The Dysfunction of Orientalism: An Immoral Paradigm

As Americans, we are the inheritors of a dangerous cultural and historical paradigm of misrepresentation that has been constructed over long centuries; one that has ingrained itself in our society as a base of both knowledge and power. In the current state of the world, and the possible war we now face, this essentialist presupposition threatens to inspire choices, reactions, and even human casualties beyond the scope of moral reason. Edward Said, in his 1978 book titled by the same name, called this system “Orientalism,” an interdependent series of systems by which the “West” establishes its own essence over that of the “East,” governing social, political, and academic issues involving “European culture…setting itself off against the “Orient” as a sort of surrogate and even underground self; an ongoing discourse perpetuated by the basic assumption of the Orient as mysterious, unchanging, unable to represent itself, and ultimately inferior” (Said 4-5). As a global capitalist system forms, there remains a conspicuously Western framework patterned along legacies of imperialism and colonization, which can be shown through logical argument to be morally unsustainable.

The proposed argument consists of the following premises:

1) The established paradigm of “Orientalism” enables and perpetuates glaringly inconsistent political action and social views on the part of America that comprise the root of unnecessary suffering endured by Arab and Asiatic peoples.

2) Any system that enables and perpetuates glaringly inconsistent political action and social views on the part of America that comprise the root of unnecessary suffering endured by Arab and Asiatic peoples is an immoral system.

3) “Orientalism” is an immoral system.

The two theoretical entities of the “West” as “Self” and the “East” as “Other” have long been assumed by Americans to be ultimate and irreducible, comprising an assumed cultural essence contained in the constructed representation of the “Western mind” differentiated from the “Oriental mind” (Northrop 455). This very assumption guides many interdependent and related American foundations of knowledge and power, including the multimedia, mass culture, and the foreign policy decisions of the American government. This influential ideological force is the inheritance of a long history of cultural interaction between Europe and Asia, involving anti-Muslim crusades, imperialism and colonization (Pannikar 481). From the beginning of this interaction, a dichotomy was set into place: even with the later historical developments of nationalism, Marxism, and capitalism, social identities worldwide remained largely a matter of Eurocentric discourse (Prakash 1475).

The world since WW II has undergone a colonial aftermath in which newly independent states were formed by the dozens. In the wake of this blossoming of worldwide nationalism, an Orientalist outlook on behalf of America led quickly to sustained invasion and occupation of Palestinian Arab land. The Arabs were quickly marginalized and stereotyped, their autonomy and birthright to the inherent human freedoms America claims to uphold being steadily denied in the face of Zionism. To this day American Orientalist representations involving dehumanization of Arab people reveals a disproportionate and inconsistent foreign policy that runs contrary to international law.

Asia also was an inheritor to the enforcement of Orientalist doctrine. The world quickly became an arena for ideological pugilism with American capitalism in one corner facing Russian communism in the other. Both voices were matters of Eurocentric discourse, and all other voices in Asia were subsequently categorized and forced to place bets. While Ho Chi Minh carried a copy of the American Declaration of Independence to France, stating the independent ideal of his homeland, America fervently denied this right, while having fervently enforced it on Japan for already a decade. The Orientalist paradigm enabled such policy decisions through the basic perpetuation of a mentality that Marx himself even adhered to: “They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented” (Said 1).

These inconsistencies lead all the way up to the present day, from the military backing of the ruthlessly fundamentalist Afghani Taliban in their struggle against Russia to the backing of thoroughly corrupt political entities such as the Iranian Shah and the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. Any morally consistent paradigm would not overturn itself in a matter of two decades, but the Orientalist mindset of containment and forced representation requires such shifts, exemplified in all three of the above nations. Thus, the premise of inconsistency caused by the current paradigm is shown; the suffering, malnutrition, poverty, and amount of civilian deaths as a result of these chess-game maneuvers is unmistakably a disproportionate amount sustained by Arab and Asian peoples.

If the Orientalist mindset was not the basic framework for American global hegemony or for a global capitalist system defined, led, and perpetuated by America’s self-justified conspicuous consumption, then various human cultures around the globe would be approached on an equal footing. As one among dozens of equal human cultures engaging in coexistence, America would claim no rightful domain over any Arab or Asian people, and certainly would no longer feel required to represent, rule, or use military force in distant battlefields the world over. Thus, the policies, impacts, and results of musical-chair military intervention could all be laid to rest in an emerging community of globally-informed, moral communities, perfectly capable of defining and carrying out their own pursuit of freedom. A moral option not of isolationism, but of mutual respect and noninterference, is within human reach and can be realized; as Foucault said, “To unlearn is one of the important tasks of self-cultivation” (Foucault 97).

However, even though the current American paradigm of Orientalism can be shown to be morally inconsistent and can lead to profoundly negative and arbitrary international impacts, the process of dismantling such an ingrained view is daunting. A newspaper photograph of the Holy Koran appears after an act of terrorism, and Arabs across America are subject to assault, abuse, and even murder. One editorial appears about the Arab and/or Asian disregard for American, individualistic definitions of freedom and human rights, and a view of the people in question as hopelessly backwards, inferior, and dangerous is set into motion. The biggest potential immorality enabled and perpetuated by American Orientalism may indeed be the oncoming retaliatory war in response to the terror attacks of New York and Washington.

