From aditya at sarai.net Fri Feb 1 14:36:22 2002 From: aditya at sarai.net (Aditya Nigam) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 14:36:22 Subject: [Reader-list] Radio transmissions Message-ID: <3.0.6.16.20020201143622.32f72a50@mail.sarai.net> Dear All, Yesterday, Jan 31, 2002, we had the first internet radio transmission linked up with the Indymedia network. The transmissions will continue over the next three days that is, till Feb 3, 2002. These transmisions are being synchronized with the meeting of the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre, Brazil and there are regular transmissions from other US and European cities during this period. The transmission from India is being done daily from 5.30 to 6.30. We have songs, group disussions, interviews, reading s from selected texts and recitations during the programmes daily. You can 'tune in' to the live transmissions at http://radio.indymedia.org/ We have tried to focus in the discussions on issues of war and peace, terrorism, globalization and other related questions. Among the participants on various days are noted personalties, activists and scholars like Achin Vanaik, Sonia Jabbar, Arundhati Roy, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Shahid Amin, Nivedita Menon, Yogendra Yadav, Mukul Manglik, Shahana Bhattacharya, Ravi Sundaram, and a number of student activists from Delhi University. Please forward this message to others who might be interested. regards, AN From bhrigu at sarai.net Sun Feb 3 07:06:38 2002 From: bhrigu at sarai.net (Bhrigu) Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 07:06:38 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Bush Speaks Message-ID: <02020307063800.07034@janta7.sarai.kit> STOP BUSH AND BLAIR'S WAR DEMAND REAL SOLUTIONS AND REAL JUSTICE NO MORE INNOCENT DEATHS NATIONAL MASS DEMONSTRATION SATURDAY MARCH 2nd HYDE PARK 1PM MARCH TO RALLY IN TRAFALGAR SQ Bush's state of the Union Address (Jan 29th 2002) "It costs a lot to fight this war. We have spent more than a billion dollars a month -- over $30 million a day -- and we must be prepared for future operations. Afghanistan proved that expensive precision weapons defeat the enemy and spare innocent lives, and we need more of them. We need to replace aging aircraft and make our military more agile to put our troops anywhere in the world quickly and safely. Our men and women in uniform deserve the best weapons, the best equipment and the best training and they also deserve another pay raise. (APPLAUSE) My budget includes the largest increase in defense spending in two decades, because while the price of freedom and security is high, it is never too high. Whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay." "While the most visible military action is in Afghanistan, America is acting elsewhere. We now have troops in the Philippines helping to train that country's armed forces to go after terrorist cells that have executed an American and still hold hostages. Our soldiers, working with the Bosnian government, seized terrorists who were plotting to bomb our embassy. Our Navy is patrolling the coast of Africa to block the shipment of weapons and the establishment of terrorist camps in Somalia. My hope is that all nations will heed our call and eliminate the terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own. Many nations are acting forcefully. Pakistan is now cracking down on terror, and I admire the strong leadership of President Musharraf. (APPLAUSE) But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will. (APPLAUSE) Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September 11, but we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic. We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction. We will develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack. (APPLAUSE) And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security. We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons. (APPLAUSE) Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch, yet it must be and it will be waged on our watch. We can't stop short. If we stopped now, leaving terror camps intact and terror states unchecked, our sense of security would be false and temporary. History has called America and our allies to action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom's fight. (APPLAUSE) Our first priority must always be the security of our nation, and that will be reflected in the budget I send to Congress. My budget supports three great goals for America: We will win this war, we will protect our homeland, and we will revive our economy. September 11 brought out the best in America and the best in this Congress, and I join the American people in applauding your unity and resolve. (APPLAUSE) From vpantmata at yahoo.com Fri Feb 1 23:34:36 2002 From: vpantmata at yahoo.com (vandana pant-mata) Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 10:04:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] The Ashnas of Kandahar - Lesser Known Facts Message-ID: <20020201180436.18335.qmail@web11501.mail.yahoo.com> An article on a less publicized situation. Men Return to Original Love: Teenage Boys Sunday, January 27, 2002By Tim Reid KANDAHAR, Afghanistan ��� Now that Taliban rule is over in Mullah Omar's former southern stronghold, it is not only televisions, kites and razors which have begun to emerge. Visible again, too, are men with their ashna, or beloveds: young boys they have groomed for sex. Kandahar's Pashtuns have been notorious for their homosexuality for centuries, particularly their fondness for na��ve young boys. Before the Taliban arrived in 1994, the streets were filled with teenagers and their sugar daddies, flaunting their relationships. Kandahar is called the homosexual capital of south Asia. Such is the Pashtun obsession with sodomy ��� locals tell you that birds fly over the city using only one wing, the other covering their posterior ��� that the rape of young boys by warlords was one of the key factors in Mullah Omar mobilising the Taliban. In the summer of 1994, a few months before the Taliban took control of the city, two commanders confronted each other over a young boy whom they both wanted to sodomize. In the ensuing fight civilians were killed. Omar's group freed the boy and appeals began flooding in for Omar to help in other disputes. By November, Omar and his Taliban were Kandahar's new rulers. Despite the Taliban disdain for women, and the bizarre penchant of many for eyeliner, Omar immediately suppressed homosexuality. Men accused of sodomy faced the punishment of having a wall toppled on to them, usually resulting in death. In February 1998 three men sentenced to death for sodomy in Kandahar were taken to the base of a huge mud and brick wall, which was pushed over by tank. Two of them died, but one managed to survive. "In the days of the Mujahedeen [the pre-Taliban victors against the Communist government], there were men with their ashna everywhere, at every corner, in shops, on the streets, in hotels: it was completely open, a part of life," said Torjan, 38, one of the soldiers loyal to Kandahar's new governor, Gul Agha Sh erzai. "But in the later Mujahedeen years, more and more soldiers would take boys by force, and keep them for as long as they wished," Torjan said. "But when the Taliban came, they were very strict about the ban. Of course, it still happened ��� the Taliban could not enter every house ��� but one could not see it." But for the first time since the Taliban fled, in the past few weeks, one can see the pairs returning: usually a heavily bearded man, seated next to, or walking with, a clean-shaven, fresh-faced youth. There appears to be no shame or furtiveness about them, although when approached, they refuse to talk to a Western journalist. "They are just emerging again," Torjan said. "The fighters too now have the boys in their barracks. This was brought to the attention of Gul Agha, who ordered the boys to be expelled, but it continues. The boys live with the fighters very openly. In a short time, and certainly within a year, it will be like pre-Taliban: they will be everywhere." This Pashtun tradition is even reflected in Pashtun poetry, odes written to the beauty and complexion of an ashna, but it is usually a terrible fate for the boys concerned. It is practiced at all levels of Pashtun society, but for the poorer men, having an ashna can raise his status. "When a man sees a boy he likes ��� the age they like is 15 or 16 ��� they will approach him in the street and start talking to him, offering him tea," said Muhammad Shah, a shop owner. "Sometimes they go looking in the football stadium, or in the cinema" (which has yet to reopen). "He then starts to give him presents, hashish, or a watch, a ring, or even a motorbike," Shah continued. "One of the most valued presents is a fighting pigeon, which can be worth up to $400. These boys are nearly always innocent, but such is the poverty here, they cannot refuse." Once the boy falls into the man's clutches ��� nearly always a man with a wife and family ��� he is marked for life, although the Kandaharis accept these relationships as part of their culture. When drive n around, ashna sit in the front passenger seat. The back seat is simply for his friends. Even the parents of the boys know in their hearts the nature of the relationship, but will tell people that their son is working for the man. They, like everyone else, will know this is a lie. "They say birds flew with both wings with the Taliban," Muhammad said. "But not any more." --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions Great stuff seeking new owners! Bid now! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20020201/e48e1127/attachment.html From geert at desk.nl Mon Feb 4 06:22:49 2002 From: geert at desk.nl (geert lovink) Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 11:52:49 +1100 Subject: [Reader-list] invitation to join the solaris list References: <20020201180436.18335.qmail@web11501.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <04c901c1ad16$4bf24960$bbde3dca@geert> Invitation to join the Solaris Electronic Mailinglist An Initiative for Critical Issues of Internet and Development Dear All, We would like to invite you to join Solaris, a new electronic mailinglist on IT and "Development" related issues in the once and future/post "non-Western world". The discontent amongst many of us with the conventional discourse around "IT & Development" has gradually grown over the last few years. So far there has not been an on-line institutionally independent forum to discuss critical topics concerning the full range and use of new media and their cultural/creative, political, social and economic contexts in the (for lack of a better term) "Developing (aka Third, Less Developed, Underdeveloped) World" and in lagging regions and among digitally excluded populations in "Developed" Countries. The existing lists in the "IT & Development" or "Digital Divide" fields are too closely tied to funding bodies, Not for Profits, international institutions or governmental agencies with their own world encompassing assumptions to promote. Despite their efficiency they seem to have too narrow a policy and theoretical focus. We would like to see more independence, a neutral forum where critical and lively multi-disciplinary and intercultural exchanges can take place. Current mailing list culture seems to have little interest in debating more fundamental issues of exclusion in a digital context, the new power relations of digitally enabled economies, digitally enabled security from below rather than above, community e-commerce development, Napsterism and other post "E" development strategies, the new terms of trade and sophisticated accumulation in the Real World of IP, OS (Operating System) wars and regional insurgencies, and determining if WTO director Mike Powell was right and the Digital Divide really is about fancy German cars in low income neighborhoods. This call for a critical discourse comes from 'within' and is not meant to spread a new form of techno-cultural pessimism. The last thing we need is a moralistic analysis of the Internet as a 'US-American imperialist tool'. An engaged form of research is necessary which overcomes dry economism and its spiritual counterpart, techno-determinism (the all too often heard notion that technology will automatically bring salvation and result in prosperity for all, worldwide). "Solaris" is born out of a felt need for a lively and diverse independent ICT and development discourse and particularly one which recognizes and reinforces the perspectives of those who see ICT as a base for liberation and creativity--with eyes wide open for the chilly reality. There is a need to analyze the agendas of all the agents, from globe spanning UN or G8 Task/Dot Forces, US-American foundations (Markle, Soros, Rockefeller, Ford, etc.), charity/marketing input from IT companies, government ICT/DD development programs, NGOs and media activists. nformation technology hasn't solved world poverty. It arguably has contributed even further to the growing income inequality on both a global and national scale while the all too easy rhetoric of UN initiatives, and DotForce and other Digital Divide programs appear to be recycling outdated neo-liberal dotcom models. The 'organized positivism' around successful projects is often used against those who rightly ask questions while mysteriously never seeming to manage the morphing into on-going "sustainable" programs. There is an "end of history" culture in the making driven by the almost religious belief that technology plus business results in democracy and prosperity. The bandwidth gap is widening on any level at an accelerating pace. With Linux stagnating as an alternative to Microsoft, limiting its role as an operating system and server software, Solaris would like to raise the question in which areas strategic software could be developed. Information technology does not come with 'out of the box' solutions. At the time there is an amazing amount of talent around to prevent and reverse the expensive import of hardware and software. The overall picture is a complex, often paradoxical one. There is no longer a need for 'technology transfer' from North to South. "Everyone is an expert." IT-specialists are everywhere. However, there are numerous economic blockages explaining why software production from below hasn't taken off. It is now time to stress the structural obstacles-and NGOism could be one of them (not just the more obvious WTO). The use of information technology worldwide is causing paradoxical, sometimes contradictory and confusing effects, with occasional miracles and widely spread new forms of exclusion. Still, the overall sense is one of empowerment - and surprise. The primal drive to discover, adapt, mutate and further develop technologies is a truly global phenomenon, one that cannot be overrun by a culture of complaint or the desire of corporate interests to create and capture markets. These are just some of many topics which could be discussed. The Solaris initiators would like to emphasize the complexity of the picture and involve all those who feel attracted to a rich multidisciplinary form of digital story telling beyond dull politics, sterile academicism, paper tiger task forces and self-reflexive policy conglomerates. It is time to get rid of the almost dead phrase "IT is about people, stupid" and move it beyond the massing ranks of the Digital Divide industry. Solaris is co-founded by Michael Gurstein ( mgurst at vcn.bc.ca), community Internet maven based in New York and Geert Lovink ( geert at xs4all.nl), media theorist and Internet critic, based in Sydney. The list is hosted by Sarai, the New Media Initiative in Delhi, India which has been a source of inspiration while starting up Solaris. Please forward this invitation to your friends-and enemies-who you think would/should be interested in joining Solaris. To start, the Solaris mailinglist will be open and unmoderated. There will be a (growing and rotating) team of facilitators from different continents and backgrounds who will initiate debate and bring in material. In order to prevent spam only members will be able to post and from the e-mail address where they receive the list. When there are around 50 subscribers the list will go live. Please be careful not to publicly circulate this announcement, especially in the beginning. To (un)subscribe write to solaris-request at sarai.net with 'help' in the subjectline for further instructions or go directly to: http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/solaris Post to: solaris at mail.sarai.net (list members only) List archive: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/solaris/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20020204/7f681674/attachment.html From announcements-request at sarai.net Tue Feb 5 11:17:34 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 06:47:34 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #15 - 2 msgs Message-ID: <200202050547.GAA12389@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. 9.2.2002: Negotiating for Participation (Mumbai Study Group) 2. Research for Whom? (PUKAR) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 00:03:36 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: Mumbai Study Group Subject: [Announcements] 9.2.2002: Negotiating for Participation Dear Friends: In our next session, the day before elections to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay, we welcome NAVTEJ K.B., who will speak on "NEGOTIATING FOR PARTICIPATION in the CITY of MUMBAI". This talk will be in two parts, both addressing key issues of local governance in Mumbai, in the context of the coming election. The first part will be on the 74th Amendment to the Indian Constitution, key aspects of decentralisation, the concerned state-level legislation on the 74th Amendment and its implementation through Ward Committees at the local level. The participation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) in Ward Commitees, their membership and their functioning. The second part will be on how NGOs influence the process of decision-making on the implementation of the 74th Amendment, the participants in the implementation and their various interests. NAVTEJ K.B. has worked with a number of voluntary organisations and community-based organisations in Mumbai in various positions including that of Director, Coordinator of Projects and Programmes and as a consultant and trainer on issues of housing rights, gender rights, and other urban issues for the past twelve years. She completed her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Social Sciences from the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai. She recently finished her Master's Degree in Urban Management from the I.H.S., Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 2001, where she completed her thesis on ward committees and decentralisation in Mumbai in the context of the 74th Constitutional Amendment. This session will be on SATURDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2002, at 10.00 A.M., on the SECOND FLOOR, Rachna Sansad, 278, Shankar Ghanekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, next to Ravindra Natya Mandir. Phone: 4301024, 4310807, 4229969; Station: Elphinstone Road (Western Railway); BEST Bus: 35, 88, 151, 161, 162, 171, 355, 357, 363, to Ravindra Natya Mandir, 91 Ltd, 305 Ltd, A1 and A4 to Prabhadevi. _____ MUMBAI STUDY GROUP SESSIONS in 2002 23 FEBRUARY 2002 "Mumbai Modern" by Dr Carol Breckenridge, University of Chicago Dept of History, Chicago, U.S.A. 9 MARCH 2002 Film Screening of "Jari-Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories" Discussion with Surabhi Sharma, Producer and Director 23 MARCH 2002 "Girangaon: The Past, Present and Future of Mumbai's Textile Mills and Mill Workers" Participants to be Announced 13 APRIL 2002 "Gender and Space in Mumbai" by Shilpa Phadke, Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, Nirmala Niketan School of Social Work, Mumbai and Neera Adarkar, Architect, Adarkar Associates, Mumbai 27 APRIL 2002 "Food Security in Mumbai and Thane: A Study of the Rationing Kruti Samiti" by Mayank Bhatt, Journalist and Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K. ABOUT the MUMBAI STUDY GROUP The MUMBAI STUDY GROUP meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, at the Rachana Sansad, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, at 10.00 A.M. Our conversations continue through the support extended by Shri Pradip Amberkar, Principal of the Academy of Architecture, and Prof S.H. Wandrekar, Trustee of the Rachana Sansad. Conceived as an inclusive and non-partisan forum to foster dialogue on urban issues, we have since September 2000 held conversations about various historical, political, cultural, social and spatial aspects of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Our discussions are open and public, no previous membership or affiliation is required. We encourage the participation of urban researchers and practitioners, experts and non-experts, researchers and students, and all individuals, groups and associations in Mumbai to join our conversations about the the city.The format we have evolved is to host individual presentations or panel discussions in various fields of urban theory and practice, and have a moderated and focussed discussion from our many practical and professional perspectives: whether as architects or planners, lawyers or journalists, artists or film-makers, academics or activists.Through such a forum, we hope to foster an open community of urban citizens, which clearly situates Mumbai in the theories and practices of urbanism globally. Previous sessions have hosted presentations by the following individuals: Kalpana Sharma, Associate Editor of The Hindu; Kedar Ghorpade, Senior Planner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority; Dr Marina Pinto, Professor of Public Administration, retired from Mumbai University; Dr K. Sita, Professor of Geography, retired from Mumbai University, and former Garware Chair Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Dr Arjun Appadurai, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, Director of Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), Mumbai; Rahul Srivastava, Lecturer in Sociology at Wilson College; Sandeep Yeole, General Secretary of the All-India Pheriwala Vikas Mahasangh; Dr Anjali Monteiro, Professor and Head, and K.P. Jayashankar, Reader, from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Unit for Media and Communications; Dr Sujata Patel, Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Pune; Dr Mariam Dossal, Head, Department of History, Mumbai University; Sucheta Dalal, business journalist and Consulting Editor, Financial Express; Dr Arvind Rajagopal, Associate Professor of Culture and Communications at New York University; Dr Gyan Prakash, Professor of History at Princeton University, and member of the Subaltern Studies Editorial Collective; Dr Sudha Deshpande, Reader in Demography, retired from the Department of Economics, Mumbai University and former consultant for the World Bank, International Labour Organisation, and Bombay Municipal Corporation; Sulakshana Mahajan, doctoral candidate at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A., and former Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Rachana Sansad; Dr Rohini Hensman, of the Union Research Group, Mumbai; Mrs Jyoti Mhapsekar, Head Librarian, Rachana Sansad and Member, Stree Mukti Sanghatana. Previous panel discussions have comprised of the following individuals: S.S. Tinaikar, former Municipal Commissioner of Bombay, Sheela Patel, Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), and Bhanu Desai of the Citizens' Forum for the Protection of Public Spaces (Citispace) on urban policy making and housing; Shirish Patel, civil engineer and urban planner, Pramod Sahasrabuddhe and Abhay Godbole, structural engineers on earthquakes and the built form of the city; B. Rajaram, Managing Director of Konkan Railway Corporation, and Dr P.G. Patankar, from Tata Consultancy Services, and former Chairman of the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) on mass public transport alternatives; Ved Segan, Vikas Dilawari, and Pankaj Joshi, conservation architects, on the social relevance of heritage and conservation architecture; Debi Goenka, of the Bombay Environmental Action Group, Professor Sudha Srivastava, Dr Geeta Kewalramani, and Dr Dipti Mukherji, of the University of Mumbai Department of Geography, on the politics of land use, the city's salt pan lands, and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act; Nikhil Rao, of the University of Chicago Dept of History, Anirudh Paul and Prasad Shetty of the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Insitute of Architecture, and members of the various residents associations and citizens groups of the Dadar-Matunga, on the history, architecture, and formation of middle-class communities in these historic neighbourhoods, the first suburbs of Bombay. CONTACT US We invite all urban researchers, practitioners, students, and other interested individuals to join us in our fortnightly conversations, and suggest topics for presentation and discussion. For any more information, kindly contact one of the Joint Convenors of the Mumbai Study Group: ARVIND ADARKAR, Architect, Researcher and Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Phone 2051834, ; DARRYL D'MONTE, Journalist and Writer, 6427088 ; SHEKHAR KRISHNAN, Coordinator-Associate, Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), 4142843, ; PANKAJ JOSHI, Conservation Architect, Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, and PUKAR Associate, 8230625, . --__--__-- Message: 2 Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 17:14:14 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: PUKAR Subject: [Announcements] Research for Whom? Research for Whom?
Dear Friends:

The SNDT Women's University Department of Sociology,
SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres)
and PUKAR

cordially invite you to


RESEARCH FOR WHOM?
The Role of New Knowledge in Urban Transformation

a public lecture by

DAVID SATTERTHWAITE


chaired by:
Sheela Patel, SPARC

with respondents:
Kalpana Sharma, The Hindu
Rahul Mehrotra, Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI)

DATE:
Saturday 9 February 2002

TIME:
4.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.

VENUE:
Commitee Room
SNDT Women's University Main Building, Ground Floor
Nathibai Thackersey Marg/New Marine Lines
Churchgate, Mumbai 400020


David Satterthwaite is the Director of the Human Settlements Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development, (IIED), London, U.K. and is editor of the international journal Environment and Urbanization. A planner by profession, with a doctorate in social policy from the London School of Economics (LSE), he has a particular interest in forms of research that help change the policies and practices of governments and international agencies in regard to urban poverty. He co-authored the book Squatter Citizen with Jorge Hardoy (Earthscan, 1989) and was principal author of the An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 1996 (published by Oxford University Press for the United Nations).
_____

PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research)
P.O. Box 5627
Dadar, Mumbai 400014, India
E-Mail <pukar at bol.net.in>
Phone +91 98200.45529, +91 98204.04010
Web Site http://www.pukar.org.in/
--__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From monica at sarai.net Tue Feb 5 15:42:18 2002 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 15:42:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] London Poverty map Message-ID: This is a simple and straightforward way of visualising class habitation across space in London in 1889. Needs contemporary scaling! http://www.umich.edu/~risotto/home.html -- Monica Narula Sarai:The New Media Initiative 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054 www.sarai.net From aiindex at mnet.fr Wed Feb 6 14:51:23 2002 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 10:21:23 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd : URGENT: Wed 6th, 5 PM, SAHMAT support meeting Message-ID: To all in News Delhi on the SARA list. Please see forwarded message below. Harsh Kapoor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 21:43:48 -0800 (PST) From: ram rahman Subject: URGENT: Wed 6th, 5 PM, SAHMAT support meeting Friends, Please join us at VP house lawns at 5 PM today, Wednesday the 6th, at a support gathering. We were evicted from the verandah office yesterday afternoon. Rajen, Sohail and others have spent the night inside the empty room and our files, posters, computers etc. are all on the sidewalk under plastic sheets. We are meeting to discuss future action. Ram From announcements-request at sarai.net Wed Feb 6 11:30:43 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 07:00:43 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #16 - 1 msg Message-ID: <200202060600.HAA07945@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. ISEA 2002 Deadline approaching (Jeebesh Bagchi) --__--__-- Message: 1 From: Jeebesh Bagchi To: announcements at sarai.net Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 12:28:27 +0530 Subject: [Announcements] ISEA 2002 Deadline approaching DEADLINE APPROACHING!!! ISEA2002 SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: February 28, 2002 CALL FOR PAPERS & PARTICIPATION ISEA2002 'ORAI' OCTOBER 27-31, 2002 NAGOYA, JAPAN http//www.isea.jp/ ISEA2002 NAGOYA[Orai], the first ISEA symposium in Asia, is expecting about 1500 participants including artists, researchers, engineers, students, and presentations of over 200 papers and works from 30 countries around the world. Many related exhibitions, concerts, performances and other events are also planned to take place in the Nagoya area during the time of ISEA2002. ISEA2002 is organized by a Steering �Committee [MEDIASELECT, City of Nagoya, Nagoya Port Authority,etc] in partnership with the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts (ISEA) and others. ISEA2002 is committed to hosting an inclusive event, encompassing the many trends in electronic art throughout the world, including those with limited access to the latest technology and those working from a cultural context, which may be unfamiliar to the reviewers. Members from communities that traditionally have been under-represented at ISEA are encouraged to identify the new perspectives that they can bring to the symposium. ISEA2002 will offer Papers, Panels, Round Tables, Posters, and Institutional Presentations for scientists, artistic experts, and professionals. Workshops and Tutorials hold special interest for teachers, students, and practicing artists. Exhibitions, Performances, Concerts, and Electronic Theater, are also aimed at the cultural exchange program and are open to the public. ISEA2002 invites Papers to be given during the symposium. Proposals for Panels, Round Tables, Poster Sessions and Institutional Presentations are also welcome related to the symposium topic (see http//www.isea.jp/) ISEA2002 SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: February 28, 2002 PAPERS Abstract submission max. 500 words Presentation length between 20 -45 minutes. Papers will be published in the ISEA2002 Proceedings. All Papers must be original, unpublished and in English. WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIALS Proposals to include -preferred format -concise workshop/tutorial class description -number of envisioned participants -concise listing of technical and physical requirements EXHIBITIONS Proposals to clearly describe -contents of the materials to be submitted, -necessary prerequisites (including hard and software, audio-visual equipment -assistance required (include audio) and/or visual material (pictures, tapes, etc.) for judging of the work. PERFORMANCES AND CONCERTS -Proposed Performances and Concerts should preferably be no longer than 20 minutes. Proposers should include their equipment requirements in the proposal. ELECTRONIC THEATER A Film & Video Show will be held during ISEA2002. Individuals and institutes are invited to submit the best and most recent examples of their work in the fields of computer animation, image processing and video art. ISEA2002 �INFORMATION Contact ISEA2002 NAGOYA Office for further information. Submission guidelines and entry forms are available on the website. URL http//www.isea.jp/ e-mail info at isea.jp ----- --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From aiindex at mnet.fr Thu Feb 7 06:33:16 2002 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 02:03:16 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Mullahs and Heretics (Tariq Ali) Message-ID: counterpunch.org February 6, 2002 Mullahs and Heretics By Tariq Ali I never believed in God, not even between the ages of six and ten, when I was an agnostic. This unbelief was instinctive. I was sure there was nothing else out there but space. It could have been my lack of imagination. In the jasmine--scented summer nights, long before mosques were allowed to use loudspeakers, it was enough to savour the silence, look up at the exquisitely lit sky, count the shooting stars and fall asleep. The early morning call of the muezzin was a pleasant alarm--clock. There were many advantages in being an unbeliever. Threatened with divine sanctions by family retainers, cousins or elderly relatives -- 'If you do that Allah will be angry' or 'If you don't do this Allah will punish you' -- I was unmoved. Let him do his worst, I used to tell myself, but he never did, and that reinforced my belief in his non--existence. My parents, too, were non--believers. So were most of their close friends. Religion played a tiny part in our Lahore household. In the second half of the last century, a large proportion of educated Muslims had embraced modernity. Old habits persisted, nonetheless: the would--be virtuous made their ablutions and sloped off to Friday prayers. Some fasted for a few days each year, usually just before the new moon marking the end of Ramadan. I doubt whether more than a quarter of the population in the cities fasted for a whole month. Cafe life continued unabated. Many claimed that they had fasted so as to take advantage of the free food doled out at the end of each fasting day by the mosques or the kitchens of the wealthy. In the countryside fewer still fasted, since outdoor work was difficult without sustenance, and especially without water when Ramadan fell during the summer months. Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, was celebrated by everyone. One day, I think in the autumn of 1956 when I was 12, I was eavesdropping on an after--dinner conversation at home. My sister, assorted cousins and I had been asked nicely to occupy ourselves elsewhere. Obediently, we moved to an adjoining room, but then listened, giggling, to a particularly raucous, wooden--headed aunt and a bony uncle berating my parents in loud whispers: 'We know what you're like . . . we know you're unbelievers, but these children should be given a chance . . . They must be taught their religion.' The giggles were premature. A few months later a tutor was hired to teach me the Koran and Islamic history. 'You live here,' my father said. 'You should study the texts. You should know our history. Later you may do as you wish. Even if you reject everything, it's always better to know what it is that one is rejecting.' Sensible enough advice, but regarded by me at the time as hypocritical and a betrayal. How often had I heard talk of superstitious idiots, often relatives, who worshipped a God they didn't have the brains to doubt? Now I was being forced to study religion. I was determined to sabotage the process. It didn't occur to me at the time that my father's decision may have had something to do with an episode from his own life. In 1928, aged 12, he had accompanied his mother and his old wet--nurse (my grandmother's most trusted maid) on the pilgrimage to perform the hajj ceremony. Women, then as now, could visit Mecca only if they were accompanied by a male more than 12 years old. The older men flatly refused to go. My father, as the youngest male in the family, wasn't given a choice. His older brother, the most religious member of the family, never let him forget the pilgrimage: his letters to my father always arrived with the prefix 'al--Haj' ('pilgrim') attached to the name, a cause for much merriment at teatime. Decades later, when the pores of the Saudi elite were sweating petro--dollars, my father would remember the poverty he had seen in the Hijaz and recall the tales of non--Arab pilgrims who had been robbed on the road to Mecca. In the pre--oil period, the annual pilgrimage had been a major source of income for the locals, who would often augment their meagre earnings with well--organised raids on pilgrims' lodgings. The ceremony itself requires that the pilgrim come clothed in a simple white sheet and nothing else. All valuables have to be left behind and local gangs became especially adept at stealing watches and gold. Soon, the more experienced pilgrims realised that the 'pure souls' of Mecca weren't above thieving. They began to take precautions, and a war of wits ensued. Several years after the trip to the Holy Land my father became an orthodox Communist and remained one for the rest of his life. Moscow was now his Mecca. Perhaps he thought that immersing me in religion at a young age might result in a similar transformation. I like to think that this was his real motive, and that he wasn't pandering to the more dim--witted members of our family. I came to admire my father for breaking away from what he described as 'the emptiness of the feudal world'. Since I did not read Arabic, I could learn the Koran only by rote. My tutor, Nizam Din, arrived on the appointed day and thanks to his heroic efforts, I can at least recite the lines from the opening of the Koran -- 'Alif, lam, mim . . .' -- followed by the crucial: 'This book is not to be doubted.' Nizam Din, to my great delight, was not deeply religious. From his late teens to his late twenties, he had worn a beard. But by 1940 he'd shaved it off, deserted religion for the anti--imperialist cause and dedicated himself to left--wing politics. Like many others he had served a spell in a colonial prison and been further radicalised. Truth, he would say, was a very powerful concept in the Koran, but it had never been translated into practical life because the mullahs had destroyed Islam. Nizam Din soon realised that I was bored by learning Koranic verses and we started to spend the allotted hour discussing history: the nationalist struggle against British imperialism, the origins of terrorism in Bengal and the Punjab, and the story of the Sikh terrorist Bhagat Singh, who had thrown a bomb in the Punjab Legislative Assembly to protest against repressive legislation and the 1919 massacre of Jallianwallah Bagh. Once imprisoned, he had refused to plead for mercy, but renounced terrorism as a tactic and moved closer to traditional Marxism. He was tried in secret and executed by the British in the Central Jail in Lahore, a 15--minute walk from where Nizam Din was telling me the story. 'If he had lived,' Nizam Din used to say, 'he would have become a leader the British really feared. And look at us now. Just because he was a Sikh, we haven't even marked his martyrdom with a monument.' Nizam Din remembered the good times when all the villages in what was now Pakistan had Hindu and Sikh inhabitants; many of his non--Muslim friends had now left for India. 'They are pygmies,' he would say of Pakistan's politicians. 'Do you understand what I'm saying, Tariqji? Pygmies! Look at India. Observe the difference. Gandhi was a giant. Jawaharlal Nehru is a giant.' Over the years I learned far more about history, p0litics and everyday life from Nizam Din than I ever learned at school. But his failure to interest me in religion had been noted. A young maternal uncle, who had grown a beard at an early age, volunteered to take on the task. His weekly visits to our house, which coincided with my return from school, irritated me greatly. We would pace the garden while, in unctuous tones, he related a version of Islamic history which, like him, was unconvincing and dull. There were endless tales of heroism, with the Prophet raised to the stature of a divinity, and a punitive Allah. As he droned on, I would watch the kites flying and tangling with each other in the afternoon sky, mentally replay a lost game of marbles, or look forward to the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies. Anything but religion. After a few weeks he, too, gave up, announcing that my unbeliever's inheritance was too strong. During the summer months, when the heat in the plains became unbearable, we would flee to the Himalayan foothills, to Nathiagali, then a tiny, isolated hill resort perched on a ridge in a thick pine forest and overlooked by the peaks. Here, in a relaxed atmosphere with almost no social restrictions, I met Pashtun boys and girls from the frontier towns of Peshawar and Mardan, and children from Lahore whom I rarely saw during the winter became summer friends. I acquired a taste for freedom. We had favourite hiding places: mysterious cemeteries where the tombstones had English names on them (many had died young) and a deserted Gothic church that had been charred by lightning. We also explored the many burned houses. How were they burned? I would ask the locals. Back would come the casual reply. 'They belonged to Hindus and Sikhs. Our fathers and uncles burned them.' Why? 'So they could never come back, of course.' Why? 'Because we are now Pakistan. Their home is India.' Why, I persisted, when they had lived here for centuries, just like your families, and spoke the same language, even if they worshipped different gods? The only reply was a shrug. It was strange to think that Hindus and Sikhs had been here, had been killed in the villages in the valleys below. In the tribal areas -- the no--man's--land between Afghanistan and Pakistan -- quite a few Hindus stayed on, protected by tribal codes. The same was true in Afghanistan itself (till the mujahedin and the Taliban arrived). One of my favourite spots in Nathiagali lay between two giant oaks. From here one could watch the sun set on Nanga Parbat. The snow covering the peak would turn orange, then crimson, bathing the entire valley in its light. Here we would breathe the air from China, gaze in the direction of Kashmir and marvel at the moon. Given all this, why would one need a multi--layered heaven, let alone the seventh layer that belonged to us alone -- the Islamic paradise? One day, to my horror, my mother informed me that a mullah from a neighbouring mountain village had been hired to make sure I completed my study of the Koran. She had pre--empted all my objections. He would explain what each verse meant. My summer was about to be wrecked. I moaned, groaned, protested, pleaded and tantrumed. To no avail. My friends were sympathetic, but powerless: most of them had undergone the same ritual. Mullahs, especially the rural variety, were objects of ridicule, widely regarded as dishonest, hypocritical and lazy. It was generally believed that they had grown beards and chosen this path not out of spiritual fervour, but in order to earn a crust. Unless attached to a mosque, they depended on voluntary contributions, tuition fees and free meals. The jokes about them mostly concerned their sexual appetites; in particular, a penchant for boys below a certain age. The fictional mullah of the storytellers and puppet--shows who travelled from village to village was a greedy and lustful arch--villain; he used religion to pursue his desires and ambitions. He humiliated and cheated the poor peasants, while toadying to landlords and potentates. On the dreaded day, the mullah arrived and, after eating a hearty lunch, was introduced to me by our family retainer, Khuda Baksh ('God Bless'), who had served in my grandfather's household and because of his status and age enjoyed a familiarity denied to other servants. God Bless was bearded, a staunch believer in the primacy of Islam, and said his prayers and fasted regularly. He was, however, deeply hostile to the mullahs, whom he regarded as pilferers, perverts and parasites. He smiled as the mullah, a man of medium height in his late fifties, exchanged greetings with me. We took our seats round a garden table placed to catch the warming sun. The afternoon chorus was in full flow. The air smelled of sun--roasted pine needles and wild strawberries. When the mullah began to speak I noticed he was nearly toothless. The rhymed verse at once lost its magic. The few false teeth he had wobbled. I began to wonder if it would happen, and then it did: he became so excited with fake emotion that the false teeth dropped out onto the table. He smiled, picked them up and put them back in his mouth. At first, I managed to restrain myself, but then I heard a suppressed giggle from the veranda and made the mistake of turning round. God Bless, who had stationed himself behind a large rhododendron to eavesdrop on the lesson, was choking with silent laughter. I excused myself and rushed indoors. The following week, God Bless dared me to ask the mullah a question before the lesson began. 'Were your false teeth supplied by the local butcher?' I enquired with an innocent expression, in an ultra--polite voice. The mullah asked me to leave: he wished to see my mother alone. A few minutes later he, too, left, never to return. Later that day he was sent an envelope full of money to compensate him for my insolence. God Bless and I celebrated his departure in the bazaar cafe with mountain tea and home--made biscuits. My religious studies ended there. My only duty was to substitute for my father once a year and accompany the male servants to Eid prayers at the mosque, a painless enough task. Some years later, when I came to Britain to study, the first group of people I met were hard--core rationalists. I might have missed the Humanist Group's stall at the Fresher's Fair had it not been for a spotty Irishman, dressed in a faded maroon corduroy jacket, with a mop of untidy dark brown hair, standing on a table and in a melodious, slightly breathless voice shouting: 'Down with God!' When he saw me staring, he smiled and added 'and Allah' to the refrain. I joined on the spot and was immediately roped into becoming the Humanist rep at my college. Some time afterwards when I asked how he had known I was of Muslim origin rather than a Hindu or a Zoroastrian, he replied that his chant only affected Muslims and Catholics. Hindus, Sikhs and Protestants ignored him completely. My knowledge of Islamic history remained slender and, as the years progressed, Pakistan regressed. Islamic studies were made compulsory in the 1970s, but children were given only a tiny sprinkling of history on a foundation of fairytales and mythology. My interest in Islam lay dormant till the Third Oil War in 1990.[2] The Second Oil War in 1967 had seen Israel, backed by the West, inflict a severe defeat on Arab nationalism, one from which it never really recovered. The 1990 war was accompanied in the West by a wave of crude anti--Arab propaganda. The level of ignorance displayed by most pundits and politicians distressed me, and I began to ask myself questions which, until then, had seemed barely relevant. Why had Islam not undergone a Reformation? Why had the Ottoman Empire not been touched by the Enlightenment? I began to study Islamic history, and later travelled to the regions where it had been made, especially those in which its clashes with Christendom had taken place. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all began as versions of what we would today describe as political movements. They were credible belief--systems which aimed to make it easier to resist imperial oppression, to unite a disparate people, or both. If we look at early Islam in this light, it becomes apparent that its Prophet was a visionary political leader and its triumphs a vindication of his action programme. Bertrand Russell once compared early Islam to Bolshevism, arguing that both were 'practical, social, unspiritual, concerned to win the empire of this world'. By contrast, he saw Christianity as 'personal' and 'contemplative'. Whether or not the comparison is apt, Russell had grasped that the first two decades of Islam had a distinctly Jacobin feel. Sections of the Koran have the vigour of a political manifesto, and at times the tone in which it addresses its Jewish and Christian rivals is as factional as that of any left--wing organisation. The speed with which it took off was phenomenal. Academic discussion as to whether the new religion was born in the Hijaz or Jerusalem or elsewhere is essentially of archaeological interest. Whatever its precise origins, Islam replaced two great empires and soon reached the Atlantic coast. At its height three Muslim empires dominated large parts of the globe: the Ottomans with Istanbul as their capital, the Safavids in Persia and the Mughal dynasty in India. A good place for a historian of Islam to start would be 629 ad, or Year 8 of the new Muslim calendar, though that had yet to come into being. In that year, 20 armed horsemen, led by Sa'd ibn Zayd, were sent by Muhammad to destroy the statue of Manat, the pagan goddess of fate, at Qudayd, on the road between Mecca and Medina. For eight years Muhammad had tolerated the uneasy coexistence of the pagan male god Allah and his three daughters: al--Lat, al--Uzza and Manat. Al--Uzza (the morning star, Venus) was the favourite goddess of the Quraysh, the tribe to which Muhammad belonged, but Manat was the most popular in the region as a whole, and was idolised by three key Meccan tribes that Muhammad had been desperately trying to win over to his new monotheistic religion. By Year 8, however, three important military victories had been won against rival pagan and Jewish forces. The Battle of Badr had seen Muhammad triumph against the Meccan tribes despite the smallness of his army. The tribes had been impressed by the muscularity of the new religion, and Muhammad must have deemed further ideological compromise unnecessary. Sa'd ibn Zayd and his 20 horsemen had arrived to enforce the new monotheism. The keeper of Manat's sanctuary saw the horsemen approach, but remained silent as they dismounted. No greetings were exchanged. Their demeanour indicated that they had not come to honour Manat or to leave a token offering. The keeper didn't stand in their way. According to Islamic tradition, as Sa'd ibn Zayd approached the beautifully carved statue of Manat, a naked black woman seemed to emerge from nowhere. The keeper called out: 'Come, O Manat, show the anger of which you are capable!' Manat began to pull out her hair and beat her breasts in despair, while cursing her tormentors. Sa'd beat her to death. Only then did his 20 companions join him. Together they hacked away until they had destroyed the statue. The sanctuaries of al--Lat and al--Uzza were dealt with in similar fashion, probably on the same day. A seventh--century prophet could not become the true spiritual leader of a tribal community without exercising political leadership and, in the Peninsula, mastering the basics of horsemanship, sword--play and military strategy. Muhammad had understood the need to delay the final breach with polytheism until he and his companions were less isolated. However, once the decision to declare a strict monotheism was taken, no concessions were granted. The Christian Church had been forced into a permanent compromise with its pagan forebears, allowing its new followers to worship a woman who had conceived a child by God. Muhammad, too, could have picked one of Allah's daughters to form part of a new constellation -- this might even have made it easier to attract recruits -- but factional considerations acted as a restraint: a new religious party had to distinguish itself forcefully from Christianity, its main monotheistic rival, while simultaneously marginalising the appeal of contemporary paganism. The oneness of a patriarchal Allah appeared the most attractive option, essential not only to demonstrate the weakness of Christianity, but also to break definitively with the dominant cultural practices of the Peninsula Arabs, with their polyandry and their matrilinear past. Muhammad himself had been the third and youngest husband of his first wife, Khadija, who died three years before the birth of the Islamic calendar. Historians of Islam, following Muhammad's lead, would come to refer to the pre--Islamic period as the jahiliyya ('the time of ignorance'), but the influence of its traditions should not be underestimated. For the pre--Islamic tribes, the past was the preserve of poets, who also served as historians, blending myth and fact in odes designed to heighten tribal feeling. The future was considered irrelevant, the present all--important. One reason for the tribes' inability to unite was that the profusion of their gods and goddesses helped to perpetuate divisions and disputes whose real origins often lay in commercial rivalries. Muhammad fully understood this world. He belonged to the Quraysh, a tribe that prided itself on its genealogy and claimed descent from Ishmael. Before his marriage, he had worked as one of Khadija's employees on a merchant caravan. He travelled a great deal in the region, coming into contact with Christians, Jews, Magians and pagans of every stripe. He would have had dealings with two important neighbours: Byzantine Christians and the fire--worshipping Zoroastrians of Persia. Muhammad's spiritual drive was fuelled by socio--economic ambitions: by the need to strengthen the commercial standing of the Arabs, and to impose a set of common rules. He envisioned a tribal confederation united by common goals and loyal to a single faith which, of necessity, had to be new and universal. Islam was the cement he used to unite the Arab tribes; commerce was to be the only noble occupation. This meant that the new religion was both nomadic and urban. Peasants who worked the land were regarded as servile and inferior. A hadith (a reported saying of Muhammad's) quotes the Prophet's words on sighting a ploughshare: 'That never enters the house of the faithful without degradation entering at the same time.' Certainly the new rules made religious observance in the countryside virtually impossible. The injunction to pray five times a day, for example, played an important part in inculcating military discipline, but was difficult to manage outside the towns. What was wanted was a community of believers in urban areas, who would meet after prayers and exchange information. Unsurprisingly, peasants found it impossible to do their work and fulfil the strict conditions demanded by the new faith. They were the last social group to accept Islam, and some of the earliest deviations from orthodoxy matured in the Muslim countryside. The military successes of the first Muslim armies were remarkable. The speed of their advance startled the Mediterranean world, and the contrast with early Christianity could not have been more pronounced. Within twenty years of Muhammad's death in 632, his followers had laid the foundations of the first Islamic empire in the Fertile Crescent. Impressed by these successes, whole tribes embraced the new religion. Mosques began to appear in the desert, and the army expanded. Its swift triumphs were seen as a sign that Allah was both omnipotent and on the side of the Believers. These victories were no doubt possible only because the Persian and Byzantine Empires had been engaged for almost a hundred years in a war that had enfeebled both sides, alienated their populations and created an opening for the new conquerors. Syria and Egypt were part of the Byzantine Empire; Iraq was ruled by Sassanid Persia. All three now fell to the might and fervour of a unified tribal force. Force of numbers didn't come into it -- nor did military strategy, although the ability of the Muslim generals to manoeuvre their camel cavalry and combine it with an effective guerrilla--style infantry confused an enemy used to small--scale nomadic raids. Much more important was the active sympathy which a sizeable minority of the local people demonstrated for the invaders. A majority remained passive, waiting to see which side would prevail, but they were no longer prepared to fight for or help the old empires. The fervour of the unified tribes, on the other hand, cannot be explained simply by the appeal of the new religion or promises of untold pleasures in Paradise. The tens of thousands who flocked to fight under Khalid ibn al--Walid wanted the comforts of this world In 638, soon after the Muslim armies took Jerusalem, Caliph Umar visited the city to enforce peace terms. Like other Muslim leaders of the period, he was modestly dressed; he was also dusty from the journey, and his beard was untrimmed. Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who greeted him, was taken aback by Umar's appearance and the absence of any attendant pomp. The chronicles record that he turned to a servant and said in Greek: 'Truly this is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet as standing in the holy place.' The 'abomination of desolation' did not remain for long in Jerusalem. The strategic victories against the Byzantines and the Persians had been so easily achieved that the Believers were now filled with a sense of their own destiny. After all, they were, in their own eyes, the people whose leader was the final Prophet, the last ever to receive the message of God. Muhammad's vision of a universal religion as precursor to a universal state had captured the imagination, and furthered the material interests, of the tribes. When German tribes took Rome in the fifth century, they insisted on certain social privileges but they succumbed to a superior culture and, with time, accepted Christianity. The Arabs who conquered Persia preserved their monopoly of power by excluding non--Arabs from military service and temporarily restricting intermarriage, but although willing to learn from the civilisations they had overpowered, they were never tempted to abandon their language, their identity or their new faith. The development of medicine, a discipline in which Muslims later excelled, provides an interesting example of the way knowledge travelled, was adapted and matured in the course of the first millennium. Two centuries before Islam, the city of Gondeshapur in south--western Persia became a refuge for dissident intellectuals and freethinkers facing repression in their own cities. The Nestorians of Edessa fled here in 489 after their school was closed. When, forty years later, the Emperor Justinian decreed that the school of Neoplatonic philosophers in Athens be closed, its students and teachers, too, made the long trek to Gondeshapur. News of this city of learning spread to neighbouring civilisations. Scholars from India and, according to some, even China arrived to take part in discussions with Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Christians and Syrians. The discussions ranged over a wide variety of subjects, but it was the philosophy of medicine that attracted the largest numbers. Theoretical instruction in medicine was supplemented by practice in a bimaristan (hospital), making the citizens of Gondeshapur the most cared for in the world. The first Arab who earned the title of physician, Harith bin Kalada, was later admitted to the Court of the Persian ruler Chosroes Anushirwan and a conversation between the two men was recorded by scribes. According to this the physician advised the ruler to avoid over--eating and undiluted wine, to drink plenty of water every day, to avoid sex while drunk and to have baths after meals. He is reputed to have pioneered enemas to deal with constipation. Medical dynasties were well established in the city by the time of the Muslim conquest in 638. Arabs began to train in Gondeshapur's medical schools and the knowledge they acquired began to spread throughout the Muslim Empire. Treatises and documents began to flow. Ibn Sina and al--Razi, the two great Muslim philosopher--physicians of Islam, were well aware that the basis of their medical knowledge derived from a small town in Persia. A new Islamic civilisation emerged, in which the arts, literature and philosophy of Persia became part of a common heritage. This was an important element in the defeat by the Abbasids, the cosmopolitan Persian faction within Islam, of the narrow nationalism of the Arab Umayyads in 750. Their victory reflected the transcending of Arabism by Islam, though the last remaining prince of the Umayyads, Abdel Rahman, managed to escape to al--Andalus, where he founded a caliphate in Cordoba. Rahman had to deal with the Jewish and Christian cultures he found there, and his city came to rival Baghdad as a cosmopolitan centre. Caliph Umar's successors fanned out from Egypt to North Africa. A base was established and consolidated in the Tunisian city of al--Qayrawan, and Carthage became a Muslim city. Musa bin Nusayr, the Arab governor of Ifriqiya (present--day Libya, Tunisia and most of Algeria), established the first contact with continental Europe. He received promises of support and much encouragement from Count Julian, the Exarch of Septem (Ceuta in Morocco). In April 711, Musa's leading lieutenant, Tarik bin Ziyad, assembled an army of 7000 men, and crossed over to Europe near the rock which still bears his name, Jabal Tarik (or Gibraltar). Once again, the Muslim armies profited from the unpopul--arity of the ruling Visigoths. In July, Tarik defeated King Roderic, and the local population flocked to join the army that had rid them of an oppressive ruler. By the autumn, Cordoba and Toledo had both fallen. As it became clear that Tarik was determined to take the whole peninsula, an envious Musa bin Nusayr left Morocco with 10,000 men to join his victorious subordinate in Toledo. Together, the two armies marched north and took Zaragoza. Most of Spain was now under their control, largely thanks to the population's refusal to defend the ancien regime. The two Muslim leaders planned to cross the Pyrenees and march to Paris. Rather than obtain permission from the Caliph in Damascus, however, they had merely informed him of their progress. Angered by their cavalier attitude to authority, the Commander of the Faithful dispatched messengers to summon the conquerors of Spain to the capital; they never saw Europe again. Others carried on the struggle, but the impetus was lost. At the Battle of Poitiers in October 732, Charles Martel's forces marked the end of the first Muslim century by inflicting a sobering defeat on the soldiers of the Prophet: naval bases remained in the South of France -- at Nice and Marseille, for example -- but, for now, Islam was largely confined to the Iberian peninsula. A century later, the Arabs took Sicily, but could only threaten the mainland. Palermo became a city of a hundred mosques; Rome remained sacrosanct. Xenophobic northern Italians still refer to Sicilians as 'Arabs'. In 958, Sancho the Fat left his cold and windy castle in the Kingdom of Navarre in search of a cure for obesity, and went south to Cordoba, the capital of the western caliphate and, thanks to Caliph Abderrahman III, Europe's main cultural centre. Its closest rival lay in distant Mesopotamia, where a caliph from another dynasty presided over Baghdad. Both cities were renowned for their schools and libraries, musicians and poets, physicians and astronomers, mullahs and heretics, and also for their taverns and dancing girls. Cordoba had the edge in dissent. There, Islamic hegemony was not forcibly imposed; there had been genuine debates between the three religions, producing a synthesis from which native Islam benefited greatly. The Great Mosque in Cordoba could only have been created by men who had participated in the city's intellectual ferment. The architects who built it in the eighth century understood that it was to represent a culture opposed to the Christian one which chose to occupy space with graven images. A mosque is intended as a void: all paths lead to emptiness, reality is affirmed through its negation. In the void, only the Word exists, but in Cordoba (and not only there) the Mosque was also intended as a political space, one in which the Koran might be discussed and analysed. The philosopher--poet Ibn Hazm would sit amid the sacred columns and chastise those Believers who refused to demonstrate the truth of ideas through argument. They would shout back that the use of the dialectic was forbidden. 