From nyvoices at indypress.org Wed Oct 1 07:21:30 2003 From: nyvoices at indypress.org (Rehan Ansari) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 18:51:30 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] Voices 76: 31 July 2003 Message-ID: <002e01c387be$fb5edce0$6501a8c0@herman> This Week's Voices That Must Be Heard By IPA-New York, a sponsored project of the Independent Press Association Edition 76: 31 July 2003. NEWS ITEMS: Russian radio station sets its own path by A. Mikhailovich, Russian Forward, 24 July 2003. Translated from Russian by Marian Bassett. On March 1, "Novaya Zhizn" [New Life] radio appeared on 620 AM, breaking the monopoly of "Narodnaya Volna" [The People's Radio Station]. Months later, the two Russian-language stations are engaged in a competitive battle for advertisers, journalists and distinctive programming to lure listeners. An interview with the president and vice-president of New Life Broadcasting Company reveals their strategies to deliver the best news and programming to listeners. MORE. "Narodnaya Volna" in a society of "mutual admiration" by Leah Moses, Russian Forward, 24 July 2003. Translated from Russian by Marian Bassett. "Narodnaya Volna" [The People's Radio Station], once the only listening option for Russian immigrants in the northeast, is faced with new competition. To fight back, the station increased its airtime and began diversifying its programming. Reporter Leah Moses sits down with the station's owner for a glimpse inside the complex struggle to hang on to its opinionated audience. MORE. Outreach to female garment workers met with difficulties by Liang Wing-yin, World Journal, 23 July 2003. Translated from Chinese by Connie Kong. Many Fujianese women neglect routine health check ups, so a community center in New York decided to take action. They hired a Fujianese-speaking staff member to conduct outreach campaigns in garment factories and sign up workers for free health exams. But the campaign has been met with resistance from factory owners, and the women themselves. MORE. Hard times for Irish students by Georgina Brennan, Irish Voice, 22 July 2003. English language. Summer season brings thousands of Irish students to New York on J-1 visas, with hopes to earn money and have new experiences. But with the economy in the doldrums most are jobless and depressed. For many students, spending the summer back in Ireland is beginning to look like a better option. MORE. Black churches develop congregations, corporations by Jamal E. Watson, Amsterdam News, 30 July 2003. English language. At the time it was considered unprecedented, perhaps even revolutionary. But for the religious community, it was a last-minute effort to rehabilitate the communities where their churches and mosques were located. As developers halted projects in inner-city neighborhoods, Black churches and mosques did something that took everyone by surprise: they began to build. MORE. BRIEFS: From shohini at nda.vsnl.net.in Wed Oct 1 00:03:08 2003 From: shohini at nda.vsnl.net.in (shohini) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 18:33:08 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] STRONGLY RECOMMENDED Message-ID: <001f01c387a5$347a74e0$e9e141db@shohini> A state called Gujarat. A year and a half. A video journey PASSENGERS BY NOOH NIZAMI AND AKANKSHA JOSHI SCREENING AT MAIN AUDITORIUM INDIA HABITAT CENTRE 2ND OCTOBER 2003 TIME: 7:00 PM PASSENGERS A video journey in Ahmedabad This is not a story. It's a record spanning over a year and a half, of people who have survived one of the worst failures of state machinery since the partition. And of people who were never victims but who chose to care for those who are. It is a record of Ahmedabad's past and present. It is an attempt at identifying Hindutva history. More importantly, it is a record that needs to be set straight. Or our country will edge closer to the precipice. And then perhaps, tomorrow may be too late for answers. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20030930/4f05a904/attachment.html From avishek_ganguly at yahoo.co.in Wed Oct 1 09:24:06 2003 From: avishek_ganguly at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Avishek=20Ganguly?=) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 03:54:06 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] protest against ban on gujarat film, mumbai, 2nd Oct In-Reply-To: <000201c385f3$413efce0$6fe141db@shohini> Message-ID: <20030930200137.11309.qmail@web8001.mail.in.yahoo.com> Subject: urgent press note and invitation To, The Editor/ Chief Reporter Sub: Film certification Appellate Tribunal of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, New Delhi, rejects the appeal of producers of “Aakrosh”, a Film on Gujarat 2002 Communal Violence, to grant Censor Certificate. Dear Sir/Madam, “Aakrosh”, a film made by People’s Media Initiative for Manima Creations on victims and survivors of Gujarat 2002 communal carnage, a film which has given voice to their suffering and woes, their plight and anguish who are still to come to terms with the meaninglessness of violence and death thrust on them. The Film was rejected by Censor Board-Mumbai for public screening and exhibition on 04-03-03 giving reasons that it shows the Government and Police in bad light. We appealed to Revising Committee of Censor Board- Mumbai and the Revising Committee too, uphold earlier decision of the Censor Board Committee by stating similar reasons through its order dated 31st March 2003. We protested the decision of the Censor Board fearing that Government wants to black out shameful Gujarat Communal Carnage – Genocide and wants to cover up the issue, we feared that there is direct attack on freedom of expression and right of information guaranteed under Indian Constitution, we felt that political Censorship has slowly begun in India as our second film “Chords on the Richter Scale” post Kutch Earthquake 2001 situation in Gujarat too got banned by the Censor Board. We made appeal to Film Certification Appellate Tribunal of I&B Ministry New Delhi to review the decision of Censor Board Mumbai and lift the ban imposed on both the Films. Appellate Tribunal of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, New Delhi, consisting Hon’ble Justice Shobha Dikshit as Chairperson and N. Thippanna, Dr. Firoza Bano as members heard the matter on 11th August 2003 and gave its verdict and order was communicated to us through Secretary of FCAT through letter dated 24-09-2003. Appeal was made under section 56 of the Cinematographer Act 1952, the main reason in its order to uphold total ban on the film “it shows scenes of violence, sorrow and suffering, men and women mostly of one community have been shown as victims as is clear from their language, dresses, etc.” It was most unfortunate decision and shocking that the Tribunal Committee see religion in the faces of victims and survivors as we had avoided to give names of the victims as we feel that victims are victims and do not belong to any community, religion, race and caste. The Communal forces in India are forcing communal identity and dividing people. In Gujarat today, justice and rehabilitation of the affected people is still a distant dream. Praveen Togadia of VHP is on hate campaign spreading communal venom throughout the country and instead of Government stopping him, chooses to block Gujarat carnage from public memory. “Aakrosh” has received worldwide appreciation andaccolades, it has got selected for special screening at Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland as Human Right Film, it got selected out of hundreds of entries to the South Asian Film Festival, Indo-British Film Festival, Milan Film Festival and so on. Even Sardar Vallabhai University in Anand –Gujarat has kept special screening of this film for their students only to tell that how innocents have suffered in the violence in Gujarat and many Universities, Educational Institutions are considering “Aakrosh” as an ideal film to preach importance of peace and communal harmony and that ultimately it is the common man who suffers in any kind of violence. Violence only serves the purpose of the ruling class to divert main issue from the public mind. It is important that people of India and the world must know what happened in Gujarat and must not be repeated elsewhere. We also feel that killing of innocent passengers in buses, trains is an act of mad fundamentalist group and we condemn this barbaric act, we feel that basic problems of our society is yet to be addressed and resolved i.e. poverty, unemployment, hunger, discrimination, mindless exploitation, etc. Instead of addressing to these basic issues, religious jingoism is imposed on the people so that they remain divided. The cry and anguish of people will motivate film makers more and more to make such films, writers, poets, artists, will be inspired to write more on it. Government or censor Board cannot block our mind andheart, we will continue to raise our voice and our endeavor to give voice to the common man will continue. We will be appealing against the decision of Appellant Tribunal by challenging it in Mumbai High Court soon. For People’s Media Initiative Ramesh Pimple Geeta Chawda Producers Tel:- 26358302 Mobile 9821109295 002, Gr. Flr., Parasrampuria Tower No. 6, Lokhandwala, Andheri –W. Mumbai – 400 053. INVITATION – PRESS CONFERENCE A protest meeting is organized on 2nd October 2003 to protest the political Censorship and decision of Film certification Appellate Tribunal of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India upholding the ban on “Aakrosh”, a short film on Gujarat Communal Violence 2002 and continuation of ban on Documentary Film “ Chords on the Richter Scale”, a documentary film on post Kutch Earthquake 2001 situation in Gujarat. A small peace film “Chale Chalo” produced by Ramesh Pimple, directed by Shyam Ranjankar will be released to Press and Activists at the occasion. Subject: Political Censorship Speakers: Vijay Tendulkar, noted progressive Marathi Writer and Dramatist. Narayan Desai, a Gandhian thinker and Social Reformer from Gujarat. Nikhil Wagle, Editor- Mahanagar and Activist. Adv. Sebastian, Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Functionary- Committee for the Protection Democratic Rights CPDR. Suma Jossan, Film Maker. Shyam Ranjankar, Film Maker. Jatin Desai – Journalist, Activist. Anthony Swamy – Lokshai Hakk Sangathana. Place: Press Club, Near Azad Maidan, Mumbai – 400 001. Time: 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Date: 2nd October 2003 – Thursday There will first be Press Conference at 3:00 p.m. followed by address to the gathering. All are requested to attend the meet and make protest successful. For People’s Media Initiative Ramesh Pimple Chief Co -ordinator _________________________________________________________________ "In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates." - Foucault Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online.Post your profile. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031001/ed90486a/attachment.html From mail at chutneylab.org Wed Oct 1 11:10:38 2003 From: mail at chutneylab.org (chutney lab) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 05:40:38 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] documentary, short and experimental films Message-ID: Dear All, I've been following the development of Sarai for a while but have just started reading these discussion lists. This is a very lively and well-informed forum for discussion and you seem like a group in tune with local developments in cinema. I'm currently programming the South Asian section of the Edinburgh Film Festival and am scouting around for documentary films, shorts and experimental films for next year's festival in August 2004. If you are a film maker or come across any exciting new material that hasn't been shown in the UK before, do let me know and pass on my email details to film makers who are working on new projects. I would really like to showcase the talent that is so clearly there. Get in touch. This is a great chance to have the kind of work that excites you shown at one of the top international festivals where South Asian cinema really needs representation. Leila Jordan From lise.boyer at canadacouncil.ca Thu Oct 2 00:18:59 2003 From: lise.boyer at canadacouncil.ca (Boyer, Lise) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 18:48:59 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] FW: Research/Creation Grants in Fine Arts Message-ID: It is with great pleasure that I am writing to let you know that the program description for SSHRC's new Research/Creation Grants in Fine Arts program has now been posted on the SSHRC Web site: http://www.sshrc.ca/web/apply/program_descriptions/fine_arts_e.asp . The application deadline for the program is Monday, November 17, 2003. The application forms and instructions will be available in September. If you have any questions, please contact Mr Craig McNaughton at craig.mcnaughton at sshrc.ca (613-943-1149) or Mr Éric Bastien at eric.bastien at sshrc.ca (613-992-3407). Many thanks! Daryl Rock Director / Directeur Strategic Programs and Joint Initiatives / Programmes stratégiques et initiatives conjointes SSHRC / CRSH _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From reyhanchaudhuri at eth.net Thu Oct 2 02:47:59 2003 From: reyhanchaudhuri at eth.net (reyhanchaudhuri) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 21:17:59 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] A Fight for Free Access To Medical Research References: Message-ID: <002301c37c6c$be41c780$209909ca@p> Dear Monica, Your article is very licit and valid to the time period today. As for instance even without the pesticides cola drinks are very damaging to the body,especially that of children and young people and as most Doctors have known for a long time. Something like smoking,if we recall the direct causal relationship between cigarette smoke and lung cancer (atleast for two types)was discerned way back in the forties.However the statuatory legislation that was passed and that made it mandatory for this scientific fact to be printed on every nicotine package(however much cloaked in gentler/ambiguous terms) ,was only a few years ago. Again another good example would be Type II Diabetes (Non -insulin dependent diabetes).Despite the enormous armoury of anti-diabetic drugs manufactured by pharmaceutical companies available the fact that the first & major line of treatment should be exercise/diet/lifestyle changes. There are obviously Monica, vested interests at work. Medical research authenticated and proven must be available not ony to third world Doctors but also the ordinary netsurfer .... Yours in agreeement, R.Chaudhuri. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Monica Narula" To: Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 8:10 PM Subject: [Reader-list] A Fight for Free Access To Medical Research > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19104-2003Aug4.html > > Washington Post > > Tuesday, August 5, 2003; Page A01 > > A Fight for Free Access To Medical Research > > Online Plan Challenges Publishers' Dominance > > By Rick Weiss, Staff Writer > > The family was poor, living on the Great Plains, and the > child had a rare medical condition. > > "Here's what we can do," the family doctor told them. But it > didn't work, recalled Michael Keller, who oversees the > libraries at Stanford University. "So the family went to the > Internet." > > Soon they were back at the doctor's office with a report of > a new therapy. "They plunked it down and said, 'Hey, can we > try this?' And guess what? It worked." > > Such tales are becoming increasingly common, but the happy > endings come at a cost -- literally. That is because the > vast majority of the 50,000 to 60,000 research articles > published each year as a result of federally funded science > ends up in the hands of for-profit publishers -- the largest > of them based overseas -- that charge as much as $50 to view > the results of a single study online. The child's parents, > Keller said, paid for several papers before finding the one > that led them to the cure. > > Why is it, a growing number of people are asking, that > anyone can download medical nonsense from the Web for free, > but citizens must pay to see the results of carefully > conducted biomedical research that was financed by their > taxes? > > The Public Library of Science aims to change that. The > organization, founded by a Nobel Prize-winning biologist and > two colleagues, is plotting the overthrow of the system by > which scientific results are made known to the world -- a $9 > billion publishing juggernaut with subscription charges that > range into thousands of dollars per year. > > In its place the organization is constructing a system that > would put scientific findings on the Web -- for free. > > Scientists and budget-squeezed librarians have long railed > against publishers' stranglehold on scientific literature, > to little avail. But with surprising political acumen, the > Public Library of Science -- or PLoS -- has begun to make > "open access" scientific publication an issue for everyday > citizens, emphasizing that taxpayers fund the lion's share > of biomedical research and deserve access to the results. > > "It is wrong when a breast cancer patient cannot access > federally funded research data paid for by her hard-earned > taxes," Rep. Martin O. Sabo (D-Minn.) said recently as he > introduced legislation that would give PLoS a boost by > loosening copyright restrictions on publicly funded > research. "It is wrong when the family whose child has a > rare disease must pay again for research data their tax > dollars already paid for." > > It remains to be seen whether the newly bubbling discontent > among citizens and politicians will boil over into a > full-blown coup, fulfilling scientists' longstanding goal of > democratizing the scientific publication enterprise. But > whether it succeeds or fails, historians of science say, the > effort is a remarkable social experiment in itself. After > all, publication is at the heart of the scientific system of > rank, respect and power. So the movement to dissect and > rewrite the rules of that system is, in effect, a rare > opportunity to watch scientists experiment on themselves. > > > Research as Moneymaker > > Historians peg the birth of scientific publication to 1665, > when England's Royal Society began publishing its > Philosophical Transactions -- the same journal that would > later announce key discoveries by Isaac Newton, Charles > Darwin and other icons of science. > > Today the universe of scientific journals includes about > 28,000 titles, but they fulfill the same four basic needs: > communicating findings; controlling quality by "peer > review," in which scientists check one another's work; > creating a historical record; and documenting authorship for > personal credit and professional recognition. > > In recent decades, however, journals have found that > scientific communication can be not only a service but also > a potent moneymaker. Central to their success is that each > journal publishes original research that appears nowhere > else, so each is necessary for scientists in a given field. > > "Scientific journals are monopolies in that there's the > Journal of Artificial Intelligence, for example, and the > Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and as long as > they're both good there's no way a library can just say, > 'We'll take the one that's most cost-effective.' They have > to have both," said John McCarthy, a Stanford University > professor emeritus of computer science and an authority on > scientific publication. "And when there's a monopoly there's > always the opportunity for extra profit." > > Indeed, said Stanford's Keller, "over the course of the > years several of these companies have become giants. And > some of their price increases have been horrendous, > sometimes 25 to 35 percent per year. It's been > unbelievable." > > Many commercial publishers -- the biggest include Elsevier > and Wolters Kluwer, both of Amsterdam; Blackwell Publishers > of England, and BertelsmannSpringer of Germany -- charge > between $1,000 and $5,000 for a one-year subscription to > their journals. One prestigious collection of journals > called Brain Research costs subscribers about $20,000 a > year. > > Publishers defend their prices largely by pointing to the > extra services they provide. Not only must they pay for > publication and mailing, they say, but they also hire peer > reviewers, editors and contributors to write commentaries > and review articles. Some, including the premier journals > Nature and Science, also have writers who produce news > articles and scientific perspectives. > > "We believe we add value to the research," said Jayne Marks, > publishing director for Nature Publishing Group in London, a > closely held company that publishes about 50 journals, > including Nature. > > Nature does not reveal financial details, but figures > released by the largest publisher of scientific journals -- > Amsterdam-based Elsevier -- help explain why many scientists > and others are frustrated. Its 1,700 journals, which produce > $1.6 billion in revenue, garner a remarkable 30 percent > profit margin. > > "I do realize that the 30 percent sticks out," Elsevier Vice > President Pieter Bolman said. "But what we still do feel -- > and this is, I think, where the real measure is -- we're > still very much in the top of author satisfaction and reader > satisfaction." > > In October, critics say, the real test of that will begin, > as PLoS begins the first of a series of journals dedicated > to the free sharing of results. The aim is to get the > world's best scientists to submit their best work to PLoS -- > and force change by starving profit-oriented publishers of > their earnings and prestige. > > "Our goal," said PLoS's executive director Vivian Siegel, > "is to transform the landscape completely." > > > Shift to Open Access > > The PLoS plan is simple in concept: Instead of having > readers pay for scientific results through subscriptions or > other charges, costs would be borne by the scientists who > are having their work published -- or, practically speaking, > by the government agencies or other groups that funded the > scientists -- through upfront charges of about $1,500 an > article. > > The shift is not as radical as it sounds, the library's > founders argue. That is because government agencies and > other science funders are already paying for a huge share of > the world's journal subscriptions through "indirect cost" > grants to university libraries, which are the biggest > subscribers. The new system would radically increase the > number of people who would have access to published > findings, though, because results would be freely available > on the Internet. By contrast, people today who do not > subscribe to these journals must pay charges, typically $15 > to $50, to get a reprint of -- or online access to -- a > single article. > > Those charges can add up quickly. > > "When my father was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, for > example, I must have glanced through 50-100 articles almost > immediately" while searching for treatment information, > Siegel wrote via e-mail. Physicians, professors, graduate > students and others, including science journalists, face the > same problem daily. > > Some journals have already made the leap to open-access > publishing. But for the most part they have not attracted > the best science -- a key to success. Now, with a $9 million > grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the PLoS > hopes to lift open-access publishing into the scientific > stratosphere, in part through the personal gravitas of its > founders and friends. > > In terms of scientific stardom, the critical mass is there. > PLoS was founded by three highly respected scientists: > Harold Varmus, who won a Nobel Prize in 1989 for his work > with cancer viruses, headed the National Institutes of > Health from 1993 to 1999 and is now president of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York; Patrick O. Brown, > a renowned genomics expert at Stanford University School of > Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and > Michael Eisen, a computational and evolutionary biologist at > the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University > of California at Berkeley. > > Having hired a team of hotshot editors and reviewers -- in > some instances wooing them away from prestigious journals -- > the group will begin its first monthly open-access journal, > PLoS Biology, in October. It plans to launch PLoS Medicine > in 2004. Others may follow, but the group hopes that the > need to keep creating journals will drop off as existing > journals see how successful the model is and shift to the > open-access system themselves. > > For scientists, the benefits would extend well beyond being > able to read scientific papers for free. Unlike their > ink-on-paper counterparts, scientific papers that are > maintained in open electronic databases can have their data > tables downloaded, massaged and interlinked with databases > from other papers, allowing scientists to compare and build > more easily on one another's findings. > > "In epidemiology and public health it would be an enormous > leap forward," said Christopher Murray, a World Health > Organization epidemiologist and health economist. "You can't > imagine how much time researchers spend trying to get access > even to old data sets to do new things or make new > connections." > > But pressure from consumers, whose taxes provide about $45 > billion in federal research funding each year and who are > increasingly asked to take on a larger role in their own > care, may be the force that finally tips the balance. > > "They've paid for the research," Eisen said. "And the fact > that the primary results are not available to them is really > crazy and grossly unfair and completely unnecessary." > > > Publishers Raise Red Flags > > The bigger for-profit publishers say advocates of open > access exaggerate the benefits. > > "This is, in general, very esoteric material . . . not > written for the public," said Elsevier's Bolman, adding that > he doubts the business model will work. "Everybody is > getting onto the open-access bandwagon. It reminds me of the > enthusiasm and mania of the dot-com explosion, and it will > pop, too." > > But what Bolman and other publishers object to most of all > are budding congressional efforts to force publishers to > adopt open-access principles. The latest House > appropriations report instructs the National Library of > Medicine to look into ways to make federally funded research > more available to the public. And Sabo's bill would require > research "substantially funded" by the federal government to > be in the public domain. > > That is especially worrisome to the smaller, not-for-profit > publishers -- most of them affiliated with scientific > societies -- that say they are sympathetic to open-access > principles but fear that the system will not work for them, > with their tighter margins. > > "Saying you're for free access is like motherhood and apple > pie," said Ira Mellman, chairman of Yale's Department of > Cell Biology and editor in chief of the highly cited but > inexpensive and nonprofit Journal of Cell Biology. "But you > have to recognize that this is an experiment in publishing, > and the legislation seems to be trying to enforce one model > before the conclusion of the experiment." > > Several journal editors noted that they have moved in recent > years to widen access. Many have agreed to make their papers > available for free to scientists in developing countries, > for example, and some release results freely to anyone six > to 12 months after publication. But critics say that is not > enough, arguing that even a six-month delay deprives > scientists and others of the latest and best information. > > Ironically, several observers said, the fate of open-access > science publication may ultimately depend on something > highly unscientific: the enigmatic quality of prestige. With > scientists' professional standing still intimately linked to > their latest paper in journals such as Science and Nature, > will the best of them step up to the plate and start sending > their hottest papers to open-access journals such as PLoS? > > "With scientific journals, competition is not so much on the > reader end but on the author's end," Bolman said. "When you > get the best authors, then other authors tend to follow, and > then you have an exciting journal, which really is your > objective." > > PLoS Biology started accepting its first submissions for its > premiere issue last month, and Varmus said he is pleased > with the quality of the work the journal is attracting. > > One thing is certain: Among the countless scientists and > others who will read PLoS Biology for free in October will > be Bolman and other publishing executives, who will be > looking for the first hints of an exodus. > > Copyright (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company > -- > Monica Narula > Sarai:The New Media Initiative > 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054 > www.sarai.net > _________________________________________ > 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 nyvoices at indypress.org Thu Oct 2 13:04:45 2003 From: nyvoices at indypress.org (Rehan Ansari) Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 07:34:45 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Edition 84: 2 October 2003. Message-ID: <011e01c38874$bcbfdbe0$6901a8c0@herman> This Week's Voices That Must Be Heard By IPA-New York, a sponsored project of the Independent Press Association Edition 84: 2 October 2003. Advisory editor Segun Odusanya, of West African News, an IPA member publication. NEWS ITEMS: Patriot Act devastates Chinatown banking, Sing Tao Daily, 26 September 2003. Translated from Chinese by Xiaoqing Rong. Bank obliged to close down its lifeline. Its clients are undocumented immigrants. MORE. New bid for Latino political power by Nestor Cristancho, Hoy, 23 September 2003. Translated from Spanish by Nicole Lisa. Fourteen percent of the population in New Jersey is Latino. The Political Action Committee, an umbrella organization for New Jersey's Latino political groups, now exists to represent their interests. MORE. Malabar Palace scam by Prashanth Lakhihal, India Tribune, 27 September 2003. English language. Owners of thriving landmark restaurant in Queens cheat employees and investors. MORE. Discontent among Church of the Lady of Czestochowa parishioners by Maciej Mnich, Super Express, 26 September 2003. Translated from Polish by Ania Milewska. Controversy between parishioners and priest reveals gap between old world Poles and a new generation. MORE. BRIEFS: Recycling company causes high rates of asthma and cancer, says affected community by Maruxa Relaño, Hoy, 24 September 2003. Translated from Spanish by Nicole Lisa. Councilmembers fight Bloomberg power grab by J. Zamgba Browne, Amsterdam News, 25 September 2003. English language. Health care insurer courts Africans by Ola Fadahunsi, African, 1 August 2003. English language. Minority-focused venture capital funds outperformed S&P 500, KIP Business Report, 25 September 2003. English language. EDITORIALS: On eve of Freedom Ride Pakistan News speaks to John Wilhelm of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees union, Pakistan News, 24 September 2003. Translated from Urdu by Rehan Ansari. There is a change in the air. The word immigrant no longer only evokes feelings of despair, humiliation, and an incommunicable feeling of civic isolation. Instead we are learning to associate the word with the great march of civil rights in this country. MORE. As always we welcome questions, suggestions, corrections and letters to the editor. Rehan Ansari Editor, Independent Press Association - New York nyvoices at indypress.org* 212/279-1442 * 143 West 29th St., 901, New York City, 10001 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031002/3f878b88/attachment.html From ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de Sat Oct 4 23:38:58 2003 From: ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de (Britta Ohm) Date: Sat, 04 Oct 2003 18:08:58 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] FW: [boell] Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on Globalization Message-ID: Language and requirements seem a bit odd, yet might be of interest... Best - Britta Von: "Verena Graichen" An: "boellstipendiaten" Betreff: [boell] Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on Globalization Datum: Fre, 3. Okt 2003 17:10 Uhr > The Canadian International Development Agency-International Development > Research Centre- > Carleton University-University of Ottawa > > Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on Globalization > for the 2004_2005 Academic Year. > > The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies at Carleton University > and > the Institute of Women's Studies at the University of Ottawa, with the > support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the > International Development Research Centre (IDRC), are launching a four > year project to allow scholars from the developing world, working in the > field of "Gender and Development", to spend a research term at their > institutions. The "Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on > Globalization" will contribute in facilitating the expansion of gender > and > development research at both universities, and also provide a unique > opportunity for collaboration between feminist scholars in Canada and > the > developing world. For the Year 2004-2005, we are seeking an > English-speaking scholar to be based at the Pauline Jewett Institute of > Women's Studies at Carleton University. > > The Carleton University Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies and > the University of Ottawa Institute of Women's Studies are inviting > applications for its Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on > Globalization for the 2004_2005 academic year. The duration of the > Visiting Scholar's stay should be for a six (6) month period and within > the university's academic year, which runs from September to April. The > recipient will receive a generous stipend to cover travel, research and > living expenses (including the required medical insurance coverage). The > Visiting Scholar will have access to library services, a shared phone > and > computer facilities. > > The purpose of this fund is to attract highly qualified researchers from > developing countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, > the > Carribbean and the South Pacific, working within a "feminist perspective > on globalization" in one of the following areas: agriculture, basic > education, child protection, health and nutrition, HIV/Aids, information > and communication technologies (ICTs), human rights, democratization and > good governance, conflict and peacebuilding, private sector development, > infrastructure services (capacity building), social and economic equity, > environment and natural resource management. > > The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies (Carleton University) > and > the Institute of Women's Studies (University of Ottawa) invite > applications from scholars from developing countries, both tenured and > untenured faculty, and from post_doctoral, independent scholars who are > pursuing critical feminist research. Individuals pursuing a university > degree are not eligible. Applicants are expected to be fluent in > English, > to have a completed PhD, to have already published in scholarly > publications, and to have a current and established research project. > > During her/his stay in Canada, the Visiting Scholar will pursue and > present her/his ongoing research project in conferences and seminars as > requested, will generally participate in outreach activities, and will > produce one major research paper on the impact her/his visit to Canada > had > on her/his ongoing research. > > Applications, which can be submitted in English or French, should > include > an abbreviated curriculum vitae (10-12 pp.), a letter of intent > outlining > the research that will be undertaken in Canada (max. 2 pp.), a list of > recent publications, the dates of the proposed stay at Carleton > University, and the names of two referees. Please send to: Selection > Committee, Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on Globalization, > c/o > Hélène Boudreault, Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies, Carleton > University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S 5B6; > Telephone (613) 520-6644; Fax (613) 562_5994; email hboudre at uottawa.ca. > > The closing date for submitting applications is December 15, 2003. The > selection of the Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on > Globalization will be completed by February 20, 2004. Please note that > only the short-listed candidates will be contacted. > > Candidates may access the following websites for additional information > about the Institutes of Women's Studies at Carleton University and at > the > University of Ottawa. > > > > > > -- > Sophia Huyer > Women in Global Science and Technology > 204 Ventress Road > Brighton, Ontario, Canada > K0K 1H0 > Tel (1-905) 355-5124 > Fax (1-905) 355-3229 > shuyer at wigsat.org > www.wigsat.org > http://GSTGateway.wigsat.org Antworten werden an die AbsenderInnen geschickt. Mails an die ganze Liste gehen an die Adresse boell at yahoogroups.de - bitte dabei die Betreffszeile möglichst genau und verstaendlich formulieren! Die Boell-StipendiatInnenliste verlaesst Du, indem Du von der eingetragenen Emailadresse aus eine Mail (ohne Text) an boell-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.de schickst. Bei allen Problemen: Mail an boell-owner at yahoogroups.de Die Nutzung von Yahoo! Groups ist Bestandteil von http://de.docs.yahoo.com/info/utos.html From treborscholz at earthlink.net Sun Oct 5 10:04:09 2003 From: treborscholz at earthlink.net (trebor scholz) Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2003 04:34:09 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] New Media Education and Its Discontent Message-ID: New Media Education and Its Discontent ³Š home are the people for whom I take responsibility.