000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Message for Goa Day 2005 14 Aug 2005 In my message for 2004, I had proposed that the Goan diaspora celebrates Goa Day at two levels 1) The usual traditional festive programme of food & drink, song and dance; 2) A report on the communitys health, arts development, civic involvement, business and sports activities. Nothing came of these proposals. That is hardly surprising in the absence of any feedback and consultation. What was missing was a qualified task force to assess and review the communitys activities and prepare a report no mean undertaking 1. This year, I have been again invited to share my thoughts on Goa Day. So lets get a little more specific this time. My thoughts are restricted to the Goan Diaspora settled in western countries such as the UK, Portugal, US, Canada, Australia & NZ. 2. In my view, the key questions to ask are 1) What is our position as a minority in our country of residence, how do we (especially younger Goans) cope and make a mark? 2) Can we continue as a viable, cohesive community in our country of residence and beyond? 3) How do we relate to our homeland, Goa, which gets increasingly distant for the younger generation? 3. Instead of offering another round of armchair opinions and global prescriptions, I suggest we set up a standing THINK-TANK (TT) or MONITORING GROUP in each country with appreciable Goan concentrations. Each TT can be made up of more than 2 or 3 volunteers (including women) with a scholarly background and/or adequate community experience. A job of a TT is to deliberate on the questions posed above, brainstorm, collect data and propose answers in consultation with others. 4. Issues for the TTs to consider A. Our position as a minority in our country of residence - Our migration history - Some demographic statistics (where available) in urban centres and regions. - Education and occupation profiles - The countrys dominant values (political, economic, social) and how these impinge on us - Confront racism and discrimination (through involvement with appropriate organisations, improving our coping mechanisms) - Can we integrate with the mainstream? How to avoid being marginalised ands ghettoised? - Develop our creativity in the Arts (visual and performing), make media links and improve our communication skills - Work on developing business skills - Other aspects (to work on) B. Continuing as a viable, cohesive community - What are the common values that (should) hold us together? - Review of our distinctive customs: religious rituals, rites of passage, characteristic greetings & gestures, structure of social gatherings. How are these changing? How much of our traditional baggage should we retain? - Do we modernise and transform some of our cultural forms (for example, folk dance) and borrow eclectically from the dominant cultures? - Recognise that younger Goans today are a diverse lot, increasingly individualistic and not constrained by tradition. They may find it more rewarding to latch onto market values based on competition and personal gratification. Such values can damage community solidarity and cohesiveness. So well need to make judicious trade-offs. C. Relations with Goa - Our narratives and images of Goa: how are they changing? - Without the glue of language, can our young retain a sense of belonging to Goa? - What Goa groups can we usefully link up with? --------------------------------------------------- 5. The above items are tentative. Others can improve on them. There is a lot for the Think-Tanks to work on and the TTs from different countries can consult with one another for mutual enlightenment. There is no need to aim for a global consensus. The deliberations of the TTs should be an on-going process and the more salient outcomes should be posted on a website (a specific one for Goa Day or a sub-site offered and maintained by Goa Sudharop). The postings are not to be considered as final answers but rather part of a progressively refined package of views, proposals and strategies. Any Goan should be free to make his or her own comments to the Website editor. Conflicting and alternative suggestions should be welcomes and after due scrutiny be posted side by side. If Rene Baretto (prime mover of Goa Day) and Goa-Sudharop agree with the above proposals in principle, I suggest they tie up any loose ends and get the scheme rolling. Cheers. Eddie D'Sa. London 000000000000000000 Goan Overseas Diget: http://www.goacom.com/overseas-digest/ Ros Lobo : ON WORLD GOA DAY http://www.goacom.com/overseas-digest/Archives/UK%20Goans/goaday03.html 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
