Dear Clinton, I have extracted the points from your post that I would like to respond to.
First i agree completely with you. If this bandh that the state does not support is so effective, then clearly the government is loosing control. And yet, I would not like to see the BJP come to power. I would rather see this government continue. As I have indicated on numerous occassions, to allow for Parrikar and teh BJP to get to power, would be to allow a fascist state to come into operation. this spells the death not just of Muslim and Christian minority groups and their public expressions of culture, but in addition to suppression of lower caste (tribal groups) livelihood concerns, and the actvist work going on all over Goa regardless of religion. What is problematic however is the solution you are proposing. You are proposing a law like in Kerala. You also keep harping to an 'illegal bandh'. I would like to suggest that the relationship you seek to establish with 'law' is dangerous and will utlimately be our undoing. Allow me to elaborate. Let us remember that there are various activists who also call for bandhs. Pravin Sabnis has today indicated how in 1990 they laid seige to Panjim and prevented entry in and out of the city. Now I think it is a right of people to strike and to bring a halt to things if there is a right that has been violated, and the STate is not listening to this rightful demands. Please note that I am now introducing the idea of legitimacy as opposed to mere legality. If we say that there should be laws that prevent protests and bandhs, then we would automatically be saying that such legitimate bandhs should also be banned. what option does that leave groups, like the village activist groups that are protesting the destruction of their villages and yet the state is not listening to them? on the contrary, the law actually allows for this destruction of the livelihoods and the environment of the villages. Clearly, the law is a tool of the oppressive state. When good activists like you ask for bandhs to be banned, this is exactly what people like Parrikar (and other politicos) want, because then, they will use this law to ensure that you are crushed when you protest. when they protest however, the state machinery will be markedly lenient. As is the case today. Last evening Jayesh Naik (if i have not got thee name wrong) and two other known Hindutva trouble makers were hauled to the lockup and then released on bail. BAIL? on the eve of a possibly catastrophic bandh? these people shold have been kept inside the lockup ,and their friends thrown in as well. The law, which can do this, wasnot enforced though. What I am trying to say therefore, is that the law is a double-edged sword. We ask for legal restrictions, not realising that in later times the very same restrictions will be used against us. What we need to stress, is the politics of legitimimacy. Is what this bandh legitimate? I dont think so. It is clearly trying to foment communal troubles in the state, to destabliise the government. If the Village groups tried to do so,would it be legitimate? I think so. i know that we can argue both ways. what I am tryng to point out though, is that there is a problem with law, and that we cannot really trust it anymore. the law right now, is in fact our enemy, as it is being implemented unfairly. the politics of Legitimacy offers us a more fluid ground where we can actually engage in debate and dialogue, rather than go into the stark opposites that come about via the law. in solidarity, jason Message: 11 > Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:17:40 +0530 > From: Clinton Vaz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Goanet] Monday Morning Bandh Blues In Goa > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Goanetters, > > Monday morning blues aside, I'm upset with the news coming in about the > violent enforcement of an illegal bandh. Having meticulously planned > appointments for my entire day in Panjim, Maupsa and then Vasco, I saw > it all go up in smoke thanks to the bandh today. > > > An illegal bandh, supported by the BJP, opposed by the ruling congress. > If the state government has no control over the state, then what's the > state of affairs? Is this organized by forces close to the BJP to make > it appear that we have an impotent government? My faith in the present > Government is waning, but if the BJP forces seem to be behind all of > this, then I distrust whatever Government they propose to form as well. > How many more times will such bandh like situations occur? Perhaps Goa > ought to put in legislation like the Kerala Goverment, making the > organizers of the Bandh reponsible and required to pay for whatever > damage that occurs during their imposed bandh. > > Seems that the only thing that's happening in my schedule is a talk on > waste management at an eco-sensitive camp for students at Regina Mundi > H.S. at Chicalim, Vasco. All are welcome to attend, if interested, The > one hour session starts at 3pm. > > Clinton.. > +91 9890936828 > > > > End of Goanet Digest, Vol 3, Issue 1348 > *************************************** > -- ------------------------------------------------------- Read my thoughts at www.dervishnotes.blogspot.com
