IN HERALD:
June 2008
To,
The Editor
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
It is now apparent in the SEZ fracas that the voice of the Goan people and all
residents of Goa is being ignored by New Delhi. We, the people of Goa have
endured conquests from ancient times and in recent centuries, the rules of the
Bijapuris and Portuguese. Is it now time to battle the Government of India over
SEZ and empower the Goan solidarity for change?
For this we need the support of all people residing in Goa and all Goans
worldwide. The fact that 2 million indigenous Goan people in the world are
subjected to a cultural genocide and ethnocide is a matter of grave concern.
All Goans, from fishermen to industrialists will be swallowed by cash rich
people keen to buy Goa. Since 1961, despite the many progressive measures
granted by the Government of India, the vital promise by Nehru to preserve and
give special treatment to Goa has been violated by successive governments at
state and national level. Our Communidade lands have been the most abused. Our
Goan identity is under threat of instinction. Unintentional, though it might
be, the government has permitted a migration that is now on the brink of making
Goans in Goa a minority. All visitors and residents of Goa, who have invested
in the peace and beauty of Goa are alarmed at the daily destruction of the land
and environment. Why did the Goa government and the Government of India not
control this migration and sale of land to inflict problems on the people and
land of Goa ? Do they not know that it is a violation of the United Nations
charter to protect the rights of indigenous people ? The gaunkary /
communidade system is unique to India and was respected till 1961, when a
Government of India servant mistranslated the Codigo dos Communidades and
replaced the word “grant” with “lease”. In the name of this mistranslation of
the Communidade code, our Communidade lands, protected for thousands of years,
are now fast becoming concrete jungles.
The SEZ problem has shown how the government wants to take land that is legally
NOT THEIRS, but rightfully belongs to us Goans. Equally distressing are the
liberal granting of mining licenses in agricultural areas, especially to
persons who are not even resident in Goa. Time and again Goans have been on
the streets to protest. But now, every few months a fresh atrocity is unleashed
on us. People are already whispering that the entire state should be converted
into a National Park. Though that is tempting option, it will spell doom for
progress and commerce. Or will it?!
It will be no surprise if an international body of Goans takes the Government
of Goa and the Government of India to court under the violation of the U.N.
charter of the rights of indigenous people and leave it to the UN and the
legalities at the Hague to grant us Goans justice.
The daily plunder of our land, tribals, gaunkars and culture is an ethnocide we
should fight. Goans should be more informed of their rights to fight this
injustice that has come to our beloved Goa. We are not fools to suffer
silently India’s atrocities like at Nandigram or Mizoram. It is time to show
the right of the Goan people; to the Goa government here, at the Centre in New
Delhi and to the world at large. Refuse SEZ and all other illegalities that
destroy Goan land and its people. We must fight for the truth, to save a land
that is precious and unique in the world.
Wendell Rodricks
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