Do we have to think of Goans atomisticaly? Goans are literally on the extinct. Is Goa a atomistic society? Most atomistic society are individually oriented and do not value communities or collectivities. Goans are not really individualistic in nature. Therefore, we may have to ask: With the dying Goans, will Goa also be extinguished? Are Goans dissociable from Goa? The dying Goan is threatening our being-in-common, our Goa(n)-ness? What will be Goa with the advent of the Last Goan? When the Last Goan comes on the scene, will he/she not find any Goa? By that time will Goa disappear?
It appears that Goa would be wiped away as the face we draw on the sands of our beaches is erased away by the waves of the sea. May be we have to still ponder: Did we already put the last nail on the coffin of Goa? Or have we already done the funeral of Goa? Unfortunately, we do not have the proverbial prophetic Zarathustra of Fredrick Nietzsche, of Thus Spake Zarathustra fame, to proclaim the fast coming death of Goa and that we are actively murdering it. We can clearly hear this bad news with our eyes( Nietzche’s expression). We can see Goa in the ICU. Unfortunately, we have become a crowd that stands in silence as Goa is sold to the highest bidder. This is why the sun is fast setting on us and soon may be the Last Goan will walk on the sands of our beaches. May be Nietzsche’s Last Man will be seen on the horizon of Goa. We can already hear the echoes of his coming. This is why just maybe we have to embrace what Martin Heidegger calls the task of thinking. We have to take up this task of thinking for sake of our own future.
When as Goans, we resolutely think, we can realize that what we have held in-common and was handed to us for generations is today up for sale. Our land , water, culture, our faith traditions and other resources have been transformed into raw material for an power-elite to build wealth as well as political capital. A simple examination of what passes of as development will reveal to those willing to see the truth that Goa and Goans are pushed on the road that will take us to a slow suicide. The so-called development forced on us in Goa has put us on the fast track of the arrival of the Last Goan.
The goal of the ruling benches today appear to be a conversion of every Goan living today into a Last Goan. To transform us into the Last Goan, we are fed on the diet of communal divisions and hate ridden nationalism. The Government appears to beat the minorities and appease the majority with the stick of the colonial rule of the Portuguese. National heroes like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are used to fuel its divisive politics. Religious power is not just used for moral purposes but also to reap notes and votes.
The Goan is us is being actively killed by this divisive politics around us. Hence, with pain and trembling, we may have to say that the Last Goan is standing at the threshold. The Last Goan is not a single person. The Last Goan is a herd or a crowd that does not feel for Goa and lets Goa and its resources be preyed upon by the power-elite to the point of the destruction of Goa. Thankfully, we have not yet devolved into the Last Goan. There is still time for his/ her coming. This interim time can open us ways of not just delaying the arrival of the Last Goan but also give us possibilities of reviving Goa and Goans. To come to this stage, we need to come out of the seductive stupor of politics of religion and intoxicating narrow nationalism.
The precarious condition that faces us does not allow conformity as an option. We have to choose with all consensus the way of dissensus. We have the challenge to question everything that is killing the Goan in us. We have to stand up for Goa. We cannot be the Hollow Man that T. S . Elliot wrote about. Courage and strength come to those who are willing to grind in the dust and the rain. If we continue to be Hollow Man as Goans, we will accelerate the coming of the Last Goan. Unfortunately, the politics and economics in Goa seems to be promoting the arrival of the Last Goan. But we are not helpless. We have to kill the Last Goan in us. The Last Goan in the sense of Nietzsche is nurtured by the ruling class. Hence, we have challenge to contest and deconstruct the ruling ideas that rule the minds of Goans today.
It is opportune that we have to come to realize that what is promoted as development is displacing Goans. Maybe we can derive inspiration from the words of English poet, John Milton, ‘ Long is the way and hard, that out of hell leads up to light’. We indeed have a long way to go but we cannot walk alone. We need each other to tide these dark times. Before, the Last Goan arrives on the scene, we have to stand up for every Goan. The Last Man of Nietzsche opens a very important perspective to understand what is happening to Goa, Goans and Goan-ness in our days.
Maybe we have to heed to the warning of Francis Fukuyama who sees the arrival of the Last Man of Nietzsche as the manifestation of the decline of thymos (intelligence and motivation) in a society. We Goans are educated and are intelligent. What we need may be motivation to come together for Goa and Goan-ness. Before, the thymos of our society runs down, we have to come together and stand up for Goa. Otherwise, nothing can save us from averting the arrival of the Last Goan. The eclipse of Goa, Goans and Goan-ness can be averted only by blocking the arrival of the Last Goan and to do this, we Goans have to stand together and resist the de-goanization of Goa by the present regime and the reigning power-elite. Above all, we ourselves have to work so as to not become the Last Goan who is silent and passive participant in the death of Goa. Let us avoid Goacide. Let us not be the reason of Goacide.
