Re: [Goanet]Portugal and Colonialism (NT)

[goanet-admin]

With regard to the final paragraph «most of the Portuguese colonies around
the world, voluntarily adopted Portuguese as their official language after
acquiring independence» of the post below, may I correct MOST OF to ALL, so
that we read «all the Portuguese colonies around the world voluntarily
adopted Portuguese as their official language after acquiring independence».
The only former Portuguese overseas provinces that did not adopt Portuguese
as official language are those that did not become independent countries but
were integrated in other countries: the erstwhile "Estado da India" (Goa,
Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and Macao. And as for Macao, it is worth
noticing that the Luso-Chinese Agreement for the hand-over of Macao to China
stipulates that at least during fifty years Portuguese will be maintained as
one of the official languages of that "Special Administrative Region" of
China.

Jorge

----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <goanet@goanet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 12:48 PM
Subject: [Goanet]Portugal and Colonialism (NT)


> This is the integral version of the letter published in Navhind Times'
> Listening Post, on February 4th 2005
>
> PORTUGAL AND COLONIALISM
>
> Visvanath Pai Panandiker in his article entitled "Democracy, Federalism
and
> Goa's Success Story", (Navhind Times, Panorama, January 9, 2005), seeks to
> cover the saga of Goa's growth right from the time of its Portuguese
> association. The author states, "democracy came to Goa in 1961 - much
before
> it came to Portugal. It was only under a new constitution in 1976 that
> Portugal became a Parliamentary Republic. Democracy was essentially
foreign
> to Portugal both in terms of its history and culture."
>
> In this connection, I would like draw Mr. Pai Panandiker's attention to
the
> following facts:
>
> Parliamentary democracy was adopted and practiced in Portugal between
> October 5th, 1910 (establishment of the Republic) and 28th May, 1926, when

> the "Estado Novo" came into being.
>
> The author's perception, when he says that "the Portuguese cultural and
> political legacy was fundamentally antithetical to freedom and human
> rights - the foundations of democracy. It was not Christianity but the
> Portuguese which was the problem" is also highly questionable, when one
> considers that Portugal and a few other European countries like Spain,
> France and Italy, functioned practically as subservient to Rome, the
> headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church during those medieval times. And
> that, is an inescapable fact of history.
>
> In fact, to refresh Mr. Panandiker' s memory, Pope John Paul II has
recently
> publicly admitted to and sought pardon for the past wrongdoings of the
> Church, including the Inquisition. It is also interesting to note that
> Portugal was the pioneer in abolishing slavery in the 19th century and in
> recognizing the rights of the individual. "Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity"
> were the ideas that germinated and took root as a result of the French
> revolution in 1789. These pioneering (for those times) concepts were
> incorporated in the Portuguese Constitution way back in 1822.
>
> Although colonialism was the norm of those times, many experts on European
> colonialism have expressed the opinion that Portugal stood out from its
> other colonial contemporaries, by the fact that they were the most
> egalitarian, interacting freely with various races of the world (Indian,
> Chinese, African) on an even plane. The good relationship lingered on
beyond
> the departure of the Portuguese. This can be seen from the fact that most
of
> the Portuguese colonies around the world, voluntarily adopted Portuguese
as
> their official language after acquiring independence.
>
> Vasco da Gama
> Verna - Salcete
>