² --------------Vilem Flusser in ³The Freedom of the Migrant² The Brazilian philosopher Vilem Flusser wrote much about the exile freely taking responsibility. I am in the fortunate position to enjoy teaching in a technology-based university department in the United States. I chose to take responsibility for the (new media) education of my students. And yet I experience conflicts among which student anti-intellectualism ranks first. A few anecdotal examples: one student reports how her high school teachers incessantly lied to her in their "interpretation" of world history and how that stirred up suspicion of "the intellectual." Another student claims that because of the availability of material online he feels less inclined to study the conclusions that other people draw from these texts as he himself can make up his mind. A graduate student recounts experiences he had as a critical technical practitioner in the early 90s when intellectuals applied the knowledge in their field to what he calls his own and quickly received a lot of visibility while not really understanding the issues due to a lack of technical insight. Students ask what it means to be intelligent and raise concerns that the class overlooks the type of knowledge that their grandmothers have, a very local and emotional insight. Maybe not surprisingly most distrust intellectuals in this country, calling them elitist, out of touch with this world, and view them as irrelevant. Completely quiet until then, one graduate student suddenly erupts in a candid impromptu lecture about the history of anti-intellectualism in the United States (he surely was trained to defend his position throughout his high school years). He traces it back to President Andrew Jackson, who received "sporadic education," wiped out Indian tribes and did not hesitate to shoot verbal contenders. Jackson hated people who knew more than he did. Coincidentally they were the Jews, homosexuals and immigrants of the time. John Quincy Adams, the sixth US president said of Jackson that he "cannot spell more than one word in four." The brave student then linked Jackson's presidency to the history of the extreme right in the United States and the prevalence of anti-intellectualism in this country up to this day. The California recall-election is a good example in which the candidate with the most ³personality² may win over those with intellect and experience in politics. The last presidential elections also proved this point. The debate about anti-intellectualism has become more vocal in classrooms across America for the past 10 years. "Anti-intellectualism," in my encyclopedia, is described as "hostility towards, or a mistrust of intellectuals, and their intellectual pursuits. This may be expressed in various ways, such as an attack on the merits of science, education, or literature.² The definition continues: "In another sense, anti-intellectualism reflects an attitude that simply takes 'intellectualism' with a grain of salt--inasmuch as intellectuals may be vain or narcissistic in their self-image, so too may they be understood by Œcommon people.¹² And let's add some more from this source (leaving aside how problematic the term Œcommon people¹ obviously is): "Anti-intellectualism is found in every nation on earth, but has become associated in particular with the United States of America. It existed in the US before the nation itself; the New England Puritan writer John Cotton wrote in 1642 that ŒThe more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee.¹ Anti-intellectual folklore values the self-reliant and Œself-made man,¹ schooled by society and by experience, over the intellectual whose learning was acquired through books and formal study." Concretely, anti-intellectualism manifests itself in the class room by not reading assignments, not contributing to class discussion, complaining about a high work load, skipping class, giving low evaluations to instructors with high standards, not bothering to do extra work, by dispassionately condemning intellectual debate as "boring." Incidents of racism and xenophobia in the classroom can be seen as part of the same problem. bell hooks describes the "pleasure of teaching" as an "act of resistance countering the overwhelming boredom, uninterest, and apathyŠ" In her book, "Teaching to Transgress," hooks describes teaching as a site for resistance, a place where the teacher must practice being vulnerable, and wholly present. I agree with her- the teacher¹s vulnerability brings a sense of a real, conflictual person to the classroom that encourages students to develop a similarly genuine expression of their position, free of sarcasm and false irony. This approach is more about learning than teaching- it is a process full of productive conflict in which the instructor is also transformed. Isn't it more fulfilling to be skilled than unskilled, to know than to not know, to inquire than to be self-satisfied, to strive than to be apathetic? What does learning mean? What does it mean to be in a place like a university where you have the opportunity of knowledge being presented to you, and time to reflect and navigate your own orientation? Media Study Departments bring together the most relevant sources of knowledge-- from cultural theory, and literature to technical skill, from the vocational to the conceptual. It is important to create an understanding of the importance of conceptual work in students. New media education faces other issues like the apparent tension between teaching theory and production, between those who ³think for a living² and others who are on the ³cutting edge² of technological innovation. In my classroom I experience much careerism, which I see both, as a result and a cause of student anti-intellectualism. Increasingly, career-minded students see college as an imposition between high school and the good life. The focus for many undergraduate students is on acquiring software and programming skills, which they value as the only stepping-stones to a corporate job. At the same time new media educators all over the country find it increasingly painful to prepare the next generation for their career as HTML slaves. In this ³tech prep² atmosphere, emphasizing employability, art becomes increasingly ³applied art.² On the other hand, there is a severe problem for those talented graduates who decide not to seek shelter in the ³industry.² They become new media artists and apart from hard-to-get positions in academia there are few places that will finance them. In the North of Europe the situation differs somewhat as grants may cover the new media artist's livelihood. Career-minded students often think that the cutting edge medium will get them ³that job,² with the "new and hip" constantly being in transition. "I don't know why we look at work in the Internet- it is already 10 years old." Students make similar demands of texts: "I don't know why we read this, it¹s written in 1995- that's dated now." And universities often buy into this perceived industry standard instead of focusing on general skills such as independent critical thinking that get students much further. How could we develop a curiosity for (art) history that then leads to, for example- web based art or graphics programming? The pure application of software programs or programming creates the most boring people says John Hopkins, quoted by Geert Lovink in his recent book "My First Recession"-- "it's like amateur photo-club members comparing the length of their telephoto lensesŠ² Many in the programming communities are distrustful of the humanities because in their view they have little to contribute to their field. In addition it is an almost impossible challenge for a single human being to keep up with the development of all those tools. Lovink writes, "universities still consider the computer/ new media industries as somehow emulating a film-industry model, with a stable set of skills each person goes out into the world with after graduation.² He suggests that instead, the most important task is to loosen up to a transient world of employment/ work/ play and disabusing students of the notion that there is an ³industry.² It needs problematic, off-track courses, Lovink argues, because they usually provide skills that last much longer than the software applications or programming languages of the day. What is in the long-term interest of students may not be immediately clear to them and it takes courage on the side of the instructor to insist on their vision. I have been asked about the difference between European and US American academia. Comparing teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany with my teaching in American universities I see indeed vast differences. The German educational system is heavily based on student¹s initiative. In Britain, where I studied for an M.F.A., most of learning took place within the student group. English tutors contributed inspiring cross-disciplinary anecdotes and encouraged a spirit of self-criticism. I taught art history, new media art practices and critical theory at universities in the North and South West of the United States and now on the East Coast. I experienced American students as often not willing to overcome the initial hindrances that are needed to make discourse joyful. Reading a text is like entering a room of people talking and unless we learn about their previous exchanges we will never be in the know but instead get frustrated. Knowledge is nothing innate, nothing we are born with or which we inherited. Often mistakenly introduced into this debate are the likes of Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison who had little schooling yet high intellectual achievements. All too often students judge texts based on their unwillingness to do the initial work that is necessary to enjoy theory. Rather than talking about building self-esteem (enough already) we need to talk about hard work and discipline (even if that may sound Protestant). How useful are Paulo Freire¹s notions of a pedagogy of dialogue and informal teaching in the context of today¹s US new media education that already is quite informal and horizontal? I see the disinterest in study caused by a widespread delegitimization of reading and print culture, and partially by popular culture that glorifies triviality, and mindlessness. Stanley Aranowitz in "Education and Cultural Studies" (ed. Henry A. Giroux) writes: "School should be a place where the virtues of learning are extolled (a) for their own sake and (b) for the purpose of helping students to become more active participants in the civic life of their neighborhoods, their cities, and the larger world." It is hard to bring everyday political events home, to make students realize how deeply linked our lives are to those of the people at the other side of town, or in Rwanda, Kosovo, Srebrenica, Afghanistan or Iraq. The trivial, localized focus of TV news reporting certainly does not help in internationalizing students, in opening up their views to a larger horizon. This false localism stops students from aiming with their artworks at larger international (new media) art audiences. By the same token this localism or regionalism should not prevent new media departments from developing international relationships. In the American consumer-driven educational system, mainly part time or untenured faculty¹s academic careers rely on student evaluations, which is where the system in itself is deeply at fault. How can an instructor be courageous under these constraints? The meaning of teaching can be found in the Latin word "professio,² which means declaration. To be a professor means to declare your beliefs, which may not by any means go down well with students. This stance purposefully creates tension, which comprises true learning, a friction that makes it clearer for a student where s/he stands. Teaching, in the sense of Edward Said's notion of the public intellectual, cannot mean to please, it cannot aim at consumer sovereignty, and it cannot mean that the customer is easily and completely satisfied. The consumer model implies that the university offers "services." Courses are shaped to satisfy students who think of themselves as consumers who conveniently with next to no effort (as in shopping), graduate. If this is what teaching is about, it fails its mission. Students should open themselves up to successful learning. And the ³success² in ³successful learning,² according to Bertold Brecht stands for being educational, creating change in the real live world. Students should get "electrified" by the widely unexplored field of new media. Trebor Scholz --- Net Cultures: Art, Politics, and the Everyday http://molodiez.org/net/syllabus.html Fibre Culture New Media Education http://www.fibreculture.org/newmediaed/index.html Geert Lovink ³The Battle over New Media Art Education. Experiences and Models.² in ³My First Recession. Critical Internet Culture in Transition² V2_/NAi Publishers, 2003 From marisa at sfcamerawork.org Sun Oct 5 10:27:16 2003 From: marisa at sfcamerawork.org (Marisa S. Olson) Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2003 04:57:16 -0000 Subject: Fwd: [Reader-list] New Media Education and Its Discontent Message-ID: hi, all. trebor scholz posted this interesting piece to the sarai reader list. thought some here might be interested... i'm particularly interested in the discussion of "the apparent tension between teaching theory and production." it does seem (given my own experiences as a perpetual phd student) that so many of the programs have this polarized, alienating curricular dichotomy going and i have found myself frustrated at the lack of middle ground. when i was in the uk, it impressed me that art practice programs had theoretical research components built into their degrees, whereas the two are so separated in the US. in the context of the media arts, there seems to be a bit more of an impetus to "present" both, but my sense is that many of the people steering the programs are doing so under the mark of intimidation by the so-called "new" media and, also--more importantly, that there is a general lack of synthesis between criticism/theory and practice. so that courses will focus on the "right" new media readings, and possibly introducing critical theory vets (jameson, baudrillard, foucault, etc.) in this light, but without engaging with an application of those ideas to a reading of any real art work. and, on the other hand, there are nuts & bolts practice courses that (perhaps sprouting out of the anti-intellectualism scholz mentions) snub theory as divorced from their engagement with director or perl, and focus simply on production. the rapid development of the technologies (hard and soft) associated with "new media" is a bittersweet thing. book production timelines do not jive with software upgrades. this we know. but, still, it would be great if the "production" (and hiring!) of scholars equally engaged in practice and criticism (not that i don't seem criticism as a sort of practice, and vice-versa!) and comfortable merging the two would catch up to the work. my two cents... ~marisa >Date: Sat, 04 Oct 2003 16:41:17 -0400 >From: trebor scholz >To: Sarai List > > >New Media Education and Its Discontent > >"Š home are the people for whom I take responsibility." >--------------Vilem Flusser in "The Freedom of the Migrant" > >The Brazilian philosopher Vilem Flusser wrote much about the exile freely >taking responsibility. I am in the fortunate position to enjoy teaching in a >technology-based university department in the United States. I chose to take >responsibility for the (new media) education of my students. And yet I >experience conflicts among which student anti-intellectualism ranks first. > > A few anecdotal examples: one student reports how her high school teachers >incessantly lied to her in their "interpretation" of world history and how >that stirred up suspicion of "the intellectual." Another student claims that >because of the availability of material online he feels less inclined to >study the conclusions that other people draw from these texts as he himself >can make up his mind. A graduate student recounts experiences he had as a >critical technical practitioner in the early 90s when intellectuals applied >the knowledge in their field to what he calls his own and quickly received a >lot of visibility while not really understanding the issues due to a lack of >technical insight. Students ask what it means to be intelligent and raise >concerns that the class overlooks the type of knowledge that their >grandmothers have, a very local and emotional insight. Maybe not >surprisingly most distrust intellectuals in this country, calling them >elitist, out of touch with this world, and view them as irrelevant. >Completely quiet until then, one graduate student suddenly erupts in a >candid impromptu lecture about the history of anti-intellectualism in the >United States (he surely was trained to defend his position throughout his >high school years). He traces it back to President Andrew Jackson, who >received "sporadic education," wiped out Indian tribes and did not hesitate >to shoot verbal contenders. Jackson hated people who knew more than he did. >Coincidentally they were the Jews, homosexuals and immigrants of the time. >John Quincy Adams, the sixth US president said of Jackson that he "cannot >spell more than one word in four." The brave student then linked Jackson's >presidency to the history of the extreme right in the United States and the >prevalence of anti-intellectualism in this country up to this day. The >California recall-election is a good example in which the candidate with the >most "personality" may win over those with intellect and experience in >politics. The last presidential elections also proved this point. > >The debate about anti-intellectualism has become more vocal in classrooms >across America for the past 10 years. "Anti-intellectualism," in my >encyclopedia, is described as "hostility towards, or a mistrust of >intellectuals, and their intellectual pursuits. This may be expressed in >various ways, such as an attack on the merits of science, education, or >literature." The definition continues: "In another sense, >anti-intellectualism reflects an attitude that simply takes >'intellectualism' with a grain of salt--inasmuch as intellectuals may be >vain or narcissistic in their self-image, so too may they be understood by >'common people.'" And let's add some more from this source (leaving aside >how problematic the term 'common people' obviously is): >"Anti-intellectualism is found in every nation on earth, but has become >associated in particular with the United States of America. It existed in >the US before the nation itself; the New England Puritan writer John Cotton >wrote in 1642 that 'The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act >for Satan will you bee.' Anti-intellectual folklore values the self-reliant >and 'self-made man,' schooled by society and by experience, over the >intellectual whose learning was acquired through books and formal study." > >Concretely, anti-intellectualism manifests itself in the class room by not >reading assignments, not contributing to class discussion, complaining about >a high work load, skipping class, giving low evaluations to instructors with >high standards, not bothering to do extra work, by dispassionately >condemning intellectual debate as "boring." Incidents of racism and >xenophobia in the classroom can be seen as part of the same problem. > > bell hooks describes the "pleasure of teaching" as an "act of resistance >countering the overwhelming boredom, uninterest, and apathyŠ" In her book, >"Teaching to Transgress," hooks describes teaching as a site for resistance, >a place where the teacher must practice being vulnerable, and wholly >present. I agree with her- the teacher's vulnerability brings a sense of a >real, conflictual person to the classroom that encourages students to >develop a similarly genuine expression of their position, free of sarcasm >and false irony. This approach is more about learning than teaching- it is a >process full of productive conflict in which the instructor is also >transformed. Isn't it more fulfilling to be skilled than unskilled, to know >than to not know, to inquire than to be self-satisfied, to strive than to be >apathetic? What does learning mean? What does it mean to be in a place like >a university where you have the opportunity of knowledge being presented to >you, and time to reflect and navigate your own orientation? > > Media Study Departments bring together the most relevant sources of >knowledge-- from cultural theory, and literature to technical skill, from >the vocational to the conceptual. It is important to create an understanding >of the importance of conceptual work in students. New media education faces >other issues like the apparent tension between teaching theory and >production, between those who "think for a living" and others who are on the >"cutting edge" of technological innovation. In my classroom I experience >much careerism, which I see both, as a result and a cause of student >anti-intellectualism. Increasingly, career-minded students see college as an >imposition between high school and the good life. The focus for many >undergraduate students is on acquiring software and programming skills, >which they value as the only stepping-stones to a corporate job. At the same >time new media educators all over the country find it increasingly painful >to prepare the next generation for their career as HTML slaves. In this >"tech prep" atmosphere, emphasizing employability, art becomes increasingly >"applied art." On the other hand, there is a severe problem for those >talented graduates who decide not to seek shelter in the "industry." They >become new media artists and apart from hard-to-get positions in academia >there are few places that will finance them. In the North of Europe the >situation differs somewhat as grants may cover the new media artist's >livelihood. > >Career-minded students often think that the cutting edge medium will get >them "that job," with the "new and hip" constantly being in transition. "I >don't know why we look at work in the Internet- it is already 10 years old." >Students make similar demands of texts: "I don't know why we read this, it's >written in 1995- that's dated now." And universities often buy into this >perceived industry standard instead of focusing on general skills such as >independent critical thinking that get students much further. > > How could we develop a curiosity for (art) history that then leads to, for >example- web based art or graphics programming? The pure application of >software programs or programming creates the most boring people says John >Hopkins, quoted by Geert Lovink in his recent book "My First Recession"-- >"it's like amateur photo-club members comparing the length of their >telephoto lensesŠ" Many in the programming communities are distrustful of >the humanities because in their view they have little to contribute to their >field. In addition it is an almost impossible challenge for a single human >being to keep up with the development of all those tools. Lovink writes, >"universities still consider the computer/ new media industries as somehow >emulating a film-industry model, with a stable set of skills each person >goes out into the world with after graduation." He suggests that instead, >the most important task is to loosen up to a transient world of employment/ >work/ play and disabusing students of the notion that there is an >"industry." It needs problematic, off-track courses, Lovink argues, because >they usually provide skills that last much longer than the software >applications or programming languages of the day. What is in the long-term >interest of students may not be immediately clear to them and it takes >courage on the side of the instructor to insist on their vision. > > I have been asked about the difference between European and US American >academia. Comparing teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany with my >teaching in American universities I see indeed vast differences. The German >educational system is heavily based on student's initiative. In Britain, >where I studied for an M.F.A., most of learning took place within the >student group. English tutors contributed inspiring cross-disciplinary >anecdotes and encouraged a spirit of self-criticism. I taught art history, >new media art practices and critical theory at universities in the North and >South West of the United States and now on the East Coast. I experienced >American students as often not willing to overcome the initial hindrances >that are needed to make discourse joyful. > >Reading a text is like entering a room of people talking and unless we learn >about their previous exchanges we will never be in the know but instead get >frustrated. Knowledge is nothing innate, nothing we are born with or which >we inherited. Often mistakenly introduced into this debate are the likes of >Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison who had little schooling yet high >intellectual achievements. > > All too often students judge texts based on their unwillingness to do the >initial work that is necessary to enjoy theory. Rather than talking about >building self-esteem (enough already) we need to talk about hard work and >discipline (even if that may sound Protestant). How useful are Paulo >Freire's notions of a pedagogy of dialogue and informal teaching in the >context of today's US new media education that already is quite informal and >horizontal? I see the disinterest in study caused by a widespread >delegitimization of reading and print culture, and partially by popular >culture that glorifies triviality, and mindlessness. Stanley Aranowitz in >"Education and Cultural Studies" (ed. Henry A. Giroux) writes: "School >should be a place where the virtues of learning are extolled (a) for their >own sake and (b) for the purpose of helping students to become more active >participants in the civic life of their neighborhoods, their cities, and the >larger world." It is hard to bring everyday political events home, to make >students realize how deeply linked our lives are to those of the people at >the other side of town, or in Rwanda, Kosovo, Srebrenica, Afghanistan or >Iraq. The trivial, localized focus of TV news reporting certainly does not >help in internationalizing students, in opening up their views to a larger >horizon. This false localism stops students from aiming with their artworks >at larger international (new media) art audiences. By the same token this >localism or regionalism should not prevent new media departments from >developing international relationships. > > In the American consumer-driven educational system, mainly part time or >untenured faculty's academic careers rely on student evaluations, which is >where the system in itself is deeply at fault. How can an instructor be >courageous under these constraints? The meaning of teaching can be found in >the Latin word "professio," which means declaration. To be a professor means >to declare your beliefs, which may not by any means go down well with >students. This stance purposefully creates tension, which comprises true >learning, a friction that makes it clearer for a student where s/he stands. >Teaching, in the sense of Edward Said's notion of the public intellectual, >cannot mean to please, it cannot aim at consumer sovereignty, and it cannot >mean that the customer is easily and completely satisfied. The consumer >model implies that the university offers "services." Courses are shaped to >satisfy students who think of themselves as consumers who conveniently with >next to no effort (as in shopping), graduate. If this is what teaching is >about, it fails its mission. Students should open themselves up to >successful learning. And the "success" in "successful learning," according >to Bertold Brecht stands for being educational, creating change in the real >live world. Students should get "electrified" by the widely unexplored field >of new media. > >Trebor Scholz > > --- >Net Cultures: Art, Politics, and the Everyday >http://molodiez.org/net/syllabus.html > >Fibre Culture New Media Education >http://www.fibreculture.org/newmediaed/index.html > >Geert Lovink "The Battle over New Media Art Education. Experiences and >Models." in "My First Recession. Critical Internet Culture in Transition" >V2_/NAi Publishers, 2003 > > > >_________________________________________ >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: _________________ Marisa S. Olson Associate Director SF Camerawork 415. 863. 1001 From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Mon Oct 6 03:15:13 2003 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Zest=20Reading=20Group?=) Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2003 21:45:13 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation for the Lecture Series by eminent American Art historians Message-ID: <20031005135246.38267.qmail@web8205.mail.in.yahoo.com> NATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS MOHILE PARIKH CENTER VISUAL ARTS FORUM ARCHITECTURE FORUM Dear Friend, You are cordially invited to attend the Lecture Seires organised by the Mohile Parikh Center - Visual Arts Forum. Lecture and Discussion Venue: Godrej Dance Academy Theatre, NCPA Date: October 27-29, 2003 and November 3-6, 2003 Time: 6.00pm to 8.00pm CAROL BECKER Negotiating the Terrain: Contemporary Artists in Society Carol Becker is the Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of numerous articles and several books including: The Invisible Drama: Women and The Anxiety of Change; The Subversive Imagination: Artist, Society, and Social Responsibility; Zones of Contention: Essays on Art, Institutions, Gender and Anxiety; and most recently, Surpassing the Spectacle: Global Transformation and the Changing Politics of Art. The lectures will focus on contemporary practice and how artists address various aspects of society. Each lecture will attempt to situate the complexity of the role of the artist as citizen. Each will also attempt to deepen the audience's understanding of how artists think about the social issues of their time and to explain how U.S. audiences respond to contemporary work. October 27, 2003 Lecture I: Dreaming in the Dark: The Ambivalent Love Affair Between Artists and Museums October 28, 2003 Lecture II: Messing With the Sacred: When Images Unnerve Their Publics October 29, 2003 Lecture III: Borne of Necessity: Artists Address Poverty II JAMES ELKINS World Painting, 1900-2000: Theoretical and Political Problems James Elkins is a Professor at the Department of Visual and Critical Studies and the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His writing focuses on the history and theory of images in art, science, and nature. Some of his books are exclusively on Fine Art, comprising of What Painting Is; Why are our Pictures Puzzles? On the Modern Origins of Pictorial Complexity; Our Beautiful, Dry and Distant Texts: Art History as Writing. Others include scientific and non-art images and archaeology such as , The Domain of Images: On the Historical Study of Visual Artifacts; On Pictures and the Words That Fail Them, and some explore natural history as well such as, How to Use Your Eyes. He has also authored numerous articles, book reviews and exhibition catalogues and has lectured extensively in various universities and art institutions in the U.S. Modern painting poses extremely difficult problems for art history, because it is divided into a mainstream, the sequence that begins with Manet or Cézanne and continues through Picasso and abstraction, and a large number of regional and national schools. Many countries have famous painters who are nevertheless hardly known in Western Europe or North America. Theories of success and failure in modernism, together with philosophies of modernist painting, are mainly products of the West, so that modernist painting is divided between the main sequence and many "marginal," belated, derivative, or otherwise, devalued works. One of the most important projects for a global art history is to find a way to write inclusively and sympathetically about a wide range of modernist practices. November 3, 2003 Lecture I: Major Theories of Success and Failure in 20th Century Painting November 4, 2003 Lecture II: How is It Possible to Write About the World's Painting? November 5, 2003 Lecture III: Rethinking Art Historical Terms III MARGARET MACNAMIDHE Paint that Divides and Gathers: Delacroix's Romanticism Margaret MacNamidhe is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of the History of Art, University College, Dublin. She graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 2002 with a dissertation entitled 'The Dilemma of Painting in the 1824 Salon: A New Interpretation of Eugène Delacroix's Career'. Her undergraduate training was as a painter. After graduating from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin with a degree in Fine Art and Art History, she spent the next four years painting full-time, including scholarships in Italy, Scandinavia and Greece, and exhibiting widely in Ireland and Europe. In addition to UCD, she has also taught in DePaul University Chicago, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the American University of Paris and the Johns Hopkins University. An essay entitled "Sigalon's Poison: Viewing French Romanticism in 1824," was published in June in a volume of essays entitled The Enduring Instant. Eugène Delacroix's painting Scenes from the Massacres at Chios was his major entry for the Paris Salon of 1824 where it met with consternation and bafflement. In this lecture, the speaker will examine why contemporary viewers found the painting with its mass of slumped and suffering figures so difficult but compelling to look at. Whether supportive or furious, critics in the newspapers and journals of the time lingered over the painting-variously shoring it up with explanatory narratives or sifting its disorder. They found that the Chios took a long time to look at. This, the speaker believes, is key to the constitutive nature of the painting: it demands time to see the Chios, it cannot be perceived 'whole', it has to be viewed figure by figure, area by area. This is, above all, a matter of the ways in which it is painted. It is this that sets it apart from the painting that came before in the French tradition. Delacroix's approach is fundamentally unlike the unities of gesture and purpose that course though Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii (1785) and also Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa (1819), a painting to which the Chios has however, frequently been compared. November 6, 2003 Lecture: Paint that Divides and Gathers: Delacroix's Romanticism Do join us for Tea/Coffee at 6. 00 pm Admission free. Please register your name by October 20, 2003 at the Mohile Parikh Center With Best Regards, Amrita Gupta Program Coordinator - Visual Arts Forum, MPC Mohile Parikh Center National Center For The Performing Arts Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021 Tel.: 22838380/81 email: mpcva at vsnl.com ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From raviv at sarai.net Mon Oct 6 22:48:27 2003 From: raviv at sarai.net (Ravi S. Vasudevan) Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 17:18:27 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Fwd: New ICES journal DOMAINS Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.0.20031006105836.00b1e058@mail.sarai.net> >Domains: The Journal of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies > > ICES celebrates the inauguration of Domains - its new, refereed, > internationally published, scholarly journal - with a US$ 1000 prize > competition. Submission deadline for papers is st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />15th Dec. 2003. > Work from any geographical area and orientation within the humanities and > social sciences is welcome. > > For more information on Domains, and the contest visit > www.icesdomains.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031006/fe30949f/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aanitaasoni at hotmail.com Tue Oct 7 00:42:37 2003 From: aanitaasoni at hotmail.com (Aanita Soni) Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 19:12:37 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] photo document on bhati mines Message-ID: Dear Ravi, I have become quite used to your little discourtesies, so it hardly matters to me if you call my explanatory and interpretative note on your photographs �highly distasteful�, �vitriolic� and �cynical�. I stand by each and every word and sentence I have written. Unlike you, I am very careful and conscientious in my use of words. I was rather dismayed to see what you presented to Sarai on 14 August 03, and I spontaneously reacted to it there and then. Nobody among the audience knew that you had refused to discuss with me the contents and structure of your final photo-document. You had only handed me a bundle of photographs which were not intelligible without an explanation, and could not possibly be �supported from outside� by a separate research paper that would NOT refer to the how�s and why�s of particular visuals you chose (from among �a thousand�!) to present and render into the public domain for an �informed debate�. It was primarily your own photo-document that was meant to highlight the issue of the people of Bhatti Mines, and it failed to do so. You were obviously aware of it, that is why you included, at random and without any acknowledgement, a handful of black-and-white reproductions from the archival material which I made available to you on your specific request. By the way, you have not returned to me the photograph by Smitu Kothari, which you also presented without acknowledging its authorship.Please locate it and send it back. In my note I took pains to explain, point by point, the factual contents of your photo-documentation : what has been shown, and what has been missed, and why. In the process, I also justified your constraints � in terms of time practically available for your field work on this subject (you know as well as I do, that you managed to pay only twelve visits to Bhatti Mines � I have the dates � during the past one year, plus the extra outings to photograph, from above, the underground work of laying Internet cables, plus the visit to Holambi Kalan/Bawana with Colin), and even more importantly, in terms of your involvement in the dominant institutional structures of urban environmentalism. It is not just about your membership of the Ridge Management Board and other high level policy groups. It is about your unflinching faith in the instrumentality of the State for saving the natural environment. In spite of all your sympathy for the people of Bhatti Mines, you cannot have a common cause with them as long as they remain �encroachers� in the eyes of the same Supreme Court whose authority sustains your environmental activism. In pointing this out, I am not being �vitriolic� or �cynical�. I have duly acknowledged in my text (please read it again, with less rage and more attention to detail) that it was you who helped them to go to court through Colin. But only to plead for resettlement � as hapless encroachers -- at Jaunapur, as per the original Court order! I do not take your photo-document to be final. In its present form , or rather formlessness, it does not serve the cause of the much-wronged Od tribe whose unique village is found at Bhati Mines. Still, I have given you the credit for taking interest in them. I think it would not affect your prospects of holding an exhibition on this subject if you render your whole collection of Bhatti Mines photographs to Sarai , so that they can be displayed online and seen by many people. You may attach your personal comments from the �First City� interview � that at least shows your emotional engagement. Best wishes, Aanita _________________________________________________________________ The heat is on! Catch the latest action. http://server1.msn.co.in/sp03/formula2003/ Speed along with F1! From geert at desk.nl Tue Oct 7 01:09:00 2003 From: geert at desk.nl (geert lovink) Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 19:39:00 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] average joe... enjoy. References: <20031005135246.38267.qmail@web8205.