This paradigm is as cumbersome and self-perpetuating as it is morally flawed, falling into Foucault’s definition of a “discursive practice” which “takes shape in technical ensembles, in institutions, in behavioral schemes, in types of transmission and dissemination, in pedagogical forms that both inform and maintain them” (Foucault 12). As Americans, the views of our media and our government, our academia and our own mindsets are being informed and maintained by a paradigm with significant moral flaws. “Orientalism,” since the initial engagement of Arab and Asian societies elsewhere in the world, has been soaked in the blood and the misery of the “Other” by which we have defined the “Self.”
Works Cited

Foucault, Michel. Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth. Trans. Robert Hurley. Ed. Paul Rabinow. New York: The New Press, 1997.

Northrop, F.S.C. The Meeting of East and West. New York: Collier Books, 1966.

Panikkar, K.M. Asia and Western Dominance. New York: The John Day Co., 1946.

Prakash, Gyan. “Subaltern Studies As Postcolonial Criticism.” The American Historical Review. 99 (1994): 1475-1490.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1978.

-Fall 2001

http://www.mindground.net/orientalism.html

http://www.mindground.net/westphil.html
Research On Ancient Western Philosophy

Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the Atomists

In Search of Aristotle’s Soul

Of Emptiness and Being: A Comparative Analysis of Parmenides and Nagarjuna

Timaeus and His Cosmos

The Good Of the Whole: Stoic Ethics and Cosmology

Stoic Cognition: To Grasp the Truth

Recommended Readings:

PHILOSOPHY LEGENDS ARCHIVE GRECO-ROMAN TEACHINGS

Related Links:

ANCIENT WESTERN PHILOSOPHY LINKS


Research On Modern Western Philosophy

Views of Science Changed and Confirmed

Wisdom’s Cataracts: Descartes’ Investigation of Human Imperfection

The Shadow Play of “Uninterrupted Continuance”: A Critique of Locke and Reid On Personal Identity

The Necessary Existence of God: Theological Debate in Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

When the Blade Meets the Wood: Kant’s Practical Philosophy

The Discourse Between Art and Politics: 1830-2001

Identity and Ethnicity in E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime

The Dysfunction of Orientalism: An Immoral Paradigm

Cursing the Carriage For Not Pulling the Horse: The Neutrality of “Orientalism”

“Orientalism” and the West: The Carriage and Its Driver

The Nature of Spinoza: A Reassurance and a Dare

The Soul’s Cultivation: Education and Human Perfectibility in Wollstonecraft’s Vindication

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->“Orientalism” and the West: The Carriage and Its Driver

              As Americans, we are the inheritors of a dangerous cultural and historical paradigm of misrepresentation that has been constructed over long centuries; one that has ingrained itself in our society as a base of both knowledge and power.  In the current state of the world, and the “war against terrorism,” this presupposition threatens to inspire choices, reactions, and even human casualties beyond the scope of moral reason.  Edward Said, in his 1978 book titled by the same name, called this system “Orientalism,” an interdependent series of systems by which the “West” establishes its own essence over that of the “East,” governing social, political, and academic issues involving “European culture…setting itself off against the “Orient” as a sort of surrogate and even underground self; an ongoing discourse perpetuated by the basic assumption of the Orient as mysterious, unchanging, unable to represent itself, and ultimately inferior” (Said 4-5).  As a global capitalist system forms, there remains a conspicuously Western framework patterned along legacies of imperialism and colonization, which can be shown through logical argument to be morally unsustainable.

              The proposed argument consists of the following premises:

1)        The established paradigm of “Orientalism” enables and perpetuates glaringly inconsistent political action and social views on the part of America that comprise the root of unnecessary suffering endured by Arab and Asiatic peoples.

2)      Any system that enables and perpetuates glaringly inconsistent political action and social views on the part of America that comprise the root of unnecessary suffering endured by Arab and Asiatic peoples is an immoral system.

3)      “Orientalism” is an immoral system.

                The two theoretical entities of the “West” as “Self” and the “East” as “Other” have long been assumed by Americans to be ultimate and irreducible, comprising an assumed cultural essence contained in the constructed representation of the “Western mind” differentiated from the “Oriental mind” (Northrop 455).  This very assumption guides many interdependent and related American foundations of knowledge and power, including the multimedia, mass culture, and the foreign policy decisions of the American government.  This influential ideological force is the inheritance of a long history of cultural interaction between Europe and Asia, involving anti-Muslim crusades, imperialism and colonization (Pannikar 481).  From the beginning of this interaction, a dichotomy was set into place: even with the later historical developments of nationalism, Marxism, and capitalism, social identities worldwide remained largely a matter of Eurocentric discourse (Prakash 1475).

                The world since WW II has undergone a colonial aftermath in which newly independent states were formed by the dozens.  In the wake of this blossoming of worldwide nationalism, an “Orientalist” outlook on behalf of America led quickly to sustained invasion and occupation of Palestinian Arab land.  The Arabs were quickly marginalized and stereotyped, their autonomy and birthright to the inherent human freedoms America claims to uphold being steadily denied in the face of Zionism.  To this day American “Orientalist” representations involving dehumanization of Arab people reveals a disproportionate and inconsistent foreign policy that runs contrary to international law.

                Asia also was an inheritor to the enforcement of “Orientalist” doctrine.  The world quickly became an arena for ideological pugilism with American capitalism in one corner facing Russian communism in the other.  Both voices were matters of Eurocentric discourse, and all other voices in Asia were subsequently categorized and forced to place bets.  While Ho Chi Minh carried a copy of the American Declaration of Independence to France, stating the independent ideal of his homeland, America fervently denied this right, while having fervently enforced it on Japan for already a decade.  The “Orientalist” paradigm enabled such policy decisions through the basic perpetuation of a mentality that Marx himself even adhered to:  “They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented” (Said 1).

