The reports from the Global Goan Convention are sketchy. With the exception of Dr. Damodar SarDeaai, Dr. Teotonio De Souza, Dr. Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes and Carmen Miranda, there is no mention of Jason Keith Fernandes, Cliff Pereira and Eddie Fernandes on their presentations. Dr. Teo's "Goa's many Liberations" has appeared in print and on, I think, on other forums, if not on goanet. He has explored the presentation dilemma of long-time outsiders still not considered to be "Goans." True, outsiders made Goa their home long before time. Goa's social history is tied to mythology. Besides the Parashuram myth, Goa's first inhabitants were said to be from the north. The natives, gavde and kunbi, may have been relegated to the back end of history, as much as the native Indians in America and Canada. Such is the history of new nations where immigrants outnumber the locals. It will be a continuous fight for "liberation" on this front -- either keeping outsiders outsider the margins of Goan society or accepting them as one of our own. Goa has residential qualification to apply for ration cards. Is the ration card or the eligibility to vote be the required qualifications for calling this outsiders for calling these outsiders "niz Goenkars"? Should the new migrant be also well-versed in Konkani and Goan cultural habits and traditions? If the latter is in fact needed that many Goans living abroad who lack the ability to talk in Konkani and have almost given up on Goan cultural habits and traditions be stilled be called Goans? Dr. Mascarenhas-Keyes paper is almost the same as the one she read at the 1988 Toronto convention. and the article she wrote for the Toronto convention sourvenie. She has just added the new immigrantion pattern of Goans seeking Portuguese citizenship in order to migrate to the UK and other countries. It is unfortunate that no figures have been obtained as to how many Goan migrants have come to UK since the Portuguese allowed Goans to apply for Portuguese citizenship. >From what is quoted in Cip Fernandes' second day report, I found Dr. SarDesai's presentation very superficial. Reeling off names of eminent Goans is not enough and calling Goans "eminently intelligent" is just a sop. Wish the learned professor had statitics to show the propotion of those "intelligent" to "unintelligent." As for the call to "assert Goan solldarity", it is just a cry in the wilderness. This pleading comes at all conventions. Save Goan identity is another common refrain at these conventions. Goan solidartiy is an illusion. Unless these polticians show us the way on how to achieve it and they themselves pave the road through their own examples, Goans will be left where they are now. Goans, like any other community, has its own divisions. Cutting across socio-religious boundaries and dismantling communal hurdeles is no easy task. The battle-cry for transformation on this front has been heard before and we will continue to hear in the future. To assert solidarity, Goans must firm come together unitedly on many common platforms. Goa current battles lies in fighting the many causes that NGOs have taken up. Saving Goa from those who continue to plunder and rape her is the most important job Goans have right now.
Eugene Correia