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <0db701c38bff$15b54b30$1cbc6682@geert> http://www.mumbaimobs.org/ From aiindex at mnet.fr Tue Oct 7 08:21:21 2003 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 02:51:21 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Online petition by doctors seeks action against leader of Hindu far right Message-ID: Please take a few minutes and sign the Online Petition to [be submitted to] the Medical Council of India seeking action against Dr Praveen Tagodia (leader of the Hindu Far Right) for incitement to hate. Please share this with others and do tell doctors in India you know to sign the below petition. Deregister Dr. Praveen Togadia for Professional Misconduct http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/Togadia/ From monica at sarai.net Tue Oct 7 19:54:05 2003 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 14:24:05 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Government Information Awareness Message-ID: Government Information Awareness: http://18.85.1.51/index.html Website turns tables on government officials By Hiawatha Bray, [Boston] Globe Staff, 7/4/2003 Annoyed by the prospect of a massive new federal surveillance system, two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are celebrating the Fourth of July with a new Internet service that will let citizens create dossiers on government officials. The system will start by offering standard background information on politicians, but then go one bold step further, by asking Internet users to submit their own intelligence reports on government officials -- reports that will be published with no effort to verify their accuracy. "It's sort of a citizen's intelligence agency," said Chris Csikszentmihalyi, assistant professor at the MIT Media Lab. He and graduate student Ryan McKinley created the Government Information Awareness (GIA) project as a response to the US government's Total Information Awareness program (TIA). Revealed last year, TIA seeks to track possible terrorist activity by analyzing vast amounts of information stored in government and private databases, such as credit card data. The system would use this information to analyze the actions of millions of people, in an effort to spot patterns that could indicate a terrorist threat. News of the plan outraged civil libertarians and prompted Congress to set limits on the scope of such activity. The Defense Department then renamed the program Terrorist Information Awareness, to ease public concern. But the controversy gave McKinley the idea for the GIA project. "If total information exists," he said, "really the same effort should be spent to make the same information at the leadership level at least as transparent -- in my opinion, more transparent." McKinley worked with Csikszentmihalyi to design the GIA system. It's partly based on technology used to create Internet indexes such as Google. Software crawls around Internet sites that store large amounts of information about politicians. These include independent political sites like http://opensecrets.org , as well as sites run by government agencies. McKinley created software that ferrets out the useful data from these sites, and loads it into the GIA database. The result is a one-stop research site for basic information on key officials. The site also takes advantage of round-the-clock political coverage provided by cable TV's C-Span networks. McKinley and Csikszentmihalyi use video cameras to capture images of people appearing on C-Span, which generally includes the names of people shown on screen. A computer program "reads" each name, and links it to any information about that person stored in the database. By clicking on the picture, a GIA user instantly gets a complete rundown on all available data about that person. The GIA site constantly displays snapshots of the people appearing on C-Span at that moment. If there's a dossier on a particular person, clicking on the picture brings it up. A C-Span viewer watching a live government hearing could learn which companies have contributed to a member of Congress's reelection campaign, before the politician had even finished speaking. All of the information currently on the site is available from public sources. But GIA will go one step further. Starting today, the site will allow the public to submit information about government officials, and this information will be made available to anyone visiting the site. No effort will be made to verify the accuracy of the data. This approach to Internet publishing isn't new. It resembles a method known as Wiki, in which a website is constantly amended by visitors who contribute new information. The best known Wiki site, http://www.wikipedia.org , is an online encyclopedia created entirely by visitors who have voluntarily written nearly 140,000 articles, on subjects ranging from astronomy to Roman mythology. Any Wikipedia user who thinks he has spotted an error or wants to add information can modify the article. Unlike at a standard encyclopedia operation, there is no central authority to edit or reject articles. The GIA approach, though, raises the possibility that people could post libelous information, or data that unreasonably compromises a person's privacy. That troubles Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology & Liberty Program of the American Civil Liberties Union. "We think that there should be some restrictions on the publishing of personally identifiable information, whether it involves government officials or not," he said. But he noted that the public has a right to know some things about a politician that would be properly kept private about an ordinary citizen. For instance, voters have a right to know where a politician sends his children to school, if that politician has taken a strong stand on school vouchers. "Do they have the right to publish every piece of data they're going to publish?" Steinhardt asked. "It's going to depend on what they publish." In any case, Steinhardt said, McKinley and Csikszentmihalyi have a First Amendment right to set up the GIA project. And he said that it's a valuable response to the government's TIA surveillance. "I assume the point of this is, turnabout is fair play." On a page of the GIA website, at opengov.media.mit.edu, McKinley and Csikszentmihalyi give their answer to questions about the legitimacy of their actions. "Is it legal?" the site reads. "It should be." Hiawatha Bray can be reached at mailto:bray at globe.com From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Tue Oct 7 21:56:43 2003 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Zest=20Reading=20Group?=) Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 16:26:43 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Rude encounters with Internet censorship Message-ID: <20031007082722.24400.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> Rude encounters with Internet censorship An Internet discussion group created by a militant outfit of the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya invited government censorship, which in turn triggered a ban on thousands of Yahoo! Groups. This could well be the beginning of an era of Internet censorship in India. By Shivam Vij click here: http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web210214166221Hoot72410%20PM935&pn=1 ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From VinitaNYC at aol.com Thu Oct 9 04:15:56 2003 From: VinitaNYC at aol.com (VinitaNYC at aol.com) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 22:45:56 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Pakistani student beaten and killed in New Jersey Message-ID: <4D3937C6.453E806F.029E54D5@aol.com> Below is a press release regarding Nabeel Siddiqui who died recently following a beating with a baseball bat from three youths in Orange, New Jersey. Following the release are links to other press to date. Vinita. Press Release: > > > > -------------- > > > > Nabeel Siddiqui, 24, a computer science major > > who graduated from NJIT > > >this summer, remains in > > >critical condition at the University of Medicine > > and Dentistry of New > > >Jersey's University Hospital > > >in NewarK following an assault Saturday, September > > 27th. > > > > > > > > Nabeel suffered brutal neurological injuries and > > trauma which has caused > > >severe damage to > > >different parts of his brain. > > > > > > > > He was attacked by a baseball bat on his headat > > Haxtun Avenue in > > >Orange, NJ, while delivering a > > >pizza to an address there.  According tothe police > > report, the  resident of > > >that address was not > > >home at the time of  the attack and later  told > > police no one there had > > >orderd a pizza. > > > > > > > > > > > > Three juveniles, a 16-year-old from Woodbridge > > and a 16-year-old and > > >17-year-old from Orange are > > >in custody for this henious, pre-mediated and > > cold-blooded attack. They are > > >charged with > > >aggravated assault, robbery, carjacking, and > > possession of a weapon, > > >  police have said. > > > > > > > > Nabeel's mother arrived one week after. His > > father however is still in > > >Pakistan running around > > >the red-tape of visa processing. > > > > > > > >------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Press Clipping thus far > > > > > > > > > > http://www.njit.edu/publicinfo/newsroom/nabeel.php > > > > > > > >http://paknews.com/specialNews.php?id=2345&date1=2003-09-30 > > > > > > > >http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/essex/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1065073840290910.xml > > >(Newhouse News Service) > > > > > > > >http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=story_2-10-2003_pg7_52 > From sam at media.com.au Thu Oct 9 15:25:40 2003 From: sam at media.com.au (sam-de-silva) Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 09:55:40 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Seeking Image / Photograph Message-ID: <200310091203.23571.sam@media.com.au> Hi Reader List Members, I wonder if anyone can assist. I am involved with SPINACH7 magazine (out of Melbourne) - we are just starting it up, aiming at publishing progressive ideas and stories out to audiences who want to know more about the world around them. SPINACH7 is printed in full colour. You can check us out at http://spinach7.com At the moment, we are doing a story on WSIS. Would anyone on the Reader List be able to provide us with an image that would compliment the story. The use of technology / computers in grassroots / community environments would be great. SPINACH7 is running at the moment on a volunteer basis - so we have no funds except a print budget. However, if we do print a photograph, we'll give the photographer full credits and send you a few copies of the magazine! Look forward to hearing from someone, Many thanks, Sam de Silva :-) Producer / SPINACH7 -- ====================================== COMING SOON http://www.spinach7.com EAT MORE SPINACH From secretariat at pukar.org.in Wed Oct 8 18:09:06 2003 From: secretariat at pukar.org.in (PUKAR) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 12:39:06 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] October Events Message-ID: PUKAR Events, October 2003 Dear Friends, You are invited to the following PUKAR events scheduled for this month. Those of you who would like us to send special reminders every week please do write to secretariat at pukar.org.in with the request and we shall comply. The calendar of events provided below is followed by details about each event and the people involved. FILM SCREENINGS: 1. Title: Bombay Our City/ Humara Shahar Director: Anand Patwardhan Date: Wednesday, 8 October 2003 Time: 6 p.m. Venue: NGMA Auditorium, NGMA, Kala Ghoda 2. Title: New Empire Director: Kurush Canteenwala Date: Friday, 10 October 2003 Time: 6 p.m. Venue: NGMA Auditorium, NGMA, Kala Ghoda VIDEO TABLE: 8 Short Films on Mumbai at the NGMA (available for viewing till 19th October 2003) Occupation Mill Worker (Anand Patwardhan) Crystal (Students of Social Communications Media, Sophia Polytechnic) Circadian Cycle (Mahesh Mathai) I Ranu Gayen (Shyamal Karmarkar) Aur Irani Chai (Wilson College Students) Living With the Dead (Students of Social Communications Media, Sophia Polytechnic) Sambhawami Yuge Yuge (Madhushree Dutta) Phantoms (Tushar Joag) TALKS: 1. Researching Locality. Speaker: Alito Siqueira Date: Thursday, 23 October 2003 Time: 6:30p.m. Venue: PUKAR Office 2. Examining Social Change and the Media in Mumbai. Speakers: Prabir Bose and the "Media Matters" Team Date: Friday 31 October 2003 Time: 6:30p.m. Venue: PUKAR Office Details of the Events: A: Film Screenings: 1. Bombay Our City / Humara Shahar 82 mins. Colour, 16mm, 1985 Director: Anand Patwardhan This moving verite film follows the travails and triumphs in the daily battle for survival of Bombay's slum dwellers, as they face demolitions, monsoons, death and life. It has won the National Award, Best Non-fiction, India, 1986, Filmfare Award, Best Documentary, India, 1986 and Special Jury Prize, Cinema du Reel, France, 1986. Anand Patwardhan is a pioneering documentary filmmaker living and working in Bombay. Date: Wednesday, 8 October 2003 Time: 6 p.m. Venue: NGMA Auditorium, NGMA, Kala Ghoda 2. New Empire 37 Minutes, 2002 Director: Kurush Canteenwala New Empire is a visually impressionistic, non-fiction film that attempts to chronicle personal encounters with new colonialism and the accompanying loss of an indigenous way of urban being. Kurush Canteenwala is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Production and Film Aesthetics at the Southern Illinois University. Date: Friday, 10 October 2003 Time: 6 p.m. Venue: NGMA Auditorium, NGMA, Kala Ghoda Video Table: The video film table is predicated on a design of interactive viewing. A card provides a brief synopsis of the videos. Visitors can choose which film they want to watch and it will be played for them. The above screenings are part of the ongoing PUKAR-NGMA collaboration, for the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai's annual exhibition, "Ideas and Images" (September 10th to October 19th 2003). PUKAR has organized a screening of several documentary films on Mumbai. The curator for the series is PUKAR Associate, filmmaker and writer Paromita Vohra. B: Discussions/ Talks: 1. Topic: Researching Locality Speaker: Prof. Alito Siqueira Last month we started a monthly series of discussions on research practices and methodologies. Sociologist Manorama Savur provided a historical overview about research practices in Mumbai University's Department of Sociology. This month we have invited Prof. Alito Siqueira - who presently teaches in Goa University - to discuss methodological issues that arise when studying local spaces. Research on urban themes often has to contend with the concept of locality. Drawing on his present work that involves understanding representation and performance and its links to place and community in Goa, Siqueira will lead a discussion on various conceptual challenges that any research on local space produces. Date: Thursday, 23 October 2003 Time: 6:30p.m. Venue: PUKAR Office 2. Topic: Examining Social Change and the Media in Mumbai. Speaker: Prabir Bose and the "Media Matters" Team Every month PUKAR organizes a discussion in Marathi on various urban issues. Last month Bhargavi Davar and Aparna Sathe initiated a vigorous discussion at the Akshara centre in Dadar on the theme, "The City, Mental Health and Women", in which about 40 activists, journalists and students participated. This month we have invited Prabir Bose and his team from the Mumbai based NGO "Media Matters" to initiate a discussion on the changing perceptions of the media - especially in the context of its role in instigating "social change". "Media Matters" is located at Ambernath and seeks to research, study and experiment with media forms and the dynamics of communication. Date: Friday 31 October 2003 Time: 6:30p.m. Venue: PUKAR Office _____ PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research) Mumbai. E-Mail Phone +91 (022) 2207 7779, +91 98204 04010 Web Site http://www.pukar.org.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031008/3f7604d1/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From kanti.kumar at oneworld.net Thu Oct 9 01:03:48 2003 From: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net (Kanti Kumar) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 19:33:48 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Digital Opportunity Channel- this week's newsletter Message-ID: <182160-220031038114038652@oneworld.net> Please find subscription information at the bottom of the newsletter. With apologies for any cross-posting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org + ---------------------------------------------------- + For all the news and analysis about the WSIS summit from a civil society perspective, please visit our Special Coverage section at: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/section/dochannel/wsis + ---------------------------------------------------- + ********************************* Latest News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1138 ********************************* OH MY NEWS! ANYONE CAN BE A REPORTER ------------------------------------- Which online news service recently played an instrumental role in the election of a President? The South Korean on-line news service 'Ohmynews' is probably the only example to date of a Net-based initiative that has made a decisive difference in a presidential election. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69902/1138/493 $53.7M FOR TECH-BASED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL US ------------------------------------------------------ Last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced 128 awards totalling $53.7 million for rural tech-based economic development initiatives. The 84 distance learning and telemedicine grants, which total $32.4 million, are aimed to provide greater educational opportunities and medical service to rural citizens in 41 states. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69867/1138/493 ARAB YOUTH LEARN COMPUTER SKILLS AT TRAINING CENTRES ---------------------------------------------------- An after school programme for Arab youth in the West Bank city of Ramallah is providing students a safe place to interact and be creative while learning technology skills. Youth, ages 10 to 18, have access to high-tech equipment, professional software and adult mentors to help them develop the self-confidence and enthusiasm for learning they need to be successful in the future. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69866/1138/493 CHINA RELEASES CYBER DISSIDENT QI YANCHEN ------------------------------------------ The Chinese government has released from prison cyberdissident Qi Yanchen before completion of his four-year sentence for alleged subversion and �putting out anti-government news� by posting pro-democracy articles on the Internet, Reporters Without Borders has confirmed. China remains by far the world's biggest prison for cyber dissidents and Internet users, with at least 37 currently in jail for speaking out online. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69737/1138/493 CRIS WELCOMES INCLUSION OF COMMUNICATION IN WSIS DRAFT DECLARATION ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign has welcomed the inclusion of Paragraph 4 - which refers to communication as a basic human need - in the draft declaration of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It called on all governments, however, to ensure that communication as a central and crucial human activity remains in the final declaration that will be presented at the summit in December 2003. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69735/1138/493 PAKISTAN TO SET UP WIRELESS EXCHANGES ------------------------------------- Pakistan plans to establish Wireless Local Loop (WLL) system exchanges all over the country, including rural areas and mountainous terrains. The aim is to tackle unemployment and usher in development in areas that have remained untouched. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69734/1138/493 CIVIL SOCIETY PONDERS ALTERNATIVE DECLARATION FOR WSIS ------------------------------------------------------ Civil society organisations (CSOs) are frustrated that a large number of their proposals have been ignored by state officials crafting the declaration for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003. CSOs are now deliberating on an alternative declaration of their own for delegates' consideration at the summit. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69632/1138/493 NEW ONLINE RESOURCES FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS OF THE AMERICAS --------------------------------------------------------- The Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA) has launched the latest version of the Virtual Parliament of the Americas, an online tool enabling parliamentarians to communicate and work together on issues of hemispheric importance. The project intends to address the communication needs expressed by FIPA's member parliamentarians. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69628/1138/493 MICROSOFT TO SUPPORT ANGOLA'S TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY ------------------------------------------------- Microsoft will support the Angolan government in formulating its information technology strategy and assist with projects worth US$ 10 million. It will work with the government to set up partnership with Angolan firms dealing in computing and select five to officially represent the country at the World Summit on the Information Society. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69623/1138/493 U.S. GOVT ANNOUNCES TOP GRANT AWARDS ------------------------------------ The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced the award of almost $14 million in Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grants to 28 nonprofit organizations. The grants demonstrate how ICTs can address public concerns over areas such as economic development, housing, public safety, health and e-government. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69539/1138/493 ********************************* Analysis http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1134 ********************************* AN OPEN LETTER TO FELLOWS OF TWAS ---------------------------------- Most scientists in the developing world do not get all the information they need. Subbiah Arunachalam of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, in this open letter to fellows of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), stresses the need to support institutional self-archiving and open access for better access and visibility of such information. TWAS is meeting soon in Beijing. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69744/1134/493 ********************************* Get Involved http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1112 ********************************* AIDS DAY COMPETITION FOR YOUNG RADIO, TV PROFESSIONALS ------------------------------------------------------ If you're aged between 18 and 34 and fancy yourself as a budding radio or TV director, now's the time to get creative. MTV and OneWorld are running a global competition in the run up to World AIDS Day, on 1 December 2003, to enable young people to produce and submit original audio or video public service announcements that convey the messages of MTV's award winning HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, Staying Alive. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69641/1112/493 COMPETITION FOR ETRANSPARENCY CASE STUDIES ------------------------------------------ The eGovernment for Development Information Exchange is seeking short case studies involving use of ICTs to improve public sector transparency in developing/transitional economies. All case studies accepted for publication will receive a �150 payment. The best three cases will attract a total �300 payment. You can submit case studies using the online form or by email to richard.heeks at man.ac.uk Last date for submissions: 10 October 2003. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69640/1112/493 ********************************* Partner News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4678 ********************************* BELLANET COMES OUT WITH NEW ANNUAL REPORT ----------------------------------------- Bellanet has published its Annual Report for April 2002-March 2003. Included in this report (910kb, PDF) are the highlights of important initiatives such as: the new strategic programme directions, results of the external evaluation, present initiatives and a snap shot of Bellanet's financial situation. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69739/4678/493 IEARN SIERRA LEONE, TAKINGITGLOBAL ORGANISE WSIS AWARENESS ACTIVITIES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Interactive online and offline discussions and phone-in programmes were held recently in Sierra Leone to increase the level of awareness about the World Summit on the Information Society. Organised by the youth groups of the TakingITGlobal Sierra Leone Network, they received an overwhelming response and brought ICT and young people in the mainstream of the nation's public discussion and opinion. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/69064/4678/493 Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org Promoting Digital Opportunities for All Editor: Kanti Kumar Email: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net You can manage your email digest subscriptions with Digital Opportunity Channel and OneWorld by visiting: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/bulkmail/subscriptionlist/ You will need to log in with your nickname and password, or register for (free) OneWorld/Digital Opportunity Channel membership. From gdescamps at cities-lyon.org Thu Oct 9 03:39:46 2003 From: gdescamps at cities-lyon.org (=?us-ascii?Q?Geraldine_Descamps?=) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 22:09:46 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society Message-ID: www.cities-lyon.org In the framework of preparing the World Summit on the Information Society www.itu.int/wsis/index-es.html (WSIS) to be held from 10 to 12 December 2003 at Geneva, the cities of Lyon and Geneva have taken the joint initiative to organise Cities E World-Lyon 2003 The first Worls Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society. Held at Lyon from 4 to 5 December 2003, Cities e World-Lyon 2003 will bring together the mayors and elected local representatives from five continents as well as representatives from economic, financial, community and media circles involved in local life. The aim of this meeting is to facilitate taking into account the specific perspectives of cities and regions by the World Summit of heads of state and government. It will also high light and make known the initiatives taken by cities and local authorities as well as those of the private sector and civil society. Cities e World-Lyon 2003 will gather the conclusions of the debates carried out through 2003, during the preparatory meetings of Shanghai (China), Curitiba (Brazil) and Nouakchott (Mauritania), organised in partnership with UNITAR (United Nation Institute for training and Research). The conclusions of the Summit- the < Lyon Declaration > -, will be presented by a delegation of mayors and local elected representatives from five continents, to the heads of state and government gathered in Geneva. For more information, please contact us info at cities-lyon.org Please note that as an association or network, you can be granted a special price and obtain visibility during the summit (stand or poster area). INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION: http://www.cities-lyon.org/ _____ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031008/7b6688cb/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 12312 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031008/7b6688cb/attachment.jpe From nyvoices at indypress.org Thu Oct 9 13:52:35 2003 From: nyvoices at indypress.org (Rehan Ansari) Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 08:22:35 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Edition 85: 9 October 2003. Message-ID: <019301c38dfb$9d945e80$6901a8c0@herman> This Week's Voices That Must Be Heard By IPA-New York, a sponsored project of the Independent Press Association Edition 85: 9 October 2003. Advisory editor Rafael Nektalov, of Bukharian Times, an IPA member publication. NY Immigrants reflect on the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride: Chinese participate in record numbers by Xiaoqing Rong, Sing Tao Daily, 5 October 2003. Translated from Chinese by Xiaoqing Rong. Guiyu Feng, 76, and Yuexin Huang, 80, were dancing on the grass in the Flushing Meadow Park. Their audience were immigrants of different races. At the other end of the grass Oliver and Oscar Ni, three-year-old twins, were sitting in a stroller with a slogan board larger than their bodies. It said: "Justice for all." MORE. Whose Freedom, Whose Ride? by Partha Banerjee, Akhon Samoy, 7 October 2003. Translated from Bengali by Partha Banerjee. The Freedom Ride and its leadership brought in some speakers who have minimal familiarity with immigrant workers' daily struggles. This included conservative church leaders, the wealthy ethnic newspaper owners, even a few political leaders of dubious reputation. MORE. NEWS ITEMS: El Barrio and South Bronx suffer environmental racism by Israel Torres Penchi, Siempre, 1 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. It is more than ironic the city opens a bus depot in El Barrio while closing a similar one on Hudson Street in the West Village to build a park. MORE. Holy wars in Williamsburg by Oren Yaniv, Maariv, 3 October 2003. Translated from Hebrew by Oren Yaniv . The Hasidics community is riven by divisions, inner struggles and political contests. MORE. Not allowed to drive by Woj-ko, Nowy Dziennik / Polish Daily News, 29 September 2003. Translated from Polish by Ania Milewska. A new law in New Jersey makes it impossible for undocumented immigrants to get or renew driver's licenses. MORE. Contractors arrested for mistreating workers by Virginia Alvarado, El Diario de Mexico, 2 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. Building contractors nabbed for skimming their workers' pay envelopes and illegally underpaying them. MORE. BRIEFS: International students and dependents of employees no longer eligible for social security cards by Yong-il Shin, Korea Times New York, 27 September 2003. Translated from Korean by Sun-yong Reinish. Elderly on Section 8 get no respect by José Acosta, El Diario / La Prensa, 1 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. Deportees on the run by Damion Mitchell and Glenroy Sinclair, Weekly Gleaner, 1 October 2003. English language. Average Korean Wedding Costs $38,000 by Eun-sook Im, Korea Daily News, 24 September 2003. Translated from Korean by Sun-yong Reinish. EDITORIALS: 12 minutes and 42 seconds with President Fox by Jorge Ramos, El Diario / La Prensa, 2 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. Our interview with Mexican President Vincente Fox was sandwiched between his press conference to the Mexican media and his off the record meeting with the editorial board of the The New York Times. MORE. As always we welcome questions, suggestions, corrections and letters to the editor. Rehan Ansari Editor, Independent Press Association - New York nyvoices at indypress.org* 212/279-1442 * 143 West 29th St., 901, New York City, 10001 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031009/d94b2d70/attachment.html From rafael at csi.com Fri Oct 10 05:20:57 2003 From: rafael at csi.com (Rafael Lozano-Hemmer) Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 23:50:57 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Amodal Suspension @ YCAM Message-ID: ::::::::::: Please excuse cross-postings ::::::::::::: YAMAGUCHI CENTER FOR ARTS AND MEDIA (YCAM) WILL OPEN WITH "AMODAL SUSPENSION", A NEW INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION BY RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER >From the 1st to the 24th of November 2003, short text messages sent by people over the Internet or by cell phone will be converted into patterns of flashing lights in the sky, turning the Japanese city of Yamaguchi into a giant communication switchboard. The piece will be located in the public space around the new YCAM Center and will be accessible through address http://www.amodal.net PROJECT OVERVIEW "Amodal Suspension" will be a large-scale interactive installation where people may send short text messages to each other using a cell phone or web browser connected to address www.amodal.net. However, rather than being sent directly, the messages will be encoded as unique sequences of flashes and sent to the sky with a network of robotically-controlled lights. The signaling will be similar to Morse code or the flashing of fireflies, --the lights will modulate their intensity to represent different Japanese and Western characters. Each message, once encoded, will be "suspended" in the sky of Yamaguchi, bouncing around the center of the city, relayed from one searchlight to another. Each light sequence will continue to circulate until somebody "catches" the message and reads it. To catch a text, participants must again use the cell phone or computer programs provided at www.amodal.net. To highlight the irony of globalization, the piece will use an automatic translation engine between Japanese and English, --this will produce inaccurate but charming results. "Amodal Suspension" will create an interactive mesh of light over the city, a floating cloud of data that can be written on and read. The piece will provide a connective platform in which local residents and remote participants from different regions and countries can establish ad hoc relationships. While visualizing the traffic of information on an urban scale, the piece is also intended as a deviation from the assumed transparency of electronic communication. "AMODAL SUSPENSION - RELATIONAL ARCHITECTURE 8" PERIOD: November 1-24, 2003 every night from dusk to dawn VENUE: YCAM and the central park of Yamaguchi-city ACCESS: Computers, mobile phones and local access kiosks connected to the web address www.amodal.net. Special ³Access Pods² will be installed in several Art and Science centers around the world, these Pods will feature an enhanced experience and documentation on the project. AMODAL EVENTS Amodal Suspension will open at 19:00 Japanese time (10:00 GMT) on November 1st, 2003 with a message sent by astronauts from the International Space Station. A symposium on the project will take place on the 2nd of November at 18:30, featuring philosopher and author Brian Massumi, Cultural Studies theorist Yoshitaka Mori, project curators Yukiko Shikata and Kazunao Abe and artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Three additional lectures will be presented at YCAM to frame the project: local researcher Shimgo Hirano on fireflies, Prof. Akira Suzuki (Kobe Design University) on "Soft Shelter: electronic networks in the city and hand-drawn maps", and Dr. Jun Tanaka (University of Tokyo), on "Light as a symbol - On the history of light in the city". FOR MORE INFORMATION The web site contains information and preliminary images http://www.amodal.net For information on YCAM http://www.ycam.jp For information on Lozano-Hemmer http://www.lozano-hemmer.com Inquiry yumicota at ycam.jp :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: From lushinkk at yahoo.com Fri Oct 10 17:40:39 2003 From: lushinkk at yahoo.com (lush inkk) Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 12:10:39 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] cinema house in nigeria Message-ID: <20031010041823.84184.qmail@web41701.mail.yahoo.com> an article i wrote while an outsider-insider in lagos, nigeria, for a local paper. the idea came from hearing of some of the work sarai was doing with theatres in delhi. and it helped me to make 'focussed ' trips on my own, and under cover of 'work', to have