Bio: Teotonio R de Souza is Founder-Director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research (1979-1994), Fellow of the Portuguese Academy of History (since 1983), retired professor of Universidade Lusófona, Lisboa (1996-2014), author of Medieval Goa (1979,1994, 2009), Goa to Me (1994), Goa outgrowing Postcolonialism (2014) and a dozen of edited works and over 200 published articles
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On December 13 issue of this daily last year, I wrote my column entitled “” (Costa is ours), presenting the newly elected Portuguese PM of Goan origin. My article sought to make my readers aware of the centuries-old association of Costas from Goa with the Portuguese politics at the highest level. Last week, a young columnist of a Portuguese daily denounced the secret of his political success. He seemed irked by his shining teeth and his ubiquitous and confident smile. Fortunately, the shining teeth were not contrasted with the dark face, avoiding any open racist undertones.
We are told that António Costa’s perennial and confident smile while facing the media agents, or political opponents, saves him from the need to invent lies. He has only to play down the loud howlings of the political opposition and play up the eventual bits of success, optimizing thereby his socialist promises for the future. The strategy of success is his wide, brilliant and confident smile, that leaves everyone guessing, but unable to believe that the country is actually on the path of a sure disaster.
To put it differently, or perhaps better, the Costa strategy of a confident smile, seems to result even in the worst case scenarios, and dissipates them all, like a morning sun in a foggy morning wintry dawn. His government, made by a loose partnership with left-oriented partners, called disparagingly “gerigonça” (included by S R Dalgado in his Portuguese-Konkani dictionary, meaning “daumdalit kam”, that is, haphazard job) by the centre-right opposition, has managed to weather its first winter with a near brilliant success in popularity count.
In a country that does not care much for long term planning, a PM with the ability to cross the bridge when he comes to it, has the added advantage provided by the national culture of playing by ear, improvising, or making the best of a given situation. The Portuguese call that national trait “desenrascar”. I am not very sure, and would appreciate a confirmation, if the term “jugaad” (makeshift arrangement) in Hindi is not derived from the Portuguese “jogada”, a quasi synonym of “desenrasca”, as is the case of several other loan words contributed by the Portuguese to the Indian and Asian languages.
About three decades ago an Indian historian published a book about the Portuguese empire in the Bay of Bengal, and entitled it “Improvising Empire” (1990). This should not be confused with what some historians tell us about the British empire, namely that it resulted from a fit of absent-mindedness. While in this case, it is just a way of enhancing the British planning of the minutest detail as a casual feature, the Portuguese limitations of manpower and financial resources have always been a tragic reality, including during their glorious days of Discoveries.
To someone who is familiar with the Portuguese media, it is easy for anyone to perceive three clear rules that guide the Portuguese politics: It is wrong to harp on the recent past (it is permitted about the distant Vasco da Gama and Discoveries, or about the Lusiads of Camões); future projects are always welcome (even if that means false promises and new avenues for looting); it is important to generate hope (even if there be no ground for it), backed by the Portuguese popular saying: “A esperança é a última a morrer”, meaning that hope is the last one to die.
No stress, no high-wired nerves, no worries “ the Portuguese PM comes from the Goan culture of “sossegados”, a a feature that is best preserved in Goa. Like the Goan “Dev asa vhoddlo”(God is great and will take care of all), or the American “No drama Obama”, the Portuguese equivalent now is “Não fica sem resposta Costa” (Costa has a solution to all). Probably, a healthy variation of “saudodismo” (homesickness) for the Portuguese to cherish.
António Costa relativizes all, explains and overcomes all. His confidence wins primarily the public praised by Jesus: the children and the simple of heart. The youth and the pensioners are satisfied by macroeconomics. They make up the bulk of the Portuguese voters. For Costa they count for his political future; not the elitist Portuguese thinkers and the political tinkers of the opposition who are increasingly desperate and upset with Costa’s growing popularity.
Culture and management are two essential ingredients of national politics anywhere. While culture is an inherited trait that can favour, or may act as a hurdle, the management is an acquired trait and requires effort to learn and put into practice. A good management can enhance the positive features of culture and minimize its negative features. Probably the Indian genes of Antonio Costa have introduced the Indian cultural style of management into Portuguese politics, a positive contribution from the colonial empire to the metropolis.
One could and needs to analyze more extensively the long term effects of multiculturalism, which has been intensified by the recent technical and financial global networking, and the refugee crisis provoked by the highly profitable arms sales and their consequences. Though it is a bloody and deadly way of building a global family, the humankind seems to know only that way of growing since its pre-historic appearance on the face of the earth, a reality which the Christianity translated as , referring to Christ’s dying, as a way of proclaiming the redeeming power of suffering.
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