##########################################################################
# 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 #
##########################################################################
I've been following the criticism targeted at Heta Pandit and the Goa
Heritage Action Group, and see it as part of the general diatribe against
NGOs in Goa we have seen in recent years. For all their shortcomings, one
has to accept that institutions and individuals like these have also a
good side, which tends to get ignored when a spiral of criticism and a
tornado of allegations comes their way.
Some face insinuations of extortion (the debate in the Goa
Assembly against the Goa Foundation made it to the headlines in
sections of the Press), others simply of being of
"non-Goan" origin (while Goans remain smug and exclusivist,
is it a surprise that campaigning on environment and labour
issues has to be taken up by the Claude Alvareses or the
Christopher Fonsecas), yet others for 'abetting a suicide'
(MK Jos and Prof Afonso have been hounded over this), or even
the South Goa Public Interest Action Group's insinuation
that NGOs are voicing concern over Baina because of their
loss of "figures they could prop up to receive the funds"
(I've seen the work of Zarine Chinvala and Arun Pandey
for long, and don't view them as fly-by-night operators,
but rather TISS-qualified social workers, sensitive to the
needs of the weak... Albertina Almeida and Sabina Martins
have been in activism for over two decades, and can't even
be accused of making a career out of it).
The "charges" against Heta and GHAG seem to be based either on (i) her
style of functioning (ii) insinuations of lack-of-transparency or even
careerism and dishonesty (iii) her ethnic origins (iv) that the persons
criticising her don't quite like her.
I don't know Heta closely and haven't interacted apart
from brief encounters at her functions. All one can say is
that her output of work is indeed impressive; she's written
and collated the kind of material that other writers,
specially us supposedly-superior Goans, have failed to do.
Is she arrogant? One doesn't even know; assuming she is,
well, all people who believe strongly in their dreams
tend to be so.
My friend and long-time colleague Alexyz had a problem with Heta at the
last Fontainhas festival. This lead to quite some negative publicity. But,
the festival itself and the earlier one took the spotlight onto Goan art,
in a way that didn't happen before. That Heta and the GHAG is being
targetted by some in the media and the saffron super-patriots at the same
time, is doubly unfortunate. Heta and the GHAG have been promoting the
cause of heritage, in a largely non-sectarian and cosmopolitan manner.
In addition, their work was giving a boost to art; whatever the
shortcomings. Goa needs to build bridges among its (often quietly
antagonistic) main communities; and Heta's work was seeming to achieve
just this.
Did she take up all the issues I would have liked her to take up? Of
course not; but so what... This is like the Goan balcao-critics who target
environmentalists, consumer activists, and a whole lot of others for *not
taking up* issues *they* themselves wouldn't lift a finger to highlight.
So what if Heta opts not to go in for an antagonistic relationship with
the chief minister and the government, and instead take up a path of
"constructive engagement" (as the West talked about apartheid South
Africa before Nelson Mandela)? The real test of the pudding is in the
eating; would such an approach produce results? We'll never know without
going through it.
The question of government fundings remains. Some issues, by
their very nature, would perhaps depend on the patronage of
those in power to survive. Heritage conservation can't expect
to throw up antagonistic campaigning as, say, the
mass-demolition of hutments in Baina. It is best left to those
working on the issue to decide what issues they want to take
up, how much they can achieve, and what are their goals. We
Goans are great armchair critics, and experts in
*advising others*. It's not fair to fault Heta simply
because she-doesn't-dislike-Parrikar-as-much-as-I-do.
On the issue of her ethnic origins, an issue which has been
hinted at but not quite raised bluntly in polite discussions,
quite bluntly, Goa has gained more from those who are
willing to do something here rather than give advice
from half-way around the globe. Whether we admit it or not,
today's Goa has gained a lot from the contributions of
the migrant (both the educated and affluent, and the poor
and unlettered), expats who returned home early, and the
Goenkar who returned from the big cities in India fresh with
ideas and enthusiasm and optimism.
Many NGOs and campaign groups, tending to be personality-driven and small
organisations, often work through a small nexus of individuals, in ways
that might appear to lack logic or transparency from the outside. Perhaps
we need to come to terms with this, rather than seeing it as a
character-flaw of each organisation. After all, those taking on causes do
so because *they* believe in *their* point of view, and think they know
best how to achieve results. If *we* think we know better, why not start
working to offer results?
Incidentally, I have no problems with my colleagues Ethel
da Costa, Margaret Mascarenhas and even Cecil Pinto. It's
just that there's another side of the story waiting to be
told, and, at times like these, someone needs to put on
record the good side of the work that people like Heta have
done. Ultimately, history will judge the contribution of
different people; but what might happen is that some stray
criticism could indeed demoralise those who have a lot to
contribute to Goa ... as it has already done with quite a
few people already. To those who don't like what Heta
and the GHAG are doing, why not do something better? FN
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
d88888b d8b db Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa India
88' 888o 88 f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g
88ooo 88V8o 88 http://www.bytesforall.org
88~~~ 88 V8o88 Phone 0091.832.2409490 Mobile 09822 122436
88 88 V888 784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Sonarbhat Saligao Goa 403511
YP VP V8P Writing ... with a difference, on issues that matter