conversations, and anchor arbit surprises( like standing in the market behind my house in agege, holding a toothpaste tube of 'dabur dentifrice', made in sahibabad! - a suburb of delhi whose name has entered my life, as a series of stories told by a close friend, about growing up there. so, here is to agege, lagos then.) REELS FROM A GROWN SUBURB I listen to friends telling stories about Agege. Professionals, in their mid and late thirties, who have spent childhood years in this area and have seen it grow and change. Stories of how politics shift people from their homes, how suburbs are born, stories about the particular nature of their own suburb. With some of these stories as my main research, some other small conversations, and my own conjectures, I try to sketch a picture of the area that is home. In the 1970�s the government shifted a huge working class population of Oluwole area, Central Lagos to the far, far outskirts of the city, in Ogba. Oluwole was too close to a prospering business area and a semi slum, however vast, however old, could not be allowed to stay there, reasoned the powers that be. After all, the area was ripe with business possibilities, there were many other, more profitable eyes on it. Very soon, real estate prices would sky rocket in the �cleared out� land that was now �developed� as the business navel of central Lagos. The people who lost their homes struggled to adjust to a place that was closer to the rural hinterland than their city. Gradually, they brought back some of their lost citylife into the suburb. Their shops and institutions, their businesses and entertainments, and their urban outlook began to give a new character to Ogba. The civil war got over. The government planned again, and �gave place� to the many soldiers, shattered physically and mentally by the war, and their families, in far off Agege, away from the city. Way out from the center of Lagos, Agege was already a large trading junction for the Egba man coming in from Abeokuta and for the Hausa trader disembarking at its once famous railway station to go to Lagos. My friends came from other families , families of middle class people from Lagos, who decided to relocate to the outskirts of the city, where land was cheap, where it was still possible to build a decent house. People who hoped, (as all middle class people all over the world, making this shift, hope of their cities) that Lagos, expanding on and on, would eventually embrace their suburb as its own, and share out its amenities and its opportunities. For the children, leaving Mushin, or some place else in Lagos, to go live in Ogba or Agege was like going to live in the bush! They eventually found fellow complainers in the neighbourhood, with whom they tried to make this new place their own. One afternoon a child saw someone being knifed in Abule Egba. It gave him a precocious insight into a dangerous adult world. Responding perhaps to a sense of danger, or to the sparsely peopled, empty landscape of Agege, he played destructive games with his friends, throwing stones at passing car windows. Stories of violence became the chidrens� mythology and the source of new games. They made their own map of danger of the unfamiliar suburb- certain street corners, among certain �kinds� of people, in darknesses, like the darkness of cinema theatres which �hoodlums� frequented. Danjuma, Pen Cinema.. were places of entertainment for �strange �people�. Then missions opened schools in the new suburb. And roads to Agege from Lagos became busier. Simultaneously, from outside the city, traders were also increasing traffic in the area. Perhaps reassured by the increased new crowds, slowly more middle class people started frequenting the cinema halls. And the two cinema houses of that area got some respectability in the eyes of their children too. Danjuma (�International�) Cinema was considered safer than Pen Cinema. It was larger, with a huge seating capacity, air-conditioned., relatively expensive balcony seats which separated the people who could afford them, from the poorer �masses�, and 35 mm projection, mostly of Indian films. The children started flocking to the cinemas, boys with small stolen change, trying to get in on half tickets after the interval, sitting with unknown crowds of people, with�people not quite like their families�, in the crowd, in the stalls, watching the screen. The cinema boys of the 70�s grew up. Film watching became less of an addiction, more a pleasant occasional outing: A late night film with friends, or with a date maybe. By the late 1980�s public areas across Lagos, started becoming unsafe. The nights especially had new dangers- armed robbers, increasing in number as the sliding economy created more poverty and unemployment; a military government that was suspicious of everyone; and its arm of law, the policeman: the man in the crowd given a uniform and a gun, power and a bad salary, a training and a license in violence and a need to show �results�. One late night in the 1980�s, a group of friends, all children of the 70�s, were returning from a late night show at Danjuma. Some trouble had broken out nearby. The police stopped the young men. The usual: kneeling on the roadside, humiliation. It seemed like simple extortion would not serve the policemen. The young men were told to get into the police van. The future lawyer among them refused, and managed to get a word with the senior officer. Managed to tell him they were coming from the cinema. � Show your ticket then�, the officer barked. Wale put his hand in his shirt pocket- and that night, the slip of paper that let him into Danjuma became �proof� and let off Wale, and I suppose, the friends with him . The ticket became a talisman to protect the faithful patrons! Late eighties, and with the still increased state brutalities, and the bad economy, cinemas became more deserted. The middle class was the first to clear out of the theatres. For many of them the house became the sanctuary instead. For those who could afford it, security gates, higher walls, grills, broken glass shreds, barbed wires, guarded the house where entertainment, communion, leisure, everything was to be strictly contained. People lived as though in voluntary house arrest. Public gatherings did not die out completely, they found a new venue, in religious assemblies. Almost every street of Agege had a church soon. What must these assemblies have offered that the cinema could not any more? More local context, maybe. Hope: that was desperately needed. A place of communion where you seemed to be much more directly addressed. Who had the spare money to spend on some exotic cinema? What if you were attacked by armed robbers, stopped by the police? And still even those difficult years did not manage to shut down many cinema houses, they still had their takers. Some old faithfuls, some new initiates, and some seekers for whom the organized communions of religious places were not quite it. Who were these people who put together their meager resources to still afford this leisure. Maybe those for whom life, with or without the military government was a constant struggle anyway. Some sought the oblivion of the dark, some made the theatre their own carnival of discontent, unwinding with noise and disorder. By the time some sense of order returned to the polity, the local film on video had become very popular with the middle class especially. The children of the 70�s did not return to these old haunts, these childhood films, except in nostalgiac conversation. The combination of a locally made film, and a place like FSP, set in an estate, more �orderly� and professional, started drawing in some middle class families. Today, an old ticket collector, Ahmeduilahi, sits astride a bench at a much weathered looking Danjuma that has seen years of changing crowds, changing times. The old man himself has been here 22 years, almost as long as the cinema. It is Sallah day, the end of Ramadan, but there is hardly anyone in the balcony watching the video projection of a new Hindi film (I am told it is new, therefore there are no subtitles). I peer down, and see the same emptiness. Perhaps there is a crowd where I cannot see, tucked under the balcony. This is afternoon, maybe the evening show draws more people? Curtains are hanging loose, many blinds have been broken, and daylight flows in. A young couple sits stiffly, staring at the screen. Two young men share a resigned look and try and laugh at a comedian on screen. New forms of violence, muscled men, frail women- that seems to be staple to the current lot of films from India. A man smokes alone in one corner, and a speaker shoots out unintelligible, badly distorted dialogues in a foreign language. The cinema house smell of iboh wafts, not unpleasantly, in the air. Behind the balcony, up a flight of stairs, is the projection room at Danjuma- unusual, beautiful. The ease of space with which this building was built, is still very present in this room. Large, airy, with a small balcony outside overlooking the sunlit street below. Quite different from the regular small dark box that pass for a projection room almost everywhere. The room seems to at least take into account the drudgery of the job and the late hours a film projectionist often keeps. There is a cot in the room, signs of living, even a small black and white television set alongside the projector. The large 35mm projection machines are still. Their windows are being used as ledges, with small objects of daily use on them. The small box of a video projector runs sits alongside from a adjacent window. Sonny who runs a small video shop stocking tapes of Indian, Hausa, Chinese and English films, does not visit the theatre anymore. He looks at the many video tapes in his own shop and says, � these are meant for this� (pointing to a television set) not to show on a big screen! He wishes someone would talk to the authorities at the theatre to bring 35 mm projection back on the screen. Seems unlikely, I think as I look at the meager crowds looking at the posters outside the hall. A series of poster announces a �Light up da stage� music concert, of cool Hausa bands in the Danjuma auditorium, with �maximum security guranteed�, to supplement the meager income the theatre must be providing. Danjuma International Cinema. Large spacious, built generously, By far, the largest building in the landscape. At a distance I see the tall minarets of the Morcas Arabic and Islamic School. Around the theatre the road is neatly lined with single shops, there are hardly any buildings with even a first floor. A large cinema in a working class area. I think of the contrast with the enclosed, strictly middle, upper middle class housing estates spread over this area, where my friends live. Friends weighed in still by the wasted years of misrule, struggling at relatively late ages, to consolidate hard earned positions or to provide well for newly started families. Friends, who, as young boys had clamoured to this theatre, as young men had frequented road side beer parlours. Had been part of the �common life�. Maybe the leisure and curiosity of early youth, or early adolescence are the only times we step out of our class, mixing with people from other contexts, sharing a more public life. And then, living in more closed contexts, these memories and experiences are almost all we have to connect us to lives outside �people like us�. Agege has grown. Travelers, visitors, people of different nationalities are seen here today. Many kinds of shops and markets, catering to different classes of people, as many kinds of homes. On the streets, crowds, and vans of different organizations. The different churches for different classes of congregation, and now Muslim assemblies catering to the middle class have grown. For people at large, the beer parlours continue to be gathering places, lively with politics, personal relationships, religion, the electricity problem of Agege, lively chatter that sets into relief the silence of a lonely beer drinker. In the market behind my house at Oko Oba, is another world of Agege: a poorer world, lively, vibrant, where small traders make a very small daily living. These people of this small market have lived on, through times of violence and disruption, struggling to keep their place at the margins of this suburb. It is here on a routine Saturday morning shopping, that I meet a faithful member of the thin crowds at the Agege theatres. I hear a scratchy rendition of a Hindi song, on an old transistor. I ask the owner of the box, a soft-spoken middle aged trader, maybe a little older than my friends, if he likes Indian songs. He does, he likes Indian films too. He still goes to Danjuma, Pen or another small cinema( I later get to know it is Daily Mirror- a small busy cinema house tucked away in a small lane close to Danjuma) on weekends. One film on the weekend. It is a leisure he really tries to make time and money for, an outing he tries to treat himself to. Pen Cinema is out of his reach now, far off in Alagbado. But Danjuma and Daily Mirror still play for their faithful patrons from Agege. Sunday afternoon , and someone else is minding his pepper-onion-tomato shop. I presume he has gone to diligently keep his tryst with his leisure, the screen at the theatre. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031010/d71d2264/attachment.html From white-b at d4.dion.ne.jp Fri Oct 10 17:53:53 2003 From: white-b at d4.dion.ne.jp (Kenji Siratori) Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 12:23:53 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Fw: A Review on Blood Electric Message-ID: <000c01c38e90$70836540$9315ffd2@t5c5b6> ----- Original Message ----- From: Reza Negarestani To: Kenji Siratori Subject: A Review on Blood Electric Please check http://www.cold-me.net/text/bloodelectric.html or http://www.cold-me.net/text/bloodelectric.pdf From douwe at oberon.nl Fri Oct 10 23:25:37 2003 From: douwe at oberon.nl (Douwe Osinga) Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:55:37 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Google Talk In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Ever wondered what collective stream of conscienceness writing would look like? Google Talk gives you a good impression. Starting from a sentence of three or four words, the system will determine the next one based on what usually follows in the search results of Google. type in: after waiting for a and Google makes it: after waiting for a few minutes, I was in the military. I was a volunteer in the Peace Corps. Or have Google Talk write your contracts: Type: not plagiarized from any ... Googletalk answers: not plagiarized from anyother source. for any reason. whatsoever. including but not LIMITED to the following: A. Use Google Talk to find out where the bad guys hide: Type: Saddam Hussein hides in Googletalk answers: Saddam Hussein hides in the cellars under the main house and the Carriage house The url is: http://douweosinga.com/projects/googletalk Have fun. Douwe From lehar_hind at yahoo.com Sat Oct 11 08:50:54 2003 From: lehar_hind at yahoo.com (Lehar ..) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 03:20:54 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Hindutva Grps Target The Hindu, India's Progressive Paper Message-ID: <20031010192841.33589.qmail@web20901.mail.yahoo.com> Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Lehar sethi zaidi" Subject: Hindutva Grps Target The Hindu, India's Progressive Paper Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 00:44:50 +0530 Size: 8231 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031011/c3ea7253/attachment.mht From menso at r4k.net Sat Oct 11 23:35:19 2003 From: menso at r4k.net (Menso Heus) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 18:05:19 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Meanwhile in Marocco... Message-ID: <20031011101305.GK2744@r4k.net> King Mohammed VI announced that he has approved the changes in law around marriage. In short, this means that: - The principal "obedience of the wife" has been dropped and the responsibility for the family is now that of both man and wife - Breaking up a marriage orally is no longer possible. The husband now first needs to get permission from court. - Polygamy doesn't disappear but is restriced. It is now possible for a wife to announce she won't allow other wives during the marriage. If after this the man *does* fool around with other women it is now legally possible for the woman to divorce from her husband on these grounds. Menso -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hope Clouds Observation" - Frank Herbert, Dune -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From benjamin_lists at typedown.com Sun Oct 12 01:54:15 2003 From: benjamin_lists at typedown.com (Benjamin Fischer) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 20:24:15 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] MEDIA-SPACE 03: Live Stream Message-ID: MEDIA-SPACE 03 http://www.media-space.org Media Space is a platform for artistic and social attitudes changing or developing under the influence of information technology. It will be held from 10.10 - 12.10.2003 at the Filmhaus in Stuttgart Germany. All lectures on the media-space can be watched as live video stream! http://video.lf.net:554/ramgen/encoder/ms03.rm -- Gruss / Best regards, Benjamin Fischer | benjamin[at]typedown.com | http://www.typedown.com From avishek_ganguly at yahoo.co.in Sun Oct 12 20:36:36 2003 From: avishek_ganguly at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Avishek=20Ganguly?=) Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 16:06:36 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: on a media-boycott of the Right... In-Reply-To: <20031010192841.33589.qmail@web20901.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20031012150636.29463.qmail@web8006.mail.in.yahoo.com> well, this is probably fantastic, born of a desperation, a nagging double-bind... but i can't help but wonder whether we, secularists/leftists/liberals/non-rightwingers sometimes end up giving the rightwing (hindu/republican whatever) way too much importance/publicity than they, left to their own perverse channels of communication, could ever hope for. imagine religiously looking up hinduunity.org (pls don't get me wrong, lehar) or daniel pipes's campuswatch website or other half a dozen obscure hindutva sites, scouring for information (undoubtedly spurious) and then disseminating it all over the internet...all being undertaken by some conscientious secular/liberal person, all in the name of mobilizing anti-rightwing opinion/action! could offering less media-coverage to the pantomimes of rightwing politicians be an effective method of containing them? would a praveen togadia stand to lose something if the mainstream press boycotted him and restrained itself from publishing every bit of buffoonery that he indulges in? what would happen if the press simply refused to publish comments/interviews from the deputy prime minister of a country, who actually has the gall to speak out after being convicted of a heinous crime and shamelessly acquitted from a trial? crazy as this might all sound, but i would still appreciate comments from fellow readerlist-ers, avishek "Lehar .." wrote: Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com > ATTACHMENT part 2 message/rfc822 From: "Lehar sethi zaidi" To: lehar_hind at yahoo.com Subject: Hindutva Grps Target The Hindu, India's Progressive Paper Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 00:44:50 +0530 this nonsesne is getting out of hand.. they will sink to any limits..like the propaganda against Feroze Gandhi family and the Bollywood secular film stars.. now its the turn of the HIndu, one of India's oldest papers known for its courageous Anti Birtish stands and the bold coverage of Gujrat etc in post independecne India.. the usual anti Muslim angle has been taken again..! they have abused one of India's most eminent journalists N Ram, who has supported the cuase of the underprivelged and displaced.. in the foulest language below..these are well known right wing Sangh groups implicated in the Gujrat carnage. Please do not fwd this email but tell this guy to cool it.. Peace ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An al Haqq- I am the Truth Mansoor al Hallaj, Sufi saint, 932 AD >From: "Mohan Gupta" >To: >Subject: WHY "THE HINDU" IS THE MOTHER OF ALL ANTI-HINDU NEWSPAPERS? - 1 >Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 00:10:05 -0400 > >WHY "THE HINDU" IS THE MOTHER OF ALL ANTI-HINDU NEWSPAPERS? - 1 > >By Ananth >HinduUnity.org (Tamil Nadu) >Source: > > >The Hindu" Newspaper may be owned by a Muslim in Brunei. There is an old >saying in India - 'There can never be smoke without fire'. Similarly, there >can never be a rumor without some facts to start with. The hot rumor now >doing the rounds among a small group of lawyers in the Chennai High Court >is that The Hindu newspaper has been purchased by a Muslim from the Islamic >kingdom of Brunei. Lawyers are usually the first to come across such news, >as documents have to be scrutinized before a purchase and paper work have >to done at the office of the Registrar of Companies. > >Ever since the present government at the center allowed Foreign Direct >Investment in the media up to a maximum of 25 %, rich Muslims in foreign >countries have been eyeing the newspapers and magazines published in India. >In the case of The Hindu it is further rumored that the remaining 75 % of >the shares is held by a local Muslim who is a benami of the Muslim >in Brunei. > >The three stinking rich 'Brahmin' Marxist brothers: N. Ravi, N.Ram and N. >Murali and their uncle Kasturi Rangan are merely dummies, or should I say, >dhimmis of the Muslim from Brunei and his benami in India, N.Ram, who is >also the editor of Frontline, an out and out pro-China magazine, is a >womanizer par-excellence. Trapping him in a room of a five-star hotel with >a five-star prostitute and videotaping the proceedings will be child's play >for these Muslims. This is standard Muslim practice. We have seen them do >this in totally unconnected incidents in Britain, the Netherlands, USA and >India. In these incidents the victims were highly educated Hindu women who >were then forced into prostitution by their Muslim 'lovers' in whom they >had put all their trust. In The Case Of N.Ram, the videotape could have >been used to arm-twist the family to part with the newspaper. All the three >brothers have daughters who too could have been videotaped.Ram's first wife >Susan was an Irish woman. He recently divorced her and married a Christian >woman from Kerala His present wife is Miriam Chandy. It is only recently >that N.Ram has started a big school of journalism in Chennai. > It seems that the Muslim in Brunei has been in control of The Hindu >for the last one year. It is only now that some documents are being >scrutinized for the legal transfer of shares. The payment for the remaining >75 % could have been made into the Swiss Bank. > All the three Marxist brothers and their uncle continue to hold their >posts. This is done to fool the p-sec Hindus who subscribe to this >newspaper. If this rumor is true, which I think it is, then it explains >very clearly why The Hindu is the mother of all anti-Hindu newspapers. This >also explains why The Hindu is frequently quoted by the Pakistani press. >Once again, an entire nation of Hindus is being taken for a ride and they >are being led by the nose by a Muslim sitting somewhere in the >tiny Islamic kingdom of Brunei. > I have already made arrangements for investigating the matter and >getting to the truth about the ownership of this newspaper. The involvement >of the Nawab of Arcot, a close friend of N.Ram and a sidekick in his >nightly adventures, has also got to be investigated. The post of Nawab of >Arcot was created by the British to introduce a Muslim royal family where >none existed. The south was predominantly Hindu and the British needed a >Muslim 'royal' family to protect their interests. The present Nawab of >Arcot continues to receive government pension, free electricity and free >phone connection for his palace 'Amir Mahal' in the heart of Chennai City. >On the other hand, Indira Gandhi abolished all pensions and benefits to >Hindu kings. During Karunanidhi's regime, it was standard practice to >invite this 'nawab' for all government functions in which the chief- guest >was a visiting foreign dignitary. But during Jayalalithaa's rule this man >is not invited and he keeps a very low profile. A separate investigation >will have to be done on this 'nawab' and the report submitted to the >government. I shall start on this investigation too. >Although the British no longer rule Bharat, is Bharat really independent of >their influence? While British ruled, we silently watched them desecrate >our Hindu heritage, culture, and religion. Now we, the Bharatiya ourselves, >continue to propagate the same thing. We continue to accept those who tried >to destroy our culture. > >HINDU VOICE to sue daily THE HINDU Paper: > >Dear Hindus, > >The time has come that we Hindus have to be on the offensive. I have sent >the following NOTICE (a signed letter) to "The Hindu" (Original letter by >courier on 1st Oct. and email today). I propose to file a Writ Petition in >a High Court, restraining The Hindu from using the word 'Hindu', which is >sacred to us, and a paper which is writing against Hinduism or Hindutva has >no right to have the title "The Hindu". The Registrar of Newspapers for >India, Govt. of India, will also be a respondent. The recent court >decisions on the definition of "Hindu", "Hindutva", "Hinduism", etc. have >to be pointed out to support our case. Any help from Hindu lawyers and >legal experts is welcome. Group members can also submit details of >anti-Hindu writings of The Hindu, which can be used for substantiating our >case. > >P. Deivamuthu >Editor, Hindu Voice, 4, Alakjyoth, Aarey Road, Goregaon East, Mumbai, >e-mail: hinduvoice at vsnl.net, > > Although the British no longer rule Bharat, is Bharat really >independent of their influence? While British ruled, we silently watched >them desecrate our Hindu heritage, culture, and religion. Now we, the >Bharatiya ourselves, continue to propagate the same things. We continue to >accept those who tried to destroy our culture. > > > _________________________________________________________________ A chance to meet Aishwarya Rai. http://www.myenjoyzone.com/msn/knk.php3 Win lucky prizes. _________________________________________ 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: _________________________________________________________________ "In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates." - Foucault Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online.Post your profile. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031012/795d848c/attachment.html From lmt at inescporto.pt Tue Oct 14 16:13:19 2003 From: lmt at inescporto.pt (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Lu=EDs?= Teixeira) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:43:19 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Events : Olhares de Outono 2003 Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20031014113117.02915338@inescporto.pt> Dear colleague, We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this. For more information please send an email to Alvaro Barbosa (abarbosa at porto.ucp.pt) Regards, luis http://www.artes.ucp.pt/olhares-outono/2003/EngSite/eng_index.htm schedule workshops 10 to 11 of November "Crash course" PD - Günter Geiger (10:00h - 12:00h and 14:30h - 17:30h) 12 to 13 of November Composing sound / Composing with sound - Ramón González Arroyo (10:00h - 12:00h and 14:30h - 17:30h) 14 of November Expressive Gesture - Antonio Camurri (10:00h 12:00h) conferences 14 of November Composing sound/ Composing with sound - Ramón González Arroyo (14:30h 16:00h) Musical instruments, sound objects, visual instruments - António Sousa Dias (16:00h 17:30h) Graphical Instruments in Sound Manipulation - Carlos Caires (17:30h 18:00h) 15 of November Expressive Gesture / Toward New Paradigms for Multimedia and Rich Media - Antonio Camurri (14:30h 16:00h) Sccaned V - Dance and Media Performance - Christian Ziegler (16:00h 17:30h) Digital Arts Lab Overview (Masters) - Michael Klein (17:30h 18:00h) Digital Arts Lab Overview - Luís Teixeira (18:00h 19:00h) conferences - FREE ACCESS events 14 of November (21: 30h) de la nuit - Ramón Arroyo and Ludger Bruemmer d MnStR - Ramón Arroyo Sccaned V - Christian Ziegler 15 of November (21: 30h) Utopies - António Sousa Dias Carlos Caires Fábio Gorodski Jacopo Baboni Shilingi Michele Tadini Ramón González- Arroyo Horacio Vaggione events - FREE ACCESS introduction Aiming to improve and consolidate, in an effective way, the primary mission of the original summer Workshops in the school of Arts from the Portuguese Catholic University, the new edition of Olhares de Outono brings a vast range of Workshops, Study-Journeys Conferences and Artistic Events, which will serve the purpose of pushing and stimulating the initiative and competence from the young community of Portuguese Researchers and Artist working in the field of Digital Arts. Following up the essence and perspective of previous editions, this year the specific scope of the Olhares de Outono will specifically focus the topic of an instrument, so that conferences, workshops and events will converge in to the discussion of a musical or visual instrument. The notion of an instrument, apparently leading to a perfectly integrated model with a clear role in the mediation different human activities, reveals it self in a perspective of decomposition of its complexity unveiling its unstable nature. The idea of an instrument becomes a synthesized concept based on subtracts of different origins, in the sense that an instrument is also an interface which articulates and correlates perception, representation, cognition, physiology, bionic, etc. In this context, by trying to profound, the conception, implementation and usage of instruments which synthesize different areas of knowledge, we will have the opportunity of getting in touch with perspectives which are the basis for cutting-edge research in the Digital Arts Domain. Besides the workshops, for which we rely on the presence of Professor Antonio Camurri and Ramon Gonzalez-Arroyo, we will also present several conferences from which we stress the presence of two young Portuguese researchers from one of the most prestigious research groups in the field of representation - CICM/ Paris 8 University. A new format of presentation will also be introduced this year, with the Study-Journey, where we will present the work developed over the last two years in the Atelier de Artes Digitais context, which will be introduced this year as a research group on the Citar_Lab. In an attempt to keep revealing to the general public the new tendencies in Digital Arts, we will two major events closing the Olhares de Outono, from which we highlight the event Utupias in collaboration with Orquestra Utópica. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031014/97111187/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From info at nmartproject.net Tue Oct 14 13:06:08 2003 From: info at nmartproject.net (NewMediaArtProjectNetwork) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 09:36:08 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Perspectives'03 and JavaArtist of the Year Award Message-ID: <011001c39225$d80a6130$0200a8c0@meuvchen> JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technologies in Contemporary Art (Java=Joint Advanced Virtual Affairs) www.javamuseum.org launches with great pleasure online on 14 October 2003 and on Computer Space Festival 2003 Sofia/Bulgaria www.computerspace.org 16-18 October 2003 >Perspectives'03< - competition and showcase of net based art 2003 - in co-operation with Compter Space Festival 2003 Sofia Bulgaria and Goethe Institut Sofia/Bulgaria. "Perspectives'03" focusses on the net based art production of the years 2002/2003. During the prize ceremony on 16 October 2003, the "JavaArtist of the Year Award 2003 " will be given to these three artists: Annie Abrahams (France) David Crawford (USA) Tsunamii.net (Singapore). They form the basis of "Perspectives'03" - the show - together with these 9 artists, which are also honoured as "Perspectives of Excellence" Thomson & Craighead (UK), Gregory Chatonsky (France) Jillian McDonald (Canada), Gair Dunlop & Dan Norton (K) Babel (Canada), Bruno Samper (France), David Clark (Canada) Sashiko Hayashi (France), Agence Topo (Canada) and these featured artists: Jonah Brucker-Cohen (Irland), Jody Zellen (USA), Marcello Mercado (Germany), Nicolas Economos (USA) Julian Alvarez (Spain ), Per Pegelow (Germany) Adele Prince/Edward Hill (UK), Marcus Neustetter (South Africa) Dimitre Lima (Brazil), Enrique Radigales (UK), Jurgen Trautwein (USA), Roxanne Wolanczyk (USA) , Redcaiman´(Venezuela/USA) Ardevol (Spain), Michael Szpakowski (UK) Nathan Martin, Todd Willey & Tyler Jacobsen (USA) ***************************************** JavaMuseum is proud to launch on 14 October 2003 also the Feature: >I - rivers< - Netart from German speaking countries! which will be presented during Computer Space Festival 2003 Sofia in co-operation the Goethe Institut Sofia including these artists: Reiner Strasser, Sascha Buettner, Bernhard Reuss Jens Sundheim, Martin Mittelmeier, kyon, Nadja Kutz & Tim Nikolai Hoffmann, Per Pegelow , Stephan Hager Malte Steiner, Jürgen Trautwein, Franz Alken Ralf Hellmann, Roman Minaev, Jorn Ebner AmbientTV (Manu Luksch & Mukul Patel), Johannes Auer Isabel Saij, Thomas Tirel, Marcello Mercado Agricola de Cologne +++++++++++++++++++++++ "Perspectives'03" - - competition and showcase - is organized and created for JavaMuseum by Agricola de Cologne The show can be accessed via www.javamuseum.org and www.javamuseum.org/2003/perspectives03/index.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++ The feature: >I - rivers< - Netart from German speaking countries is organized and curated for JavaMuseum by Agricola de Cologne and can be acessed via www.javamuseum.org and www.javamuseum.org/2003/germanfeature/index.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ !!JavaArtist of the Year Award!! JavaMuseum gives this Award once a year to outstanding artists who use net based media for their art creations, who combine artistic expression and statements with substantial power technological activity and excellence in sustained work. www.javamuseum.org In 2001 this Award was given to MEZ (Australia), Jody Zellen (USA) and Tiia Johannson (Estonia) and in 2002 to Calin Man, media artist from Romania. