400 tiatrists write off proposed censor board

TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Upset over the proposed setting up of a tiatr censor board, over 400 tiatrists have petitioned the government to scrap the proposal as it would undermine the democratic process and curtail the freedom of expression.
Calling pre-censorship a negative and retrograde step, the memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza and Information Minister Milind Naik, argues that the step is contrary to the basic freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.
“Pre-censorship will make tiatr unviable as it would take the censors an inordinate time to clear a script, considering that thousands of tiatrs, khells, khell tiatrs, one act plays…… are written and presented every year by a variety of tiatrists,” argues the memorandum, adding that pre-censorship could be misused by those in power to blackmail writer-directors to toe the line of the ruling party thus “destroying the independence of the tiatr”.
Stating that it would be discriminatory to have censorship for tiatr, given that there is no pre-censorship for print, audio and visual media, the tiatrists argued that the people of Goa had during the last elections opted for change and that they had a major role in making that possible through tiatrs and songs, by exposing the misdoings of the previous governments.
“It is ironical that the government that the tiatrists helped to bring to power is now seeking to suppress the same voice,” the memorandum, that has over 400 signatories led by Roseferns, Prince Jacob, Francis de Tuem and Mario Menezes among others, says.
“People in Goa look up to the tiatr as a  vehicle of honest expression of public discontent with the powers that be, for this reason no government or agency has in the past dared to introduce pre-censorship and the tiatrists themselves have reciprocated by exercising self-restraint,” the memorandum states.
Stating that the tiatr has always highlighted inequalities existing in our society and has been the only voice that has not even spared politicians or whosoever dares to tread on the “wrong path”, the memorandum says, “Generally tiatrs highlight incidents and events regularly reported by the media with bits of dramatic content. The criticism has always been honest and within bounds, as a consequence of which even those criticized have never felt demeaned.”