                These inconsistencies lead all the way up to the present day, from the military backing of the ruthlessly fundamentalist Afghani Taliban in their struggle against Russia to the backing of thoroughly corrupt political entities such as the Iranian Shah and the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.  Any morally consistent paradigm would not overturn itself in a matter of two decades, but the “Orientalist” mindset of containment and forced representation requires such shifts, exemplified in all three of the above nations.  Thus, the premise of inconsistency caused by the current paradigm (the second premise in this argument) is shown; the suffering, malnutrition, poverty, and amount of civilian deaths as a result of these chess-game maneuvers is unmistakably a disproportionate amount sustained by Arab and Asian peoples.

                If the “Orientalist” mindset was not the basic framework for American global hegemony or for a global capitalist system defined, led, and perpetuated by America’s self-justified conspicuous consumption, then various human cultures around the globe would be approached on an equal footing.  As one among dozens of equal human cultures engaging in coexistence, America would claim no rightful domain over any Arab or Asian people, and certainly would no longer feel required to represent, rule, or use military force in distant battlefields the world over.  Thus, the policies, impacts, and results of musical-chair military intervention could all be laid to rest in an emerging community of globally-informed, moral communities, perfectly capable of defining and carrying out their own pursuit of freedom.  A moral option not of isolationism, but of mutual respect and noninterference, is within human reach and can be realized; as Foucault said, “To unlearn is one of the important tasks of self-cultivation” (Foucault 97).

                However, even though the current American paradigm of “Orientalism” can be shown to be morally inconsistent and can lead to profoundly negative and arbitrary international impacts, the process of dismantling such an ingrained view is daunting.  A newspaper photograph of the Holy Koran appears after an act of terrorism, and Arabs across America are subject to assault, abuse, and even murder.  One editorial appears about the Arab and/or Asian disregard for American, individualistic definitions of freedom and human rights, and a view of the people in question as hopelessly backwards, inferior, and dangerous is set into motion.  The biggest potential immorality enabled and perpetuated by American “Orientalism” may indeed be the ongoing retaliatory war in response to the terror attacks of New York and Washington.

                This paradigm is as cumbersome and self-perpetuating as it is morally flawed, falling into Foucault’s definition of a “discursive practice” which “takes shape in technical ensembles, in institutions, in behavioral schemes, in types of transmission and dissemination, in pedagogical forms that both inform and maintain them” (Foucault 12).  As Americans, the views of our media and our government, our academia and our own mindsets are being informed and maintained by a paradigm with significant moral flaws.  “Orientalism,” since the initial engagement of Arab and Asian societies elsewhere in the world, has been soaked in the blood and the misery of the “Other” by which we have defined the “Self.”

                A critic of my position might offer the following argument:

1)        The system of “Orientalist” discourse is driven by issues of capitalism and nationalism which contain their own moral worth (or lack of it), and the definition of the “West” and the “East” is informed along the way without itself containing a certain moral value.

2)      Any system that is driven by issues which contain their own moral worth (or lack of it) without itself containing a certain moral value cannot be said to be immoral.

3)      Therefore, “Orientalism” cannot be said to be immoral.

This argument claims that the dichotomy of Orient and Occident emerges out of a neutral moral state, a misrepresentation that is itself a natural process in all cultures in dealing with the initial strangeness of other cultures.  It is apparent that many political actions and social views of America inconsistently favor and sustain, inflict and cultivate unnecessary suffering endured by Arab and Asiatic peoples. The roots of this bias, however, deal with a complex interflow between systems of capitalism, wealth distribution, and nationalist issues of power, as opposed to an oversimplified ideological discourse, according to the above argument.  In this sense, “Orientalism” is not something that can be isolated and cursed on its own.  Rather, the “horse” that pulls this “carriage” controls its moral direction; the carriage itself is stationary and morally neutral.

                This neutral carriage is comprised of the initial definitions of “Self” and “Other” involved with an “Orientalist” view that leads to other dichotomous attributes,such as “known/ mysterious,” “West/East,” “frontier/homeland,” etc.  However, no moral evaluation can be made until this view begins to apply both quantitative and qualitative values to the equation, such as “rich/poor,” “fortunate/downtrodden,” “advanced/backward,” or “superior/inferior.”  These evaluations are made only when the initial theory of “Orientalism” becomes informed by factors which contain certain amounts (or deficiencies) of morality.  These factors invariably include both capitalism and nationalism, world systems that transcend the bounds of any region-specific view such as “Orientalism,” while informing such views to the extent that they are overshadowed by these larger forces at play.

                Departing from the value claims intrinsic to “Orientalist” theory may at first seem like a process of deconstruction or dissection of the original ideas of Said and others.  But a close look can illustrate that the very fuels that drove and continue to drive “Orientalism” as a whole do not leave it as an independent entity that can be judged or evaluated on its own grounds.  The various world systems through which we are informed of our “Western Selves” and, concurrently, define the “Eastern Others” simultaneously transcend and steer these perceptions, presenting the illusion that the original dichotomy is to blame.

                For example, some of the most fundamental driving factors in “Orientalism” as it is practiced by the “West”, such as colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and nationalism, take place on a worldwide scale that renders “West vs. East” as only a small aspect of a much larger equation.  The empire of Japan is one of the most prominent examples.  Japan cannot be attributed a wholly “Western” status, neither through geographical location nor through its unique culture.  Yet, this country has had a long legacy of colonial and imperial impulses in Asia, and even today follows the winds of global capital and consumer culture very closely, while still retaining a very particular form of nationalism.  Every inconsistent political action and social view on the part of America that could be said to perpetuate “Orientalism” has been practiced and perpetuated in its own way in Japan.  Examples are replete, from the puppet government of Manchukuo during WWII (to rule over the “inferior” Chinese people) to the rape of the forests of Malaysia (forests with infinitely less importance than Japan’s own), from the sexual enslavement of “comfort women” who were kidnapped all across Asia during the war (who have yet to receive an apology) to consistent discrimination against both the indigenous Ainu people of North Japan and the internal lower caste known as the Bakumin (ancient family lineages stigmatized for their trade in leather goods, thought of as an unclean Japanese race).

