they can perpetrate to protect their hides. The 'Big Money' Fred refers to has made our conspicuous spenders into pigs with their snouts in swill. But look at the other side, from the point of view of the persons against whom the violence is committed, and note please, as an articulate posting on Goanet reminded us, how easily those Goans not victimised can forget! Some years ago (Fred, details please), an attractive middle-aged Goan woman from Benaulim riding home on a bike with her European husband after drinks and dinner, were waylaid by an inspector of police who had tried to 'chat' her up earlier. Both were severely brutalized. Several public protests were held, and several 'activists' brought to the fore. The matter died, while the powers that be colluded to hush up the crime. Many years later, August 23, 1994, to be precise, two Punjabi brothers in the prime of their life were heinously murdered at Davorlim, outside Margao. Again, there were genuine protests by the public, maybe even the active support of some of the better-known 'activists'. Ten years later, more than enough time for the moneybags involved to tide over matters, the men accused are all let off. Barely a few years back, a young girl (of Sri Lankan origin adopted by a German woman) studying at the Goa College of Art, was gang-raped in the canteen after being drugged but conscious of the ordeal and pain. What happened there? Does anyone know? Closer, so much closer, there's that poor deluded teenager, raped and left to die, and think of her mother who's possibly asking herself why, even though she admits now that she may have been an 'evil' mother, she can't get justice for her poor girl? I feel that maybe Fred's anguish masks a detail often lost. That the more prominent of our 'activists', very much like the politicians and moneybags they decry, are no less 'ambitious'. I was an involved participant in early agitations and outcry against Zuari polluting the wells around, and so were many of us at that time. We got involved with the Ramponcar agitation against mechanized trawling too, took a huge padyatra from Margao to Panjim. There was much talk then of the 'environment' then too, 'sustainable development', all the words so readily bandied about these days. What happened to that leadership that evolved from this I wonder? Didn't one of them join forces with the right? Or is my memory failing me again? Sometimes too, let us not forget, and this is the main part of my argument, ambition itself, though not overtly a 'corrupting' force, can also make one choose personal safety, peace of mind and relative comfort over the dangers often posed by confrontation with the establishment. In such a case, and we are seeing it and let me be blunt about it, we have the anomaly of the Goa Foundation, a non-profit with a stellar record of combating the destructiveness brought about by mining (30 years at least to regenerate the environment in their own words), now taking the line that mining in fact, can be regulated if brought under central control! I have not heard the argument why this must be so, only a few noises here and there, but what galls, and I think gives 'activism' a bad name, is when those most qualified, (like the Goa Foundation who give a good name to activism), those, like them, in the forefront of the meticulous research that made us aware of the hazards of mining, must take their place on the firing line. They cannot stay on the sidelines, as if they were watching a play. If they do that, whatever public support they hope to get will never come. While I have no issues with the Goa Foundation saying that the agitation against mining cannot hope to win in even the highest court of the land, that they have failed. I cannot comprehend their unwillingness to set the needed research aside and join hands with those protesting as they did recently in Maina, Quepem. I keep thinking of the four women who chained themselves across the mining road, and which made big news for exactly two days. Imagine how much more powerful the whole thing would have been, had they been joined by the distinguished Norma Alvares of the Goa Foundation, awarded a Padma Shri for her forceful defence of the environment. Had that happened in this lighting news age, NDTV 24/7, CNN-IBN, Times Now, and all the other half a dozen TV Channels would have run in, cameras in tow; the Youth Congress goon who brought the truck-drivers in would have been exposed, as would the inspector who verbally abused the women. Taking the fight to the streets is not a problem with me, even at my age. In fact I am now convinced that this may be the last resort left to us, if the crooks up there don't just up and leave on their own accord. What pains me most though is when the fight is taken to the streets, activists who garnered deserved fame highlighting and fighting this issue in the courts, do *not* join to show solidarity, even if it does mean being roughed up by the mining goons. In fact, if the more respected activists such as the Goa Foundation are the first to take the streets, issues they fight for may become 'news' in the best sense of the term…out there in the public domain, and impossible for the crooks to deny. Similarly, If there is more publicity given to the issue than the *person* raising the issue, the chances are that the public, once informed, will act, and that they will, when push comes to shove, come out on the streets and make their voices heard. Whose voice is it that the 'activists' want heard? Regards, Hartman