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Fanchu Loyola -
one of Goa's foremost Freedom Fighters.
[TGF note: The story of Goa's
struggle for Freedom from Portugal is fascinating. The dictatorship
of the Portuguese supremo Dr. Antonio Oliveira Salazar was the straw
that broke the camel's back. While it is true that the repression was felt
more in Portugal than it was, in Goa, educated Goans felt that the time
had come for Goa to be free from the shackles of colonial rule. There were
scores of soft murmurs in the social circles around Pangim, Margao and
Mapuca but only a handful of Goans had the nerve to stand up and speak
their mind.
There were those who turned into
Freedom Fighters after being incarcerated by the Portuguese regime
in Goa, for crimes which included burglary and bigamy. There were those
who became Freedom Fighters after the Portuguese left Goa in 1961. There
are even others who might never have been in Goa but have papers
certifying themselves as Freedom Fighters. Let us not confuse them with
great Goan nationalists like
Dr. Froilano de Mello,
Fanchu Loyola and others.
These true Goan nationalists had the
intestinal and other fortitude to stand up in public and demand
Independence from the Portuguese. This, despite the fact that very few in
Goa supported them. Least of all, Big Business who were in close social
company with Salazar. Needless to say, the brave Goan nationalists
suffered immensely....most hurtfully, at the hands of their own Goan
brethren, if we can call them that
TGF
September 13/02
]
Please read: Have
Goans been liberated ? TGF says NO!
From
Ben Antao:
“Fanchu”
Loyola
As a
student in Margao in the forties and early fifties, I would often hear the
name of Fanchu Loyola, in barbershops and restaurants, where people would
utter his name in hushed tones bordering on awe, as if he were some kind
of hero, along similar lines as the name of another advocate, Bruto da
Costa. And as a teenager, I would find that hero worship rather
extraordinary, being unable to figure out why. I had seen his paper Voz
da India, but not being proficient in Portuguese, I couldn’t read
it. So his name, like that of many other journalists writing in
Portuguese, remained just that a name.
In April of this year, Lino Leitao of Dorval, Que., sent me a book
containing the writings of Fanchu Loyola, writings that Lino had
translated from Portuguese into English. I was both curious and interested
to find out what made the journalist a hero. Alas, I wish I could have
read and known Loyola then!
Well, Fanchu, the lawyer and journalist, was a man after my own heart. His
critique of Goan society--steeped in caste discrimination, egotism and
vanity, rigid religious sodalities (no solidarity there!) feudal-landlord-batkar
mentality, arrogance of petty power and superiority still rings true. In
the past before 1961, Goans could blame the Portuguese rule and
dictatorship for their ignorance, illiteracy and poor economic condition;
today, after liberation and democracy, they have no one to blame but
themselves. Just witness the shenanigans going on in Cuncolim with
gaunkars and the church, and you’d think you’re reading what Fanchu
wrote in 1937.
Another point that struck a chord with me arises from Fanchu’s
clear-sighted emphasis on economic development of all Goans, which he
delivers with passionate conviction. Indeed, political liberation or
independence counts for naught if people do not become economically free.
Real freedom, real democracy means freedom from hunger, from poverty, from
discrimination, freedom from apartheid of casteism. Fanchu put his finger
on the pulse of economic development and who can argue against his thesis
even today?
Reading a review of the book Goa’s Foremost Nationalist Jose
Inacio Candido de Loyola, by Dr. John Hobgood, a professor of
anthropology at Chicago State University, I was struck by Hobgood’s
insight: he says Fanchu’s writings provide background for understanding
Goan diaspora. How true! Even today Goans leave Goa to work abroad,
especially in the Middle East, at immense cost to family life and well
being.
But this condition of leaving home and seeking greener pastures elsewhere
is not peculiarly Goan. Other economically disadvantaged nations in Asia,
Africa and South America have also caught the bug. We must think as a
world community and strive to eradicate every form of discrimination that
threatens to impede human development, freedom and prosperity.
Lino Leitao, a fine writer in English, provides an introduction that
skillfully summarizes Fanchu’s life. Leitao himself explores the themes
of caste and religious bigotry in his novel The Gift of the Holy Cross,
set in Goa of the thirties and forties.
I thank Lino for making Fanchu known to me. My fondest hope is that the
people in Goa today will get a chance to read it. Goa produces abundant
journalists, more numerous than coconuts; surely there will be one there
who can translate into Konkani a relevant essay or two of Fanchu’s; a
teatrist who can dramatize yet again (I know it’s been done) the evils
of caste discrimination and dowry exploitation. Hope springs eternal in
the human breast.
Ben Antao
Toronto
August 1/01
#####
From:
Yona Loyola-Nazareth
Let me introduce myself. My name is Yona Loyola-Nazareth, and I'm the second of he three daughters of Jose Inacio Candido de Loyola. My elder and younger sisters
reside in Perth, Australia.
I was indeed excited when our mutual friend Mr. Lino Leitao informed
me that the
recent review of the book : "Goa's Foremost Nationalist" had appeared on your
website. He very kindly forwarded a copy to me.
Lino and I met in September of 1973 at the Western Laval High School, Montreal, where he had just joined the staff, and where I
had been a vocal specialist for 2 years. My hyphenated surname drew his attention and he introduced himself. Much to my surprise, he
appeared well versed with my father's political aspirations , and expressed a genuine admiration for his intrepid fight against the misdemeanours of the
Portuguese regime. At the time of our meeting
my father was in Lisbon, but he passed away the following year.
Lino always kept abreast of all the political turmoil in Goa: the dishonesty, the corruption etc. Sometime in the early '80s, he
suggested that the time was ripe for the publication of the translations of some of my father's writings, a truly prolific
writer. And thus the project was born.
At the time, I was involved with ancestral property issues and made
periodic visits to Goa, during school vacation. I thus had the
opportunity of visiting the Central Library, Panjim, and arranging
for photo copies of pertinent articles from my father's various newspapers, which I then handed over to Lino. It was a long, tedious,
frustrating process, as some of the most important articles appeared to have disappeared! Of the five books my father had published, not
one was available. It was providential that I recalled seeing a
particular book, (Panoramas Socias e Economicos da India Portuguesa) in
our home in Margao, and mentioned it to Lino. Neither the librarians, nor the Official at the Archives could lay hands
on a copy. Efforts from old friends were all futile. Eventually, fate
intervened. It was my father's good old friend, the late Dr. Alvaro da
Costa, familiar with my father's writings, who finally discovered that a gentleman in Agacaim had a copy. I called on him, and he very graciously offered me the one and only copy in Goa. And thus this
translation was included in the book.
It was indeed a tremendously happy moment for me when Father Charles
Borges informed me on the 3rd of July, 2000, that the launching of the book was to take place on the 22nd of the month. I arrived
in Goa on the 18th.An impressive audience filled the hall at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research. It was a pleasure meeting the Governor of Goa, and receiving the first copy of the book from him.
Yona Loyola-Nazareth
Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 06:17:17 PDT
click here for Fanchu
Loyola : the
review of The Man and his writings by Dr John Hobgood
click here for Fanchu
Loyola an introduction by
Lino Leitao
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