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Special thanks to Rosen Petkov, Chairman of the Organisation Committee of Computer Space Festival Sofia/Bulgaria and Goethe Institut Sofia/Bulgaria +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technologies in Contemporary Art (Java=Joint Advanced Virtual Affairs) www.javamuseum.org is corporate member of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork] :||cologne - the experimental platform for netbased art - operating from Cologne/Germany. Contacts: info at javamuseum.org press at javamuseum.org _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aiindex at mnet.fr Fri Oct 17 03:04:18 2003 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 22:34:18 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] India: StreeNet - a five- month course on women's rights Message-ID: The Times of India October 16, 2003 Women's movements use mouse pad as launch pad MEENAKSHI SHEDDE TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, JUNE 02, 2003 10:52:03 PM ] MUMBAI: The Internet is lending wings to activist movements around the world. Indian women's activists are speeding past their jholawala days, getting Net-savvy, and employing the Web to create faster and greater impact. In fact, Akshara, a city-based women's resource centre, has gone one step further. In February, it launched StreeNet, a five- month course on women's rights and issues, conducted over the Internet. About 50 women from organisations in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Kerala have enrolled in the programme. "The course aims to provide women activists a chance to learn about women's rights and issues" said Nandita Gandhi of Akshara. "It encourages them to shed their resistance to technology while building solidarity." The course is being held in collaboration with other NGOs Jagori in New Delhi, Aalochana in Pune and Sakhi in Thiruvananthapuram. The students,who have been learning, chatting and writing assignments on the Net, met in person in the city last fortnight. "Access to information is the key to women's empowerment," said Shabana Azmi, actress-activist-MP, at a recent StreeNet meeting. "It is the revolution we need. When the women's reservation bill came up in Parliament, there was not even a proper discussion on it. The bill was scuttled by sheer lung power. So, it is important to look at alternative means of addressing the issue. Women's groups should consider posting Internet sites to help women MPs participate through well- informed debates and take the discussions forward. Women can then cut across party lines not only on the women's reservation bill, but other issues as well." The Internet has considerably boosted activism, connecting people and helping petitions to snowball rapidly, largely circumventing physical meetings, with enormous savings in time, money and effort. Said journalist and author Kalpana Sharma, "A number of recent signature campaigns have been largely e-mail driven. These include the campaigns on the bombing of Iraq and the related boycott of American goods, the Narmada dam campaign, as well as those on sexual harassment and the domestic violence bill. More importantly, during the Iraq war, while TV offered the dominant view, one relied on the Internet for alternative reports and views on the war." According to Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman of Rediff.com, who made a presentation at the meeting, "India has 15-18 million e-mail users. Many Web- based e-mail accounts are free, and with the Internet being available in every Indian language, its potential in nurturing communities of interest is great. However, it is important to remember that it is services, not only information, that are true community builders." Indeed, the Internet has been used to build and galvanise communities challenging global policies affecting women. As Kalpana Vishwanath of Jagori pointed out, "In the case of a recent anti-fertility vaccine that was deemed unsuitable, NGOs mobilised an Internet campaign and got the World Health Organisation to slow down the research for it, so that it cannot be marketed easily. During the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan regularly put out information on ground realities, which lobby groups used to pressurise the US into action. During a campaign last November to reduce violence against women, joint protests were launched by a number of groups associated with the South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers, in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Mumbai, Baroda, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu and elsewhere." E-mail and e-group-driven campaigns are finding an echo nearer home as well. Said Medha Kotwal of Aalochana, "Recently, when the local authorities in Nippani, Maharashtra, attacked and drove out the sex workers, NGOs used the Net to mobilise activists in Mumbai and Delhi,who went to Nippani to protest. Now the sex workers have returned. Similarly, following protests in the Baroda case of sexual harassment of a student by her academic guide, the case was converted into a public interest litigation by the Supreme Court." From gchat at vsnl.net Wed Oct 15 21:41:09 2003 From: gchat at vsnl.net (gchat at vsnl.net) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 21:11:09 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Re: [BFVF] Indies and the Ban on Screeners to Academy Members Message-ID: <6e01c69611.696116e01c@vsnl.net> An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Tom Sanfilippo Subject: Re: [BFVF] Indies and the Ban on Screeners to Academy Members Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:10:28 -0400 Size: 7198 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031015/ae11c24e/attachment.mht From nyvoices at indypress.org Thu Oct 16 05:03:32 2003 From: nyvoices at indypress.org (Rehan Ansari) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 19:33:32 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Edition 86: 16 October 2003. Message-ID: <023601c39375$0e0c4e10$6901a8c0@herman> This Week's Voices That Must Be Heard By IPA-New York, a sponsored project of the Independent Press Association Edition 86: 16 October 2003. More on the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride: The new civil rights frontier by Dr. Basil Wilson, Caribnews, 7 October 2003. English language. The involvement of the labor movement in this new civil rights frontier has enormous political ramifications. It dramatizes the interest of working class people. It supports the notion that the further democratizing of American society is important. MORE. Thousands finish long journey for a dream that unites immigrants by Rosa Margarita Murphy, El Diario / La Prensa, 7 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. The delegation from Chicago was made up of 32 youth who are United States citizens born to Mexican parents. They attended the ride because many of their family members who have lived in the United States for years still don't have papers. MORE. No to Injustice, Yes to Legalization by Anna Salomon, Super Express, 6 October 2003. Translated from Polish by Ania Milewska. "This is a huge [event]. Now all we can do is hope that our voice will be heard by politicians," said Ludmila Grabarz, who came to Corona Park to participate in the protest. She was one of the few Poles present. "It's sad that so few of us came. We are never where we should be. All ethnic groups came to express their protest against injustice and fight for better immigration laws. There weren't enough of us." MORE. Protesting immigration policies, Weekly Gleaner, 8 October 2003. English language. Jamaican native Howard Facey is married to U.S. citizen Georgiana and is the father of four America-born children. Like too many Facey visited the Federal Plaza building in Manhattan several times this year. He was hoping to pick up his work authorization. Instead, on his last visit he was detained and deported to Jamaica. MORE. NEWS ITEMS: Bangladeshi immigrants becoming active in mainstream American politics by Abu Taher, Bangla Patrika, 3 October 2003. Translated from Bangla by Moinuddin Naser . Bangladeshis forging relationships with politicians, but behind the scenes. MORE. Univision Radio will buy Long Island's WLIR-FM, La Tribuna Hispana USA, 8 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hillary Hawkins. A new Spanish language radio station for Long Island's Latino community is another step in media consolidation in the Spanish market. MORE. Are Haitian Americans too preoccupied with events in Haiti? by Macollive Jean-Francois, Haitian Times, 7 October 2003. English language. Instead of focusing on issues in the United States and taking part in events that could alter their conditions here, Haitians seem to prefer to concentrate on Haiti. MORE. Israelis are asked: What did you give to your country? by Oren Yaniv, Maariv, 10 October 2003. Translated from Hebrew by Oren Yaniv. Israelis in the United States do not give to Israeli charities, like Americans do. MORE. American firms seek Korean speakers, Korea Daily News, 10 October 2003. Translated from Korean by Sun-yong Reinish. Fluency in Korean may be an advantage for those seeking employment in certain American companies. MORE. BRIEFS: A health "report card" on the Chinese community by Chao-Zhong Hsieh, World Journal, 6 October 2003. Translated from Chinese by Connie Kong. A Bangladeshi immigrant tells a heartfelt story at Amnesty International hearing, Weekly Thikana, 8 October 2003. Translated from Bangla by Moinuddin Naser . Racial discrimination against Asians on the rise by Jong-hun Kim, Korea Daily News, 8 October 2003. Translated from Korean by Sunyong Reinish. EDITORIALS: Economic illiterates in our midst by Chika Onyeani, African Sun Times, 1 October 2003. English language. I am deeply saddened that the African media is not receiving the kind of attention that our people pay to other newspapers or magazines. For them it is a status symbol to be seen reading, or rather really carrying, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time or Newsweek magazine. MORE. As always we welcome questions, suggestions, corrections and letters to the editor. Rehan Ansari Editor, Independent Press Association - New York nyvoices at indypress.org* 212/279-1442 * 143 West 29th St., 901, New York City, 10001 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031015/0a7dd313/attachment.html From kanti.kumar at oneworld.net Wed Oct 15 17:47:29 2003 From: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net (Kanti Kumar) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 17:47:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel Message-ID: What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org + ---------------------------------------------------- + For all the news and analysis about the WSIS summit from a civil society perspective, please visit our Special Coverage section at: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/section/dochannel/wsis + ---------------------------------------------------- + ********************************* Latest News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1138 ********************************* NEW WEBSITE TO GIVE WIDER ACCESS TO AGRICULTURE, SCIENCE DATA ------------------------------------------------------------- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is creating a new computer-based system to give students and researchers in some of the world's poorest countries access to scientific literature on agriculture, nutrition and related biological and environmental sciences. The public-private initiative will provide the research and data from 400 scientific journals at little or no cost. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70448/1138/525 CELLPHONE SOLUTION FOR INTERNET IN AFRICA ----------------------------------------- Although cellular access to the Internet is nothing new, it has not caught on in Africa. That is largely because it has been sold as a way for users to display Internet content on a cellphone itself, with its tiny screen making very unappealing viewing. Now a trio of firms is touting a new technology as a way to connect computers to the Internet by using cellphone as a modem. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70342/1138/525 ‘WIDER-FI’ GAINING GROUND IN RURAL AREAS ---------------------------------------- High-speed Internet users in the rural Midwest of the United States are finding a faster and less expensive connection to the Web than some of their more urban neighbours. Wireless carriers are able to offer services at speeds faster than a T-1 line at a fraction of the cost of DSL or cable modems. The technology enables users to connect to a wide area network from as far away as 10 miles or more. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70255/1138/525 CHINESE COURT UPHOLDS 5-YEAR SENTENCE AGAINST WEBMASTER ------------------------------------------------------- A five-year jail sentence for "subversion" has been upheld on appeal at a secret hearing against Chinese Webmaster Huang Qi, Reporters Without Borders has managed to confirm. Huang, who created the Website www.6-4tianwang.com, had been held in detention since June 2000 for "attempting to overthrow the state". http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70202/1138/525 CHINA LAUNCHES ONLINE OFFENSIVE AGAINST TIBETAN GROUPS ------------------------------------------------------ A new report by a Tibetan group says the Chinese government has built up a network of portals portraying Tibet as a backward but integral part of China, sparking a counter-offensive by independent Tibetan groups for whom the Internet is the only battleground. The report, China's Tibet Online: Tibet and Tibetans in People's Republic China (PRC) Government Websites, has been released at a time when global human rights groups have accused China of imposing restrictions on the use of the Internet in the Asian nation. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70174/1138/525 WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY FOR HEALTHCARE IN UGANDA -------------------------------------------- A nationwide, wireless network is being put in place to improve Uganda's ability to treat patients and combat the spread of disease. The technology allows health care workers to access and share critical information in remote facilities without fixed telephone lines or regular access to electricity. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70016/1138/525 ********************************* Analysis http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1134 ********************************* RUDE ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERNET CENSORSHIP ----------------------------------------- An Internet discussion group created by a militant outfit of the Khasi tribe in India's Meghalaya state invited government censorship, which in turn triggered a ban on thousands of Yahoo! Groups. But the Internet is really too vast for governments to stifle voices of dissent like it can in the real world. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70257/1134/525 ********************************* Success Stories http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1136 ********************************* WIRELESS COMMUNICATION WIRES UP ISOLATED COMMUNITIES ----------------------------------------------------- In the latest of our BDO ICT Case Studies series, read how an Indian NGO has used a wireless communication system to improve the exchange of information and communication between isolated tribal communities and to increase their self-worth and confidence level. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70353/1136/525 ********************************* Get Involved http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1112 ********************************* NEW DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ICT CONNECTIVITY FOR THE POOR --------------------------------------------------- The DOT-COM Alliance and, InterAction and the Global Knowledge for Development List (GKD) are hosting a month-long discussion on the list, starting October 14, examining the practical approaches to bringing ICT connectivity to poor, rural and other un and under-served communities. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70256/1112/525 ********************************* Partner News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4678 ********************************* APC'S NEW ANNUAL REPORT: STRATEGIC USE OF ICTS BY CIVIL SOCIETY --------------------------------------------------------------- The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has published its latest annual report for 2002. Highlights include: APC in the run-up to the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS); the APC ICT policy monitors in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean; a new training course to help civil society organisations understand how ICT policy decisions affect their work; a free software content management system; and the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) for ICT initiatives which was piloted in four continents. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70343/4678/525 UNESCO LAUNCHES NEW ICT FOR EDUCATION WEBSITE --------------------------------------------- The Unesco office in Bangkok has launched a new version of its ICT for Education Website, replacing the old site with more user-friendly, easier to search databases and Web-pages, up-to-date and comprehensive content; and a more attractive look and design. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70015/4678/525 Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org Promoting Digital Opportunities for All Editor: Kanti Kumar Email: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net You can manage your email digest subscriptions with Digital Opportunity Channel and OneWorld by visiting: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/bulkmail/subscriptionlist/ You will need to log in with your nickname and password, or register for (free) OneWorld/Digital Opportunity Channel membership. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031015/1dfe44f4/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From eye at ranadasgupta.com Thu Oct 16 16:52:38 2003 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 04:22:38 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] Call centres scandalise The Guardian Message-ID: This was the front page article in the Guardian yesterday. It's amazing how naive it is about the outsourcing phenomenon, and how far it mystifies the notion of nation. The Guardian has been very vocal about the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers in the UK but it takes a much more nationalist view when it comes to the outsourcing of jobs, where a more conventionally leftist position kicks in. In particular, its idealisation of the "local" call centre worker, as opposed to the one based in Bangalore, is very funny. The people who are likely to be working in UK call centres are likely to have as strong an accent as the people working in Bangalore, and possibly as little experience of travelling on British railways. More importantly this is a complete fetishisation of "experience" since what is being traded is pure information, and whether you can actually visualise stations and "feel" what it means to travel from crewe to manchester - is completely irrelevant. R http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1063148,00.html Catching a train to Crewe? Call Bangalore Andrew Clark, transport correspondent Wednesday October 15, 2003 The Guardian Train travellers will be forced to call Bangalore to find out the time of their next connection at Crewe or Clapham Junction, under a secret plan to save up to £10m by shifting Britain's national rail enquiries service to India. According to documents leaked to the Guardian, train operators intend to educate Indian call centre workers in the eccentricities of Britain's railways. The move could put 1,700 jobs at risk at the existing call centres in Cardiff, Derby, Newcastle and Plymouth. Indian staff will need to cope with queries about anything from the availability of smoking carriages on South West Trains to disabled access on the Fort William sleeper and weekend engineering works on the Settle-Carlisle line. They will have to know every fare and promotion on the network, including the difference between a saver, a supersaver, an off-peak saver and a weekender. An internal memo to the board of the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) reveals that the chief executive of National Rail Enquiries, Chris Scoggins, visited eight call centres in three Indian cities earlier this year. Mr Scoggins found that they delivered an "excellent quality" service: "In two operations the agents had virtually no Indian accent." His memo requests approval to set up a pilot operation in Bangalore, saying the "business case is strong" but warns: "There may well be trade union agitation and negative media coverage regarding jobs." It warns that "short-term ridicule and cynicism" is likely to be a problem, adding: "We should consider this in the context of a significant proportion of calls going offshore, rather than just for the pilot." Under the terms of their franchises, train operators are required to fund a national enquiries service which provides not only train times but information about fares, accessibility, cycle conveyance, refunds, season tickets and booking hotlines. They receive public subsidies from the Strategic Rail Authority to fulfill their commitments. One insider attacked the offshore proposal: "They get £10m and UK plc gets 1,500 people on the dole. It's bad enough that it happens but to use taxpayers' money to achieve it is outrageous." BT has a contract to answer many of the calls to the inquiries line, although the service is being re-tendered. BT is pressing for the move offshore, citing research by polling firm NOP suggesting that the public do not mind where their calls are answered. The research, seen by the Guardian, found that callers were unconcerned by overseas accents as long as they were easy to understand. It adds: "Racial stereotypes play a stronger role in the 35-55 age range but predominantly do not cause a barrier." However, a risk assessment drawn up alongside the proposal warns of a number of potential hazards such as a nuclear war between India and Pakistan - thought "very unlikely" - a major power failure or technical breakdown. The first call centre to see its work moved to India is likely to be Newcastle. A comparison of the four existing UK locations, drawn up by consultants CM Insight, found that Tyneside was the least attractive with high staff turnover and an overheated labour market. Mr Scoggins's memo says there need not be any redundancies because all the existing call centres are expecting work from other sources to replace rail inquiries. Critics yesterday voiced concern that overseas staff would struggle to cope with the complexity of inquiries about Britain's labyrinthine railways. Caroline Jones, of the Rail Passengers Council, said: "Our main concern would be a lack of knowledge about the rail network in the UK. If you call up asking about trains from Peterborough to King's Cross, there's no way they're going to know every stop en route." The union Amicus, which includes many call centre workers, said it was a myth that jobs could be exported without loss of quality. It cited research from consumer analysts Performance House which found that 79% of people believed companies should inform them when they were dealing with an offshore facility. Amicus's national secretary, David Fleming, said: "We think there will be little confidence among the public in getting adequate train information in the UK from anywhere else in the world." In a statement, Atoc said it was evaluating bids from new suppliers for the inquiries service and would announce the results by the end of the year. From dfontaine at fondation-langlois.org Fri Oct 17 00:43:05 2003 From: dfontaine at fondation-langlois.org (Dominique Fontaine) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 15:13:05 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] RECENT NEWS FROM THE DANIEL LANGLOIS FOUNDATION - OCTOBER 2003 Message-ID: Version française : http://www.fondation-langlois.org/f/nouvelles/index.html [ Apologies for cross-posting / veuillez excuser les envois multiples] **************************************************************************** RECENT NEWS - OCTOBER 2003 **************************************************************************** *NEW INTERNET SITE FOR THE DANIEL LANGLOIS FOUNDATION* ------------------------------------------------------- The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology (DLF) is proud to unveil its new Web site. In addition to a new graphic design, the site will allow easier access to its wealth of unique editorial material: information on media artists and projects combining artistic, scientific and technological research, access to an extensive data base and numerous audiovisual documents, as well as many other improved features. To systematize the information as efficiently and logically as possible, we have employed "content blocks" which display all the information related to a particular subject, be it an individual, organization, work or other type of document. Since this is a research and documentation site, all texts are printable for easier consultation, and each content block has its own URL resource link -as do all search results- including bibliographies and lists of events allowing for later reference. Among the innovations in the Foundation's updated site are interfaces allowing a wide variety of search options. They provide access to various database modules for documents, individuals, organizations, events, works and projects subsidized by the DLF. The interfaces simplify access and browsing within the entire body of data. The new Web site of the Daniel Langlois Foundation has been constructed entirely with Flash, which allows us to better integrate multimedia content while offering users a variety of configuration possibilities. We invite you to visit the new Web site of the Daniel Langlois Foundation, and to discover or rediscover the myriad resources it contains! http://www.fondation-langlois.org *THE 2003 RECIPIENTS OF STRATEGIC GRANTS FOR ORGANIZATIONS* ----------------------------------------------------------- The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology supports eight organizations that are encouraging the meeting of art and science in the field of technologies, as part of its new Strategic Grants for Organizations. In its first year of existence, the Program supports activities and programs that are considered strategic to the development of a particular organization. The Foundation defines the term "strategic" as projects, activities and programs that have a demonstrated potential, as a plan, to better position the organization to fulfill its mandate and to enhance its capacity to act on issues and concerns in its milieu or community, or in the Foundation's fields of interest. The Foundation received 168 submissions in response to its call for proposals within this program, of which eight were selected: four from Canada, two from the United States, one from India and one from Peru. The grants range from $25,000 to $50,000. + + + For 2003, the following organizations have been selected as recipients of financial support from the Foundation: + + ATTAKKALARI CENTRE FOR MOVEMENTS ARTS (Bangalore, India) + Nagarika - an integrated information system on Indian physical expressions through technology The Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts (ACMA) key objective is to create a context for contemporary performing arts in India through three programs: Strategic Movement and Digital Arts Development, Education and Outreach, and National and International Platforms. Attakkalari's main focus for the coming years will be an ongoing project called 'NAGARIKA, which is being supported by the Foundation. Nagarika is a core project of ACMA that involves an engagement with physical traditions such as dance, martial arts, and yoga, in order to research body positions, movements and lines. This will be documented through digital technology in a studio environment generating an information database, and new contemporary works that will emerge from this research. In particular, a site-specific installation performance will be presented at the Bangalore Biennial 2004. Also envisaged are outreach activities that will create interactive sessions with the public and students. CANADIAN CENTRE FOR ARCHITECTURE (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) + An international colloquium/workshop on digital architectural archives entitled *Devices of Design: Architecture and Variable Media* As an international research center and museum devoted to architecture, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) has an urgent responsibility to examine the widespread use of digital media in the architectural design process and its consequences for contemporary architectural theory and practice. The Centre must also establish a method for the evaluation of digital architectural archives and to determine how these are to be conserved. In collaboration with the Daniel Langlois Foundation, the CCA will organize an international colloquium/workshop to take place in Spring 2004. The colloquium will examine the theoretical and philosophical relationships between the new media and historical architectural procedures, design and theory. The workshop will look into the question of evaluating and conserving digital documents of architectural design and communication. The proceedings of the colloquium will be published and will also be available on-line. The workshop will be videotaped, and the participants' contributions will form the basis of an ongoing written record of deliberations on the conservation of digital architectural archives. CENTRO BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS (Cusco, Peru) + Amauta Project The Centro Bartolomé de Las Casas (CBC) was founded in 1974 by three scholars. Its objective is to advance the study and the awareness of the Andean world with its historical, cultural, social, linguistic, and economic complexities. Through its activities, the Center serves as a place of reference, debates and active interchange among students, professors, local officials and local indigenous people interested in the development of the Andean region. Among the many activities related to the Centro Bartolomé de Las Casas mission is the Amauta Project. The Amauta Project's objective is to influence artists, humanists, environmentalists and communication professionals of the Andean Region through an intercultural exchange program that reflects a new understanding of a world where humanism in all its forms, technology and ecosystems are the main protagonists. The intention is to study, through scientific methodology, the complexity of so called "undeveloped" and disconnected societies and individuals to find still unknown sources of influence for new media and technology creativity through a digital workshops program. THE EXPERIMENTAL TELEVISION CENTER (Newark Valley, New York,United States) + Video History Web>Resources>Tools: An Inventory and Evaluation of Paper Files and Audio Materials Related to Early Media Instruments The Experimental Television Center was founded in 1971, an outgrowth of a media access program developed by Ralph Hocking at Binghamton University in 1969. The Center's mission is to provide support and services to the media arts community. Through its mission, the Center supports the creation of work using new electronic media technologies and also encourages an informed appreciation of media art. As well, in the context of honoring its moving images heritage, the Centre initiates projects, such as the Video History Web site, participates in partnerships that address the needs for research, education and preservation, and places independent work within a larger cultural context. The Video History Web site functions as both a dynamic and interactive on-going research collection and dissemination vehicle for media professionals, educators, and media programmers as well as the general public. The fully searchable site structure provides information contained in 10 databases holding over 3500 records, and gives the visitor a user-defined timeline generator. The Experimental Television Center will continue the research and building of the databases for the Video History Web site, with specific emphasis on early media instruments, their associated texts, documentation, events and interviews. The data will be published on the existing Video History Web site. greenmuseum.org (Corte Madera, California, United States) + Toolbox: Online introductions to environmental art greenmuseum.org is an online museum of environmental art that advances creative efforts to improve our relationship with the natural world. Since many environmental art projects are collaborative, large scale, site-specific or ephemeral, greenmuseum chronicles this movement and serves the dispersed communities involved. The museum has been online since December 2001. In response to the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of many environmental art projects, greenmuseum.org will research and develop collaborator-specific introductions to environmental art. These will serve as part of a toolbox of resources for the educators, environmental organizations, community groups and resource managers who have historically collaborated with artists in the field. The aim is to research and present through case studies, interviews and visual documentation online, the interdisciplinary work that generates environmental art. NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA FONDATION (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) + Film, video and new media conservation program The National Gallery of Canada holds one of the most important media art collections in the world. Thanks to the foundation's support the Gallery will set up a Film, video and new media conservation program. This program's goals are twofold: to preserve the Gallery's current and future multimedia collection; to provide artists, scientists and individuals working on media art or multidisciplinary projects with free access to historical, practical and technical data about new media conservation. OBORO (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) + Audio Art and Sound Creation Axis Established in 1982, OBORO, is a non-profit artist-run centre devoted to contemporary and new media art. OBORO supports research, production and distribution in the fields of visual art, media art, performance and new technologies. The centre's activities attest to the diversity of contemporary modes of expressions and include exhibits, curatorial projects, residencies, lectures, workshops, network projects and publications. OBORO plays a central role in Montreal's media art ecology. For twenty years, OBORO has been a meeting and discussion space for artists, organizations and interest groups from diverse disciplinary horizons and communities. The Audio Art and Sound Creation Axis seeks to consolidate audio art and sound creation as strategic and development axes at the very heart of Oboro's new media laboratory's activities. Its goal is to provide a range of activities and services, in a continuous and progressive manner, as well as regular audio art and sound creation programming. PARALOEIL (Rimouski, Quebec, Canada) + Paraloeil, Media Arts Access Centre Founded in 1999, PARALOEIL is a Bas-Saint-Laurent (region of the Quebec province) organization that specializes in video production and distribution. Its first mandate is to distribute independent film and video, mostly works from Quebec, that touch upon social, political, research, art and experimentation issues, and diverse regional and youth related realities. Its second mandate is to provide access to video production and to encourage the exploration of new media. The foundation's support will allow PARALOEIL to pursue its organizational development and to go ahead with the activities planned between 2003 and 2005, as well as setting up a consolidation and improvement plan for its building. The goal is to continue to offer quality services (distribution and production) to support local artists and to consolidate the work team. **************************************************************************** About the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology The Daniel Langlois Foundation's purpose is to further artistic and scientific knowledge by fostering the meeting of art and science in the field of technologies. The Foundation seeks to nurture a critical awareness of technology's implications for human beings and their natural and cultural environments, and to promote the exploration of aesthetics suited to evolving human environments. The Centre for Research and Documentation (CR+D) seeks to document history, artworks and practices associated with electronic and digital media arts and to make this information available to researchers in an innovative manner through data communications. **************************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031016/d014cf81/attachment.html From ahmed.109 at osu.edu Sat Oct 18 00:58:52 2003 From: ahmed.109 at osu.edu (Waquar Ahmed) Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 15:28:52 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Letter to the editor (for publication) Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20031017152836.00ae2798@pop.service.ohio-state.edu> >Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 14:21:05 -0400 >To: letters at guardian.co.uk >From: Waquar Ahmed >Subject: Letter to the editor (for publication) > > >Sir/Madam, > >It is not surprising to find the news ' Catching a train to Crewe? Call >Bangalore' by Andrew Clark (October 15) receive front page attention in >The Guardian. In fact, it is a reflection of what tends to outrage public >opinion in the west in the domain of international trade and commerce. As >capitalist economies like that of Britain and the United States forcefully >(pun intended) promotes free trade and commerce throughout the world, they >limit their understanding of free trade to movement of capital and goods, >which it possesses in surplus. Free movement of labor, which is available >in surplus in countries like India, China, etc., does not feature in its >agenda. As the developed countries use the World Trade Organization to >push its trade agendas of free flow of capital and goods, public opinion >is not outraged or news papers in the ' West' do not even devote the >smallest of columns to the fact that small scale manufacturing units in >countries like India are forced to shut down as these are not able to >compete even against the obsolete goods that are dumped in their >countries. Do newspapers like that of yours contribute to public opinion >about the loss of jobs in India on account of indigenous industries being >replaced by cheaper imports from the United States, Germany, Japan or Britain? > >Cost cutting has become the buzz word in Firms in the West, especially >since the world has not been able to wriggle out of the economic >rescission. Thus, out-sourcing of jobs to third world countries which lead >to reduction in cost on account of the low wages that need to be paid to >employees there is now being employed as an effective strategy. Why there >is resentment against such moves and talks of how many workers would loose >there job in countries like Britain when no such thoughts were or is >spared for those loosing their job in India or China on account of the ' >West's' idea of free trade? The ' First World' already employs innumerable >barriers to movement of labor from regions where there are in surplus or >where there possess the requisite skill in the form of visa restrictions >and quotas. The tenor of ' Catching a train to Crewe? Call Bangalore' >suggests that there exists public opinion (or news papers are trying to >create public opinion) in favor of bringing about legislative changes or >otherwise that could restrict out-sourcing of such jobs to countries like >India for the ' Welfare of there own people'. Will the 'West' ever stop >employing such double-standards? > > > >Yours faithfully, >Waquar Ahmed. >Ph.D. Student, >Department of Geography, >Ohio State University, >Columbus, >United States of America. > > > > From nkarani at hotmail.com Sat Oct 18 14:10:01 2003 From: nkarani at hotmail.com (Nitin Karani) Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:10:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] INFOSEM press release References: <20031005135246.38267.qmail@web8205.