---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 International Goan Convention
Toronto, Canada
Early Bird Discount Registration closes March 31, 2008
http://www.2008goanconvention.com/regform_print.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
R&R Tourism and hearing the Goan Groan
The R&R beach "shack" sub-culture makes ecstasy an agony!
By Miguel Braganza
In his heydays, Goa's Pop sensation Remo wrote and sang a song that said
"Politicians don't know to Rock-n-Roll". The politicians had, even then,
learnt the finer points of the "Rest & Recreation" tourism, spawned by the
US forces in South East Asia. Since the end of the 1960s, Goa's beaches have
gradually shifted from being a 'Rest and Recuperation' destination for the
native middle-class and the traditional 'salt water bath' or "Kharem udok"
for the working class, to a modern, drug-inspired, western style R&R resort.
In fact, the so-called "white trash" resort to almost anything, nudism
included, on Goa's now infamous beaches. This has spawned the domestic
voyeur tourism with the hordes of depraved men coming to see the nudes
rather than the beaches.
One only needs to benchmark Pattaya, a beach resort in the suggestively
named Bay of Bangkok in Thailand. According to the wikipedia "Pattaya was
simply a small fishing village until it was discovered as a beach resort by
Bangkok residents in the 1960s. Soon thereafter, servicemen from all over
Southeast Asia, including the United States Air Force base at U-Tapao, began
using the area for "rest and recuperation" (R&R), causing a huge boom in
prostitution."
Calangute, Anjuna, Morjim, Benaulim, Colva, Sernabatim or Palolem all fell
in the category of "small, sleepy fishing villages" till the peaceniks from
USA's Vietnam war protestors descended on Anjuna as "hippies" in 1967. So
sleepy was the place that the last bus from Anjuna to Mapusa was at 5 P.M.
in the evening. It had no electricity and hence the "full moon parties" came
into being with unplugged music. Calangute, the next stop "over the hill",
had a last bus at 6 P.M. but no electricity till 1972. In this part of the
geography, an early night is now history!
In December, 1971, the news that the US Seventh Fleet was approaching India
was viewed with genuine concern. It would mess with India's plans to
liberate East Pakistan and serve as the midwife of Bangladesh. The USA was
exercising its democratic right to defend a dictator [Ya, Ya Khan of
Pakistan, parlez-vous?] as per its long tradition in Haiti, Argentina,
Mexico, Panama, Iraq or elsewhere in the world. When things changed, and USA
saw "red" in Islam or sensed a threat to Zionism, it attacked its former
friends in Afganistan and Iraq. The US Sixth Fleet was not seen as a threat.
The sailors and airmen abroad learnt to do R & R in India. The Indian armed
forces even did "Joint Exercises" with them!
Interest in cruises along the West Coast of India has increased. We have
occasional "Port calls" by cruise liners. The biggest cruise ship, "Queen
Mary-2" is scheduled to stop over at Goa in next summer. We have one
pseudo-offshore casino ship operating in the inland river Mandovi. Another
one is bidding its time and another three are going to sail in shortly,
including two Turkish casino ships. We already have casinos in and around
5-star hotels. What wikipedia wrote about Pattaya, "When the Americans left
following the end of the Vietnam War, the city fell into a crisis. However,
modern mass tourism, particularly single men looking for companionship,
brought a new lease of life to Pattaya." is not going to happen to Goa. Mass
tourism . charters, pedophiles and all. is already here!
In his hard-hitting article in a local daily entitled "Moral Externalities
of Coastal Tourism" Nandkumar Kamat writes, "Today, this decadent lifestyle
has created the infrastructure of Goa's tourism. It has become an attractive
hangout for dysfunctional people from all over the world. Goa's beaches are
infested with drug dealers from all over the world. The foreign tourists
that fuel Goa's tourist industry are often low-income tourists and
adventurous youth out for cheap thrills. Easy availability of drugs and
Goa's reputation as a tourist paradise where liquor flows uninterruptedly
has perpetuated its image as a permissive haven."
"There is no danger to Goa's morally, socially and legally subsidized
tourism as long as the international community brings pressure on the Indian
government to cleanse Goa's tourism sector. Perhaps, the British Parliament
would be as sensitive to the drugs and crime scene in Goa as it has been to
the condition of the last few surviving Indian tigers." says Nandkumar
Wrote Fr. Desmond de Sousa CSsR for SAR NEWS, "The Ecumenical Coalition on
Third World Tourism (ECTWT), in 1982, had prophetically denounced mass and
luxury tourism as an unmitigated disaster for third world countries. Even
the Vatican rubbished their critique as unfounded. From a European,
tourist-sending perspective, the way tourism was structured was good,
provided certain negative fallouts like drugs and prostitution were
contained." Containing drugs and prostitution, when they are the driving
forces of this paradigm of tourism, is a non-starter. "The tourism industry
in Angeles City (the Philippines) and Pattaya (Thailand) were the Rest and
Recreation centres for the American navy and army during the Vietnam War
(1965-75)." Goa is the future of this R&R.
The above report entitled "Seedy Underbelly of Goa's Tourism Exposed" reads
thus, "The Third World perspective starts from a different premise. The
tourism industry is a clone of capitalist society, where profits are more
important than persons. From a Third World perspective, the very structuring
of mass and luxury tourism industry reflects the structures of sin of
capitalist society." I hope our Ecclesiastical authorities in Goa are
reading this and are beginning to understand it. Perhaps, this Redemptorist
priest will help them redeem themselves, for today is Good Friday!
There is a groundswell of opposition to the drug-casino-charter clutter
tourism that is being unabashedly promoted in Goa by the state and federal
governments. It is time to form a coalition of NGOs and individuals to fight
this menace through People's Power. Can we resurrect Goa to life this Easter
and give it back the vibrant colours at Shigmo? (ENDS)
The Miguel Braganza weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482
==============================================================================
The above article appeared in the March 21, 2008 edition of the Gomantak
Times, Goa