'Who has forbidden it?' Ibn Hazm would demand, implying that they were the ones who were the enemies of true faith. In Baghdad they spoke half in admiration, half in fear, of the 'Andalusian heresy'. It would be hundreds of years before this culture was obliterated. The fall of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in al--Andalus, in 1492 marked the completion of that process: the first of Europe's attempted final solutions was the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Jews from the Iberian peninsula. When he visited Cordoba in 1526, Charles I of Spain rebuked his priests: 'You have built what can be seen anywhere and destroyed what is unique.' The remark was generous enough, but Charles had not realised that the mosque had been preserved at all only because of the church that now lay inside it. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Islamic world stretched from Central Asia to the Atlantic coast, though its political unity had been disrupted soon after the victory of the Abbasids. Three centres of power emerged: Baghdad, Cordoba and Cairo, each with its own caliph. Soon after the death of the Prophet, Islam had divided into two major factions, the Sunni majority and a Shia minority. The Sunnis ruled in al--Andalus, Algeria and Morocco in the Maghreb, Iran, Iraq and the regions beyond the Oxus. The Fatimid caliphs belonged to the Shia tradition, which claimed descent from the fourth Caliph, Ali, and his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. The Fatimid caliphs had ruled parts of North Africa and lived in Tunisia till a Fatimid expeditionary force under the command of the legendary Slav General Jawhar captured Egypt, and Jahwar established a dynasty complete with caliph and built a new city -- Cairo. Each of these regions had different traditions, and each had its own material interests and needs, which determined its policy of alliances and coexistence with the non--Islamic world. Religion had played a major part in building the new empire, but its rapid growth had created the conditions for its own dismemberment. Baghdad, the most powerful of the three caliphates, lacked the military strength and the bureaucracy needed to administer such a large empire. Sectarian schisms, notably a thirty--year war between the Sunni and Shia factions, had also played their part. Key rulers, politicians and military leaders in both camps had died in the years immediately preceding the First Crusade. 'This year,' the historian Ibn Taghribirdi wrote in 1094, 'is called the year of the death of caliphs and commanders.' The deaths sparked off wars of succession in both Sunni and Shia camps, further weakening the Arab world. The notion of a monolithic and all--powerful Islamic civilisation had ceased to have any purchase by the beginning of the 11th century, and probably earlier. In 1099, after a forty--day siege, the Crusaders took Jerusalem. The killing lasted two whole days, at the end of which most of the Muslim population -- men, women and children -- had been killed. Jews had fought with Muslims to defend the city, but the entry of the Crusaders created panic. In remembrance of tradition, the Elders instructed the Jewish population to gather in the synagogue and to offer up a collective prayer. The Crusaders surrounded the building, set fire to it and made sure that every single Jew burned to death. News of the massacres spread slowly through the Muslim world. The Caliph al--Mustazhir was relaxing in his palace in Baghdad when the venerable qadi[4] Abu Sa'ad al--Harawi, his head clean--shaven in mourning, burst into the royal quarters. He had left Damascus three weeks earlier, and the scene he encountered in the palace did not please him: How dare you slumber in the shade of complacent safety, leading lives as frivolous as garden flowers, while your brothers in Syria have no dwelling place save the saddles of camels and the bellies of vultures? Blood has been spilled! Beautiful young girls have been shamed . . . Shall the valorous Arabs resign themselves to insult and the valiant Persians accept dishonour . . . Never have the Muslims been so humiliated. Never have their lands been so savagely devastated. The Crusaders settled in the region in the course of the 12th century, and many Muslim potentates, imagining that they were there to stay, began to collaborate with them commercially and militarily. A few of the Crusaders broke with Christian fundamentalism and made peace with their neighbours, but a majority continued to terrorise their Muslim and Jewish subjects, and reports of their violence circulated. In 1171, a Kurdish warrior, Salah al--Din (Saladin), defeated the Fatimid regime in Cairo and was acclaimed Sultan of Egypt. A few months later, on the death of his patron Nur al--Din, he marched to Damascus with his army and was made its Sultan. City after city accepted his suzerainty. The Caliph was afraid that Baghdad, too, would fall under the spell of the young conqueror. Though there was never any question of his assuming the Caliphate itself -- caliphs had to be from the Quraysh, and Saladin was a Kurd -- there may have been some concern that he would take the Caliphate under his aegis, as previous sultans had done. Saladin knew this, but he also knew that the Syrian aristocracy resented his Kurdish origins and 'low upbringing'. It was best not to provoke them, and others like them, at a time when maximum unity was necessary. Saladin stayed away from Baghdad. The union of Egypt and Syria, symbolised by prayers offered in the name of the one Caliph in the mosques of Cairo and Damascus, formed the basis for a concerted assault against the Crusaders. Patiently, Saladin embarked on an undertaking that had until then proved impossible: the creation of a unified Muslim army to liberate Jerusalem. The barbarousness of the First Crusade was of enormous assistance to him in uniting his soldiers: 'Regard the Franj,' he exhorted them. 'Behold with what obstinacy they fight for their religion, while we, the Muslims, show no enthusiasm for waging holy war.' Saladin's long march ended in victory: Jerusalem was taken in 1187 and once again made an open city. The Jews were provided with subsidies to rebuild their synagogues; the churches were left untouched. No revenge killings were permitted. Like Caliph Umar five hundred years before him, Saladin proclaimed the freedom of the city for worshippers of all faiths. But his failure to take Tyre was to prove costly. Pope Urban despatched the Third Crusade to take back the Holy City, and Tyre became the base of its operations. Its leader, Richard Plantagenet, reoccupied Acre, executing prisoners and slaughtering its inhabitants. Jerusalem, however, could not be retaken. For the next seven hundred years, with the exception of one short--lived and inconsequential Crusader occupation, the city remained under Muslim rule, and no blood was spilled. The Crusades had disrupted a world already in slow decline. Saladin's victories had temporarily halted the process, but the internal structures of the Caliphate were damaged beyond repair, and new invaders were on the way. A Mongol army from Central Asia led by Timur (Marlowe's Tamburlaine) laid siege to Baghdad in 1401, calling on the Caliph to surrender and promising that if he did so, the city would be spared. Foolish and vain till the last, the Caliph refused, and the Mongol armies sacked the city. A whole culture perished as libraries were put to the torch, and Baghdad never recovered its pre--eminence as the capital of Islamic civilisation. Despite its presence in India, which its armies had first entered in the eighth century, and, later, in north--western China, and despite its merchant fleets trading in the Indonesian archipelago, in southern China, and off the east and west coasts of Africa, Islam's centre of gravity was by the 14th century moving in the direction of the Bosphorus. On four occasions Muslim armies had laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christianity. Each time the city had survived. But from 1300, the frontier emirate of Anatolia began slowly to eat into Byzantine territory, and in 1453 old dreams were realised and the ancient city of Byzantium acquired its present name: Istanbul. Its new ruler was Mehmet II, whose forebear, Uthman, had founded the dynasty bearing his name over a hundred years earlier. The Ottoman dynasty inaugurated its reign by opening a new Islamic front in South--East Europe, just as Islamic civilisation was about to collapse in the Iberian peninsula. In the course of the 14th century, the Ottomans took Hungary, swallowed the Balkans, nibbled away at the Ukraine and Poland, and threatened Vienna. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, a majority of Muslims lived under the rule of the Ottoman, the Safavid (Persian) or the Mughal (Indian) empires. The Sultan in Istanbul was recognised as Caliph by the majority and became the caretaker of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Arabic remained the religious language but Turkish became the Court vernacular, used by the ruling family and administrative and military elites throughout the Empire, though most of the religious, scientific, literary and legal vocabulary was lifted from Persian and Arabic. The Ottoman state, which was to last five hundred years, recognised and protected the rights of Christians and Jews. Many of the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal after the Reconquest were granted refuge in Ottoman lands and a large number returned to the Arab world, settling not just in Istanbul, but in Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus. Jews were not the only privileged refugees. During the wars of the Reformation German, French and Czech Protestants fleeing Catholic revenge--squads were also given protection by the Ottoman sultans. Here, there was an additional political motive. The Ottoman state closely followed developments in the rest of Europe, and vigorously defended its interests by means of diplomatic, trade and cultural alliances with major powers. The Pope, however, was viewed with suspicion, and revolts against Catholicism were welcomed in Istanbul. Ottoman sultans began to feature in Eur--opean folklore, often demonised and vulgarised, but the sultans themselves were always conscious of their place in geography and history, as evidenced in this modest letter of introduction sent by Suleiman the Magnificent, who reigned from 1520 to 1566, to the French King: I who am the Sultan of Sultans, the sovereign of sovereigns, the dispenser of crowns to the monarchs on the face of the earth, the shadow of God on Earth, the Sultan and sovereign lord of the White Sea and of the Black Sea, of Rumelia and of Anatolia, of Karamania, of the land of Rum, of Zulkadria, of Diyarbekir, of Kurdistan, of Aizerbaijan, of Persia, of Damascus, of Aleppo, of Cairo, of Mecca, of Medina, of Jerusalem, of all Arabia, of Yemen and of many other lands which my noble fore--fathers and my glorious ancestors (may Allah light up their tombs!) conquered by the force of their arms and which my August Majesty has made subject to my flaming sword and my victorious blade, I, Sultan Suleiman Khan, son of Sultan Selim, son of Sultan Bayezid: To thee, who art Francis, King of the land of France. The tolerance shown to Jews and Protestants was rarely, if ever, extended to heretics within Islam, however. The mullahs ensured that punishment was brutal and swift. To deter heresies they jealously safeguarded their monopoly of information and power, opposing all moves to import a printing press to Istanbul. 'Remember Martin Luther,' the qadi warned the Sultan. The Reformation could be supported because it served to divide Christianity, but the very idea of a Muslim Luther was unacceptable. The clerics knew the early history of Islam and were determined not to repeat it. Unlike Christianity, Islam had not spent its first hundred years in the wilderness. Instead, its early leaders had rapidly found themselves at the head of large empires, and a great deal of improvisation had been required. According to some scholars, the first authorised version of the Koran was published some thirty years after the death of Muhammad, its accuracy guaranteed by the third Caliph, Uthman. Others argued that it appeared much later, but Koranic prescriptions, while quite detailed on certain subjects, could not provide the complete code of social and political conduct needed to assert an Islamic hegemony. The hadith filled the gap: it consisted of what the Prophet had said at a particular time to X or Y, who had then passed it on to Z, who had informed the author, who in turn recorded the 'tradition'. Christianity had done something similar, but confined it to four gospels, editing out or smoothing over contradictions along the way. Scholars and scribes began collating the hadith in the seventh and eighth centuries, and there have been ferocious arguments regarding the authenticity of particular traditions ever since. It is likely that more than 90 per cent of them were invented. The point is not their authenticity, however, but the political role they have played in Islamic societies. The origins of Shi'ism, for example, lie in a disputed succession. After Muhammad's death, his Companions elected Abu--Bakr as his successor and, after his death, Umar. If Ali, Muhammad's son--in--law, resented this, he did not protest. His anger was provoked, however, by the election of the third Caliph, Uthman. Uthman, from the Umayya clan, represented the tribal aristocracy of Mecca, and his victory annoyed a loyalist old guard. Had the new Caliph been younger and more vigorous he might have managed to effect a reconciliation, but Uthman was in his seventies, an old man in a hurry, and he appointed close relatives and clan members to key positions in the newly conquered provinces. In 656 he was murdered by Ali's supporters, whereupon Ali was anointed as the new Caliph. Islam's first civil war followed. Two old Companions, Talha and al--Zubair, called on troops who had been loyal to Uthman to rebel against Ali. They were joined by Aisha, the Prophet's young widow. Aisha, mounted on a camel, exhorted her troops to defeat the usurper at Basra, in what has come to be known as the Battle of the Camel, but it was Ali's army that triumphed. Talha and al--Zubair died in the battle; Aisha was taken prisoner and returned to Medina, where she was placed under virtual house--arrest. Another battle took place, in which Ali was outmanoeuvred by the Umayyads. His decision to accept arbitration and defeat annoyed hardliners in his own faction, and in 661 he was assassinated outside a mosque in Kufa. His opponent, the brilliant Umayyad General Muawiya, was recognised as Caliph, but Ali's sons refused to accept his authority and were defeated and killed in the Battle of Kerbala by Muawiya's son Yazid. That defeat led to a permanent schism within Islam. Henceforth, Ali's faction -- or shiat -- were to create their own traditions, dynasties and states, of which modern Iran is the most prominent example. It would have been surprising if these military and intellectual civil wars -- tradition v. counter--tradition, differing schools of interpretation, disputes about the authenticity of the Koran itself -- had not yielded a fine harvest of sceptics and heretics. What is remarkable is that so many of them were tolerated for so long. Those who challenged the Koran were usually executed, but many poets, philosophers and heretics expanded the frontiers of debate and dissent. Andalusian philosophers, for example, usually debated within the codes of Islam, but the 12th--century Cordoban, Ibn Rushd, occasionally transgressed them. Known in the Latin world as Averroes, he was the son and grandson of qadis, and his other grandfather had served as the Imam of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Ibn Rushd himself had been the qadi in both Seville and Cordoba, though he had to flee the latter when the mullahs banned him from entering the Great Mosque and ordered his books to be burned. These clashes with orthodoxy sharpened his mind, but also put him on his guard. When the enlightened Sultan Abu Yusuf questioned him about the nature of the sky, the astronomer--philosopher did not initially reply. Abu Yusuf persisted: 'Is it a substance which has existed for all eternity or did it have a beginning?' Only when the ruler indicated his awareness of ancient philosophy did Ibn Rushd respond by explaining why rationalist methods were superior to religious dogma. When the Sultan indicated that he found some of Aristotle's work obscure and wished it to be explained, Ibn Rushd obliged with his Commentaries, which attracted the attention of Christian and Jewish theologians. The Commentaries served a dual function. They were an attempt to systematise Aristotle's vast body of work and to introduce rationalism and anti--mysticism to a new audience, but also to move beyond it and promote rational thought as a virtue in itself. Two centuries earlier, Ibn Sina (980--1037), a Persian scholar known in the Latin world as Avicenna, had laid the basis for a study of logic, science, philosophy, politics and medicine. His skills as a physician led his employers, the native rulers of Khurasan and Isfahan, to seek his advice on political matters. Often, he gave advice that annoyed his patrons, and had to leave town in a hurry. His Kanun fi'l--tibb ('Medical Canon') became the major textbook in medical schools throughout the Islamic world -- sections of it are still used in contemporary Iran. His Kitab al--Insaf ('Book of Impartial Judgment'), dealing with 28,000 different philosophical questions, was lost when Isfahan was sacked during his lifetime by a rival potentate: he had lodged his only copy at the local library. The stories of Ibn Hazm, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd demonstrate the potential for semi--official thought during Islam's first five hundred years. The last two, in particular, chafed at the restrictions of religious orthodoxy, but like Galileo after them, chose to live and continue their researches in preference to martyrdom. Others, however, were more outspoken. The ninth--century Baghdad heretic, Ibn al--Rawandi, wrote several books that questioned the basic principles of monotheism. The Mu'tazilite sect, to which he had once belonged, believed that it was possible to combine rationalism and belief in one God. They questioned the Revelation, rejected predestination, insisted that the Koran was a created and not a revealed book, and criticised the quality of its composition, its lack of eloquence and the impurity of its language. Only Reason dictated obligation to God.[7] Ibn al--Rawandi went further still, arguing that religious dogma was always inferior to reason, because only through reason could one attain integrity and moral stature. The ferocity of his assault first surprised, then united Islamic and Jewish theologians, who denounced him mercilessly. None of his original work has survived, and we know of him and his writings mainly through Muslim and Jewish critics' attempts to refute his heresies. However, he also makes a remarkable appearance in the work of the poet--philosopher Abu al--Ala al--Ma'ari (973--1058), whose epic poem Risalat al--Ghufran ('Treatise on Forgiveness'), set in Paradise and Hell, has Ibn al--Rawandi berating God: 'Thou didst apportion the means of livelihood to Thy creatures like a drunk revealing his churlishness. Had a man made such a division, we would have said to him: "You swindler! Let this teach you a lesson."' The guardians of Islam during the Ottoman period knew this history well and were determined to prevent any challenge to Muslim orthodoxy. This may have preserved the dynasty, but it sank the Empire. By keeping Western European inventions, ideologies and scientific advances at bay, the clerics sealed the fate of the caliphate. But in the view of the majority of Muslims, the Ottomans had preserved the Islamic heritage, extended the frontiers of their religion, and, in the Arab East, created a new synthesis: an Ottoman Arab culture that united the entire region by means of a state bureaucracy presiding over a common administration and financial system. The Ottoman state, like other Muslim empires of the period, was characterised by three basic features: the absence of private property in the countryside, where the cultivator did not own and the owner (the state) did not cultivate; the existence of a powerful, non--hereditary bureaucratic elite in the administrative centres; and a professional, trained army with a slave component. By abolishing the traditional tribal aristocracy and forbidding the ownership of landed estates, the Ottomans had preserved their position as the only dynasty in the Empire, and the only repository of a quasi--divine power. To combat dynastic threats, they created a civil service recruited from every part of the Empire. The devshirme system forced Christian families in the Balkans and elsewhere to part with a son, who became the property of the state. He was sheltered, fed and educated until he was old enough to train in the academy as a soldier or bureaucrat. Thus Circassians, Albanians, Slavs, Greeks, Armenians and even Italians rose to occupy the highest offices of the Empire. Traditional hostility to the ploughshare determined the urban bias of the dynasties that ruled large tracts of the Islamic world, but to what extent was this attitude also responsible for the absence of landed property? This was not a local phenomenon: not one of the caliphates favoured the creation of a landed gentry or peasant--ownership or the existence of communal lands. Any combination of these would have aided capital--formation, which might have led to industrialisation, as it later did in Western Europe. The sophisticated agricultural techniques employed by the Arabs in Spain can be adduced to prove that working on the land was not taboo, but these techniques were generally confined to land surrounding towns, where cultivation was intense and carried out by the townsfolk. Rural land was rented from the state by middlemen, who in turn hired peasants to work on it. Some of the middlemen did become wealthy, but they lived and spent their money in the towns. In Western Europe, the peculiarities of the feudal system -- the relative autonomy enjoyed by village communities organised round communal lands, combined with the limited but real sovereignties of vassals, lords and liege lords -- encouraged the growth of small towns in the Middle Ages. The countryside still dominated, but political power was feudal power -- that is, it wasn't centralised. In the towns, trade and manufacturing was controlled by the guilds. In this arrangement lay the origins of modern capitalism. The subordination of the countryside in the Islamic world, with its a rigidly dynastic political structure dependent on a turbulent military caste, meant that the caliphates could not withstand the political and economic challenge posed by Western Europe. Radical nationalist impulses began to develop in the Ottoman lands as early as the late 18th century, when Turkish officers, influenced by the French Revolution and, much later, by Comte, began to plot against the regime in Istanbul. The main reason that the Ottomans staggered on till the First World War is that the three vultures eyeing the prey -- the British Empire, tsarist Russia and the Habsburgs -- could not agree on a division of the spoils. The only solution appeared to be to keep the Empire on its knees. The First World War ended with the defeat of the Ottomans, who had aligned themselves with the Kaiser. As the triumphant powers were discussing how to divide their booty, a Turkish nationalist force led by Kemal Pasha (later Ataturk) staked its claim to what is now Turkey, preventing the British from handing over Istanbul to the Greeks. For the first time in its history, thanks to Ataturk, Islam was without a caliph or even a pretender. Britain would have preferred to defeat and dump Ataturk, while hanging on to the Caliph, who could have become a pensioner of imperialism, kept for ceremonial occasions, like the last Mughal in Delhi before the 1857 Mutiny. It was the discovery of black gold underneath the Arabian desert that provided the old religion with the means and wherewithal to revive its culture while Britain created new sultans and emirs to safeguard their newest and most precious commodity. Throughout the 20th century, the West, to safeguard its own economic interests, supported the most backward, despotic and reactionary survivals from the past, helping to defeat all forms of secularism. As we know, the story is unfinished. Tariq Ali is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. He is the author of The Stone Woman. His new book The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity will be published in April by Verso. -- From W.Blake at scotoma.org Fri Feb 8 00:26:02 2002 From: W.Blake at scotoma.org (William Blake) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:56:02 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] {WORD FREQUENCY} of Axis of Evil Message-ID: -- President George W.Bush State of the Union address arranged in accordance with it's {WORD FREQUENCY} The United States Capitol Washington, D.C. January 29, 2002 9:15 P.M. EST Row 1 (Down) represents all the words used. for each repetition of a word it is printed to the right of row 1; E.G Destruction and rebuild are used 5 times. 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increase out out out out thousands thousands thousands thousands expand expand expand expand reform reform reform reform enemies enemies enemies enemies coalition coalition coalition coalition culture culture culture culture into into into into also also also also moment moment moment moment well well well well but but but but one one one one focus focus focus focus but but but but just just just just trade trade trade trade equip equip equip equip yet yet yet yet justice justice justice justice friend friend friend friend member member member member true true true true police police police police resolve resolve resolve resolve yet yet yet yet give give give give seek seek seek seek bill bill bill bill most most most most they they they they your your your your economy economy economy economy gather gather gather gather bring bring bring bring near near near near objective objective objective objective again again again again see see see see mass mass mass mass freedom freedom freedom 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history history because because because dead dead dead case case case four four four stronger stronger stronger throughout throughout throughout especially especially especially life life life events events events equal equal equal few few few toward toward toward mothers mothers mothers there there there begun begun begun relief relief relief attendant attendant attendant better better better creed creed creed effort effort effort sustain sustain sustain improve improve improve deliver deliver deliver still still still weve weve weve defend defend defend if if if always always always fear fear fear hour hour hour his his his shannon shannon shannon threat threat threat complete complete complete feel feel feel pass pass pass passenger passenger passenger unique unique unique should should should patient patient patient credit credit credit recruit recruit recruit usa usa usa economic economic economic compassion compassion compassion missile missile missile coverage coverage coverage 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when when child child defeat defeat progress progress forces forces tyranny tyranny pay pay responsibility responsibility prevent prevent president president anthrax anthrax unemployment unemployment checks checks after after three three africa africa set set bioterrorism bioterrorism oceans oceans new new funding funding alert alert man man tens tens service service so so watch watch armed armed another another last last approve approve entire entire quickly quickly partners partners strengthen strengthen arrested arrested enemy enemy ending ending greater greater policy policy major major god god ahead ahead ive ive crisis crisis intelligence intelligence markets markets chemical chemical left left areas areas instant instant historic historic allow allow social social before before part part sake sake short short groups groups football football no no dangerous dangerous both both arming arming play play tragedy tragedy civilized civilized died died cells cells well well societies societies york york values values brought brought distinguished distinguished match match including including side side law law second second departments departments choice choice through through first first where where republicans republicans strength strength high high sound sound security security democrats democrats love love possible possible public public education education leaving leaving down down choose choose risk risk tolerance tolerance depth depth flight flight includes includes away away countries countries standards standards soldiers soldiers start start now now important important everything everything character character already already next next innocent innocent least least gas gas human human fire fire less less future future had had key key enact enact said said momentum momentum strong remote exports change on pm began drive exempt poverty intact note waged oppressed assure sima nurses got terrorists wait expensive continents utility homeland overcome business eagerly modern provide agreed talented farewell discovered growth guantanamo christmas kindness listened showed neighbors subdued biological occupied madness hostages deliberate christina start region mail jones senate whatever minister aggressively kennedy heaven bush caves weak serving may laura precision quiet deficit emergency vast employees distance block expressing emergencies today airline vanish reliable urge effective time across pentagon jihad rivalries faced all officials union coast north lighting affirm begin centuries prevail reflected vice until scope prepared inspections run aspire stronger upon calm water sudden glimpsed emerged property rarely surveillance videos instructions descriptions decency big coffee ensure running draws please members deserts abroad maps broader today beyond wrong mobilized responsible knowledge moutardier pose intention spread cant timid each proving conduct what oppression quality plotting methods party dear childhood unprecedented increased paycheck violence neighborhoods demonstrate patrolling stable upgrade seize among bravery marine arent once applauding k shut press establishment every china posturing executed accounting even pension leadership conservation rallied far hermis ground followers secret deploy occupy view believe persistent mazuresharif care warning off beyond detailed there highest might catastrophic reauthorize iraqi cuts steadfast retirement laughter veterans something package role lived affordable deep vaccines roll harbor gave exist did these splinter very expertise campaign europe daddy heed battlefield stricter constitute once cannot prosperity normal opposed departures huddled necessary uniform sharing debt shipment prepare believed boy during flag asia nerve imposing hijacked knock any false cooperation colleges applied starving hard unity musharraf parties permit arms oil brave hold spoke lift thorough selves spare during karzai whose cynicism shows ever arrivals everywhere some serves flaunt sure agile dependent aspirations design victory classroom foremost early hostility forbidden prison remember those stood commit safely dollars urged use research aside lot minorities dozen tribute succeed behind cheney responding operations doctors elsewhere largest changed tired selfishness at fiscally nature production benefits infrastructure containing realized killers hamas larger aging pain keeping losing old priorities when financially beginning dependency by often rates consequential problems together forces commitments iran iraq guests crew armed earth afghan confirms proved house saw thousands things street loss john senior build anywhere unchanging landmarks accumulate greeted wherever investment doctor held memorial india while rich buy jungles fierce demands laughter lady liberated domestic aircraft peril song eyes latin accounts daughters centers bodies learning sons hundreds stricter her collection company lifetime replace korea international officer shock disclosure around missions parasites promise await starvation george through corporate patrols one sense philippines loved lessons ticking ted steadfast blackmail captured religious summed diagrams requirements inspectors come poison most race restrains unchecked escape spotting track nice fall none freed airport common americorps truths fi anyone servitude repress awe prescription parents interim fine forcefully ears single heroes invite materials destroyed speech ournavy miller qaeda renew closely message plotted think sorrow welltrained brutal suicide respect ownership self charities advocate temporary ongoing launch flies educated she testing senator spent captives deny system admire manner rescuers vigorous bless expressed little brotherhood crawford overseas mirror troubled diseases peace bosnian such productive bay longterm underworld stimulus mountaintops ordinary skeptics jaishimohammed confidence vigilance funded est task families affairs folks mourning id boehner rest authority finished explosives suffering confirmed foreign spotted humbled im terrorism legislation environment it doubts accountable decisive younger prospers axis discoveries russia adversity different hamid president visitors owe privilege may response samar programs steady heroic illegal much firm secure revitalize erasing limits differences fails farm outlaw arrived unless the rule conflict couldnt raise skill victims materialistic shortterm rid selling chamber miles kabul speeding plants iranian seniors semper visible disrupt cracking wish mistake strategy how employees facilities reminded pakistan midnight kicked gained permanent shop pretty head indifference private resentment since winning hezbollah zero husband done assistance forget judd combat celebration hugged congressman safeguards ethic ago attempt read speaker cleaner dont challenging somalia pursuit real faithbased welfare gregg obligations womens spann privileged shareholders transportation revive history mr factories generosity representatives islams magnificently question nonnegotiable personal travel money unelected medicare cia laugh mentors aim worst longer air honor five addressing hall uninsured tougher destructive place seized From geert at xs4all.nl Fri Feb 8 06:09:58 2002 From: geert at xs4all.nl (geert) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 11:39:58 +1100 Subject: [Reader-list] Twelve theses on the Global Social Welfare State Message-ID: <02c001c1b039$5b22db40$b8de3dca@geert> http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/jproos/delhi.htm Jawaharlal Nehru University School of International Studies Centre for American and West European Studies International Seminar on Welfare State Systems: Development and Challenges New Delhi 9-11 April 2001 Final Declaration Twelve theses of New Delhi We, social scientists from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and from different disciplines have discussed the Welfare State as a global phenomenon and arrived at the following General Conclusions: 1. We believe that Social Welfare is an attainable global goal. 2. We believe that Social Welfare is a Human Right which entails also a duty. 3. We believe that excessive disparities of living standards between citizens are unacceptable. 4. The Welfare State requires solidarity among the citizens, democracy and transparency , a minimum level of social benefits and services guaranteed to all citizens, autonomy of the social welfare agencies, universality of benefits and shared costs. 5. The Welfare State has been based on different models which emphasize different principles for the provision of social benefits. 6. It is important to distinguish between the Welfare State and Welfare Society, in which the provision of social benefits is the joint responsibility of the state and non-governmental organisations. 7. We believe that all citizens should participate in contributing to the costs and sharing of the benefits of the Welfare Society, thus making it an institution they wish to defend. 8. We, however, wish to emphasize that there is no one universal model of the Welfare Society. The fundamental objective, social welfare for all citizens, can be guaranteed in very different ways. 9. We are convinced that the Welfare Society, even at a low level of economic development, would have beneficial effects on economic growth and development. 10. We believe that in Asia and Africa, the countries wishing to embark on a path to Welfare State, should develop and experiment with new alternatives, based on the social and community structure and a very broad role for the NGO's. 11. We invite all scholars from different countries to co-operate in the development of new models of the Welfare State and Welfare Society. 12 As a possible means to advance the global Welfare Society, debt cancellation can be made contingent to development of Welfare Society. 11 April 2001 From announcements-request at sarai.net Fri Feb 8 11:25:02 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 06:55:02 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #17 - 2 msgs Message-ID: <200202080555.GAA06313@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. 9.2.2002: Negotiating for Participation (Mumbai Study Group) 2. Talk on Saturday: Research for Whom? (PUKAR) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 10:46:14 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: Mumbai Study Group Subject: [Announcements] 9.2.2002: Negotiating for Participation Dear Friends: In our next session, the day before elections to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay, we welcome NAVTEJ K.B., who will speak on "NEGOTIATING FOR PARTICIPATION in the CITY of MUMBAI". This talk will be in two parts, both addressing key issues of local governance in Mumbai, in the context of the coming election. The first part will be on the 74th Amendment to the Indian Constitution, key aspects of decentralisation, the concerned state-level legislation on the 74th Amendment and its implementation through Ward Committees at the local level. The participation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) in Ward Commitees, their membership and their functioning. The second part will be on how NGOs influence the process of decision-making on the implementation of the 74th Amendment, the participants in the implementation and their various interests. NAVTEJ K.B. has worked with a number of voluntary organisations and community-based organisations in Mumbai in various positions including that of Director, Coordinator of Projects and Programmes and as a consultant and trainer on issues of housing rights, gender rights, and other urban issues for the past twelve years. She completed her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Social Sciences from the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai. She recently finished her Master's Degree in Urban Management from the I.H.S., Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 2001, where she completed her thesis on ward committees and decentralisation in Mumbai in the context of the 74th Constitutional Amendment. This session will be on SATURDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2002, at 10.00 A.M., on the SECOND FLOOR, Rachna Sansad, 278, Shankar Ghanekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, next to Ravindra Natya Mandir. Phone: 4301024, 4310807, 4229969; Station: Elphinstone Road (Western Railway); BEST Bus: 35, 88, 151, 161, 162, 171, 355, 357, 363, to Ravindra Natya Mandir, 91 Ltd, 305 Ltd, A1 and A4 to Prabhadevi. _____ MUMBAI STUDY GROUP SESSIONS in 2002 23 FEBRUARY 2002 "Politics as Permanent Performance: On the Production of Political Authority in the Locality" Thomas Blom Hansen, Reader, University of Edinburgh Dept of Social Anthropology, U.K. 9 MARCH 2002 Film Screening of "Jari-Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories" Discussion with Surabhi Sharma, Producer and Director 23 MARCH 2002 "Girangaon: The Past, Present and Future of Mumbai's Textile Mills and Mill Workers" Participants to be Announced 13 APRIL 2002 "Gender and Space in Mumbai" by Shilpa Phadke, Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, Nirmala Niketan School of Social Work, Mumbai and Neera Adarkar, Architect, Adarkar Associates, Mumbai 27 APRIL 2002 "Food Security in Mumbai and Thane: A Study of the Rationing Kruti Samiti" by Mayank Bhatt, Journalist and Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K. ABOUT the MUMBAI STUDY GROUP The MUMBAI STUDY GROUP meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, at the Rachana Sansad, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, at 10.00 A.M. Our conversations continue through the support extended by Shri Pradip Amberkar, Principal of the Academy of Architecture, and Prof S.H. Wandrekar, Trustee of the Rachana Sansad. Conceived as an inclusive and non-partisan forum to foster dialogue on urban issues, we have since September 2000 held conversations about various historical, political, cultural, social and spatial aspects of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Our discussions are open and public, no previous membership or affiliation is required. We encourage the participation of urban researchers and practitioners, experts and non-experts, researchers and students, and all individuals, groups and associations in Mumbai to join our conversations about the the city.The format we have evolved is to host individual presentations or panel discussions in various fields of urban theory and practice, and have a moderated and focussed discussion from our many practical and professional perspectives: whether as architects or planners, lawyers or journalists, artists or film-makers, academics or activists.Through such a forum, we hope to foster an open community of urban citizens, which clearly situates Mumbai in the theories and practices of urbanism globally. Previous sessions have hosted presentations by the following individuals: Kalpana Sharma, Associate Editor of The Hindu; Kedar Ghorpade, Senior Planner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority; Dr Marina Pinto, Professor of Public Administration, retired from Mumbai University; Dr K. Sita, Professor of Geography, retired from Mumbai University, and former Garware Chair Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Dr Arjun Appadurai, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, Director of Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), Mumbai; Rahul Srivastava, Lecturer in Sociology at Wilson College; Sandeep Yeole, General Secretary of the All-India Pheriwala Vikas Mahasangh; Dr Anjali Monteiro, Professor and Head, and K.P. Jayashankar, Reader, from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Unit for Media and Communications; Dr Sujata Patel, Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Pune; Dr Mariam Dossal, Head, Department of History, Mumbai University; Sucheta Dalal, business journalist and Consulting Editor, Financial Express; Dr Arvind Rajagopal, Associate Professor of Culture and Communications at New York University; Dr Gyan Prakash, Professor of History at Princeton University, and member of the Subaltern Studies Editorial Collective; Dr Sudha Deshpande, Reader in Demography, retired from the Department of Economics, Mumbai University and former consultant for the World Bank, International Labour Organisation, and Bombay Municipal Corporation; Sulakshana Mahajan, doctoral candidate at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A., and former Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Rachana Sansad; Dr Rohini Hensman, of the Union Research Group, Mumbai; Mrs Jyoti Mhapsekar, Head Librarian, Rachana Sansad and Member, Stree Mukti Sanghatana. Previous panel discussions have comprised of the following individuals: S.S. Tinaikar, former Municipal Commissioner of Bombay, Sheela Patel, Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), and Bhanu Desai of the Citizens' Forum for the Protection of Public Spaces (Citispace) on urban policy making and housing; Shirish Patel, civil engineer and urban planner, Pramod Sahasrabuddhe and Abhay Godbole, structural engineers on earthquakes and the built form of the city; B. Rajaram, Managing Director of Konkan Railway Corporation, and Dr P.G. Patankar, from Tata Consultancy Services, and former Chairman of the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) on mass public transport alternatives; Ved Segan, Vikas Dilawari, and Pankaj Joshi, conservation architects, on the social relevance of heritage and conservation architecture; Debi Goenka, of the Bombay Environmental Action Group, Professor Sudha Srivastava, Dr Geeta Kewalramani, and Dr Dipti Mukherji, of the University of Mumbai Department of Geography, on the politics of land use, the city's salt pan lands, and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act; Nikhil Rao, of the University of Chicago Dept of History, Anirudh Paul and Prasad Shetty of the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Insitute of Architecture, and members of the various residents associations and citizens groups of the Dadar-Matunga, on the history, architecture, and formation of middle-class communities in these historic neighbourhoods, the first suburbs of Bombay. CONTACT US We invite all urban researchers, practitioners, students, and other interested individuals to join us in our fortnightly conversations, and suggest topics for presentation and discussion. For any more information, kindly contact one of the Joint Convenors of the Mumbai Study Group: ARVIND ADARKAR, Architect, Researcher and Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Phone 2051834, ; DARRYL D'MONTE, Journalist and Writer, 6427088 ; SHEKHAR KRISHNAN, Coordinator-Associate, Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), 4142843, ; PANKAJ JOSHI, Conservation Architect, Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, and PUKAR Associate, 8230625, . --__--__-- Message: 2 Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 10:53:14 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: PUKAR Subject: [Announcements] Talk on Saturday: Research for Whom? Dear Friends: SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres) PUKAR and SNDT Women's University Department of Sociology cordially invite you to RESEARCH FOR WHOM? The Role of New Knowledge in Urban Transformation a public lecture by DAVID SATTERTHWAITE chair: Sheela Patel, SPARC respondents: Kalpana Sharma, The Hindu Rahul Mehrotra, Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) DATE: Saturday 9 February 2002 TIME: 4.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. VENUE: Commitee Room SNDT Women's University Main Building, Ground Floor Nathibai Thackersey Marg/New Marine Lines Churchgate, Mumbai 400020 David Satterthwaite is the Director of the Human Settlements Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development, (IIED), London, U.K. and is editor of the international journal Environment and Urbanization. A planner by profession, with a doctorate in social policy from the London School of Economics (LSE), he has a particular interest in forms of research that help change the policies and practices of governments and international agencies in regard to urban poverty. He co-authored the book Squatter Citizen with Jorge Hardoy (Earthscan, 1989) and was principal author of the An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 1996 (published by Oxford University Press for the United Nations). _____ PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research) P.O. Box 5627 Dadar, Mumbai 400014, India E-Mail Phone +91 98200.45529, +91 98204.04010 Web Site http://www.pukar.org.in/ --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From lachlan at london.com Sat Feb 9 01:02:14 2002 From: lachlan at london.com (Lachlan Brown) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 14:32:14 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Love is the Outlaw Message-ID: <20020208193216.78344.qmail@iname.com> Re: {WORD FREQUENCY} of Axis of Evil -----Original Message----- From: William Blake Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:56:02 +0000 To: , reader-list at sarai.net Subject: {WORD FREQUENCY} of Axis of Evil William, Thanks for listing the word frequency of George The Beast Bush's State of the Union Address, 2002. The geopolitical word-hoard of globalization unspun? The Beasts most frequently used words? It is curious to see the word 'law' only twice in the lexicon of the new world order. 'Order' itself is absent in the new big lie for the new great game. From the pit of this perverse English I drew: 'Love is the Outlaw.' Once again. The Beast's most used words? Applause Amercia World Nation Terrorist. Time for America to have its post-Cold War revolution, and to become what it promised to be. Lachlan -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup Win a ski trip! http://www.nowcode.com/register.asp?affiliate=1net2phone3a From jskohli at fig.org Mon Feb 11 02:19:33 2002 From: jskohli at fig.org (jskohli at fig.org) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 12:49:33 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Infoworld Article: Check the fine print Message-ID: <200202102049.MAA09761@iwsun3.infoworld.com> This InfoWorld (http://www.infoworld.com) article has been sent to you by jskohli at fig.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- Check the fine print Ed Foster February 8, 2002 01:01 PM PST BILL GATES SAYS security is Microsoft's top priority, but just whose security does he have in mind? Consider some of Microsoft's recent boilerplate legalese -- language you or your company might already have unknowingly accepted -- and then decide for yourself. For the rest of the article, go to: http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/02/11/020211opfoster.xml --------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole Or in part in Any form Or medium without express written permission of InfoWorld Is prohibited. From abirbazaz at rediffmail.com Mon Feb 11 21:13:49 2002 From: abirbazaz at rediffmail.com (abir bazaz) Date: 11 Feb 2002 15:43:49 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] My lost country...an article from The Guardian Message-ID: <20020211154349.3782.qmail@mailFA6.rediffmail.com> The Observer My lost country Muzamil Jaleel grew up in the meadows and mountains of Kashmir. Then he saw friends and family die in its pursuit of independence. His country has become a battlefield - and he knows it can never be the same. Sunday February 10, 2002 Not long ago, somebody asked me what kind of stories I wrote. Obituaries came to mind. As a reporter in Kashmir I have been literally writing obituaries for the past 10 years; only the characters and places change, the stories are always the same, full of misery and tears. And when in October last year I got a chance to leave Kashmir, I hoped for a change. Every human being has a threshold for pain and agony. I felt mine had been reached. I wanted to escape. But within days, Kashmir was in the headlines and although I was thousands of miles away, I found myself in the middle of it all again. I was born in Kashmir. I grew up in its apple orchards and lush green meadows, dreamed on the banks of its freshwater streams. I went to school there, sitting on straw mats and memorising tables by heart. After school my friends and I would rush half-way home, tear off our uniforms and dive into the cold water. Then we would quickly dry our hair, so our parents would not find out what we had done. Sometimes, when we felt especially daring, we would skip an entire day of school to play cricket. My village lies in the foothills of the Himalayas. During summer breaks, we would trek to the meadows high in the mountains carrying salt slates for the family cattle, sit around a campfire and play the flute for hours. The chilling winter would turn the boys and girls of our small village into one huge family - huddled together in a big room, we would listen to stories till late into the night. Sipping hot cups of the traditional salt tea, the village elder who had inherited the art of storytelling would transport us to the era of his tales. He had never been to school but he remembered hundreds of beautiful stories by heart. Kashmir was like a big party, full Today death and fear dominate everything. I was in Kashmir too when the first bomb exploded in 1988. People first thought it was the outcome of a small political feud, although everybody knew the pot was boiling after years of political discontent. Then that September a young man, Ajaz Dar, died in a violent encounter with the police. Disgruntled by the farce of decades of ostensible democracy under Indian rule, a group of Kashmiri young men had decided to fight. They had dreamt of an independent Kashmir free from both India and Pakistan. Although this young man was not the first Kashmiri to die fighting for this cause, his death was the beginning of an era of tragedy. Separatist sentiment had been dominant among Kashmiris since 1947, when Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan during partition, and the two countries fought over it. But it was not until 40 years later that most of the youngsters opted for guns against Indian rule, in reaction to the government-sponsored rigging of the assembly polls, aimed at crushing dissent. It is not a surprise that India's most wanted Kashmiri militant leader, Syed Salahudin, contested that assembly election from Srinagar, nor that, unofficially, he was winning by a good margin. When the elections were rigged, he lost not only the election but faith in the process as well. His polling agents and supporters were arrested and tortured; most of them later became militants. Neighbouring Pakistan, which occupies a third of Kashmir, also smelled the changing mood in Kashmir and offered a helping hand by providing arms training and AK-47 rifles. Violence was introduced amid growing dissent against India and hundreds of young people joined the armed movement. Kashmir was changing. I had just completed secondary school then and was enrolled in a college - a perfect potential recruit: the entire militant movement belonged to my generation. The movement was the only topic of discussion on the street, in the classroom and at home. Soon people started coming out onto the the famous Sufi shrines or to the United Nations office, shouting slogans in favour of ' Azadi !' (freedom). These mass protests became an everyday affair, frustrating the authorities, who began to use force to counter them. Dozens of protesters were killed by police fire. Many of my close friends and classmates began to join. One day, half of our class was missing. They never returned to school again, and nobody even looked for them, because it was understood. Although the reasons for joining the militant movement varied from person to person, the majority of Kashmiris never felt that they belonged to India. What had been a relatively dormant separatist sentiment was finally exploding into a fully-fledged separatist uprising. I too wanted to join, though I didn't know exactly why or what it would lead to. Most of us were teenagers and had not seriously thought about the consequences. Perhaps the rebel image was subconsciously attracting us all. I also prepared for the dangerous journey from our village in north Kashmir to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir where all the training camps were. One didn't just have to avoid being sighted by the Indian soldiers who guarded the border round the clock, but also defeat the fierce cold and the difficulties of hiking over the snow-clad Himalayan peaks that stood in the way. I acquired the standard militant's gear: I bought the Wellington boots, prepared a polythene jacket and trousers to wear over my warm clothes, and found some woollen cloth to wrap around my calves as protection from frostbite. Fortunately, I failed. Three times a group of us returned from the border. Each time something happened that forced our guide to take us back. The third time, 23 of us had started our journey on foot from Malangam, not far away from my village, only to be abandoned in a dense jungle. It was night, and the group had scattered after hearing gunshots nearby, sensing the presence of Indian army men. In the morning, when we gathered again, our guide was missing. Most of the others n, but a few of us turned back. We had nothing to eat but leaves for three days. We followed the flight of crows, hoping to reach a human settlement. I was lucky. I reached home and survived. As the days and months passed, and as the routes the militants took to cross the border became known to Indian security forces, the bodies began to arrive. Lines of young men would disappear on a ridge as they tried to cross over or return home. The stadiums where we had played cricket and football, the beautiful green parks where we had gone on school excursions as children, were turned into martyrs' graveyards. One after another, those who had played in those places were buried there, with huge marble epitaphs detailing their sacrifice. Many had never fired a single bullet from their Kalashnikovs. One day, I counted my friends and classmates in the martyrs' graveyards near our village. There were 21 of them. I could feel the smiling face of Mushtaq, whom I had known since our schooldays. He would have been 31 this January, but the ninth anniversary of his death is just two months away. He was killed in April 1993. His mother could not bear the pain and lost her mental balance. For all these years, she has been wandering around the villages carrying the shirt he wore on the day of his death. Another friend, Javaid, was his parents' only son. Extremely handsome, he was obsessed with seeing change in Kashmir. The day he died, he was wearing my clothes. He had come to our house in the morning and changed there. He was 23, and even six hours after his death, when they took him for burial, blood still oozed out of his bullet wounds. I will never forget the moment when I lifted the coffin lid away from his face: there was that usual grin. For a moment, he seemed alive to me. Javaid's sister was to have been married 15 days later but the shock of his death gave her a heart attack. She died a few days before what would have been her wedding day. Today, there are more than 500 martyrs' graveyards dotting Kashmir, and every a story - a tragic story of my generation. Engraving epitaphs has become a lucrative business. As the death toll of Kashmiris mounted, the world saw the violent movement only as the outcome of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan which had its roots in the 1947 partition. India always called the rebellion a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist movement, while Pakistan projected it as a jihad - a Kashmiri struggle to join Pakistan just because they shared a common faith. For India, the future of Kashmir is non-negotiable - it is an 'integral part' of the country, the only Muslim majority state in the union and thus a cornerstone of its democracy and secular credentials. For Pakistan, Kashmir is also important because the majority of its population is Muslim - it is Pakistan's 'jugular vein', and an unfinished task from the subcontinent's partition in which Pakistan was born as a home for Indian Muslims. With these claims on Kashmir, both countries have choked the voice of Kashmiris. The Indian government has reacted with an iron fist, deployed large numbers of security men and turned Kashmir into one massive jail. Pakistan's hands are not clean either. When hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris came out in support of the separatist movement in 1990, Pakistan's lust for Kashmir's land was exposed. It hijacked the separatist movement, painted it with religious fundamentalism and introduced pro-Pakistan, and later jihadi groups to ensure it enjoyed absolute control. Within years, Kashmir turned into yet another battlefield in the pan-Islamic jihad and its warriors as well as its leaders were now made up of non-Kashmiris whose agendas transcend the demand for self-determination. In the process, the genuine political struggle for the unification of Kashmir and the demand of the people that they should be allowed to decide their own future was forgotten. Whatever attention Kashmir was given was because it was a flashpoint between two nuclear neighbours and not because Kashmiris were suffering. India and Pak on policy on Kashmir - to force Kashmiris to toe their respective lines. In fact, it seems that both countries want to fight to the last Kashmiri. The Indian government held state elections in 1996 apparently aimed at ensuring a representative government in Kashmir. But actually it was nothing more than a farce. The security forces herded people to polling stations and even conducted 'nail parades' to check - by the indelible ink pasted on the nail of the forefinger - that people had voted. The man who represents Kashmir - not only in New Delhi, but across the world as India's junior Foreign Minister - is Omar Abdullah, the son of Kashmir's Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. He received just 5 per cent of votes in his constituency - after coercion by the police and the security forces - and he won the elections. Who he does actually represent, nobody knows. I have been a witness to all this. I have seen Kashmir change. I still remember my grandmother worrying whenever the sky turned red. 