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5th Annual Konkan Fruit Fest
Promenade, D B Bandodkar Road, Panaji, Goa
16-18, May 2008
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073789.html
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Dear Selma,
This is rich: you decide support for traditional fishermen is a
Marxist position, then you slap it for being Marxist, and show how
Marxism is misguided! This is arguing in circles!
The concern over the intense pressure on Goa's traditional fishermen,
from the mid-seventies, came from a wide variety of sources. The Goan
landed-based Mathany Saldanhas, the ecological greens, the media, the
Church, anti-Shashikala Kakodkar elements (and Goan politics
undeniably has a caste element) and some like Comrade Christopher
Fonseca too. But it was a rainbow alliance which saw what anyone who
had eyes was bound to see.
Have you read Newman on the impact on the traditional fisherman? Have
you seen what Ayesha Kagal wrote in the Illustrated Weekly? There are
many studies on this topic... some of the statements you make suggest
you are innocent about the nuances of the stormy issue here. Probably
you were in school when it broke out.....
Traditional fishermen becoming trawler-owners? Which world are you in
Selma? This has been widely debated (may not be in cyberspace) in the
past. With the subsidies, loans and rackets involved, everyone who was
anyone influential became a trawler-owner. Everyone but the
traditional fisherman. Maybe you could count the traditional fishermen
who got trawlers on your fingers of both hands. There are probably
more ex-MLAs into trawlering than traditional fishermen!
The traditional fishermen got their tiny outboard engines. But
survival with these too has become tough, and a challenge. And blaming
them for the rising prices of fish, is like blaming the Arab on the
road for the skyrocketing fuel prices.
Talking about Marxism, the traditional variant of it is closer to
hard-core gung-ho capitalism, when it comes to attitudes over the
environment, traditional technology, protecting occupations and
lifestyles. You only need to look at its attitudes towards nuclear
energy (the Vivek Monteiros are the exceptions!) or the environment or
industralisation to realise this. Mario is talking through his hat
about the ideological basis of the opposition to housing mega-projects
... and the infection seems to be catching on.
FN
2008/5/17 Carvalho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> Dear FN,
>
> I had fully intended my last post to be my last post
> on the subject but I couldn't let this Marxist
> red-herring of yours about protecting traditional
> fishermen, go unchallenged.
>
> Mechanised fishing changed what to the detriment of
> "traditional fishermen"? You mean, it changed the fact
> that many of them got rich by buying trawlers, setting
> up manufacturing units and exporting the shrimp? You
> mean it changed the fact that it created employment
> not just in fishing, but also in packing and canning?
> Or that it brought respectability to people who
> previously were disparagingly called "Khairin" and
> almost treated as outcasts?
>
> Did mechanised fishing ruin Goa? Goans may complain
> about the price of fish in the market, but given the
> spurt in population in recent times are sure your
> kasti-clad rapoinkars with hand-woven raipons would
> supply enough to keep the price down? Or would some
> sort of state sponsored mechanism ensure that the
> price remains low, thereby creating a successful black
> market?
>
> I love it when Marxism wants to speak for and protect
> the small poor traditional guy. Marxist ideology is
> the result of misguided elitist intellectuals. All
> that the little guy wants is a chance to compete in a
> free and equitable market.
