On the eve of Christmas in Goa, the former Portuguese colony on the west coast of India,, a tiny three-liner notice in one of those online networks announced the death of Fr Paul G — “veteran social activist and documentation specialist” of the ISI, Bangalore. He died at the age of 91 in Dindigul. In the seething 1970s and 1980s, this was a modest man who inspired a generation of young Indian students. And he did so simply by teaching them the art (and importance) of cutting up the previous day’s newspapers and learning amazing lessons from reams of newsprint.
I met Fr Paul G (his forgotten full-name was de a Gueriviere, and he was either French or French-Canadian) just once. Actually, I didn’t even meet him, but just saw him modestly lurking around in the ISI library at Bangalore. If you saw his modest demeanour, you would think he was just one of those inconsequential priests spending their barren years between formal retirement and their final trip to the
cemetery. Far from it.
The ISI, or the Indian Society Institute, located in Benson Town, in India’s wannabee Silicon Valley of Bangalore (Bengaluru). The Jesuits have been many different things at different points of time – spearheading the Counter Reformation, playing a huge rule in the colonial economy, getting expelled by a the Portuguese ruler Pombal, supporting management education in an India wrecked by class divisions. But this centre has played the role of building a team of socially-committed leaders, and not just Christians alone.
Only later did I learn of the work and contribution of Fr. Paul G. To put it in simple terms, documentation is based on the belief that social activism must be properly informed and well directed.
So, before just diving headlong into some movement, a proper study should be made of social realities all around. ’Doc’ centres included the Reggie Gomes-crafted GRID in Goa (with Matanhy Saldanha and others), and the famed Centre for Education and Documentation near the Regal Cinema in Colaba, a favourite haunt for me for many years. Roland Martins of Mapusa (Goadesk) has also kept his own documentation for many years, so did activist-journalists like Norman Dantas.
They all believed in the power of information. CED even gave journalists or social activists early access to the Internet, way back in 1993, which helped hugely.
A documentation centre looked like a mess of newspaper clippings, filed away (neatly or otherwise) or scattered across the room. The dissent journalist I.F. Stone suggests a close reading of the newspapers can make you better informed than the CIA and the (former) KGB.
In the 1960s and 1970s, young people touched by the impact of drought in Maharashtra — like John D’Souza, Aspi Mistry and even Pradeep Guha (now a big name in the national media scene) — formed groups like VISTAS. Their work in documentation in 1975 was shaped by work in the AICUF (All India Catholic University Federation), under the inspiration of Fr. Paul de la Gueriviere. The latter’s main aim was to prepare notes, from various sources, for reading by students to help sharpen their understanding of the situations and of what the other actors were doing (political parties, left parties, and other organisations).
From social work in the 1960s, the Catholic Church (rather, small sections of it) moved into social action. Not everyone favoured that approach. In Goa, campaigns influenced by Liberation Theology and Marxism were seen as “too radical” for a Church emerging from a long night of a cosy relationship in the colonial setup.
Those who took up this challenged were accused of converting young activists into non-believers. While this did happen, the wider reality is that it also built up a generation of mostly committed
social activists, people who thought about more than just a good job, the next good party and dance. Today, as politics (and even activism) becomes increasingly cynical, one cannot but help wondering: where are the individuals who have the foresight to shape a generation of leaders that we so badly need? Not just opportunists or real-estate brokers working in the guise of being politicians and “social
workers”. –FN