'Murder has been committed somewhere,' she would say. Now that suspicion can no longer be reserved for red skies: the daily death toll is 20. Kashmir used to be known as a crime-free state. One of my neighbours was a senior police officer in the mid-Eighties; he once told me that the average yearly murder rate in Kashmir was three or four. Today, if three people perish in a day, itis considered peaceful. I have been fortunate enough to be safe, but my family and relatives have not been that lucky. My younger brother Mudabir was picked up in 1994 on suspicion of militancy, and it took us a month just to trace his whereabouts. We divided up the entire Kashmir valley among our family members. Every morning, each one of us would do the rounds of the security force camps to look for him. My mother had never been to a police station in her entire life, but by the time she finally located my brother, she knew almost every military camp around Srinagar. And by the time the security forces were convinced of his innocence and rel been tortured so much that he spent the next two months in bed. It is now seven years since his release, but he still has nightmares and the mere sight of a soldier sends shivers down his spine. A late-night knock at the door still gives him goose pimples, and sends his heart rate soaring. But this is not exceptional any more in Kashmir. A cousin's husband bled to death after he was caught in the crossfire while coming out of mosque one evening. He could have been saved had he reached the hospital in time. But the security forces did not allow the family to come out of their house and take him to the hospital, and there was no other way to seek medical help. He bled to death crying for help, and his wife, mother and younger brother could do nothing but watch their own helplessness. A boy was born in the family four months after his death. By 1992, there were hardly any young men left in the few villages in north Kashmir around my home. Many had joined the militant movement. Some had died, while others had gone underground; some had surrendered and become counter-insurgents and were part of the pro-government militias. Many had migrated to the urban area of Srinagar city, which was then deemed comparatively safe. The complexion of the separatist movement was changing fast, and it no longer represented the genuine political aspirations of the people. The pro-Pakistan jihadi groups who dominated the movement tried to impose their radical religious, social and cultural agendas, ignoring the fact that their extremism was alien to the very ethos of Kashmir. Kashmir has a history of composite culture and religious tolerance. In fact, Islam did not arrive in Kashmir through the clatter of the sword. It was introduced by mystics and Sufis who conquered the hearts of the people. In the centuries that followed, Kashmir turned into a melting pot of ideas and a meeting ground for Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam; there was no place for religious extremism. Now, as fanaticism started to dominate, using the power of the was rendered a mere tool in Pakistan's plan to bleed its arch-rival India with a thousand cuts. I decided to leave my village to move to Srinagar and join Kashmir University. I was so desperate to leave that I applied to almost all the departments. It was mere chance that I got into journalism. And when I started writing about the war later that year, I felt that I had been part of this tragic story from the beginning. I knew the militants and the mukhbirs (the police informers); those who surrendered and those who did not; those who faced death because they had a dream and those who were sacrificed by mere chance, neither knowing nor understanding the issues at stake; those who believed they were fighting a holy war and those who joined for unholy reasons. But, as it turned out, there was more to the story. My first assignment as a reporter was to visit a city police station and collect information regarding some corpses lying there. I accompanied a few local photographers, who began taking pictures as I stared at the six bullet-riddled bodies. They were in terrible condition: blood-soaked clothes, entrails exposed, faces unrecognisable. That evening, I was haunted by the picture of bodies lying in a pool of blood - even a drink of water reminded me of blood. I couldn't sleep for days; corpses haunted my dreams. A few months later I arrived at the site of a massacre to find wailing women and unshaven men sitting in huddles. Bodies lay scattered, like rag dolls discarded by careless children. I felt a lump growing in my throat, my legs felt heavy. I felt incredibly tired and wanted to throw down my notebook and sit silently with the mourners. The noise of the camera shutters invaded my private thoughts, forcing me to think about the story I had to write. Over the years, writing obituaries became a routine. When violence rules the day, there is nothing but tears to jerk out of the reader's soul. If I avoided writing about the gory details of death, I would end up writing about orphans or widows. In the p idents also began to change. I could no longer relate to these tragedies. Now killings meant stories and bylines, and there was satisfaction to be found in penning them, even if I knew the victims personally. The continuous interaction with death and destruction was providing a necessary thrill, and the killing fields of Kashmir were becoming nothing but news pastures for me. Every evening, I would wait for the police bulletin that provides the statistics of the daily deaths. Much as a shopkeeper counts his cash before calling it a day, I would count the dead before leaving the office. I once used a calculator to count the 105 men and women dead across the 12 districts in 24 hours. My newspaper wanted a breakdown and I found myself lost in numbers. I belong to Kashmir's cursed generation - the youth of the Nineties. I have lived all these troubled years in Kashmir and am still well and alive. But in the process my tears have dried up. I have lost normal human feelings to the adventures of reporting day-to-day violence in my country. I am immune to the death of my own people; I have developed an inability to mourn. And it seems that the outside world too is unable to feel the pain of Kashmir. After more than 50,000 deaths, there still appears to be no headway towards peace. The international community needs to resolve issues between India and Pakistan. It is not only important in order to avoid a nuclear conflict: it is imperative to end the suffering of the Kashmiri people. ------------------------- Prose poem by Agha Shahid Ali Dear Shahid, I am writing to you from your far-off country. Far even from us who live here. Where you no longer are. Everyone carries his address in his pocket so that at least his body will reach home. Rumours break on their way to us in the city. But word still reaches us from border towns: Men are forced to stand barefoot in snow waters all night. The women are alone inside. Soldiers smash radios and televisions. With bare hands they tear our houses to pieces. You m rd Rizwan was killed. Rizwan: Guardian of the Gates of Paradise. Only eighteen years old. Yesterday at Hideout Café (everyone there asks about you), a doctor - who had just treated a sixteen-year-old boy released from an interrogation centre - said: I want to ask the fortune-tellers: Did anything in his line of Fate reveal that the webs of his hands would be cut with a knife? This letter, insh'Allah, will reach you for my brother goes south tomorrow where he shall post it. Here one can't even manage postage stamps. Today I went to the post office. Across the river. Bags and bags - hundreds of canvas bags - all undelivered mail. By chance I looked down and there on the floor I saw this letter addressed to you. So I am enclosing it. I hope it's from someone you are longing for news of. Things here are as usual though we always talk about you. Will you come home soon? Waiting for you is like waiting for spring. We are waiting for the almond blossoms. And, if God wills, O! those days of peace when we all were in love and the rain was in our hands wherever we went. A prose poem taken from The Country Without a Post Office by Agha Shahid Ali (WW Norton, £8.50). Ali was an award-winning Kashmiri poet praised by, amongst others, John Ashbery and Edward Said. He died last December. From jeebesh at sarai.net Tue Feb 12 11:51:09 2002 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 11:51:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: [Internal] Indian cinema in Nigeria Message-ID: <02021211510903.00594@pinki.sarai.kit> Bollywood Comes To Nigeria Brian Larkin http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/bollywoodnigeria.shtml It's Friday night in Kano, northern Nigeria and Mother India is playing at the Marhaba cinema. Outside, scalpers are hurriedly selling the last of their tickets to the two thousand people lucky enough to buy seats in the open-air cinema of this city on the edge of Africa's Sahel desert. The rest just pay for the privilege of standing for the three hour movie. On average, a friend tells me, everyone in the place has seen the film at least fifteen times: at the cinema, on television and on video. Throughout the film people sing along to the songs in Hindi, they translate the dialogue into Hausa and speak the actors' lines for them. Mother India, first released in the 1950s, is one of the most popular films in northern Nigeria, known to everyone from the old to the young. The chance to see it again at the movies has people out in force. "I have been showing this film for decades," one distributor told me, "and it can still sell out any cinema in the north." For over forty years, African audiences have been watching Indian movies. In places such as northern Nigeria, generations of Hausa youth have grown up besotted with Bollywood ("Bombay/Hollywood") film culture. Over time, Indian movies have altered the style of Hausa fashions, their songs have been copied by Hausa singers and their stories have influenced the writings of Nigerian novelists. Favorite stars are given Hausa nicknames, like Sarkin Karfi (King of Strength) for Dharmendra, Dan Daba Mai Lasin (Hooligan With a License) for Sanjay Dutt, or Mace (Woman) for Rishi Kapoor. To this date, stickers of Indian films and stars decorate the taxis and buses of northern Nigeria, while posters of Indian films adorn the walls of tailor shops and mechanics' garages. Bollywood culture is a fundamental part of the Indian diasporic experience: American, African, Middle Eastern, and British Indians have kept in touch with the homeland by keeping up with the latest films and songs coming from Bombay. But in West Africa, as in many other parts of the world, Indian movies have become popular without the presence of an Indian audience. There, the following for Indian films has always been African. These fans are watching movies about a culture that is not their own, based on a religion wholly different from theirs and, for the most part, in a language they cannot understand. What then, do African fans get from Indian movies? It is true that most Hausa fans cannot understand Hindi, but then the average cinema-goer cannot speak English well either. As few African films are shown in Nigerian cinemas, to see any film is often a choice between watching it in different languages. Ever since Lebanese distributors began importing Indian movies in the 1950s, though, Hausa viewers have recognized the strong visual, social and even political similarities between the two cultures. By the early 1960s, when television was first introduced, Hausa fans were already demanding (over British objections) that Indian movies be shown on TV. Hausa fans of Indian movies argue that Indian culture is "just like" Hausa culture. Instead of focussing on the differences between the two societies, when they watch Indian movies what they see are similarities, especially when compared with American or English movies. Men in Indian films, for instance, are often dressed in long kaftans, similar to the Hausa dogon riga, over which they wear long waistcoats, much like the Hausa palmaran. The wearing of turbans; the presence of animals in markets; porters carrying large bundles on their heads, chewing sugar cane; youths riding Bajaj motor scooters; wedding celebrations and so on: in these and a thousand other ways the visual subjects of Indian movies reflect back to Hausa viewers aspects of everyday life. In a strict Muslim culture that still practices a form of purdah, Indian movies are praised because (until recently) they showed "respect" toward women. The problem with Hollywood movies, many of my friends complained, is that they have "no shame." In Indian movies, they said, women are modestly dressed, men and women rarely kiss, and you never see women naked. Because of this, Indian movies are said to "have culture" in a way that Hollywood films seem to lack. The fact is that Indian films fit in with Hausa society. This is realized by Lebanese film distributors, and Indian video importers as well as Hausa fans. Major themes of Hindi films, such as the tension between arranged and love marriages, do not appear in Hollywood movies but are agonizing problems for Nigerian and Indian youth. After Maine Pyar Kiya was released one friend told me it was his favorite movie: "I liked the film" he said, "because it taught me about the world." When the star Salman Khan had to choose between an arranged marriage with someone he didn't love and running away from his family to follow the woman of his heart my friend said, "I shed tears, tears. Even though I know the film is fiction I still shed tears, because it was about what is happening in the world." Hollywood films, he said contemptuously, have no shame or they are just action, "they don't base themselves on the problems of the people." The themes of Indian movies are often based on the reality of a developing country emerging from years of colonialism. The style of the movies and plots deal with the problem of how to modernize while preserving traditional values - not usually a narrative theme in a Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Speilberg movie. Characters choose between wearing Indian or Western-style clothes; following religious or secular values; living with the masses or in rich, western style bungalows. Women often decide whether they should speak shyly to their lover or stand up, look him in the face and declare their love forcefully. Male stars are often presented with the choice between a "traditional" lover, who respects family and dresses modestly, and a modern woman who lives a rich, fast, life hanging around discos and hotels. The use of English by arrogant upper-class characters or by imperious bureaucrats; and even the endemic corruption of police and state officials, all present familiar situations for postcolonial Indian and African viewers. For years, Indian movies have been an accepted, admired part of Hausa popular culture compared favorably with the negative effects of Western media. Indian movies offered an alternative style of fashion and romance that Hausa youth could follow without the ideological baggage of "becoming western". But as the style of Bollywood has begun to change over the last few years this acceptance is becoming more questioned. Contemporary films are more sexually explicit and violent. Nigerian viewers comment on this when they compare older Indian films of the 1950s and 1960s that "had" culture to newer ones which are more Westernized. One friend complained about this saying that "when I was young, the Indian films we used to see were based on their tradition. But now Indian films are just like American films. They go to discos, make gangs, they'll do anything in a hotel and they play rough in romantic scenes where before you could never see things like that." The irony is that this shift in the style of Indian films also mirrors the transformations in contemporary Nigerian society. Post-oil boom Nigeria has exacerbated a sense that traditional Hausa values are eroding, that women are becoming sexually freer, that men are more likely to rebel against their parents' authority. Hausa fans have seen these changes in Indian films. While they preserve the sense that Indian culture is "just like" Hausa culture, there is a mounting argument that current Indian movies are spoiling the values of Hausa youth. This argument hasn't affected the massive popularity of Bollywood, but it is a new, conservative critique whose impact remains to be seen. The international success of Indian film subverts the constant mantra of the cultural dictatorship of Hollywood movies. While the success of Bollywood doesn't alter the fact of America's media supremacy, it does focus attention to the many parts of the world where Bollywood reigns supreme. When I left the Marhaba cinema after seeing Mother India, I bumped into a friend who asked me where I'd been. I told him and asked him if he knew when the movie was made. "No," he said, "I couldn't tell you. But as soon as I knew film, I knew Mother India." From Nigeria to Egypt to Senegal to Russia, generations of non-Indian fans who have grown up with Bollywood, bear witness to the cross-cultural appeal of Indian movies. -- Monica Narula Sarai:The New Media Initiative 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054 www.sarai.net _______________________________________________ Internal mailing list Internal at mail.sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/internal ------------------------------------------------------- From aiindex at mnet.fr Tue Feb 12 13:53:59 2002 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:23:59 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Spyware : How Your Personal Data Gets Stolen Online Message-ID: Alternet.org Spyware: How Your Personal Data Gets Stolen Online Matthew Callan, Freezerbox February 8, 2002 Though we have been firmly entrenched in the information age for almost 20 years now, the Internet still retains a Wild West atmosphere, without a Wyatt Earp to tame it. Rules are made and discarded at will, virtue a dead end, pimping a virtue. You must get yours before the next guy grabs it, any way you can, and there are plenty of sharpies promising an edge, bottles of snake oil in hand labeled DRINK ME. Witness the latest con, spyware, software that is able to swipe personal data from your computer and sell it to the highest bidder. All this is done under the guise of collecting general demographics and providing users with exciting offers, but its potential is far too frightening to ignore. Spyware usually comes to your computer in the form of a simple data-collection program, bundled along with a piece of freeware (an application that the developer offers to the public gratis) that contains embedded banner ads. As you use the application, the spyware takes the personal information you provided when registering and adds to it other appliction-related data; what you are using the application for, how long you use it, etc. This information is sent to a server that interprets the data in order to target you with very specific advertising. Rotating banner ads are like airport surveys: If you want to ignore them, you can. And since most freeware relies on advertising dollars to pay the bills, this may seem a fair price to pay for a programmer's labor (and the reason why these programs are often referred to more benignly as adware). However, there are troubling aspects to this practice; some potential, some already in play. First of all, users are rarely notified of the presence of any spyware when they download; if so, only in the glaucoma-inducing lines of tiny text that make up a User Agreement. More often than not, spyware is not administered by the company from which users receive the application, but by a third party that markets the spyware. So while you may have agreed to the terms and conditions set forth by the application's developers, you did not specifically agree anything the spyware's administrator has in store for you. Under current laws, this is all perfectly kosher. Software providers are under no legal obligation to inform the public of their purpose in gathering personal information, let alone how they do it and with whom. Most sites do disclose some information about what software you receive and what it does, merely to give lip service to privacy concerns, knowing full well that their security policies have the same judicial weight as handshake agreements. So it was only a matter of time until a program such as VX2 would hit the Web, and hit it hard. VX2 takes spyware to a new level by pulling information, not just from use of an application, but from the use of a computer. When freeware that includes VX2 is installed on a computer, the program saves itself to a directory on the hard drive. Once firmly in place, it keeps track of the user's Web browsing (current and historical), information entered into forms, and configuration of the user's hardware and software. Based on all this information, pop-up ads begin to appear incessantly in the user's Web browser, giving the false impression that the Web page being viewed is responsible for the constant annoyances. In order to discover that VX2 is on your computer, you would have to determine the IP of the pop-up ads plaguing your browser, a task that less technically-inclined Web surfers are not able to do. Even harder to determine is how VX2 got on your computer, and where it is stored. To top it all off, VX2 is an incredibly difficult program to completely remove from a hard drive, and doing so often disables the freeware that let it in. Even more disturbing information can be culled from the VX2's Privacy Policy, as featured on its Web site. Although VX2 insists that it does not collect any truly damaging data (i.e., credit card information), it does concede that "the operation of certain third party websites may result in some personal information being included in URL data...Such instances are rare and are the result of poor security practices by these third party websites." Thereby, the buck is passed when some mysterious charges suddenly appear on your Visa bill. VX2 also reserves the right to update its software at any time, saying that "upgrades may include third party applications.... They will be done automatically in the background while you are surfing the web in order to cause the least amount of inconvenience to our users as possible." Its stated reason for capturing data that the user enters into forms (which includes even secure, encrypted forms) goes past disingenuousness and straight into Orwell country: "This information is automatically sent to VX2 in order to save you the time and trouble of submitting such information to us yourself." What VX2 boils down to is this: A program you never wanted squats in your computer's hard drive, sending personal information to a company with whom you never had any direct contact and never agreed to give such access; a program that, furthermore, can upgrade itself and add any other program to your computer that it sees fit. It is the kind of application that would make the CIA drool, but once again, private industry has beaten the public sector to the punch. It is difficult to determine which applications are or have been bundled with VX2, due to the frequency of freeware updates and the program's inherently insidious nature. Companies that use VX2 are obviously tight lipped about it; companies who no longer use it, but once did, are in no rush to inform users that they were being spied on. Because of the nature of VX2's operation, however, these once-guilty firms still have a responsibility to inform their users. This spyware embeds itself into a user's hard drive; therefore, the application once bundled with VX2 does not even have to be running for it to gather information and send it to an ad server. Even if a company no longer maintains a relationship with VX2, unless it alerts its users to VX2's existence, and how to effectively delete it from their hard drive, the program will continue to do its dirty work. By keeping quiet, under the guise of not alarming their users, these firms remain co-conspirators in VX2's quest to snoop on the Web-browsing public. The most popular application known to have used VX2 is the Audio Galaxy Satellite, a music-downloading application similar to Napster. Portal of Evil, a Web site that collects pages "from the margins of society," and one of the first sites to break the whole sordid VX2 story, has attempted to make Audio Galaxy accountable for bundling VX2 along with their Satellite freeware. In responses to both Portal of Evil and Wired.com, Audio Galaxy merely stated that VX2 was no longer included with their freeware, refusing to state when it was and for how long. The company said it had little knowledge of the program's use and blamed its presence in their software on Onflow, a software company that supplied Audio Galaxy with advertising graphics enhancers. Onflow maintains that it had never heard of VX2 until it was alerted by Portal of Evil. Ignorance is a poor excuse for what companies such as Audio Galaxy have unleashed on the Web. What is now crystal clear is this: many companies offering freeware attach add-ons to their software willy-nilly, presumably under the spell of sleazy marketers, not knowing or not caring what this software will do to its users. Imagine the slaughterhouse conditions of The Jungle, transposed to the Internet, and you will have a good idea of the situation we find ourselves in today. (Audio Galaxy did not respond to this writer's request for comment.) The origins of the program are incredibly murky, and fraught with more incest and secrecy than I, Claudius. No one has ever taken responsibility for writing the code (or funding such). As is often the case with such spyware, the program was probably developed and tested by a third-party tech department far removed from whoever wields it now, and then funneled through several different subsidiaries of a large parent company, in order to throw any curious bloodhounds off the scent. According to cexx.org, a Web watchdog site, VX2's first major appearance was under the name Transponder, marketed by the Blackstone Data Corporation. Blackstone's public Web site has disappeared from the Internet, but since VX2 shares a PO Box in Las Vegas with them, the two are probably one and the same. Confusing matters further is Mindset, a 'Web solutions' company that gives away freeware of screensavers and trivia games bundled with VX2. A sharp eye reveals that their Privacy Policy is identical to the one on VX2's Web site. Thanks to the venal efforts of these people, the Web remains a lawless place huddled on the edge of civilization, full of mustache twirling barkers who cruise for those easy marks just off the stagecoach. And since times are tighter these days, the stakes are higher, the con jobs meaner, the medicine show a lot less funny. In the current political climate, anything that threatens our privacy deserves a long hard look, and a long hard fight. Until a sheriff finally arrives -- until everyone realizes how much we stand to lose and how soon it will happen -- we must get used to the hustler's hello: one hand slapping us in the back and the other one reaching into our pockets. Incidentally, VX2 happens to share a name with a component of a variety of nerve agent. This brand of biological weapon is ten times more powerful than other nerve agents, and is characterized by its oily texture and long half-life. Whether the spyware's nomenclature was a loving tribute or a dark coincidence remains to be seen. Matthew Callan edits, and constantly mines his life for material for, the online zine scratchbomb.com. He is currently hard at work on his first novel, Breaking My Shoes, a rumination on men, war, Staten Island and mayonnaise. -- From jeebesh at sarai.net Tue Feb 12 14:48:38 2002 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 14:48:38 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Contribution to GNU/Linux from South Asia Message-ID: <02021214483805.00594@pinki.sarai.kit> ********************************************************************* FROM SOUTH ASIA WITH LOVE: INDIA CONTRIBUTES TO GNU/LINUX ********************************************************************* By Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall.org MORE DETAILS FROM http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Is India contributing to the global GNU/Linux initiative? Check out what's happening in this part of South Asia. The modest work-in-progress site http://linuxinindia.pitas.com attempts to catalogue some of these efforts... And, it appears that quite a few things are actually happening... Scientific data visualisers (its name is 'MayaVi', after the term for a magician in the ancient sacred language of Sanskrit), software that queries each host to display the HTTP server software, and the like. That's not all: Commercialized supercomputing technology, Linux parallel supercomputers for high speed rendering, molecular modeling and weather modelling, bioinformatics solutions, GIS servers and even Indian language 'killer applications' (word processing, e-mail using GPLed tools). Check out Perl modules that help you do "various things". Or an interactive voice-response system, that allows anyone to select and fetch pre-recorded messages via a telephone... of course, using Linux. Other Indian GNU/Linux products include a GPL WAP-based POP3 mail client, and a RomanScript-to-Hindi transliterator from the world of GPL again. Down south, software initiatives are focussing on building office suites "like MS-Word, Excel and Access" for Linux. Or even a Pacman in Tamil! Likewise, other teams are looking at giving Linux an Indian face -- offering Indian language support from the kernel up, not just as an add-on stuck on top of the Operating System. Imagine Pine in the South Indian language of Tamil. It's possible, says this team! Check out Bugster, a P2P application for sharing MP3z and OGGz. Information Meta View (IMV) system attempts to create a web standard for information storage in a decentralized database. Information is stored as a graph like structure spanning several service providers. Mget is a command-line download manager mget is a command line download manager. "It splits the file into a number of segments and uses several separate threads to download each segment. It can handle proxies." It's by Debajyoti Bera, from India's prestigious technology incubators called the Indian Institute of Technology. Kandalaya (Sanskrit for "abundance", take Raj Mathur's word for it) is an outfit that consults in GNU/Linux, Network application integration and network security. Committed to the Free Software (Open Source) movement and its goals, Kandalaya contributes back its software packages. Like Hinv (hardware inventory, Gmemusage (graphical memory usage viewer), PPP Dial-Up Scripts (it isn't that tough to dial-out to your ISP now) and Simple SMTP (does a "simplistic checking" of how fast a mail server is). Checks links to the free software campaign in India, and efforts to make GNU/Linux relevant to the millions of youngsters going through the educational system in this country. On http://linuxinindia.pitas.com you'll find links to GNU Yahoo, a software named after the developer's girl-friend (guess which...software), and links to the growing number of Linux groups across India. There's even a site earlier run out of the Indian commercial capital Mumbai (earlier Bombay) that tells 'everything' about a few dozen of free Operating Systems available worldwide. Students in the tiny state of Goa -- better known as a holiday destination -- are smoothing out rough edges of their GNU Library Management System, called Glibms. It's now up on sourceforge.net Wondered what happened to the Simputer, the sub-$200 computing device that was slotted at being meant to take computing to the commonman in India and the rest of the Third World? Check out the link... Also being announced is an operating environment for the Linux kernel. With a name like Indy, take no guesses where it's coming from.... In nearby Bangladesh, Mohammed A Muquit has a fascinating page of free software. Bangla fonts with Linux groff, LDAP authentication module for Apache web server, good ol' MasterMind game for Linux, a simple PPP dialler for Linux (mppp), mxconsole... and lots more. Thanks to Jeebesh Bagchi for pointing me here. Links to all this is available on this site, which is still only in the making and has a long way to go before it can claim to credibly catalogue even some of the many initiatives coming up from this region. Why has India taken its time to make its contribution to the Linux world felt? Till recently, there were doubts expressed whether Indians were at all giving back anything to GNU/Linux domain. Now, these doubts are vanishing... It needs to be remembered that most Indians couldn't access the Net till sometime in August 1997. It was only on Independence Day that year that Internet services were thrown open to the general public. They too had to pay steep prices for Net access initially, and in recent months the costs of this has fall...Earlier, only a few priviledged researchers and some government officials could access the Net. All this means that collaborative working and gaining access to ideas and inspiration from near and far is becoming a reality. In the months ahead, we could well see the speedy growth of an Indian (and South Asian too, since other countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh have their own programming talent) contribution to GNU/Linux. If readers could help this journalist with pointers in this direction, I'd be grateful. My work to map the contribution of South Asians to GNU/Linux is supported by www.sarai.net of New Delhi. -FN -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783 BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Email fred at bytesforall.org * SMS 9822122436 at attcell.net * Saligao Goa India Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference ------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Internal mailing list Internal at mail.sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/internal ------------------------------------------------------- From aiindex at mnet.fr Tue Feb 12 15:04:14 2002 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 10:34:14 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] You Can Surf, but You Can't Hide Message-ID: The New York Times February 7, 2002 You Can Surf, but You Can't Hide By LISA GUERNSEY Steve Kagan for The New York Times PHOTO: Dr. James Herbsleb studied an instant- messaging system used by Lucent employees. Ordinary cellphones can be used to keep track of where people are and, in some cases, what they are doing. MAKING a phone call has always been a game of chance. You never know whether the person you are calling is available. You just punch in the numbers and hope to get lucky. Imagine being able to learn without dialing a single digit whether another person's phone is in use, or in the case of a cellphone, whether it is even turned on. Now imagine being able to do the same thing with any wired or wireless device of the future - whether it is in the car, in an airplane or at the gym. Not only could you learn whether a person is available for a chat, but you could also deduce what that person might be doing at that exact moment, all without exchanging a word. That is the idea behind a programming concept called presence awareness, which is based on the realization that appliances on a network can automatically be detected by other devices. "The days of phone tag are on the way out," said Sonu Aggarwal, chief executive of Cordant, a company in Bellevue, Wash., that develops instant-messaging technology. "This is a very powerful concept with long- term implications." Many software developers predict that presence technology will become almost as ubiquitous as communication devices themselves. In six months, Motorola (news/quote) officials say, the company will roll out a system that will allow a caller to tell whether another person's mobile phone is on and whether it is in use. Nokia (news/quote) and Ericsson (news/quote), among several other telecommunications companies, are also developing the technology, for use in either land-line or wireless phones. Presence technology is also being considered for hand-held computers, wireless Web pads, communications systems in cars, and even exercise machines that provide Internet access at the gym. Some systems, the officials say, will go as far as using tracking systems like the Global Positioning System, or G.P.S., to detect the location of a person who is logged in. The prospect of information that can reveal a person's availability at a given moment, anywhere in the world strikes many people as both creepy and intriguing. Katelyn Y. A. McKenna, an assistant professor at New York University who conducts research on Internet relationships, has found that people are comforted when they can see the distant movements of people from their inner circles, like family and friends. Devices that use presence technology could provide such reassurance. "You could see that you could instantaneously reach these people if you need them," Dr. McKenna said. "I know my mother would be extremely reassured if she could see, `Oh, she's off the plane; her cellphone came on; she's landed.' " But along with comfort comes the unnerving feeling of being watched, a lesson that has been experienced by millions of instant messaging users. By keeping track of the activity on their Buddy Lists, people with I.M. can use log-in information to get a sense of their buddies' routines - when they arrive at work, when they are online at home on a weekend, or in some cases how long they have been away from their computers. Information that was private (or at least not easy to acquire) can become known - with little effort - by employers, co-workers, friends, family members and, sometimes, by strangers. "When you have these technologies you really expose yourself and your day to a lot of people," said Bonnie A. Nardi, an anthropologist at Agilent Technologies (news/quote), a company in Palo Alto, Calif., that makes high-tech monitoring devices. After spending a few years studying instant messaging, Dr. Nardi said she became aware of the subtle impact of presence technology on people's lives. It is time, she said, to think about "what we want people to know about what we are doing at a given moment." Software programmers and executives have begun talking about how to capitalize on presence technology's potential. For example, at Dynamicsoft, a company in East Hanover, N.J., officials have discussed how presence software, wireless hand-held computers and G.P.S. tracking could alert a person when a friend happened to be a few blocks away. A phone-based system could also automatically plug in teleconference participants the instant everyone in the group was available. In the future, Mr. Aggarwal of Cordant said, technology might be so integrated that a traveler could wear a wireless badge that interacts with a computer on the back of an airplane seat. When the computer sensed that the traveler was seated, it could automatically redirect messages to the computer's screen or send word to the traveler's contacts that he was on board. The only widely available version of the technology currently in use is instant messaging. If I.M.'s popularity is any indication, people may be ready to embrace the possibilities of presence detection. More than 50 million people in the United States use instant-messaging products today, according to industry estimates, and many of those people say that their favorite aspect of the technology is the ability to see whether a buddy is online. Still, even some of the technology's adherents acknowledge how strange it is to remotely broadcast their whereabouts. Mr. Aggarwal uses MSN Messenger, which displays a clock icon in the contact list to indicate when a person has not touched the keyboard or mouse for, say, five minutes. As soon as he resumes use of his keyboard or mouse, the clock goes away. Often, he said, he gets a phone calls the minute he hits the keys, and the caller is invariably someone who had been waiting for that icon to disappear. "Without my being aware, people are watching me," Mr. Aggarwal said. Hints of a coming struggle between privacy and openness turned up in a recent project at Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies (news/quote). In the project, which was called Rear View Mirror, a scientist, Dr. James Herbsleb, and several colleagues studied a group of Lucent employees in American and European offices who used a Bell Labs instant messaging system for more than a year. Privacy issues arose from the start. "Some people in Germany said, `This looks like a surveillance tool for us,' " Dr. Herbsleb said. He added that they did not like the idea that supervisors could detect - and therefore monitor - exactly how long they had been online and how much time they had spent typing on their keyboards. As a result, Bell Labs researchers altered the software to give users complete control. The program's default options were set to make users appear to be offline. If people wanted co-workers to know they had logged in, they had to turn on the feature that displayed their availability. That solution did not work very well, Dr. Herbsleb said. The software, which was intended to avoid problems like phone tag, was useless if people had to badger colleagues to announce their availability. Besides, he said, it missed the point of presence technology, which is useful precisely because it senses what is going on without any action by a user. Ultimately, the researchers and employees compromised. The presence system was automatically turned on for people within small work groups. People outside those groups had to get colleagues' permission to watch their movements. "Don't allow people to just lurk and spy," Dr. Herbsleb said. But as staying in touch electronically becomes the mark of modern movers and shakers, many people say they will gladly allow their presence to be known in exchange for the convenience of constant contact. "It's sort of like leaving the front door open, and saying, `Come on in; don't even knock,' " said David Wertheimer, who writes a daily Web log called Netwert and is an avid user of instant messaging software. Software developers say they can design presence awareness systems to accommodate both those who seek privacy and those who want constant contact. Yahoo (news/quote) and Microsoft (news/quote), for example, include privacy features in their instant messaging products. Users must grant permission before their names can be added to someone's contact list. Instant Messenger, both the stand-alone version and the one embedded in AOL's Internet service, does not allow that level of control. Users have no way of knowing whether someone has added their screen names to a buddy list. Michele Magazine, a publishing consultant in Manhattan who briefly used the Instant Messenger program from America Online, said she was troubled by the lack of privacy. "I don't want people to know when I'm at home," she said. "There was no way to hide." Whether people will use permission features or other blocking tools is another question. Social pressure can be a powerful disincentive. Some teenagers who use instant messaging programs, for example, said they would not block their peers because they would not want to seem rude. Consider something like the following alert showing up on your screen: "Bill wants to put you on his buddy list. Do you accept?" If Bill is merely a distant acquaintance, and you decline, will it look like a snub? Suppose your girlfriend can tell that you are in your office, using your computer but not your phone. If she decides to call and you don't answer, she may think: "Why not? Clearly you are available. Are you ignoring me?" The Internet Engineering Task Force, the group that develops standards for Internet communication, has been thinking about several such implications, according to the engineers involved. One of them is Jonathan Rosenberg, chief scientist for Dynamicsoft and a co-author of the task force's standards for presence and instant messaging technology. Dr. Rosenberg has come up with an answer for the social dilemma of managing privacy without appearing rude. His idea is appropriately called polite blocking, and it works something like a little white lie. Users could appear to be busy with phone calls when, in fact, they might be blissfully enjoying a few minutes of solitude. There is another alternative, of course: People could extricate themselves from the technology often enough to keep their contacts guessing. A contact may determine that someone's mobile phone is on - and it very well may be, but it may also be sitting at home. "Until we get to the bioimplant," said Craig Peddie, who works on presence technology at Motorola, "we won't be able to know that you really have it with you." -- From monica at sarai.net Tue Feb 12 19:25:32 2002 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 19:25:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] New wave of Globalisation! Message-ID: This is a good document from the other side that does not see the difference between material sweatshops and html ones... Monica MEDIA ADVISORY - Globalization Experts Say a New Wave of Globalization Is Replacing Sweatshops with Office Parks in The Wall Street Journal Today Experts Are Available For Interviews on Globalization Topics and the World Economic Forum NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- In a Wall Street Journal essay published today, globalization experts at Inductis say that a new era of globalization is allowing high-end service sector work to move to some of the poorest countries in the world. "A lot of people are talking about globalization. We are doing it," says Sandeep Tyagi, Inductis President and one of the Inductis globalization experts who is available for media interviews. Mr. Tyagi's firm is helping Fortune 500 companies take cost centers of $100-$250MM and shave off 30-60% of their costs. "Thanks largely to the fact that a decent education, Microsoft Office, and the Internet are all as useful in Manila as in Minneapolis, the service sector has gone mobile. Poor countries are sewing sneakers. And they are exporting billions of dollars in services, from answering 1-800 numbers to software coding and Ph.D.-level risk modeling work," Inductis writes in today's Journal. "The implications of a boom in service trade are immense. It has the potential to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and the potential to either cut costs for companies that ride the phenomenon or cut profits of companies that don't," the firm writes. Of course, the trend does mean painful layoffs and job losses for some in the short term, but Inductis says that in the long term, outsourcing high-end work to India and the Philippines will increase prosperity in the US. "If we can leverage low-wage labor abroad, we end up increasing productivity and wages at home," says Doug Lavin, an Inductis consultant. Inductis experts are implementing globalization drives that are helping US firms set up operations in the Philippines, China, India, Jamaica, Eastern Europe and other low-cost, high-quality labor markets. "I was visiting offshore outsourcing centers earlier this month," said Arjun Saxena, Inductis Vice President and a native of New Delhi. "The protesters who claim to be speaking for people in the Third World have no idea what the reality of the situation is on the ground abroad. The globalization of services is helping educated people find good jobs -- college graduates in Bangalore today can expect salaries that are 5 times what they were a decade ago." Inductis itself is structured using an innovative business model, designed to capitalize on the next wave of globalization. Most of its 40-person staff is in the New York City Metro area, but key administrative functions and high end analytic work are also performed at lower cost in Inductis' New Delhi office. "The idea that 'multinational' means big company is oldthink," says Mr. Tyagi. "Most US businesses can and should be redesigned so that a portion of their cost base benefits from international labor cost arbitrage. We have the ability and the experience to make these redesigns happen and have a strong impact on profitability." Inductis is a management consulting firm that employs alumni of McKinsey, AT Kearney, Mitchell Madison, Booz Allen and other leading strategy firms, but only performs work that produces high-impact tangible results. Messrs. Tyagi, Saxena and Lavin are available for interviews. Please visit us at: http://www.inductis.com Inductis is a management consulting firm with an edge built around the idea that strategy combined with technology and entrepreneurship can transform business. Our fact-based approach to strategy starts with data and ends with tangible results. We use technology and sophisticated analytics to improve client profitability. We help firms rethink what businesses they ought to be in and where. We largely serve the financial and information services industries. Current engagements include multiple studies in the areas of: Credit Scoring, Algorithim Redesign, Risk Analytics, Internet Strategy Redesign, Turnaround Analysis, Investment Prioritization, Offshore Outsourcing. -- Monica Narula Sarai:The New Media Initiative 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054 www.sarai.net From inder_tikku at yahoo.com Wed Feb 13 11:18:05 2002 From: inder_tikku at yahoo.com (inder tikku) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 21:48:05 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] indersaleem Message-ID: <20020213054805.99157.qmail@web20101.mail.yahoo.com> having gone through the piece by abir bazar, sent to me by satish sharma. please find the image attached. inder __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Ghaza-027.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 22659 bytes Desc: Ghaza-027.jpg Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20020212/7dfcc405/attachment.bin From announcements-request at sarai.net Tue Feb 12 11:33:18 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 07:03:18 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #18 - 1 msg Message-ID: <200202120603.HAA17497@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. 23.2.2002: Politics as Performance (Mumbai Study Group) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 10:49:03 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: Mumbai Study Group Subject: [Announcements] 23.2.2002: Politics as Performance Dear Friends: In our next meeting, we invite you to join a discussion with anthropologist Dr THOMAS BLOM HANSEN, author of the recently published Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001). Dr Hansen will give a paper on "POLITICS AS PERMANENT PERFORMANCE: ON THE PRODUCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY IN THE LOCALITY". One of the most fascinating features of democracy anywhere in the world - so often ridiculed by sceptics - is its essential unpredictability of political outcomes, both as electoral results as well as more negotiated compromises. Most predictions of elections based on class, caste or past records of parties are wrong and electoral results are notoriously unreliable as indexes of the social worlds they ideally should reflect. Likewise, the behaviour of political parties or governments cannot be inferred from who they supposedly represent. Rather than seeing this as results of a flawed system of representation, this paper argues that it is an inevitable effect of the foregrounding of the visible - the enactment and presentation of community, of a cause, of the familiar, as well as the threatening though techniques of re-presentation: from the festival and the rally, to the performance of public violence, manners of speaking, of dress and bodily comportment, of reputations and decorations. In this 'politics of the spectacle' or the 'aestheticization of politics' lies decisive potential of "managing the moods" of localities or big city-scapes. Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than in how Shiv Sena has refined and developed a range of these techniques in the course of the last thirty years. By drawing on Shiv Sena's 'political performances' - both in the city as such and in certain localities, the paper will try to outline an understanding of contemporary urban politics that is not 'realist' and sociological but instead takes seriously the sensuous quality and performative power of spectacles - from the massive rally to everyday forms of self-presentation in the slum or the street corner. Dr Thomas Blom Hansen is Reader at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, U.K. Has done research on Hindu nationalism and Mumbai in the 1990s, and is currently doing research on Indian neighbourhoods in Durban, South Africa. His main publications are The Saffron Wave: Hindu Nationalism and Democracy in Modern India (Princeton University Press/Oxford University Press India, 1999), Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay (Princeton University Press /Permanent Black, 2001). He is co-editor with Finn Stepputat of States of Imagination: Ethnographic Explorations of the Postcolonial State (Duke University Press, 2001) . This session will be on SATURDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2002, at 10.00 A.M., on the SECOND FLOOR, Rachna Sansad, 278, Shankar Ghanekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, next to Ravindra Natya Mandir. Phone: 4301024, 4310807, 4229969; Station: Elphinstone Road (Western Railway); BEST Bus: 35, 88, 151, 161, 162, 171, 355, 357, 363, to Ravindra Natya Mandir, 91 Ltd, 305 Ltd, A1 and A4 to Prabhadevi. _____ MUMBAI STUDY GROUP SESSIONS in 2002 9 MARCH 2002 Film Screening of "Jari-Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories" Discussion with Surabhi Sharma, Producer and Director 23 MARCH 2002 "Girangaon: The Past, Present and Future of Mumbai's Textile Mills and Mill Workers" Participants to be Announced 13 APRIL 2002 "Gender and Space in Mumbai" by Shilpa Phadke, Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, Nirmala Niketan School of Social Work, Mumbai and Neera Adarkar, Architect, Adarkar Associates, Mumbai 27 APRIL 2002 "Food Security in Mumbai and Thane: A Study of the Rationing Kruti Samiti" by Mayank Bhatt, Journalist and Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K. ABOUT the MUMBAI STUDY GROUP The MUMBAI STUDY GROUP meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, at the Rachana Sansad, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, at 10.00 A.M. Our conversations continue through the support extended by Shri Pradip Amberkar, Principal of the Academy of Architecture, and Prof S.H. Wandrekar, Trustee of the Rachana Sansad. Conceived as an inclusive and non-partisan forum to foster dialogue on urban issues, we have since September 2000 held conversations about various historical, political, cultural, social and spatial aspects of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Our discussions are open and public, no previous membership or affiliation is required. We encourage the participation of urban researchers and practitioners, experts and non-experts, researchers and students, and all individuals, groups and associations in Mumbai to join our conversations about the the city.The format we have evolved is to host individual presentations or panel discussions in various fields of urban theory and practice, and have a moderated and focussed discussion from our many practical and professional perspectives: whether as architects or planners, lawyers or journalists, artists or film-makers, academics or activists.Through such a forum, we hope to foster an open community of urban citizens, which clearly situates Mumbai in the theories and practices of urbanism globally. Previous sessions have hosted presentations by the following individuals: Kalpana Sharma, Associate Editor of The Hindu; Kedar Ghorpade, Senior Planner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority; Dr Marina Pinto, Professor of Public Administration, retired from Mumbai University; Dr K. Sita, Professor of Geography, retired from Mumbai University, and former Garware Chair Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Dr Arjun Appadurai, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, Director of Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), Mumbai; Rahul Srivastava, Lecturer in Sociology at Wilson College; Sandeep Yeole, General Secretary of the All-India Pheriwala Vikas Mahasangh; Dr Anjali Monteiro, Professor and Head, and K.P. Jayashankar, Reader, from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Unit for Media and Communications; Dr Sujata Patel, Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Pune; Dr Mariam Dossal, Head, Department of History, Mumbai University; Sucheta Dalal, business journalist and Consulting Editor, Financial Express; Dr Arvind Rajagopal, Associate Professor of Culture and Communications at New York University; Dr Gyan Prakash, Professor of History at Princeton University, and member of the Subaltern Studies Editorial Collective; Dr Sudha Deshpande, Reader in Demography, retired from the Department of Economics, Mumbai University and former consultant for the World Bank, International Labour Organisation, and Bombay Municipal Corporation; Sulakshana Mahajan, doctoral candidate at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A., and former Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Rachana Sansad; Dr Rohini Hensman, of the Union Research Group, Mumbai; Mrs Jyoti Mhapsekar, Head Librarian, Rachana Sansad and Member, Stree Mukti Sanghatana. Previous panel discussions have comprised of the following individuals: S.S. Tinaikar, former Municipal Commissioner of Bombay, Sheela Patel, Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), and Bhanu Desai of the Citizens' Forum for the Protection of Public Spaces (Citispace) on urban policy making and housing; Shirish Patel, civil engineer and urban planner, Pramod Sahasrabuddhe and Abhay Godbole, structural engineers on earthquakes and the built form of the city; B. Rajaram, Managing Director of Konkan Railway Corporation, and Dr P.G. Patankar, from Tata Consultancy Services, and former Chairman of the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) on mass public transport alternatives; Ved Segan, Vikas Dilawari, and Pankaj Joshi, conservation architects, on the social relevance of heritage and conservation architecture; Debi Goenka, of the Bombay Environmental Action Group, Professor Sudha Srivastava, Dr Geeta Kewalramani, and Dr Dipti Mukherji, of the University of Mumbai Department of Geography, on the politics of land use, the city's salt pan lands, and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act; Nikhil Rao, of the University of Chicago Dept of History, Anirudh Paul and Prasad Shetty of the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Insitute of Architecture, and members of the various residents associations and citizens groups of the Dadar-Matunga, on the history, architecture, and formation of middle-class communities in these historic neighbourhoods, the first suburbs of Bombay. CONTACT US We invite all urban researchers, practitioners, students, and other interested individuals to join us in our fortnightly conversations, and suggest topics for presentation and discussion. For any more information, kindly contact one of the Joint Convenors of the Mumbai Study Group: ARVIND ADARKAR, Architect, Researcher and Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Phone 2051834, ; DARRYL D'MONTE, Journalist and Writer, 6427088 ; SHEKHAR KRISHNAN, Coordinator-Associate, Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), 4142843, ; PANKAJ JOSHI, Conservation Architect, Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, and PUKAR Associate, 8230625, . --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From amanda at adelaidefestival.net.au Tue Feb 12 19:51:24 2002 From: amanda at adelaidefestival.net.au (amanda at adelaidefestival.net.au) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 23:51:24 +0930 Subject: [Reader-list] conVerge: art and science symposium at adelaide festival 2002 Message-ID: <69256B5E.004FCF57.00@adelaidefestival.net.au> forgive the promotion, perhaps not entirely appropriate to this list, but I thought it might be of interest to some... _______snip_____ __ \-\ /-/ | | |----| |-\ --| \ \ / / |---| |---\ |----| |---| | |-- | |-|| | \ | | \ \ / / |___ | - | ||--- |___ | |-- | |_|| | | \ | \ \_/ / |---~ |---/ ||__|~ |---~ |____| |____| |_| \_| \ / |___| |_|\_\ |____| |___| \_/ 3/ 4 March, 2002 A Symposium as part of Adelaide Festival 2002 Register online: http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/bookticket.asp?ID=29 ***conVerge*** To coincide with the exhibition 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art - conVerge: where art and science meet - the Adelaide Festival 2002 will convene a two-day symposium exploring relationships between the arts and sciences in the context of sustainable futures. Many artists currently exploring scientific, technological and cultural developments of the 21st Century are engaged in a critical debate. This is a discourse suffused and indeed inspired by complex sociological and political issues and these creative disciplines, areas of cultural practice often understood to be at odds with one another, must engage if we are to understand our future and the roles of creative individuals within it. This symposium has been developed to complement the 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, an exhibition of work by Australian artists exploring these areas of debate to be staged by the Art Gallery of South Australia during the Adelaide Festival 2002. The intention of the symposium is to broaden dialogue, generate ideas and raise awareness of the contributions both artists and scientists can make to the larger challenges of our time. Nationally and internationally significant artists, scientists and thinkers will come together to create an open site for audiences to engage with this debate - to become participants in the development of ideas rather than a merely passive audience. The symposium will encompass presentations, performances, workshops and panel discussions. The project will provide a research environment, as it were, where the public may see, experience and contribute to a range of ideas and media at play. 'Both scientists and artists have a special gift for us, if they can only bring themselves to share it. Both groups live always at the 'edge of mystery'- the boundary of the unknown' Robert Oppenheimer Who should attend? Science communicators Scientists Research and Development practitioners Artists Representatives of local, state and federal governments Politicians and public administrators Academics Community workers Private and public sector What you'll take away from the Symposium? Challenging ideas from different vantage-points, imaginative encounters across disciplinary barriers, interconnecting different disciplines and life-worlds. SUNDAY 3 MARCH **Partnerships** Australian artists engaging with science practices, issues and themes within a variety of environments have created collaborations with individual scientists, science research organisations and industry. In turn, "'big science' is turning to human creativity for help. Major research bodies such as CSIRO and those within corporations such as Xerox are calling in artists to work collaboratively with their scientists in pushing back boundaries of technological development." (Quiddington). What happens at the points of intersection between these two various disciplines? How might this contribute to the development of an expanded and more supple creativity in social development? What are some of the issues inhibiting cross-disciplinary exchange? **Bioeconomics** As we enter the 21st Century, key issues that face our economy that confront economic development are shifting away from those of the late-Industrial Age towards an era in which life-sciences and biotechnology are fashioning a bio-industrial world. Public awareness and broad-ranging debate on the implications of these trends are crucial to any realisation of the promised benefits of biotechnology. **Genomics** Management of genetic information is a key issue currently facing human society. Recombinant genetics is one of the most dramatic technological developments/new phenomena to date in the area of biotechnology. New techniques for identifying and manipulating genes are the first strand in what Jeremy Rifkin describes as 'the new operational matrix of the Biotech Century'. While the motivation behind genetic engineering is age-old, the technology itself represents something qualitatively new. To understand why this is the case, we must appreciate the distinction between traditional tinkering with biological organisms and the mutational potential of current genetic engineering. MONDAY 4 MARCH **Image and Meaning** This session will explore concepts of scientific visualisation and representation, the ever more complex relationships between different semantic systems (collusions and collisions of meaning between images, signs, texts), the use of scientific language, science communication, graphical representation of numerical data inter alia. **Knowledge Systems** Is science universal? Value the contribution of other cultures and philosophical models towards this body of knowledge we call science towards the instrumental ordering of our collective knowledge about the world and nature's functioning. Examine interconnected relationships between people, species, natural systems and culture as a means of understanding our world. Does science define itself or is it socially contingent and culturally embedded. Who own this scientific truth[s]? **Ecology** In order to explore sustainable futures, artists and scientists alike are turning to the environment and the impact that we have had on nature and the world around us. Understanding our dependency upon the world in which is key to how we relate to our environment and how we preserve its diversity. **Plenary session** Speakers So Far International Critical Art Ensemble, a collective of artists of various specialisation dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics and critical theory, USA Adam Zaretsky, artists and professor of Conceptual and Information Arts, San Francisco State University, currently Honorary Researcher in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia. USA Nina Czegledy, independent media artist, curator and writer, who divides her time between Canada and Europe. She is also President of ISEA (International Society for Electronic Arts) (Nina's visit is supported by the Australian Network for Art and Technology) Ren -------------- next part -------------- é Boutin, visual artist, who has appeared in various international art exhibitions, from the Nouméa Biennial to the Asia-Pacific Triennial in Queensland, and elsewhere, New Caledonia Rich Gold, artist, composer, inventor, cartoonist, designer, lecturer and engineer. Until recently, primary researcher, Ubiquitous Computing at Xerox PARC, where he also designed the PARC artist-in-residence program (PAIR). He currently manages 'The RED Shift' a design group that uses technology to make stuff for people to enjoy. USA Jill Scott, media artist , focus-the body and technology. Phd in Philosophy (Digital Body Automata), currently Professor for interactive media, Media Faculty, Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany De/Aus Australia Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University, Qld Martin Walch, artist, Tas Catts/ Zurr, Oron Catts - co-founder and manager of SymbioticA -The Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, School of Anatomy & Human Biology, University of Western Australia. Initiated The Tissue Culture & Art Project in 1996. Ionat Zurr - artist /PhD candidate, SymbioticA and Tissue Culture & Art Project. artists, WA Dr Richard Stanford, artist, NSW Craig Cormick, Communications and Public Awareness, Biotech Australia (DISR), ACT David Malin, astronomer, Anglo-Australian Observatory/Adjunct Professor of Scientific Photography at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), NSW Jason Hampton, Gurindji / Ngalakarn, artist, NT Joyce Hinterding, artist, NSW Fiona Hall, artist, SA John Tonkin, artist, NSW Patricia Piccinini, artist, Vic Michele Barker, artist and lecturer in Digital Media at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, NSW Dr Judy Ford, GLOW, Environmental and Genetic Solutions, SA Christine Morris, Kombumerri / Mununjalhai, Adjunct Research Fellow, Griffith University, Qld Justine Cooper, artist, NSW/ New York Kevin O'Loughlin, Narrunga, cultural teacher, SA Jenny Fraser, Bundjalung, artist, curator, filmmaker and educator, Qld Mangkaja Artists, WA Peter Danaja, Burrara, artist/ cultural worker, NT Margaret Sellars, Wik, Munghan/Kanju, artist, Qld Dr Paula Dawson, artist / holographer, NSW. (Paula's presentation is supported by the Australian Research Council) Rebecca Cummins, artist, NSW & Seattle Dr Nigel Helyer, artist, NSW Dr Terry Cutler, Director, Cutler & Co, Chair, Australia Council, Vic Sue Rowley, Australian Research Council, Vic for updates check out http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/event.asp?ID=29&catid=13 or look at http://www.adelaidebiennial.com for full details of the exhibition, symposium and archive. Where and When Sunday 3 March 11.00am to 7.30pm Monday 4 March 9.00am to 6.30pm Masonic Hall North Terrace, Adelaide Cost Symposium Registration $200 One Day Registration $120 Festival Friends - Registration $170 Festival Friends - One Day $105 Discounted* Registration $90 Discounted* One Day Registration $60 (*students, unwaged, pensioners-limited seats available) Register online at: http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/bookticket.asp?ID=29 This project has been realised in collaboration with the Art Gallery of South Australia to coincide with the 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art - conVerge: where art and science meet The project has been assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council , its arts funding and advisory body' The Biennial web site has been developed with support from Virtual Artists < http://www.va.com.au>. The conVerge archive has been developed in collaboration with the Australian Network for Art and Technology . The working group that has developed this project comprises: Linda Cooper, Project Coordinator; Jenny Fraser; Victoria Lynn; Amanda McDonald Crowley; Karl Telfer; Sarah Thomas; Lynette Wallworth; Angharad Wynne-Jones. Advisors to the working group were Peter Sellars and Ron Radford. Amanda McDonald Crowley Associate Director 2002 Adelaide Festival of Arts 105 Hindley Street Adelaide PO Box 8116 Station Arcade Adelaide SA 5000 Australia Mob: 0419 829 313 Tel: 61 8 8216 4444 Fax: 61 8 8216 4455 www.adelaidefestival.org.au From prosaha at hotmail.com Wed Feb 13 12:57:19 2002 From: prosaha at hotmail.com (Pradip Saha) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:27:19 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Bolivian Water Message-ID: Remember the water riots in Bolivia in 2000, which figured the top most censored story in projectcensored.org list in 2001. The story is not over. Here is a dispatch from The paper. www.thepaper.org.au Bolivia sued for �lost profits� by NIK BEURET In the spring of 2000, thousands of residents of Cochabamba, Bolivia, seized control of the city�s central plaza to protest the privatisation of their water supply and subsequent dramatic increases in their water bills, which by some accounts had doubled or even tripled. The protests triggered clashes across the country over a wide range of other economic problems. In response, the federal government declared a state of emergency and ordered a military crackdown. By the time the tear gas had cleared, six people had been killed and hundreds injured. The target of the Cochabamba uprising was the local water utility, Aguas del Tunari (AdT), which was operated in part by International Water Ltd., an affiliate of San Francisco-based Bechtel Group. In a victory for privatization foes, the protesters succeeded in ousting AdT, rolling back rates, and restoring public control of the water system. Bechtel didn�t leave empty handed though. The utilities computer hard drives were taken, as was the cash left in the company�s accounts, and sensitive personnel files from before their time. They also left behind an unpaid electric bill for $90,000. But the controversy is far from settled. According to Bolivian news reports, Bechtel is threatening to use a 1992 trade agreement between Holland and Bolivia to sue the Bolivian government, seeking at least $25 million in damages and future lost profits. If the company follows through with its threat, a secret tribunal set up by the World Bank will hear the case. Bechtel�s lawyers are claiming as losses the millions of dollars in potential profits they had hoped to make and weren�t allowed to. Government officials, activists, and Cochabamba residents are currently exploring their options with regards to the Bechtel case. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. From announcements-request at sarai.net Wed Feb 13 11:33:28 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:03:28 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #19 - 2 msgs Message-ID: <200202130603.HAA04443@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. SPECIAL LECTURE (The Sarai Programme) 2. PANEL DISCUSSION on CINEMA, CULTURAL POLICY & the STATE (The Sarai Programme) --__--__-- Message: 1 From: The Sarai Programme To: announcements at sarai.net Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 18:25:51 +0530 Organization: Sarai, CSDS Subject: [Announcements] SPECIAL LECTURE The Department of English, University of Delhi, South Campus, invites you to a talk by Prof. Toby Miller on "Cultural Studies: A Critical View" 15th February, Friday, 2:30 pm, Room no. 117, Arts Faculty Building, South Campus (Dhaula Kuan) Toby Miller is Professor, Department of Cinema Studies, New York University. His writings have reflected on cultural policy and the state, the cultures of film, television and sport, as well as the new international cultural division of labour. His books include 'The Well Tempered Self' (1993) and 'Technologies of Truth' (1998). He has also co-authored 'Contemporary Australian Television' (1994) and 'Global Hollywood' (2001). Warm Regards, The Sarai Programme Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054. Tel: 3960040, 3951190 Fax: 3928391, 3943450 www.sarai.net --__--__-- Message: 2 From: The Sarai Programme To: announcements at sarai.net Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 18:37:33 +0530 Organization: Sarai, CSDS Subject: [Announcements] PANEL DISCUSSION on CINEMA, CULTURAL POLICY & the STATE Dear Readers, We are pleased to invite you to a panel discussion on "Cinema, Cultural Policy & the Role of the State" Panel: Prof Toby Miller, Department of Cinema Studies, New York University Anjali Duggal, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of Informattion & Broadcasting Chair: Dr Ravi Vasudevan, Sarai Time: 15th February, Friday, 6:30 pm Venue: India International Centre, Conference Room II Warm Regards, The Sarai Programme Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054. Tel: 3960040, 3951190 Fax: 3928391, 3943450 www.sarai.net --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From patrice at xs4all.nl Wed Feb 13 16:46:09 2002 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:16:09 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Ayse Nur Zarakoglu, Turkish sociologist and publisher, Obit. Message-ID: <20020213121609.A22732@xs4all.nl> Ayse Nur Zarakoglu (1946-2002) Turkish intellectual Ayse Nur Zarakoglu passed away on January 28, 2002, at the Istanbul Capa Medical School Hospital, from cancer. She was 56. Trained as sociologist, Ayse Nur had started the 'Bilge' (Turkish for 'document') Publishing House in 1977. It was well-known in Turkey and abroad for its publications on minorities. Going against the interdicts of the Kemalist republic, Ayse Nur, together with her husband Ragip, bought, with limited means, numerous works to the public regarding the Turkish left and about the plight of the Kurdish and Armenian people. The publication in 1994, of the Turkish translation of Yves Ternon, "The Armenians, Story of a Genocide" (Turkish title: "The Armenian Taboo"), caused Ayse Nur's indictment before the State Security Court, which declared her guilty one year later of "incitation to separatism". She avoided prison in the end, but the book was - and is still - banned, and Bilge's offices were fire-bombed. Ayse and her husband then moved their stock of books in a cellar in Istanbul's old Sultan Ahmet neighbourhood (the backpackers hang-out, tr.) and tranquilly went on with publishing. As founders of the Turkish Human Rights Association, they had seen worse things: between 1982 and 1995, Ayse Nur was indicted thirty times and went to prison in four cases. She spent four month in prison - without any formal charges - in 1982 because of the publication of an academic study on the Turkish left in the early twentieth century. Condemned in 1990 to six month imprisonment for having published a book by the sociologist of Kurdish origin Ismail Besiksi - himself condemned to a hundred years plus for his writings - she decided, just out of prison, to publish nonetheless a further three books by the banned sociologist. There follows a new condemnation in 1993, for the publication of a journalistic enquiry on the excesses committed by the army in Kurdistan under the title "Anatomy of a Crime". Its author, a Turkish journalist, dies in custody. Yet the couple's stuborness in publishing allegedly 'subversive' texts payed of in the end: after endless legal battles, "Genocide", by the American academic Vahak Dadrian, is authorised for publications, while the publishing of a Turkish translation of Franz Werfels' "The Forty Days on the Musa Dagh" - on the Armenian resistance during the 1915 genocide, still officially denied by the Turkish authorities - for once did not cause them any untoward harassment. Being ever often invited for talks in Europe, among other by the 'Center for Research on the Armenian Diaspora" (CRDA) in Paris, an association that endeavours to bring about both the recognition of the genocide and a reconciliation between the Armenian and Turkish peoples, Ayse and Ragip see also a diminution of the number of threats, administrative harassments, arbitrary arrests and incarcerations. In 1998, the International Publishers Association confers to Ayse its Liberty Prize. But it came too late by then. Her last battle was already on, against illness. At the occasion of her burial on January 30 in Istanbul, her life-long struggle for justice was mentioned in passing by the official media, but her funerary cortege, followed by thousands of mourners, was also 'accompanied' by a twenty-some vans of the riot police Obituary by Marie Jego, in Le Monde, February 12, 2002. Q&D translation by yrs truly. From joy at www.sarai.net Wed Feb 13 22:36:52 2002 From: joy at www.sarai.net (joy at www.sarai.net) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 17:06:52 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] free software Message-ID: <200202131707.SAA13515@zelda.intra.waag.org> I would like to know something about free software. Is it possible to produce any free software in manager worker situation? Is it possible to force some one to produce a free software? Is it possible to have director technician type of crdit in free software? Can a free software be produced to fulfill professional ambition of a company? Does free software means only availability of code or it means freedom? Joy From Steef at CwaC.nl Thu Feb 14 04:42:03 2002 From: Steef at CwaC.nl (Steef Heus) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:12:03 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] free software In-Reply-To: <200202131707.SAA13515@zelda.intra.waag.org> Message-ID: Joy, Crucial to give a reaction is what you mean by 'free': 'Free' as in access to the source code: > Is it possible to produce > any free software in manager worker situation? Why not? However, it is depending on the company rules and the contract the worker has with that company. If a company wants to produce free software it is free to do so. And it can instruct/contract its workers accordingly. But an individual worker/contractor will not be allowed to decide on this. So the worker will not be allowed to distribute the source of the software of his employee. Even if he has developed that software himself. He just has to follow the company rules/instructions. Don't forget: the choice wheter or not software is 'free' is a very strategic and crucial decission for a company. > Is it possible to force some > one to produce a free software? anyone has (more or less) the freedom of choice for whom he/she wants to work. As employee or as contractor. There is always a choice. But once you have made that choice you also have chosen for the rules/strategy of the company/principal. And don't forget: in most employee/contrators agreements with companies it is explicitly stated that the things you do/create/develop under that contract are automatically the property of that company. I know several people who have a patent on their name, but the patent itself is owned (and thus commercially used) by the company they work(ed)for. Some lucky ones gat a huge bonus or a very modest royalty. Others had to do it with 'the honor' of having a patent on their name. > Is it possible to have director technician > type of crdit in free software? I think that has been done already > Can a free software be produced to fulfill > professional ambition of a company? Depending on what you define as professional ambition. Bottom line: margin/profit must be made in order to at least cover the company expenses (workers are part of that!). But if the companies business model is not based on protecting a proprietary solution (with updates, new releases, support, etc: all at profitable fees) I don't see any problem at all. Look at the Linux distributions: these companies hardly charge the software they distribute, but base their business on the support they give. > Does free software means only availability of code or it means freedom? well, the availability of the code basically gives you the freedom to make changes in the source. So, that's a sort of freedom. Great for individuals or groups. But for every professional ICT manager that possibilty is a nightmare. That is the main reason many companies wont use free software. Or limited the use of it to 'simple' applications (webservers). For critical applications they still prefer the proprietary stuff: you 'know' what you buy (inluding the bugs), your staff can't play around too much with it, liability of the software is clear, support is given (often at premium prices), so 'you ar not alone'. You have someone to fall back on. or to sew. As a company you can only run critical applications on free software once you have secured that no one will have the possibility to make changes to the source without permission. That means strict procedures, documentation, decission structure, etc. So, in that situation free software will NOT give freedom or a very limited and controlled one at the most. I have seen and audited many large organisations. And I can tell I have never seen one that was so well organised and disciplined to be ready to work with free software for critical applications. Steef From shohini at giasdl01.vsnl.net.in Wed Feb 13 21:40:14 2002 From: shohini at giasdl01.vsnl.net.in (shohini) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 21:40:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] For Spivak Watchers Message-ID: <000101c1b501$f184ede0$c475c8cb@shohini> February 9, 2002, The New York Times Creating a Stir Wherever She Goes By DINITIA SMITH Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak had been invited by a group of scholars on this chilly January evening to give a talk at the Penniman Library of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. "They have read Gayatri's paper," said Ms. Spivak, a professor in the humanities at Columbia University who sometimes refers to herself in the third person. "And they said they couldn't understand it." Ms. Spivak, wearing a sari, with vivid pink highlights in her crewcut hair, looks a little like Grace Jones. She originally wrote the paper, called "Moving Devi," as a catalog essay for a 1999 museum exhibition of representations of Devi, the divine female principle in Hindu mythology. "People had some problem following her argument," Sanjay Krishnan, a professor of English who organized the talk, explained respectfully. Mr. Krishnan is a Spivak admirer. Like the other 17 members of the audience, he was looking forward to the lecture. After all, Ms. Spivak, 59, is a celebrity in academia. (Her résumé of publications, lectures and awards has now reached 41 pages.) She was one of the first translators of Jacques Derrida into English and one of the most famous practitioners of postcolonial studies, devoted to the culture of people of the former colonies. Ms. Spivak began. "What does `Moving Devi' mean?" he asked. "The answer," she said, "is a change in the relation of the subject who is writing from a place where Devi belongs as she slowly moves into the text of the museum. What I'm looking at here is that itinerary, not the nostalgic identatrianism of the metropolitan migrant." As she spoke, Ms. Spivak summoned a dazzling array of references: Marx, Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Rilke, Aristotle, and Hindu and Sufi mysticism. "The Sufi is not invaginated in the polytheistic universe," she said, "but the supernatural is invaginated in the natural." Got all that? Hard going for the layman as well as for some academics. "She certainly enjoys celebrity status in our profession," Michael Rosenthal, a colleague of Ms. Spivak's in Columbia's English department, said in an interview. "But I don't think I am alone sometimes in finding it difficult to understand what exactly she is saying." Indeed, over the years Ms. Spivak has become almost as famous for her dense writing style as for her theories about colonial oppression. "Spivak is so bewilderingly eclectic, so prone to juxtapose diverse notions without synthesis, that ascribing a coherent position to her on any question is extremely difficult," Stephen Howe wrote in The New Statesman and Society, a British weekly. Fred Inglis, a professor at the University of Sheffield in England, derided Ms. Spivak's work in the Times Higher Education Supplement as "preposterous." And the Oxford scholar Terry Eagleton, in a much talked-about essay in The London Review of Books, called Ms. Spivak "pretentiously opaque." He cited "a wretched sentence, like `the in-choate in-fans ab-original para- subject cannot be theorized as functionally completely frozen in a world where teleology is schematized into geo-graphy.' " Still, Mr. Eagleton wrote, Ms. Spivak is "among the most coruscatingly intelligent of all contemporary theorists, whose insights can be idiosyncratic but rarely less than original." "She has probably done more long- term political good, in pioneering feminist and post-colonial studies within global academia than almost any of her theoretical colleagues," he continued." Edward Said, Ms. Spivak's colleague at Columbia, echoed the praise in an interview: "She pioneered the study in literary theory of non-Western women and produced one of the earliest and most coherent accounts of that role available to us." Ms. Spivak, who was born in Calcutta, first made her reputation with her 1976 translation of Mr. Derrida's "Of Grammatology." Then, in 1985, she published her landmark essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?," about the inability of the powerless to express themselves. Subaltern originally meant a junior officer in the British Army, but it has been co- opted by academics studying groups particularly oppressed by colonial powers. Ms. Spivak argued that the experiences of such groups are inevitably distorted by the perspectives of the elite who are describing them - academics, for instance. In this essay Ms. Spivak also extended the meaning of subaltern to apply specifically to women in colonial countries. She examined the suicide of an Indian woman, Bhubaneswari Bhaduri, in 1926. The suicide was originally attributed to Bhaduri's distress over an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Ms. Spivak pointed out that Bhaduri was not, in fact, pregnant. She said Bhaduri killed herself because she could not bear to take part in a political assassination. This woman "was not heard," Ms. Spivak said, because she was defined only within the narrow limits of gender. Such an approach has put Ms. Spivak on one side of a bitter divide. Like many college English departments around the country, Columbia's is split between cultural theorists like Ms. Spivak, who study the political, social and psychological forces that drive culture, and more traditionally minded scholars. And in a place where petty slights can take on gargantuan proportions, it doesn't help that Ms. Spivak, unlike most professors, has her own secretary. "I negotiated this when I came because I had a very busy office," she said. In 1986 she published another important essay in the journal Critical Inquiry. She disagreed with Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar - authors of "The Madwoman in the Attic" (Yale University Press), a feminist analysis of 19th-century women who were authors - who had depicted Bertha, Mr. Rochester's insane wife in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre," as Jane's dark double. "I found it more interesting that she was a Creole from Jamaica," Ms. Spivak recalled. Brontë also used animal imagery to describe Bertha. "They thought it was O.K. to represent her in these animalistic terms," Ms. Spivak said. "It told us about the society when someone could present someone from the colonies as an animal," she observed. "We are also marked by our time as she was by hers." Ms. Spivak comes from the first generation of Indian intellectuals after the country's independence. Her father, Pares Chakravorty, was a doctor. "I am, unfortunately, a Brahmin," Ms. Spivak said, "but from an inferior sect of the Brahmin cast." Her highly intellectual mother, Sivani, did charitable work and is an avid reader of her daughter's work. When she read Ms. Spivak's translation of Mr. Derrida, Ms. Spivak recalled, her mother said it reminded her of Madhyamika Buddhist sacred texts. "Then," Ms. Spivak remembered, "she said, `But dear, how are you going to reconcile your communism with this?' " Despite her sari and her frequent references to Indian culture, Ms. Spivak dislikes being identified as a scholar of India, a label she attributes to "benevolent racism." "I am a Europeanist," she said. She attended a Christian missionary school and the University of Calcutta. Her graduate work was at Cornell, "on borrowed money, before multi-culti," she said, adding, "I was a brilliant student." When she wrote her dissertation on Yeats, her adviser was Paul de Man, who was later found to have written pro-Nazi newspaper articles in wartime Belgium. "I have seen all around me profound contradictions, colleagues who speak about Arabs in an unspeakable way," she said of de Man's anti- Semitism. "Hegel says unspeakable things about Africa, but I can still use Hegel." In 1964 Ms. Spivak married a fellow student, Talbot Spivak. They divorced in 1977. Then, while teaching at the University of Iowa, she began a 10-year relationship - which she calls "a second marriage," although it was not legally binding - with one of her students, who was nine years younger. "People wanted to see if he got an easy Ph.D.," she said. "I was incredibly hard on him." (Today many colleges prohibit professors from dating students.) She has been separated for 10 years from her second husband, Basudev Chatterji, a history professor at Delhi University. She has no children. Ms. Spivak is in demand around the world for talks and lectures, causing a stir wherever she goes. In the United States, she usually wears a sari, sometimes with combat boots; when in India, she often wears jeans, she says. She objects to comments about her exotic appearance. "Since they can't talk about my work," she said, "I say they talk about my style." She admits, though, to sometimes being flattered by the attention. "At a gay costume party in Cairo, someone came dressed as Gayatri; this is an admiring thing," she said. Ms. Spivak also bristles at criticism of her writing. "When academics say I'm difficult to understand, I don't pay attention because I think they are saying, `This does not deserve to be understood,' " she said. "No student ever complained at the end of a course." The scholars at the University of Pennsylvania weren't complaining, either; they were just trying to understand. Aditya Behl, an associate professor in the university's department of religious studies, asked Ms. Spivak about a particular passage: " `If multicultural mulch begins to affect museal practice,' " he read, " `it will have happened in the middle voice, neither active nor passive - an expressive instrument we have lost in modern grammars.' " Mr. Behl said he was "perplexed by this seeming that Devi is rendered inaccessible to the metropolitan migrant." Ms. Spivak told him: "It's not that it can't enter the museum. You have to be able to recognize it without its cultural dress." Of course. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20020213/40034823/attachment.html From announcements-request at sarai.net Thu Feb 14 11:27:15 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 06:57:15 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #20 - 2 msgs Message-ID: <200202140557.GAA02492@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. conVerge: art and science symposium at adelaide festival 2002 (amanda at adelaidefestival.net.au) 2. Academic/Volunteer Program in the Himalayas (Monica Narula) --__--__-- Message: 1 From: amanda at adelaidefestival.net.au To: announcements at sarai.net Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 20:56:24 +0930 Subject: [Announcements] conVerge: art and science symposium at adelaide festival 2002 --0__=jImoegeVAtzQaOpYsqk29vo0rIlx5B0QRUL68Na6xX9NeOiTgaXzyvfI Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline __ \-\ /-/ | | |----| |-\ --| \ \ / / |---| |---\ |----| |---| | |-- | |-|| | \ | | \ \ / / |___ | - | ||--- |___ | |-- | |_|| | | \ | \ \_/ / |---~ |---/ ||__|~ |---~ |____| |____| |_| \_| \ / |___| |_|\_\ |____| |___| \_/ 3/ 4 March, 2002 A Symposium as part of Adelaide Festival 2002 Register online: http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/bookticket.asp?ID=29 ***conVerge*** To coincide with the exhibition 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art - conVerge: where art and science meet - the Adelaide Festival 2002 will convene a two-day symposium exploring relationships between the arts and sciences in the context of sustainable futures. Many artists currently exploring scientific, technological and cultural developments of the 21st Century are engaged in a critical debate. This is a discourse suffused and indeed inspired by complex sociological and political issues and these creative disciplines, areas of cultural practice often understood to be at odds with one another, must engage if we are to understand our future and the roles of creative individuals within it. This symposium has been developed to complement the 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, an exhibition of work by Australian artists exploring these areas of debate to be staged by the Art Gallery of South Australia during the Adelaide Festival 2002. The intention of the symposium is to broaden dialogue, generate ideas and raise awareness of the contributions both artists and scientists can make to the larger challenges of our time. Nationally and internationally significant artists, scientists and thinkers will come together to create an open site for audiences to engage with this debate - to become participants in the development of ideas rather than a merely passive audience. The symposium will encompass presentations, performances, workshops and panel discussions. The project will provide a research environment, as it were, where the public may see, experience and contribute to a range of ideas and media at play. 'Both scientists and artists have a special gift for us, if they can only bring themselves to share it. Both groups live always at the 'edge of mystery'- the boundary of the unknown' Robert Oppenheimer Who should attend? Science communicators Scientists Research and Development practitioners Artists Representatives of local, state and federal governments Politicians and public administrators Academics Community workers Private and public sector What you'll take away from the Symposium? Challenging ideas from different vantage-points, imaginative encounters across disciplinary barriers, interconnecting different disciplines and life-worlds. SUNDAY 3 MARCH **Partnerships** Australian artists engaging with science practices, issues and themes within a variety of environments have created collaborations with individual scientists, science research organisations and industry. In turn, "'big science' is turning to human creativity for help. Major research bodies such as CSIRO and those within corporations such as Xerox are calling in artists to work collaboratively with their scientists in pushing back boundaries of technological development." (Quiddington). What happens at the points of intersection between these two various disciplines? How might this contribute to the development of an expanded and more supple creativity in social development? What are some of the issues inhibiting cross-disciplinary exchange? **Bioeconomics** As we enter the 21st Century, key issues that face our economy that confront economic development are shifting away from those of the late-Industrial Age towards an era in which life-sciences and biotechnology are fashioning a bio-industrial world. Public awareness and broad-ranging debate on the implications of these trends are crucial to any realisation of the promised benefits of biotechnology. **Genomics** Management of genetic information is a key issue currently facing human society. Recombinant genetics is one of the most dramatic technological developments/new phenomena to date in the area of biotechnology. New techniques for identifying and manipulating genes are the first strand in what Jeremy Rifkin describes as 'the new operational matrix of the Biotech Century'. While the motivation behind genetic engineering is age-old, the technology itself represents something qualitatively new. To understand why this is the case, we must appreciate the distinction between traditional tinkering with biological organisms and the mutational potential of current genetic engineering. MONDAY 4 MARCH **Image and Meaning** This session will explore concepts of scientific visualisation and representation, the ever more complex relationships between different semantic systems (collusions and collisions of meaning between images, signs, texts), the use of scientific language, science communication, graphical representation of numerical data inter alia. **Knowledge Systems** Is science universal? Value the contribution of other cultures and philosophical models towards this body of knowledge we call science towards the instrumental ordering of our collective knowledge about the world and nature's functioning. Examine interconnected relationships between people, species, natural systems and culture as a means of understanding our world. Does science define itself or is it socially contingent and culturally embedded. Who own this scientific truth[s]? **Ecology** In order to explore sustainable futures, artists and scientists alike are turning to the environment and the impact that we have had on nature and the world around us. Understanding our dependency upon the world in which is key to how we relate to our environment and how we preserve its diversity. **Plenary session** Speakers So Far International Critical Art Ensemble, a collective of artists of various specialisation dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics and critical theory, USA Adam Zaretsky, artists and professor of Conceptual and Information Arts, San Francisco State University, currently Honorary Researcher in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia. USA Nina Czegledy, independent media artist, curator and writer, who divides her time between Canada and Europe. She is also President of ISEA (International Society for Electronic Arts) (Nina's visit is supported by the Australian Network for Art and Technology) Ren --0__=jImoegeVAtzQaOpYsqk29vo0rIlx5B0QRUL68Na6xX9NeOiTgaXzyvfI Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable =E9 Boutin, visual artist, who has appeared in various international ar= t exhibitions, from the Noum=E9a Biennial to the Asia-Pacific Triennial i= n Queensland, and elsewhere, New Caledonia Rich Gold, artist, composer, inventor, cartoonist, designer, lecturer a= nd engineer. Until recently, primary researcher, Ubiquitous Computing at = Xerox PARC, where he also designed the PARC artist-in-residence program (PAIR). He currently manages 'The RED Shift= ' a design group that uses technology to make stuff for people to enjoy. US= A Jill Scott, media artist , focus-the body and technology. Phd in Philos= ophy (Digital Body Automata), currently Professor for interactive media, Med= ia Faculty, Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany De/Aus Australia Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Grif= fith University, Qld Martin Walch, artist, Tas Catts/ Zurr, Oron Catts - co-founder and manager of SymbioticA -The Art= & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, School of Anatomy & Human Bi= ology, University of Western Australia. Initiated The Tissue Culture & Art Pro= ject in 1996. Ionat Zurr - artist /PhD candidate, SymbioticA and Tissue Culture= & Art Project. artists, WA Dr Richard Stanford, artist, NSW Craig Cormick, Communications and Public Awareness, Biotech Australia (= DISR), ACT David Malin, astronomer, Anglo-Australian Observatory/Adjunct Professor= of Scientific Photography at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT= ), NSW Jason Hampton, Gurindji / Ngalakarn, artist, NT Joyce Hinterding, artist, NSW Fiona Hall, artist, SA John Tonkin, artist, NSW Patricia Piccinini, artist, Vic Michele Barker, artist and lecturer in Digital Media at the College of = Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, NSW Dr Judy Ford, GLOW, Environmental and Genetic Solutions, SA Christine Morris, Kombumerri / Mununjalhai, Adjunct Research Fellow, Gr= iffith University, Qld Justine Cooper, artist, NSW/ New York Kevin O'Loughlin, Narrunga, cultural teacher, SA Jenny Fraser, Bundjalung, artist, curator, filmmaker and educator, Qld Mangkaja Artists, WA Peter Danaja, Burrara, artist/ cultural worker, NT Margaret Sellars, Wik, Munghan/Kanju, artist, Qld Dr Paula Dawson, artist / holographer, NSW. (Paula's presentation is su= pported by the Australian Research Council) Rebecca Cummins, artist, NSW & Seattle Dr Nigel Helyer, artist, NSW Dr Terry Cutler, Director, Cutler & Co, Chair, Australia Council, Vic Sue Rowley, Australian Research Council, Vic for updates check out http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/event.asp?ID=3D29&catid=3D13 or look at http://www.adelaidebiennial.com for full details of the exhi= bition, symposium and archive. Where and When Sunday 3 March 11.00am to 7.30pm Monday 4 March 9.00am to 6.30pm Masonic Hall North Terrace, Adelaide Cost Symposium Registration $200 One Day Registration $120 Festival Friends - Registration $170 Festival Friends - One Day $105 Discounted* Registration $90 Discounted* One Day Registration $60 (*students, unwaged, pensioners-limited seats available) Register online at: http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/bookticket.asp?ID=3D29 This project has been realised in collaboration with the Art Gallery of= South Australia to coincide with the 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art= - conVerge: where art and science meet The project has been assisted by the Commonwealth Government through th= e Australia Council , its arts funding and adviso= ry body' The Biennial web site has been developed with support from Virtual Arti= sts < http://www.va.com.au>. The conVerge archive has been developed in coll= aboration with the Australian Network for Art and Technology . The working group that has developed this project comprises: Linda Coop= er, Project Coordinator; Jenny Fraser; Victoria Lynn; Amanda McDonald Crowl= ey; Karl Telfer; Sarah Thomas; Lynette Wallworth; Angharad Wynne-Jones. Advisors= to the working group were Peter Sellars and Ron Radford. Amanda McDonald Crowley Associate Director 2002 Adelaide Festival of Arts 105 Hindley Street Adelaide PO Box 8116 Station Arcade Adelaide SA 5000 Australia Mob: 0419 829 313 Tel: 61 8 8216 4444 Fax: 61 8 8216 4455 www.adelaidefestival.org.au = --0__=jImoegeVAtzQaOpYsqk29vo0rIlx5B0QRUL68Na6xX9NeOiTgaXzyvfI-- --__--__-- Message: 2 Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 21:17:41 +0530 To: announcements at sarai.net From: Monica Narula Subject: [Announcements] Academic/Volunteer Program in the Himalayas > Bridges to Rolwaling > Academic/Volunteer Program in the Himalayas > Bulletin from Bridges: Projects in Rational Tourism Development > http://www.bridges-prtd.com > > We are now accepting applications for our Spring 2003 program > > Bridges to Rolwaling is an innovative program that combines > research with volunteer development work in a remote community in > north central Nepal, just west of the Everest region. Since 1999, > our international and interdisciplinary teams have collaborated > with the people of Rolwaling in designing and implementing plans > compatible with local needs and opportunities. Our fourth > expedition will run from February 17 through May 31, 2003. > > AGENDA: For two months, March and April 2003, the Bridges team > will be based in Beding (3650 m), an impoverished village of 64 households > in Rolwaling valley. This valley presents an unusual combination > of problems and opportunities linking biodiversity, cultural > preservation, and tourism development. It is well-established that > tea house trekking offers the most beneficial results both for the > hosts and for most guests. Relatively isolated and unimpacted both > culturally and ecologically, Rolwaling has been prevented from > realizing its potential as an ecotourism destination by a regulation > requiring trekkers to acquire expensive trekking peak permits, > which also entailed traveling with fully-equipped caravans. > Recently the regulation has been modified. For three years, > Bridges-PRTD has been collaborating with the local people, gearing > up for the inevitable rush of tourists, and conducting research > that will serve as a > baseline database by means of which to monitor development. > > Among our many projects scheduled for the upcoming expedition is > the installation of a small hydropower plant. We will also be starting > new enterprises, including Summiters, a mountain climbing school > for tourists. Prospective participants are invited to choose among our > projects, or develop new proposals. (See Website for list) > > Feb 17-22 Kathmandu (orientation) > > Feb 23-24 Rafting on Bhote Khosi > > Feb 25-March 1 Hike to Beding > > March 2-April 27 Research and volunteer work Rolwaling Valley; 10 > lectures with assigned readings on topics ranging from "Plate > tectonics and the Origin of the Himalayas" to "Tourism in Nepal: > Prospects for the 21st Century" > > April 28-May 3 Return to Kathmandu; dinner at Yak and Yeti May 4-5 > Flight to Lukla, trek to Namche Bazar > > May 1-May 23 Trek to Everest Base camp, Kala Pattar, Gokyo; > preparation for Namche Conference > > May 24-May 26 Namche Conference: "People, Park, and Mountain Ecotourism" > > May 29-May 31 Culmination of Everest Jubilee Year celebrating the > 50th anniversary of the first ascent by Hillary and Norgay > > REQUIREMENTS: > > Background: Bridges is open to persons aged 18 or over who have > interests and skills compatible with our objectives. Although not > an accredited educational institution, Bridges has helped students > get university credit for their participation in this program. > > Physical Condition: As the program involves a great deal of > trekking under relatively rigorous conditions, applicants should be either > very fit or psychologically prepared to become fit quite suddenly. > > Language: No specific requirements: Nepali, Sherpa, and Tibetan > are all useful, but we will have translators. Our team is international > and our staff is fluent or at least competent in English, Catalan, > Spanish, and French. > > Skills and Interests: For currently scheduled projects, the > following backgrounds would be most useful: > > agronomy > animal husbandry > anthropology > business management > civil engineering > construction > English as a Second Language > dance > ecology, zoology, botany, cryptozoology > ethnobotany > fundraising > heritage interpretation > journalism > linguistics > medicine, first aid, hygiene > musicology > museum curatorship > nutrition and food preparation > outdoor equipment design and manufacture > plumbing > photography > social work > Tibetan Buddhist art (thangka), and restoration > tourism services > waste management > > PARTIAL LIST OF PROJECTS: > > Rolwaling Hydropower Project > > One of our projects this past fall was to initiate a small > hydroelectric plant in Rolwaling. We are working with FEED (P) > Ltd, a Nepali consultancy specializing in hydropower development. > Plans call for the installation of a 3kW Peltric set at a > waterfall on Jomo'i Gol Chhu, a tributary to the Rolwaling River > with its headwaters arising on the south face of Gauri Shankar. > For this project we need volunteers to > > * raise money (about $11,000) (Useful background: fundraising.) > * assist in the installation of the plant and power distribution > apparatus (Useful background: civil and/or electrical engineering.) > * collaborate with the residents in planning for the equitable > and sustainable use of the power (Useful background: social work, > cultural anthropology.) > > Dried Foods > > There is an excellent opportunity for the preparation of dried > potato products for trekkers. Some items, such as finger chips, > could be dehydrated by solar devices; one item that we feel would > be particularly marketable, shakpa or sherpa stew, would require > an assist from an electric food dryer. (This device would have the > added function of contributing a little heat to the household.) An > electric vacuum sealer would be useful, though probably not > essential. (Useful background: food preparation, business management.) > > Trekking equipment manufacture > > Bridges will initiate a small trekking equipment manufacturing > enterprise. Light-weight materials will be imported to Rolwaling, > where they will be sewn and marketed locally as well as supplied > to Rolwaling-based outfitters and trekking agencies. We will start > this enterprise with three mechanical (treadle) sewing machines, > to be replaced later by faster and more efficient electric > machines. In March 2003, we will bring a master tailor from > Kathmandu to train the equipment makers. In addition, to support > the trekking equipment manufacture, we will need to install a > computer so that orders and design modifications can be e-mailed > from Kathmandu; this equipment can be used to begin computer > training in Beding. Internet connection will be available, as a > telephone is to be installed at the Hydrology and Meteorology > Department office; we will provide two or three laptop computers > to initiate instruction. (Useful background: trekking equipment > design, business management.) > > Education > > Lights and space-heaters will permit the operation of Beding's > schoolhouse during all or part of the fall and winter; the light > will also permit home study during the long evenings. The > importance of general education in raising economic opportunities > cannot be overstated. Furthermore, if this enhancement of the > school leads to further improvements, it could result in less > reliance on boarding schools outside of Rolwaling Valley. (Useful > background: education, electrical engineering, carpentry.) > > Waste Disposal > > In 2002 we helped locate and publicize the first official garbage > dump at Beding. It is by no means adequate. Also, there are NO > decent outhouses in Rolwaling. We need to develop a larger > facility, and organize a clean-up. (Useful background: waste > management, carpentry.) > > Water distribution > > The current hoses are not adequate. Beding needs real taps, and > facilities for showering and washing clothes. (Useful background: > civil engineering, plumbing.) > > Shower Facility > > Design and install a solar-powered shower facility for the Beding > community. (Useful background: solar energy, carpentry.) > > Lodge and Restaurant Development > > Last year we assisted in the opening of the first four lodges at > Beding. These are relatively primitive enterprises, and could > benefit from assistance in interior design (Useful background: > familiarity with a broad range of trekking accommodations; carpentry.) > > Menu diversification. There is little to eat in Rolwaling other > than potatoes, and the villagers know very few ways of preparing > them. (By far the most common meal is boiled potatoes with salt > and chili pepper.) We should write up a cookbook based on > available foodstuffs so that both locals and tourists can get some > more variety.our first step should be to introduce new vegetarian > recipes featuring potatoes and wheat flour. (Useful background: > cooking skills, nutrition.) > > English and tourism services instruction. As they convert their > homes into lodges, Beding entrepreneurs need skills to deal with > their guests. We would like to design a crash course > English-for-lodge-owners syllabus. (Useful background: ESL, > tourism development, hotel management) > > Study of Rolwaling dialect > > The Sherpas speak a dialect of Tibetan. This dialect varies from > region to region, and we urgently need someone to study the > language spoken in Rolwaling before it disappears. (Useful > background: linguistics, Sherpa, Tibetan.) > > Study and recording of Rolwaling songs and dances > > All successful Sherpa parties and festivals end up with dancing > and singing late into the night. Visitors are always welcomed > enthusiastically and vigorously encouraged to participate. Both > song and dance are, however, deceptively complex: the > choreographic and compositional structures are simple, but the > elaboration is quite complex and quite beautiful. We would like to > study these from two points of view: academic and entrepreneurial. > It is important to record and study these traditions before they > are completely overwhelmed by mainstream Nepali culture. Also, we > would like to be able to offer instruction to tourists, so that > they can participate in local festivities without feeling like > bufoons, and also to reinforce local pride in the indigenous > culture. (Useful background: ethnomusicology, music, dance.) > > Museum and Visitors' Center Proposal > > Ecologically and culturally, Rolwaling is quite interesting. As an > east-west valley in the Himalayas of Nepal, Rolwaling has an > ecosystem quite distinct from that of other valleys, almost all of > which run north-south. According to Tibetan Buddhism, Rolwaling a > beyul, or sacred valley, established by Guru Rinpoche for the > preservation of dharma during times of oppression. In fact, > Rolwaling is probably the most conservative Sherpa community > today. Rolwaling is also the "Cradle of Heroes," home to 28 > Everest summiters. Per capita, Rolwaling has far more world class > mountaineers than any other place in the world. A visitors' center > would serve several purposes: > > * inform tourists about the natural and cultural assets of Rolwaling > * advise tourists as to how to safeguard those assets > * foment research > * promote pride among residents, and encourage local > collaboration in conservation efforts > > At this point, we need one or more volunteers to draw up a > proposal for the visitors' center, and begin collections of > photos, botanical specimens, cultural artifacts, literature, and > recordings. (Useful background: museum curator, anthropology, ecology.) > > Medical aid > > Last year we established a small medical dispensary and ran a > couple of workshops on first aid, hygiene, and core > pharmaceuticals. In 2003 we would like to run a temporary clinic > and continue the workshops, as well as undertake some baseline > studies. (Useful background: medical or first aid training.) > > Herbal medicine > > We need to continue earlier work in identifying traditional > medicines; we also want to see if we can start cultivating and > harvesting some of these for local use and for sale to tourists. > (Useful background: ethnobotany, greenhouse agriculture, hydroponics.) > > Yak (okay, nak!) butter > > We have identified a viable market for yak butter, but not enough > is currently produced. We need to work out the carrying capacity > for naks and find a way to increase production. (Useful > background: agronomy, animal husbandry.) > > Gompa restoration > > Beding gompa has beautiful thanka murals by Kappa Kalden (the one > great Sherpa painter); these are in dire need of rescue by a > specialist! (Useful background: thanka art, restoration.) > > Ecological Survey > > Rolwaling is home to various charismatic mammals, including the > snow leopard. There are numerous and persistent reports of yetis. > Transient visitors include langur and jackal. There are numerous > rare herbs and a good likelihood of unidentified species. To date, > no systematic study of the Rolwaling flora and fauna has been > undertaken. This is an urgent priority, especially since we need > baseline data in order to monitor the impact of development, and > in order to design specific conservation efforts. It is also > important as a basis for tourism promotion. (Useful background: > ecology, heritage interpretation.) > > Publications and promotion > > Bridges is collaborating with anthropologist Janice Sacherer > Turner, author of the seminal study The Sherpas of Rolwaling > (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Paris, 1977) to produce an updated > monograph on Rolwaling, as well as a CD-ROM, and a pictorial > volume. We need collaborators for these projects now, as well as > people to work on subsequent editions. We need postcards, > t-shirts, brochures, press releases. (Useful background: > photography, heritage interpretation, anthropology, ecology.) > > COSTS: > > Altogether, the 15-week program will cost about $3500 plus travel. > The program fee is $2500, which is discounted $200 if full payment is > received on schedule. This fee covers the following items: > > * 2-day rafting expedition on the Bhote Khosi (whitewater grade 4-5) > * room and board during fieldwork in Rolwaling (March 2-April 28) > * bus to and from the trailhead in Dolakha > * registration for the Namche Conference (May 24-26). > > The fee does not cover: > > * room and board in Kathmandu, Khumbu, or on the trail > * Kathmandu-Lukla-Kathmandu flight > * travel to and from Nepal > * insurance > * hiking gear > > A waiver of the administrative component of program fees ($1800) > is offered to participants from Himalayan countries: Nepal, India, > Bhutan, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. > > Contact: info at bridges-prtd.com > > Note: In order to keep costs to a minimum and also to allow for > frequent updates, Bridges does not publish a hardcopy prospectus > or catalog. Instead, please see our Web site at http://www.bridges-prtd.com > > Application forms can be submitted by email from the linked pages, > or printed and sent by regular mail. Be sure to check the update > page for program modifications and additional infomation. > Latest update: Feb. 1, 2002. > > > > ------------- > FOOTER NOTICE > The APMN is set to 'lead' e-consultations on two of the 10 Bishkek Global Mountain Summit (BGMS) Papers on the dates given below. i) Paper B3: 'Tourism and the Conservation and Maintenance of Biological and Cultural Diversity.' Authors: Wendy Brewer Lama, Nikhat Sattar. (From 18 Feb -1 Mar 2002.) ii) Paper D1: "Mountain Infrastructure: Access, Communications, Energy." Author: Thomas Kohler. (From 4 -15 March 2002.) E-consultations will take place on the Mountain Forum - Asia e-discussion > listserve . For details, write to > > MF is also seeking regional (the Asia Pacific Perspective) case studies, including best practices, as well as comments on issues raised in the paper 'Conflict and Peace in Mountain Societies' posted at > Please send your input to . Thank you! -- Monica Narula Sarai:The New Media Initiative 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054 www.sarai.net --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From patrice at xs4all.nl Thu Feb 14 19:04:26 2002 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 14:34:26 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Free.the.Media autonomous network & cultural think tank (fwdfyi) Message-ID: <20020214143426.E8330@xs4all.nl> Check out this initiative & consider joining! ----- Forwarded message from members at freethemedia.org ----- Subject: Join FREE.THE.MEDIA! and support the Free Media Foundation! Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 21:14:57 -0400 Join FREE.THE.MEDIA! and support the Free Media Foundation! http://FreeTheMedia.org Dear Reader of the Sarai-Reader-List, We need your support to keep our space in Manhattan and to continue to present excellent events and workshops! Become a part of Free.The.Media! a member supported autonomous network and cultural think tank and help reclaim public space on the net and preserve free speech, privacy and access for all. Work toward building autonomous virtual communities and enfranchising members in a mutually supported public network. Participate in creative web projects and campaigns for free speech and civil society in and out of cyberspace. Interact with a rich talent pool of artists, journalists, activists, technologists and excellent humans on a regular basis in a creative, online media environment. Learn the politics and economics of media and networks and play a role in shaping the democratic process in cyberspace and beyond. Build a network, create sustainable, autonomous spaces to meet, work, discuss, present, party and move toward building a better world. Attend events and participate in workshops to share knowledge and experience in the fields of art, media, technology and activism. like this one http://freethemedia.org/events that we had on Saturday, 02.02.02 View the netcast archive: http://freethemedia.org/netcast Join today! http://Join.FreeTheMedia.org Come by and visit us this week Tuesday through Friday from 7 PM to 10 PM: Name.Space Lab 11 East 4th Street 2F New York, NY 10003 ring bell #2 By appointment only! Please RSVP first with the day, time, names of guests, by sending email to: events at freethemedia.org ----- End forwarded message ----- From shuddha at sarai.net Fri Feb 15 00:18:46 2002 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:18:46 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Ayse Nur Zarakoglu, Arundhati Roy and Free Speech in Turkey and India Message-ID: <02021500184605.06949@sweety.sarai.kit> This is a follow up of sorts to Patrice Riemens' earlier posting on Ayse Nur Zarakoglu. The harrassement that Zarakoglu faced in her lifetime for speaking the truth about power in Turkey, might soon become a commonplace in India. Turkey and India are parallel lines gradually coming towards intersection in the non eucledian geometry of the violations of the right to free speech. I am going to refer here to the case of contempt of court that is being brought against Arundhati Roy. Reading the circumstances of this case, makes one think that what has come to pass in Turkey will soon be everyday reality in India. And, that business might carry on as usual. The Republic of India, like the Turkish Republic has a distinguished record in the matter of maintaining effective smokescreens on the systematic constraints on what might be considered to be free speech. India, we have been told ad nauseam is the world's largest 'Democracy'. Turkey is a member of NATO, the military arm of western democracies and treats its Kurdish minorities with the same exemplary dignity as the people of Kashmir are treated by the civil and military authorities of the Indian Republic. Apparently, there is dignity in death, torture, harrassment, searches and the absence of effective civic rights. And of course, both Turkey and India have been shining exemplars of modern, secular state formation. The constitution of the Republic of India is fairly explicit in the matter in which it qualifies the right to free speech with reference to any threat to public order and national security. Of course, in the discourse of citizens of nation states, there is little that remains outside the frame of public order and national states. So we have the free speech that can be excercised effectively in silence. This befits, I suppose, our contemplative heritage. The Delhi Sultanate was once a Turkish Kingdom gone east. Perhaps Ankara is a slightly askew Delhi straddling the Bosphorus, caught in a tragic quest for the meaning of the the word 'Hurriyet' which means the same thing in Turkish and Hindustani - freedom. The reason I am saying all this is because, in a few weeks time, Arundhati Roy, a writer who lives in Delhi, and who has publicly spoken in favour of the rights of the to-be-displaced people of the Narmada Valley in central and western India, and against the Indian goverenment's programme of nuclear miltary capability, faces the likelihood of a prison sentance on the grounds of contempt of the Supreme Court. In a deposition in response to a flimsy complaint by a group of advocates in Delhi, who had petitioned the Supreme Court of India that Arundhati Roy had spoken in a manner that insulted the court (and had tried to murder them) Ms. Roy had pointed out the disturbing trend of the court accepting what were patently flimsy and technically flawed petitions, even as it refused to look into fairly serious matters, like bribery in defence deals, or refused to entertain charges of contempt against politically influential persons. This, by implication, constituted a manifest bias in favour of the establishment and the powerful. The court has taken offence to this imputation of motives, which effectively states that the court far from being a fountainhead of natural justice is riddled by class bias and political interest. All institutions of governance seek to derive their naturalness from an illusion of being entities that exist in a state of nature, as if they were not shaped by the class interests and political agencies of existing social formations. When anyone draws connections between juristic utterances and practices in the manner that Roy has done, runs the risk of pointing out that institutions of governance like the Supreme Court are also organs of class rule. Hence the necessity to ensure that free speech is not considered a justiciable right in the circumstances of what is being called "contempt of court" Those of us who believe in the inalienable primacy of free speech as a norm governing human transactions, are called upon to make a choice, we are either with the judges and their majesty, or with the writer who calls their bluff.l In two postings that follow, I will be forwarding two documents that have a bearing on this case - a statement by the Advocate Prashant Bhushan on the legal significance of Arundhati Roy's possible indictment, and a second statement by Anurag Singh, Himanshu Thakkar, Jharana Jhaveri, Prashant Bhushan and Sanjay Kak. Clearly, these are testing times for the freedom of speech. Shuddha From shuddha at sarai.net Fri Feb 15 00:23:56 2002 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:23:56 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Arundhati Roy and the Threat to Free Speech in India today Message-ID: <02021500235606.06949@sweety.sarai.kit> Dear Readers, This is a posting forwarded to inform all of us on the threats to free speech in India that is embodied in the charges brought against Arundhati Roy (Author of the 'God of Small Things', 'The Greater Common Good' and the 'End of Imagination' ) in the Supreme Court of India The recepients can: * Disseminate the information widely. If they can write in media, that would be great. They can write articles, letter to editors, email messages, so on. * They can initiate discussions on related issues among their groups and through the internet. * They can join the dignified demonstration planned on March 6 to say that the demostrators would like to join Arundhati Roy in saying what she has said in her affidavits, particularly the paragraphs the Supreme Court has objected to. They can come just outside Indian Law Institute on Bhagwan Das Road outside the Supreme Court at 1030 am on March 6. ______________________________________________________________ On March 6th 2002 Arundhati Roy & Criminal Contempt of the Supreme Court of India On 15th January 2002, Justice G.B. Pattanaik and Justice R.P. Sethi of the Supreme Court of India heard arguments in the contempt case against writer Arundhati Roy. As on every previous occasion when this particular case has come up for hearing, no visitors or journalists (other than officially accredited Court Correspondents) were allowed entry into the court. The Registrar said that he had ‘orders from above’ in this case not to allow entry to anyone. The issue was raised with the Bench, but they did not think it necessary to take any steps to rectify this serious breach of the fundamental principle of open courtrooms and public justice, and the case proceeded to the exclusion of any independent observers or journalists. After a day long hearing, the court reserved judgement till 6th March 2002, and asked Roy to be present in Court on that day. The maximum sentence for criminal contempt of court is six months imprisonment. Since the hearings have been held virtually in-camera, comment and public opinion in the matter has been largely uninformed. This is an attempt to summarise and clarify the significant issues in the case. A distinction needs to be made first about two separate and quite distinct contempt charges that are being referred to with regard to Arundhati Roy. The first case for criminal contempt emerged out of the following events: On 18th October 2000 the Supreme Court delivered its final judgement in the Sardar Sarovar case, allowing construction to resume on the controversial dam on the Narmada River. The judgement itself created considerable controversy. Amongst its most vocal critics were Medha Patkar, leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), Prashant Bhushan, Counsel for the NBA, and the writer Arundhati Roy. On 13th December 2000 a few hundred people from the Narmada Valley staged a day long dharna (demonstration) outside the gates of the Supreme Court of India against the judgement in the Sardar Sarovar case. The dharna took place in the presence of several senior police officials, hundreds of police constables, press and media, and local supporters of the NBA. At dusk the demonstrators were peaceably arrested and removed by the Police. On 14th December 2000 five lawyers (led Jagdish Parashar & R.K.Virmani) attempted to file a First Information Report at the Tilak Marg Police Station alleging that Patkar, Roy, and Bhushan had led a demonstration outside the Supreme Court, shouted filthy slogans against the court, and had physically assaulted the petitioner lawyers and threatened to kill them. The police station did not see fit to register the case. In January 2001 the same lawyers filed a petition in the Supreme Court for criminal contempt of court against Patkar, Roy, and Bhushan. Their petition was entertained, and the Court issued notice to all three, asking them to personally appear before it. Patkar, Roy, and Bhushan responded with individual affidavits denying the charges, and saying that the accusations were so ludicrous that even the local police station had not entertained them. They also pointed out the fact that the petition did not meet any of the conditions required by the Contempt of Courts Act. (It was not supported by a proper affidavit, it was not signed by the Petitioners, it did not contain the addresses of the Petitioners or the respondents, and most crucially, did not have the consent of the Attorney General or the Solicitor General.) The judgement in this first case was delivered on 28th August 2001 by Justice G B Pattanaik & Justice Ruma Pal, who dismissed the contempt petition filed by Parashar et al., against Patkar, Roy, and Bhushan. They held that the petition was grossly defective and unsubstantiated and should have not even been accepted by the Registry of the Court. The Court observed that “almost every one of the Rules framed by the Court” had been violated and that the petition was “shabbily drafted, procedurally grossly defective.” The court also observed that “apart from the defective nature of the petition, the unexplained reluctance on the part of the four petitioners to affirm an affidavit verifying the facts contained in the petition, the failure to even attempt to obtain the consent of the Solicitor General and most importantly, the refusal of the police station to record an FIR on the basis of the complaint lodged by the petitioner No. 1 are telling circumstances against the case in the petition.” The Court went on to say that the Registry ought not to have cleared the petition, and “Had our attention been drawn to the procedural defects, we would have had no hesitation in rejecting the application in limini on this ground alone”. Extraordinarily enough, the matter did not end here. While accepting that the case filed by the 5 lawyers ought never to have been entertained, Justice G B Pattanaik and Justice Ruma Pal went on to say that Arundhati Roy’s affidavit-in-reply contained at least three paragraphs that were prima facie contemptuous. These were: “On the grounds that judges of the Supreme Court were too busy, the Chief Justice of India refused to allow a sitting judge to head the judicial enquiry into the Tehelka scandal, though it involves matters of national security and corruption in the highest places. Yet when it comes to an absurd, despicable, entirely unsubstantiated petititon in which all the three respondents happen to be people, who have publicly – though in markedly different ways – questioned the policies of the government and severely criticized a recent judgement of the Supreme Court, the Court displays a disturbing willingness to issue notice. It indicates a disquieting inclination on the part of the Court to silence criticism and muzzle dissent, to harass and intimidate those who disagree with it. By entertaining a petition based on an FIR that even a local police station does not see fit to act upon, the Supreme Court is doing its own reputation and credibility considerable harm.” The Court held that in these three paragraphs “She has imputed motives to specific courts for entertaining litigation or passing orders against her. She has accused Courts of `harassing’ her (of which the present proceeding has been cited as an instance) as if the judiciary were carrying out a personal vendetta against her. She has brought in matters which were not only not pertinent to the issues to be decided but has drawn uninformed comparisons to make statements about the court which do not appear to be protected by the law relating to fair criticism”. On 5th September 2001 a fresh contempt notice was issued to Arundhati Roy. In her reply to this notice, Roy pointed out the circumstances in which she said what she did in her affidavit. She pointed out that the absurd and grossly defective nature of the first contempt petition against her had been acknowledged by the Court itself. For a common citizen like her there is no distinction between the court and its registry. She found it very strange that though the judges of the Supreme Court were obviously very busy, they still found time to entertain such a petition. She goes on to say that, in the circumstances, “it seemed perfectly appropriate to air my view that in this particular instance, the court, by allowing certain citizens to grossly abuse its process in this way, creates a disturbing impression that there is an inclination on the part of the Court to silence criticism and muzzle dissent. This does not, and was not meant to impute motives to any particular judges. It does not, nor was not meant to undermine the dignity of the court. I was simply stating an honest impression that had formed in my mind.” She said that her impression would have been corrected if the Court had done any or all of the following things: “a) Dismissed the petition without issuing notice. b) Ordered an inquiry into the functioning of the Registry to establish how such a ‘procedural lapse’ could have taken place. c) Taken action against the Petitioners for filing a false case and deliberately attempting to mislead the Court.” Instead, she points out, no members of the public were allowed to enter the court in every hearing of the petition. Moreover, the Court took no action against the petitioner, R.K. Virmani, who stood up and shouted without any justification that he had lost confidence in the judges hearing the matter and that it should be transferred to another bench. She drew attention to the contempt of court case against the former Law Minister Shiv Shankar who had, in a public speech, accused judges of having an “unconcealed sympathy for the haves” and who went on to say that “Anti social elements ie. FERA violators, bride burners and whole hordes or reactionaries have found their haven in the Supreme Court” He was however not held guilty of contempt and the Supreme Court held that though unfortunate, these were his views and he was entitled to air them. Roy concluded by saying: “Whimsical interpretations of the same law leave citizens at the mercy of individual judges. If the 3 paragraphs of my affidavit dated 16/4/01 are deemed to be a criminal offence, it will have the chilling effect of gagging the Press and preventing it from reporting on and analyzing matters that vitally concern the lives of millions of Indian citizens. This will be an unfortunate blow to one of the most responsible, robust institutions of Indian democracy. The prospect of having to undergo a lengthy and exorbitant process of litigation, and the threat of an eventual prison sentence, will effectively restrain the press from writing about or analyzing the actions of the judiciary. It will render the judiciary accountable to no one but itself. As I have stated in my affidavit dated 16/4/01, if the judiciary removes itself from public scrutiny and accountability, and severs its links with the society that it was set up to serve in the first place, it will mean that another pillar of Indian democracy will eventually crumble”. On 15th January, 2002 the second Contempt petition came up for final hearing before a bench of Justice Pattanaik and Justice Sethi. Appearing for Roy, Mr. Shanti Bhushan moved an application on her behalf asking Justice Pattanaik to recuse himself from the proceedings and transfer this case to some other court, on the ground that since the allegation against Roy was that she had attributed motives to him (he being the judge who had issued notice in the first contempt petition), she had a reasonable apprehension of bias on his part. Her application said that in hearing and deciding this contempt petition, Justice Pattanaik would be sitting as a judge in his own cause.The Court however did not take kindly to this application. Justice Pattanaik said that this should have been raised earlier, and remarked that raising this objection was malafide. Mr. Shanti Bhushan argued that Freedom of Speech was paramount under the Indian Constitution and could only be subjected to ‘reasonable’ restrictions for contempt of Court. It was universally accepted that the Courts and their judgements could be criticised in the most trenchant terms. Moreover what Roy had said was in reply to a court notice (unlike Shiv Shankar who gave a public speech). Voicing one’s perception in an affidavit in Court surely cannot be said to be contempt he submitted. Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed, who appeared as amicus (friend of the Court) submitted that the Freedom of Speech was subject to the law of contempt. He said that Roy’s affidavit contained a blatant imputation of a motive on the court and was therefore destructive of the independence of the judiciary. He said that in the past people who had "erred" had tendered unconditional apologies which the court had accepted magnanimously. However, Roy he said, had been defiant, her current affidavit did not contain a hint of apology or remorse, and she had instead delivered a gratuitous lecture to the court. He argued that even after the Shiv Shankar case there had been many instances in which the Court had sentenced persons for imputing motives or otherwise scandalising the court. Once again, a distressing sidelight of the proceedings was the gross and obnoxious behaviour in Court of R.K.Virmani, one of the lawyers who had filed the original contempt petition. He began by shouting in Court, insisting that he be allowed to intervene in these proceedings. Later he sat in the second row of the court and continued to pass loud and lewd comments about Shanti Bhushan, Altaf Ahmed and Roy. All this was being done very much within the hearing and notice of the court. However again no action was taken against him. This case and the manner in which it has been conducted raises a number of important issues: 1)Are Indian citizens barred from commenting adversely on the court and expressing their perceptions of the motivation of the court even if such comments are bonafide or justified? How can such a situation be countenanced in a democracy where the right of free speech is a fundamental right and every institution is subject to public scrutiny and criticism? 2)Is the judiciary completely unaccountable? Can it arbitrarily declare all criticism of it to be contempt of court, and then punish the critics by sitting as judges in their own cause? 3)Can the Court bar the press and members of the public from the hearing of a particular case without assigning good reason? 4) On March 6th 2002 in the Supreme Court of India, Contempt Petition (CRL) No. 10 of 2001, a verdict will be delivered by a Judge sitting in his own cause, after a series of hearings sealed from public scrutiny. On display will be one of the ways in which the world’s largest democracy humiliates its critics. Anurag Singh Himanshu Thakkar Jharana Jhaveri Prashant Bhushan Sanjay Kak For more information and copies of the court documents contact janmadhyam at vsnl.com From shuddha at sarai.net Fri Feb 15 00:24:34 2002 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:24:34 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Prashant Bhushan on COURTS, CONTEMPT & A CLIMATE THAT DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY Message-ID: <02021500243407.06949@sweety.sarai.kit> Further on Arundhati Roy and the case against her in the Supreme Court of India Shuddha ________________________________________________________________________ COURTS, CONTEMPT & A CLIMATE THAT DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY By Prashant Bhushan In the Constitution of India the Supreme Court and the High Courts were seen as watchdog bodies, independent of the executive, and entrusted with the task of seeing that all institutions function in accordance with the Constitution, and the Rule of Law. They were assigned with powers not only to declare and set aside Executive acts of Government, but also to strike down (even declare unconstitutional) laws made by Parliament and the State Legislatures. Over the years, the judiciary has expanded its own powers by creative interpretations of the Constitution, particularly Article 21 which guarantees the right to life. This has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to include the right to a healthy environment, to health, primary education, livelihood and shelter. Thus the Supreme Court has ordered the removal of ‘polluting’ industries from Delhi, the total removal of industries from the vicinity of the Taj Mahal in Agra, the change of all commercial vehicles to CNG fuel, and the stoppage of all commercial activities in forest areas. All of these orders have had far reaching effects, and have drastically affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of common persons. In recent years, and especially after the implementation of the Structural Adjustment programme (the so called Economic Reforms programme), the jurisdiction of the Superior Courts has also been invoked to challenge the Constitutional validity of some elements of this programme. This includes - the Enron Case, which challenged the manner in which a privatized contract was awarded the Telecom case, which challenged the manner in which privatized telecom contracts were awarded the Balco case, which challenged the manner in which a government company was disinvested the Panna Mukta oilfields case, which challenged the manner of selling and privatizing oilfields owned by the Public sector It is another matter that in none of these cases did the court interfere in the governments decisions. Indeed, in some of these cases, such as the Balco and the Telecom cases, the courts decisions were in fact used by the executive to legitimize and promote its policies and programmes, already under attack by various public campaigns and mass movements. Indeed the courts have often been seen to go beyond the issue brought before it, and have used the occasion to put their seal of approval on the programmes and policies of the government. This is what happened in the Balco disinvestment case where the Court went on to approve and applaud the entire disinvestment policy of the government, and in the Sardar Sarovar Case where the court went on to extol the virtues of large dams, even in the absence of this issue being before it. Constitutionally endowed with enormous powers, the clout of the Indian Courts, has increased even further – they are in fact widely regarded as the most powerful courts in the world. Despite this, the Courts in India are virtually unaccountable. In assuring their independence from the executive, impeachment was made the only method of accountability for judges in the Constitution. This has proved to be illusory as was demonstrated so starkly in the V. Ramaswami case. At the same time, the Courts and judges have been reluctant to evolve even an in-house system of self-monitored accountability. The result is a situation where they have enormous power without any accountability – a situation tailor-made for breeding sloth, arrogance and abuse of power. It is against this background that one has to examine the right - indeed the need - for free discussion and criticism of the role being played by the courts in this country. In a democracy like ours where every institution is exercising power on behalf of the people, are the people not entitled to scrutinize, discuss and comment upon the actions of the judiciary? Obviously every institution, including the judiciary can go wrong. Every institution, including the judiciary has its share of black sheep and corrupt judges. Even the Chief Justice of India said so recently in Kerala. The judiciary is peopled by judges who are human, and being human, they are occasionally motivated by considerations other than an objective view of law and justice. It would be foolhardy to contend that none of them, at least some times, are motivated by considerations of their own personal ideology, affiliations, predilections, biases, and indeed even by nepotistic and corrupt considerations. In this day and age of common and frequent social interaction between politicians and judges, instances of judges being ‘spoken to’ on matters pending before them in court are also not unheard of. In stifling all criticism by the threatened exercise of the power of contempt, the issue in a democratic society is ultimately one of the accountability of the judiciary itself. In order to stifle free speech and comments on the Courts, even an occasional exercise of this power is enough to deter most persons from saying anything that might annoy their Lordships. Perhaps the most important reason for lack of reforms in the judiciary is the reluctance of the Press to write about and discuss the state of affairs within it for fear of contempt. It is for this reason that Arundhati Roy’s case is a test case in which the right of a citizen to criticize the Courts and discuss its motivations is pitted against the power of the Courts to punish for contempt. The decision in this case and the response of the people and the press to the decision will be a decisive moment in this struggle. From Wapke at euronet.nl Fri Feb 15 05:07:49 2002 From: Wapke at euronet.nl (Wapke Feenstra) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:37:49 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] WSSOHWTE? All on the net Message-ID: <008601c1b5b0$9d58d240$9600000a@wapke> Announcement of new online art project: www.wssohwte.net www.wssohwte.net is the WWWshow of "Who Says Seeing Only Happens With The Eyes?" www.wssohwte.net is an online art catalogue and interactive site. It shows works of art by Anne Lise Stenseth, Toril Rygh (Norway), Martin Walde (Austria), Paul Devens, Wapke Feenstra and Zeger Reyers (the Netherlands); and essays about artistic space by Maaike Engelen, Sandra Fauconnier, Domeniek Ruyters, Renée van de Vall, Kristine Kolrud, Trond K.O. Kristoffersen and Tor Andreas Gitlesen. With www.wssohwte.net the Web is utilized to explore and show the area between an exhibition catalogue and the interactive possibilities of the Internet. Experiences and recordings of visits to the 'wssohwte?' exhibitions at TENT. in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (August 16. through September 17. 2001), and at Galleri F15 in Moss, Norway (November 24. 2001 through January 13. 2002) have been turned into a website, which fits in with other sites representing art, but also tries to be innovative in its offering of Internet experiences that are not solely of a representational nature. In several essays specifically written for this site the artistic spaces taken up and evoked by 'wssohwte?' are being addressed, e.g.: the 'white cube' , the mental space of the exhibition and the artistic space of the Internet. www.wssohwte.net is created by graphic designer Ariënne Boelens (Rotterdam, the Netherlands), by translating information into communication. For the development of this site she received a designer-project grant from the BKVB Fund in Amsterdam. For questions and remarks contact wapke at wssohwte.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20020215/dc879808/attachment.html From joy at www.sarai.net Fri Feb 15 23:27:54 2002 From: joy at www.sarai.net (joy at www.sarai.net) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 17:57:54 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] free software In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <200202151758.SAA25864@zelda.intra.waag.org> Thanks Steef ofr the clarification. I was just curious about it. Best Joy Steef Heus said: > Joy, > > Crucial to give a reaction is what you mean by 'free': > 'Free' as in access to the source code: > > > Is it possible to produce > > any free software in manager worker situation? > > Why not? However, it is depending on the company rules and the contract the > worker has with that company. If a company wants to produce free software it > is free to do so. And it can instruct/contract its workers accordingly. > But an individual worker/contractor will not be allowed to decide on this. > So the worker will not be allowed to distribute the source of the software > of his employee. Even if he has developed that software himself. He just has > to follow the company rules/instructions. > Don't forget: the choice wheter or not software is 'free' is a very > strategic and crucial decission for a company. > > > Is it possible to force some > > one to produce a free software? > anyone has (more or less) the freedom of choice for whom he/she wants to > work. As employee or as contractor. There is always a choice. But once you > have made that choice you also have chosen for the rules/strategy of the > company/principal. > And don't forget: in most employee/contrators agreements with companies it > is explicitly stated that the things you do/create/develop under that > contract are automatically the property of that company. > I know several people who have a patent on their name, but the patent itself > is owned (and thus commercially used) by the company they work(ed)for. Some > lucky ones gat a huge bonus or a very modest royalty. Others had to do it > with 'the honor' of having a patent on their name. > > > Is it possible to have director technician > > type of crdit in free software? > I think that has been done already > > > Can a free software be produced to fulfill > > professional ambition of a company? > Depending on what you define as professional ambition. Bottom line: > margin/profit must be made in order to at least cover the company expenses > (workers are part of that!). But if the companies business model is not > based on protecting a proprietary solution (with updates, new releases, > support, etc: all at profitable fees) I don't see any problem at all. Look > at the Linux distributions: these companies hardly charge the software they > distribute, but base their business on the support they give. > > > Does free software means only availability of code or it means freedom? > well, the availability of the code basically gives you the freedom to make > changes in the source. So, that's a sort of freedom. Great for individuals > or groups. > But for every professional ICT manager that possibilty is a nightmare. That > is the main reason many companies wont use free software. Or limited the use > of it to 'simple' applications (webservers). For critical applications they > still prefer the proprietary stuff: you 'know' what you buy (inluding the > bugs), your staff can't play around too much with it, liability of the > software is clear, support is given (often at premium prices), so 'you ar > not alone'. You have someone to fall back on. or to sew. > > As a company you can only run critical applications on free software once > you have secured that no one will have the possibility to make changes to > the source without permission. That means strict procedures, documentation, > decission structure, etc. So, in that situation free software will NOT give > freedom or a very limited and controlled one at the most. > > I have seen and audited many large organisations. And I can tell I have > never seen one that was so well organised and disciplined to be ready to > work with free software for critical applications. > > Steef > > > _________________________________________ reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header. > List archive: > -- From jskohli at fig.org Sat Feb 16 01:28:22 2002 From: jskohli at fig.org (Jaswinder Singh Kohli) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 01:28:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Yet another Copyright violation [supposed... Message-ID: <3C6D685E.906C0DBA@fig.org> This is yet another Copyright violation though only acc. to the major Hollywood studios this time against Replay TV ------------------------------ On LA Times February 11, 2002 Studios Assail ReplayTV Technology Courts: Lawsuits claim the key functions of personal video recorders violate copyrights. By JON HEALEY, TIMES STAFF WRITER As the makers of personal video recorders broaden the appeal of their revolutionary devices, a group of Hollywood studios is attacking the recorders' core functions. PVRs are the digital successor to videocassette recorders, storing programs digitally on a high-capacity computer hard drive instead of removable tapes. They play tricks with live programs--pausing, rewinding and replaying them in mid-broadcast--and make it simple to find and record shows that match one's tastes. Two of the leading PVR brands, TiVo and ReplayTV, recently announced plans to deliver more types of entertainment through their devices, including digital music services and online video programming. Sonicblue Inc., the Santa Clara-based firm behind ReplayTV, plans to sell a version of its recorder this fall for less than other PVRs on the market. Sonicblue is steaming ahead, despite four lawsuits filed by Hollywood studios just as the ReplayTV 4000 was being introduced in November. The lawsuits, which were brought by the largest TV networks and all seven major Hollywood movie companies, say the ReplayTV recorders violate copyrights by enabling users to send videos to other ReplayTV boxes over the Internet and skip commercials automatically. The suit filed by MGM, Fox, Universal Studios and Orion Pictures goes furthest, arguing that it's illegal to let consumers record and store shows based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description. This claim threatens not just the ReplayTV devices, some copyright experts say, but all recorders like it. Unlike VCRs, which require users to record shows by time slot or unique number, PVRs record based on a show's name or program description. Users don't need to know when "Friends" is on. They just need to know the name or a leading actor. Once a program is found, the device can be set to capture it whenever it's on the air. The MGM lawsuit contends that ReplayTV 4000's expanded storage and sorting features encourage consumers to assemble libraries of copyrighted material, eating into the market for those shows. "If a ReplayTV customer can simply type 'The X-Files' or 'James Bond' and have every episode of 'The X-Files' and every James Bond film recorded in perfect digital form and organized, compiled and stored on the hard drive of his or her ReplayTV 4000 device, it will cause substantial harm to the market for prerecorded DVD, videocassette and other copies of those episodes and films," the lawsuit states. The problem with this argument, several copyright attorneys say, is that consumers already can compile such libraries with a VCR, albeit less conveniently. "This is not a feature that couldn't be duplicated by someone with even a minimal amount of effort," said J.D. Harriman II, a patent and entertainment attorney with Coudert Bros. law firm in Los Angeles. "And because all these TV guides are online already, it wouldn't be that hard." Mark Lemley, a UC Berkeley law professor, said, "It's troubling to say, 'This thing that everybody does has been illegal for 20 years. ... We're just getting around to catching you.' "Nobody's suing people who actually infringe copyrights anymore. Everyone is suing people who make devices," Lemley said. "The [studios] are going after the creation of new technology." A spokeswoman for the studios involved in the MGM suit said that although the studios favor new technological advances, "new technology must go hand in hand with copyright protection." She declined to comment on the claim that keyword-based recording violates copyrights, focusing instead on ReplayTV 4000's ability to send shows over the Internet and delete commercials automatically. The fundamental question posed by the MGM suit is whether the financial effect on the studios trumped consumers' ability to copy programs for personal use, said Douglas Wood, a New York attorney who specializes in intellectual-property and advertising law. If MGM wins on that point, he said, "We'd be left with plain old VCRs." He's not betting on the studios, though, given the Supreme Court's 1984 ruling that consumers could legally record programs for the sake of watching them later. "What difference does it make how I do it?" Wood said. "The dilemma is, the technology is turning the business model upside down. But that doesn't mean it's copyright infringement." If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to http://www.lats.com/rights/. - Regards Jaswinder Singh Kohli jskohli at fig.org :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Uni(multi)verse is a figment of its own imagination. In truth time is but an illusion of 3D frequency grid programs. From shuddha at sarai.net Mon Feb 18 01:25:12 2002 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 01:25:12 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Yet another Copyright violation [supposed... In-Reply-To: <3C6D685E.906C0DBA@fig.org> References: <3C6D685E.906C0DBA@fig.org> Message-ID: <02021801251201.01823@sweety.sarai.kit> Is this a case of the "forces of production" outstripping the "relations of production". If Copyright provisions enable corporations to successfully inhibit the technological developement that Personal Video Recorders represent, it will mean that the profit motive has scored yet another broadside against innovation and convenience. Some of always knew that capitalism is'nt necessarily the great engine of progress it is made out to be. And if it isn't, then either we all slide downhill with it, or we make our way beyond it to something else. From fatimazehrarizvi at hotmail.com Mon Feb 18 02:59:19 2002 From: fatimazehrarizvi at hotmail.com (zehra rizvi) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:29:19 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] from israel Message-ID: got this from a friend of mine (so im not quite sure of the source..a reader list as well, it seems).....follow up on the peace petition being signed by israeli soldiers. a peace demonstration in tel aviv. -z ------------------------------------------- >off the gush shalom list . . . > >10 February 2002 > >Friends, > >We knew there would be a big turnout for the peace demonstration last >night just from the deluge of pro-peace ads in Ha'aretz the day before - >page after page of statements and petitions, all critical of the >occupation. Some excerpts: > >***"There is a choice!" An expanded new list of 200 combat officers and >soldiers who refuse to serve in the army of occupation. >***"There's a limit!" Support for the new soldiers, and the names of >others who have consistently refused to serve, placed by Yesh Gvul. >***"We support the soldiers who refuse to serve the occupation" - a >petition placed by civilian supporters. >***"Peres, you are a collaborator in war-crimes!" placed by Gush Shalom. >***"Do not say 'we did not see, we did not know' - the price of keeping >the territories" - placed by the Israel Committee Against House >Demolitions. >***"A Recipe for National Suicide" - placed by a private citizen. > >And a huge, blood-red ad, "The Occupation is Killing Us All", signed by >the 28 organizations that came together to hold last night's impressive >rally in Tel-Aviv (full list below). > >This was the largest pro-peace rally since this Intifada began in >September 2000, with an estimated 10,000 participants - Jews and Arabs >from all over Israel filling the large Tel-Aviv Museum plaza. The mood is >clearly swinging in Israel, and the homemade signs of people who had not >attended a demonstration for years reflected the new thinking - "Stop >Sharon before he kills us all", "More conscientious objectors!", >"Occupation itself is a war crime", and all permutations of "Share >Jerusalem", "Dismantle Settlements", and "Bring our soldiers home". > >By the time veteran peace activist Yehudit Harel opened the ceremony, the >crowd was a mass of people amazed and buoyed by each other's presence, >with a great deal of hugging by people glad to be sharing the moment. And >then Yehudit's opening words in fluent Hebrew and Arabic set the tone for >the entire evening - we Israeli Jews and Arabs together will no longer >abide the crimes that the Israeli government is carrying out. "There is >only one flag held aloft here today," said Yehudit, "and it is the black >flag of pain, mourning, death, bereavement, and the immorality of war >crimes that are being committed in our name." At her words, hundreds of >black flags were raised high by the crowd, symbolizing the statement made >years ago by an Israeli court that if a military order has "a black flag >of immorality" hanging over it, the order must be refused. > >This was a rally in which the young men who refused to serve in the army >of occupation were the heroes of the evening, receiving ovation after >ovation at every mention. "I once disagreed with refusal to serve in the >army," said Uri Avnery to the crowd, "but today I salute those who will >not serve. Refusal is the beginning of the end of the occupation." Some >of these brave young men have been stripped of their command, demoted, and >face court martial, but continue to answer to their conscience. "How can >we serve in an army that kills children?" asked Yishai Rosen-Zvi, an >Orthodox tank corps sergeant in the reserves, "How can we serve an army >that demolishes homes, does not allow the sick to get medical attention, >seeks to humiliate an entire population, and reduces them to hunger and >poverty?" > >Between speakers and sometimes during them, the crowd broke into chanting >of familiar slogans: "Fuad, Fuad, Minister of Defense, How many kids did >you kill today?" "Occupation, No! Peace, Yes!", "Money for the poor, not >for settlers!" > >It was a rally in which the stage was shared by Arabs and Jews, women and >men, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim, young and old, religious and secular. >Distinguished elderly author Sammy Michael pointed out the futility of the >ongoing occupation: "Death is not a threat to people who willingly give >their lives for a cause." And Shulamit Aloni, former government minister >and perennial conscience of Israel, called out her message of hope, "All >of you here today are the harbingers of a mass movement that already has >begun. You will be the teachers of democracy to this government. You >will set an example of morality. We shall clean out the crimes of this >country and fill it with peace!" > >There were many moments that brought tears to my eyes last night. I will >tell you of two: Famed singer Ahinoam Nini (known as "Noa", I believe, to >her American fans) took the risk of alienating her Israeli right-wing >fans, and sang to the crowd a Hebrew, Arabic, and English version of >"Imagine" by the Beatles: "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the >only one; I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one." > >And the other was the transformation of a beloved Zionist song "Ein li >eretz aheret". Reciting this song in two languages, Hebrew and Arabic, >suddenly infused it with new meaning: "I have no other country to go to. >And even if the land is burning under my feet, this is my home." For the >Arabs in the crowd, the song suddenly became theirs, too, and for the >Jews, it meant a land we both love deeply. > >I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one. > >Gila Svirsky >Jerusalem > >Sponsoring organizations: >Association of Arab University Students / Baladna / BANKI / Bat Shalom / >Coalition of Women for a Just Peace / Druse Initiative Committee / Du >Siach / Gush Shalom / HaCampus Lo Shotek, Tel-Aviv University / Hadash >Youth / Israeli Committtee Against House Demolitions / Kol Aher BaGalil / >Kvisa Sh'hora: Lesbians and Gay Men Against the Occupation / Left Forum, >Haifa University / MachsomWatch / Meretz Youth / Monitoring Committee of >the Arab Population in Israel / NELED / Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam / New >Profile / Noga / TANDI / Ta'ayush: Arab-Jewish Partnership / Tajamu Youth >/ WILPF / Women and Mothers for Peace (formerly Four Mothers) / Women in >Black / Yesh Gvul > > > > _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx From aiindex at mnet.fr Mon Feb 18 14:51:02 2002 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 10:21:02 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] UK: New laws to suppress academic research Message-ID: UK Today, maybe in India tomorrow The below article might interest some on this list Harsh o o o o The Independent 18 February 2002 09:16 GMT New laws to suppress academic research By Charles Arthur Technology Editor 18 February 2002 Laws being introduced by the Government would give it the power to see academic papers before they are published and suppress them. It could also prevent the use of e-mails between foreign colleagues. The Export Control Bill, being steered through the Lords by the Department of Trade and Industry, could also mean foreign students working in British laboratories would need "licences". The Bill, a revision of the 1939 Export Control Act, will include powers that put software, e-mail and even speech under official control. "This has serious implications for academic freedom," said Dr Ross Anderson, of the security research group at Cambridge University. Dr Anderson, an expert in cryptographic systems, went on: "The DTI is trying to extend the scope of the Export Control Bill to interfere with all the nooks and crannies of science and technology. They like the idea of being able to exercise a pre-publication review - which they've never been able to do in the past. If you submit a patent, it could be suppressed for defence reasons but scientific papers never had that." The DTI insisted the laws would not be applied to information already in the public domain and the legislation contained an exemption for "basic scientific research". But determining whether the science was "basic" or "applied" - which would need licensing - would require the scientist to contact the DTI. The areas covered could change all the time. In the House of Lords, Baroness Hendon argued that the Secretary of State would have a "continuous power" to make fresh orders that could add to or detract from the type of goods governed by the legislation. That would let the minister change the reason software or even e-mail would require a licence - and what subjects were proscribed from communication. Peter Cotgreave, director of the pressure group Save British Science, said: "It's all very well saying they won't use these powers themselves but they are creating these powers, and who knows who will be in charge a few years down the line?" He added: "This is especially ironic, given that this Government claims to be in favour of freedom of information. Anything that stops the publication of any serious peer-reviewed work is bad. "We've seen from the examples of BSE and genetically modified organisms that the only way to get people to trust scientists is to be completely open - not to stop them doing something on the grounds of national security." The DTI said European regulations that recently became law already controlled the export outside the European Union of "dual-use" items and ideas, which could have civil or military uses. The new laws would be used principally to cover military uses and the export of any objects or concepts that could be used for nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. But Dr Anderson noted important implications for universities. "Teaching medicine to a foreign national would appear to require a licence - many of the core curriculum subjects, such as bacteriology, virology, toxicology, biochemistry and pharmacology are central to a chemical and biological weapons programme. South Africa's programme was set up and run by P W Botha's personal physician. Other problematic subjects include not just nuclear physics and chemistry but aerodynamics, flight control systems, navigation systems, and even computational fluid dynamics." Dr Anderson said he had been told by the DTI that the e-mails he swapped with scientists in Norway and Israel in the late 1990s, when they were developing a cryptographic technique for a competition, would be subject to licensing under the revised Act. A DTI spokeswoman said she could not comment on a specific case. The Bill is a piece of "primary legislation" that creates a legal framework; and is made enforceable through "secondary legislation" that specifies the objects covered by the new law. However, the Government has not published the secondary legislation - only a dummy version. During debate in the Lords last week, Lord Sainsbury of Turville said the new Bill was the result of a detailed examination of the former Act called for by the Scott report into the arms-for-Iraq scandal in 1996. That report said arms controls were too lax and there were not enough checks to make sure items had the use that was claimed for them and they reached the destinations they were said to be bound for. -- From aiindex at mnet.fr Mon Feb 18 17:04:16 2002 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 12:34:16 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Bombay / New York: Urban Glory Message-ID: The New York Times February 17, 2002 CORRESPONDENCE Urban Glory By SOMINI SENGUPTA PHOTO: The crush of arrival and departure at the Churchgate railroad station, in Bombay, India. BOMBAY New York, the place I came from six weeks ago, recently rediscovered - at terrible cost - some of the reasons cities are great. They are, as New York has showed, humanity's great reservoirs of kindness, civility and resilience. Only cities can turn ruin and death into a kind of collective grandeur. Grandeur may not be the first thing you think of, watching as, with a look that says, "I will get a seat on this train even if I have to kill you," the working girls of Bombay sprint in their sweat- stained saris up the platform of the Churchgate railroad station and jump on board before the arriving train comes to a halt. A seat on a rush-hour train, as it wends its way north from Churchgate, is as precious as sleep, and anyone who stands idly in the way will most certainly be bruised, bonked and subjected, in rapid-fire Hindi, to Bombay's worst insult: "When did she get here from the village?" Then again, by the time the working girls of the second-class ladies compartment ("For Ladies Only, all the 24 hours," it is marked outside) get on board, they have dodged Bombay's nearly homicidal rush-hour traffic, skipped over a bandaged or limbless beggar (some authentic, some fake, some children), haggled over the price of bananas and green beans or pumpkin or eggplant from the hawkers lining the corridor to the station and passed a small army of men urinating along the streets. Much is made of Bombay's glorious past. In Indian lore, this was the city of gold, a citadel of civility. In modern times, Bombay became India's equivalent of Manhattan — the big town an ambitious boy from the provinces could go to make it among the soaring skyscrapers. But these days, Bombay has come to represent another sort of urbanity. The buildings are falling down and the streets are clogged and the stench is enough to make the dogs howl. Indeed Bombay has become the subject of great debate. This month, Outlook, a national news magazine, declared in a cover story on Bombay: "The Death of a Great City." The story listed some of the city's innumerable ills: crumbling infrastructure, rising religious intolerance, the miserable state of its poor. To all of which Midday, Bombay's afternoon tabloid, roared back: "Dead? Not Us!" In fact, Bombay continues, somehow, to thrive. And part of its magic lies in being able to turn its appalling disorder into an idiosyncratic, improvisational, style of life. As the formal, planned city falls into disrepair, the scrappy, informal one finds a way to make do. A boy from the provinces may think twice about coming here (he may go to New York instead), but dreams are still here and people still come to realize them. To many who live here, that Bombay is getting worse, while demonstrably true, is beside the point. The brawl of daily life is what you sign up for. "Bombay is a terrible place but a great city," Charles Correa, the city's most famous architect, said in a new and much talked about documentary about Bombay called "One City, Two Worlds." If he had to choose, he added, he would choose the great city. A kind of communal grandeur can be experienced daily, in a small way, on the train rumbling slowly out of Churchgate station. Those with seats start chopping and peeling in preparation for dinner. Among the standees, pressed shoulder to hip in the sweltering heat, the luckiest find space near the open train doors, saris trailing in the wind. Bombay's trains ferry seven million commuters a day, several times their capacity, and fatal accidents are a regular occurrence. But by some daily miracle of civility and forbearance few ever seem to go mad from the heat, the hustle, the claustrophobic press of sweating midriffs. Instead, the women open their tiffin canisters and share grapes. They inspect the baskets of hawkers selling sesame candy, potato chips, glass bangles, feather dusters, hair clips and packets of delicate stick-on bindis to adorn the forehead. One or two somehow sleep through it all. (One of the men's cars, equally crowded, is devoted to passengers who like to sing the bouncy Hindu hymns called bhajans all the way home.) A sorority of the daily commute emerges this way — "train friends" they are called. Chances are these women know only each others' first names, workplaces and stations of embarkation and disembarkation. But it is real friendship, nonetheless. A journalist friend tells me a story about a colleague who, out of the blue, was diagnosed with cancer and immediately checked into a hospital for treatment. Two weeks later, a stranger popped