Dears Having read the 4 articles related to this topic, I thought I'd post a few comments:
[1] Re: The Green, Migration Watch Article (appendix 1): (Further to my previous comment that Britain STILL has the choice of leaving the EU) a: One of the thrusts of Mr. Green's article is that spouses of British nationals are at a disadvantage when compared spouses of other EU nationals. I agree with him. This is a topic he needs to take up with the courts in UK and the ECHR b: The Green paper omits to mention the fact the a large number of British people have migrated south to France, Spain and Portugal (and US, Canada, Oz). [2] Re: The Benedito Ferrao & Jason Keith Fernandes paper (Appendix 2) c: I am not sure WHY the paper diluted its thrust by going all over Africa and other British colonies and colonialism. d: Mr. Green's paper was specifically referring to the large influx of Europeans into Britain. e: This sudden influx has dramatically changed Britain, NOT all of it beneficially. f: Britain's infrastructure was not prepared for the significant fraud and squatting by these Europeans (Appendix 3 and 4) g: Is it really xenophobic to be upset by the filthification and rip off of one's homeland? (Never mind the contra argument. Two wrongs do not make a right) h: Ferrao and Fernandes are misrepresenting the facts when they say that "Goans and other Portuguese Indians LOST their Portuguese citizenship" when Goa was annexed by India. NOT true. i: I am NOT very sure why COLOUR came into this article's headline. Do we know the genetic make up of the Portuguese ...or Goans, for that matter? [3] Re the post by Hartman D'Souza who attended the same school and college in Poona as I did (Appendix 5) j: I disagree with the author that Goans are fleeing anywhere. Traveling for opportunities is not fleeing.. From ancient times, individuals traveled, inter alia, in search of food and opportunity. That, never mind the revisionists, is how the Aryans (and before them, the paleo Mediterranean Dravidians) came to the subcontinent. k: I am not sure about his father 'changing his nationality upon landing in British East Africa'. WHAT did he change it to, IN WHICH YEAR and under WHAT provisions of WHICH Constitution? l: I wonder if the following were and/or illegal acts: "exploding firecrackers in the garden of the Portuguese Consul in Mombasa" (Trespass with out without criminal damage) and "forging his father's signature" (fraud). [4] Re the post by Anthony Fernandes (Appendix 6) m: I believe that his statement (I paraphrase) that " the Indian passport was FORCED upon (his) parents" is a misrepresentation. n: I wish to suggest that when those British East African territories became independent, the non-locals were given options: Obtain Kenyan/Tanzanian/Ugandan citizenship (if you wish to stay on) or stay British/other and proceed. From what I understand, many stayed, many traveled and resettled in the UK with their UK nationality and many applied for Indian nationality and went to Goa. POST SCRIPT: I enjoyed reading ALL the the postings. They demonstrated passion which is always good to read. I hope to read more from these authors. jc Appendix 1 http://news.migrationwatch.org.uk/2013/05/family-permits-for-eu-ctizens-in-britain.html 100,000 dependants of EU nationals resident in Britain entered the UK in the last five years with no conditions attached but with full and immediate access to benefits. The government’s reform of the Immigration Rules require British citizens to be earning £18,600 before they can bring in a spouse from outside the EU so as to avoid any cost to the taxpayer. However, under EU law, they are obliged to provide favourable treatment to EU citizens including those who may never have been resident here prior to moving with their non-EUfamily. Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said “This is a loophole that must be closed and soon. It is absurd that EU citizens should be in a more favourable position than our own citizens. Furthermore, 20,000 per year is a very large number to admit unconditionally, especially compared to the government’s target of tens of thousands for annual net migration. Notes to Editors: 1 More precisely, this applies to EEA nationals. 2 Example: French or Polish citizens living in the UK can marry someone from anywhere in the world and can bring him or her to the UK even if they do not have a job and cannot support their spouse whereas a British citizen must now be earning £18,600 a year. 3 Examples of Abuse – An Indian national from Goa can obtain Portuguese citizenship if their parents were Portuguese citizens prior to 1961. They can then move straight to the UK with their family using an EEA family permit. On arrival they can avail themselves, immediately, of all the benefits available to UK citizens. There is anecdotal evidence that this has been happening quite extensively. Many settle in Swindon, where around 9,000 Goans now live. == Appendix 2 http://kafila.org/2013/08/31/europeans-of-an-other-colour-why-the-goans-are-portuguese-r-benedito-ferrao-jason-keith- fernandes/ Green’s perspective from a few months ago mirrors prevalent xenophobic views on the rights of immigrants to Europe; hence, the counterpoint offered here hopes to challenge such bias as it will surely continue to be expressed. unlike British Indian subjects, in being made a part of the Indian state, Goans and other Portuguese Indians lost their Portuguese citizenship, and the ability to be both South Asian and European, only to have Indian citizenship thrust upon them, and be fixed as solely Indian. It was only subsequent to the normalization of relations between India and Portugal that a number of former citizens of the Portuguese State of India were able to reclaim their Portuguese citizenship. == Appendix 3 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2337593/It-beggars-belief-Anger-shopkeepers-Roma-gypsies-set-camp-Marble-Arch-London.html Appendix 4 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260122/Benefits-Britain-Eastern-European-gang-jailed-audacious-500-000-fraud.html == Appendix 5 http://kafila.org/2013/09/06/indians-of-another-colour-or-why-goans-are-more-than-just-portuguese-hartman-de-souza/ The news that Goa’s Catholics obtain Portuguese citizenship and flee wherever they can with their families, availing in fact of whatever loopholes are available, is not that new a phenomenon to Goans following matters on the ground It helps to keep in mind that it is Goa that is the classic case of a ‘failed state’, and not Pakistan, as Indians like to believe. Goa was once a beautiful territory protected by Ghats on three sides, rich with an abundance of water, blessed with fertile land, and made up of villages each of which had control of their commons through a sophisticated system of village governance that far predated the Portuguese Colonialists. Today however it is a state governed by politicians who work hand-in-glove with their crony partners whether in mining, real estate or industry, a state in a freefall towards entropy. My grandfather retired as the District Clerk in Nairobi and came back to Goa on his Portuguese passport to build a bigger house, one with a balcony, a hall, a dining room and three bedrooms. He sent my father to St. Vincent’s School and Wadia College in Pune. Like his son, the black sheep of the family, my father forged his father’s signature and enlisted as an officer in the army to fight on the Burma front. Like he often told me, he would either have been cannon fodder or a general. While my grandfather may have held on to his as a badge of honour, the first thing my father did on landing in Kenya was set about changing his ‘nationality’ and getting another piece of paper. He came back to Goa on an Indian passport. I continue to be very proud of the fact that on Goa’s Liberation Day, December 19th, 1961, my father bought a box of firecrackers and exploded them in the garden of the Portuguese Consul in Mombasa, Felix Dias, who happened to be a Goan with a Portuguese passport. === Appendix 6 http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2013-September/234269.html Anthony Fernandes: My parents also travelled and worked/lived in Kenya and Tanzania, and they would never have desired an Indian passport, if it were not forced onto them in order to bring up their kids in India, after independence Kenya.
