Re: [GRN] Libby de Liberdade (O Heraldo, 28/4/2024)

[Mervyn Maciel]

Enjoyed your article Vivek, with your usual trademark!I remember meeting Libby when we were both at Goa Today’s offices talking with Vinayak. Wish the great lady well.Warm regards.Mervyn Sent from my iPhoneOn 28 Apr 2024, at 13:02, Peter de Souza  wrote:Brilliant article Vivek. Thank you. Salute to LibbyOn Sun, Apr 28, 2024, 06:48 V M  wrote:https://www.heraldgoa.in/Edit/By-invitation/LIBBY-DE-LIBERDADE-/220727

In less than a month on May 25th, the great Libia “Libby” Lobo Sardesai will celebrate her 100th birthday. Unfortunately, like her childhood friend the late artist Francis Newton Souza – the two Goans grew up close to each other at Crawford Market in Bombay – it is deeply shameful that city and country are paying no attention, let alone the appropriate respect. But in this case, we do still have time for everyone to get their act together, to acknowledge the contributions of this indomitable, irresistible freedom-fighter. One fitting tribute will be on May 12th, when Solomon Souza – the grandson of Libby’s teenage dancing partner – paints an immense new mural in dedication to her, in the heart of Panjim where she has lived for decades.

Today we are bombarded with propaganda about Nari Shakti – women’s power – but nothing compares with Libby, the one-woman juggernaut. Born into relative comfort into a family from Porvorim, this self-described “chit of a girl” was intent on participating in the vibrant world of ideas and idealism she was surrounded with in South Bombay. While still a student, she was the Secretary of Tristão de Bragança Cunha’s anti-colonial Goan Youth League. Then, after wartime years as a censor/translator for Italian prisoners of war (where many other Goans were similarly employed) she got her first degree at the new Siddharth College established by Ambedkar, where Babasaheb himself expressed pleasure about her signing up for admission.

Still in college, Libby was introduced – by her young professor Nissim Ezekiel amongst others – to MN Roy, the world-famous revolutionary who co-founded the Mexican Communist Party, and was Lenin’s nominee to the Comintern. By that point, after the devastating world wars, the radical was in the process of abandoning communism in favour of liberal humanism, and that important ideological influence remained with the bold Goan girl, who landed a good job at All India Radio but kept studying for another degree, from the Government Law College which had opened its doors conveniently close by.

All through the 1950s, the Goans of Bombay remained in foment over continued colonialism in their ancestral homeland. There was no denying the “winds of change” signalling the end to European rule but they were stuck with the obdurate, uncomprehending (indeed, positively addled) dictator Salazar, who insisted on the delusional refrain “Aqui e Portugal” instead of negotiating seriously like the French with regards to Pondicherry. There was censorship, the curtailment of civil rights, a half-hidden regime of terror against nationalists, and Libby’s clean heart burned with anger about all these atrocities. She wanted to offer Satyagraha, but the Portuguese massacred 25 unarmed marchers and wounded over 200 more on 15th August 1955, so the Indian government stopped the border crossings. The young Goan was crestfallen, but that is precisely when history came calling.

Everything changed for Libby after Vaman Sardesai unexpectedly walked through the doors of All India Radio. This fine young scholar from Goa had completed his Lyceum education, and joined the Escola Médica, but was compelled to escape across the border when found in possession of anti-colonial literature. He moved to Wardha, and Mahatma Gandhi’s famous Sevagram Ashram, and eventually to Bombay where he too felt crushed at being unable to offer Satyagraha after August 15, 1955. Nonetheless, he joined AIR in the External Services Division, creating programming about “the problem of Goa” to be beamed abroad. But there was an inherent frustration, because – Libby recalls – he could see no impact: “all communications were suspended. The people of Goa had to rely only on the propaganda of the Portuguese, and they could not know anything about what was happening in the outside world, and how the [freedom] movement was going on. The people were getting desperate, and they were losing their morale. There was no way of communicating with the Goans or educating and enlightening them in any way.”

Very quickly, an extraordinary puzzle fell into place. During the liberation of the tiny Portuguese enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the Indian authorities confiscated powerful wireless transmitters, and decided to use them to break the Portuguese embargo on news in Goa. A small team was assembled, comprising of Libby Lobo and Vaman Sardesai along with the older anti-colonial intellectual Nicolau Joao Menezes and his wife Alda. Under the pressure of severe conditions in the Western Ghats, the 

Re: [GRN] Libby de Liberdade (O Heraldo, 28/4/2024)

[Frederick Noronha]

Freedom fighters of Goa seem to have had a significant involvement with
India's official broadcaster, the All India Radio (now, officially
Akashvani). Such freedom-fighters connected to the state-run Indian radio
network included Telo Mascarenhas, Edila Gaitonde, Dr Carmo Azavedo,
Evagrio Jorge and Laxmanrao Sardesai. Also Balakrishna Bhagwant *Bakibab*
Borkar, Nagesh Karmali, Libia Lobo (later Lobo Sardessai), among others.
Open to correction here.