into the sick woman's office and asked after her. "She is my train friend," the visitor said. "We haven't seen her in two weeks. Is everything all right?" Several days later, a gaggle of train friends showed up at her hospital bedside. The journalist tells this story with an only-in- Bombay sort of wistfulness that puzzles the casual visitor. But this is how Bombayites are. They won't live anywhere else. As a New Yorker, commuting by subway and living in my closet-sized allotment of space, I think I understand. According to the 2001 census, 11.9 million people live within the city limits and nearly 16 in the entire metropolitan region. By 2015, Bombay is projected to be the largest city in the world, with an almost unimaginable 28 million souls. It's the third world city of the future, a megalopolis of nightmarish statistics stained with red-black juice of the betel nut, the city's chewing gum. Sleep in Bombay, even if you're staying at the ultra-posh Taj Hotel, is fleeting. There may be a convention of argumentative crows outside your window. Or a pack of stray dogs may be disputing ownership of a garbage heap. All through the day, knife-sharpeners and vegetable peddlers and ice-cream sellers and monkey tricksters parade down the streets, each with their own distinct sirens to announce their coming. A friend from Brooklyn has just come back to Bombay. He wants me to see the oasis of temples tucked in the middle of the city. He wants me to smell the spice factory from the roaring train. He is waiting for the monsoon to come. To watch it pour, he will go to Marine Drive, that curving, glittering thoroughfare along the Arabian Sea that people here call the Queen's Necklace. THE monsoons here will make you cry, the locals tell me; to see it, tourists from the Arab world pack the Taj Mahal hotel. They check into the coveted seaward rooms and watch the rain pouring down on the harbor. They take home parrots. Marine Drive is also famous for a unique Bombay creature: the tetrapod. They are the octopus-like concrete structures placed along the seaside. They have many uses: to sprawl out on for an afternoon siesta, to sit and stare at the water, to squat on and defecate at dawn should you be among the millions of Bombayites who lack access to a toilet. The tetrapods are designed to keep back the sea, and they make Kiran Nagarkar, a novelist and another Bombay native in love, giggle with pleasure. "There are times when I could just hug this city," Mr. Nagarkar tells me, eyes closed in a beatific smile. "The sea. The tetrapods..." his voice trails off. My Brooklynite friend sends me something from the Bombay poet, Nissim Ezekiel. I suspect he wants me to understand why he's not coming back to Brooklyn. The poem is called "Island." Unsuitable for song as well as sense the island flowers into slums and skyscrapers, reflecting precisely the growth of my mind. I am here to find my way in it. Just like New York. -- From fatimazehrarizvi at hotmail.com Tue Feb 19 03:36:12 2002 From: fatimazehrarizvi at hotmail.com (zehra rizvi) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 17:06:12 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: children's games in the west bank Message-ID: i apologize in advance for the poor formatting of this piece again, not sure what the source is. interesting observation on the history of stone throwing... -z ------------------------------------------------------------ Duck, Duck, Goose and the Launching of the Palestinian Air Force by Adam Shapiro One week ago, internationals living in Ramallah decided to establish a solidarity tent near the invading Israeli tanks in order to send a message to the Palestinian people that they were not alone and message to the world that the Palestinian people are suffering as a result of the Israeli war upon them. As one of the organizers, I spent much of my time over the next three days and nights at the tent, interacting with the Palestinians who were brave enough to venture within 200 meters of the tanks to sit and join us in the tent. But the one group that fascinated me the most � and the individuals with whom I made the greatest connection � were the kids (shabab in Arabic) who come everyday to throw stones at the tanks, armored personnel carriers (APCs) and jeeps. These youth (all boys save one girl) show up after school, without their parents' knowledge, and gather about 250 meters away from the military vehicles to catch up and talk before taking their positions. To give you a complete picture, you must keep in mind that this is occurring right outside President Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, which have become his virtual prison since December. There is a main gate to the compound, which is guarded at all times by Palestinian security men. They are too scared these days with the tanks pointed at the compound to step beyond the shielding wall. But the kids are out in the streets and moving forward constantly to "fight" their battle for their land against the superior military of Israel. In the preparations for the tent, we internationals discussed this issue of the stone-throwers and what we could do in the likely event that the Israeli soldiers used force and violence to "repel" these youth. For, after all, our tent was going to be in the way of teargas, rubber bullets and potentially more lethal projectiles. We decided that we could not interfere with the youth, as this was their form of resistance and that they had every right to "defend" their land in this way. Our role would be to protest the presence of the Israeli military in Palestinian land, and to maintain a presence for three days and three nights. The first day of the action, we marched to the tanks with signs and read a message to the soldiers via megaphone. The soldiers greeted us with teargas and sound grenades. They were clearly disturbed by our attempt to hand them pamphlets from an Israeli group Y'esh Gvul (There Is A Limit) which encourages soldiers to refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories and explains why doing so is against international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions. Eventually we pulled back and went to set up the tent. By one o'clock we were set up � just in time to greet the youth who were arriving from school. They asked what we were doing, why we were there and if we were at all crazy. But they were very thankful and quite happy that in our presence and determination to stay we proved that they (the Palestinian people) were not alone. The kids then organized and went down closer to the tanks and soldiers to throw stones. They managed to throw stones for about ten minutes before they were set upon with teargas, sound grenades and rubber bullets. Mind you, they were throwing from a distance of over 75 meters. The stones were falling helplessly short of their targets, even when the kids were using their stone-launching slingshots. Not one stone managed to reach a tank, an APC, a jeep or a soldier. But the gas and bullets certainly reached the kids, and also us. We internationals maintained our position and talked with the other Palestinians who were sitting with us. A couple of times we were dispersed by gas, and more than once we heard a bullet whiz by. That night, at a campfire, we talked with Palestinian young men (older than the youth, but not older than thirty) about whether it was possible to organize to do something different with the youth in front of the tanks and soldiers instead of throwing stones. While we were cognizant of our earlier commitment in principle to not interfere with the youth, we wanted to know if the Palestinians themselves felt that they could organize something with our support. It was agreed that something else could be done, at least for a period of time, and ideas ranged from creating a sculpture to playing games to having silent protests. Now, I divert at this point from the story to offer an explanation of the popularity and the meaning of stone-throwing in the Palestinian context. As you may know, stone-throwing did not start with this Intifada, nor did it start with the first Intifada. Perhaps the first recorded case of stone-throwing in this region as a means of defense by a weaker party is the Biblical case of David against Goliath. Also, in Islam, one of the rituals in which pilgrims participate during the haj to Mecca is the stoning of the devil � when Muslims symbolically throw stones at the devil represented by three stone pillars. During the Intifada from 1987 to 1993, the images of Palestinian children throwing stones against occupying Israeli soldiers were captured and disseminated around the world. The children had no other recourse, no other weapons, other than the stones. Back then, with Israeli soldiers in every city, on every street of Palestinian areas, the stones would often find their mark and many Israeli soldiers suffered injuries � overwhelmingly minor � as a result. Most importantly, however, the stones and the stone-throwers were mythified in Palestinian national folklore and given a status of national liberators for the result of that Intifada was the end of that phase of Israeli occupation. Stone-throwing remains largely a symbolic act � an act carried out by a weaker side whose only option is to pick up what is lying beside it (stones) and offer these as resistance. Stones do not cause damage to tanks or APCs or jeeps, and likely do not find their target 99% of the time. Stone-throwing kids are relatively easily dispersed by teargas � bullets are not needed. If a kid is close enough to hit the tank or jeep, then teargas will get rid of him; if he is far enough away that his stones are not even hitting their targets, then there is really no reason to shoot. The logic is fairly simple and yet Israeli soldiers repeatedly open fire on these youth. This then feeds the mythology of the stone-throwers � it makes them bigger heroes, and causes the Palestinians to think that stone-throwing is a real threat to Israel as justified by the response of the soldiers. This current Intifada started as a popular movement, with hundreds of youth out throwing stones against Israeli soldiers and military vehicles. It did not start with guns and bombs. But the situation was different than the earlier Intifada, for the soldiers were not in the cities and so the kids had to go to places on the outskirts of the cities to find the soldiers. In defense, the Israeli forces fired at the crowds of youth from great distances � too far for any stone to reach a soldier, but not far enough for the army's bullets to be ineffective. This is why the rate of Palestinians killed during the first couple of weeks of the Intifada was greater and why so many youth were killed then. Unnecessary and massive force was used against an unarmed, largely symbolic resistance of youth angered by very real problems create by the failures of the peace process and the specific instigation by Ariel Sharon's forceful visit to the Haram Al-Sharif (Temple Mount). Now, again, Israeli soldiers and tanks are in Palestinian cities and again stone-throwers are out in force. And again, Israeli soldiers are firing indiscriminately. On our second day at the tent, we greeted the youth as they arrived after school, and asked them to sit with us for a meeting. Present were some of the Palestinian young men who joined us the evening before. We talked about possibilities of resistance other than stone-throwing to organize for some time, such as playing football (soccer) in front of the tanks. The kids were open to the suggestion and showed a high degree of sophistication and political maturity when they discussed among themselves why playing football would be a better image to show to the world via the media in terms of showing the real face of occupation. So off I ran to get a soccer ball from a local store and returned to organize a game. We met quickly to decide what we would do in case the soldiers reacted with violence, and the kids were determined to maintain discipline and to accomplish the objective. As we walked out into the street from near the tent, I carried the ball above my head, and the kids followed. Almost immediately we heard in the distance a pop and then the bullet flying over my head, over the ball. And then again, same location. I yelled to the soldiers, "It's just a ball, it won't hurt," and we continued down the street. Another bullet was shot, and then teargas. We moved out of the way, regrouped and continued forward, We finally reached our destination, about 40 meters from the soldier and started to play. But the soldiers would not allow this act of protest, and shortly thereafter fired sound grenades, teargas and rubber bullets � the standard menu. We were forced back, and met with the kids at the tent. They understood that this form of resistance was threatening to the soldiers and they were proud of their accomplishment. Most of the kids came back and joined us near the tent for some more discussion and amusement, but some others decided to throw stones, now that the football game was over for the day. This time the soldiers did not wait, and immediately set about firing rubber bullets at the kids and at the tent. At least 10 times the tent was hit, and two bullets hit two of the internationals present. Finally, the kids stopped and went home, but all agreed to come back the next day to protest and to play football in front of the soldiers. The third day of the tent, we started the day with a march � internationals and Palestinians together. The point was to deliver the same message that we delivered the first day, but this time some of the Palestinian youth were going to join us. As an added form of protest, the kids decided to deliver their own messages to the soldiers � an important empowering element of the action for the Palestinian youth. The idea was for the kids to write their messages on sheets of paper and then to make paper airplanes � if the Israeli's were going to use F-16s to express themselves, then Palestinian kids would use paper airplanes to deliver theirs. And thus, the Palestinian Air Force was created in a matter of minutes. When the planes were fueled with their messages and ready for takeoff, we marched together, hand-in-hand, internationals and Palestinian youth, in a nonviolent march to deliver our messages to the soldiers. At about a distance of 100 meters, we were met with teargas and sound grenades, stopping the march in it tracks. We waited a few minutes and then tried to move forward again. More gas from the soldiers. Given that we were marching with kids, and that the soldiers seemed very aggressive despite our verbal communication outlining our intention via megaphone, we decided to halt the march at this distance and deliver the messages verbally. First, though, the kids released their paper planes � a symbolic gesture that was not lost on the media. Then one international read our message over the megaphone before we gave the stage to one of the Palestinian kids. A ten-year old, he spoke clearly, with determination in Arabic, which we translated into English and Hebrew for the soldiers. He spoke two sentences, but in those sentences explained the despair of his people and the oppression that they suffer. He said, "You must leave our lands. We are children who want to be free, just like your children are free." The soldiers heard the message and responded with more teargas. But our message was delivered and the action was a success. We moved back to the tent to prepare for the rest of the day's activities. For the next two hours, we organized, discussed and prepared for what we would do. In the meantime, a group from the Palestinian worker's union in Ramallah showed up at Arafat's headquarters to show their solidarity with their president. Representatives from the group came to the tent to share with us in the spirit of resistance and to thank us for our presence. In the early afternoon, we again headed out with the soccer ball and walked down to the area in front of the tanks. This time the soldiers did not use violence and we made it to the area where we wanted to play. The soldiers came out of their vehicles and pointed their guns, but refrained from shooting. The kids played and genuinely felt that they were resisting. Every now and then the ball would be kicked towards the soldiers, and each time the kids pushed and shoved each other to be the one to retrieve it � to be the one who got closest to the soldiers. The kids even told the soldiers if they put their guns away and get rid of the tanks they could also play. After playing football for a while, the kids wanted a new game. The only thing I could think of that would involve so many kids, that was active, was Duck, Duck, Goose. Silly, but I figured that this was a new game here, and that they might like it, so we explained the rules. To give a local flavor, we replaced "Duck" with "Palestinian" and "Goose" with "Israeli." The kids took to it immediately and we had a lively game. Perhaps the most ridiculous moments were when kids started raising their hands and demanding "Ana Israeli" (I am Israeli) so that they would be the ones to give chase. And they shouted the words for the soldiers to hear. The soldiers were absolutely baffled. The media was present also, and many kids came up to me and to each other and pointed out that they were going to be on television and that this was a great picture to show the world. In playing these children's games, these heroes of the stone were again heroes. The next day we took the tent down, despite the wishes of the local community � we did not have enough manpower among the internationals to maintain it. However, we talked with the kids and they agreed to meet with us to discuss more alternative means of resistance and more strategic ways to get the story out to the world of their suffering. Later that evening, one of the internationals who had stayed behind called to inform us that one of the kids had been shot in the head and was in the hospital. Yes, he had been throwing stones, and was apparently hit from a distance of no more than 20 meters � a distance at which rubber bullets are lethal if fired at the head. We rushed over the emergency room and found Mousa with his head wrapped in bandages. He said he was throwing stones, and that the soldiers did not give any warning and just shot him. Luckily the bullet did not hit directly, but it did create a minor crack in his skull, which required minor surgery. He would spend the next two nights in the hospital. A couple of days later, on Saturday, we went down to the area to meet with the kids again, and to discuss a plan for meeting. It was agreed that we would meet two days later to play football. I showed up on Monday, as Israel was bombing security installations in Gaza. I was warned that the headquarters in Ramallah were likely to be hit that day and that I should leave. But I promised the kids and waited for them to arrive after school. I had the ball and was ready to organize the game. The kids came and immediately set out to throw stones. Unlike before they were not met with teargas and bullets and were able to get with in a few meters of the tanks. Omar (a Palestinian-American guy) and I headed down to organize th kids, but now their stones were hitting the tanks. Even though we talked about the importance of sending a different image to the world, particularly when warplanes were striking and injuring civilians in Gaza, the kids were too angered by the events of the day and really felt that it was their duty to defend their land � even with stones. Clearly football was not going to be a viable alternative. Stones rained on the tanks, not causing any damage, but eventually the soldiers started firing teargas and rubber bullets. The kids retreated and soon the rain came, effectively ending the resistance for the day and possibly averting a bombing run on Arafat's headquarters. The kids still want to learn about alternative forms of resistance, though stone-throwing remains the most popular. It is audacious and heroic to the kids, and they are certainly encouraged by the stories from the earlier Intifada that they all know so well. There are many arguments about whether stone-throwing is nonviolent resistance. I think it depends on the situation and the intention. In the cases of stone-throwing that I have witnessed, I would agree that it is nonviolent and a symbolic gesture of resistance and defiance of an oppressive, occupying force that has overwhelming violent power. It is the stone-throwing that will be the last form of resistance that will fade from the scene, and will be the first to emerge in future uprisings. Its mythology is guaranteed, both by those engaging in this form of resistance and by the absurd use of violence by Israeli soldiers in "combating" these Palestinian freedom fighters, youthful as they are. My little friend Mousa, who is now home recovering from his wound, will certainly be back. And my other friends, Muhammad, Abu Ali and others will be there day after day as long as the tanks are there. But they have learned something from our experiment with games, and they are willing to try more. Not to replace the stone-throwing, but to do something in addition. All forms of resistance are welcome, they tell me. Perhaps it is time for the leaders of the Palestinian people to develop more alternativ forms of resistance, so that the message of occupation is not simply that of a dead or injured stone-throwing kid, and so that the world can no longer look upon these would-be freedom fighters as combatants but rather as the kids they are � kids suffering oppression and occupation, who are unable to play in their streets because there are tanks, APCs and soldiers in the way who shoot at them. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com From white-b at d4.dion.ne.jp Tue Feb 19 09:27:36 2002 From: white-b at d4.dion.ne.jp (Kenji Siratori) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:57:36 +0900 Subject: [Reader-list] cracking Message-ID: <006701c1b8f9$91fe1580$e51cfbd2@t5c5b6> "your soul that becomes unknown=the zero of the universe that turned vital by brain does cannibal race of clone=love?" my dog which rapes the anti-faustic sun of the gene in the desert of an embryo does the nebula of the disillusionment of the quark to the drug star of road that the manhole of a cadaver shines the body of storage to the rhinoceros bar body of the embryo of the respiratory arrest the image of the horizon to the placenta of the extreme north of BABEL LOAD to the keyhole of the suicide of the cell other selfs that sleeps in the deep sea interference and be blockading the earth to the brain puzzle of road of an ant fuck chromosome=of crab locus of eyeball that fly was betrayed to the velocity of light scream of the machine that is falling=to the dramatic hearing of the fatalities the world sonic the future tense of ADAM that suspends the madman of the cosmic ant the pupil I become to the secret promise of the rhinoceros bar change of the cadaver city able to ride take that heart the virgin of a jaguar is the micro=acme of the body the brain of the embryo gets confused be exposed to the gimmick documentary of a cadaver it plays strange the love of the hell of the cell that my human body drifts to the maze of the DIGITAL=quickening and the earth where is latent to the quark of treachery crashes to the clonic strings of the reverse side in the moon the negative limit of a cell to body tissue palpitation the body of the fretfulness of an ant without becoming acquainted with exit of etc of the spiral is jointed to the soul that an embryo was disillusioned and to cause any births of the world to the anti-faustic to the cruel stratification of a chromosome subsided to the hope of the mutation of the hell of the cell that rapes the soul in future to the undirt murder person of the emotional particle of strange speed of the chameleon who is pierrot of earth outside circle=of=to the soul of the sterility that begins to overflow to the internal organ murder of pupil of which dream-plays....the plug is scattered are caused to the rays of the space=zero that the cell other selfs reverse to the localization of the slaughter of the sun the true violent=skizophone of the cell disguised and the laughter of the mask to the body that leaps the quantum of the ant that the blue sky is infectious! Kenji Siratori http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840680601/ From aditya at sarai.net Wed Feb 20 12:39:17 2002 From: aditya at sarai.net (Aditya Nigam) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 12:39:17 Subject: [Reader-list] broadcast archives Message-ID: <3.0.6.16.20020220123917.43c7460c@mail.sarai.net> Dear friends, The broadcasts from India during the world social forum meet in Porto Alegra from Jan 31 to Feb3 are now partially available on the archives and you can log on and listen to them with an MP3 programme. The website address is http://www.autistici.org/drop/ Those interested may log on and enjoy, Aditya Nigam From ravis at sarai.net Wed Feb 20 23:52:43 2002 From: ravis at sarai.net (Ravi Sundaram) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 23:52:43 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The indian defense budget (fwd) Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20020220235103.00afa2d0@mail.sarai.net> No Comments! ravi Govt to up defence spend by 25-30% JAYANTHI IYENGAR Times of India 21-2-02 NEW DELHI: The government is set to increase the defence expenditure by a whopping 25-30 per cent to Rs 81,000 crore during 2002-2003. The government had earlier raised the expenditure from Rs 62,000 crore to the present Rs 78,000 crore. The decision was recently taken at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, along with the defence and finance ministers. At this meeting, defence minister George Fernandes put forth a demand, double of what was anticipated by the finance ministry. Sources said the Prime Minister did not want security concerns to be compromised in any manner. He therefore, directed the finance ministry to allocate whatever was sought by the defence ministry. Defence expenditure has been growing at not more than 15 per cent annually. Hence, doubling up of defence demand for 2002-03 has come as surprise to the finance ministry. In case the defence ministry is actually able to spend the allocated sum, India's defence spending during 2002-03 would be higher than 1999-00, when Kargil upped the defence allocation for the year to 21 per cent as compared to the previous year. Through the 90s, defence spending has been higher than budgeted, but there has been a reversal in the trend since 2000-01, causing concern to defence personnel and experts. As a matter of fact, a defence saving of Rs 4,126 crore in 2000-01 went a long way towards helping the finance ministry contain the fiscal deficit. Similar savings are expected during the current financial year as well. As a percentage of GDP, defence allocation in budget 2001-02 works out to be 2.5 per cent of the GDP, as against Pakistan's 2.8 per cent and China's 3 per cent. It is as yet difficult to estimate what India's defence allocation for 2002-03 would be as a percentage of the GDP, considering the Xth Plan is being prepared assuming an 8 per cent GDP growth. However, considering that there are few signs yet of India moving into such a high growth trajectory in 2002-03, which is the first year of the X Plan, one would not be wrong in assuming that defence allocation as a percentage of the GDP in 2002-03 would be higher than what is being estimated for 2001-02. Since the mini-war in Kargil in 1999, the armed forces have been demanding an escalation in the arms spend, equal to India's neighbours. The demand was made in the wake of defence expenditure falling steadily from 3.4 per cent of the GDP in 1987 to 2.5 per cent last year. The consensus post-Kargil has been that defence capability is on the decline because of a budgetary squeeze over the last a decade and a half. The finance ministry has been more than willing to make the necessary allocation From announcements-request at sarai.net Wed Feb 20 11:28:42 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 06:58:42 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #21 - 1 msg Message-ID: <200202200558.GAA20418@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. PUKAR Associates at Kala Ghoda (PUKAR) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:08:54 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: PUKAR Subject: [Announcements] PUKAR Associates at Kala Ghoda Dear Friends: Several of the Associates in PUKAR, Himanshu Burte, Quaid Doongerwala, Abhay Sardesai and Rahul Srivastava, are participating in separate events, discussions and exhibitions at the Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2002. These are noted below. We thank Nancy Adajania of Art-India and Rahul Mehrotra of the Urban Design Research Institute for their help in organising these events. Regards, Arjun Appadurai, Director, PUKAR and Shekhar Krishnan, Vyjayanthi Rao and Rahul Srivastava, Coordinators, PUKAR _____ DISCUSSION: "Hutatma Chowk: A Space for and by the Public"with Himanshu Burte and Sanober Keshwar, conceived and moderated by Nancy Adajania Date: Sunday 17 February 2002 Time: 4.30 p.m. Venue: Bombay Natural History Society Auditorium (Prince of Wales Museum Estate, at the intersection of Rampart Row and Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, off Kala Ghoda) PUKAR Associate Himanshu Burte will provide the social and political history of this public site through a slide presentation. Lawyer and activist Sanober Keshwar will discuss the impact of restrictive legislations on the use of public spaces in the city. The session will be accompanied by clips from various documentaries by the film-maker Anand Patwardhan, which attest to the relationship between organised public demonstrations and this site of public resistance. _____ ARCHITECTURE: "Impulse: The Ideas Exhibition from the Pragmatic to the Fantastic" Dates: Monday 18 February to Saturday 23 February 2002 Times: 11.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. Venue: Coomaraswamy Hall, Prince of Wales Museum Sponsored by the Indian Architect and Builder and the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), architect, urban designer and PUKAR Associate Quaid Doongerwalla presents 'De-Control: Dissolution of Boundaries', along with other architects and designers offering ideas and imaginings for the Kala Ghoda precinct. _____ READING: Poets from Mumbai Read from their Works Date: Tuesday 19 February 2002 Venue: David Sassoon Library Gardens (Mahatma Gandhi Road, Between Elphinstone College and Army & Navy Buildings) Time: 6.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. In association with The Little Magazine, poets reading from their work in this session include PUKAR Associate Abhay Sardesai, and Arundhathi Subramanian and Jerry Pinto. _____ DISCUSSSION: "Table for Two: Omelette and Bun Maska" with Sudhir Patwardhan and Vikas Sharma, conceived and moderated by Nancy Adajania Date : Wednesday 20 February 2002 Venue: Bombay Natural History Society Auditorium (Prince of Wales Museum Estate, at the intersection of Rampart Row and Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, off Kala Ghoda) Time : 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. This discussion will revolve around the social life of the Irani Cafe during the 1970s, made legendary by painter Sudhir Patwardhan in his painting 'Man in Irani Caf� and the Irani caf�f the 1990s, in the age of globalisation and consumerism, as recorded by the PUKAR Neighbourhood Project in a video essay shot by Vikas Sharma, a student at Wilson College. Patwardhan will present slides, while Sharma will show clips from the PUKAR film "Aur Iraani Chai". This session will express the concerns of the floating population that has frequented and found refuge in the Irani caf�hrough the decades, forming a sense of community there. _____ LECTURE: "Writing Locality: The PUKAR Neighbourhood Project" by Rahul Srivastava Date : Thursday 21 February 2002 Venue: Bombay Natural History Society Auditorium (Prince of Wales Museum Estate, at the intersection of Rampart Row and Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, off Kala Ghoda) Time : 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. The PUKAR Neighbourhood Project is an attempt to get students in schools and colleges to write ethnographies and histories of their own buildings and localities. The project, which was started at Wilson College and can serve as a model for other colleges, aims to develop a complex understanding of the relationship between educational institutions and the urban space in which these are embedded. Rahul Srivastava is Coordinator and Associate with PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research), Mumbai. _____ PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research) P.O. Box 5627 Dadar, Mumbai 400014, India E-Mail Phone +91 98200.45529, +91 98204.04010 Web Site http://www.pukar.org.in/ --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From announcements-request at sarai.net Fri Feb 22 11:26:35 2002 From: announcements-request at sarai.net (announcements-request at sarai.net) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 06:56:35 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcements digest, Vol 1 #22 - 1 msg Message-ID: <200202220556.GAA00556@zelda.intra.waag.org> Send Announcements mailing list submissions to announcements at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announcements-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at announcements-admin at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announcements digest..." Today's Topics: 1. 23.2.2002: Politics as Performance (Mumbai Study Group) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 14:46:19 +0530 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: Mumbai Study Group Subject: [Announcements] 23.2.2002: Politics as Performance Dear Friends: In our next meeting, we invite you to join a discussion with anthropologist Dr THOMAS BLOM HANSEN, author of the recently published Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001). Dr Hansen will give a paper on "POLITICS AS PERMANENT PERFORMANCE: ON THE PRODUCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY IN THE LOCALITY". One of the most fascinating features of democracy anywhere in the world - so often ridiculed by sceptics - is its essential unpredictability of political outcomes, both as electoral results as well as more negotiated compromises. Most predictions of elections based on class, caste or past records of parties are wrong and electoral results are notoriously unreliable as indexes of the social worlds they ideally should reflect. Likewise, the behaviour of political parties or governments cannot be inferred from who they supposedly represent. Rather than seeing this as results of a flawed system of representation, this paper argues that it is an inevitable effect of the foregrounding of the visible - the enactment and presentation of community, of a cause, of the familiar, as well as the threatening though techniques of re-presentation: from the festival and the rally, to the performance of public violence, manners of speaking, of dress and bodily comportment, of reputations and decorations. In this 'politics of the spectacle' or the 'aestheticization of politics' lies decisive potential of "managing the moods" of localities or big city-scapes. Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than in how Shiv Sena has refined and developed a range of these techniques in the course of the last thirty years. By drawing on Shiv Sena's 'political performances' - both in the city as such and in certain localities, the paper will try to outline an understanding of contemporary urban politics that is not 'realist' and sociological but instead takes seriously the sensuous quality and performative power of spectacles - from the massive rally to everyday forms of self-presentation in the slum or the street corner. Dr Thomas Blom Hansen is Reader at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, U.K. Has done research on Hindu nationalism and Mumbai in the 1990s, and is currently doing research on Indian neighbourhoods in Durban, South Africa. His main publications are The Saffron Wave: Hindu Nationalism and Democracy in Modern India (Princeton University Press/Oxford University Press India, 1999), Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay (Princeton University Press /Permanent Black, 2001). He is co-editor with Finn Stepputat of States of Imagination: Ethnographic Explorations of the Postcolonial State (Duke University Press, 2001) . This session will be on SATURDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2002, at 10.00 A.M., on the SECOND FLOOR, Rachna Sansad, 278, Shankar Ghanekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, next to Ravindra Natya Mandir. Phone: 4301024, 4310807, 4229969; Station: Elphinstone Road (Western Railway); BEST Bus: 35, 88, 151, 161, 162, 171, 355, 357, 363, to Ravindra Natya Mandir, 91 Ltd, 305 Ltd, A1 and A4 to Prabhadevi. _____ MUMBAI STUDY GROUP SESSIONS in 2002 9 MARCH 2002 Film Screening of "Jari-Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories" Discussion with Surabhi Sharma, Producer and Director 23 MARCH 2002 "Girangaon: The Past, Present and Future of Mumbai's Textile Mills and Mill Workers" Participants to be Announced 13 APRIL 2002 "Gender and Space in Mumbai" by Shilpa Phadke, Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, Nirmala Niketan School of Social Work, Mumbai and Neera Adarkar, Architect, Adarkar Associates, Mumbai 27 APRIL 2002 "Food Security in Mumbai and Thane: A Study of the Rationing Kruti Samiti" by Mayank Bhatt, Journalist and Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K. ABOUT the MUMBAI STUDY GROUP The MUMBAI STUDY GROUP meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, at the Rachana Sansad, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, at 10.00 A.M. Our conversations continue through the support extended by Shri Pradip Amberkar, Principal of the Academy of Architecture, and Prof S.H. Wandrekar, Trustee of the Rachana Sansad. Conceived as an inclusive and non-partisan forum to foster dialogue on urban issues, we have since September 2000 held conversations about various historical, political, cultural, social and spatial aspects of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Our discussions are open and public, no previous membership or affiliation is required. We encourage the participation of urban researchers and practitioners, experts and non-experts, researchers and students, and all individuals, groups and associations in Mumbai to join our conversations about the the city.The format we have evolved is to host individual presentations or panel discussions in various fields of urban theory and practice, and have a moderated and focussed discussion from our many practical and professional perspectives: whether as architects or planners, lawyers or journalists, artists or film-makers, academics or activists.Through such a forum, we hope to foster an open community of urban citizens, which clearly situates Mumbai in the theories and practices of urbanism globally. Previous sessions have hosted presentations by the following individuals: Kalpana Sharma, Associate Editor of The Hindu; Kedar Ghorpade, Senior Planner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority; Dr Marina Pinto, Professor of Public Administration, retired from Mumbai University; Dr K. Sita, Professor of Geography, retired from Mumbai University, and former Garware Chair Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Dr Arjun Appadurai, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, Director of Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), Mumbai; Rahul Srivastava, Lecturer in Sociology at Wilson College; Sandeep Yeole, General Secretary of the All-India Pheriwala Vikas Mahasangh; Dr Anjali Monteiro, Professor and Head, and K.P. Jayashankar, Reader, from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Unit for Media and Communications; Dr Sujata Patel, Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Pune; Dr Mariam Dossal, Head, Department of History, Mumbai University; Sucheta Dalal, business journalist and Consulting Editor, Financial Express; Dr Arvind Rajagopal, Associate Professor of Culture and Communications at New York University; Dr Gyan Prakash, Professor of History at Princeton University, and member of the Subaltern Studies Editorial Collective; Dr Sudha Deshpande, Reader in Demography, retired from the Department of Economics, Mumbai University and former consultant for the World Bank, International Labour Organisation, and Bombay Municipal Corporation; Sulakshana Mahajan, doctoral candidate at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A., and former Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Rachana Sansad; Dr Rohini Hensman, of the Union Research Group, Mumbai; Mrs Jyoti Mhapsekar, Head Librarian, Rachana Sansad and Member, Stree Mukti Sanghatana. Previous panel discussions have comprised of the following individuals: S.S. Tinaikar, former Municipal Commissioner of Bombay, Sheela Patel, Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), and Bhanu Desai of the Citizens' Forum for the Protection of Public Spaces (Citispace) on urban policy making and housing; Shirish Patel, civil engineer and urban planner, Pramod Sahasrabuddhe and Abhay Godbole, structural engineers on earthquakes and the built form of the city; B. Rajaram, Managing Director of Konkan Railway Corporation, and Dr P.G. Patankar, from Tata Consultancy Services, and former Chairman of the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) on mass public transport alternatives; Ved Segan, Vikas Dilawari, and Pankaj Joshi, conservation architects, on the social relevance of heritage and conservation architecture; Debi Goenka, of the Bombay Environmental Action Group, Professor Sudha Srivastava, Dr Geeta Kewalramani, and Dr Dipti Mukherji, of the University of Mumbai Department of Geography, on the politics of land use, the city's salt pan lands, and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act; Nikhil Rao, of the University of Chicago Dept of History, Anirudh Paul and Prasad Shetty of the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Insitute of Architecture, and members of the various residents associations and citizens groups of the Dadar-Matunga, on the history, architecture, and formation of middle-class communities in these historic neighbourhoods, the first suburbs of Bombay. CONTACT US We invite all urban researchers, practitioners, students, and other interested individuals to join us in our fortnightly conversations, and suggest topics for presentation and discussion. For any more information, kindly contact one of the Joint Convenors of the Mumbai Study Group: ARVIND ADARKAR, Architect, Researcher and Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, Phone 2051834, ; DARRYL D'MONTE, Journalist and Writer, 6427088 ; SHEKHAR KRISHNAN, Coordinator-Associate, Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research (PUKAR), 4142843, ; PANKAJ JOSHI, Conservation Architect, Lecturer, Academy of Architecture, and PUKAR Associate, 8230625, . --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements End of Announcements Digest From jskohli at fig.org Fri Feb 22 04:41:03 2002 From: jskohli at fig.org (Jaswinder Singh Kohli) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 04:41:03 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Microsoft Media Player Logs Choices Message-ID: <3C757E86.E9832BD9@fig.org> Microsoft Media Player Logs Choices By D. Ian Hopper AP Technology Writer Wednesday, February 20, 2002; 4:18 PM WASHINGTON –– Microsoft's new version of its popular Media Player software is logging the songs and movies that customers play. The company said Wednesday it was changing its privacy statement to notify customers about the technology after inquiries from The Associated Press. The system creates a list on each computer that could be a treasure for marketing companies, lawyers or others. Microsoft says it has no plans to sell the data collected by Media Player 8, which comes free with the Windows XP operating system. "If you're watching DVDs you don't want your wife to know about, you might not want to give her your password," said David Caulton, Microsoft's lead program manager for Windows Media. The new privacy policy was issued Wednesday. The media player has been bundled as a free addition to Windows for several years and allows users to play music CDs, DVD movies and digitally stored songs on their computers. When a CD is played, the player downloads the disc name and titles for each song from a Web site licensed by Microsoft. That information is stored on a small file on each computer in the latest version of the software. The new version released with Windows XP last fall also added the same technology for DVD movies. Microsoft's original privacy statement informed customers that they were downloading the information about CDs but never stated it was being stored in a log file on each computer. The new statement makes clear that information is being downloaded for both DVDs and CDs, but does not explain how users can eliminate or get into the log file. "It definitely could have been clearer and more specific about DVDs," Caulton said. As part of downloading the information about songs and movies from the Web site, the program also transmits an identifier number unique to each user on the computer. That creates the possibility that user habits could be tracked and sold for marketing purposes. Privacy experts said they feared the log file could be used by investigators, divorce lawyers, snooping family members, marketing companies or others interested in learning about a person's entertainment habits. It also could be used to make sure users have paid for the music or movie, and have not made an illegal copy. "The big picture might be the owners of intellectual property wanting to track access to their property," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University. Microsoft said the program creates the log file so a user does not have to download repeatedly the same track, album or movie information. The company said the ID number was created simply to allow Media Players users to have a personal account on the Web site dealing with the software. Neither is sold or shared with others, and no information is collected on Microsoft's servers that would be personally identifiable, officials said. "This is essentially a case where it (the ID) doesn't serve any purpose and it isn't used," Caulton said. Jonathan Usher, another Windows Media executive, said Microsoft has no plans to market aggregate information about its customers' viewing habits, but would not rule it out. "If users tell us that they want the ability to get recommendations, that's something we could look into on the behalf of users," Usher said. In a recent memo, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates ordered his company to check for privacy and security concerns before adding new features. "Users should be in control of how their data is used," Gates wrote. "Policies for information use should be clear to the user. Users should be in control of when and if they receive information to make best use of their time." Privacy researcher Richard Smith, who researched how Media Player stored and transmitted the information, questioned why the program has to give chapter information for DVDs at all because almost all discs have chapter listings in an interactive menu within the movie. He said the feature seems to conflict with Gates' directive. "You can really see the Microsoft culture coming through that Gates wants to change. These guys are digging in their heels," he said. -- Regards Jaswinder Singh Kohli jskohli at fig.org :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Uni(multi)verse is a figment of its own imagination. In truth time is but an illusion of 3D frequency grid programs. From patrice at xs4all.nl Fri Feb 22 14:29:03 2002 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 09:59:03 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] SchNEWS Annual looking for copy... (fwd) Message-ID: <20020222095903.B18226@xs4all.nl> ----- Forwarded message from Boyd Noorda ----- To: aktielijst at antenna.nl, imc-nl at indymedia.nl, climatemedia at oudenaarden.nl Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 00:54:34 +0100 ------------------------ Call Out For Material For Next SchNEWS Annual Its that time where we’re putting together the another SchNEWS Annual. This year the book will be called ‘SchNEWS of the World’ - so that means that as well as the 50 issues, and loads of other articles - there will be an emphasis on taking those tabloid hacks on at their own game!!! SO we are after pictures, articles, cartoons, satirical material, subverts etc. about relevant and interesting events, actions and so on which have happened between April 2001 - April 2002. Whether it's taking on the corporate scum-bags head on for your land in Africa, Latin America, central Australia or East London, and/or making positive steps for a sustainable happy world in your local community or planet, we want your story in the book. And if you’ve got some tabloid newspaper gags which haven’t been done 1000 times already then send em in. Your articles can be either short - accompanying a pic - or else email us if you have an idea for an up-to-1,800 word article. Editorial deadline will be early April 2002 but get in contact well before then. Please give pics time/place details (and make em 300 dpi 10x12 cm jpgs if you’re emailing em). Unless stated otherwise your material will be credited to you, and anti-copyright (for not-for-profit use), or else you can retain copyright. Pay - err - sorry we’re all working for free. If you aren’t sure what SchNEWS is: it’s a free weekly direct action info newsheet from Brighton UK. (visit http://www.schnews.org.uk ), and every year - or 50 issues - we burn the candle at both ends and produce an annual. Again this year it will be a 280 page B5 book, selling for around £7, which will come out in early June. If you have specific questions please reply to schnews at brighton.co.uk or email us text files and jpg or tif pictures, or paper copies of things (just be prepared to wait a few months to see them again). Hope to hear from you soon, John & Book Crew -- climatemedia archive: http://www.oudenaarden.nl/lists/climatemedia -- login: climate password: media ----- End forwarded message ----- From white-b at d4.dion.ne.jp Fri Feb 22 12:45:30 2002 From: white-b at d4.dion.ne.jp (Kenji Siratori) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 16:15:30 +0900 Subject: [Reader-list] ::minute/second:: Message-ID: <002801c1bb71$01dddba0$dd16ffd2@t5c5b6> smuggle the human body of BABEL! micro things of cadaver city quantum leaps vital body of megabyte of chaos to era respires sun? my brain does the synapse of the womb of the zero gravity that was latent to the negative of the cell that is forming the clonodrug of insect*brain to the brain of rhinoceros bar ocean creatures to the murder of the quiet horizon of f/0 that an embryo is parasitic on the interior of the womb of the fatalities that loves the transformer cannibal race=of which was accumulated to eve of the earth=orgasm that my other selfs that get drunk in the extinction condition of the crow where LOAD to the other side which was full to the amniotic fluid of the sun be nanotechnology in the hetero=mode of a chromosome stick cadaver=of=the stratosphere of the change of the milligram that spreads dives to the chaosmic planet of the embryo that is going to bury linkage to the blue cyber area of the sky F of my brain cell is dismantling the earth area where an embryo was saturated to the mysterious_quickening of the cadaver city that the aerofoil of the digital desire of ADAM that suck-blood my brain cell does the clonic soul of the cell war reflein the direct current condition of BABEL in the air of the chromosome that the body of anti-faust rapes the storage of a dog and focus the ectoplasm of my eyeball to the womb of the rhinoceros bar ant perceive the absence of the sun to direct with the brain that ant was suspended the sexual incubation of the asphalt that crashed to the hypothalamus of the cadaver that disguises the vocal cord of my rapture that thinks about the toy of MHz of gene=TV the ovarium of the death of road the moon when dances to the skull of the ocean that went to ruin the manhole of the sun! childish FUCK=of=reproduce the synapse of etc of the machine--embryo to the crease of the poor brain cell of the world! I accomplished the reverse=evolution of the DIGITAL_larva in the sun target=amniotic fluid range of mankind! chaos of the ground that my heart cries out with the fractal brain of the fatalities that loves releases five emotional particles of the clones that are infectious and interchange the mystery of an embryo to the negative soul of my body and was connected the language/thalidomide to the naked body of the cell division of the sun the sun*interior of the womb of entrance did equator to embryo of drug mechanism of body gimmick ant and quickening: of desert in approximated was metropolis? the reproduction gland of hallucination imp and invades be annihilating to the sun target=organ of the digital=vampire that my thinking respires to be an asphalt biography: to the topologic disillusionment of an embryo! the love of a wolf to the organ of my zero: reproduce! chromosome forgets the rhythm does drug embryo of spiral of blood? kenji siratori http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840680601/ From patrice at xs4all.nl Mon Feb 25 15:30:11 2002 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 11:00:11 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Personal Testimony of an Israeli Refusenik Message-ID: <20020225110005.B22294@xs4all.nl> Bwo Sandy Mathers Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 07:18:45 -0000 Personal Testimony of an Israeli Refusenik By Asaf Oron [Asaf Oron, a Sergeant Major in the Giv'ati Brigade, is one of the original 53 Israeli soldiers who signed the "Fighters' Letter" declaring that from now on they will refuse to serve in the Occupied territories. He is signer #8 and one of the first in the list to include a statement explaining his action. (There are 251 signers as of February 17, 2002.) Below is the translation of Oron's statement by Ami Kronfeld of Jewish Peace News.] On February 5, 1985, I got up, left my home, went to the Compulsory Service Center on Rashi Street in Jerusalem, said goodbye to my parents, boarded the rickety old bus going to the Military Absorption Station and turned into a soldier. Exactly seventeen years later, I find myself in a head to head confrontation with the army, while the public at large is jeering and mocking me from the sidelines. Right wingers see me as a traitor who is dodging the holy war that's just around the corner. The political center shakes a finger at me self-righteously and lectures me about undermining democracy and politicizing the army. And the left? The square, establishment, "moderate" left that only yesterday was courting my vote now turns its back on me as well. Everyone blabbers about what is and what is not legitimate, exposing in the process the depth of their ignorance of political theory and their inability to distinguish a real democracy from a third world regime in the style of Juan Peron. Almost no one asks the main question: why would a regular guy get up one morning in the middle of life, work, the kids and decide he's not playing the game anymore? And how come he is not alone but there are fifty... I beg your pardon, a hundred... beg your pardon again, now almost two hundred regular, run of the mill guys like him who've done the same thing? Our parents' generation lets out a sigh: we've embarrassed them yet again. But isn't it all your fault? What did you raise us on? Universal ethics and universal justice, on the one hand: peace, liberty and equality to all. And on the other hand: "the Arabs want to throw us into the sea," "They are all crafty and primitive. You can't trust them." On the one hand, the songs of John Lennon, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bob Marely, Pink Floyd. Songs of peace and love and against militarism and war. On the other hand, songs about a sweetheart riding the tank after sunset in the field: "The tank is yours and you are ours." [allusions to popular Israeli songs - AK]. I was raised on two value systems: one was the ethical code and the other the tribal code, and I naïvely believed that the two could coexist. This is the way I was when I was drafted. Not enthusiastic, but as if embarking on a sacred mission of courage and sacrifice for the benefit of society. But when, instead of a sacred mission, a 19 year old finds himself performing the sacrilege of violating human beings' dignity and freedom, he doesn't dare ask - even himself - if it's OK or not. He simply acts like everyone else and tries to blend in. As it is, he's got enough problems, and boy is the weekend far off. You get used to it in a hurry, and many even learn to like it. Where else can you go out on patrol - that is, walk the streets like a king, harass and humiliate pedestrians to your heart's content, and get into mischief with your buddies - and at the same time feel like a big hero defending your country? The Gaza Exploits became heroic tales, a source of pride for Giv'ati, then a relatively new brigade suffering from low self esteem. For a long time, I could not relate to the whole "heroism" thing. But when, as a sergeant, I found myself in charge, something cracked inside me. Without thinking, I turned into the perfect occupation enforcer. I settled accounts with "upstarts" who didn't show enough respect. I tore up the personal documents of men my father's age. I hit, harassed, served as a bad example - all in the city of Kalkilia, barely three miles from grandma and grandpa's home-sweet-home. No. I was no "aberration." I was exactly the norm. Having completed my compulsory service, I was discharged, and then the first Intifada began (how many more await us?) Ofer, a comrade in arms who remained in the service has become a hero: the hero of the second Giv'ati trial. He commanded a company that dragged a detained Palestinian demonstrator into a dark orange grove and beat him to death. As the verdict stated, Ofer was found to have been the leader in charge of the whole business. He spent two months in jail and was demoted - I think that was the most severe sentence given an Israeli soldier through the entire first Intifada, in which about a thousand Palestinians were killed. Ofer's battalion commander testified that there was a order from the higher echelons to use beatings as a legitimate method of punishment, thereby implicating himself. On the other hand, Efi Itam, the brigade commander, who had been seen beating Arabs on numerous occasions, denied that he ever gave such an order and consequently was never indicted. Today he lectures us on moral conduct on his way to a new life in politics. (In the current Intifada, incidentally, the vast majority of incidents involving Palestinian deaths are not even investigated. No one even bothers.) And in the meantime, I was becoming more of a civilian. A copy of The Yellow Wind [a book on life in the Occupied Territories by the Israeli writer David Grossman, available in English -AK] which had just come out, crossed my path. I read it, and suddenly it hit me. I finally understood what I had done over there. What I had been over there. I began to see that they had cheated me: They raised me to believe there was someone up there taking care of things. Someone who knows stuff that is beyond me, the little guy. And that even if sometimes politicians let us down, the "military echelon" is always on guard, day and night, keeping us safe, each and every one of their decisions the result of sacred necessity. Yes, they cheated us, the soldiers of the Intifadas, exactly as they had cheated the generation that was beaten to a pulp in the War of Attrition and in the Yom Kippur War, exactly as they had cheated the generation that sank deep into the Lebanese mud during the Lebanon invasions. And our parents' generation continues to be silent. Worse still, I understood that I was raised on two contradictory value systems. I think most people discover even at an earlier age they must choose between two value systems: an abstract, demanding one that is no fun at all and that is very difficult to verify, and another which calls to you from every corner - determining who is up and who is down, who is king and who - pariah, who is one of us and who is our enemy. Contrary to basic common sense, I picked the first. Because in this country the cost-effective analysis comparing one system to another is so lopsided, I can't blame those who choose