19 April,2010

On trial: our attitudes
Like a very well-written plot, the still-unconcluded Scarlett Keeling episode has a lot of drama entangled in it. Ash from a volcano in Iceland has now kept the dead girl’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, from flying to Goa to depose in a Panjim court.
Given the sensational nature of this case, it is not too surprising to find a lot of media hype generated over it. The British press, in particular, has blown this into probably the single most important story that readers back home have heard from Goa since the Commonwealth Retreat in 1983.
But besides the drama, and the multiple tragedies involved, this case involves a clash of attitudes and assumptions. It just goes to show how in our globalised world, we see things very differently, based on our cultural assumptions and biases. In the bargain, almost every side emerges the loser.
Did the outrage—not wholly unjustified—over a single case in Goa get a lot of attention because of the clout of the British tabloids? Did MacKeown pay a high penalty in the court of public opinion because of her untraditional lifestyle, and part-Gipsy roots? Does television reduce serious issues to a media circus by targetting sound-bytes (by the beach, in this case)? Was cheque-book journalism partly at fault for ensuring the ‘story’ emerged in a certain manner, probably unfair to many involved?
To begin with, it must be conceded that it is wholly unacceptable for the police to keep the lid of a unexplained death case for four to five days. What was surprising that the story of Scarlett’s death emerged first in the UK, and not in Goa itself. It is in nobody’s interest—definite not that of Goa’s tourism industry—to try to avoid adverse publicity by sweeping the truth under the carpet. A far more productive approach would be to frankly access the risks to tourist visitors, both foreign and Indian, and make this known to those visiting Goa. But doing this presumes that the State is open, transparent and honest in the way it works; we cannot hazard such assumptions, given past experience.
But once the story emerged, the manner it was treated was bizarre, to say the least. Police and government authorities have already received the flak they deserve, for first trying to make light of the case. But lesser attention has been paid for the authorities later bowing to the pressure of the (mainly) foreign media.
From the response that emerged in the West, it seemed almost like a return to age-old stereotypes. The “lustful Indian male” is a colonial perception of the West, going back to 1857. India’s First War of Independence as it has been called (the “Sepoy Mutiny” to South Asia’s then rulers) saw allegations of war rape used as British propaganda to justify the colonisation of India. Today it is accepted what rape incidents by Indian rebels against English women and girls were uncommon during the revolt.
Others subsequently built on the stereotype of Goa being a terribly wild place, the culmination of which saw Goa dismissed as the “rape capital”. But if politicians had their own reasons for fuelling such talk, there were other attitudes that emerged from a case which depicted a severe clash of perceptions.
Middle-class morality found disfavour with MacKeown’s lifestyle choices, which she was hard-pressed to defend.  Ideally, a crime should be a crime, regardless of who is involved. Back home in the UK, the mother of the dead teenager is facing charges of 19,000 pounds benefit fraud.
For the overseas media, this is a campaign against corruption and crime in a Third World destination. But the involvement of both along the seamier side of Goa’s tourism industry is not new, nor is it going to be fought with screaming headlines alone. As media reports continue to rake up emotions and garner sympathy for diverse parties involved, few seem to be concerned about a Goa that often feels it is at the centre of change rapid enough to lose complete control of.