                Other world issues that run on “Orientalist” fuels yet remain beyond the realm of such a discourse, bringing into question the moral accountability of the discourse in and of itself, include the political action and social views America has employed towards Central, Latin, and South America.  From brutal and oppressive puppet regimes to notorious sweat shops, from an ingrained preference of power for half-white “mestizo” races to fervent support of aggressive capitalist policies, every tendency that could be described as “Orientalist” has been practiced towards this world region, which is a marginalized “Western” region, but certainly not an example of America’s representational model of the “Orient.”

                The ideological horses pulling the carriage of “Orientalism” as it is practiced by America, therefore, can only be morally evaluated on a worldwide basis.  The same Americans who killed Panamanian civilians are now killing Afghani civilians.  The same irrational preference for and support of corrupt or sadistic governments to achieve unrealistic ideals can be seen in both Columbia and Israel.  An inconsistent amount of suffering, malnourishment, poverty, and death perpetuated by American foreign policy is indeed sustained by Asian and Arab peoples; tragically, however, this trend extends well beyond American concepts of “Eastern” or “Oriental” cultures, and such injustice is employed by any country that wields enough power, as can be seen in the example of Japan.

                Therefore, a process for positive change in regard to America’s “Orientalist” foreign policies must take into account that its very moral questionability does not lie in the simple dichotomy of “Self” and “Other,” “East” and “West,” which incidentally are necessary for discourse between regional cultures to continue.  Instead, the moral accountability of the larger forces at hand must be brought to the scrutiny of a larger justice, including those of global capitalism, nationalistic narrow-mindedness, and cultural delusions of superiority.  All three of these horses pull the carriage, without which “Orientalism” would remain on the morally neutral ground of one culture engaging in discourse with another.

                Although this second argument is a valid one, and constructs a solid framework for the concept that “Orientalism” itself cannot be said to be immoral, the initial analogy and subsequently the first premise can be shown to be unsound.  The “carriage” of “Orientalism” is undeniably pulled by the “horses” of capitalism, nationalism, and cultural superiority, but these horses are guided and informed in certain directions by an intrinsic part of the carriage that does contain a certain moral value: the driver.

                Said’s claim from the very beginning is that European culture is both the builder and the driver of the carriage of “Orientalism,” giving focus and drive to the horses mentioned above.  The quantitative and qualitative values mentioned in my critic’s argument, such as “rich/poor,” “fortunate/downtrodden,” “advanced/backward,” or “superior/inferior,” are thoroughly infused with the original and neutral dichotomy of “Self” and “Other” because of the “Self” involved, mainly European/American culture.  In this way, the assertion in the first premise of my critic’s argument, that “the definition of the ‘West’ and the ‘East’ is informed along the way without itself containing a certain moral value,” is unsound.  The very definition is informed upon its creation, namely by the culture claiming Selfhood as opposed to Otherness.

                The initial dichotomy therefore absorbs the same moral value of the driver’s horses; “Orientalism,” created by the West, is inevitably infused with a certain context of capitalistic, nationalistic, and cultural values.  It actually is the horses themselves, capitalism itself, nationalism itself, etc., that cannot be said to contain their own moral worth (or lack of it); for they are harnessed, controlled, maintained and guided not by a stationary carriage, but by its driver and builder.

                As far as my critic’s examples of Japan and America’s Southern Hemisphere go, they do indeed fall outside or beyond “Orientalist” discourse; this is undeniable.  But Imperial Japan could be said to have raised its own horses of colonialism and nationalism; likewise, European and American culture may have built more than one carriage, more than one ideological justification to uphold its own drive towards dominance.

                Through these observations, the original argument holds up; “Orientalism” cannot be said to be morally neutral, and in fact enables and perpetuates glaringly inconsistent political actions and social views on the part of America that comprise the root of unnecessary suffering endured by Arabic and Asian peoples.  The logical conclusion is that the carriage itself, “Orientalism” itself, built and driven by the driver, running on the strength and motion of the horses of capitalism, nationalism, and cultural superiority, is an immoral system. With well-oiled wheels, the carriage is logically traveling in the same direction as the horses and the carriage.  Examples such as the “war on terrorism,” the blind support of Israel’s breaching of international law, and the arbitrary embargos and bombing of Iraq, show that “Orientalism” is raging full-speed ahead, with severe repercussions in store for the Frankenstein who constructed this monster. 


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http://www.mindground.net/modwestphil.html

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS
http://www.geocities.com/teodesouza/

Goan Mangoes
Daughters of the Cross among the Siddis of Yellapur
Foral of Afonso Mexia; Goan Charter of Rights and Obligations (1526)
Konkani Language: Myths & Reality
Earliest surviving Konknni publication in Roman Script (1622)
Is it really Konknni? Please check!
GOA'S PREHISTORIC PAST
MARATHI RECORDS FOR GOA'S HISTORY


http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/15...earch.html

BOOKS ON GOA


RAJHAUNS VITRAN (SWAN PUBLISHERS) is a small publishing firm run by Mr. R. Bhidye of Panjim. He has been doing yeoman service to Goa, by publishing (against the odds, one feels, as a reviewer of Goa books) a number of titles related to this tiny region, in Konkani, English and Marathi. For these titles, the market is small. When a book is published, nobody seems interested. By the time interest is built up, the book is out of print. There is not much money in this. These are the travails which people like Bhidye have to put up with. To add to the problem, many Goans don't seem to think its worth investing in books (and relevant information). Rajhauns offers a mail-order service. If interested, contact them directly:
Rajhauns Vitran, 1 Meenakshi Building,
Dr. Wolfango da Silva Marg,
Panjim 403001.
It is located just opposite Junta Building, in the heart of the capital.

