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Goanet mourns the passing of Jorge de Abreu Noronha in Portugal - Nov 27/07
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Goanetters
This response may be a bit late in terms of the speed at which posts are
generated by Goanet. However, I wish to clarify to Basilio Monteiro, in
particular, why I was rather short with him, (via my response to Mario), when
he claimed that, "As much as caste is abhorrent to any sensible person, the
recent crusades against it, for the most part, are based on misinformed
understanding of religion, particularly of Hinduism." Here are some of my
reasons:
a) Re the issue of caste, I recall absolutely no crusades against Hinduism on
Goanet since its inception. This, truly is a figment of Basilio's imagination.
If on the other hand, there have been crusades on other sites, then Basilio
should say so even if this would have absolutely no relevance to the debate on
caste on Goanet.
b) Many many perfectly "sensible" Hindu contacts do say that caste has served
them well historically and still does so today. I have private posts from
Hindus who wonder what my argument against caste really is all about. This is
clearly because it depends on who benefits from it at the expense of others
such as the Dalits and even more disadvantaged persons in different ways and as
briefly pinpointed by Mario. So Basilio, I want to suggest that, you are
entirely uninformed to assume that most sensible people abhor caste [in India
and the Indian Diaspora]. Indeed, at the last major international conference on
racism in South Africa, the Indian delegation tried hard to argue, without
success that, casteism is not racism. Further, if Basilio was right in his
assertion, there would not be such a huge struggle against this "abomination"
and Manmohan Singh would not have to declare to the international community
that the Indian caste system is a "blot on humanity". Note the
emphasis on "humanity" that goes well beyond India! Also, Basilio who to my
knowledge has followed this caste discussion closely on Goanet, since I and
others, in more recent times, decided that the matter among 'Catholic' Goans
had been swept under the carpet for too long and needed exposure, that I have
never criticised the Hindus for their caste beliefs as I believe that it is up
to enlightened and radicalised Hindus to do so. Even when Goan historian T. de
Souza wondered why I confined myself to just Catholic Goans, I always made it
clear that I was dealing with one group at a time and that belief in caste was
totally incompatible with Catholic belief as the two ideological belief systems
are entirely incompatible. I really couldn't' t be more consistent than this on
this issue.
c) I have found Basilio's statement about caste, at a time when there is a
lot of heat on this topic on Goanet, a good illustration of those people,
especially Catholic priests and ex-priests who intentionally or
unintentionally, try to fob us off the issue with pretty irrelevant points,
rather than engage with it. Indeed, I have many examples of these. I would
rather hear the first Catholic priest (on Goanet or elsewhere), including the
Catholic hierarchy up to the level of the Bishop of Goa come clean and say that
casteism is plain wrong and entirely incompatible with Catholicism. Instead,
all we get is no replies to questions about caste or pussy-footing on the theme
as though the majority of the Goan Catholic population are really pretty dim to
understand that the clergy are largely complicit in caste and will not say a
single word against this evil system and will create blockages to those
unravelling the system. This point is strongly assertive here but if I am
wrong, then someone from the depths of the Catholic clergy will be able to
retrieve and present, as an example, a single directive ever presented to the
laity that, casteism within Catholicism is wrong and perhaps why--- full stop.
d) let me suggest to Basilio a little further that his argument that "there
is a misinformed understanding about religion, particularly of Hinduism" among
perhaps anti-casteists like me is highly questionable. I have never sought to
go endlessly into the roots of caste and Hinduism nor tried ever to blame
Hinduism for caste and vice versa even though to the vast majority on this
planet, the two are invariably linked especially in the masses of literature on
this issue. Checking out the origins of caste links with Hinduism and vice
versa would take forever while the urgency for action is now and not tomorrow
dear Basilio. Perhaps, an analogy with the Civil Rights Movement in America may
enlighten Basilio too. The roots of white racism in America can be located in
many origins and the Enlightenment, the Bible, Darwin's evolutionary theory,
all put to rotten use by racists are complicit in the fact that racism was a
major problem in the USA in the 1950s and early 1960s. As
per Basilio's logic, we would need to be sure exactly where such racism was
rooted in before taking radical action. This is an absolute nonsense dear
Basilio. There was no need to worry about the roots of white racism in the USA
and elsewhere, including South Africa. We simply had to recognise the beast and
snuff it out as best we could and despite some clergy claiming that a certain
God had created people who would forever be the hewers of wood and drawers of
water. In other words, that 'races' were pre ordained and that the white races
were superior to those of colour and the absolute nonsense of this kind.
Casteism is no different. It is one of the most insidious forms of brown on
brown racisms and I am truly amazed that, it is taking even our so called
better educated people, so long to comprehend this without making daft efforts
for its retention, let alone in Goa but also in the Goan Diaspora.
Well, all this is rather a lot to generate from a single post from Basilio
but I, and no doubt, Mario, Victor, Santosh, RKN, George and others would be
happy to see if Basilio and especially Gilbert, can challenge what I say above.
Even seeking recourse to saying that my interpretation of Basilio is incorrect
will not do I'm afraid. I want to hear the reverend say unequivocally, that
casteism within the Catholic Church is entirely wrong and as wrong as racism,
when it raises its ugly head from time to time, in Down Town New York.
Cornel DaCosta. London, UK.
PS I am most thankful to Jose Colaco for sharing his incredible depth of
knowledge about caste among the 'Catholic' Goans and his huge quantity of
resources on this topic. He and I have exchanged much info privately over the
last week but some of it appeared on Goanet.
