goanet-digest Saturday, May 18 2002 Volume 01 : Number 3982
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In this issue:
[Goanet] re: Are Goans Liberated? - 21 articles on TGF
[Goanet] re: Kashmir killings
Re: [Goanet] Shabana Azmi targeted
[Goanet] Yankee Hindutva's Intellectual: who is Narain Kataria and why is he after
Shabana Azmi
See end of digest for information on subscribing/unsusbcribing.
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Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 05:51:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: The Goan Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] re: Are Goans Liberated? - 21 articles on TGF
Dear all,
The following articles appear on The Goan Forum
website re: Are Goans Liberated?
TGF is pleased to invite you to criticize the views
posted or submit your own views.
TGF will publish views ONLY of those who identify
themselves
It will be good to have a small jpeg pic of the
author.
[please note that the posting bt PCCHATTER has been
bropped as TGF has been unsuccesful in identifying the
author]
Over the next few months, we expect to update more
segments of the site. http://www.thegoanforum.com to
make it more reader friendly.
good wishes
jc for TGF
=====================
EXPRESS yourself with
FLOWERS
>From
EXPRESSIONS - Panjim, GOA
=====================
1. Are Goans Liberated? February 22, 2002
On December 19, 1961, celebrated in Goa as Liberation
Day, huge crowds of Goans came out of their houses.
Since then on December 19 of every year, flowery
speeches are made by politicians, a parade is held and
many celebratory functions are held all over the
State.
But are Goans truly liberated?
2. THE BIG LET DOWN - a TGF editorial
June 18, 2001
While there was general relief that the Salazar era
had come to an end, many Goans wondered what the new
regime would mean to their own livelihood. To
complicate matters, reports began to trickle out of
Looting of Goan shops and Raping of Goan women.
3. GOA was to be a NATO base !
Harbans Singh: Mar 19, 2002
The real reason behind decision to liberate Goa
perhaps was the intended move of the Portuguese to
convert Goa into a NATO Base.
4. It was only a show of strength!
Gabriel de Figueiredo: Mar 21, 2002
So it appears that the "Operation Vijay" was all a
show and a trial of strength, rather than
"liberation". Remember the blockade imposed by Nehru
in 1954? India closed the borders and severed all
communication (including telephonic and telegraphic)
with Goa, Dam�o & Diu.
5. Dual Citizenship!
Harbans Singh: April 1, 2002
Yes! You can have your Dabolim airport free of the
Navy ( I wonder if you ever raised such a demand to
free it from the Portuguese?)
The Goans are very much Indian citizens like any other
Indian. Some of them might also be citizens of other
nationalities by birth or by domicile. Heard of the
concept of �Dual Citizenship�?
6. Were Goans ever given a choice? NO!
Gabriel de Figueiredo: Apr 15, 2002
Dabolim was a civilian airport ever since its
inception, upto 19 Dec1961. It, was built by the
Portuguese to break the economic blockade imposed on
Goa by India, in the early '50s.
Were Goans given a choice in the matter? No
7. Goans wanted autonomy!
Lino Leitao: Apr 15, 2002
There were Goan intellectuals within and outside of
Goa who wanted to secure first an autonomous status
for Goa.
8. Thoroughbred Goans
Lino Leit�o : January 21, 2001
9. True Goans
TGF: January 9, 2002
10. Politicians and their Promises
Ramesh Anant Dhume: May 14, 2002
Today as we see the prestige of legislative assembly
being dragged in the mud, we feel like saying in
disgust that the Portuguese governance was far better
11. India: a corrupted democracy
Tony Correia-Afonso: May 16, 2002
12. Nehru acted for the best
Harbans Singh: Apr 20, 2002
What was un-natural (and it still is!) is that the
Portuguese should consider their ex-colonies as part
of their own country. Goans, on their own free will
have adopted the Indian Constitution and sworn
allegiance to it.
13. Atleast Goans look like Indians!
Nitin Singh : Apr 21, 2002
Please do not short change the Indian culture. Goan
culture also was part of the Indian culture before the
arrival of the Portuguese.
14. So then, WHY.....the nagging debate?
Jos� Cola�o : May 3, 2002
Dual citizenship is a sham. No one person can truly be
a citizen of two countries. It is worth understanding
why an economically stable Goan would opt to give up
Indian Nationality and return to Portuguese.
15. The so called Liberation of Goa
Imran Farooqui: May 11, 2002
Only a Goan can gauge as to what he has won or lost
since the so called Liberation.
16. Why the Debate - a response to JC
Harbans Singh: May 11, 2002
Goa had always been a part of India. It is only after
the Portuguese occupation a few centuries ago that it
came to be considered otherwise.
17. Why the Debate - a response to Harbans
Joel Almeida: May 12, 2002
I have not seen a political map of the subcontinent
relating to "time
immemorial". Where were the boundaries, and which
political entity united them?