The Government Printing Press in Panjim also has a large amount of old books, dating back to the Portuguese regime, and offered for sale at prices as ludicrously low as Rs 1 or 2 each. Worth checking out too.

Research publications on Goa's History produced by the Xavier Centre of Historical Research may be obtained directly from that Institute at
Alto Porvorim,
Goa 403 521
(Fax: +91-832-217772),

or from

Concept Publishing Company,
A/15-16,
Commercial Block ,
Mohan Garden,
New Delhi 110 059
(Fax: +91-11-559 8898).

Goa University and Konkani Akademi also have their publications, including an excellent first volume of the Konkani Encyclopaedia (Konknni Vishvakosha).

The other great distributor of many reprints of valuable books on Goa is
Mr. J. Jetley,
Asian Educational Services,
C-2/15, S.D.A.,
Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016
(Fax: +91-11-6852805).
A detailed catalogue may be ordered.

A wide spectrum of books on Goa may be ordered by e-mail from The Other India Book Store (Mapusa, Goa). For a catalogue on books available at this store, check out http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/i_oibs/OIBS.html

The last Portuguese naval action in Goa (1961)


For those who do not have easy access to what is being published in Portuguese and in Portugal, here is a reference that could fill in more details about the 1961 military action that led to the end of the Portuguese rule in India. The Vol. VIII (1808-1975) of "Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa" by Saturnino Monteiro (Lisboa, Liv. Sá da Costa Editora, 1997). The author is a retired Naval Officer (Capitão-de-mar-e-guerra) and former professor of Naval Academy.

Pages 149-182 cover the Goa event (including the naval encounter at Diu). The author presents a very objective picture of the Portuguese political and strategic weaknesses at the time. Refers to the Portuguese complacent attitude vis-a-vis the post-World War II hegemonic tendencies and decolonization process. Quotes on p. 150: "This has nothing to do with us. There is no racism in our colonies. Our blacks (pretos) are happy with us and the idea of becoming independent is nowhere in their heads".

The book describes in quite some detail the military (particularly naval) strength and weaknesses of India at the time. Describes how Salazar relied in vain upon the diplomatic support of USA and UK, and had requested Pakistan and China to create border pressures. The author praises the last Governor General of Goa for ignoring the instructions of Salazar to resist till the last man. According to this account, two batches of artillery men were sent at the very end disguised as football teams. They were to handle the two obsolete anti-air guns the Portuguese had in Goa.

A request from Goa military asking for sausages (meaning ammunition for these artillery pieces) was responded literally by Lisbon authorities with various brands of Portuguese sausages! It became a joke among the Portuguese during a long time to come. Not many in Goa are aware of it as yet.

The book provides a very detailed description of the strategy and action (with maps indicating the battle positions) that ended the last Portuguese naval battles at Mormugão and off Diu. The names of the Portuguese officials who participated in these actions and lost their lives get a due mention.

There is reference to Indian navy having sensed the presence of a submarine. This was later confirmed to have been a British submarine on its way to Far East. The Indian navy was prepared for such an eventuality and several anti-submarine frigates, such as "Trishul", "Kuthar", "Kirpan" and "Khukri" were inducted in the operation. This book should be read alongside the "Operation Vijay" published by the government of India (ed. S.N. Prasad, National Archives of India) with details of Indian military documentation.


http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503/goan_soc.pdf

CHECK THE LINKS BELOW TO KNOW ABOUT GOAN IDENTITY



If you come across other interesting and relevant links on this them, or if you have a contribution of your own,

please send it to teodesouza@netcabo.pt to add it to this list.





http://www.rajannarayan.com/archive/18-1-2004/



http://www.goanews.com/jose.htm



http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/15...oraes.html



http://www.goacom.com/culture/religion/gch/



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//articl...0,prtpage-1.cms?



http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/2003011.../book8.htm



http://www.goacom.com/goanow/2001/jan/goanidentity.html



http://www.goacom.com/goanow/2001/feb/goanidentity.html



http://www.lusotopie.sciencespobordeaux.fr/souzaT.pdf



http://www.goa2u.com/food&drinks.htm






SOME WONDERS OF GOA


Even 36 years after Goa´s Liberation, 22 years after the formation of the Goa SSC & HSSC Board of Education, 12 years after the establishment of the Goa University, there is still no Atlas of Goa, neither a good (1:50,000) wall map with standard geographic details available anywhere.Government officials, teachers and students are managing with tourist-maps of Goa!
The Survey of India maps are classified and are not available to the public. The best map is the regional map of Goa, which is a colour-coded, foldable wall map, stressing on the land utilisation pattern as envisaged in 1989. There are no contours or hydrographic or physiographic features in the map. Even then, for Rs 30 it is a buy.
With all these difficulties in mind, Dr. Nandakumar Kamat compiled one thousand geographically interesting facts about Goa. This article deals with seven. These have been selected not necessarily because they are the best natural wonders of Goa. Many of these "wonders" are everyday features, to the people who take them for granted.
Let each of these wonders tell you an interesting story. Each wonder has its secret. Let us explore these wonders, one by one:

MARINE FOSSIL DEPOSITS OF CHICALIM


Some 10,000 to 25,000 years ago, the sea-level must have been higher than it is at present. As you travel by the Cortalim-Vasco road, after crossing Sancoale, wherever the road has been widened by cutting the laterite, a continuous winding deposit of white marine shells is seen exposed.
This marine fossil bed is sandwitched between two layers of lateritic soil. The upper layer seems to have been formed recently. Similar fossils are found on the other side of the Zuari river at Siridao on the paddy fields, which are at almost the same level.
These marine fossil-beds are not only interesting, but could also tell us much more about ancient climate and sea-recession. The best of these deposits are exposed at Chicalim.