the second. I picked the first road, and found myself volunteering in a small, smoke-filled office in East Jerusalem, digging up files about deaths, brutality, bureaucratic viciousness or simply daily harassments. I felt I was atoning, to some extent, for my actions during my days with the Giv'ati brigade. But it also felt as if I was trying to empty the ocean out with a teaspoon. Out of the blue, I was called up for the very first time for reserve duty in the Occupied Territories. Hysterically, I contacted my company commander. He calmed me down: We will be staying at an outpost overlooking the Jordan river. No contacts with the local population is expected. And that indeed was what I did, but some of my friends provided security for the Damia Bridge terminal [where Palestinians cross from Jordan to Israel and vice versa - AK]. This was in the days preceding the Gulf War and a large number of Palestinian refugees were flowing from Kuwait to the Occupied Territories (from the frying pan into the fire). The reserve soldiers - mostly right wingers - cringed when they saw the female consscripts stationed in the terminal happily ripping open down-comforters and babies' coats to make sure they didn't contain explosives. I too cringed when I heard their stories, but I was also hopeful: reserve soldiers are human after all, whatever their political views. Such hopes were dashed three years later, when I spent three weeks with a celebrated reconnaissance company in the confiscated ruins of a villa at the outskirts of the Abasans (if you don't know where this is, it's your problem). This is where it became clear to me that the same humane reserve soldier could also be an ugly, wretched macho undergoing a total regression back to his days as a young conscript. Already on the bus ride to the Gaza strip, the soldiers were competing with each other: whose "heroic" tales of murderous beatings during the Intifada were better (in case you missed this point: the beatings were literally murderous: beating to death). Going on patrol duty with these guys once was all that I could take. I went up to the placement officer and requested to be given guard duty only. Placement officers like people like me: most soldiers can't tolerate staying inside the base longer than a couple of hours. Thus began the nausea and shame routine, a routine that lasted three tours of reserve duty in the Occupied Territories: 1993, 1995, and 1997. The "pale-gray" refusal routine. For several weeks at a time I would turn into a hidden "prisoner of conscience," guarding an outpost or a godforsaken transmitter on top of some mountain, a recluse. I was ashamed to tell most of my friends why I chose to serve this way. I didn't have the energy to hear them get on my case for being such a "wishy washy" softy. I was also ashamed of myself: This was the easy way out. In short, I was ashamed all over. I did "save my own soul." I was not directly engaged in wrongdoing - only made it possible for others to do so while I kept guard. Why didn't I refuse outright? I don't know. It was partly the pressure to conform, partly the political process that gave us a glimmer of hope that the whole occupation business would be over soon. More than anything, it was my curiosity to see actually what was going on over there. And precisely because I knew so well, first hand, from years of experience what was going on over there, what reality was like over there, I had no trouble seeing, through the fog of war and the curtain of lies, what has been taking place over there since the very first days of the second Intifada. For years, the army had been feeding on lines like "We were too nice in the first Intifada," and "If we had only killed a hundred in the very first days, everything would have been different." Now the army was given license to do things its way. I knew full well that [former Prime Minister] Ehud Barak was giving the army free hand, and that [current Chief of Staff] Shaul Mofaz was taking full advantage of this to maximize the bloodshed. By then, I had two little kids, boys, and I knew from experience that no one - not a single person in the entire world - will ever make sure that my sons won't have to serve in the Occupied Territories when they reach 18. No one, that is, except me. And no one but me will have to look them in the eye when they're all grown up and tell them where dad was when all that happened. It was clear to me: this time I was not going. Initially, this was a quiet decision, still a little shy, something like "I am just a bit weird, can't go and can't talk about it too much either." But as time went by, as the level of insanity, hatred, and incitement kept rising, as the generals were turning the Israeli Defense Forces into a terror organization, the decision was turning into an outcry: "If you can't see that this is one big crime leading us to the brink of annihilation, then something is terribly wrong with you!" And then I discovered that I was not alone. Like discovering life on another planet. The truth is that I understand why everyone is mad at us. We spoiled the neat little order of things. The holy Status Quo states that the Right holds the exclusive rights to celebrate the blood and ask for more. The role of the Left, on the other hand, is to wail while sitting in their armchairs sipping wine and waiting for the Messiah to come and with a single wave of his magic wand make the Right disappear along with the settlers, the Arabs, the weather, and the entire Middle East. That's how the world is supposed to work. So why are you causing such a disturbance? What's your problem? Bad boys! Woe to you, dear establishment left! You haven't been paying attention! That Messiah has been here already. He waved his magic wand, saw things aren't that simple, was abandoned in the midst of battle, lost altitude, and finally was assassinated, with the rest of us (yes, me too) watching from the comfort of our armchairs. Forget it. A messiah doesn't come around twice! There is no such thing as a free lunch. Don't you really see what we are doing, why it is that we stepped out of line? Don't you get the difference between a low key, personal refusal and an organized, public one? (and make no mistake about it, the private refusal is the easier choice.) You really don't get it? So let me spell it out for you. First, we declare our commitment to the first value system. The one that is elusive, abstract, and not profitable. We believe in the moral code generally known as God (and my atheist friends who also signed this letter would have to forgive me - we all believe in God, the true one, not that of the Rabbis and the Ayatollahs). We believe that there is no room for the tribal code, that the tribal code simply camouflages idolatry, an idolatry of a type we should not cooperate with. Those who let such a form of idol worship take over will end up as burnt offerings themselves. Second, we (as well as some other groups who are even more despised and harassed) are putting our bodies on the line, in the attempt to prevent the next war. The most unnecessary, most idiotic, cruel and immoral war in the history of Israel. We are the Chinese young man standing in front of the tank. And you? If you are nowhere to be seen, you are probably inside the tank, advising the driver. Asaf Oron ============ From patrice at xs4all.nl Mon Feb 25 15:42:10 2002 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 11:12:10 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] GoaLog: Computers ready to go to Goa Schools... Message-ID: <20020225111210.D22294@xs4all.nl> BWO Frederick Noronha Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 23:26:58 +0530 (IST) Subject: GOALOG: Computers are getting set for distribution in Goa... *************************************************************************** GOALOG: Computers are getting set for distribution in Goa.... *************************************************************************** Green Hill, despite its name, is a dusty hillock between Porvorim and Sangolda. It's just one of the many new urban centres coming up to cope with the regionally-imbalanced pattern that Goa has been seeing. At one corner, in the midst of an obviously low-income colony, sit some 360 computers that were sent in under the Goa Schools Computers Project. On Thursday evening, eight-to-ten kids crowded around one computer, near the entrance to the godown where these were temporarily housed. "He's not giving us a turn," complained the smaller ones of one elder boy who seemed to be hogging the keyboard. They all came from the nearby poor homes, and this was their chance to play around with a real toy -- a computer. One girl, the only one visible nearby, hung around at a respectful distance, near the entrance gate. To one's surprise, at least the elder ones among them seemed confident with the Red Hat 7.2 (a distribution of the Free Software/Open Source Linux operating system) that was installed on it. One of the eldest later informed he was in the seventh standard (this would put him at around 12 years of age, assuming he joined school on schedule and wasn't detained at any point). He could be seen logging in as a 'student'. Sometimes he typed in 'Student' instead of 'student'. And in Linux, like in any other case-sensitive Unix flavour, that makes a big difference. Tom Fernandes, half-German and half-Goan, a Linux enthusiast who's also working on the Goa Schools Computers Project, tried to explain the difference. But do concepts matter, as long as things get going? "What's going to happen to these computers?" the gang of boys wanted to know. On being told that they would be distributed to schools, they seemed a trifle disappointed. Which kid likes to lose a new-found toy? "Okay," someone continued, "which schools are they going to?" Someone wanted to know if Janta High School in nearby Mapusa town would get any. Another asked if Holy Family in Porvorim was on the list. A chirpy young lad said he learnt that government schools would be getting priority. And yes, he himself studies at the Guirim government school. In the background -- that's not what it was intended to be though -- a shirtless Ashley Delaney struggled at setting up Linux on about half-a-dozen PCs at the same time. To make his tall task somewhat easier Arvind Yadav and Animesh Nerulkar have worked on a stick-the-CD-in solution that does a standard-instal easily on the type of PI donated earlier-generation systems that have been shipped in from New York. Daryl Martyris was away in Panjim. He had phoned me earlier in the evening, sparking off guilt for not being anywhere around the project after getting my 'stories' on the same. In the state-capital of Goa, his mission was trying to get fixed the ten computers that reached Goa in a non-working condition. (Once he's done with the distribution of the PCs in schools, he's dreaming of a project to take relevant info to the commonman through an ICT-based initiative.) Cut to the youngsters fooling around with the Linux-loaded PC. They're a more interesting story than the 'real thing'.... A tenth standard student from the nearby Vidya Prabodhini looked around tentatively. "What actually comes on a floppy-disk," he wanted to know. Try explaining the concept that a floppy could contain text, photos or software... to a young man in a province which has long been dreaming of building itself up as a IT paradise. His eyes lit up, as the inadequately-explained concept seemed to make some sense. "Uncle, could you give me a floppy?" he asked, "maybe I could ask the teacher to try it out..." Others fighting for the computer keyboard were focussing on launching some Linux-based games. Just the introduction to the section of 'graphics' programs egged on some to experiment. But journos are not the best of teachers; we didn't have any photo-on-a-CD just then to demo what we meant either. While driving home on a two-wheeler, my daughter Riza (3) was grappling with the idea of what so many computers were doing, all packed tightly into one small godown. One tried to explain that these were to be distributed to schools, for free. "Even to Lourdes Convent?" she wanted to know. That's the village school where she's just got admission to the pre-primary.... It was the struggle to get computers for this not so down-and-out school five years ago that might have sparked off the feeling that citizens need to make efforts to help Goa's schools get access to computers faster. Before leaving, we clicked a few photos. Not because, as many believe, donor-driven projects need photographic 'evidence' to justify their operations. But because it underlines the point that the computer is a tool for virtually anyone. If only they got a chance.... There has been debate over whether sending in once-used computer hardware to the Third World is the best way of doing the job. One could have mixed feelings about this. But, in the bargain, it seems to have planted a crucial idea: that the computer can, and is, well within reach. Not just for those who have the money for it. * FN 22FEB2002 -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783 BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Email fred at bytesforall.org * SMS 9822122436 at attcell.net * 784 Saligao Goa India Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference ----- End forwarded message ----- From sbreitsameter at berlin.snafu.de Sun Feb 24 14:23:10 2002 From: sbreitsameter at berlin.snafu.de (Sabine Breitsameter) Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 09:53:10 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Frankensteins Netz / =?iso-8859-1?Q?Prom=E9th=E9e?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?_?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Num=E9rique?= / Wiretapping the beast Message-ID: Frankensteins Netz / Prométhée Numérique / Wiretapping the beast by Atau Tanaka http://www.frankensteins-netz.de http://www.promethee-numerique.net Kreatur is a being living across the web. It takes on a body of various media: text, sound, image. We can feed it, we can try to touch it, but in the end, it is intangible. It is alive, but it exists nowhere. Its organs are a relational database, its bones are texts from Mary Shelley, Aeschylus, Goethe, La Mettrie, Haraway. The sounds and images are yours. Kreatur has a life cycle that started on 20.02.2002. It will perform live one month later. We will together nourish Kreatur of sound and image in anticipation of the performance. We will perform with Kreatur, connecting from Karlsruhe Germany, Montreal Canada, Ogaki Japan. Those in local space can attend. Those in Mittel-europe radio space can tune in. Those in netspace can log in. It is a musical composition that manifests itself differently in each of these different infrastructures. And of course is open to Kreatur's whims! Composition and realisation : Atau Tanaka Artifical network character design : Antoine Schmitt Media database server : Peter Hanappe Visual design : Gregory Pignot Recitation of literary texts: Christiane Bachschmidt and Steve Karier Live with : Atau Tanaka, Zack Settel, Reiko A. and i.d. Dramatic director / producer : Sabine Breitsameter Performance: March 23, 2002, 00.05 a.m. CET at ZKM Karlsruhe Live Broadcast on: March 23, 2002, 00.05 a.m. on SWR2, DeutschlandradioBerlin, Ö1, DRS and others. Live-Stream available More information : http://www.swr2.de/audiohyperspace Production : SWR In co-production with : ZKM / Deutschlandradio Berlin / Radio-Canada Montréal Chaîne Culturelle / Goethe-Institute Montreal /Goethe-Institute Tokyo /Intermedium2 From tbyfield at panix.com Tue Feb 26 12:23:21 2002 From: tbyfield at panix.com (t byfield) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 01:53:21 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] danny younger: ICANN - The Case for Replacing its Management Team Message-ID: <20020226065321.GA29389@panix.com> for those unfamiliar with ICANN, i'm sad to say that it would take a lot more time than i now have to bring you up to speed. but i do encourage you to do some catching up: http://tbtf.com/roving_reporter/ [start from the JDRP essay] http://www.icannwatch.org/ http://www.icannwatch.org/icann4beginners.php http://www.icannwatch.org/archive/muell.pdf in the meantime, this is a damned fine history of the issue at hand--by someone who has put an immense amount of time, money, and energy into trying to do some good. if he sounds bitter, he has very good reason. cheers, t - An Individual's Report: ICANN - The Case for Replacing its Management Team 25 February 2002 ______________________________________________________________________ To the Internet Community: Like M. Stuart Lynn, I have been involved in ICANN activities for just about a year. During that time, as a customer service representative for a leading domain name registrar, I have talked to thousands of individuals about domain name issues, ICANN, and problems encountered by the Internet user community. I have also had the honor to serve as Chair of the General Assembly of ICANN's Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO), and much like Mr. Lynn I feel comfortable enough with my state of knowledge and accumulated experience that I too seek to share my views with the Board and the community. Danny Younger History: The designation of ICANN as the entity responsible for the administrative and policy management of the Internet's naming and address allocation systems was the culmination of years of intensive discussions on optimum structure and core principles which first began to coalesce in the May 1996 document known as "draft-Postel". This initial proposal envisioned the creation of multiple, exclusive, competing top-level domain name registries which would be managed by the Internet Society (ISOC), a mass-membership consensus-based organization that served as the institutional home for the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). After a period of debate, Dr. Postel's initial plan did not manage to succeed in producing consensus within the Internet community. As Kent Crispin wrote: "No WG [Working Group] was formed. Jon never actively participated in the mailing lists supposedly discussing it. Even to an outsider like me who is very supportive, it does look like an "Old Boy Network" kind of thing." http://www.gtld-mou.org/gtld-discuss/mail-archive/00591.html >From early on it was apparent that a wide range of public input and due process were basic requirements that needed to be respected. Accordingly, the Internet Society (in conjunction with IANA, the World Intellectual Property organization (WIPO), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the Federal Networking Council (FNC)), decided to organize a team effort known as the International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC) which subsequently authored a more acceptable draft plan in December 1996. The IAHC draft introduced unique and thoughtful concepts for the evolution of DNS administration, proposing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that would have established, initially, seven new gTLDs to be operated on a nonexclusive basis by a consortium of new private domain name registrars called the Council of Registrars (CORE). In this proposal policy oversight would have been undertaken within a council composed of specified stakeholder groups. This draft, in due course, also failed to attain widespread acceptance, the proposal ultimately succumbing to the criticism that it was not sufficiently representative of the broader Internet community. The U.S. Government began to feel the growing pressure to change DNS management and soon thereafter acted (through its Department of Commerce and NTIA) to request public comment on the direction of U.S. policy with respect to DNS: Appropriate Principles, General/Organizational Framework Issues, Creation of New gTLDs, Policies for Registries, and Trademark Issues. This request was followed by the issuance of the Green Paper in January 1998. The Green Paper acknowledged the principle of broad user representation and proposed a 15-member Board structure for a new corporation consisting of three representatives of regional number registries (APNIC, ARIN, RIPE), two members designated by the IAB, two members representing domain name registries and registrars, a Chief Executive Officer, and seven members representing Internet users. Even at this early stage, the importance of an equal balance between user and provider interests was clearly recognized as an "appropriate principle". The Green Paper was soon after followed by the White Paper which contained official U.S. policy: * private-sector action is preferable to government control * policies will depend on input from Internet users * the private process should reflect bottom-up governance * structures should reflect the functional and geographic diversity of the Internet and its users * international participation in decision making is to be ensured Again, the emphasis on the role of Internet users is noted, as well as the need to respect the worldwide character of the Internet. Following the release of the White Paper, in the summer of 1998 an International Forum on the White paper (IFWP) was convened in order to design the bylaws of what would become ICANN, with the goal of translating the White Paper's broad principles into operational rules. Proposals were tendered by ORSC (among others) and by a set of participants that called themselves the Boston Working Group (BWG). This group proposed both bylaws and articles of incorporation that included membership provisions for the user community. The BWG found a foe in Jon Postel at IANA whose views were shared by others with close ties to ISOC. This IANA-led group opposed the concept of membership, opposed linking users and technical coordination, and produced a set of bylaws for a powerful closed corporation that need not answer to the demands of 'members' (as there would be no 'members'). Neither principles of separation, nor checks on its powers, would ever stand in the way of the vision of this oligarchy of engineers. This conflict between the two groups quickly came to the attention of the U.S. Department of Commerce. When bylaws were finally tendered by interim ICANN Chairman of the Board Esther Dyson, the NTIA was quick to express its concerns on many provisions, including the language pertaining to membership. Ms. Dyson replied: "The "membership" issue has been perhaps the most widely debated issue in the discussions that have occurred since the White paper was issued last June. In fact, the October 2 bylaws provided that there would be four separate membership organizations: three specialized Supporting Organizations that would each elect three Directors, and an At large membership that would elect nine directors... Some remain concerned that the Initial Board could simple amend the bylaws and remove membership provisions that we have just described above. We commit this will not happen." http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/ICANN111098.htm Spin: Thus begins the tale of the tangled web.... Since its inception, ICANN management has plotted a path to deceive, and has made every attempt within its power to squirm out of its promise to the U.S. Government to seat nine At-Large Directors, seeking to thoroughly deny the prospect of full user participation in the technical and policy coordination activities of the Corporation. The latest attempt is enshrined in the recent commentary of M. Stuart Lynn, ICANN's Chief Executive Officer who notes that "the single largest distraction from what should have been the central ICANN focus has been the many competing notions of an At Large membership." Mr. Lynn goes on to state: "I am now persuaded, after considerable reflection, that this concept was flawed from the beginning. The notion is noble but deeply unrealistic, and likely to generate more harm than good. We now have three years of very hard effort by a wide variety of people to arrive at some workable consensus solution - and there still is none. If a blue-ribbon committee - headed ably by a former Prime Minister of Sweden and United Nations Representative to Bosnia, and populated by highly respected and hardworking members - cannot generate a community consensus on this subject, it is likely there is no consensus to be found." Let us examine Mr. Lynn's argument and act to expose the blatant fraud being perpetrated... Prior to the last cycle of elections the ICANN Board first resolved to begin eliminating the prospect of user representation by limiting the number of At-Large Directors from nine to five, citing as justification for this reduction the need to evaluate the "considerable diversity of views concerning the purpose of and rationale for the At Large membership". http://www.icann.org/minutes/prelim-report-10mar00.htm After the election was successfully conducted and concluded, the Board next acted to further cripple the prospect of continued At-Large participation by launching a comprehensive "clean sheet study" of the concept, structure and processes relating to an "At Large" membership for the Corporation which would focus on "issues" such as "Whether the ICANN Board should include "At Large" Directors". This study perniciously re-opened a question that had long-been settled: Should Internet users have a role in technical coordination activities? The answer in 1998 was a definite "yes" as the Department of Commerce's recognition of ICANN was conditioned on its membership provisions, and the concept of membership was broadly supported in plans ranging from the draft-Postel to the IAHC draft and on through the IFWP process. Despite this, at its 2000 Yokohama meeting the ICANN board modified the bylaws to state: "previous decisions and conclusions regarding an 'At Large' membership will be informative but not determinative." The At-Large Study Committee was then convened to further the process of killing off the At-large. The composition of this "blue-ribbon committee" conveniently included no At-Large Director, no At-Large advocate, and no At-Large supporters. Instead, the ALSC was populated almost exclusively by members of the ICANN-ISOC inner circle (the former Chair of the ICANN Board Esther Dyson, the former vice-Chair of the ICANN Board Pindar Wong, ISOC-Benin Chapter president Pierre Dandjinou, ISOC-France Chairman Olivier Iteanu, ISOC-Mexico Board member Oscar Robles, and ICANN Staff member Denise Michel). The addition of members such as Carl Bildt, Thomas Niles, Ching-Yi Liu, and Charles Costello merely created the shallow veneer of respectability that was needed to shield the sham and simply served to better conceal the Committee's predetermined conclusions. The Final Report of the Committee at http://www.atlargestudy.org/final_report.shtml pointed to an exhaustive trail of outreach including Public Forum activities and sixteen sessions with members of the broader Internet community. While almost 100% of the participants on the Public Forum espoused the view that ICANN should honor its commitment to the U.S. Government to seat at least nine At-Large Directors, the Committee somehow managed to point to a "consensus" to reduce At-Large Directors from nine to six. This "consensus" apparently was predicated on comments obtained in their sixteen outreach sessions that for some reason were never formally recorded, never documented, nor supported by any public record. In short, after having spent $450,000 to perform a critical study, the public is offered no evidence of anything coming close to approximating scholarship, and certainly no evidence of even rudimentary methodology... the public is offered nothing other than the unsubstantiated and distorted claims of ICANN insiders bent on the destruction of the At-Large. Distortion is ICANN's and the Committee's primary tool. Rather than accepting the fact that the last ICANN election essentially worked (even with its minor flaws), the ALSC has concentrated on creating the impression that the Internet Community cannot arrive at a consensus on matters of implementation regarding election processes, membership criteria, funding, structure, or even in interest in an At-Large. To further this notion, the Committee has crafted propositions calculated to provoke an immediately hostile response (such as the pre-condition of domain name ownership for worldwide At-Large members and the notion that a fee must accompany the voting process). In such fashion, the Committee then contends that the Internet Community cannot come to an agreement and that "consensus" on elections still remains "elusive" (even though the Committee purports to see a value in having six At-large Directors). In turn, the Committee view (that they cannot generate a community consensus), is echoed by Stuart Lynn and the circle is now nearly complete. All that remains now is to destroy the opposition by branding them as "unrealistic" critics. As can be expected, practically every reasonable recommendation submitted to the ALSC to address the above-cited concerns has been met with a steady flow of curtly phrased scorn and derision, and even the comprehensive and scholarly efforts of the NGO and Academic ICANN Study (NAIS), funded by the prestigious Markle Foundation, are denigrated as the work of egalitarians by the former CEO of ICANN Mike Roberts. In short, a full-court press has been launched by ICANN insiders in a carefully crafted attempt to rid the ICANN of user representation at all costs. Messages to the Public Forum, revealing the lengths to which ICANN (and outside legal counsel Joe Sims) will go to eliminate the At-Large http://www.icannwatch.com/article.php?sid=554 mysteriously fail to appear in the ALSC forum archives soon after insider-favorite Kent Crispin takes on the role of Technical Systems manager, and the control of articulated dissent is complete. The U.S. Government has been deceived. ICANN's MoU with the DoC stipulates that ICANN will "Collaborate on the design, development, and testing of appropriate membership mechanisms that foster accountability to and representation of the global and functional diversity of the Internet and its users, within the structure of private- sector DNS management organization". It appears that this commitment will now only be honored in the breach as ICANN-IANA completes its efforts that it started on day one of its establishment to deny any degree of meaningful representation to Internet users. Mr. Lynn states: "Three years of effort have proven that a global online election of ICANN Board members by an entirely unknown and self-selected membership is not a workable solution to this problem." He further states: "For all these reasons, I have come to the conclusion that the concept of At Large membership elections from a self-selected pool of unknown voters is not just flawed, but fatally flawed, and that continued devotion of ICANN's very finite energy and resources down this path will very likely prevent the creation of an effective and viable institution." What could be more fitting for ICANN Management than to pass off a successful election that produced a fine crop of At-large Directors as a monumental failure, and to lay all the blame for ICANN's woes at the feet of the yet unborn At-Large? This is pure and unadulterated pursuit of total control by oligarchy at the expense of the user-interest, and a vicious slap in the face of public policy as articulated by the U.S. Government. The ICANN has proven that it did not provide a "clean sheet" solely to study the At-Large, it was provided only as a shroud in which to bury the concerns of Internet users. Three years of effort, on the wrong path, by the wrong Management, has led us to our current state-of-affairs. It's time to replace those that have forsaken the principles upon which the Internet was built; it's time to rid ourselves of those that deny the role of the Internet user and to designate replacements before the DoC elects to designate a "successor agency" to ICANN. The Case for Replacing Management: Mr. Lynn notes that "ICANN is overburdened with process, and at the same time is underfunded and understaffed." This statement alone bears sufficient testimony to the need to replace our current management team (as we have placed the health of the Corporation, and the stability of the DNS, solely within their charge and we are now met with pathetic excuses rather than the promise of results). Mr. Lynn goes on to state: "ICANN in its current form has not become the effective steward of the global Internet's naming and address allocation systems as conceived by its founders. Perhaps even more importantly, the passage of time has not increased the confidence that it can meet its original expectations and hopes." A tacit acknowledgement of failure does little to engender confidence in one's management, especially when weak rationalizations are offered to justify the sad state of affairs: "I have come to the conclusion that the original concept of a purely private sector body, based on consensus and consent, has been shown to be impractical." Concepts of consensus and consent are not at the root of ICANN's difficulties, contrariwise it is the failure to even recognize or accept consensus that has fatally poisoned the ICANN well. The refusal to accept the principle of consensus, a core value that has characterized the bottom-up development of the Internet to date, has marred the proper development of ICANN since the early days of the IFWP controversies. Continuing through the period of the renegotiation of the VeriSign contract (wherein the uniform consensus of the entirety of the DNSO was summarily dismissed by the ICANN Board), we have arrived at a point where single-minded control by ICANN insiders is now deemed to be the only salvation for an organization that claims to have suffered from the "distractions" of Internet user input. Let's evaluate these distractions on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Lynn argues that "the fact that many of those critical to global coordination are still not willing to participate fully and effectively in the ICANN process is strong evidence" that the concept of consensus and consent has been shown to be impractical. Those that have been critical of global coordination, most notably members of the alternate root community, have been hard pressed to express any willingness to participate in the ICANN process owing to the incessantly constant barrage of attacks that have been launched by Mr. Lynn and his associates (and which reached the height of confrontational posturing in the ICP-3 document now enshrined as official policy: http://www.icann.org/icp/icp-3.htm ). This draft on the Unique and Authoritative Root was, in typical ICANN fashion, issued without the necessary bottom-up process, without input from the DNSO, without opportunity for informed public comment, and without participation by ICANN's Board. In short, it was a product of ICANN Staff whose goal was to malign, to the greatest degree possible, the efforts of New.net and others that stood in opposition to the views of ICANN insiders. This document succeeded only in producing an exchange of legal correspondence in which the attorneys for New.net insisted that "ICANN publicly retract its recent defamatory and libelous statements, refrain from interfering with New.net's business relationships, and avoid taking inappropriate actions to discourage competition." http://www.icann.org/correspondence/schecter-letter-to-icann-16jul01.h tm Admittedly, it is difficult to be willing to participate fully and effectively in the ICANN process in the face of such hostility, but the folks at New.net respected the consensus process and nonetheless continued to make valiant attempts to participate at ICANN plenary sessions. Their subsequent offer to sponsor the session of the DNSO General Assembly was a clear sign of their commitment to an open and forthcoming discussion of the issues, yet as was to be expected, their generosity was met by the cold-hearted refusal of ICANN staff to allow them to even participate as a sponsor. Mr. Lynn and his Staff have similarly treated the ccTLD community with equal disdain. Mr. Lynn chooses to articulate the view that "On the operational side, ICANN has performed the IANA address allocation and protocol numbering functions efficiently." Nothing could be further from the truth. The Marina del Rey Communiqué of the ccTLD Support Organization (in formation) states: * Several managers confirmed there remained problems with having change requests attended to in a timely fashion. This represents a potential security problem. * European managers reported that IANA staff had confirmed to a meeting in Slovenia on 21/22 September that no re-delegations were going to occur without a contract between ICANN and the ccTLD, even if the re-delegation de facto already has been taken place. * This appears to be in breach of the conditions under which IANA operates, and which ICANN has assumed. It may also be an abuse of monopoly. * Managers noted with disappointment the statement unilaterally rejecting the ccTLD contract which was issued by the CEO, Stuart Lynn to the meeting. No reasons were provided. * He said that ICANN will never sign a contract for services. http://www.wwtld.org/communique/20011112.ccTLDMDR-communique.html This heavy-handed approach was even questioned on three consecutive occasions by Director Blokzijl at the Marina del Rey session who asked: "Negotiations use service level and change approval to get contracts signed?!! Or IANA provides the best service possible to all?!" http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/mdr2001/archive/scribe-bod-111501b. html When an organization has to result to blackmail to impose its will upon a community of users, it is a clear sign that the organization is on the wrong path and that the current management team must be expelled as quickly as possible. The failure is not in the consensus and consent process... if anything, it has been vindicated. All but two of the 243 ccTLDs have decided to forgo a contract with ICANN in favor of a service agreement thereby expressing the broadly-held consensus view of the world community that one should get what one pays for, and that mandated payments with no relationship to the level of service provided amount to nothing more than extortion. Mr. Lynn threatens that "ICANN could, in theory, recommend that a particular ccTLD be redelegated to a cooperating administrator, and if the US Government accepted that recommendation, non-cooperating ccTLD administrators would be replaced." To even publicly express such a revolting option well demonstrates the depth to which ICANN has sunk in its pursuit of global Internet domination. This is not the Team that should lead Internet policy development into the future. Mr. Lynn and ICANN Staff have also encountered expected difficulties attempting to force contracts down the throat of independent root name server operators, noting that all they really gain in return is "unwanted visibility and the attendant possibility of nuisance litigation". Even so, Mr. Lynn states: "we will ultimately need a more definitive and binding set of arrangements with the current and any future root name server operators". To realize this goal, Mr. Lynn has proposed that "we must move to a system where the root server operators are compensated for their critical services." Simply put, if they won't sign on the dotted line... pay them off to obtain their compliance. The approach taken Mr. Lynn and Staff is that only contracts will suffice to get the job done. Instead of functioning as an Internet coordinator, they intend to create a behemoth that through contractual mechanisms finally emerges as an Internet "regulator". This rapid movement to become a global Juggernaut that crushes all in its path may be the vision of ICANN insiders, but it is not the direction envisioned by the user community or by those that accorded ICANN the status as the entity charged with technical coordination of the DNS. Early participants in the efforts to structure a coordinating entity included the Internet Address Registries. These registries have been criticized by Mr. Lynn because they still will not accede to finalizing contracts that " have been heavily negotiated over the last two years". As most view coordination activities in a different light than jackbooted attempts to impose authority, it is understandable that these registries seek to "opt out of ICANN policies with which they do not agree" and choose to reserve the right to take "the ultimate step of terminating the agreements". Equally clear is that as institutions they have the right to negotiate terms of payment to ICANN and to establish provisions regarding "the proportion of ICANN's funding requirements that the address registries will provide under those agreements". Mr. Lynn bewails the fact that major users, ISPs, and backbone providers have steadfastly refused to participate in the ICANN process, stating: "The simple fact is that a private sector process cannot effectively function if major and important elements of the private sector do not participate productively in that process." Mr. Lynn seeks to conveniently overlook the fact that ICANN's Business Constituency is heavily populated by Telecommunications firms, that ICANN has a constituency that represents the interests of ISPs and Connectivity Providers, and that backbone providers such as Cisco and many others actively support efforts within the Protocol Supporting Organization by way of hefty contributions to the Internet Engineering Task Force -- note the organizations listed as Platinum contributors: http://www.isoc.org/isoc/membership/platinum.shtml Mr. Lynn's real concern is not "participation" by these entities, rather it is that funding is not going "directly" to ICANN. Mr. Lynn notes that "ICANN is very grateful to those organizations that provided the funding that was so critical to ICANN's early survival, but outside of those registries and registrars who are contractually committed, broad participation [read this as "cash"] by those commercial entities that most depend on a reliable Internet has not been forthcoming." The heart of Mr. Lynn's dilemma stems from the fact that he has not been able to bully the rest of the world into contributing to ICANN's coffers, and that the master plan to transition to global "regulation" cannot be accomplished without such revenues. Accordingly, ICANN Staff has now embarked upon a plan to solicit funds from the world's national governments. To the same degree that the Postel faction believed they would escape the actual oversight of the California Attorney General, this same group now believes that they can ingratiate themselves with governments and continue to rule in their characteristically heavy-handed fashion without undue inconvenience. Mr. Lynn cites the importance of "core values" such as "openness and transparency" (which we all know have only rarely been honored) and argues that "it makes little difference whether ICANN is transparent, whether it has appropriate appeal and reconsideration procedures, whether ordinary users have a voice, or whether the Board meetings are public or private" if national governments are not active participants in the ICANN process. Having chosen to alienate every other possible participant in the Internet community, including national TLD managers, it is no wonder that when cooperation has failed to materialize the ICANN staff has had no other choice than to propose soliciting aid from national governments. The failure is not on the part of the rest of the Internet world... the At-Large user community, the alternate root community, the ccTLDs, the root name server operators, the address registries, the major users, the ISPs and backbone providers, and the national governments are not responsible for the catastrophe that ICANN has become... the mess that we are in is wholly attributable to the machinations of ICANN Staff that have forsaken the principles delineated by the U.S. Government in its White Paper. This staff must be replaced if the world is to have the Internet coordinating entity it was promised. ICANN Needs Significant Structural Reform: Like Mr. Lynn, I too have argued that ICANN needs reform: deep, meaningful, structural reform... but unlike Mr. Lynn I choose to base it upon a clearheaded understanding of U.S. policy principles: * consensus must be respected * governmental intrusion into the private-sector is to be as minimal as possible * all policies will rely on input from Internet users * bottom-up governance should characterize the private process * mechanisms to ensure international participation of Internet users in decision making must be established * as the choice of ICANN as the entity assigned with the task of Internet technical coordination was conditioned on membership provisions, membership must be accorded If present management is not capable of honoring these principles, then we must act to "throw the bums out" and then attend to meaningful structural reform. With respect to reform initiatives, it is no secret that governments have finally become aware of the poor quality of policy advice being tendered to the ICANN Board (in particular by the Names Council of the DNSO) and have started acting to express their discontent. This reality has led to the formation of a joint Board-Government Committee known as the .info Country Names Discussion Group (ICNG) which at least allowed government participants in the ICANN process to feel that their concerns might be properly considered. That views have not been properly considered by the DNSO bears ongoing testimony to the failure of ICANN's current management. A review process was initiated well over a year ago of the DNSO organization. The public record of the Review Working Group http://www.dnso.org/wgroups/wg-review/Arc02/maillist.html clearly documents a consensus view that the horrific condition of the DNSO required either the immediate abolition of the constituency (special interest group) structure or enhanced participation by other constituent groups (such as individuals). Not only were these recommendations ignored by the ICANN Board, but it chose to not even comment when the Names Council peremptorily terminated the life of the Working Group. A dysfunctional DNSO has served the needs of ICANN staff. In the absence of policy-recommending activities, Staff is at liberty to act without encumbrance and may continue to dominate the decision-making process at the Board level. As in these circumstances only Staff commentaries make it to the eyes of the Board for evaluation, there are none to thwart the dominance of their views. The Names Council of the DNSO has been propped up by Mr. Lynn and ICANN staff to the exclusion of other participants in the DNSO, namely the General Assembly (essentially a collection of Internet users that convene in a Public Forum environment to discuss domain name issues). In view of Mr. Lynn's low regard for the Internet user and the At-large community, it is not surprising to note how often he and Mr. Louis Touton (our General Counsel) have ignored the GA. What is called for is a comprehensive reform that acknowledges the consensus view: * Special Interest Groups (constituencies) cannot be structured within a policy-recommending body in a fashion that routinely allows them to "outvote" members representing the user interest, and they can no longer be allowed to stifle discussions on issues of concern to the user community * The voice of users (individuals, small business, NGOs, etc.) must be allowed a channel by which commentary may flow to the Board. * The user interest must be equitably balanced against competing interests A Reformed ICANN Can Be Successful Based on the experience of the last three years and my own focus on ICANN over the last year, I am convinced that a reformed ICANN can be successful - if we replace the current ICANN Staff, reform our institutional foundations to allow for the user voice, and eliminate those Directors that stand in the way of necessary reform. As stated by Mr. Lynn, "ICANN's mission is stewardship and operational stability, not the defense of its existence or the preservation of the status quo." Having said that, it is essential to state unambiguously that which is within ICANN's scope. According to our MoU with the U.S. Department of Commerce, our scope is defined by a core group of tasks and by the tacit admission that this MoU "may be amended at any time by mutual agreement of the parties." ICANN is not locked into an inordinately narrow mission that allows for no prospect of expansion to accommodate the needs of the broader user community. Instead the concerns of the At-large may find expression in an ever-changing, adaptive ICANN mission. In contrast to Mr. Lynn's sarcastic view that "the core ICANN mission includes no mandate to innovate new institutions of global democracy", our mission does include the need to: "Collaborate on the design, development, and testing of appropriate membership mechanisms that foster accountability to and representation of the global and functional diversity of the Internet and its users, within the structure of private- sector DNS management organization." http://www.icann.org/general/icann-mou-25nov98.htm Unlike Mr. Lynn, I am not prepared to denounce membership mechanisms for users, nor am I prepared to accept a structural model that posits existence within a corporation that has no members. I seek that which was promised, and that which the U.S. Government sanctified in its acceptance of ICANN as the entity to coordinate the DNS -- true membership with all its accordant rights and privileges. For three years folks have fought against the slew of diversions promulgated by ICANN Staff that sought to undermine our tight focus on the right to user participation in the technical management of the Internet. These diversions have been and will continue to be a significant impediment to accomplishing the policy objectives delineated by the White Paper unless we undertake a powerful reform of ICANN's structure and operations, and a committed refocus on the role of the Internet user. Now is the time to invoke Department of Commerce oversight, and to give ICANN one last chance to clean house. Core Principles should be Re-articulated Central to the ICANN experiment - and integral to its success - are core principles of openness and broad participation within a consensus process. I believe strongly in those values, and aim to strengthen them in a reformed ICANN. As Mr. Lynn stated: "ICANN can and should do much better in achieving transparency, enabling meaningful participation, and reaching out to involve the global diversity of the Internet". The difference between us is that I would give more than lip-service to such principles. A Modified Structure Is Necessary What is needed at this stage if ICANN is to carry out its mission is a modification of its current structure that gives heed to the consensus views of the community. As such, this new structure will require a strong At-Large component, a restructured DNSO, and a Board balanced in a manner that allows all constituent elements to feel that they are adequately represented at Board level. I propose the following: * As there have been no complaints regarding either the ASO or the PSO, I would not make any changes -- each would retain their three seats on the Board * We have five geographic regions that have successfully elected five competent and respected At-Large Directors -- each region will continue to elect such Directors * Each constituent of the producer community (gTLDs, registrars, ccTLDs) should have a seat on the Board * Every other major constituency with a sizable membership roster (such as the NCDNHC and the membership of the General Assembly) should have its own Director on the Board. * Those constituencies that have not attained a sizable membership roster (BC,ISP,IP) should share one seat * The Board (by a two-thirds vote) should have the right to designate a "public servant" to sit on the Board at their discretion * The President/CEO retains his seat The public interest is served by having on the ICANN Board five At-Large Directors, one Director from the Non-Com world, one Director representing the individuals in the General Assembly, one duly voted upon "Public Servant", and by way of whatever public interest may be found within the Business and Intellectual Property communities. In short, 8+ seats. * To solve the problems of the DNSO, the Names Council would be eliminated and all DNSO participants would enjoy the benefit of a consensus based forum environment within the Assembly -- this would lend itself to a full and unhindered discussion of vital issues free from the burdens imposed by the procedural morass that characterized the Council * ICANN would be reconstituted as a true membership organization as envisioned in the IFWP process * Current ICANN Staff would be replaced * The ALM would self organize to attend to its own needs (having received the benefit of seed funding and a portion of those registration fees already tendered to registrars and registries by the user community) Rather than having the Monarch abolish the House of Commons so that his reign may be better propped up by the House of Lords, which seems to be what Mr. Lynn is proposing, I would act to reinvigorate the public voice, and eliminate those that cast a stench of corruption over the ICANN process. Solving the Funding Issue The current ICANN Budget calls for registries and registrars to contribute $4,459,000 based on the registration of 39,114,000 domain names. http://www.icann.org/financials/budget-fy01-02-04jun01.htm By my math this amounts to 11.4 cents per domain name. Knowing that this 11.4 cents is my money anyway, tendered as part of what may have been a $35 payment to a leading domain name registrar, I am not overly concerned that ICANN is "charging too much", as surely the registrars and registries are making a sufficient profit on my money. If ICANN needs additional funds (and I am not arguing that it does), it has my permission as an Internet user to charge the registrars and registries a slightly higher amount... somehow I don't think that having profited through the benefit of a stable coordinated Internet these registrars and registries would begrudge a few more pennies of what is after all "our money". In Conclusion: While I respect what appears to be a sincere (though misguided) attempt by Mr. Lynn to propose a new way forward, I believe that he has fallen victim to the control-mentality malaise that infests the ICANN-IANA offices, and has been unduly influenced by "policy advisors" that should similarly have no further role in our organization. At this point in time, Mr. Lynn is no longer suited to lead the ICANN forward, and in my view should be dismissed along with several others on the ICANN Staff. The ICANN can be reformed if it is within the collective will of the Board to do so. If not, perhaps the DoC will be justified in choosing a successor agency. An outright replacement by the ICANN II structure envisioned by Mr. Lynn is not the best way forward; it is a violation of every principle held dear by the Internet community. We will wait and see how the Board reacts. My advice... Keep your keyboard ready... you may be soon writing at length to our representatives in the U.S. Government. ______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ From patrice at xs4all.nl Wed Feb 27 14:24:08 2002 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 09:54:08 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Toe Rings, Rave Music and India/Goa - just for Israelis (fwd) Message-ID: <20020227095408.D22266@xs4all.nl> ----- Forwarded message from Goa Desc ----- Subject: Toe Rings, Rave Music and India (Just for Israelis) From: Goa Desc (by way of FREDERICK NORONHA ) Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 00:40:45 +0530 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/07/international/asia/07GOA.html?ex=1014105243 &ei=1&en=e6bc97114d54d46d February 7, 2002 ANJUNA BEACH JOURNAL Toe Rings, Rave Music and India (Just for Israelis) By SOMINI SENGUPTA ANJUNA BEACH, India Hebrew-language banners flutter improbably in the sea breeze here while a poster of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher sage from Brooklyn, keeps a watchful eye on the youngsters on their way to the next full-moon trance party on the beach. Goa, a onetime Portuguese colony on this sliver of India's west coast, is now a shrine on the Israeli ravers' pilgrimage through India the birthplace of the mind-numbing electronic dance music called Goa trance. For Israelis craving an escape from the pressure of home, often after a prolonged stint in the army, India has become the refuge of choice. Judging by the accounts of Israelie, the contrast between home and here could not be more stark. An explosion usually signals fireworks in the sky. The only army you are likely to see is that of enterprising peddlers hawking toe rings and sarongs on the beach, often in passable Hebrew. One recent day, the revelers here on Israeli Beach, as the non-Israelis call it, were busy hoisting a giant glow-in-the-dark mushroom for a trance party scheduled to get under way at midnight. Never mind the troubles that have kept the well-heeled Western tourists from the Indian subcontinent. The Israelis, used to violence at home, are unfazed. "The more trouble there is, the more we come," said Shira Agasi, a serious, bespectacled woman of 21 who had traversed the Israeli circuit in India, from Manali in the north to Varanasi in the east to here, since finishing a two-year stint in the intelligence division of the Israeli Air Force. "I hope we can bring it to Israel, this atmosphere," her friend Riki Levy, 20, added wistfully, staring at the sea, engulfed in twilight indigo. The end of the cold war opened diplomatic relations between India and Israel barely 10 years ago. Since then the two countries have expanded trade ties and shared intelligence. Today a substantial portion of India's military budget is spent on Israeli arms and military training. A common enemy, Islamic radicalism, helps cement bonds. Meanwhile, the unofficial side of these bilateral ties flowers in seaside villages like this one. In 2000 more than 60,000 Israelis visited India, according to the Israeli consul general in Bombay, Dov Steinberg. While no exact figures are available on how many of them come to Goa, word of mouth on the young Israeli travel circuit and the range of services that cater to their needs, from falafel at the restaurants to rooms for as low as $4 a night, makes Goa a frequent stop. for many. So for the last several years they have flocked to these beaches, most of them fresh from the frazzle of military service, lured by the notion that the sea and the mysteries of India and fat chillum pipes stuffed with hashish will offer answers to life's big questions. A handful have been arrested on drug charges and sentenced to the local jail. "There's a fantasy: you think here you'll know what you want to do," is how Lior Naveh, 25, a native of the Tel Aviv area, put it as he watched the sun set before clambering up a hill to a rave at the famous Nine Bar, a sand pit with fake caves serving as the D.J.'s booth. But, he added, "I still don't know what I want to do." So powerfully has India gripped the Israeli imagination that it has figured in television serials, as the subject of at least one recent novel, A. B. Yehoshua's "Return to India," and in a film based on the novel, to be released soon. Published in 1994 in Israel, the novel titled "Open Heart" in its English translation tells the story of an Israeli doctor who travels to India to rescue a young compatriot who has fallen ill. The doctor, in turn, falls under the spell of Indian mysticism. Jews have a long history in India. There is a 400-year-old synagogue in Cochin, an overnight train ride from Goa, and as many Indians say with great pride, theirs is one of the few nations where Jews have not been persecuted. But the Israeli fascination with this place has to do with something else. To most Israelis, Mr. Yehoshua argued, India represents a country of many cultures and beliefs, a place where you are not under pressure all the time. The tourists generally do not come here to ride the packed trains of Bombay or reflect on the communal riots that litter this country's past. Young Israelis come armed with lessons on how to get by in Goa, from the price of an auto-rickshaw ride to how much to haggle on the price of a hand-embroidered handbag to the names of clubs. "We knew exactly about this place when we were in Israel," Ms. Agasi said. Escape it might be, but some things do not change. Friday evenings find diners at many restaurants in the area lighting a candle, reciting a Sabbath prayer. Bumper stickers and posters scattered all over Anjuna hawk the virtues of one Jewish sect or another. At the small shops that offer Internet access, the latest news from Israel is always a click away. When word spreads through the grapevine, as it usually does these days, of violence back home, a steady stream of Israelis pours into the long-distance telephone booths to call home. ======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 252660 mailto:goadesc at goatelecom.