########################################################################## # If Goanet stops reaching you, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # Want to check the archives? http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
In catching up with the posts on caste, I was delighted to read Fred's post on 'Caste...and all that'. I believe he is absolutely right that the issue of caste in Catholic Goa should be brought out into the open for the benefit of all as we clearly have informed and educated people across the Goan spectrum able to engage in such discussion dispassionately even though they may see the world in quite different ways. So too, I would like to see some responses from Hindu Goans in this debate. In my view, akin to Fred's thesis, (as well as several others like Albert Da Cruz), caste stratification in Catholic Goa exists, following from its Hindu roots, primarily because those who have managed to claim and sustain that they are the upper castes have enjoyed a hegemonic position to the significant disadvantage of the rest of Goan society. Historically, the invention of caste has been a brilliant con trick to maintain control, by small numbers, over societal resources. Brahmanism, in theory and practice, specifically labels and allocates others (with limited exception) into closed caste groups, from birth to death, based thus, on ascription, rather than achievement. This has generated tensions between all the labelled groups and has undermined the natural process which normally leads towards social solidarity, and homogeneity among a group of people. It has also undermined basic human rights. For the caste elite, the maintenance of symbolic, political and economic power, was a simple matter in the past, when education was largely confined, by them, including the priesthood, to the caste elite. However, this is no longer the case and any caste claiming elite deference would be truly hard pressed to justify any taken for granted elitism on caste lines today. Instead, it has been forced to burrow deep into the social fabric but yet continue to do immeasurable social damage to Goa and the Goans without showing much face. It is worth pointing out that castes, like races, do not exist, using any scientific criteria available to us. There is absolutely nothing genetic which can possibly distinguish between so called castes or races. However, caste and race as concepts do continue to exist in people's minds, because, having been socially constructed/created, often by drawing on pseudo religious beliefs, they become reified over a long period of time. Thus, once socially created, they become 'real' and in terms of their consequences work largely and powerfully to coerce those perceived as the 'other'. This is to the real detriment of a society as a whole and the tragic reason for Catholic Goans persistently feuding among themselves and being in intense competition rather than co-operating for the general welfare of the whole community as such. Sadly, the Catholic Church has been deeply complicit in the perpetuation of caste in Goa. It was happy to eliminate the mark of original sin through baptism, but chose, for political reasons and self interest, to retain the mark of caste which could easily have been eliminated simultaneously with original sin at baptism. Such a lead would have helped greatly, as it did significantly, in the case, among others, of the Sikhs and Muslims in India. Sadly too, Catholicism in Goa, largely failed to lead towards egalitarian brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. Put simply, the Catholic clergy, from the priests to the highest ranks have covertly and overtly, enjoined caste stratification rather than opposed it except in rare cases. They particularly undermined, with the support of the local Brahmins, those Catholic priests, who in all conscience, argued against caste in their parishes and pulpits. Thus, the Catholic Church, has shamefully, been the main supporter of caste in Catholic Goa. However, while being critical of the Catholic Church in Goa, all is not lost. There is still an opportunity today, for the most senior person in the Catholic Goan hierarchy, Bishop Felipe Neri Ferrao to retrieve the situation, to his eternal credit, and even eventual sainthood perhaps! All he has to do is to decree and ensure that at every baptism from 1st January 2005, the marks of original sin and that of caste are simultaneously expunged forthwith. Clearly, it is necessary to start somewhere and I would not wish his Excellency to say that it can't be done, but to move whatever mountains are in his way and just get on with this necessary task please. This may have been a fairly strident critique of caste in Catholic Goa but I hasten to add that it is not a personal attack on individual Brahmins, who through an accident of history, may believe that they have been allocated to that social group, PROVIDED, they do not behave as Brahmins as the old saying goes. Indeed, I do have some excellent friends who are led to believe that they were born Brahmin and while they occasionally pull a fast one over the less astute in a social gathering, have often proved to be bright enough to avoid getting their legs 'chopped off', metaphorically speaking , if I am within earshot. Let no one doubt however, that like some of the worst ills in society, such as racism and apartheid, and so many others, often stemming from India, they will not go away unless rigorously confronted head-on without respite. Cornel