On 12 January 2012 19:09, Vivian A. DSouza <socorro...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Nice to hear that so many Goans were recognized for their sterling > services to the Colonial Government in East Africa. Viv and others on this thread: Isn't this a contradiction in terms? In a post-colonial era, what does it mean to be have offered "sterling services to the Colonial Government" in East Africa or anywhere else for that matter? I'd rather celebrate the achievements of the handful of Goans who worshipped at the altar of social justice, and took the huge risk kof supported the underdog... and the Black African cause... when the wind was blowing in the other direction. Pio Gama Pinto. Fritz DeSouza. Aquino Braganca. Or even the Assagaonkar, Armande de Souza in the Ceylon of another era [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goanet-news-backup/message/2428] Among others, I guess. Let me concede that we might be making the same mistake of judging the past with the attitudes and values of the present. (As in the case of blaming Francis Xavier for the the Inquisition which he suggested but was institute after his death in Goa. Or criticising Kossambi for seeing mining as a suitable industry for Goa when he mentioned that in the 1950s or 1960s.) But, at the same time, let it not be said that we are celebrating the junior-partner role that Goans played in propping up the unjust colonial system. FN --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------