good wishes
jos� cola�o
== excerpt ->
The New Year is already upon us, and we at The Goan Forum take this opportunity to look back at identifying an individual or a set of individuals who have made the most distinctive contribution to Goa in the year 2004.
This contribution does not necessarily have to be beneficial to Goa or Goans, only that it has been the most distinctive.
We at The Goan Forum chose January 30th to name this persona(e) as it is on this day in 1948 that the greatest Indian Apostle of Peace Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a right wing Hindu nationalist.
Mahatma Gandhi had given up a life of every possible luxury in order to fight for equality, justice, freedom, peace and what is right. And he was gunned down for that. So much for the rightwing Hindus, or for that matter, rightwing Christians and Muslims.
We believe that many men and women in Goa yearn for equality, justice, freedom, peace and what is right, but are too afraid to articulate those thoughts in public. They are unfortunately left helpless as they watch impotently the charade played by powerful interest groups and the sycophants who parrot the talking points handed to them.
Mercifully, not every single Goan is a sossegado fence sitter. There are indeed a few exceptions.
Among the individuals we looked at: Goa's present Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar, well-known Goa journalist Fred Noronha, brilliant writer from the heart Ethel da Costa, principled activists of conscience, Godfrey Gonsalves & Miguel Braganza, conscientious objector Dr. Francisco Cola�o, noted Goan Arvind Bhaticar, Goa University botanist Dr. Nandkumar Kamat, Goa Union of Journalists president Ashley do Rosario, The Heraldo newspaper, the pit bull watchdog Floriano Lobo, journalists of the future like Melvyn Misquita and the gadfly publication, the Independent Goan Observer and its principals.
Full Article at http://www.colaco.net
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