Victor Rangel-Ribeiro wrote: Dear Jose, Yours is a very thought-provoking post. But when you ask, "Duck the question: Were Goans given the choice to autonomously decide their future?" the answer must surely be, we were prevented from exercising that choice, first and foremost, by Salazar.
Dear Victor, I absolutely agree with you. Goans were first and foremost prevented from exercising that autonomous choice by Salazar. He was, after all, a dictator. What else did we expect him to do? They even booted him/his ilk out from power in Portugal. Even the (epitomy of sossegado) people of Portugal rose up against the Salazarists. (BTW: are we sure that some of the nuevo Freedom fighters cum mine-owners were not erstwhile Salazarists?) Having noted that : Are we saying that Nehru too was a 'Salazar' of sorts? Wasn't he the champion of autonomy and self-determination along with Nasser and Sukarno and Tito (all maha-dictators in their own rights) ? BTW: I don't know many Goans who miss Salazar. I know they certainly miss the cleanliness, simplicity of life, the better than average standard of living (at a lower cost) and safety of the pre-1961 times. I do. however, know of post-1961 Goans who dismiss those days merely as perfectly useless 'saudade'. I also have come to understand that there are Goans who appear to enjoy/tolerate the filth - as long as they have their favourite 'chokra boy' to do the dirty laundry and clean their yard for them. It does not matter to these Goans if the Goa environment continues to be destroyed OR to the non-Goans if the villa they are living in has been constructed after cutting down the Goan 'greens'. good wishes as always jc