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy ======================================= ----- End forwarded message ----- k From kavising at bol.net.in Wed Feb 27 14:40:00 2002 From: kavising at bol.net.in (Kavita Singh) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 14:40:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU Message-ID: <01C1BF9C.AA121640@default> Dear all, Jawharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, has recently formed a School of Arts and Aesthetics. The School is expected to offer MA, MPhil and PhD instruction from July 2003. The School will offer the opportunity for theoretical and interdisiplinary study of all aspects of visual culture and performance studies. Currently, four Centres are envisaged for this School: a Centre for Visual Arts, a Centre for Performance Studies, a Centre for Film and Media Studies, and a Centre for the Study of Cultural Policy. The Centre for Visual Arts will offer courses in art history, art theory, and aesthetics. The Centre for Performance Studies will offer courses on the history, politics and theory of theatre, music and dance. The Centre for Film and Media Studies will offer courses on the history of cinema, television, mass culture and emergent new-media art. The Centre for the Study of Cultural Policy will support research and teaching in the relationship between art and the state, in various periods and locales. Each Centre will offer a number of optional courses around specific issues and themes, and the School as a whole will collaborate on developing a number of interdisciplinary courses. Associated Visiting Professorship and Artist Residency programmes will also, it is hoped, be part of the School. From abirbazaz at rediffmail.com Thu Feb 28 13:57:51 2002 From: abirbazaz at rediffmail.com (abir bazaz) Date: 28 Feb 2002 08:27:51 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Mullahs and Heretics Message-ID: <20020228082751.19893.qmail@mailweb13.rediffmail.com> London Review of Books From Volume 24 Number 3 Mullahs and Heretics Tariq Ali I never believed in God, not even between the ages of six and ten, when I was an agnostic. This unbelief was instinctive. I was sure there was nothing else out there but space. It could have been my lack of imagination. In the jasmine-scented summer nights, long before mosques were allowed to use loudspeakers, it was enough to savour the silence, look up at the exquisitely lit sky, count the shooting stars and fall asleep. The early morning call of the muezzin was a pleasant alarm-clock. There were many advantages in being an unbeliever. Threatened with divine sanctions by family retainers, cousins or elderly relatives - 'If you do that Allah will be angry' or 'If you don't do this Allah will punish you' - I was unmoved. Let him do his worst, I used to tell myself, but he never did, and that reinforced my belief in his non-existence. My parents, too, were non-believers. So were most of their close friends. Religion played a tiny part in our Lahore household. In the second half of the last century, a large proportion of educated Muslims had embraced modernity. Old habits persisted, nonetheless: the would-be virtuous made their ablutions and sloped off to Friday prayers. Some fasted for a few days each year, usually just before the new moon marking the end of Ramadan. I doubt whether more than a quarter of the population in the cities fasted for a whole month. Café life continued unabated. Many claimed that they had fasted so as to take advantage of the free food doled out at the end of each fasting day by the mosques or the kitchens of the wealthy. In the countryside fewer still fasted, since outdoor work was difficult without sustenance, and especially without water when Ramadan fell during the summer months. Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, was celebrated by everyone. One day, I think in the autumn of 1956 when I was 12, I was eavesdropping on an after-dinner conversation at home. My sister, assorted cousins and I had been asked nicely to occupy ourselves elsewhere. Obediently, we moved to an adjoining room, but then listened, giggling, to a particularly raucous, wooden-headed aunt and a bony uncle berating my parents in loud whispers: 'We know what you're like . . . we know you're unbelievers, but these children should be given a chance . . . They must be taught their religion.' The giggles were premature. A few months later a tutor was hired to teach me the Koran and Islamic history. 'You live here,' my father said. 'You should study the texts. You should know our history. Later you may do as you wish. Even if you reject everything, it's always better to know what it is that one is rejecting.' Sensible enough advice, but regarded by me at the time as hypocritical and a betrayal. How often had I heard talk of superstitious idiots, often relatives, who worshipped a God they didn't have the brains to doubt? Now I was being forced to study religion. I was determined to sabotage the process. It didn't occur to me at the time that my father's decision may have had something to do with an episode from his own life. In 1928, aged 12, he had accompanied his mother and his old wet-nurse (my grandmother's most trusted maid) on the pilgrimage to perform the hajj ceremony. Women, then as now, could visit Mecca only if they were accompanied by a male more than 12 years old. The older men flatly refused to go. My father, as the youngest male in the family, wasn't given a choice. His older brother, the most religious member of the family, never let him forget the pilgrimage: his letters to my father always arrived with the prefix 'al-Haj' ('pilgrim') attached to the name, a cause for much merriment at teatime. Decades later, when the pores of the Saudi elite were sweating petro-dollars, my father would remember the poverty he had seen in the Hijaz and recall the tales of non-Arab pilgrims who had been robbed on the road to Mecca. In the pre-oil period, the annual pilgrimage had been a major source of income for the locals, who would often augment their meagre earnings with well-organised raids on pilgrims' lodgings. The ceremony itself requires that the pilgrim come clothed in a simple white sheet and nothing else. All valuables have to be left behind and local gangs became especially adept at stealing watches and gold. Soon, the more experienced pilgrims realised that the 'pure souls' of Mecca weren't above thieving. They began to take precautions, and a war of wits ensued. Several years after the trip to the Holy Land my father became an orthodox Communist and remained one for the rest of his life. Moscow was now his Mecca. Perhaps he thought that immersing me in religion at a young age might result in a similar transformation. I like to think that this was his real motive, and that he wasn't pandering to the more dim-witted members of our family. I came to admire my father for breaking away from what he described as 'the emptiness of the feudal world'.[1] Since I did not read Arabic, I could learn the Koran only by rote. My tutor, Nizam Din, arrived on the appointed day and thanks to his heroic efforts, I can at least recite the lines from the opening of the Koran - 'Alif, lam, mim . . .' - followed by the crucial: 'This book is not to be doubted.' Nizam Din, to my great delight, was not deeply religious. From his late teens to his late twenties, he had worn a beard. But by 1940 he'd shaved it off, deserted religion for the anti-imperialist cause and dedicated himself to left-wing politics. Like many others he had served a spell in a colonial prison and been further radicalised. Truth, he would say, was a very powerful concept in the Koran, but it had never been translated into practical life because the mullahs had destroyed Islam. Nizam Din soon realised that I was bored by learning Koranic verses and we started to spend the allotted hour discussing history: the nationalist struggle against British imperialism, the origins of terrorism in Bengal and the Punjab, and the story of the Sikh terrorist Bhagat Singh, who had thrown a bomb in the Punjab Legislative Assembly to protest against repressive legislation and the 1919 massacre of Jallianwallah Bagh. Once imprisoned, he had refused to plead for mercy, but renounced terrorism as a tactic and moved closer to traditional Marxism. He was tried in secret and executed by the British in the Central Jail in Lahore, a 15-minute walk from where Nizam Din was telling me the story. 'If he had lived,' Nizam Din used to say, 'he would have become a leader the British really feared. And look at us now. Just because he was a Sikh, we haven't even marked his martyrdom with a monument.' Nizam Din remembered the good times when all the villages in what was now Pakistan had Hindu and Sikh inhabitants; many of his non-Muslim friends had now left for India. 'They are pygmies,' he would say of Pakistan's politicians. 'Do you understand what I'm saying, Tariqji? Pygmies! Look at India. Observe the difference. Gandhi was a giant. Jawaharlal Nehru is a giant.' Over the years I learned far more about history, p0litics and everyday life from Nizam Din than I ever learned at school. But his failure to interest me in religion had been noted. A young maternal uncle, who had grown a beard at an early age, volunteered to take on the task. His weekly visits to our house, which coincided with my return from school, irritated me greatly. We would pace the garden while, in unctuous tones, he related a version of Islamic history which, like him, was unconvincing and dull. There were endless tales of heroism, with the Prophet raised to the stature of a divinity, and a punitive Allah. As he droned on, I would watch the kites flying and tangling with each other in the afternoon sky, mentally replay a lost game of marbles, or look forward to the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies. Anything but religion. After a few weeks he, too, gave up, announcing that my unbeliever's inheritance was too strong. During the summer months, when the heat in the plains became unbearable, we would flee to the Himalayan foothills, to Nathiagali, then a tiny, isolated hill resort perched on a ridge in a thick pine forest and overlooked by the peaks. Here, in a relaxed atmosphere with almost no social restrictions, I met Pashtun boys and girls from the frontier towns of Peshawar and Mardan, and children from Lahore whom I rarely saw during the winter became summer friends. I acquired a taste for freedom. We had favourite hiding places: mysterious cemeteries where the tombstones had English names on them (many had died young) and a deserted Gothic church that had been charred by lightning. We also explored the many burned houses. How were they burned? I would ask the locals. Back would come the casual reply. 'They belonged to Hindus and Sikhs. Our fathers and uncles burned them.' Why? 'So they could never come back, of course.' Why? 'Because we are now Pakistan. Their home is India.' Why, I persisted, when they had lived here for centuries, just like your families, and spoke the same language, even if they worshipped different gods? The only reply was a shrug. It was strange to think that Hindus and Sikhs had been here, had been killed in the villages in the valleys below. In the tribal areas - the no-man's-land between Afghanistan and Pakistan - quite a few Hindus stayed on, protected by tribal codes. The same was true in Afghanistan itself (till the mujahedin and the Taliban arrived). One of my favourite spots in Nathiagali lay between two giant oaks. From here one could watch the sun set on Nanga Parbat. The snow covering the peak would turn orange, then crimson, bathing the entire valley in its light. Here we would breathe the air from China, gaze in the direction of Kashmir and marvel at the moon. Given all this, why would one need a multi-layered heaven, let alone the seventh layer that belonged to us alone - the Islamic paradise? One day, to my horror, my mother informed me that a mullah from a neighbouring mountain village had been hired to make sure I completed my study of the Koran. She had pre-empted all my objections. He would explain what each verse meant. My summer was about to be wrecked. I moaned, groaned, protested, pleaded and tantrumed. To no avail. My friends were sympathetic, but powerless: most of them had undergone the same ritual. Mullahs, especially the rural variety, were objects of ridicule, widely regarded as dishonest, hypocritical and lazy. It was generally believed that they had grown beards and chosen this path not out of spiritual fervour, but in order to earn a crust. Unless attached to a mosque, they depended on voluntary contributions, tuition fees and free meals. The jokes about them mostly concerned their sexual appetites; in particular, a penchant for boys below a certain age. The fictional mullah of the storytellers and puppet-shows who travelled from village to village was a greedy and lustful arch-villain; he used religion to pursue his desires and ambitions. He humiliated and cheated the poor peasants, while toadying to landlords and potentates. On the dreaded day, the mullah arrived and, after eating a hearty lunch, was introduced to me by our family retainer, Khuda Baksh ('God Bless'), who had served in my grandfather's household and because of his status and age enjoyed a familiarity denied to other servants. God Bless was bearded, a staunch believer in the primacy of Islam, and said his prayers and fasted regularly. He was, however, deeply hostile to the mullahs, whom he regarded as pilferers, perverts and parasites. He smiled as the mullah, a man of medium height in his late fifties, exchanged greetings with me. We took our seats round a garden table placed to catch the warming sun. The afternoon chorus was in full flow. The air smelled of sun-roasted pine needles and wild strawberries. When the mullah began to speak I noticed he was nearly toothless. The rhymed verse at once lost its magic. The few false teeth he had wobbled. I began to wonder if it would happen, and then it did: he became so excited with fake emotion that the false teeth dropped out onto the table. He smiled, picked them up and put them back in his mouth. At first, I managed to restrain myself, but then I heard a suppressed giggle from the veranda and made the mistake of turning round. God Bless, who had stationed himself behind a large rhododendron to eavesdrop on the lesson, was choking with silent laughter. I excused myself and rushed indoors. The following week, God Bless dared me to ask the mullah a question before the lesson began. 'Were your false teeth supplied by the local butcher?' I enquired with an innocent expression, in an ultra-polite voice. The mullah asked me to leave: he wished to see my mother alone. A few minutes later he, too, left, never to return. Later that day he was sent an envelope full of money to compensate him for my insolence. God Bless and I celebrated his departure in the bazaar café with mountain tea and home-made biscuits. My religious studies ended there. My only duty was to substitute for my father once a year and accompany the male servants to Eid prayers at the mosque, a painless enough task. Some years later, when I came to Britain to study, the first group of people I met were hard-core rationalists. I might have missed the Humanist Group's stall at the Fresher's Fair had it not been for a spotty Irishman, dressed in a faded maroon corduroy jacket, with a mop of untidy dark brown hair, standing on a table and in a melodious, slightly breathless voice shouting: 'Down with God!' When he saw me staring, he smiled and added 'and Allah' to the refrain. I joined on the spot and was immediately roped into becoming the Humanist rep at my college. Some time afterwards when I asked how he had known I was of Muslim origin rather than a Hindu or a Zoroastrian, he replied that his chant only affected Muslims and Catholics. Hindus, Sikhs and Protestants ignored him completely. My knowledge of Islamic history remained slender and, as the years progressed, Pakistan regressed. Islamic studies were made compulsory in the 1970s, but children were given only a tiny sprinkling of history on a foundation of fairytales and mythology. My interest in Islam lay dormant till the Third Oil War in 1990.[2] The Second Oil War in 1967 had seen Israel, backed by the West, inflict a severe defeat on Arab nationalism, one from which it never really recovered. The 1990 war was accompanied in the West by a wave of crude anti-Arab propaganda. The level of ignorance displayed by most pundits and politicians distressed me, and I began to ask myself questions which, until then, had seemed barely relevant. Why had Islam not undergone a Reformation? Why had the Ottoman Empire not been touched by the Enlightenment? I began to study Islamic history, and later travelled to the regions where it had been made, especially those in which its clashes with Christendom had taken place. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all began as versions of what we would today describe as political movements. They were credible belief-systems which aimed to make it easier to resist imperial oppression, to unite a disparate people, or both. If we look at early Islam in this light, it becomes apparent that its Prophet was a visionary political leader and its triumphs a vindication of his action programme. Bertrand Russell once compared early Islam to Bolshevism, arguing that both were 'practical, social, unspiritual, concerned to win the empire of this world'. By contrast, he saw Christianity as 'personal' and 'contemplative'. Whether or not the comparison is apt, Russell had grasped that the first two decades of Islam had a distinctly Jacobin feel. Sections of the Koran have the vigour of a political manifesto, and at times the tone in which it addresses its Jewish and Christian rivals is as factional as that of any left-wing organisation. The speed with which it took off was phenomenal. Academic discussion as to whether the new religion was born in the Hijaz or Jerusalem or elsewhere is essentially of archaeological interest. Whatever its precise origins, Islam replaced two great empires and soon reached the Atlantic coast. At its height three Muslim empires dominated large parts of the globe: the Ottomans with Istanbul as their capital, the Safavids in Persia and the Mughal dynasty in India. A good place for a historian of Islam to start would be 629 ad, or Year 8 of the new Muslim calendar, though that had yet to come into being. In that year, 20 armed horsemen, led by Sa'd ibn Zayd, were sent by Muhammad to destroy the statue of Manat, the pagan goddess of fate, at Qudayd, on the road between Mecca and Medina. For eight years Muhammad had tolerated the uneasy coexistence of the pagan male god Allah and his three daughters: al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat. Al-Uzza (the morning star, Venus) was the favourite goddess of the Quraysh, the tribe to which Muhammad belonged, but Manat was the most popular in the region as a whole, and was idolised by three key Meccan tribes that Muhammad had been desperately trying to win over to his new monotheistic religion. By Year 8, however, three important military victories had been won against rival pagan and Jewish forces. The Battle of Badr had seen Muhammad triumph against the Meccan tribes despite the smallness of his army. The tribes had been impressed by the muscularity of the new religion, and Muhammad must have deemed further ideological compromise unnecessary. Sa'd ibn Zayd and his 20 horsemen had arrived to enforce the new monotheism. The keeper of Manat's sanctuary saw the horsemen approach, but remained silent as they dismounted. No greetings were exchanged. Their demeanour indicated that they had not come to honour Manat or to leave a token offering. The keeper didn't stand in their way. According to Islamic tradition, as Sa'd ibn Zayd approached the beautifully carved statue of Manat, a naked black woman seemed to emerge from nowhere. The keeper called out: 'Come, O Manat, show the anger of which you are capable!' Manat began to pull out her hair and beat her breasts in despair, while cursing her tormentors. Sa'd beat her to death. Only then did his 20 companions join him. Together they hacked away until they had destroyed the statue. The sanctuaries of al-Lat and al-Uzza were dealt with in similar fashion, probably on the same day. A seventh-century prophet could not become the true spiritual leader of a tribal community without exercising political leadership and, in the Peninsula, mastering the basics of horsemanship, sword-play and military strategy. Muhammad had understood the need to delay the final breach with polytheism until he and his companions were less isolated. However, once the decision to declare a strict monotheism was taken, no concessions were granted. The Christian Church had been forced into a permanent compromise with its pagan forebears, allowing its new followers to worship a woman who had conceived a child by God. Muhammad, too, could have picked one of Allah's daughters to form part of a new constellation - this might even have made it easier to attract recruits - but factional considerations acted as a restraint: a new religious party had to distinguish itself forcefully from Christianity, its main monotheistic rival, while simultaneously marginalising the appeal of contemporary paganism. The oneness of a patriarchal Allah appeared the most attractive option, essential not only to demonstrate the weakness of Christianity, but also to break definitively with the dominant cultural practices of the Peninsula Arabs, with their polyandry and their matrilinear past. Muhammad himself had been the third and youngest husband of his first wife, Khadija, who died three years before the birth of the Islamic calendar. Historians of Islam, following Muhammad's lead, would come to refer to the pre-Islamic period as the jahiliyya ('the time of ignorance'), but the influence of its traditions should not be underestimated. For the pre-Islamic tribes, the past was the preserve of poets, who also served as historians, blending myth and fact in odes designed to heighten tribal feeling. The future was considered irrelevant, the present all-important. One reason for the tribes' inability to unite was that the profusion of their gods and goddesses helped to perpetuate divisions and disputes whose real origins often lay in commercial rivalries. Muhammad fully understood this world. He belonged to the Quraysh, a tribe that prided itself on its genealogy and claimed descent from Ishmael. Before his marriage, he had worked as one of Khadija's employees on a merchant caravan. He travelled a great deal in the region, coming into contact with Christians, Jews, Magians and pagans of every stripe. He would have had dealings with two important neighbours: Byzantine Christians and the fire-worshipping Zoroastrians of Persia. Muhammad's spiritual drive was fuelled by socio-economic ambitions: by the need to strengthen the commercial standing of the Arabs, and to impose a set of common rules. He envisioned a tribal confederation united by common goals and loyal to a single faith which, of necessity, had to be new and universal. Islam was the cement he used to unite the Arab tribes; commerce was to be the only noble occupation. This meant that the new religion was both nomadic and urban. Peasants who worked the land were regarded as servile and inferior. A hadith (a reported saying of Muhammad's) quotes the Prophet's words on sighting a ploughshare: 'That never enters the house of the faithful without degradation entering at the same time.' Certainly the new rules made religious observance in the countryside virtually impossible. The injunction to pray five times a day, for example, played an important part in inculcating military discipline, but was difficult to manage outside the towns. What was wanted was a community of believers in urban areas, who would meet after prayers and exchange information. Unsurprisingly, peasants found it impossible to do their work and fulfil the strict conditions demanded by the new faith. They were the last social group to accept Islam, and some of the earliest deviations from orthodoxy matured in the Muslim countryside. The military successes of the first Muslim armies were remarkable. The speed of their advance startled the Mediterranean world, and the contrast with early Christianity could not have been more pronounced. Within twenty years of Muhammad's death in 632, his followers had laid the foundations of the first Islamic empire in the Fertile Crescent. Impressed by these successes, whole tribes embraced the new religion. Mosques began to appear in the desert, and the army expanded. Its swift triumphs were seen as a sign that Allah was both omnipotent and on the side of the Believers. These victories were no doubt possible only because the Persian and Byzantine Empires had been engaged for almost a hundred years in a war that had enfeebled both sides, alienated their populations and created an opening for the new conquerors. Syria and Egypt were part of the Byzantine Empire; Iraq was ruled by Sassanid Persia. All three now fell to the might and fervour of a unified tribal force. Force of numbers didn't come into it - nor did military strategy, although the ability of the Muslim generals to manoeuvre their camel cavalry and combine it with an effective guerrilla-style infantry confused an enemy used to small-scale nomadic raids. Much more important was the active sympathy which a sizeable minority of the local people demonstrated for the invaders. A majority remained passive, waiting to see which side would prevail, but they were no longer prepared to fight for or help the old empires. The fervour of the unified tribes, on the other hand, cannot be explained simply by the appeal of the new religion or promises of untold pleasures in Paradise. The tens of thousands who flocked to fight under Khalid ibn al-Walid wanted the comforts of this world.[3] In 638, soon after the Muslim armies took Jerusalem, Caliph Umar visited the city to enforce peace terms. Like other Muslim leaders of the period, he was modestly dressed; he was also dusty from the journey, and his beard was untrimmed. Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who greeted him, was taken aback by Umar's appearance and the absence of any attendant pomp. The chronicles record that he turned to a servant and said in Greek: 'Truly this is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet as standing in the holy place.' The 'abomination of desolation' did not remain for long in Jerusalem. The strategic victories against the Byzantines and the Persians had been so easily achieved that the Believers were now filled with a sense of their own destiny. After all, they were, in their own eyes, the people whose leader was the final Prophet, the last ever to receive the message of God. Muhammad's vision of a universal religion as precursor to a universal state had captured the imagination, and furthered the material interests, of the tribes. When German tribes took Rome in the fifth century, they insisted on certain social privileges but they succumbed to a superior culture and, with time, accepted Christianity. The Arabs who conquered Persia preserved their monopoly of power by excluding non-Arabs from military service and temporarily restricting intermarriage, but although willing to learn from the civilisations they had overpowered, they were never tempted to abandon their language, their identity or their new faith. The development of medicine, a discipline in which Muslims later excelled, provides an interesting example of the way knowledge travelled, was adapted and matured in the course of the first millennium. Two centuries before Islam, the city of Gondeshapur in south-western Persia became a refuge for dissident intellectuals and freethinkers facing repression in their own cities. The Nestorians of Edessa fled here in 489 after their school was closed. When, forty years later, the Emperor Justinian decreed that the school of Neoplatonic philosophers in Athens be closed, its students and teachers, too, made the long trek to Gondeshapur. News of this city of learning spread to neighbouring civilisations. Scholars from India and, according to some, even China arrived to take part in discussions with Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Christians and Syrians. The discussions ranged over a wide variety of subjects, but it was the philosophy of medicine that attracted the largest numbers. Theoretical instruction in medicine was supplemented by practice in a bimaristan (hospital), making the citizens of Gondeshapur the most cared for in the world. The first Arab who earned the title of physician, Harith bin Kalada, was later admitted to the Court of the Persian ruler Chosroes Anushirwan and a conversation between the two men was recorded by scribes. According to this the physician advised the ruler to avoid over-eating and undiluted wine, to drink plenty of water every day, to avoid sex while drunk and to have baths after meals. He is reputed to have pioneered enemas to deal with constipation. Medical dynasties were well established in the city by the time of the Muslim conquest in 638. Arabs began to train in Gondeshapur's medical schools and the knowledge they acquired began to spread throughout the Muslim Empire. Treatises and documents began to flow. Ibn Sina and al-Razi, the two great Muslim philosopher-physicians of Islam, were well aware that the basis of their medical knowledge derived from a small town in Persia. A new Islamic civilisation emerged, in which the arts, literature and philosophy of Persia became part of a common heritage. This was an important element in the defeat by the Abbasids, the cosmopolitan Persian faction within Islam, of the narrow nationalism of the Arab Umayyads in 750. Their victory reflected the transcending of Arabism by Islam, though the last remaining prince of the Umayyads, Abdel Rahman, managed to escape to al-Andalus, where he founded a caliphate in Córdoba. Rahman had to deal with the Jewish and Christian cultures he found there, and his city came to rival Baghdad as a cosmopolitan centre. Caliph Umar's successors fanned out from Egypt to North Africa. A base was established and consolidated in the Tunisian city of al-Qayrawan, and Carthage became a Muslim city. Musa bin Nusayr, the Arab governor of Ifriqiya (present-day Libya, Tunisia and most of Algeria), established the first contact with continental Europe. He received promises of support and much encouragement from Count Julian, the Exarch of Septem (Ceuta in Morocco). In April 711, Musa's leading lieutenant, Tarik bin Ziyad, assembled an army of 7000 men, and crossed over to Europe near the rock which still bears his name, Jabal Tarik (or Gibraltar). Once again, the Muslim armies profited from the unpopul-arity of the ruling Visigoths. In July, Tarik defeated King Roderic, and the local population flocked to join the army that had rid them of an oppressive ruler. By the autumn, Córdoba and Toledo had both fallen. As it became clear that Tarik was determined to take the whole peninsula, an envious Musa bin Nusayr left Morocco with 10,000 men to join his victorious subordinate in Toledo. Together, the two armies marched north and took Zaragoza. Most of Spain was now under their control, largely thanks to the population's refusal to defend the ancien régime. The two Muslim leaders planned to cross the Pyrenees and march to Paris. Rather than obtain permission from the Caliph in Damascus, however, they had merely informed him of their progress. Angered by their cavalier attitude to authority, the Commander of the Faithful dispatched messengers to summon the conquerors of Spain to the capital; they never saw Europe again. Others carried on the struggle, but the impetus was lost. At the Battle of Poitiers in October 732, Charles Martel's forces marked the end of the first Muslim century by inflicting a sobering defeat on the soldiers of the Prophet: naval bases remained in the South of France - at Nice and Marseille, for example - but, for now, Islam was largely confined to the Iberian peninsula. A century later, the Arabs took Sicily, but could only threaten the mainland. Palermo became a city of a hundred mosques; Rome remained sacrosanct. Xenophobic northern Italians still refer to Sicilians as 'Arabs'. In 958, Sancho the Fat left his cold and windy castle in the Kingdom of Navarre in search of a cure for obesity, and went south to Córdoba, the capital of the western caliphate and, thanks to Caliph Abderrahman III, Europe's main cultural centre. Its closest rival lay in distant Mesopotamia, where a caliph from another dynasty presided over Baghdad. Both cities were renowned for their schools and libraries, musicians and poets, physicians and astronomers, mullahs and heretics, and also for their taverns and dancing girls. Córdoba had the edge in dissent. There, Islamic hegemony was not forcibly imposed; there had been genuine debates between the three religions, producing a synthesis from which native Islam benefited greatly. The Great Mosque in Córdoba could only have been created by men who had participated in the city's intellectual ferment. The architects who built it in the eighth century understood that it was to represent a culture opposed to the Christian one which chose to occupy space with graven images. A mosque is intended as a void: all paths lead to emptiness, reality is affirmed through its negation. In the void, only the Word exists, but in Córdoba (and not only there) the Mosque was also intended as a political space, one in which the Koran might be discussed and analysed. The philosopher-poet Ibn Hazm would sit amid the sacred columns and chastise those Believers who refused to demonstrate the truth of ideas through argument. They would shout back that the use of the dialectic was forbidden. 'Who has forbidden it?' Ibn Hazm would demand, implying that they were the ones who were the enemies of true faith. In Baghdad they spoke half in admiration, half in fear, of the 'Andalusian heresy'. It would be hundreds of years before this culture was obliterated. The fall of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in al-Andalus, in 1492 marked the completion of that process: the first of Europe's attempted final solutions was the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Jews from the Iberian peninsula. When he visited Córdoba in 1526, Charles I of Spain rebuked his priests: 'You have built what can be seen anywhere and destroyed what is unique.' The remark was generous enough, but Charles had not realised that the mosque had been preserved at all only because of the church that now lay inside it. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Islamic world stretched from Central Asia to the Atlantic coast, though its political unity had been disrupted soon after the victory of the Abbasids. Three centres of power emerged: Baghdad, Córdoba and Cairo, each with its own caliph. Soon after the death of the Prophet, Islam had divided into two major factions, the Sunni majority and a Shia minority. The Sunnis ruled in al-Andalus, Algeria and Morocco in the Maghreb, Iran, Iraq and the regions beyond the Oxus. The Fatimid caliphs belonged to the Shia tradition, which claimed descent from the fourth Caliph, Ali, and his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. The Fatimid caliphs had ruled parts of North Africa and lived in Tunisia till a Fatimid expeditionary force under the command of the legendary Slav General Jawhar captured Egypt, and Jahwar established a dynasty complete with caliph and built a new city - Cairo. Each of these regions had different traditions, and each had its own material interests and needs, which determined its policy of alliances and coexistence with the non-Islamic world. Religion had played a major part in building the new empire, but its rapid growth had created the conditions for its own dismemberment. Baghdad, the most powerful of the three caliphates, lacked the military strength and the bureaucracy needed to administer such a large empire. Sectarian schisms, notably a thirty-year war between the Sunni and Shia factions, had also played their part. Key rulers, politicians and military leaders in both camps had died in the years immediately preceding the First Crusade. 'This year,' the historian Ibn Taghribirdi wrote in 1094, 'is called the year of the death of caliphs and commanders.' The deaths sparked off wars of succession in both Sunni and Shia camps, further weakening the Arab world. The notion of a monolithic and all-powerful Islamic civilisation had ceased to have any purchase by the beginning of the 11th century, and probably earlier. In 1099, after a forty-day siege, the Crusaders took Jerusalem. The killing lasted two whole days, at the end of which most of the Muslim population - men, women and children - had been killed. Jews had fought with Muslims to defend the city, but the entry of the Crusaders created panic. In remembrance of tradition, the Elders instructed the Jewish population to gather in the synagogue and to offer up a collective prayer. The Crusaders surrounded the building, set fire to it and made sure that every single Jew burned to death. News of the massacres spread slowly through the Muslim world. The Caliph al-Mustazhir was relaxing in his palace in Baghdad when the venerable qadi[4] Abu Sa'ad al-Harawi, his head clean-shaven in mourning, burst into the royal quarters. He had left Damascus three weeks earlier, and the scene he encountered in the palace did not please him: How dare you slumber in the shade of complacent safety, leading lives as frivolous as garden flowers, while your brothers in Syria have no dwelling place save the saddles of camels and the bellies of vultures? Blood has been spilled! Beautiful young girls have been shamed . . . Shall the valorous Arabs resign themselves to insult and the valiant Persians accept dishonour . . . Never have the Muslims been so humiliated. Never have their lands been so savagely devastated. The Crusaders settled in the region in the course of the 12th century, and many Muslim potentates, imagining that they were there to stay, began to collaborate with them commercially and militarily. A few of the Crusaders broke with Christian fundamentalism and made peace with their neighbours, but a majority continued to terrorise their Muslim and Jewish subjects, and reports of their violence circulated. In 1171, a Kurdish warrior, Salah al-Din (Saladin), defeated the Fatimid regime in Cairo and was acclaimed Sultan of Egypt. A few months later, on the death of his patron Nur al-Din, he marched to Damascus with his army and was made its Sultan. City after city accepted his suzerainty. The Caliph was afraid that Baghdad, too, would fall under the spell of the young conqueror. Though there was never any question of his assuming the Caliphate itself - caliphs had to be from the Quraysh, and Saladin was a Kurd - there may have been some concern that he would take the Caliphate under his aegis, as previous sultans had done. Saladin knew this, but he also knew that the Syrian aristocracy resented his Kurdish origins and 'low upbringing'. It was best not to provoke them, and others like them, at a time when maximum unity was necessary. Saladin stayed away from Baghdad. The union of Egypt and Syria, symbolised by prayers offered in the name of the one Caliph in the mosques of Cairo and Damascus, formed the basis for a concerted assault against the Crusaders. Patiently, Saladin embarked on an undertaking that had until then proved impossible: the creation of a unified Muslim army to liberate Jerusalem. The barbarousness of the First Crusade was of enormous assistance to him in uniting his soldiers: 'Regard the Franj,' he exhorted them.[5] 'Behold with what obstinacy they fight for their religion, while we, the Muslims, show no enthusiasm for waging holy war.'[6] Saladin's long march ended in victory: Jerusalem was taken in 1187 and once again made an open city. The Jews were provided with subsidies to rebuild their synagogues; the churches were left untouched. No revenge killings were permitted. Like Caliph Umar five hundred years before him, Saladin proclaimed the freedom of the city for worshippers of all faiths. But his failure to take Tyre was to prove costly. Pope Urban despatched the Third Crusade to take back the Holy City, and Tyre became the base of its operations. Its leader, Richard Plantagenet, reoccupied Acre, executing prisoners and slaughtering its inhabitants. Jerusalem, however, could not be retaken. For the next seven hundred years, with the exception of one short-lived and inconsequential Crusader occupation, the city remained under Muslim rule, and no blood was spilled. The Crusades had disrupted a world already in slow decline. Saladin's victories had temporarily halted the process, but the internal structures of the Caliphate were damaged beyond repair, and new invaders were on the way. A Mongol army from Central Asia led by Timur (Marlowe's Tamburlaine) laid siege to Baghdad in 1401, calling on the Caliph to surrender and promising that if he did so, the city would be spared. Foolish and vain till the last, the Caliph refused, and the Mongol armies sacked the city. A whole culture perished as libraries were put to the torch, and Baghdad never recovered its pre-eminence as the capital of Islamic civilisation. Despite its presence in India, which its armies had first entered in the eighth century, and, later, in north-western China, and despite its merchant fleets trading in the Indonesian archipelago, in southern China, and off the east and west coasts of Africa, Islam's centre of gravity was by the 14th century moving in the direction of the Bosphorus. On four occasions Muslim armies had laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christianity. Each time the city had survived. But from 1300, the frontier emirate of Anatolia began slowly to eat into Byzantine territory, and in 1453 old dreams were realised and the ancient city of Byzantium acquired its present name: Istanbul. Its new ruler was Mehmet II, whose forebear, Uthman, had founded the dynasty bearing his name over a hundred years earlier. The Ottoman dynasty inaugurated its reign by opening a new Islamic front in South-East Europe, just as Islamic civilisation was about to collapse in the Iberian peninsula. In the course of the 14th century, the Ottomans took Hungary, swallowed the Balkans, nibbled away at the Ukraine and Poland, and threatened Vienna. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, a majority of Muslims lived under the rule of the Ottoman, the Safavid (Persian) or the Mughal (Indian) empires. The Sultan in Istanbul was recognised as Caliph by the majority and became the caretaker of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Arabic remained the religious language but Turkish became the Court vernacular, used by the ruling family and administrative and military elites throughout the Empire, though most of the religious, scientific, literary and legal vocabulary was lifted from Persian and Arabic. The Ottoman state, which was to last five hundred years, recognised and protected the rights of Christians and Jews. Many of the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal after the Reconquest were granted refuge in Ottoman lands and a large number returned to the Arab world, settling not just in Istanbul, but in Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus. Jews were not the only privileged refugees. During the wars of the Reformation German, French and Czech Protestants fleeing Catholic revenge-squads were also given protection by the Ottoman sultans. Here, there was an additional political motive. The Ottoman state closely followed developments in the rest of Europe, and vigorously defended its interests by means of diplomatic, trade and cultural alliances with major powers. The Pope, however, was viewed with suspicion, and revolts against Catholicism were welcomed in Istanbul. Ottoman sultans began to feature in Eur-opean folklore, often demonised and vulgarised, but the sultans themselves were always conscious of their place in geography and history, as evidenced in this modest letter of introduction sent by Suleiman the Magnificent, who reigned from 1520 to 1566, to the French King: I who am the Sultan of Sultans, the sovereign of sovereigns, the dispenser of crowns to the monarchs on the face of the earth, the shadow of God on Earth, the Sultan and sovereign lord of the White Sea and of the Black Sea, of Rumelia and of Anatolia, of Karamania, of the land of Rum, of Zulkadria, of Diyarbekir, of Kurdistan, of Aizerbaijan, of Persia, of Damascus, of Aleppo, of Cairo, of Mecca, of Medina, of Jerusalem, of all Arabia, of Yemen and of many other lands which my noble fore-fathers and my glorious ancestors (may Allah light up their tombs!) conquered by the force of their arms and which my August Majesty has made subject to my flaming sword and my victorious blade, I, Sultan Suleiman Khan, son of Sultan Selim, son of Sultan Bayezid: To thee, who art Francis, King of the land of France. The tolerance shown to Jews and Protestants was rarely, if ever, extended to heretics within Islam, however. The mullahs ensured that punishment was brutal and swift. To deter heresies they jealously safeguarded their monopoly of information and power, opposing all moves to import a printing press to Istanbul. 'Remember Martin Luther,' the qadi warned the Sultan. The Reformation could be supported because it served to divide Christianity, but the very idea of a Muslim Luther was unacceptable. The clerics knew the early history of Islam and were determined not to repeat it. Unlike Christianity, Islam had not spent its first hundred years in the wilderness. Instead, its early leaders had rapidly found themselves at the head of large empires, and a great deal of improvisation had been required. According to some scholars, the first authorised version of the Koran was published some thirty years after the death of Muhammad, its accuracy guaranteed by the third Caliph, Uthman. Others argued that it appeared much later, but Koranic prescriptions, while quite detailed on certain subjects, could not provide the complete code of social and political conduct needed to assert an Islamic hegemony. The hadith filled the gap: it consisted of what the Prophet had said at a particular time to X or Y, who had then passed it on to Z, who had informed the author, who in turn recorded the 'tradition'. Christianity had done something similar, but confined it to four gospels, editing out or smoothing over contradictions along the way. Scholars and scribes began collating the hadith in the seventh and eighth centuries, and there have been ferocious arguments regarding the authenticity of particular traditions ever since. It is likely that more than 90 per cent of them were invented. The point is not their authenticity, however, but the political role they have played in Islamic societies. The origins of Shi'ism, for example, lie in a disputed succession. After Muhammad's death, his Companions elected Abu-Bakr as his successor and, after his death, Umar. If Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law, resented this, he did not protest. His anger was provoked, however, by the election of the third Caliph, Uthman. Uthman, from the Umayya clan, represented the tribal aristocracy of Mecca, and his victory annoyed a loyalist old guard. Had the new Caliph been younger and more vigorous he might have managed to effect a reconciliation, but Uthman was in his seventies, an old man in a hurry, and he appointed close relatives and clan members to key positions in the newly conquered provinces. In 656 he was murdered by Ali's supporters, whereupon Ali was anointed as the new Caliph. Islam's first civil war followed. Two old Companions, Talha and al-Zubair, called on troops who had been loyal to Uthman to rebel against Ali. They were joined by Aisha, the Prophet's young widow. Aisha, mounted on a camel, exhorted her troops to defeat the usurper at Basra, in what has come to be known as the Battle of the Camel, but it was Ali's army that triumphed. Talha and al-Zubair died in the battle; Aisha was taken prisoner and returned to Medina, where she was placed under virtual house-arrest. Another battle took place, in which Ali was outmanoeuvred by the Umayyads. His decision to accept arbitration and defeat annoyed hardliners in his own faction, and in 661 he was assassinated outside a mosque in Kufa. His opponent, the brilliant Umayyad General Muawiya, was recognised as Caliph, but Ali's sons refused to accept his authority and were defeated and killed in the Battle of Kerbala by Muawiya's son Yazid. That defeat led to a permanent schism within Islam. Henceforth, Ali's faction - or shiat - were to create their own traditions, dynasties and states, of which modern Iran is the most prominent example. It would have been surprising if these military and intellectual civil wars - tradition v. counter-tradition, differing schools of interpretation, disputes about the authenticity of the Koran itself - had not yielded a fine harvest of sceptics and heretics. What is remarkable is that so many of them were tolerated for so long. Those who challenged the Koran were usually executed, but many poets, philosophers and heretics expanded the frontiers of debate and dissent. Andalusian philosophers, for example, usually debated within the codes of Islam, but the 12th-century Córdoban, Ibn Rushd, occasionally transgressed them. Known in the Latin world as Averroes, he was the son and grandson of qadis, and his other grandfather had served as the Imam of the Great Mosque of Córdoba. Ibn Rushd himself had been the qadi in both Seville and Córdoba, though he had to flee the latter when the mullahs banned him from entering the Great Mosque and ordered his books to be burned. These clashes with orthodoxy sharpened his mind, but also put him on his guard. When the enlightened Sultan Abu Yusuf questioned him about the nature of the sky, the astronomer-philosopher did not initially reply. Abu Yusuf persisted: 'Is it a substance which has existed for all eternity or did it have a beginning?' Only when the ruler indicated his awareness of ancient philosophy did Ibn Rushd respond by explaining why rationalist methods were superior to religious dogma. When the Sultan indicated that he found some of Aristotle's work obscure and wished it to be explained, Ibn Rushd obliged with his Commentaries, which attracted the attention of Christian and Jewish theologians. The Commentaries served a dual function. They were an attempt to systematise Aristotle's vast body of work and to introduce rationalism and anti-mysticism to a new audience, but also to move beyond it and promote rational thought as a virtue in itself. Two centuries earlier, Ibn Sina (980-1037), a Persian scholar known in the Latin world as Avicenna, had laid the basis for a study of logic, science, philosophy, politics and medicine. His skills as a physician led his employers, the native rulers of Khurasan and Isfahan, to seek his advice on political matters. Often, he gave advice that annoyed his patrons, and had to leave town in a hurry. His Kanun fi'l-tibb ('Medical Canon') became the major textbook in medical schools throughout the Islamic world - sections of it are still used in contemporary Iran. His Kitab al-Insaf ('Book of Impartial Judgment'), dealing with 28,000 different philosophical questions, was lost when Isfahan was sacked during his lifetime by a rival potentate: he had lodged his only copy at the local library. The stories of Ibn Hazm, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd demonstrate the potential for semi-official thought during Islam's first five hundred years. The last two, in particular, chafed at the restrictions of religious orthodoxy, but like Galileo after them, chose to live and continue their researches in preference to martyrdom. Others, however, were more outspoken. The ninth-century Baghdad heretic, Ibn al-Rawandi, wrote several books that questioned the basic principles of monotheism. The Mu'tazilite sect, to which he had once belonged, believed that it was possible to combine rationalism and belief in one God. They questioned the Revelation, rejected predestination, insisted that the Koran was a created and not a revealed book, and criticised the quality of its composition, its lack of eloquence and the impurity of its language. Only Reason dictated obligation to God.[7] Ibn al-Rawandi went further still, arguing that religious dogma was always inferior to reason, because only through reason could one attain integrity and moral stature. The ferocity of his assault first surprised, then united Islamic and Jewish theologians, who denounced him mercilessly. None of his original work has survived, and we know of him and his writings mainly through Muslim and Jewish critics' attempts to refute his heresies. However, he also makes a remarkable appearance in the work of the poet-philosopher Abu al-Ala al-Ma'ari (973-1058), whose epic poem Risalat al-Ghufran ('Treatise on Forgiveness'), set in Paradise and Hell, has Ibn al-Rawandi berating God: 'Thou didst apportion the means of livelihood to Thy creatures like a drunk revealing his churlishness. Had a man made such a division, we would have said to him: "You swindler! Let this teach you a lesson."' TThe guardians of Islam during the Ottoman period knew this history well and were determined to prevent any challenge to Muslim orthodoxy. This may have preserved the dynasty, but it sank the Empire. By keeping Western European inventions, ideologies and scientific advances at bay, the clerics sealed the fate of the caliphate. But in the view of the majority of Muslims, the Ottomans had preserved the Islamic heritage, extended the frontiers of their religion, and, in the Arab East, created a new synthesis: an Ottoman Arab culture that united the entire region by means of a state bureaucracy presiding over a common administration and financial system. The Ottoman state, like other Muslim empires of the period, was characterised by three basic features: the absence of private property in the countryside, where the cultivator did not own and the owner (the state) did not cultivate; the existence of a powerful, non-hereditary bureaucratic elite in the administrative centres; and a professional, trained army with a slave component. By abolishing the traditional tribal aristocracy and forbidding the ownership of landed estates, the Ottomans had preserved their position as the only dynasty in the Empire, and the only repository of a quasi-divine power. To combat dynastic threats, they created a civil service recruited from every part of the Empire. The devshirme system forced Christian families in the Balkans and elsewhere to part with a son, who became the property of the state. He was sheltered, fed and educated until he was old enough to train in the academy as a soldier or bureaucrat. Thus Circassians, Albanians, Slavs, Greeks, Armenians and even Italians rose to occupy the highest offices of the Empire. Traditional hostility to the ploughshare determined the urban bias of the dynasties that ruled large tracts of the Islamic world, but to what extent was this attitude also responsible for the absence of landed property? This was not a local phenomenon: not one of the caliphates favoured the creation of a landed gentry or peasant-ownership or the existence of communal lands. Any combination of these would have aided capital-formation, which might have led to industrialisation, as it later did in Western Europe. The sophisticated agricultural techniques employed by the Arabs in Spain can be adduced to prove that working on the land was not taboo, but these techniques were generally confined to land surrounding towns, where cultivation was intense and carried out by the townsfolk. Rural land was rented from the state by middlemen, who in turn hired peasants to work on it. Some of the middlemen did become wealthy, but they lived and spent their money in the towns. In Western Europe, the peculiarities of the feudal system - the relative autonomy enjoyed by village communities organised round communal lands, combined with the limited but real sovereignties of vassals, lords and liege lords - encouraged the growth of small towns in the Middle Ages. The countryside still dominated, but political power was feudal power - that is, it wasn't centralised. In the towns, trade and manufacturing was controlled by the guilds. In this arrangement lay the origins of modern capitalism. The subordination of the countryside in the Islamic world, with its a rigidly dynastic political structure dependent on a turbulent military caste, meant that the caliphates could not withstand the political and economic challenge posed by Western Europe. Radical nationalist impulses began to develop in the Ottoman lands as early as the late 18th century, when Turkish officers, influenced by the French Revolution and, much later, by Comte, began to plot against the regime in Istanbul. The main reason that the Ottomans staggered on till the First World War is that the three vultures eyeing the prey - the British Empire, tsarist Russia and the Habsburgs - could not agree on a division of the spoils. The only solution appeared to be to keep the Empire on its knees. The First World War ended with the defeat of the Ottomans, who had aligned themselves with the Kaiser. As the triumphant powers were discussing how to divide their booty, a Turkish nationalist force led by Kemal Pasha (later Ataturk) staked its claim to what is now Turkey, preventing the British from handing over Istanbul to the Greeks. For the first time in its history, thanks to Ataturk, Islam was without a caliph or even a pretender. Britain would have preferred to defeat and dump Ataturk, while hanging on to the Caliph, who could have become a pensioner of imperialism, kept for ceremonial occasions, like the last Mughal in Delhi before the 1857 Mutiny. It was the discovery of black gold underneath the Arabian desert that provided the old religion with the means and wherewithal to revive its culture while Britain created new sultans and emirs to safeguard their newest and most precious commodity. Throughout the 20th century, the West, to safeguard its own economic interests, supported the most backward, despotic and reactionary survivals from the past, helping to defeat all forms of secularism. As we know, the story is unfinished. Footnotes 1 Empty the feudal world may have been on several levels, but it always knew how to defend its class interests. My father's membership of the Communist Party of India did not ruffle as many feathers as he had imagined it would. He was approached by his father and cousins and offered a safe seat - 'safe' in the sense that, like several others in the region, it was controlled by our family - in the 1946 elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly, which was to help determine the make-up of the Constituent Assembly after the birth of Pakistan in 1947. He took the offer to the Politburo of the CPI. The comrades were tempted by the thought of gaining easy representation, but finally decided to reject the offer as unprincipled. The person chosen to contest the seat for the CPI was a veteran working-class militant, Fazal Elahi Qurban, who picked up a few hundred votes as a result of some intensive canvassing by my parents. The actual victor was some obscure relation whose name I cannot recall. 2 In this chronology, the First Oil War (my coinage) was fought in 1956. 3 The ninth-century weaver-poet, Abu Tamman wrote: 'No, not for Paradise did you forsake the nomad life:/Rather, I believe, it was your yearning for bread and dates.' Similarly, Ahmad al-Baladhuri, an Arab historian from the same century, cites Rustum, the defeated Persian General, as saying to an Arab envoy: 'I have learned that you were forced to do what you are doing by poverty and the need for a livelihood.' 4 The senior judicial officer in an Islamic city, responsible for the maintenance of law and order. 5 The prestige of the Franks was such that Muslims used their name to refer to all West Europeans. 6 Contrary to common belief, the concept of jihad as 'holy war' has a limited pedigree. After the early victories of Islam it had been quietly dropped as a mobilising slogan until revived by Zbigniew Brzezinski in the early 1980s. Brzezinski stood on the Pakistan-Afghan border wearing a Pashtun turban and shouted for the benefit of the TV cameras: 'Go and wage the jihad. Allah is on your side.' 7 Remarkably, this sect held power in Baghdad from 827 to 847 and three successive caliphs forced state officials, theologians and qadis to accept that the Koran was created. Tariq Ali is the author of The Stone Woman. The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity will be published by Verso.