SOUTH-GOA'S STRAIGHT COASTLINE


A look at the map of South Goa district with draw your attention to the peculiar liner shape of the district's coastline from Majorda to Betul. Such linearity represents uniform seaprecession and a young coastline.
As compared to the interior areas of Goa, this coastal stretch seems to have been formed recently (6,000-15,000 years ago). Majorda, Varca, Betalbatim, Colva... many famous beaches are located on this linear coastline -- a trekker's dream- stretch.
This linearity was a function of protective sand- dunes which are today getting demolished. Once the dunes disappear, this linear-wonder will become a zigzagging nightmare, due to change in the coastal geomorphology under tidal action.

KERI-PERNEM'S MAJESTIC ROCK-ARCH


This writer noticed this striking feature while trekking the Pernem coastline from the Keri-beach to Morjim many years ago. There are two routes to reach Arambol beach from Kerim along the coastline. One is via the coast and the other via the hillside.
The rock-arch forms a cave-like shelter near the hillside. When you enter the cave-like structure you realise it to be a massive arch which allows you to cross to the other side of the beach in a few minutes, while your colleagues walking along the coastline may need half an hour.
On closer inspection, the arch was found to be architectured by wave action. It is perhaps the only such passage in North Goa, but still it is less- investigated.

WELL-OF-THIEVES AT BAGA


An interesting, layered rock formation is projected in the sea, just below the famous Baga Retreat House, looked after by the Jesuit Fathers. A deep, well-like structure, fully surrounded by massive rock-walls, except for a small opening, is known as "Choram Baim" (or, the well of thieves).
Sea-water gushes in this hollow, emitting a peculiar, metallic sound, which is so haunting and transfixing that it glues one to the site instantly.
These rocks are very old and may be remnants of the continental drift, which separated Goa from Madagascar and Antarctica.. According to one tradition, thieves used to hide valuable items in the hollows of the rocks near the well, and thus it came to be known as choram (thieves) baim (well).
My interpretation is that 'choram' means a deep ditch, and hence the local name indicates a ditch- like deep geological formation influenced by the sea.

THE TWIN HISTORIC HILLOCKS OF PARODA


One of the interesting topographic features of South Goa is the centrally-located, strategically formed Chandranath hill. Actually, there are two hillocks, with almost uniform contour lines and a triangular majestic elevation.
One hillock is 300m and the other is 350m high.
Originally known as Parvat, Prithviparvat or Paroda hills, these two magnificient peaks command the massive, fertile plains of Salcete and Quepem talukas between Mulem to Ambaulim and Talavardem to Sarzora.
Molem hill(175m) on the north, Adnem hill(161m) on the south, and Cuncolim(100m) hillock at the south-east form a triangle around this plain.
A meteorite fell on Chandranath mountain during the pre-historic period. A temple was built at that place during the Sata-Vahana period. The Bhoja kings developed this temple when they were ruling from Chandrapura -- today's Chandor at the foot of Paroda hill.
These hills are unique central watersheds of the Paroda river. There are no comparable landmarks in South Goa. In terms of location, topography, antiquity and natural charm. 'Chandrashila', the iron-meteorite worshipped in the temple, further adds to the mystery of this place.

PARTAGAL-CANACONA'S GIANT BANYAN TREE


Goa boasts of some huge banyan (Ficus) trees. The one at Parcem-Pernem spellbinds you due to its height. But the giant banyan tree near the Vaishnavite Partagali Math (religious centre) at Partagal-Canacona standing close to the Talpona river bank is a charming creation of nature's phytoarchitectural skills.
It is a horizontal foliar-wonder. This tree, believed to be at least 2000 years old, is spread over a vast area which can encompass about one thousand people in its shade. The site selection for the Math, a local religious centre of prominence, in the fifteenth century might have been influenced by the presence of this banyan tree, regarded as being holy. It is a tree not to be missed.

THE SACRED GROVE OF MORPILA-QUEPEM


Sacred groves are ancient, untouched, virgin, protected forests. There are hundreds in Goa. Some are small -- comprising just one giant tree, mostly banyan. Some are huge, like the 'Nirakarachi Rai' near Valpoi. But the most interesting of all is the sacred grove of Morpila in Quepem taluka.
It protects the source of a mountain stream called 'Paikacho Vhal' (stream of the forest-spirit Paik). To reach it, one has to remove any leather sandals, climb a steep gradient, enter a long tunnel of bushes, walk on fours as the tunnel gets narrower and narrower and then come out to witness a cascading spring emerging out of the heart of a dense forest.
Not a leaf has been lifted from this area for thousands of years. This makes the grove a repository of ancient, untouched biodiversity.
During our last visit, Dr. Jairam Bhat found new species of aquatic fungi in this place, not known to science. The (tribal) Velip community has zealously tabooed and guarded this place for centuries. It is not a picnic spot, so visitors will be turned back. Morpila's sacred grove is a wonder of nature because of its pristine habitat and undisturbed biodiversity.