18. Why the Debate - a response to Harbans
TGF: May 13, 2002
Goans must be made to feel as equal members of the
Indian family. No appropriately qualified &
experienced Goan should be shunted into some
subordinate post with a non Goan brought in to LORD
over the Goan.
19. TGF! Why do you disagree with my views?
Imran Farooqui: May 15, 2002
Ever since the so called Liberation, Goa has achieved
nothing but economic decline.
20. Why TGF disagrees with some of Imran's views. TGF:
May 16, 2002
To say that Goa has achieved nothing but economic
decline since 1961 is not only incorrect but also
patently prejudicial
21. I disagree Imran's viewpoint .
Nitin Singh: May 16, 2002
[awaiting final proofs]
=====
Recommended Goan Sites in Cyberspace
Goa-World at http://www.goa-world.net
The Goan Forum is at http://www.colaco.net
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 06:10:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: "J. Almeida" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] re: Kashmir killings
Santosh Helekar writes:
"Why do you have to engage in this charade that your
religious
belief is based on logic and evidence? Why do you have
to mention
that even thinkers and scientists have converted
themselves to some
evidence-based religion? Why do you need reassurance
from a scientist?"
That seems to be your heartfelt opinion, perhaps your
"deeply felt intuition". It also happens to be false.
I cannot speak for Dan, Sidney or anyone else, but I
am enthusiastic about Scientific Method.
There are straightforward factual claims about
extraordinary events connected with the death of the
historical Jesus. If they are false, my belief stands
refuted. If they are true, they are inconsistent with
disbelief. Why talk of "charades" and "reassurance"?
>From my brief perusal of what is widely available, the
following books might be of interest to you. The first
is by academicians and takes a formal logical
approach, the second is a personal account from an
atheist who became Christian (and a beautifully
written classic of literature from a widely-loved
author).
1. Kreeft P, Tacelli R (1994). Handbook of Christian
Apologetics. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove. pp
399. (ISBN: 0830817743)
2. Lewis CS (1952). Mere Christianity. Harper San
Francisco. pp 256. (ISBN: 0060652926)
I have not read the first, but I intend to order it
myself, based on excerpts. The second I read with
pleasure many years ago.
Cheers,
Joel Almeida
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 07:06:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eugene Correia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Shabana Azmi targeted
I don't know what's hilarious about it?
I met Prof. Hari Sharma three weeks ago when he came
down from Vancouver to Toronto. I have known him when
I lived in Vancouver.
He is president of the international south asian forum
for secularism and democray.
There also a move to put a big advertisement in a
leading newspaper in India condemning the violence in
Gujarat. This move is by a Montreal-based
organization. The organization has appealed for money.
I big townhall meeting is planned by secular forces in
Toronto on May 25 to discuss the problems of
communalism in India. Former Ontario Acting Race
Commissioner Alok Mukherjee, a good friend, and
Siddhart Bhatia, a former colleaque and friend of mine
at Bombay's Free Press Journal and a contributing
editor to Pioneer, based in Delhi, who has migrated to
Canada less than a year ago, has written the petition
that I posted to Goanet.
We in Toronto are doing our bit to bring to the notice
of the Canadian mainstream people the atrocities
committed by the Modi government in Gujarat.
Such meetings may also bring to the notice of the
Canadian government the abuse of human rights in
India.
I know fully well that India cares two hoots for what
Canada thinks about Indian democracy.
Hari Sharma retired as professor emeritus of sociology
at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British
Columbia. He has written a lot on Indian society. I
think he is also a member of the Concerned Scholars
for South Asia.
Let's not discredit the message because of some errors
and conclusions. Let's heed the call that people in
North America must join hands to support those in
India and elsewhere who have targetted activists such
as Shabana Azmi.
Eugene Correia
- --- Tariq Siddiqui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 17 May 2002, George Pinto wrote:
>
> > I am passing this on from Prof. Hari Sharma
> (retired, Canada) without comment. George
> >
>
> George,
>
> You didn't find that piece hilarious? This was so
> funny, for its errors
> and conclusions, that I didn't know if the people
> who wrote it were being
> comical or serious.
>
> --
> Tariq Siddiqui
> [ This Space for Rent ]
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: 18 May 2002 15:30:53 -0000
From: "Rohit Shukla" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Yankee Hindutva's Intellectual: who is Narain Kataria and why is he
after Shabana Azmi
Hindutva stands exposed. Are these the kind of intellectuals we
are exporting?
Rohit
> > Yankee Hindutva's Intellectual.
> > Who is Narain Kataria and why is he after Shabana Azmi?
> >
> > Vijay Prashad
> > Little India
> > 17 May 2002.
