John amigo
The 13 colonies revolted against England because they refused to be
considered second-class citizens. Whites born in America were forming
a resistance against the white colonizers who imposed high taxes. The
true Americans, the so-called Indians, were meanwhile being
exterminated.
In Goa during the Portuguese colonial regime, there never were
"democratically elected representatives of the people of Goa." Only
Christians were well regarded by the unelected government in Lisbon,
and most Hindus in Goa were treated with disdain. As for "it is the
96th anniversary of the Goan Declaration of Self-Determination," only
a minority group of Christians defended that declaration.
The majority, through integration with Mother India, was led by Ram
Manohar Lohia, Julião Meneses, T.B. Cunha, Luís Menezes Bragança,
Evágrio George, P.D. Gaitone, and even Jack Sequeira.
António Anastásio Bruto da Costa, a landowner and admirer of Salazar,
did not want a break with Lisbon and defended dependence with limited
autonomy from foreigners, second-class citizens.
Goa, today, as one of the states of India, is governed by Goans
elected democratically. The rulers are natives of Goa and speak
Konkani, and Lisbon does not send a governor-general who only spoke
Portuguese and defended foreign interests.
A day of joy for Goans occurred on 19/12/1961.
Alberto
Mensagem de JOHN DE FIGUEIREDO <>
Data: Sun, 5 Jul 2026 04:28:26 +0000 (UTC)
De: JOHN DE FIGUEIREDO <>
Assunto: [GRN] MEMORABLE ANNIVERSARIES
Para: Goa-Research-Net <>
Today (July 4, 2026) the people of the United States commemorate the
250th anniversary of the birth of their Nation. Today is also a day
of reflection to all Goans because it is the 96th anniversary of the
Goan Declaration of Self-Determination. By issuing this Declaration,
the democratically elected representatives of the people of Goa to
the Government Council made sure that we, Goans, would never again
be told that we never asked for that right and that for future
reference we should always ask. The Declaration was a protest
against the Acto Colonial that had condemned the Goans to perpetual
servitude. The Declaration was approved by the Council by unanimity.
The Council was chaired by Governor Joao Carlos Craveiro Lopes
(father of Francisco Higinio Craveiro Lopes, future President of the
Portuguese Republic). Governor Craveiro Lopes continued to condemn
the Acto Colonial and defend the right of the Goans to
self-determination after he returned to Portugal, thereby risking
his career. Two anniversaries of legitimate protest leading to two
drastically different fates. The United States became the most
powerful democracy on earth. The Goans never exercised their right
to self-determination and were destined to never exercise that
right. Below is an article I wrote to commemorate these memorable
anniversaries:
/This article is protected by Copyright. No part of it should be
reproduced without the author’s written permission. This article was
published in “Revista da Casa de Goa” and it is reproduced here with
the Editor’s permission. The opinions expressed by the author in
this article are exclusively his own./
A DAY OF JOY FOR GOANS
John M. de Figueiredo, MD, ScD
/ / On July 4, 1776, a courageous group of English citizens
established in North America declared their desire to separate from
England to form a new nation, the United States of America. More
than a century and a half later, on July 4, 1930, in a remote corner
of the western coast of India, while the Americans were celebrating
their Independence Day, four Goans presented in Goa a declaration to
the Government Council of Portuguese India. The declaration
responded to the request of Dr. Oliveira Salazar, then Minister of
the Colonies, for an opinion from Portuguese India through its
Government Council on his project of the Colonial Act. That Act
stated in Article 2: “It is of the organic essence of the Portuguese
Nation to perform the historical function of owning and colonizing
overseas domains and to civilize the indigenous populations that are
comprised in them, also exercising the moral influence assigned to
it by the ‘Padroado do Oriente’ " And in Article 3: “The overseas
domains of Portugal are called colonies and constitute the
Portuguese Colonial Empire.” The four Goans made up the elected part
of the Government Council: Luiz de Menezes Bragança, author of the
Declaration, António Xavier Gomes Pereira, Naraina Bandorcar, and
Cipriano da Cunha Gomes, co-signatories. The declaration was adopted
by the Government Council by unanimous vote. This statement,
transcribed from the Minutes of the Government Council, ran as
followS:
/“1st Portuguese India does not renounce the right of peoples to
reach the fullness of their individuality, until they become units
capable of directing their destinies, since it is an original right,
of its organic essence;/
/2nd Recommends that, maintaining the organization of the Portuguese
State established in the Political Constitution of the Republic:/
/a) There is no discrimination between the Metropolis and the
Overseas Provinces of individual rights and guarantees expressed in
Art. 3 and its Constitution numbers and the representation of India
in the Congress of the Republic is maintained/
/b) The regime of administrative decentralization and financial
autonomy of the Overseas Provinces is reestablished in the terms
defined in Articles 67 B and 67 F of the Constitution as a starting
point for representative institutions of broader action./
/c) The principle of majority elected in the highest deliberative
body in the country is reestablished in India, the intervention of
that majority being recognized, through its representatives, in the
special function of the “examination and visa”, of ordering the
expenses and accounts of management"/
Unlike the founders of the United States, Menezes Bragança,
Gomes Pereira, Naraina Bandorcar, and Cipriano da Cunha Gomes did
not ask for political independence for Goa. Nor was their desire to
transfer sovereignty to the Indian Union, which, at the time, did
not yet exist as a nation. Known as the “Greatest of All”, Menezes
Bragança thought that the people of Goa had an individuality and
psychology fundamentally different from the peoples of the rest of
India, the result of Portugal's assimilationist policy, and it was
always of the opinion that Portuguese India was part and portion of
the spiritual unity of the Portuguese Nation. Despite his vehement
opposition to the Colonial Act, he simply asked for the people of
his homeland democratic representation and maximum administrative
and financial autonomy under Portuguese sovereignty.
To say that Menezes Bragança was the “Tilak of Goa” shows
ignorance of what he wanted for his homeland. Lokmanya Tilak wanted,
for his India, complete and immediate independence (‘/Swaraj/”) from
the British colonial rule. Menezes Bragança was always loyal to
Portugal and during the First Republic he was praised by Dr. Jaime
de Morais, Governor of Portuguese India, for his loyalty to Portugal
and his honesty. Unfortunately, the little he asked for, he did not
obtain, and the Colonial Act was promulgated and incorporated into
the 1933 Constitution. Menezes Bragança's reaction was to state that
“the 1933 Constitution betrayed the spirit of the 1911
Constitution”. His newspaper “/Luz/ - /Pracasha/” was closed by
order of the Government, forever silencing his voice.
In this manner was born the historical fatality of the people
of Portuguese India. As the Viceroy of Portuguese India Count of S.
Vicente said so well, “Portuguese India is only seen from far away
and only heard too late”. The voice of Portuguese India echoed in
the desert and died. Goa's fate was decided by others, not by the
Goans themselves. The human right of self-determination, an
“original right, of its organic essence” was never exercised by the
Goans through a plebiscite, and will never be exercised, but the
protest of the Goans against the Colonial Act and the expression of
their natural desire to “reach the fullness of their individuality”
were recorded forever in the annals of history.
The Declaration of Self-Determination is the most important
document in the modern history of Portuguese India. July 4th is not
a day of joy and pride for the Americans only; it is also for the
Goans.
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