From: THE NAVHIND TIMES * Zest,June 14, 1997.
Dr Nandkumar Kamat is nkamat@unigoa.ernet.in
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503/news.html

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12551.html


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI: The UPA government's 'secular' credentials came in for
embarrassing scrutiny on Monday with Supreme Court interrogating the Centre
on whether secularism, a basic feature of the Constitution, allowed it to
grant largesse for the annual Haj pilgrimage.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...003001.cms


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Justice C.K. Thakker, while clearing the subsidy for this year as all arrangements had been made, asked Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati "whether granting subsidy for one pilgrimage does not violate the secular character of our Constitution that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of religion. Either grant such subsidy to all religions or don't give it at all."

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/19/stories/...781100.htm

(Admins: to be merged with Pseudosecularism thread later)

<b>Qureshi to contest as Sahi Imam's candidate </b>
Sitapur
In a jolt to the Samajwadi Party Government in Uttar Pradesh, controversial Haj and Minorities Welfare Minister Yaqoob Qureshi has announced that he would contest the coming Assembly elections in the State as a candidate of the United Democratic Front headed by Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid.

http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/doc...t.php/33304.pdf

What did the Pope say? What were his exact comments? Comments from other faiths and governments?



Pope a 'medieval crusader' in India- The Times of India

http://timesofindia http://timeshttp ://timesofinhttp ://times
headline=Pope~ headline= Popheadline= headline=

NEW DELHI: Pope Benedict XVI's attack on Islam has stirred anger in India
with the head of the National Commission for Minorities saying he sounded like
a medieval crusader.

Pope Benedict provoked worldwide outcry with comments Tuesday during a visit
to his native Germany in which he talked about the "issue of jihad, holy
war", a term used by Islamic extremists to justify acts of terror.

"The language used by the pope sounds like that of his 12th-century
counterpart who ordered the crusades," said Hamid Ansari, chairman of the National
Commission for Minorities.

The commission's role includes maintaining harmony between officially
secular India's majority Hindu population and Muslims who number 130 million in the
country of 1.1 billion.

In Kashmir, dozens of lawyers wearing black court robes marched Friday
through the streets of the summer capital Srinagar, shouting, "Those who dare to
target Islam and the Prophet will be finished."

Police were also deployed around churches and dozens of Christian missionary
schools in Kashmir to prevent any violence against Christians, but no
trouble was reported.

"What he said was nothing but blasphemy," said Kamal Farooqi, a member of
the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, but he also called on Muslims to
"exercise restraint and not lose their cool."

Pope Benedict's speech explored the historical and philosophical differences
between Islam and Christianity and the relationship between violence and
faith.

In Mumbai, the Roman Catholic's official spokesman Father Anthony Charanghat
insisted the pontiff was only seeking to explain how Islamic terrorists use
the concept of jihad or holy war as a theological justification for violence.

But Father Julian Saldhana, a theology professor at Saint Pius Seminary in
Mumbai, said the pope had "reproduced a quotation which is derogatory of the
Prophet Mohammed ... without showing he disagrees with it."

"It would be good if he now told us what he appreciated about the Prophet."
Christians make up 2.3 percent of India's population.

<!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Optima'><b>PMs or bus conductors
Starting from Gujral who started the 1st bus or perhaps, revived the train from India to Pakistan, followed by Vajpayee who became real bus conductor from Delhi to Lahore and carried on by Manmohan Singh who found a different route of bus conduction between POK and Kashmir and at the same time started had railway guard in the garb of Lalu between Rajasthan and ?Sindh. Will this be the History taught for posterity?

Please join me in

x3 hoots for them.

Jai Hind

Capt Manmohan Kumar </b></span></span>

<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Arial'>When you can't run your non aligned car; the chances of moribund non aligned movement's revival are next to nil. And it has neither relevance nor appropiateness in geopolitics of today. When USA was being actively opposed by erstwhile USSR, NAM might have made some sense but in today's world non alighnment has no meaning whatsoever. As far as India is concerned, we have many better things to do e.g. we have 25% population of world who lives on paltry sum of <$1/day; so, we should be using our resources to bring them above the poverty line. Moreover, there is already UN to take care of such issues as can come up in NAM. There is no need to flog the dead horse like NAM.</span></span>[FONT=Arial][SIZE=7][COLOR=red]

Europe the real originator of the caste system
(hastily posted as a draft)

Introduction
This is an item which should be more explored and projected right in the faces of non-Indian historians, anthropologists, etc. and their Indian admirers and followers. The success of anti-Indian and especially anti-Hindu propaganda lies in the fact that these offenders aren’t hit at their weak spot: the grave criminal expressions of their own systems in every field throughout most of their history! Some of their unique expressions, politically and religiously, have caused mass destructions on mondial levels. In an international court of justice (UNO) record, we would have almost exclusively names of abrahamitic (and their offshoot) criminals.

The foreign missionary and military was aiming at enslavement of the subcontinent through a paralysing indoctrination of Indian culture with their own concepts. The message was that what was good was foreign, and the bad was indigenous, in simple words. The bad had to be saved, to be civilized = christianised after European social model.

But how different was the christianised Anglo-Indian concept from European social realities?
At least from the feudal period on, Europe did know a clear caste system: The elite or lords are the hereditary land owners, which are bishops, kings, warlords and noblemen. Vassals are somewhat the slaves of the land owners. And the elite all claim their authority is from God. Both secular and religious power went hand to hand to completely christianise Europe and to enslave the non-elite. Slavery was normal upto the 12th century in Europe, but serfs tied to lords were still common.
Slavery worldwide was practised by christian and muslim rulers. The colonial powers abolished slavery in the 19th century, officially. But that century old mentality didn’t vanish just in one century from their minds, mouths and manners. Political exploitation was replaced by economical and intellectual through monopolization of the resources.