In a latter day and age, the student movement of the Goa of the late 1970s
and early 1980s also ended up with quite a few of the one-time radicals
taking to the media. With the private-sector, it's easier to understand
activists seeking jobs in the media. But with the government-controlled
sector  how does that play out? Would anyone know of any study conducted on
the relationship between India's official broadcaster and Goa's freedom
struggle?

By way of detail, MN Roy's ideology was radical humanism (not liberal
humanism).

Incidentally, and on a somewhat tangential point, recent writing has
suggested that Goa's first chief minister, the mine-owner and MGP party
funder Dayanand Bandodkar, was himself influenced by MN Roy and his Radical
Humanism.  There is little clarify on those times of much change in Goa.
Would anyone know about the accuracy of this claim, based on something
mentioned once in a book written some time back? FN


On Sun, Apr 28, 2024, 06:48 V M  wrote:
>
>> https://www.heraldgoa.in/Edit/By-invitation/LIBBY-DE-LIBERDADE-/220727
>>
>> In less than a month on May 25th, the great Libia “Libby” Lobo Sardesai
>> will celebrate her 100th birthday. Unfortunately, like her childhood friend
>> the late artist Francis Newton Souza – the two Goans grew up close to each
>> other at Crawford Market in Bombay – it is deeply shameful that city and
>> country are paying no attention, let alone the appropriate respect. But in
>> this case, we do still have time for everyone to get their act together, to
>> acknowledge the contributions of this indomitable, irresistible
>> freedom-fighter. One fitting tribute will be on May 12th, when Solomon
>> Souza – the grandson of Libby’s teenage dancing partner – paints an immense
>> new mural in dedication to her, in the heart of Panjim where she has lived
>> for decades.
>>
>> Today we are bombarded with propaganda about Nari Shakti – women’s power
>> – but nothing compares with Libby, the one-woman juggernaut. Born into
>> relative comfort into a family from Porvorim, this self-described “chit of
>> a girl” was intent on participating in the vibrant world of ideas and
>> idealism she was surrounded with in South Bombay. While still a student,
>> she was the Secretary of Tristão de Bragança Cunha’s anti-colonial Goan
>> Youth League. Then, after wartime years as a censor/translator for Italian
>> prisoners of war (where many other Goans were similarly employed) she got
>> her first degree at the new Siddharth College established by Ambedkar,
>> where Babasaheb himself expressed pleasure about her signing up for
>> admission.
>>
>> Still in college, Libby was introduced – by her young professor Nissim
>> Ezekiel amongst others – to MN Roy, the world-famous revolutionary who
>> co-founded the Mexican Communist Party, and was Lenin’s nominee to the
>> Comintern. By that point, after the devastating world wars, the radical was
>> in the process of abandoning communism in favour of liberal humanism, and
>> that important ideological influence remained with the bold Goan girl, who
>> landed a good job at All India Radio but kept studying for another degree,
>> from the Government Law College which had opened its doors conveniently
>> close by.
>>
>> All through the 1950s, the Goans of Bombay remained in foment over
>> continued colonialism in their ancestral homeland. There was no denying the
>> “winds of change” signalling the end to European rule but they were stuck
>> with the obdurate, uncomprehending (indeed, positively addled) dictator
>> Salazar, who insisted on the delusional refrain “Aqui e Portugal” instead
>> of negotiating seriously like the French with regards to Pondicherry. There
>> was censorship, the curtailment of civil rights, a half-hidden regime of
>> terror against nationalists, and Libby’s clean heart burned with anger
>> about all these atrocities. She wanted to offer Satyagraha, but the
>> Portuguese massacred 25 unarmed marchers and wounded over 200 more on 15th
>> August 1955, so the Indian government stopped the border crossings. The
>> young Goan was crestfallen, but that is precisely when history came calling.
>>
>> Everything changed for Libby after Vaman Sardesai unexpectedly walked
>> through the doors of All India Radio. This fine young scholar from Goa had
>> completed his Lyceum education, and joined the Escola Médica, but was
>> compelled to escape across the border when found in possession of
>> anti-colonial literature. He moved to Wardha, and Mahatma Gandhi’s famous
>> Sevagram 

