People, Goans all, We see pillage and plunder as looting -- which it is. In times gone and yet when looking at human trafficking, laws of eminent domain -- loot is a despoilation that includes lives, minds and bodies (to mean emaciating their existence, violating ot, depraving it, reducing it). Essentially a form of rape. So we are largely talking here of being raped. How would we feel if one of ours or our self was ravished, violated, put through painful ordeals -- of course against her or his and our will, under duress, and to be clear -- unlawfully.
Refer to the Rape of the Sabines, or Ravan (who by any stretch of imagination was not messing around, but going about handling the insult to Shoorpanaka) fighting Jatayu coming to Sita's aid. But I am not condoning via the parallel. Refer to any rape, including marital (yes) and date rape too, and an awareness may appear. Essentially the land is being raped. In this vein, one more question would be, are we willing to confront a rapist if one of our own, if not one of our neighbors, the household help, and so forth were have been raped -- and in that altercation/confrontation (pre police intervention, or post police nonchalance) expect a possible death/ a snuffing out of our existence. venantius j pinto From: "Venita Coelho" <venitacoe...@gmail.com> To: "Goanet" <goa...@goanet.org> Subject: [Goanet] The Accidental Activist - To Die For The Accidental Activist - To Die For By Venita Coelho Over the last few months I have slowly realized that we are not just examining the projections of worst case scenarios. The foundation of the worst case scenarios is being laid even as we look on. The mining industry and the building lobby are already laying the basis for a devastated Goa. It is time to ask you what you are willing to fight for. As an intelligent, educated person, what is it that you hold so dear that you would be willing to stake your life for it? Would you fight if someone poured poison into your drinking water? Would you fight if someone choked the river that ran through your village? Would you fight if the raw sewage from a mega project leaked into your well? Would you fight if all the fields in your village were marked for destruction? Would you fight if the crop your family depended on for a whole years food was deliberately destroyed? All of this is happening in villages across Goa. It is time the fight stopped being restricted to a few 'activists'. No one is asking you to be a naxal. But, frighteningly, if you don't stand up to fight now - it may be too late in the next few years. Your rivers will be choked, your water poisoned, your trees cut down, your fields filled in, your village reduced to concrete. Don't decide to join the fight when there is nothing left to fight for. Decide what you are willing to lay your life down for now. (ENDS)