The world has to de-abrahamiticize in every field, but especially socially, psychologically and academically. Too many words are loaded with abrahamitic sauces of interpretations doing grave injustice to non-abrahamitic origins. Even worse, non-abrahamitic systems are being judged against their discriminatory value system.
One of the crucial words to paralyse India is the word “caste”. But what is its origin?

Casta
Caste is a word which is non-Indian. It is derived from the Portuguese word “casta” = pure, breed, race. It is a word used in the 17th century in India. But the word and use is older:
Spanish casta, race, and Portuguese casta, race, caste. 1555, "a race of men," from L. casto "chaste," from castus "pure, cut off, separated," pp. of carere "to be cut off from" (and related to castrate), from PIE base *kes- "to cut."Application to Hindu social groups picked up in India 17c. from Port. casta "breed, race, caste," earlier casta raca "unmixed race," from the same L. word. (see dictionaries)

Hardly anybody paid attention to tracing the word and use of Casta to other parts of the world: to Latin America. “…by the early 17th Century the castas were being defined. The term castas referred originally to people of mixed ethno racial heritage and was generally derogatory. The Spanish brought a fanatical fascination about race with them when they arrived in the "New World." …. Together, the castas, the Spanish, the Natives, and the Africans formed a rigid caste system that governed the ethno racial and class based hierarchy of New Spain. The Spaniards used their elaborate system of classification to maintain social and political control. "Pure blooded" Spaniards held the top position in their constructed social and racial hierarchy, and Africans were considered most inferior. Members of the mixed classes fit into the hierarchy depending on the quantity of "tainted" blood found in their genealogy.”
http://hemi.nyu.edu/archive/studentwork/co...lson/Casta1.htm

While the system was set aside as the spanish colonies got their independence, it left profound scars in modern Latin American societies. In México up until the present day, Mexicans reject the idea of racism but are highly aware of the skin color, associating it with social status. As a result, most role models in television and media are white.
This is thus the result of the institutionalized system of racial and social stratification and segregation based on a person's heritage.

In short, the word “casta” and its loanword in English known as “caste” cannot be separated from European racial (pure versus mixed) ideas and implementations in societies, typical of the colonial powers. The situation in Latin America is a clear proof that the “caste phenomenon” is an implemented European one, and is racial and discriminatory!
This very early European racial system was transplanted in India and made wrongly as equivalent or similar to the dynamic Jana, GaNa, Gotra and Jati systems. (4 VarNa was already for centuries dead, only being mentioned to make some order, but in reality a theoretical, fossil remnant)

Europe is the birthplace of rigid thinking, speaking and behaving systems, from social behaviour (see the word “etiquette”, prescribing into details how to behave), musical performance (compare Indian to western classical musicians. The stiff body language of western musicians is perfectly expressing the distance they create towards another), psychology (see how they hide their real natural emotions behind curtains of controlled . This is the basis of much western frustration and visits to shrinks), religiously (belief in a punishing christian god; constantly threatening clergy to maintain this image), social castes (elite clearly looking down on others and exploiting them; even christianised the blacks for instance were still slaves, counting less than dogs! How differently did the British treat the Indians, or the Americans and European imperialists in both the Americas treat the native Indians? ), colour issue (western elite is whiter than their non-elites, a clear sign they are using to show that they don’t have to work on fields; the whiteness is emphasized later in the decadent periods with the use of cosmetics; black-white thinking coupled to race theories are introduced and indoctrinated in India through the British controlled educational institutes), political offshoots of “theocracies” (totalitarian rule, fascism, nazism; unknown to non-abrahamitic systems, these do not need to be explained), religion (persecutions, holy wars, burning of witches and blacks, annihilation of tribes, etc.), women status (the woman didn’t have much rights save for giving sons, till the 20th century; till the end of the sixties women in western countries had subordinate positions, totally no high positions in church-business-politics, much under the laws of male christians), missionary zeal (showing no sign of respect for others in any sense, they fanatically, sent by the divine as they want to think, impose their own rigid systems to others), etc.

Conclusion
I do not believe that a westerner can teach India any lesson in any of these matters. He rather should look into the mirror and after feeling deep shame for being a proud follower of this oppressive system, he should be taking some responsibility not to point any finger again at others and show some respect.
No system is perfect, thinking that the own is the best is not harmful, but denigrating the other, which is a clear sign of severe ignorance and bad self reflection (minority complex), has to be condemned and stopped immediately.
The christians and muslims clearly have huge records of grave criminal and murderous activities towards their own co-believers (sectarian wars) against each other (crusades etc.) and more barbaric against other areas outside the pale of their “blessed or promised” lands.

That westerners and their non-westerner followers dominate the academia doesn’t mean that they hold the truth. The word casta and its use socially with political and religious and above all racial flavours were already a practical reality elsewhere, in Latin America with the upper caste Peninsulares or Spanish and Portuguese. The racist theories of northern imperialist Europe, has its origins in southern imperialist Europe. Both are deeply rooted in christianity. Both geographical areas gave birth to fascism (northern had German totalitarian nazism, southern had Italian Mussolini’s and Spanish Franco’s systems).


Thus, standard books and their authors do not give the whole picture and certainly aren't free from the outdated methodologies applied to the study of non-western cultures, languages and their (historical) traditions.


P.S. there are many westerners, including academics, who have do have a balanced view. But they are not the dominant voices.

<b>Where Is Osama Bin Laden? </b>
http://abcnews.go.com/International/stor...569&page=1
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"It's like letting the fox guard the chicken coup," said a frustrated U.S. official. "We will never find Osama until the ISI wants us to
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->