------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------
Dears, Valmiki Faleiro has put it very succintly: VOTE WE MUST!!!!! Assembly elections have an air of finality, somewhat like a marriage. If one has any objections, one has a duty to speak one's mind....or forever [at least for five years] hold his or her peace. Unlike the Village Panchayat, there are no Gram Sabhas for the Assembly. There are only two occasions when one's voice is heard...silently through the EVM or vociferously in a street protest. [If one has a BJP or CPM Government, or a BJP-led coalition, the second option can be fraught with risk as one sees in recent times]. Use your option now: VOTE. There are no 'lifelines', no fifty-fifty even, YOU have to decide. It is not necessarily a choice between the Congress and the BJP. Goa is NOT a two-party democracy! Choose a good INDEPENDENT [If I was in Fatorda I would vote for the little known engineer, Piedade Noronha, instead of a candidate with 'Victory' as his first name, a fellow agriculture graduate and brother of a friend.] Women can do themselves a favour and elect woman candidates in the few constituencies that can boast of one. If Mummy, Tai and Piedade-bai get elected, they will still make just 7.5 percent of the Legislative Assembly membership of 40 MLAs. Tai has a lot of leg-work to do if she wants to win. As former MGP candidate and current JD[S] candidate of Tivim, Principal Vinayak Naik, will tell you, being GOOD is just not good enough to get elected. Politics is like business. The rule of consumer trade is, "IF YOU DO NOT SERVE YOUR CUSTOMER WELL, HE WILL FIND SOMEONE ELSE WHO WILL!" You may be a landlord, educationist, tycoon or whatever in your own home, in the election field every candidate is a beggar. He who cannot bend to enter the humblest dwelling will have his vote bank broken. So do not plan a holiday next weekend. You have a tryst with destiny. VOTE sensibly. Your future depends on it. OUR future depends on it. when the boat springs a leak, it does not matter at which end it is...because the whole boat will sink. Viva Goa. Miguel From: "Valmiki Faleiro" Subject: [Goanet] Vote we must! - HERALD, May 27, 2007 For the second time in our post-Liberation history, we stand at crossroads. #The first time, in Jan-1967, our elders had, in their collective wisdom, decided to retainour separate identity and rejected the idea of merging into Maharashtra. #The ensuing elections are almost as momentous. Our vote will decide if Goa stays on course, or whether we will allow her to be sold and her identity forever destroyed. Our right to decide our future by our vote is a precious privilege. Not all on this planet enjoy this free privilege. People are still dying, in exile, or being tortured in jails around the world in their struggle to gain this liberty. Your vote is a sacrosanct duty you owe to yourself, to your land. This June 2, exercise it. Resist the temptation to use the weekend break for the cooler climes of Amboli or Mahabheshwar. Go to the booth, even if rains cats and dogs, to keep the monkeys and Bhasmasuras out. In a democracy, the ballot is the real power we wield. Elections are all about numbers,and every vote counts. Yours counts. Merely opining that all candidates are crooks and abstaining from voting, won't help.Vote we must! And let?s vote wisely. This time, let?s forget party labels and vote the best man instead, whichever his party. Goa direly needs able hands of some integrity and intelligence.Forget party labels, they?re hardly different, at least in Goa. Mog asundi, MIGUEL BRAGANZA, Mhapsa Horticulturist/Editor/Columnist Botanical Society of Goa ------------------------------------------------------- Goanet recommends, and is proud to be associated with, 'Domnic's Goa' - A nostalgic romp through a bygone era. This book is the perfect gift for any Goan, or anyone wanting to understand Goa. Distributed locally by Broadway, near Caculo Island, Panjim & internationally by OtherIndiaBookStore.Com. For trade enquiries contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------