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: PRESS RELEASE Friday, October 17, 2003 Launch of India Network For Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM) We are pleased to announce the launch of the India Network For Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM). This is a first-of-its-kind alliance formed by community-based organizations (CBOs) of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people; and individuals, groups and academic entities, either interested in working with LGBT groups or interested in community formation within population-segments whose identities are based on sexual orientation or gender self-allocation over a rainbow of alternative sexualities. Some of INFOSEM's initial members are: Aanchal Trust, Mumbai (lesbian group) Bombay Dost, Mumbai (lesbian and gay support group) Dai Welfare Society, Mumbai (hijra CBO) Humsaaya, Mumbai (kothi group) Humsafar-Goa, Vasco Port, Goa (gay and kothi NGO) Humsafar Trust, Mumbai (gay CBO) Lakshya Trust, Baroda & Surat (gay and kothi NGO) Naz Foundation India, Delhi, (HIV/AIDS/sexual health NGO) Sakhi Char-Chowghi, Mumbai (kothi NGO) Samapathik Trust, Pune (gay CBO) Sangath Trust, Rajkot (kothi NGO) Sangini, Delhi (lesbian group) Social Welfare Association for Men, Chennai (gay and kothi CBO) Swabhava Trust, Bangalore (gay NGO) Swikriti, Kolkata (gay group) Associate Members: 1) Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), Kolkata 2) Asha Mahila Sanstha, Mumbai (sex workers' CBO) 3) South India Aids Action Progamme (Chennai) FRIENDS IN SUPPORT : 1) Joe Maccormack (Maccormack Search Consultants, Los Angeles, USA) 2) Ravi Lulla (counsellor, Victoria Aids Council, Melbourne, Australia) 3) Sushma Mehrotra (counsellor/trainer, National Aids Control Organization, India) 4) Shyamla Natarajan (South India Aids Action Programme, Chennai) 5) Chetan Datar (playwright/director, Mumbai) 6) Riyad Wadia (filmmaker, Mumbai) The list of members will expand as our work and commitment broadens out into various sectors. The immediate tasks before INFOSEM: q Work to abolish parts of Section 377 of the IPC that deal with consensual sex between adults, independent of their sexual orientation. q Work on very clear formulations of all forms of sexual assault and child sex abuse to be addressed by the law. q Make representations to the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) seeking inclusion of sexual orientation as a group for non-discrimination in Part III of the Constitution of India. q Work for recognition of the transgendered as a third sex in the Constitution of India. q Advocate for health awareness and care on a priority basis to fight HIV/AIDS and other STIs among LGBT people. q Help grassroots and emerging groups by providing input and training in conducting research and health, social, and legal needs assessment; help in building their skills and resources; provide access to funding for their respective health and associated programmes; and share research and baseline data. q Set up consultations for lesbian sexual health and recognize their sexual health needs. q To encourage, advocate and work for capacity building of sexual minorities in India. The approach: The members will network through e-mail and through personal interaction and periodic consultation to encourage and help consolidation of the community in India. The network will initially be managed by the convener, Ashok Row Kavi. The process of extensive networking over the coming weeks will lead to the formalization of a board of members who will run INFOSEM. Formation background: In May 2000, the Humsafar Trust (HST) initiated a consultation with Indian LGBT groups held in Mumbai titled 'Looking Into the Next Millennium' funded/backed by UNAIDS; SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency); the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO); the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS); the Department of International Development (DFID) of Great Britain; the India Fund at the Tides Foundation, NYC; Mr. Richard Winger, officer-bearer of the New York Gay and Lesbian Community Center; and many private individuals. The three-day consultation initiated by HST ended on May 6, 2000 with a set of resolutions passed unanimously through a voice vote, including one to form an India Network For Sexual Minorities. With such a resolution passed unanimously at the Millennium conference, the Humsafar Trust (HST) has decided to work positively to unite groups that have shown a verifiable commitment to community work. The India Network for Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM) is the resulting seed planted by people who have a track record of community work and over time we envisage it becoming a network of productive cooperation. For more information, please contact: Ashok Row Kavi, Convenor, INFOSEM, C/o. The Humsafar Trust, Mumbai. Tel: (022) 26187476, 26650547. From marinar at artserve.net Mon Oct 20 02:52:34 2003 From: marinar at artserve.net (Marina Vishmidt) Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 14:22:34 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Powering Up/Powering Down Message-ID: <20031019212235.B43B839A2@sitemail.everyone.net> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031019/ef5153b0/attachment.pl From ahmed.109 at osu.edu Sat Oct 18 00:18:13 2003 From: ahmed.109 at osu.edu (ahmed.109 at osu.edu) Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 00:18:13 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Religion & terror Message-ID: Click here to view the article Logon to Asianage.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031018/a8a2ec0f/attachment.html From shilpagupta at hotmail.com Sun Oct 19 22:13:27 2003 From: shilpagupta at hotmail.com (shilpa) Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 22:13:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] ANTI WAR-ON-IRAQ MEMORABLIA EXHIBITION - WSF 2004, INDIA Message-ID: ANTI WAR-ON-IRAQ MEMORABLIA EXHIBITION - WSF 2004, INDIA Calling all campaigners who came together all over the world to make history in 2003.who spoke, wrote, painted, screamed, photographed, sang, shot and walked against the US led invasion of Iraq. Let's celebrate that show of strength! That music video which just HAD to be made, That installation which had to be put together, That nasty Dear Bush Email which had to reach everybody in your contacts That graffiti you scrawled defiantly on McDonald's walls That song which u laboured nights over at the studio That moving photograph of the massive demonstration in your city. ... send them to us. We are planning an exhibition of anti-war art, campaign materials and documentation produced during the worldwide protests and demonstration against the attack on Iraq. All the materials collected would be curated for a show by the committee on culture at the World Social Forum 2004. We can even work with jpeg images and reproduce them in India to avoid physical transportation. Any necessary transportation costs can be reimbursed. Write to wsf04 at hotmail.com or wsf_mamtamurthy at rediffmail..com with a description of the material you possess (item/ creative idea/ size or duration/ weight etc.) Display and other terms will be detailed out in each case. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031019/1205b03f/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aiindex at mnet.fr Mon Oct 20 14:50:38 2003 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 10:20:38 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Susan Sontag's speech at Frankfurt Book Fair Message-ID: http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1065133,00.html The Guardian October 18, 2003 The fragile alliance Last week at the Frankfurt book fair, Susan Sontag was awarded the prestigious Friedenspreis peace prize. In her acceptance speech, in which she explored the conflicts and connections between Europe and America, she regretted the 'deliberate absence' from the ceremony of the American ambassador to Germany, Daniel Coats The fragile alliance Susan Sontag Mr Daniel Coats shows he is more interested in affirming the ideological stance and the rancorous re-activeness of the Bush administration than he is, by fulfilling a normal diplomatic duty, in representing the interests and reputation of his - and my - country. An American ambassador has the duty to represent his country, all of it. I, of course, do not represent America, not even that substantial minority that does not support the imperial programme of Mr Bush and his advisers. I like to think I do not represent anything but literature, a certain idea of literature, and conscience, a certain idea of conscience or duty. But, mindful of the citation for this prize, which mentions my role as an "intellectual ambassador" between the two continents, I cannot resist offering a few thoughts about the renowned gap between Europe and the United States, which my interests and enthusiasms purportedly bridge. There has always been a latent antagonism between Europe and America, one at least as complex and ambivalent as that between parent and child. America is a neo-European country and, until the last few decades, was largely populated by European peoples. And yet it is always the differences between Europe and America that have struck the most perceptive foreign observers: Alexis de Tocqueville, who visited the young nation in 1831 and returned to France to write Democracy in America, still, some 170 years later, the best book about my country, and DH Lawrence, who, 80 years ago, published the most interesting book ever written about American culture, his influential, exasperating Studies in Classic American Literature, both understood that America, the child of Europe, was becoming, or had become, the antithesis of Europe. Rome and Athens. Mars and Venus. The authors of recent popular tracts promoting the idea of an inevitable clash of interests and values between Europe and America did not invent these antitheses. Foreigners brooded over them - and they provide the palette, the recurrent melody, in much of American literature throughout the 19th century, from James Fenimore Cooper and Ralph Waldo Emerson to Walt Whitman, Henry James, William Dean Howells and Mark Twain. American innocence and European sophistication; American pragmatism and European intellectualising; American energy and European world-weariness; American naïveté and European cynicism; American goodheartedness and European malice; American moralism and the European arts of compromise -you know the tunes. You can choreograph them differently; indeed, they have been danced with every kind of evaluation or tilt for two tumultuous centuries. Europhiles can use the venerable antitheses to identify America with commerce-driven barbarism and Europe with high culture, while the Europhobes draw on a readymade view in which America stands for idealism and openness and democracy and Europe a debilitating, snobbish refinement. De Tocqueville and Lawrence observed something fiercer: not just a declaration of independence from Europe, and European values, but a steady undermining, an assassination of European values and European power. "You can never have a new thing without breaking an old," Lawrence wrote. "Europe happened to be the old thing. America should be the new thing. The new thing is the death of the old." America, Lawrence divined, was on a Europe-destroying mission, using democracy - particularly cultural democracy, democracy of manners - as an instrument. And when that task is accomplished, he wrote, America might well turn from democracy to something else. (What that might be is, perhaps, emerging now.) One function of literature - of important literature, of necessary literature - is to be prophetic. What we have here, writ large, is the perennial literary - or cultural - quarrel: between the ancients and the moderns. The past is (or was) Europe, and America was founded on the idea of breaking with the past, which is viewed as encumbering, stultifying, and - in its forms of deference and precedence, its standards of what is superior and what is best - fundamentally undemocratic; or "elitist", the reigning current synonym. Those who speak for a triumphal America continue to intimate that American democracy implies repudiating Europe, and, yes, embracing a certain liberating, salutary barbarism. If, today, Europe is regarded by most Americans as more socialist than elitist, that still makes Europe, by American standards, a retrograde continent, obstinately attached to old standards: the welfare state. "Make it new" is not only a slogan for culture; it describes an ever-advancing, world-encompassing economic machine. However, if necessary, even the "old" can be rebaptised as the "new." It is not a coincidence that the strong-minded American secretary of defence tried to drive a wedge within Europe - distinguishing unforgettably between an "old" Europe (bad) and a "new" Europe (good). How did Germany, France and Belgium come to be consigned to "old" Europe, while the UK,Spain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria find themselves part of "new" Europe? Answer: to support the United States in its present extensions of political and military power is to pass, by definition, into the more desirable category of the "new". Whoever is with us is "new". All modern wars, even when their motives are the traditional ones, such as territorial aggrandisement or the acquisition of scarce resources, are cast as clashes of civilisations - culture wars - with each side claiming the high ground, and characterising the other as barbaric. The enemy is invariably a threat to "our way of life", an infidel, a desecrator, a polluter, a defiler of higher or better values. The war against the very real threat posed by militant Islamic fundamentalism is a particularly clear example. What is worth remarking is that a milder version of the same terms of disparagement underlie the antagonism between Europe and America. It should also be remembered that, historically, the most virulent anti- American rhetoric ever heard in Europe - consisting essentially in the charge that Americans are barbarians - came not from the so-called left but from the extreme right. Both Hitler and Franco repeatedly inveighed against an America (and a world Jewry) engaged in polluting European civilisation with its base, business values. Of course, much of European public opinion continues to admire American energy, the American version of "the modern". And, to be sure, there have always been American fellow-travellers of the European cultural ideals (one stands here before you), who find in the old arts of Europe a liberation and correction to the strenuous mercantilist biases of American culture. And there have always been the counterparts of such Americans on the European side: Europeans who are fascinated, enthralled, profoundly attracted to the United States, precisely because of its difference from Europe. What the Americans see is almost the reverse of the Europhile cliché: they see themselves defending civilisation. The barbarian hordes are no longer outside the gates. They are within, in every prosperous city, plotting havoc. The "chocolate-producing" countries (France, Germany, Belgium) will have to stand aside, while a country with "will" - and God on its side - pursues the battle against terrorism (now conflated with barbarism). According to secretary of state Colin Powell, it is ridiculous for old Europe (sometimes it seems only France is meant) to aspire to play a role in governing or administering the territories won by the coalition of the conqueror. It has neither the military resources nor the taste for violence nor the support of its cosseted, all-too-pacific populations. And the Americans have it right. Europeans are not in an evangelical - or a bellicose - mood. Indeed, sometimes I have to pinch myself to be sure I am not dreaming: that what many people in my own country now hold against Germany, which wreaked such horrors on the world for nearly a century - the new "German problem", as it were - is that Germans are repelled by war; that much of German public opinion is now virtually ... pacifist. Were America and Europe never partners, never friends? Of course. But perhaps it is true that the periods of unity - of common feeling - have been exceptions, rather than the rule. One such time was from the second world war through the early cold war, when Europeans were profoundly grateful for America's intervention, succour and support. Americans are comfortable seeing themselves in the role of Europe's saviour. But then, America will expect the Europeans to be forever grateful, which is not what Europeans are feeling right now. >From "old" Europe's point of view, America seems bent on squandering the admiration - and gratitude - felt by most Europeans. The immense sympathy for the United States in the aftermath of the attack on September 11, 2001 was genuine. But what has followed is an increasing estrangement on both sides. The citizens of the richest and most powerful nation in history have to know that America is loved, and envied ... and resented. More than a few who travel abroad know that Americans are regarded as crude, boorish, uncultivated by many Europeans, and don't hesitate to match these expectations with behaviour that suggests the ressentiment of ex-colonials. And some of the cultivated Europeans who seem most to enjoy visiting or living in the United States attribute to it, condescendingly, the liberating virtues of a colony where one throws off the restrictions and high-culture burdens of "back home". I recall being told by a German film-maker, living at the time in San Francisco, that he loved being in the States "because you don't have any culture here". For more than a few Europeans, including, it should be mentioned, DH Lawrence ("there the life comes up from the roots, crude but vital", he wrote to a friend in 1915, when he was making plans to live in America), America was the great escape. And vice versa: Europe was the great escape for generations of Americans seeking "culture". Of course, I am speaking only of minorities here, minorities of the privileged. So America now sees itself as the defender of civilisation and Europe's saviour, and wonders why Europeans don't get the point; and Europeans see Americans as a reckless warrior state - a description the Americans return by seeing Europe as the enemy of America: only pretending, so runs rhetoric heard increasingly in the United States, to be pacifist, in order to contribute to the weakening of American power. Americans have got used to thinking of the world in terms of enemies. Enemies are somewhere else, as the fighting is almost always "over there", Islamic fundamentalism having replaced Russian and Chinese communism as the threat to "our way of life". And terrorist is a more flexible word than communist. It can unify a larger number of quite different struggles and interests. What this may mean is that the war will be endless - since there will always be some terrorism (as there will always be poverty and cancer); that is, there will always be asymmetrical conflicts in which the weaker side uses that form of violence, which usually targets civilians. American rhetoric, if not the popular mood, would support this unhappy prospect, for the struggle for righteousness never ends. It is the genius of the United States, a profoundly conservative country in ways that Europeans find difficult to fathom, to have devised a form of conservative think ing that celebrates the new rather than the old. But this is also to say, that in the very ways in which the United States seems extremely conservative, for example, in the extraordinary power of the consensus and the passivity and conformism of public opinion (as De Tocqueville remarked in 1831) and the media, it is also radical, even revolutionary, in ways that Europeans find equally difficult to fathom. Part of the puzzle, surely, lies in the disconnection between official rhetoric and lived realities. Americans are constantly extolling "traditions"; litanies to family values are at the centre of every politician's discourse. And yet the culture of America is extremely corrosive of family life, indeed of all traditions except those redefined to promote "identities" that fit into the larger patterns of distinctiveness, co-operation, and openness to innovation. Perhaps the most important source of the new (and not so new) American radicalism is what used to be viewed as a source of conservative values: namely, religion. Many commentators have noted that perhaps the biggest difference between the United States and most European countries (old as well as new in the current American distinction) is that in the United States religion still plays a central role in society and public language. But this is religion American style: namely, more the idea of religion than religion itself. True, when, during George Bush's run for president in 2000, a journalist was inspired to ask the candidate to name his "favourite philosopher", the well-received answer - one that would make a candidate for high office from any centrist party in any European country a laughing stock - was "Jesus Christ". But, of course, Bush didn't mean, and was not understood to mean, that, if elected, his administration would feel bound to any of the precepts or social programmes actually expounded by Jesus. In the United States it's not important which religion you adhere to, as long as you have one. A modern, relatively contentless idea of religion, constructed along the lines of consumerist choice, is the basis of American conformism, self-righteousness, and moralism (which Europeans often mistake, condescendingly, for puritanism). Whatever historic faiths the different American religious entities purport to represent, they all preach something similar: reform of personal behaviour, the value of success, community co-operativeness, tolerance of others' choices. (All virtues that further and smooth functioning of consumer capitalism.) The very fact of being religious ensures respectability, promotes order, and gives the guarantee of virtuous intentions to the mission of the United States to lead the world. What is being spread - whether it is called democracy, or freedom, or civilisation - is part of a work in progress, as well as the essence of progress itself. Nowhere in the world does the Enlightenment dream of progress have such a fertile setting as it does in America. For all the similarities in the daily lives of citizens in rich European countries and the daily lives of Americans, the gap between the European and the American experience is a genuine one, founded on important differences of history, of notions of the role of culture, of real and imagined memories. The antagonism - for there is antagonism - is not to be resolved in the immediate future, for all the goodwill of many people on both sides of the Atlantic. And yet one can only deplore those who want to maximise those differences, when we do have so much in common. The dominance of America is a fact. But America, as the present administration is starting to see, cannot do everything alone. The future of our world - the world we share - is syncretistic, impure. We are not shut off from each other. More and more, we leak into each other. In the end, the model for whatever understanding - conciliation - we might reach lies in thinking more about that venerable opposition, "old" and "new". The opposition between "civilisation" and "barbarism" is essentially stipulatory; it is corrupting to think about and pontificate about - however much it may reflect certain realities. But the opposition of "old" and "new" is genuine, ineradicable, at the centre of what we understand to be experience itself. "Old" and "new" are the perennial poles of all feeling and sense of orientation in the world. We cannot do without the old, because in what is old is invested all our past, our wisdom, our memories, our sadness, our sense of realism. We cannot do without faith in the new, because in what is new is invested all our energy, our capacity for optimism, our blind biological yearning, our ability to forget - the healing ability without which all reconciliation is not possible. The inner life tends to mistrust the new. A strongly developed inner life will be particularly resistant to the new. We are told we must choose - the old or the new. In fact, we must choose both. What is a life if not a series of negotiations between the old and the new? Old versus new, nature versus culture - perhaps it is inevitable that the great myths of our cultural life be played out as geography, not only as history. Still, they are myths, clichés, stereotypes, no more; the realities are much more complex. A good deal of my life has been spent trying to demystify ways of thinking that polarise and oppose. Translated into politics, this means supporting whatever is pluralistic and secular. Like some Americans and many Europeans, I would far prefer to live in a multilateral world - a world not dominated by any one country (including my own). I could express my support, in a century that already promises to be another century of extremes, of horrors, for a whole panoply of meliorist attitudes - in particular, for what Virginia Woolf calls "the melancholy virtue of tolerance". THE writer in me distrusts the good citizen, the "intellectual ambassador", the human-rights activist - those roles that are mentioned in the citation for the Friedenspreis, much as I am committed to them. The writer is more sceptical, more self-doubting, than the person who tries to do (and to support) the right thing. One task of literature is to formulate questions and construct counter-statements to the reigning pieties. And even when art is not oppositional, the arts gravitate toward contrariness. Literature is dialogue; responsiveness. Literature might be described as the history of human responsiveness to what is alive and what is moribund as cultures evolve and interact with one another. Writers can do something to combat these clichés of our separateness, our difference - for writers are makers, not just transmitters, of myths. Literature offers not only myths but counter-myths, just as life offers counter-experiences - experiences that confound what you thought you thought, or felt, or believed. A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world. That means trying to understand, take in, connect with, what wickedness human beings are capable of; and not being corrupted - made cynical, superficial - by this understanding. Literature can tell us what the world is like. Literature can give standards and pass on deep knowledge, incarnated in language, in narrative. Literature can train, and exercise, our ability to weep for those who are not us or ours. Who would we be if we could not sympathise with those who are not us or ours? Who would we be if we could not forget ourselves, at least some of the time? Who would we be if we could not learn? Forgive? Become something other than we are? *** I was born, a third-generation American of Polish and Lithuanian Jewish descent, two weeks before Hitler came to power. I grew up in the American provinces (Arizona and California), far from Germany, and yet my entire childhood was haunted by Germany, by the monstrousness of Germany, and by the German books and the German music I loved, which set my standard for what is exalted and intense. Even before Bach and Beethoven and Schubert and Brahms, there were a few German books. I am thinking of a teacher in an elementary school in a small town in southern Arizona, Mr Starkie, who had awed his pupils by telling us that he had fought with Pershing's army in Mexico against Pancho Villa: this grizzled veteran of an earlier American imperialist venture had, it seems, been touched - in translation - by the idealism of German literature, and, having taken in my particular hunger for books, lent me his own copies of Werther and Immensee . Soon after, in my childhood orgy of reading, chance led me to other German books, including Kafka's "In the Penal Colony", where I discovered dread and injustice. And a few years later, when I was a high-school student in Los Angeles, I found all of Europe in a German novel. No book has been more important in my life than The Magic Mountain - whose subject is, precisely, the clash of ideals at the heart of European civilisation. And so on, through a long life that has been steeped in German high culture. Indeed, after the books and the music, which were, given the cultural desert in which I lived, virtually clandestine experiences, came a real experience. For I am also a late beneficiary of the German cultural diaspora, having had the great good fortune of knowing well some of the incomparably brilliant Hitler refugees, those writers and artists and musicians and scholars that America received, starting in the 1930s, and who so enriched the country, particularly its universities. I was privileged to count as friends when I was in my late teens and early 20s, Hans Gerth and Herbert Marcuse. I studied at the University of Chicago and at Harvard, with Christian Mackauer and Paul Tillich and Peter Heinrich von Blanckenhagen, and in private seminars, Aron Gurwitsch and Nahum Glatzer; and Hannah Arendt, whom I knew after I moved to New York in my mid-20s - so many models of the serious. But I shall never forget that my engagement with German culture, with German seriousness, all started with obscure, eccentric Mr Starkie (I don't think I ever knew his first name), who was my teacher when I was 10, and whom I never saw afterwards. I found some relief from the tiresome duties of being a child by poring over Mr Starkie's tattered volumes of Goethe and Storm. At the time I am speaking of, 1943, I was aware there was a prison camp with thousands of German soldiers, Nazi soldiers as of course I thought of them, in the northern part of the state, and, knowing I was Jewish (only nominally, my family having been completely secular and assimilated for two generations, but nominally, as I knew, was enough for Nazis), I was beset by a recurrent nightmare in which Nazi soldiers had escaped from the prison and had made their way downstate to the bungalow on the outskirts of the town where I lived with my mother and sister, and were about to kill me. Flash forward to many years later, the 1970s, when my books started to be published in Germany by Hanser Verlag, and I came to know the distinguished Fritz Arnold (he had joined the firm in 1965), who was my editor at Hanser until his death in February 1999. One of the first times we were together, Fritz said he wanted to tell me - presuming, I suppose, that this was a prerequisite to any friendship that might arise between us - what he had done in Nazi times. I assured him that he did not owe me any such explanation; but, of course, I was touched by his bringing up the subject. What Fritz told me was that he had been a university student of literature and art history, first in Munich, then in Cologne, when, at the start of the war, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht with the rank of corporal. His family was, of course, anything but pro-Nazi - his father was Karl Arnold, the legendary political cartoonist of Simplicissimus - but emigration seemed out of the question, and he accepted, with dread, the call to military service, hoping neither to kill anyone nor to be killed. Fritz was one of the lucky ones. Lucky, to have been stationed first in Rome (where he refused his superior officer's invitation to be commissioned a lieutenant), then in Tunis; lucky enough to have remained behind the lines and never once to have fired a weapon; and finally, lucky, if that is the right word, to have been taken prisoner by the Americans in 1943, to have been transported by ship across the Atlantic with other captured German soldiers to Norfolk, Virginia, and then taken by train across the continent to spend the rest of the war in a prison camp in a small town ... in northern Arizona. Then I had the pleasure of telling him, sighing with wonder, for I had already started to be very fond of this man - this was the beginning of a great friendship as well as an intense professional relationship - that while he was a prisoner of war in northern Arizona, I was in the southern part of the state, terrified of the Nazi soldiers who were there, here, and from whom there would be no escape. And then Fritz told me that what got him through his nearly three years in the prison camp in Arizona was that he was allowed access to books: he had spent those years reading and rereading the English and American classics. And I told him that what saved me as a schoolchild in Arizona, waiting to grow up, waiting to escape into a larger reality, was reading books, books in translation as well as those written in English. To have access to literature, world literature, was to escape the prison of national vanity, of philistinism, of compulsory provincialism, of inane schooling, of imperfect destinies and bad luck. Literature was the passport to enter a larger life; that is, the zone of freedom. Literature was freedom. Especially in a time in which the values of reading and inwardness are so strenuously challenged, literature is freedom. © Susan Sontag 2003 The Friedenspreis was awarded by the German book trade association. Susan Sontag's most recent work is Regarding the Pain of Others (Hamish Hamilton). Buy it at Amazon.co.uk From rajivansa at hotmail.com Wed Oct 22 14:45:33 2003 From: rajivansa at hotmail.com (rajivan Sa) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 09:15:33 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Subsequent hearing Exploration Message-ID: ON SUBSEQUENT HEARING PROJECT BY RAJIVAN SA, (Composer/Musician) 24th Sept/2003 The note that follows, relates to the project subsequent hearing exploration, funded by Sarai under their independant fellowship programme. The project was started only in the second week of April 2003 and untill now there was no information that was exchanged with Sarai regarding this project. this is the first note that posted to give some materials regarding the project. The medium that i am in concern with, in this project, is�sound, within electroacoustic music context. Electroacoustic in general reffers to sounds that are generated as well as heard by the usage of electronic interfaces. Today, we experience a larger degree of dependancy towards CDs, TV, Radio, telephones, internet and various kinds of usefull as well as useless signals. we hear live sound broadcasting from various cities and places, inside our rooms, we hear sounds from the past, we hear sounds with no sources (virtual acoustics, generated by elctronic means). we could walk around places, listening to sounds that has certain acoustic characteristics that could disorient us from the physical location from where we listen. Such practices of listening changed relationship with our environment, our needs and to an extent the communication process and its content itself. The project�subsequenthearing exploration was designed as a resource project in order to explore as well as generate a set of concepts and working metaphors for a larger work�Space hearing. I began working on this project sometime ago. One of the prime intentions of the project�Space hearing, is to build an interactive platform to listen our spaces with the help of musical compositions as interfaces, made with the help of listeners (users). I assume with such work, one could listen to oneself. Perhaps, understand how soundmaking as well as listening, influences the environment that we are living with. Space hearing as a musical project looks at composition as an interface. The following extract from the space hearing project plan, may help a bit more to understand this concept. MUSICAL NOTATION (SCORE) AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL DIAGRAM. A musical composition has musical phrases and forms, in a conceived structure. As a part of the composition, traditionally, musical segments are usually written for a performer and a peculiar instrument A musical score, notation tells the performer what to play, interms of tempi, scales, pitch, structures etc. A musical score in this sense is an interface, an instructional diagram of sorts that helps the musician perform a certain way. MUSICAL NOTATION (SCORE) AS A BEHAVIORAL MAP. A musical notation is also an arrangement of musical behaviors. It indicates how to play. A musical score then, is also a diagram of the performer�s physical movements and locations: pressure, loudness, duration of play, gestures and physicality, and spatial locations of sounds. A MUSICAL INTERFACE THAT INVOLVES THE LISTENER. Extending the analogy of the musical interface, one could think of a tactile musical score, where the listener can directly interact with this interface. This is a bit like a product display or exhibition space here audiences are allowed to touch the product and use them in order to understand how they function. Here, user behavior and interaction, as opposed to captive listening or viewing, gives the context and meaning to the conception of the object. The interface I have in mind is some way, is analogous to this SUBSEQUENT HEARING EXPLORATION AS A RESOURCE WORK, deals with a specific procedure of composing (In the initial proposal i have used the phrase�listening to someone else�s listenings). The procedure that i have followed in this project was devided into two levels. As part of the first stage, i visited a few cities, engaging in a listening process. Listening to something that is under the process of being composed (For example, an environment, a community, a space at work etc). where each sound (event) exists, in relation to a larger and complex behavioural relationship of sound events that are heard around. It is identified as composed, by its inherent, temporal order and spectral qualities defined by materials, interfaces and behaviour patterns. This process of listening was documented using a digital tape coder and various kinds of microphones. These documents were also guided by two ways of listening ; listening from sationary points and listening through moving. The stationary listening or fixed spatial perspective was used in order to get the flow of time. And listening while moving was intended to experience a kind of changing spatial characteristics. The later also identified as a document that revealed different behavioural patterns or activities from its users. For example, walking from a market to a bus stop or, from a one way street to a signal point. Another kind of recording was done using a TV with more than 60 channels. In this format various kinds of TV browsing was captured. The browsing behaviour was more or less detemined by some sort of instructional diagrams. This diagram indicated what should not be done (technical guidance), what is the duration and where should it will end. I have spent slightly more than 4 months on travelling, listening and recording sounds from two cities. A week ago, after reviewing all the materials that i have recorded, i decided to engage in the second level of this project. This stage has been devided as composition and diffusion. (both are interlinked to certain extent). composition here means, bringing, placing, organizing the sounds and patterns in certain order. And diffusion could roughly mean the performing mode of these structure, or its distribution in the space of listening. And my decisions from here would lead me to validate what is perhaps the most important format of this project. Because my approaches presupposes a basic assumption, namely, that the meaning of any compositional technique or procedure arises from the need to function in support of a specific musical action, which in turn has a strong bearing on the question of how this action is listened and perceived. I assume the work to be completed only by the end of October 2003. However, i am also preparing to share more detailed information with you all from now on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RAJIVAN SA., 15 RUE YVES TOUDIC, 75010. PARIS. Tel. 00 33 1 42 39 36 61 rajivansa at hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Tired of emails bouncing back? Need more space? http://server1.msn.co.in/features/general/extrastorage/index.asp Get extra storage on Hotmail From jens at redirected-series.net Tue Oct 21 20:57:00 2003 From: jens at redirected-series.net (Jens Heitjohann) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 17:27:00 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] 10/ 23 - 10/ 26 2003 =?iso-8859-1?q?