> >
> > Narain Kataria's Indian Americans for Truth and Fairness in
>Media
> > (IATFM) sends out a notice that it will conduct a protest of a
>book
> >
> > reading in New York on 21 May 2002. The note threatens the
>reading
> > itself, but principally its most well known participant, the
>film
> > star Shabana Azmi.
> >
> > Shabana Azmi, the note fulminates, "is a strange blend of a
> > fundamentalist Moslem woman and a diehard Communist, out to
>defame
> > Hindus and tarnish the image of India." Furthermore, "this
>crafty
> > woman suffers from Hindu phobia and needs urgent
>counseling."
> >
> > That IATFM stands for "truth" is extraordinary on many counts.
>For
> > one, there are numerous errors of fact in the note, about
>her
> > movies,
> > and then about the role that the Hindutva Right was most
>incensed
> > about - in Earth. The error here is strange, mainly because
>Earth,
> > in
> > which Ms. Azmi did not act, is about the terror of
>partition,
> > whereas
> > Water, a movie unmade because of the churlishness of the
>Hindutva
> > Right, has "a Hindu widow in Varanasi 100 years ago." If a
>group
> > wedded to "truth" cannot establish the basic facts, it should
>be
> > impossible for us to believe its grotesque value judgments.
> >
> > "Shabana is born with an animus against Hindu society," says
>the
> > note, telling us that her parents, "Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat
>Azmi
> > [are]
> > both hard core communists." What the note does not say is
>that
> > Kaifi
> > Azmi recently died, and brought tears to most of the nation
>and its
> >
> > diaspora. That the IATFM decides to go after Ms. Azmi now is a
>mark
> >
> > of extremely poor taste. "When a person comes to weakness,
>whether
> > it
> > be through old age or disease, the person is free from these
>limbs
> > just as a mango, a fig or a berry releases itself from its
>stalk"
> > (Brihadharanyaka Upanishad, Yajurveda, 4. 3. 36) - the ethic
>of
> > grief
> > is given to all people and Mr. Kataria breaks with the ethos
>of the
> >
> > ancient Vedas with his lack of empathy.
> >
> > That Ms. Azmi is close to the communists is not something
>that
> > Shabana Azmi has ever hidden. Yes, she works with the
>oppressed
> > among
> > Mumbai's slum-dwellers. And certainly, Ms. Azmi has taken the
>side
> > of
> > the freedom of expression, a sacrosanct right of artists -
>her
> > moving
> > speech at the National Film Awards just a few days after
>Safdar
> > Hashmi was brutally killed by Congress Party militants in 1989
>is
> > only one sign of her commitment. There is nothing to hide in
>these
> > relationships and I have never heard her discount them as
>she's
> > visited the US. There is no question of duplicity (according
>to
> > Kataria, "In India she hobnobs with followers of Lenin and
>Stalin.
> > When in USA, she struts around as a progressive Moslem woman")
>-
> > there is no contradiction between Indian communism and
> > progressivism,
> > between those who want to stop dams and those who want a
>modern
> > future.
> >
> > That Kataria calls Ms. Azmi a fundamentalist must come as a
>shock
> > to
> > Imam Bukhari, who only recently, on a national television
>show,
> > called her nachne ganewali tawaif (prostitute). That this
>so-called
> >
> > leader of the Indian Muslims can stoop to such levels of
>misogyny
> > should give pause to any notion of a unified Muslim community
>of
> > which Ms. Azmi is a part - the rifts in Islam are a wide as
>those
> > that separate Mr. Kataria from me. When asked by Lalitha
>Panicker
> > what her views are on political representation, Ms. Azmi
>brushed
> > aside the sectarian idea that only the orthodoxy in a
>religious
> > community must represent its people (one of the hallmarks of
> > fundamentalism): "What are the issues that concern the
>average
> > Muslim? Roti kapda, makaan, education, health, the same as
>any
> > average Hindu, Christian, Sikh etc. The self-appointed
> > fundamentalist
> > leaders do not provide any solutions for this, they reinforce
>only
> > the communal aspects of Muslim identity using rhetoric to whip
>up
> > communal frenzy and rage. The moderate, on the other hand,
>speaks
> > about education, employment, health. The fundamentalist is
>only
> > reinforcing the stereotype and perpetuating [Samuel]
>Huntington's
> > clash of civilizations theory."
> >
> > But let us take the spotlight off Shabana Azmi and ask whom
>Narain
> > Kataria represents?
> >
> > He claims to be the secretary of the Indian American
>Intellectuals'
> >
> > Forum in this note, but he is much more than that.
> >
> > Mr. Kataria is a long-time member of the Overseas Friends of
>the
> > Bharatiya Janata Party, a senior member of the group that runs
>the
> > VHPA-allied Indian Development Relief Fund, a senior figure in
>the
> > Bajrang Dal/Meir Kahane-linked Hindu Unity Group (whose
>website
> > posts
> > a "hit list"), the Organizing Secretary of the Hindu
>Swayamsevak
> > Sangh (the overseas wing of the RSS) and a contributor to the
>RSS's
> >
> > paper, Organiser.
