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Hi Alito: I hope you and others can keep this dialogue a little more academic than the thread about caste. I followed /studied your paper on the above subject with great interest. But the last section (below) intrigued me. I think you are a Sociologist not a Socialist. :=)) Please you (and others) do not feel affronted by this because Socialism is a valid political dogma. Humans and animals will always exploit weaker-sections of the 'kingdom'. As humans, we should use our superior intelligence to overcome our animal instincts. But that does not always work (in everyone) and in many aspects of our behavior and attitudes. India's Caste System (along with British class system and American Racial system) is a form of social self-preservation. However what makes India's Caste System special (like apartheid and some other forms of discrimination) is that it is religiously ENFORCED (other forms being legally enforced). Hence these can only be corrected by instituting legal mechanism including officially enforced and monitored 'preferential opportunities'. Economic disparity in society will always exist even under a socialist / communist system. But this should not lead "to exploit and humiliate" others which you describe. The new categories of discrimination you are referring to in society are a reflection of (poor) social and religious education (to respect others). Perhaps this should start with the old and infirm of our own (group). Perhaps others too have confused economic prejudice with caste discrimination. I am not defending it, I am only explaining it. Look forward to your thoughts and that of others. Regards. GL Alito Siqueira: As we engage with questions of caste, new categories and forms of exploitation and discrimination emerge in Goa. The Government has just announced that within one month, through the use of its police force, it hopes to rid Panjim of all its beggars and those who need to use public spaces to defecate and urinate. I am sure there will be much welcome for this move. But why one month? Because for the next one month Panjim needs labouring classes who are doing up Panaji (so they are therefore permitted to use public places). What happens to these new classes (often called 'ghatis') after that? They will be banished from the city so that it remains clean for the tourist who descend upon the city. But can the city survive without labour? And who will clean the mess left behind? Are those who build the city only meant to provide labour and not to enjoy the benefits of their labour? (It appears the Government of Goa has stated that since most labour in Goa come from outside the State, i.e. are 'non-Goan', the Government must not be burdened by providing them any social security or privilege them as citizens of the State. Perhaps Goan labour who work outside Goa would see a bell ringing here.) And what about the beggars? They may populate the surrounding villages and towns? I am reminded of Heidelberg which is dressed during the day for Japanese and other well-oiled tourists. By the night, Turkish immigrants are brought in bus-loads to clean the city. By day, the immigrants are hidden in high rise colonies behind the hills which protect the medieval tourist city from its cleaners (and Germany keeps debating what to do with its Turkish immigrants, granting them citizenship in ounces). The point here is that Goan society is now slowly acquiring a new section to exploit and humiliate and while we discuss caste among the Goans let us also engage with the new modes of exploitation and humiliation that are emerging. Saying they are non-Goans is just not good enough. So were two centuries ago the people of the New Conquest, who are now the majority in the Old Conquests, and so are the number of Goans who eke out their living abroad making their contributions to the society they have chosen or found themselves working and living in. ALITO SIQUEIRA is a sociologist at the Goa University.