=AD?= Four days to expose your visions! // redirected-PING at plateaux-Festival, Mousonturm/ Frankfurt/ Germany Message-ID: www.redirected-series.net // okt. 23rd ­ okt. 26th, starting at 18.00 h (GMT +2h) If you communicate in the net - in a chat, via email, on a newsboard, in an online roleplaying game or by any other possiblilities -, you get an idea about the person beyond the interface. This vision often will be lost because it cannot find a space for discussions and pronounciation. redirected #1 : PING collects and publishes these visions! *************************************************************************** The elements: The chat We have a chat , in wich everbody can participate. It discusses four main net-related subjects ­ sex, knowledge, force and violence. We have gathered lots of material according to these subjects in our web-forum over the period from september 19th to oktober 17th. You can log-in into the chat at our website. The main characters Everyday one character, controlled by the audience in the Mousonturm in Frankfurt/Germany, will be the center of interest. He shall become a specialist of that days topic. Task of the chat is to outline the characters as concrete as possible. Every question about the topic of the day can be asked ­ no detail should be left out! The Schedule 10/23 - Th - Force - AgentP 10/24 - Fr - Therapy - Biest24w 10/25 - Sa - Sex - drDONGLE 10/26 - Su - Knowledge - javajane The Collection/ The Server You can send us your visions, ideas, stories about the main character of the day! We have prepared a fileserver, on which you can upload your visions through an interface on our website. There you can also get an overview of the other participants visions. All the material on the server will immediatly after upload be printed out, burned on CD, etc. and be arrangend in the plot (see below) of the corresponding character. The position in the room will be determined by your choice when you upload your material. There is an image on our webiste, representing the human senses. The categories are divided into perceptions (_in) and expressions (_out) of the character. The plots The plots represent the identity of the characters, compounded by your visions. The plots are situated at the Mousonturm in Frankfurt/Germany. The webcams Four webcams allow you to observe the creation of the plots. The first project of the redirected-series, the "birth" of the four avatars, is followed by others - further steps in the characters` developments... (Newsletter at http://www.redirected-series.net/english/news_e.htm) You can find uns at // http://www.redirected-series.net and in the //Künstlerhaus Mousonturm / plateaux - Internationale Plattform für junge Theaterregie (http://www.plateaux.info) Station / oktober 23rd - 26th from 18.00 on up into the night Free entry If you are interested in our project, please be so kind to forward this email to everybody you know and link our webpage if possible Please excuse any cross-posting. Jentzsch / Heitjohann / Popp _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From kanti.kumar at oneworld.net Wed Oct 22 16:06:40 2003 From: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net (Kanti Kumar) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:36:40 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel Message-ID: <66080-2200310322106409@oneworld.net> What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org + ---------------------------------------------------- + For all the news and analysis about the WSIS summit from a civil society perspective, please visit our Special Coverage section at: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/section/dochannel/wsis + ---------------------------------------------------- + ********************************* Latest News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1138 ********************************* INDIA PLANS MASSIVE CYBER PROJECT IN KASHMIR, SANS POWER & CONNECTIVITY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Indian government has announced an ambitious US $8.2 million plan to set up 139 Community Information Centres connecting all villages across the state of Kashmir, alongside call centres and other schemes to boost information technology, even though both power and connectivity remain elusive in the state. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70973/1138/557 UK COUNCIL PUTS CITIZEN BENEFITS CLAIMS ON EXPRESSWAY ----------------------------------------------------- In an innovative e-government initiative, the Halton Borough Council in UK is driving its housing and other benefits straight to the citizenry, literally. Equipped with laptops connected to the council's benefits-management system, its Benefits Express bus helps local people navigate the bureaucratic maze of applying for housing benefits and council tax relief. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70972/1138/557 AS ONE COMPANY TAKES OVER US AIRWAVES, DIVERSITY DISAPPEARS ------------------------------------------------------------ Before the deregulation of radio in the US in 1996, no company could own more than 40 radio stations. Now one - Clear Channel - owns over 1,200, as well as hundreds of thousands of billboards, concert halls, and other entertainment products. All this means most of what we hear is only what they want us to hear, explains Free Speech Radio's Dante Toza. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70894/1138/557 MEDIA, COMMUNICATORS CONCERNED AT WSIS MEASURES ----------------------------------------------- The Bellagio Symposium on Media, Freedom and Poverty, which came together recently, has expressed concern that in the World Summit on the Information Society some of the measures being considered run counter to freedom of expression and that there is inadequate mapping of development objectives against the proposed actions. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70782/1138/557 ACCESS TO INFORMATION ESSENTIAL TO KNOWLEDGE SOCIETIES: MINISTERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Meeting in Paris in preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2003, ministers from all over the world have agreed that universal access to information and press freedom must guide the ICT use to maximize its effectiveness for individual, community and national development. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70780/1138/557 BOLIVIA ACTIVISTS PROTEST FORCED CLOSURE OF RADIO STATION --------------------------------------------------------- Communication rights activists in Bolivia have denounced the forced closure of Radio Pio XII, one of the affiliates of the Association for Wireless Education in Bolivia. The closure was a direct result of the radio station's role in providing information on the crisis that is developing in the country. Latin American and Caribbean communicators have also expressed their solidarity with the Bolivian people. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70682/1138/557 RADIO PROJECT IN WEST AFRICA GIVES VOICES TO COMMUNITIES -------------------------------------------------------- The Panos Institute West Africa has set up, in Ghana and Sierra Leone, a pilot radio project using �Oral Testimonies�, or interviews that are long and extensive discussions on specific topics. Using the oral testimonies of the local population in their original languages, it aims to bring about a concept of a more listener-friendly radio format that facilitates integration and synthesis and encourages creativity. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70675/1138/557 FINALISTS NAMED FOR APC BETINHO COMMUNICATIONS PRIZE 2003 --------------------------------------------------------- APC has announced the 12 finalists for the Betinho Communications Prize 2003. Three of the projects will be awarded US$ 7,500 in prize in recognition of their outstanding people-centred technology initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70540/1138/557 SOUTH AFRICA GETS ITS OWN 'GRAZING LAND' FOR OPEN SOURCE -------------------------------------------------------- South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has launched an Open Source Centre as an attempt to stimulate the adoption of Open Source software technologies in Africa. The centre has adopted as its theme the concept of 'Meraka', a SeSotho term meaning common grazing land. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70537/1138/557 ********************************* Analysis http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1134 ********************************* MAKING TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR THE POOR ----------------------------------- At the upcoming WSIS conference on technology and development, delegates should consider not just how to improve Internet access in the developing world, but how to overcome the other half of the "digital divide" - making the new technologies work in poorer, less literate societies, argues David Dickson. OneWorld's Open Knowledge Network is already doing just that. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70900/1134/557 ********************************* Get Involved http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1112 ********************************* WRITE A VIDEO SCRIPT AND WIN A DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA! ---------------------------------------------------- The UK Department for International Development, Gamos and Big World invite you to compete for a digital video camera, plus accessories, to enhance your information and communication for development. Develop a script for a short video that you will use the digital video camera to make and its project planning and send by email or post. Closing date: 30 October 2003 http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70784/1112/557 TALK TO HER: DIALOGUE AMONG YOUNG WOMEN IN ICT ---------------------------------------------- From October 24 to November 21, 2003, young women from across the globe will connect in an electronic forum to discuss strategies for the integration of gender dimensions and empowerment of young women and girls at all levels of the ICT for development field. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70783/1112/557 ********************************* Partner News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4678 ********************************* 'MAKING THE LINKS' OF DIVERSE VOICES IN CANADA'S HEARTLAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Making the Links is an independent, alternative radio from the heartland of Canada, now in its sixth year of broadcasting. Airing on community stations in Saskatoon and Regina, it features the voices of many communities fighting for social and economic change at home and globally. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70901/4678/557 AMARC LAUNCHES RADIO NEWS AGENCY FOR AFRICA'S RURAL AREAS --------------------------------------------------------- The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has set up a news agency on development issues. Simbani [1] Africa News Agency will make use of technical information from various organizations, editing it into radio format, thus making it accessible to a wide audience, including to people in the most remote rural areas. Read more in French http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70570/4678/557 ********************************* Current Funding Opportunity http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4889 ********************************* OSISA INVITES ICT4D PROPOSALS FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA ------------------------------------------------- The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) has formally launched its new ICT Programme Guidelines and has invited organisations to engage with OSISA on developing effective proposals for ICT s and development in Southern Africa. OSISA will support programmes where ICT policy, technologies, networking, literacy and development awareness are not an end in themselves, but where the emphasis is on social action for change. Contact Ashraf Patel at ashrafp at osiafrica.org for more information. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70905/4889/557 Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org Promoting Digital Opportunities for All Editor: Kanti Kumar Email: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net You can manage your email digest subscriptions with Digital Opportunity Channel and OneWorld by visiting: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/bulkmail/subscriptionlist/ You will need to log in with your nickname and password, or register for (free) OneWorld/Digital Opportunity Channel membership. _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From geert at desk.nl Thu Oct 23 08:00:30 2003 From: geert at desk.nl (geert lovink) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 12:30:30 +1000 Subject: [Reader-list] Christopher Hitchens: Mommie Dearest References: Message-ID: <08b901c3990d$a3fe1c30$f501a8c0@geert> Mommie Dearest The pope beatifies Mother Teresa, a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud. By Christopher Hitchens I think it was Macaulay who said that the Roman Catholic Church deserved great credit for, and owed its longevity to, its ability to handle and contain fanaticism. This rather oblique compliment belongs to a more serious age. What is so striking about the "beatification" of the woman who styled herself "Mother" Teresa is the abject surrender, on the part of the church, to the forces of showbiz, superstition, and populism. It's the sheer tawdriness that strikes the eye first of all. It used to be that a person could not even be nominated for "beatification," the first step to "sainthood," until five years after his or her death. This was to guard against local or popular enthusiasm in the promotion of dubious characters. The pope nominated MT a year after her death in 1997. It also used to be that an apparatus of inquiry was set in train, including the scrutiny of an advocatus diaboli or "devil's advocate," to test any extraordinary claims. The pope has abolished this office and has created more instant saints than all his predecessors combined as far back as the 16th century. As for the "miracle" that had to be attested, what can one say? Surely any respectable Catholic cringes with shame at the obviousness of the fakery. A Bengali woman named Monica Besra claims that a beam of light emerged from a picture of MT, which she happened to have in her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her physician, Dr. Ranjan Mustafi, says that she didn't have a cancerous tumor in the first place and that the tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of prescription medicine. Was he interviewed by the Vatican's investigators? No. (As it happens, I myself was interviewed by them but only in the most perfunctory way. The procedure still does demand a show of consultation with doubters, and a show of consultation was what, in this case, it got.) According to an uncontradicted report in the Italian paper L'Eco di Bergamo, the Vatican's secretary of state sent a letter to senior cardinals in June, asking on behalf of the pope whether they favored making MT a saint right away. The pope's clear intention has been to speed the process up in order to perform the ceremony in his own lifetime. The response was in the negative, according to Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who has acted as postulator or advocate for the "canonization." But the damage, to such integrity as the process possesses, has already been done. During the deliberations over the Second Vatican Council, under the stewardship of Pope John XXIII, MT was to the fore in opposing all suggestions of reform. What was needed, she maintained, was more work and more faith, not doctrinal revision. Her position was ultra-reactionary and fundamentalist even in orthodox Catholic terms. Believers are indeed enjoined to abhor and eschew abortion, but they are not required to affirm that abortion is "the greatest destroyer of peace," as MT fantastically asserted to a dumbfounded audience when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize *. Believers are likewise enjoined to abhor and eschew divorce, but they are not required to insist that a ban on divorce and remarriage be a part of the state constitution, as MT demanded in a referendum in Ireland (which her side narrowly lost) in 1996. Later in that same year, she told Ladies Home Journal that she was pleased by the divorce of her friend Princess Diana, because the marriage had so obviously been an unhappy one . This returns us to the medieval corruption of the church, which sold indulgences to the rich while preaching hellfire and continence to the poor. MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it always had been-she preferred California clinics when she got sick herself-and her order always refused to publish any audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility? The rich world has a poor conscience, and many people liked to alleviate their own unease by sending money to a woman who seemed like an activist for "the poorest of the poor." People do not like to admit that they have been gulled or conned, so a vested interest in the myth was permitted to arise, and a lazy media never bothered to ask any follow-up questions. Many volunteers who went to Calcutta came back abruptly disillusioned by the stern ideology and poverty-loving practice of the "Missionaries of Charity," but they had no audience for their story. George Orwell's admonition in his essay on Gandhi-that saints should always be presumed guilty until proved innocent-was drowned in a Niagara of soft-hearted, soft-headed, and uninquiring propaganda. One of the curses of India, as of other poor countries, is the quack medicine man, who fleeces the sufferer by promises of miraculous healing. Sunday was a great day for these parasites, who saw their crummy methods endorsed by his holiness and given a more or less free ride in the international press. Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. More than that, we witnessed the elevation and consecration of extreme dogmatism, blinkered faith, and the cult of a mediocre human personality. Many more people are poor and sick because of the life of MT: Even more will be poor and sick if her example is followed. She was a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud, and a church that officially protects those who violate the innocent has given us another clear sign of where it truly stands on moral and ethical questions. Correction, Oct. 21, 2003: This piece originally claimed that in her Nobel Peace Prize lecture , Mother Teresa called abortion and contraception the greatest threats to world peace. In that speech Mother Teresa did call abortion "the greatest destroyer of peace." But she did not much discuss contraception, except to praise "natural" family planning.( Return to corrected sentence.) Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair and author of the book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice . Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2090083/ From abshi at vsnl.com Thu Oct 23 13:26:31 2003 From: abshi at vsnl.com (Shilpa Phadke) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 12:56:31 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Job Vacancies In-Reply-To: <20031018100006.9F90028DA83@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20031023125631.00a49c50@pop3.norton.antivirus> Job Vacancies at THE PUKAR Gender and Space Project PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research is a cross sectoral and inter-disciplinary collective of young researchers and practitioners concerned with understanding the urban experience in Mumbai. As part of a project funded by IDPAD (Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternative Development), the Gender and Space Project, is researching 'Safety in Public Spaces: Women in Mumbai'. This research aims to explore concerns of safety and security in the context of the presence of women in public space in a mega-city. It will interrogate the concepts of safety, security and risk and examine the ideological underpinnings of the varied meanings attached to these terms. The project will examine women's own negotiations in producing safety for themselves, decisions at the state and personal levels regarding the safety of women in public spaces which may contribute to reducing women's access to public space, and the underlying ideologies. The aims of the research are to: · Contribute to the knowledge base on various questions around cities, public space and gender. · Raise awareness regarding concerns of safety for vulnerable groups. · Influence urban planning and policy making. Gender & Space Project, PUKAR has the following vacancies for the 'Safety in Public Spaces: Women in Mumbai' research in Mumbai: 1. One Research Assistant The Candidate should have a background in the Social Sciences having completed post-graduate degree and have demonstrated some interest in gender related concerns. Work profile includes collecting data through a variety of techniques including ethnography, group discussions, interviews and walks. The individual will work closely with others on the team. This is a full time post for the duration of the project which is until June 2006. 2. One Legal Assistant The Candidate should have a degree in law, and an interest in and awareness of gender law and have some familiarity with the legal network in Mumbai. The job profile involves looking at case law, case histories and the law itself insofar as it relates to the question of women in the context of public space. This is an assignment and is compatible with the Candidate being involved in other activity. It need not be a full time job. The remuneration will be defined for the task rather than in terms of time-frame. To apply, please send a resume and a 300-500 word essay on why you are interested in the project by email to: genderspace at pukar.org.in and genderspace at yahoo.co.in All applications should clearly indicate the post applied for. Applications will be accepted until November 10, 2003. From shamminanda at hotmail.com Thu Oct 23 14:43:03 2003 From: shamminanda at hotmail.com (shammi nanda) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 09:13:03 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] on anupam kher's views on censorship Message-ID: Anupam Kher is the new head of the Censor Board. I don�t know the service provided by him to BJP, since all those who are now heading cinema related institutions are connected visibly to the party. One thing is sure that I haven�t heard of him talking anything profound in his public life as an actor, but recently his interview in TOI has a few words of wisdom, which I would like to discuss. Whether it is our Khanna Sahib or Hema Malini. Why is it that only institutions of Cinema can be headed by people who are neither qualified in the traditional sense nor have they been connected to the area of filmmaking they are heading. Hema Malini has been an actress but has never made even a short film, forget about a full length �meaningful� feature film which is one of the jobs of NFDC. As for Raveena, when the National awards controversy came up and Pradeep Krishan resigned from the jury, I was thinking that just because her uncle is connected to BJP it was unfair to accuse that the award given to her was manipulated. But now If BJP has considered her to be qualified enough to head CFSI one starts to question her national award too. I had read somewhere that it was CFSI�s policy to involve kids in the jury in the children�s film festival but to make some �kid� who might not even have been an avid Children�s film viewer the head of the institution is stretching the policy a bit too far. If their was a condition that the head of a cinema institution should have seen minimum two of the films made in the past by that institution Hema Malini and Raveena would have failed. Though I must say that Hema Malini was ready to learn about meaningful cinema as soon as she took the throne of NFDC and there was a film made on her dance drama by NFDC. Why is it that this policy of giving riyasats to the generals who fought for the king done so crudely in cinema related institutions. The head of UPSC could be a BJP guy but he will have some charade of a background or the director of NCERT will atleast be an academician. Till now they haven�t made Sanjay Nirupam the head of NCERT saying that his qualification is that he was a student so he can design textbooks. Even in other Art and culture fields it is not as brazen as they haven�t dared to make someone like Bappi Lahiri or Kumar Shanu the head of Sangeet Natak Academy. Not to say that the all the present heads of such institutions are the most appropriate ones but the choice there is limited unlike film in which any one goes. According to Kher, out of 350 films Censor Board gets only 3 to 4 get in a controversy, which according to him shows that the Censors are liberated. I think this figure of four is not even correct as I know of more than four films which were refused censor or had been imposed cuts. For example FTII had recently sent around 15 of their video documentary exercises for censor and one of them was out rightly refused censor, in effect banned, and two other had been unnecessarily asked to delete some dialogues. The film, which was refused censor, was about people who have left Gujarat after the riots and are living in Pune. The objection that censor had was that the film shows the police and bureaucracy in bad light. To that one can only say that the NHRC has questioned the role of police and bureaucracy for a long time and even the Supreme Court questioned the Raj Dharma while allowing of transfer of some cases outside Gujarat. In a state where Muslim lawyers are scared to go to the court, the Ex MPis killed and public prosecutor in so many riot cases are VHP terrorists, the police and bureaucracy and even the Judiciaries role is questionable. Besides killing of thousands of people in the riots is impossible without the collusion of police and bureaucracy. The other objection was that the film is biased and tells only one side of the story (implying the Muslim angle only). I have seen the film and this accusation also seems baseless. I think if more Muslims were killed, then by saying the truth one cannot be called biased. Not just that, there are other such films on Gujarat, which have been refused by censors. I think the action of censor is akin to not letting the Muslim lawyers reach the courts in Gujarat. Whatever the Hindu fundamentalists are doing on the streets of Gujarat, the Censor Board is doing the same by following their agenda through its powers by not letting the voice of the riot-affected reach the people through films. Most cases of Censor Board cuts are not even reported in the press so there might not be a controversy in the media all the time censors pick their scissors. And even if we agree that very few number of films are getting into controversy I think it is because the filmmakers are well aware of the Censor Boards working and hardly have the energy to experiment or go against the norms. On replying to a question on bad language he says �if expletives are not allowed in an average household then why should they be heard in a film meant for the family audience?� That means films are to always talk about average households and I am not even sure if there is no domestic violence or use of expletives in a an average household in a patriarchal set up. How can he make such a blanket statement, as every dialogue has a context and this nonsense of protecting the family from viewing dangerous things is a sham and assumes that the expletives can be heard and said by the men but women are lesser beings and have to be protected. I don�t think any woman would have problem in listening to the expletives used in Bandit Queen and can justify them by the context. On pornographic content in films he says � there are video parlors where one can rent X rated films and watch them at home. We don�t need to provide theaters to watch pornography. We need Money to buy condoms so people don�t die of Aids.� I seriously hope that he knows that even keeping of X rated films at video shops is also illegal even though he would not have a second thought while himself getting those films. He is fine with this arrangement, but sadly this also stinks of class difference where people or rather men who do not have access to VCR�s cant see pornography. Probably they are the masses or the people from the interiors and cannot digest pornography but someone from Pali Hill can. While talking of the role of Censor Board he seems to be more concerned about the people who live in the interiors or small towns. This distinction amongst people of those from small towns and interiors with those �educated� in the cities, or rather the page three crowd is also elitist. Tomorrow they will say that Khajurao cannot be seen by people from interiors or small towns. This melodrama of saving the common man comes handy to all reactionary forces. Once I had read a columnist of India Today who was defending Narmada dam and accusing Medha Patkar of coming in the way of the poor villager getting one bulb where his kids will study. Grow up Mr. Kher! I feel humiliated if I am not considered fit to decide what I want to see and have Anupam Kher decide for me. If newspapers, books, Paintings and theater are not censored, why is it that films need moral policing? Agreed that they are concerned about � dangerous stuff which once in a while comes out but we have the recourse to courts has been done in the case of many books. But if you don�t believe in taking recourse to constitutional means you have the VHP, (patit pawan sangthana)PPS, Shiv Sena, Durga Vahini, BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and so many others who don�t even take any salary and are fast to react. To believe that pornography does not exist in the present days of Internet and VCD�s is like thinking that prostitution will not exist if we put checks on soliciting and thereby being blind to the reality. For me the amount of dangerous stuff that is coming in newspapers, particularily the ones sponsored by right wing forces, is more harmful than any pornographic film. Besides I am also concerned about the moral health of all the characters who will sit on the Board filtering the films of all kinds of corruption to save me. Why make guinea pigs of our RSS guys. I hope they don�t file a case against the state one day like the American soldiers who were made to sit near the nuclear test sites and had later got cancer. He is more concerned about money for buying condoms to prevent AIDS shows how uneducated he is as it is not lack of money to buy condoms leading to Aids. I hope NSD is also safe in the hands of people like him. When Kher was asked in an interview about how he can handle the responsibility of NSD and Censor Board, he proposes to stretch 24 hours to 48. Yes, Mr kher, for any position of power You would stretch your day and if two more such positions were given to you will stretch your day to 72 hours. Shammi _________________________________________________________________ He's the fastest Indian.He's Narain Karthikeyan. http://server1.msn.co.in/sp03/tataracing/index.asp Will he make it to F1? From nyvoices at indypress.org Thu Oct 23 04:24:14 2003 From: nyvoices at indypress.org (Rehan Ansari) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 18:54:14 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Edition 87: 23 October 2003. Message-ID: <01c501c398ef$bde05ff0$6901a8c0@herman> This Week's Voices That Must Be Heard By IPA-New York, a sponsored project of the Independent Press Association Edition 87: 23 October 2003. NEWS ITEMS: Tenants pressure bank that loaned to landlord by Jordan Moss and William Wichert, Norwood News, 31 December 1969. English language. Tenants in several severely neglected Bronx buildings owned by Frank Palazzolo are now pressuring Washington Mutual, the bank that holds the mortgages on more than 60 of the landlord's properties, to use its power to bring the buildings back up to code. MORE. NY rules unfair to cabbies, says survey by Suman Guha Mozumder, India Abroad, 10 October 2003. English language. The survey noted that with daily operating costs of $137 daily and gross income of less than $160, the drivers' net average daily earnings is $22.14. MORE. Korean-English bilingual high school a must by Jun-ho Shin, Korea Daily News, 16 October 2003. Translated from Korean by Sun-yong Reinish. Five years ago New York City began a Chinese-English bilingual school with only 40 students. Today there are over 320 students in the program. MORE. New York prices are a challenge-but its better than Russia by Tatiana Khmelnitskaia, Russian Bazaar, 19 October 2003. Translated from Russian by Rachel Thorner. We asked people on the streets of New York what they thought of the recent increase in the cost of living. MORE. BRIEFS: NYC immigrant students neglected by system by Shaliza Alli, Muslims, 10 October 2003. English language. Freedom of speech wins by Sylwia Nasiadko, Super Express, 14 October 2003. Translated from Polish by Ania Milewska. Latinos find NBC programming demeaning by Ann Ledo, El Diario / La Prensa, 19 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hillary Hawkins. Bangladeshi exports to the United States have fallen by $330 million, Bangla Patrika, 17 October 2003. Translated from Bangla by Moinuddin Naser . EDITORIALS: FCC Decision to expand media ownership will curb dissent by George E. Curry, www.blackpressusa.com, 6 June 2003. English language. People of color own only 4 percent of the nation's 10,577 commercial AM and FM radio stations. One firm, Clear Channel Radio, based in Texas, owns 1,250 radio stations-almost three times more than the number owned by Blacks and Hispanics combined. Commercial television was even worse. People of color own only 1.9 percent of the country's 1,288 licensed stations. [Ed. The U.S. Senate has voted to overturn the FCC rules but the measure is stalled in the House. More information at www.mediareform.net.] MORE. As always we welcome questions, suggestions, corrections and letters to the editor. Rehan Ansari Editor, Independent Press Association - New York nyvoices at indypress.org* 212/279-1442 * 143 West 29th St., 901, New York City, 10001 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031022/2fce3152/attachment.html From =?iso-8859-1?Q?Edith=2DRu=DF=2DHaus?= Wed Oct 22 18:08:25 2003 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Edith=2DRu=DF=2DHaus?= (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Edith=2DRu=DF=2DHaus?=) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 18:08:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Stipend Announcement Message-ID: The Edith Russ Site for Media Art will award 3, six-month stipends for 2004, aimed at artists working with new media. Each stipend is 10.225,84 Euro (20.000 DM) dotiert. There are no residency requirements. The stipends were made possible by the Foundation of Lower Saxony. Deadline for the completed, signed application, which includes a project description: 31 January, 2004 (post date). For moreinformation on the edith Russ Site for Media Art please consult our website www.edith-russ-haus.de The artists who received stipends in 2003 were Dave Allen (GB/D), Bernadette Corporation (USA/F), Naomi Ben-Shahar (USA/ISR). The artists who received stipends in 2002 were Johan Grimonprez (B), Dagmar Keller/Martin Wittwer (D/CH) und Florian Zeyfang (D). Send appliations to: Edith-Ru§-Haus fŸr Medienkunst Edith Russ Site for Media Art Peterstra§e 23 26121 Oldenburg Germany t. +49 (0)441 235 32 08 f. +49 (0)441 235 21 61 info at edith-russ-haus.de www.edith-russ-haus.de _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From rakesh at sarai.net Thu Oct 23 10:28:08 2003 From: rakesh at sarai.net (rakesh) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 10:28:08 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Urgent Appeal Message-ID: <200310231028.08414.rakesh@sarai.net> ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Fwd: Urgent Appeal Date: 22 Oct 2003 11:46:26 -0000 From: "Disha JNU" To: lokesh at sarai.net Cc: bhagwati at sarai.net, mary at sarai.net, puloma at sarai.net, ritika at sarai.net, faizan at sarai.net, rakesh at sarai.net, yamini at sarai.net



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Cc: RanjanP at NIIT.com, sanjaysudha at netkracker.com, satish at ieg.ernet.in, satyamvarma at htomail.com
Subject: Urgent Appeal