> >
> > The Indian American Intellectuals' Forum is a Hindutva
>organization
> >
> > whose members include: Jagat Motwani, Sardar Inderjit Singh,
>Raksh
> > Pal Sood, Arvind Gupta, Arish Sahani, Ravi Kulkarni, Romesh
>Diwan,
> > Narindar Kukar, Dinesh Agarwal, Rakesh Shreedhar and many
>others.
> > Messrs. Singh and Sood are from the Sikh Sangat of America
>(an
> > organization from Edison, NJ, that is part of the Sikh-Hindu
> > alliance
> > organized by the Hindutva groups, and which held a Hindu-Sikh
>Unity
> >
> > Celebration in Edison on 8 November 1997). Messrs. Agarwal
>and
> > Sahani
> > are from the Overseas Friends of the BJP. At their gathering
>on
> > conversions and missionaries, the chief guest was the VHP's
> > External
> > Working President (and Chairman of Mody Industrial Group),
>Dr.
> > Bhupendra Kumar Mody. The surprise in the list is Jagat
>Motwani,
> > head
> > of GOPIO.
> >
> > To get a sense of Mr. Kataria's importance in the world of
> > Hindutva,
> > we might eavesdrop on the HSS's Hindu Sangathan Divas of 1999
>in
> > New
> > York City. As organizing chief of the HSS, Mr. Kataria took
>a
> > leadership role in the meeting, where the head of the HSS told
>the
> > six hundred people in attendance that the Hindu Empire
>extended
> > from
> > Afghanistan to Indonesia, and that there is a chance for a
>revival
> > if
> > Hindus remain united. If you think this is the world of the
> > crackpots, bear in mind that not a moment later, the Consul
>General
> >
> > of India in New York, Mrs. Shashi Tripathi took the stage,
>extolled
> >
> > the armed forces and called the Kargil war "a little bit of
>a
> > pinprick." "Our armed forces are very strong," she continued.
>"They
> >
> > have been taken unaware. But it does not matter. They will
>soon
> > throw
> > the enemy out of our country."
> >
> > The Intellectuals' Forum made an entry into the world of US
> > electoral
> > politics on 16 April 2000, when it held a forum in New York
>City
> > entitled "Democracy vs. Terrorism," and hosted, for a
>fund-raiser,
> > conservative Republican Congressman Benjamin Gilman (New York)
>-
> > who
> > is militantly against China, for missile defense and along
>the
> > grain
> > of every single foreign policy position of Hindutva. At the
>forum,
> > Dr. Romesh Diwan, an economist from Rensselaer, noted,
>"latest
> > studies suggest that 50 million Indians were killed during
>the
> > Islamic domination of India and 200 million Indian were done
>to
> > death
> > during British rule." Based on these fantastic facts, the
>forum
> > concluded, "Nexus among terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism and
>drug
> > trafficking is posing a serious threat to civilized and
>egalitarian
> >
> > societies and must be destroyed." The waters must first be
>muddied
> > with a suggestion of "Islamic" atrocities in the past (that
>these
> > Muslim rulers made alliances with Hindus and killed both the
>Muslim
> >
> > and Hindu working people is beyond the sufferance of
>Hindutva), and
> >
> > then the intellectuals of Yankee Hindutva toss in words like
> > "terrorism" and "drug trafficking" to make the case finally
>that
> > Islam is bad news.
> >
> > A few years ago, Biju Mathew and I wrote an article entitled
>"The
> > Protean Forms of Yankee Hindutva," in which we argued that
>Yankee
> > Hindutva creates a multitude of forms that seek to address
>various
> > parts of our lives in the US, at the same times as these
>many
> > avatars
> > seek to hide the mainspring of its agenda - to create a
>"Hindu
> > American" community that is a long-distance supporter of the
> > Hindutva
> > Right in India. Mr. Kataria's role in several of these
> > organizations
> > is one more indicator of the protean forms.
> >
> > But like his comrades in the Yankee Hindutva movement, Mr.
>Kataria
> > betrays a host of the yamas that enjoin an ethics to people
>who
> > subscribe of Hinduism: where is his arjava, his honesty, his
>satya,
> >
> > his truth, his kshama, his tolerance and patience, and
>finally, his
> >
> > ahimsa, his lack of violence?
> >
> > The attack on Ms. Azmi is a travesty and it comes from the
>bowels
> > of
> > the Hindutva movement. If Gujarat must not become the future
>face
> > of
> > India, let Mr. Kataria's antics not become the future face of
>the
> > desi diaspora!
> >
_________________________________________________________
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------------------------------
End of goanet-digest V1 #3982
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