| Dear Roland, Thank you for your kind words. I am not an expert on the history of the Estado Novo so I cannot comment on what led to the repeal of the Act. Regarding Froilano de Melo, I had written about him in one of my Notes on the history of Escola Médica and will be happy to send you that Note separately if you do not have it in hand. Best regards, John Sent from my iPhone Thank you for your usual erudition John. You say something which continues to make the subject more and more interesting to me.
The next question that pops up is what made Salazar repeal the Act. Wiki gives credit (almost solely it seems) to Froilano de Melo.
Quote The Act was repealed only in 1950, in part because of the contributions of Froilano de Mello, a Goan Catholic doctor and an independent member of parliament in Lisbon.[1] He represented Goa in the Assembly of the Republic. He fought for the rights of Portuguese Indians. De Mello was so successful that, from 1950, Goans regained their status and were treated in equal terms like other Portuguese citizens from the metropolis.[1]
I don’t think a hardhead like Salazar would be swayed by the soft graces of a Goan intellectual. Without diminishing Dr De Melo’s role, he Salazar being an economist, there must have been a practical, monetary push that made him repeal it.
Whoever it was, one or a group, I wonder if all the Goans who have made Portuguese passports and left en masse for Britain and Europe, continuing to do so till today, spare a thought for those who have made it possible for them to have changed their lives.
Froilano de Melo is the uncle of Adelino Francisco de Melo to whom my maternal aunt Emilia Araujo (of Loutolim) was married. Almost every summer holiday I spent in Goa was at Benaulim in that ancestral house where I drank, dined and made merry under the penetrating, watchful eyes of a large portrait of Froilano de Melo, who by the way with his white goatee had the demeanour of the Count of Monte Cristo. I knew little of him then, other than that he was married to a Swiss woman whose pictures also hung in that hall.
Roland is asking about the harm done to the Goans, not Africans. While I am not an expert in Constitutional Law, this is my understanding: Following the trend initiated by Pombal and by Dom Pedro IV, the 1911 Constitution envisioned progressive decentralization of the administration of the overseas territories with the goal of they eventually becoming self-governing entities. The Acto Colonial and the 1933 Constitution reversed that trend and redefined those territories as “Império Colonial Português”. So the Goans, all the sudden, were redefined as assimilated (Lusified) colonial subjects. Which means that the people of Goa would never become a self-governing entity. In essence, it established two classes of citizens. This legislation could be invoked to justify all sorts of discriminatory policies that had been abolished since the days of Pombal. For example, individuals who wanted to join the military had to have both parents born in Portugal. The sons of a Portuguese European, Ruy da Cunha Menezes, a distinguished member of the Portuguese military, could not join the armed forces because his wife was Brazilian. The family moved to Brazil where they distinguished themselves in the Brazilian armed forces. This is why I cannot understand how those individuals who believe that Goa was a colony (whatever “colony” means) can logically also condemn the Acto Colonial. It seems to me they should have applauded it instead of condemning it. Unless, of course, they believe that only the Goans can say that Goa was a colony, and not Europeans like Dr. Oliveira Salazar. Menezes Bragança condemned the Acto Colonial because he believed that Goa was an integral part of the Portuguese Nation and in many ways different from the rest of India, and that the Goans were equal to those born in Minho or Algarve, and that they should have the right to decide on their future. In short, he believed in the doctrine of the 1911 Constitution. I already discussed this in greater detail during my conversation with Dr. Cristiana Bastos. Sent from my iPhone On Jul 10, 2024, at 10:29 PM, 'Pedro Mascarenhas' via Goa-Research-Net <[email protected]> wrote:
Roland
The Colonial Act, which will form part of the future Constitution of 1933, defines all occupied territories as an Empire. Colonization was seen as a divine plan for the nation and the civilizing work would be based, not on education or religion, but on work. The Indigenous Statute was approved, which racially, socially and culturally discriminated against natives and gave them the conditions for acquiring citizenship.
The fields become crops with a single and obligatory culture, as was the case with cotton in Angola and Mozambique, with the black population forced to cultivate it to the detriment of their own subsistence. Hunger, disease and violence against the natives became widespread, which would later give rise to the first legitimate revolts against the Portuguese State, as happened in the north of Angola, in 1961, with the peasants of Baixa do Cassange.
Video.
On Tuesday, July 9, 2024 at 12:53:28 PM GMT+1, Roland Francis < [email protected]> wrote:
It would be useful to refresh our memories if you could give us an idea of the harm done to Goans and their aspirations with the Acto Colonial.
To Roland: Forgot to tell you that the Declaration was not initiated by the Government Council. Dr. Oliveira Salazar had asked all Government Councils of the overseas territories for their opinions on the Acto Colonial. The Declaration was a response to that request. It is a legal document. It speaks highly for Menezes Bragança that he was able to contain his indignation at the Acto Colonial and draft a relatively mild criticism with a relatively modest request for greater autonomy. Although the Declaration was a voice in the desert, the fact that it exists in the annals of our history is a big deal, and in my opinion, the greatest deal in the history of Goa. John M. de Figueiredo Sent from my iPhone Thank you for that interesting addendum. I now realize the importance of that Declaration document. Sometimes the demand for self-respect can be more powerful than that of any Act that proscribes it. Roland Francis
416-453-3371
Roland, A small correction. The document mentioned in my article was not a letter. It was a declaration signed by the four democratically elected members of the Government Council. This declaration was approved unanimously by the Government Council in a session that took place on July 4, 1930, chaired by Governor Joao Carlos Craveiro Lopes. The document did not just reject the Acto Colonial. It asserted that we, Goans, do not give up our fundamental human right of self-determination. After he returned to Portugal, Governor Craveiro Lopes (father of future President of the Portuguese Republic Francisco Higinio Craveiro Lopes) publicly condemned the Acto Colonial, risking being disciplined by the military and sent to jail. (To my knowledge, this never happened.) John M. de Figueiredo Sent from my iPhone
Historically the letter of protest would have taken much courage and caused repercussion to its signatories, but are you sure it should have been a Day of Joy for Goans? It made no dent in Salazar’s thinking (although that was Salazar’s fault, not theirs) not was it responsible for the ultimate repeal of that Act, so what is it that we should be celebrating. Roland Francis
416-453-3371
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