Re: [GRN] Libby de Liberdade (O Heraldo, 28/4/2024)

[Peter de Souza]

Brilliant article Vivek. Thank you. Salute to Libby

On Sun, Apr 28, 2024, 06:48 V M  wrote:

> https://www.heraldgoa.in/Edit/By-invitation/LIBBY-DE-LIBERDADE-/220727
>
> In less than a month on May 25th, the great Libia “Libby” Lobo Sardesai
> will celebrate her 100th birthday. Unfortunately, like her childhood friend
> the late artist Francis Newton Souza – the two Goans grew up close to each
> other at Crawford Market in Bombay – it is deeply shameful that city and
> country are paying no attention, let alone the appropriate respect. But in
> this case, we do still have time for everyone to get their act together, to
> acknowledge the contributions of this indomitable, irresistible
> freedom-fighter. One fitting tribute will be on May 12th, when Solomon
> Souza – the grandson of Libby’s teenage dancing partner – paints an immense
> new mural in dedication to her, in the heart of Panjim where she has lived
> for decades.
>
> Today we are bombarded with propaganda about Nari Shakti – women’s power –
> but nothing compares with Libby, the one-woman juggernaut. Born into
> relative comfort into a family from Porvorim, this self-described “chit of
> a girl” was intent on participating in the vibrant world of ideas and
> idealism she was surrounded with in South Bombay. While still a student,
> she was the Secretary of Tristão de Bragança Cunha’s anti-colonial Goan
> Youth League. Then, after wartime years as a censor/translator for Italian
> prisoners of war (where many other Goans were similarly employed) she got
> her first degree at the new Siddharth College established by Ambedkar,
> where Babasaheb himself expressed pleasure about her signing up for
> admission.
>
> Still in college, Libby was introduced – by her young professor Nissim
> Ezekiel amongst others – to MN Roy, the world-famous revolutionary who
> co-founded the Mexican Communist Party, and was Lenin’s nominee to the
> Comintern. By that point, after the devastating world wars, the radical was
> in the process of abandoning communism in favour of liberal humanism, and
> that important ideological influence remained with the bold Goan girl, who
> landed a good job at All India Radio but kept studying for another degree,
> from the Government Law College which had opened its doors conveniently
> close by.
>
> All through the 1950s, the Goans of Bombay remained in foment over
> continued colonialism in their ancestral homeland. There was no denying the
> “winds of change” signalling the end to European rule but they were stuck
> with the obdurate, uncomprehending (indeed, positively addled) dictator
> Salazar, who insisted on the delusional refrain “Aqui e Portugal” instead
> of negotiating seriously like the French with regards to Pondicherry. There
> was censorship, the curtailment of civil rights, a half-hidden regime of
> terror against nationalists, and Libby’s clean heart burned with anger
> about all these atrocities. She wanted to offer Satyagraha, but the
> Portuguese massacred 25 unarmed marchers and wounded over 200 more on 15th
> August 1955, so the Indian government stopped the border crossings. The
> young Goan was crestfallen, but that is precisely when history came calling.
>
> Everything changed for Libby after Vaman Sardesai unexpectedly walked
> through the doors of All India Radio. This fine young scholar from Goa had
> completed his Lyceum education, and joined the Escola Médica, but was
> compelled to escape across the border when found in possession of
> anti-colonial literature. He moved to Wardha, and Mahatma Gandhi’s famous
> Sevagram Ashram, and eventually to Bombay where he too felt crushed at
> being unable to offer Satyagraha after August 15, 1955. Nonetheless, he
> joined AIR in the External Services Division, creating programming about
> “the problem of Goa” to be beamed abroad. But there was an inherent
> frustration, because – Libby recalls – he could see no impact: “all
> communications were suspended. The people of Goa had to rely only on the
> propaganda of the Portuguese, and they could not know anything about what
> was happening in the outside world, and how the [freedom] movement was
> going on. The people were getting desperate, and they were losing their
> morale. There was no way of communicating with the Goans or educating and
> enlightening them in any way.”
>
> Very quickly, an extraordinary puzzle fell into place. During the
> liberation of the tiny Portuguese enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the
> Indian authorities confiscated powerful wireless transmitters, and decided
> to use them to break the Portuguese embargo on news in Goa. A small team
> was assembled, comprising of Libby Lobo and Vaman Sardesai along with the
> older anti-colonial intellectual Nicolau Joao Menezes and his wife Alda.
> Under the pressure of severe conditions in the Western Ghats, the quartet
> proved short-lived.
>
> The Menezes couple (who happen to be my grand-uncle and aunt) quickly
> retreated, but not so Lobo