------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- Note: Forwarded message attached -- Orignal Message -- From: Aditya Nigam To: naga2 at nda.vsnl.net.in, disha_jnu at rediffmail.com, isha at del6.vsnl.net.in, neeladrib at hotmail.com, nivedita_789 at sify.com, vipa at del6.vsnl.net.in Cc: RanjanP at NIIT.com, sanjaysudha at netkracker.com, satish at ieg.ernet.in, satyamvarma at htomail.com Subject: Urgent Appeal -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Aditya Nigam Subject: Urgent Appeal Date: no date Size: 2557 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031023/f863148d/attachment.mht -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Aditya Nigam Subject: Urgent Appeal Date: no date Size: 2557 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031023/f863148d/attachment-0001.mht From melissa.butcher at riap.usyd.edu.au Thu Oct 23 16:49:51 2003 From: melissa.butcher at riap.usyd.edu.au (Melissa Butcher) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 16:49:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The eagle has landed Message-ID: For those that missed it, I think if I've understood George correctly .... We live in a world populated by evil, tyranny, danger, threats, destruction, grief, cruelty, enemies, rape and torture rooms, hatred, fear, murderers, WMDs, and naughty nations with all the above who we did used to trade with but who are now defiant outlaw regimes. Australians are fair minded, tolerant, easy going, independent and courageous who don't mind taking responsibility for their neighbourhood, bringing peace and prosperity to East Timor and the Solomons. We say 'fair dinkum' and have 'diggers'. We have a very very very very very proud military tradition having fought as brothers in arms as way back as 1918. The Americans saved us from military invasion in WWII. And now they're very very grateful to us for being part of COW. The word of the day is Freedom - that's freedom for people, capital, information and democracy (which I think someone forgot to let through the security barricades and is probably now suspended along with Bob and Kerry). And as we bask in the glory of such heartening words the following article might be of interest. http://www58.gu.edu.au:4500/grifrev/article_content.php?id=31 Cheers M. _______________________ Melissa Butcher Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific From ahmed.109 at osu.edu Thu Oct 23 22:34:10 2003 From: ahmed.109 at osu.edu (Waquar Ahmed) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 13:04:10 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Christopher Hitchens: Mommie Dearest-Response In-Reply-To: <08b901c3990d$a3fe1c30$f501a8c0@geert> References: Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20031023130323.00a97ae8@pop.service.ohio-state.edu> I do not know whether Mother Teresa is a saint or not, nor am I in a position to comment as to whether the Vatican is correct as regards to her beatification. However, I had met Mother Teresa in 1995 in St. Xaviers' College Calcutta and I have seen the ' Sisters of Charity' work amongst the poor, the downtrodden and the sufferers and I have no doubt about the fact that the kind of work MT was doing and the love she had in her heart for fellow human beings transforms her from an ordinary human being to an extra-ordinary human being. Sighting few of her views and quotations out of context does not prove her to be evil, a fanatic or a fundamentalist. When she ran her hand over my head and blessed me, she did not ask for my religion. People like Mother inspires us to dedicate our lives to the service of humanity. We need more people like her in this world if we have to save the world from all the turmoils of war, genocides, fanaticism, communalism, riots, pogroms that it is going through right now. Waquar Ahmed At 12:30 PM 10/23/2003 +1000, geert lovink wrote: >Mommie Dearest > >The pope beatifies Mother Teresa, a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a >fraud. > >By Christopher Hitchens > >I think it was Macaulay who said that the Roman Catholic Church deserved >great credit for, and owed its longevity to, its ability to handle and >contain fanaticism. This rather oblique compliment belongs to a more >serious age. What is so striking about the "beatification" of the woman >who styled herself "Mother" Teresa is the abject surrender, on the part >of the church, to the forces of showbiz, superstition, and populism. > >It's the sheer tawdriness that strikes the eye first of all. It used to >be that a person could not even be nominated for "beatification," the >first step to "sainthood," until five years after his or her death. This >was to guard against local or popular enthusiasm in the promotion of >dubious characters. The pope nominated MT a year after her death in >1997. It also used to be that an apparatus of inquiry was set in train, >including the scrutiny of an advocatus diaboli or "devil's advocate," to >test any extraordinary claims. The pope has abolished this office and >has created more instant saints than all his predecessors combined as >far back as the 16th century. > >As for the "miracle" that had to be attested, what can one say? Surely >any respectable Catholic cringes with shame at the obviousness of the >fakery. A Bengali woman named Monica Besra claims that a beam of light >emerged from a picture of MT, which she happened to have in her home, >and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her physician, Dr. Ranjan >Mustafi, says that she didn't have a cancerous tumor in the first place >and that the tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of >prescription medicine. Was he interviewed by the Vatican's >investigators? No. (As it happens, I myself was interviewed by them but >only in the most perfunctory way. The procedure still does demand a show >of consultation with doubters, and a show of consultation was what, in >this case, it got.) > >According to an uncontradicted report in the Italian paper L'Eco di >Bergamo, the Vatican's secretary of state sent a letter to senior >cardinals in June, asking on behalf of the pope whether they favored >making MT a saint right away. The pope's clear intention has been to >speed the process up in order to perform the ceremony in his own >lifetime. The response was in the negative, according to Father Brian >Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who has acted as postulator or >advocate for the "canonization." But the damage, to such integrity as >the process possesses, has already been done. > >During the deliberations over the Second Vatican Council, under the >stewardship of Pope John XXIII, MT was to the fore in opposing all >suggestions of reform. What was needed, she maintained, was more work >and more faith, not doctrinal revision. Her position was >ultra-reactionary and fundamentalist even in orthodox Catholic terms. >Believers are indeed enjoined to abhor and eschew abortion, but they are >not required to affirm that abortion is "the greatest destroyer of >peace," as MT fantastically asserted to a dumbfounded audience when >receiving the Nobel Peace Prize *. Believers are likewise enjoined to >abhor and eschew divorce, but they are not required to insist that a ban >on divorce and remarriage be a part of the state constitution, as MT >demanded in a referendum in Ireland (which her side narrowly lost) in >1996. Later in that same year, she told Ladies Home Journal that she was >pleased by the divorce of her friend Princess Diana, because the >marriage had so obviously been an unhappy one . > >This returns us to the medieval corruption of the church, which sold >indulgences to the rich while preaching hellfire and continence to the >poor. MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She >said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the >only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the >emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory >reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking >misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose >rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln >Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? >The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it >always had been-she preferred California clinics when she got sick >herself-and her order always refused to publish any audit. But we have >her own claim that she opened 500 convents in more than a hundred >countries, all bearing the name of her own order. Excuse me, but this is >modesty and humility? > >The rich world has a poor conscience, and many people liked to alleviate >their own unease by sending money to a woman who seemed like an activist >for "the poorest of the poor." People do not like to admit that they >have been gulled or conned, so a vested interest in the myth was >permitted to arise, and a lazy media never bothered to ask any follow-up >questions. Many volunteers who went to Calcutta came back abruptly >disillusioned by the stern ideology and poverty-loving practice of the >"Missionaries of Charity," but they had no audience for their story. >George Orwell's admonition in his essay on Gandhi-that saints should >always be presumed guilty until proved innocent-was drowned in a Niagara >of soft-hearted, soft-headed, and uninquiring propaganda. > >One of the curses of India, as of other poor countries, is the quack >medicine man, who fleeces the sufferer by promises of miraculous >healing. Sunday was a great day for these parasites, who saw their >crummy methods endorsed by his holiness and given a more or less free >ride in the international press. Forgotten were the elementary rules of >logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that >what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without >evidence. More than that, we witnessed the elevation and consecration of >extreme dogmatism, blinkered faith, and the cult of a mediocre human >personality. Many more people are poor and sick because of the life of >MT: Even more will be poor and sick if her example is followed. She was >a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud, and a church that officially >protects those who violate the innocent has given us another clear sign >of where it truly stands on moral and ethical questions. > >Correction, Oct. 21, 2003: This piece originally claimed that in her >Nobel Peace Prize lecture > , Mother >Teresa called abortion and contraception the greatest threats to world >peace. In that speech Mother Teresa did call abortion "the greatest >destroyer of peace." But she did not much discuss contraception, except >to praise "natural" family planning.( Return to corrected sentence.) > >Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair and author of the >book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice >2BZ3NV&isbn=185984054X&itm=1> . > >Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2090083/ > > >_________________________________________ >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 sunil at mahiti.org Fri Oct 24 05:17:11 2003 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 23:47:11 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Targeting Diebold with Electronic Civil Disobedience Message-ID: <1066952831.725.11.camel@myBox> So this is how Bush won? Imagine when this starts happening in India. --------------------------------------------------------------- We refuse to comply. We refuse to allow the suppression of evidence that proves a Diebold machine registered 16,022 negativevotes for Al Gore in Precinct 216 in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. --------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Sunil Targeting Diebold with Electronic Civil Disobedience http://why-war.com/features/2003/10/diebold.html Get the Files Note that the location of the documents may change, but this page will always have the current links — if nothing else, you can read some excerpts. Archived file (tarred and gzipped): here, here. BitTorrent: here. EDonkey/Overnet: here. Browse the documents: here. Search the documents: here. Please e-mail us if you are willing to publicly mirror the files (either the archive or the full text); contact web at why-war.com to report broken links. Please note that due to overwhelming volume, we will attempt to keep the links up to date but may not respond to specific e-mails of this type. Campaign Update Day Two: Today Why War? and the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons held a public meeting with Dean Bob Gross of Swarthmore College. Overnight, word had spread of this action and Gross had received over 250 emails of support from individuals throughout the world including “tech celebrities” and Swarthmore alumni. Swarthmore College, unfortunately, is not willing to take a strong stand against Diebold, and is systematically disabling the network access of any student who hosts the files. “We can’t get out in front in this fight against Diebold,” Gross said during the meeting with over fifty students, staff, and faculty. Gross, apparently, did not see that by taking an active stance against Why War's actions Swarthmore was aiding Diebold's suppression Although Why War? acknowledges Swarthmore's position, we will continue to explain the importance of this issue to the administration. We had hoped that an institution once praised for allegiance to the pursuit of truth would have taken a more forceful stance in defense of information. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the college would be under no liability after informing a student that s/he should not be hosting the file. Yet Swarthmore is choosing to act counter to the spirit of both its traditions and rules, the latter of which requires that students be given three days to take down work challenged as an infringement of copyright. There is no provision under either the DMCA or Swarthmore’s own rules to allow for shutting down a student’s network access, in particular when no challenge has been made against that specific student. Why War? is deeply distressed by Swarthmore's inability, or unwillingness, to understand that the magnitude of this situation: a fair presidential election! After consultation with SCDC, the two groups have decided to pursue different courses of action. Although the two groups are no longer working together, we are confident that the actions of both groups will independently result in continued access to Diebold’s memos. SCDC has decided to comply with any cease and desist requests and subsequently take legal action against Diebold. Why War?, on the other hand, will continue to provide access to the memos by listing mirrors provided by individuals worldwide. Why War? is confident that SCDC’s counter-complaint will result in Diebold being forced to stop its campaign of suppression. In the meantime, you can be assured that Why War? will continue to provide access to these documents on this page. If you would like to join this campaign of electronic civil disobedience by hosting the memos please e-mail info at why-war.com. For those unable to host the documents, we encourage you to send letters expressing your disappointment about Swarthmore’s lack of principle directly to the college newspaper, at phoenix_letters at swarthmore.edu (and please cc your letters to us). Representatives of the media should contact media at why-war.com. Why War? believes that what we are doing is legal; though we see it as an issue of electronic civil disobedience we believe it is Diebold which is abusing copyright law in an attempt to shut down free speech and the democratic process. The four criteria of “fair use” copyright law are the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the substantiality of the portion used and the effect of the use upon the potential market of the copyrighted work. We believe the publication of these documents is integral to the function of the democratic process. The memoranda themselves are not marketable products, and in this case we believe the nature of the work, which threatens elections occurring in 37 states, outweighs the need to selectively excerpt portions of the documents. If there is anything the American people have a right to know, it is how their votes are being counted. Read our earlier press release. Excerpts from the Diebold Documents “Elections are not rocket science. Why is it so hard to get things right! I have never been at any other company that has been so miss [sic] managed.” [source] “I have become increasingly concerned about the apparent lack of concern over the practice of writing contracts to provide products and services which do not exist and then attempting to build these items on an unreasonable timetable with no written plan, little to no time for testing, and minimal resources. It also seems to be an accepted practice to exaggerate our progress and functionality to our customers and ourselves then make excuses at delivery time when these products and services do not meet expectations.” [source] Fradulent Machine dieboldes.com Diebold voting machines are used in 37 states and provide zero security against election fraud. “I feel that over the next year, if the current management team stays in place, the Global [Election Management System] working environment will continue to be a chaotic mess. Global management has and will be doing the best to keep their jobs at the expense of employees. Unrealistic goals will be placed on current employees, they will fail to achieve them. If Diebold wants to keep things the same for the time being, this will only compound an already dysfunctional company. Due to the lack of leadership, vision, and self-preserving nature of the current management, the future growth of this company will continue to stagnate until change comes.” [source] “[T]he bugzilla historic data recovery process is complete. Some bugs were irrecoverably lost and they will have to be re-found and re-submitted, but overall the loss was relatively minor.” [source] “28 of 114 or about 1 in 4 precincts called in this AM with either memory card issues "please re-insert", units that wouldn't take ballots - even after recycling power, or units that needed to be recycled. We reburned 7 memory cards, 4 of which we didn't need to, but they were far enough away that we didn't know what we'd find when we got there (bad rover communication).” [source] “If voting could really change things, it would be illegal.” [source] “I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County. I have been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16022 when it was uploaded. Will someone please explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of standing here "looking dumb".” [source] “[...] while reading some of Paranoid Bev’s scribbling.” [source] “Johnson County, KS will be doing Central Count for their mail in ballots. They will also be processing these ballots in advance of the closing of polls on election day. They would like to log into the Audit Log an entry for Previewing any Election Total Reports. They need this, to prove to the media, as well as, any candidates & lawyers, that they did not view or print any Election Results before the Polls closed. However, if there is a way that we can disable the reporting functionality, that would be even better.” [source] (emphasis added) “4K Smart cards which had never been previously programmed are being recognized by the Card Manager as manager cards. When a virgin card from CardLogix is inserted into a Spyrus (have tried CM-0-2-9 and CM-1-1-1) the prompt "Upgrade Mgr Card?" is displayed. Pressing the ENTER key creates a valid manager card. This happens in Admin mode and Election mode.” [source] One Member's Position “[I am] committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President next year.” Walden O’Dell, CEO of Diebold [source] “A quiet revolution is taking place in US politics. By the time it’s over, the integrity of elections will be in the unchallenged, unscrutinised control of a few large — and pro-Republican — corporations.” Andrew Gumbel, Independent, Oct. 14, 2003 [source] More fundamental than the right to vote is the right to a free and fair election. It is a necessity that forms the center of democracy. Without fair elections the state loses its legitimacy and democracy crumbles. Today Why War? and the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons begin an active electronic civil disobedience campaign to draw America’s attention back to the center of democracy — for it is crumbling. We have in our possession the internal memoranda of Diebold Elections Systems, the company in charge of the electronic voting machines in 37 states, and we intend to share them. These memos prove that Diebold knowingly produced an electronic election system that contained absolutely no security against voter fraud. In fact, the lead engineer from Diebold wrote over two years ago that anyone could change votes without leaving a trail: “Right now you can open GEMS' .mdb file with MS-Access, and alter its contents. That includes the audit log.” GEMS stands for Global Election Management System and is the central computer in each county on which the votes are stored after the election. Diebold has filed cease and desist orders against anyone who has attempted to share these memos with the public. They have taken down hosts all over the world, including the personal website of the very journalist who broke this story, Bev Harris. We refuse to comply. We refuse to allow the suppression of evidence that proves a Diebold machine registered 16,022 negativevotes for Al Gore in Precinct 216 in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. We refuse to comply with a company whose CEO has given $9,965 to Bush and the Republican National State Elections Committee since 2001, while declaring that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President next year.” And we are asking you to refuse as well. Our strategy to combat Diebold is simple. Through active, legal electronic civil disobedience we can bring to light the usually silent act of suppression. The result will be a permanent and public mirror of the memos — documents whose public existence strengthens democracy. One journalist in Seattle has written that Dean Logan, director of records, elections and licensing services in Seattle, “decided election security was a ‘legitimate issue’ after internal company e-mail was posted on the Internet and discussed in a Salon.comarticle Monday.” Our goal is to force these documents back into the sunlight. Logan should be alarmed — the depth of Diebold’s deceit extends far beyond what most Americans are comfortable believing. In fact, there are already allegations that Diebold was responsible for the highly questionable results from the 2002 election in Georgia. Andrew Gumbel writes in the Independent: Something very odd happened in the mid-term elections in Georgia last November. On the eve of the vote, opinion polls showed Roy Barnes, the incumbent Democratic governor, leading by between nine and 11 points. In a somewhat closer, keenly watched Senate race, polls indicated that Max Cleland, the popular Democrat up for re-election, was ahead by two to five points against his Republican challenger, Saxby Chambliss. Those figures were more or less what political experts would have expected in state with a long tradition of electing Democrats to statewide office. But then the results came in, and all of Georgia appeared to have been turned upside down. Barnes lost the governorship to the Republican, Sonny Perdue, 46 per cent to 51 per cent, a swing of as much as 16 percentage points from the last opinion polls. Cleland lost to Chambliss 46 per cent to 53, a last-minute swing of 9 to 12 points Why War? believes that the mere possibility that the core principle of democracy — a fair election — is under attack demands action. We believe we are afforded the right to publication of these documents because of the integral part they play in the counting of votes in America. When such action is met with legal threats, we believe the conscientious path is to engage in open, democratic, and legal electronic civil disobedience. -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org MAHITI Infotech Pvt. Ltd.'Reducing the cost and complexity of ICTs' 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 4150580. Mobile: 98455 12611 "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw From info at nmartproject.net Fri Oct 24 16:23:25 2003 From: info at nmartproject.net (NewMediaArtProjectNetwork) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 12:53:25 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Violence - Version 9.0 Message-ID: <005d01c39a1d$0cd7e370$0200a8c0@meuvchen> Violence Online Festival www.newmediafest.org/violence/ is happy to launch its latest version online, eg Version 9.0 on 24 October 2003 on occasion of the opening and the participation in MAD'03 - Festival for Electronic Art Madrid /Spain 24 October - 14 November 2003 www.mad03.net !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Violence really goes round - and now already for the second year - join and celebrate together 300 participating artists virtually!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Violence Online Festival is an ongoing New Media art project in form of an online festival based on participatory and networking components, created, curated and organised by Agricola de Cologne, media artist and New Media curator operating from Cologne (Germany). Meanwhile more than 300 artists from 42 countries reflect the phenomenon of violence from all its aspects. The project was initiated for and formed the online part of Violence Festival 2002 Tabor (Czech Republic) and was launched online on 10 August 2002. Now, more than one year later Violence Online Festival is proud to launch Version 9.0, including a new department of "Violence Media Incorporated" ----> Violence Library which will be collecting papers, articles etc of authors who deal with the multi-facets of violence. And these are the first authors included ---> Joseph Nechvatal, Andy Deck, Sergej Jakovlev, Klaus Schrefler and Jeremy Newman and these are the new artists featured on "Violence Magazine" Isabel Aranda Yto, Nikki Johnson, Stephen Lawler, Rober Praxmarer Find all further information on the administrative and artistic body of Violence Online Festival! Have a fantastic time with violence!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Violence Online Festival www.newmediafest.org violence at newmediafest.org copyright © 2002-2003 by Agricola de Cologne All rights reserved. All included artworks: copyright © by the artists or owners Violence Online Festival is affiliated with A Virtual Memorial Memorial project against the Forgetting and for Humanity www.a-virtual-memorial.org and represents a corporate member of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork] :||cologne >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the experimental platform for net based art <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< operating from Cologne/Germany >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From shilpagupta at hotmail.com Fri Oct 24 19:26:09 2003 From: shilpagupta at hotmail.com (shilpa) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 19:26:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] call for video letter- World Social Forum 2004 Message-ID: CALL FOR FILMMAKERS, VIDEO ARTISTS, MEDIA PROFESSIONALS, COMPUTER BUGS, CAMERA BUFFS.... BE PART OF THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM... SEND A LETTER TO 100,000 PEOPLE WHO ARE GATHERING IN MUMBAI,INDIA TO MAKE ANOTHER WORLD POSSIBLE In the three years since its inception the World Social Forum has become an international landmark. In an era where corporate globalisation is presented as an inevitability, where the neo-liberal notion of development increasingly pervades most governments and undermines traditional cultures, thousands of activists, artists, academics, economists, writers, students, farmers, workers and many others will gather to protest this domination of capital over humanity, with vitality, wit and vision and to celebrate an alternative view of democracy and development because ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE. In 2004 the World Social Forum will take place in Mumbai, India from 16th-21st January. AT THE CONFERENCE GROUNDS A VIDEO TUNNEL OF HALF A KILOMETER WILL SHOWCASE SCREEN IMAGE WORKS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. LET ONE OF THEM BE YOURS - IT CAN BE A FILM, AN ANIMATION, A CD-ROM OR ANY OTHER VISUAL FORM YOU IMAGINE! THEME: Letter to WSF: Another world is possible. Let's build it. REGULATION: The duration should be no more than 3 minutes. It should be preferably be silent. (Placing sound projects together could be a problem.) FORMAT: The works may be created on any format but should come to us on any of the following formats. DV, DVD, VHS or VCD (preferably in PAL) DEADLINE: Write to us and let us know the scheme of your letter by the 30th of October. The videoletter can reach us by 30th of November. APOLOGY: We shall not be able to pay for the production cost. But if you inform us in advance we will provide Fedex service. CLAIM: We guarantee good screening conditions. ENQUIRIES: Please write to majlis at vsnl.com FOR MORE ABOUT WSF, 2004 - www.wsfindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031024/8678988c/attachment.html From referralsvr at referralblast.com Sun Oct 26 22:48:34 2003 From: referralsvr at referralblast.com (bharati) Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 12:18:34 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Article from Common Dreams NewsCenter Message-ID: Hello, bharati wanted to share this article with you: file:///C:/My%20Documents/My%20Received%20Files/1017-09(1).htm Message: this may be of interest if you are following iraq : the allinace between the US army and the entertainment and toy industry, Thanks! ______________________________________ Common Dreams Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community www.commondreams.org ________________________________________________________ Referral powered by ReferralBlast.com From siriyavan at outlookindia.com Sat Oct 25 12:16:30 2003 From: siriyavan at outlookindia.com (Anand) Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:16:30 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Navayana: Publishing for Social Change References: <20031025100008.001AC28E392@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <008701c39ac3$b921b4c0$1704a8c0@anand> Dear moderator, could you lease make this announcement that would interest the Sarai group. Anand Navayana: Publishing for Social Change Dear friend, My friend Ravikumar and I are launching a new, little publishing house, to be called 'Navayana'. Please find enclosed a note on ourselves; and a special offer for those who wish to buy books directly from us. Navayana literally means 'new vehicle', a term given to Dr. B.R.Ambedkar's socially and morally concerned, rationalistic, anti-metaphysical interpretation of Buddhism. This 'liberation theology' of Buddhism is also called 'engaged Buddhism'. As a publishing venture, Navayana will be a 'new vehicle' to take forward debates on issues neglected by mainstream publishers. To start with, Navayana will feature short tracts on a range of issues related to society, culture, literature, history and politics. The focus will be on caste, identity politics and religious fundamentalism. In the tradition of Siddharth Gautama, perhaps the first to introduce the culture of dialogue and debate with people who held diverse views in the subcontinent, these books will encourage dialogue and debate on issues the mainstream does not wish to address. The first Navayana book, TOUCHABLE TALES (Rs 45), will debate the publishing and reading of dalit literature in English, which has, of late, witnessed a spurt. Those on board the debate are: 1. Ravikumar, activist-theoretician of the Dalit movement whose nonfiction is being translated for Samya 2. Mini Krishnan, translations editor with Oxford University Press 3. Gail Omvedt, historian of the Dalit movement; translator of Vasant Moon's Vasti 4. K. Satyanarayana who teaches at the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad 5. Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things 6. Alok Mukherjee and Arun Prabha Mukherjee, who teach at York University, Toronto 7. Sivakami, Tamil dalit author whose translated work is forthcoming from Orient Longman 8. K.P. Singh who teaches South Asian Studies and Sociology at the Univ. of Washington 9. Mandira Sen of Samya-Stree, Kolkata 10. Narendra Jadhav, author of Outcaste: A Memoir (Aamcha Baap Aan Mahi) 11. Anand Teltumbde, chronicler of the dalit movement, based in Mumbai These tracts of 40 to 60 pages will be printed in demy-octavo size with four-color covers. The production values-design, editorial content-will be first-rate. Initially, we are planning to bring out 12 books in one year; that is, a set of four, every four months. The books will be priced in the range of Rs.40 to Rs.60 in India, depending on the pages (USD 6 per book for the international market). Initially, Ravikumar and I are putting in our money... Eventually, we plan to raise some money from interested, committed individuals; and of course through sales. We welcome suggestions on how we could make this a sustainable enterprise. We request people with good contacts/ networking to buy copies in bulk at discount and retail them in their areas. The three other books in the first set are: 'POSTMODERNISM AND RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM: A SCIENTIFIC REBUTTAL TO HINDU SCIENCE'-An essay by Meera Nanda, author of 'Breaking the Spell of Dharma and Other Essays' (Three Essays Collective, New Delhi); a review of the book; plus an interview with Nanda. (Rs 55) 'AMBEDKAR: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES'-A series of six autobiographical sketches written by B.R.Ambedkar in 1935 under the title 'Waiting for a Visa' recounting his experiences of untouchability in his childhood, youth and adulthood. (Rs 40) 'BRAHMANS AND CRICKET: LAGAAN'S MILLENNIAL PURANA AND OTHER MYTHS'-Two articles written by S. Anand on the theme of 'cricket and caste': one on Lagaan, cricket nationalism and dalit exclusion published in Himal in March 2002; the responses by Sudhanva Deshpande, Luban Mariam and others; plus 'The Retreat of the Brahmin' featured in Outlook's cricket world cup special issue. (Rs 60) These books will be released on the evening of 5 November 2003 in Chennai at Landmark, (at Spencer Plaza), by Narendra Jadhav. Jadhav's book Outcaste: A Memoir, will in turn be released by N.Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu. A panel discussion will follow in which Sivakami, writer, and Kanimozhi, poet, will participate. Narendra Jadhav will read from his work. Seeking your support and cooperation to launch this new vehicle, Ravikumar and Anand for Navayana navayana at ambedkar.org SPECIAL OFFER Navayana offers you a special price on the set of four books. The cover price of this set of four is going to be Rs.200. For those placing orders directly with Navayana, we are offering the set for Rs.170 -15 per cent less. This will include postage. (For outstation cheques, please add Rs.30 as collection charges.) Delivery time: One week (starting November 5). Those placing bulk orders of more than 20 books (that is, five sets of the four books) can avail a set of four at Rs.150 - 25 cent less. (Those who do not wish to avail the discount, can send us cheques for Rs.200.) For overseas buyers, a set of four books will cost USD 20. For overseas orders, add USD 10 for postage. Drafts/ cheques should be marked for "NAVAYANA" and addressed to: Ravikumar 28, Veerabhadrasamy Koil Street Lawspet, Pondicherry - 605008 Ph: 91-413-2253666 In Chennai contact: S. Anand Ph: 91-44-24422199/ 24662316 _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From rafael at csi.com Mon Oct 27 16:42:47 2003 From: rafael at csi.com (Rafael Lozano-Hemmer) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 20:12:47 +0900 Subject: [Reader-list] CFP: new deadline-nueva fecha @ vidalife.org Message-ID: x x x Deadline Extended x x x "Life 6.0" Art and A-life competition Searching for robots, viruses, avatars, algorithms, virtual environments Sponsored by the Telefonica Foundation, Madrid, Spain Twenty thousand Euros will be awarded New deadline: November 7, 2003 Information and application form http://www.vidalife.org x x x Plazo Extendido x x x Concurso de arte y vida artificial "Vida 6.0" Buscamos robots, viruses, avatares, algoritmos o entornos virtuales Patrocinado por la Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, España Veinte mil Euros en premios Nueva fecha límite: 7 de noviembre de 2003 Bases e información http://www.vidalife.org From nkarani at hotmail.com Tue Oct 28 00:55:08 2003 From: nkarani at hotmail.com (Nitin Karani) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 00:55:08 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Khush] anonymizer/ proxy for yahoogroups References: Message-ID: this is for the benefit of those who have been unable to change their yahoo groups options from web-reading to individual e-mails into their inbox. for the last few days i was unable to change this option for myself and, of course, i was not able to read mails on the groups website. luckily, i was able to access yahoo groups from the office yesterday to a limited extent -- to change my option. i don't know how that was possible from the office pc, but i just discovered that i could have done it from the home pc too, had i gone to this URL http://in.groups.yahoo.com INSTEAD OF simply http://groups.yahoo.com. So if anyone you know is facing a similar problem because of the web-reading option, they can now receive the mails in their inbox. nitin ----- Original Message ----- From: "L Ramakrishnan" To: "khush list" Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 4:31 PM Subject: [Khush] anonymizer/ proxy for yahoogroups > > Folks who were successfully using india.citizenlab.org proxy to > get to yahoogroups are now unable to do so. I don't think this > an India-specific thing - I (located outside India) tried to > enter yahoogroups via citizenlab and got an "invalid > certificate" message. > > Any idea what is happening, and if there are alternate proxies > that work. > > thanks, Ramki > > ___________________________________________________________ > Khush is the oldest online forum for lesbian, gay, > bisexual and transgender people of South Asian > origin. > > Read online: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khush-list > Post to list: khush-list at yahoogroups.com > Unsubscribe:khush-list-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com > List managers: khush_adm at yahoo.com > ___________________________________________________________ > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > From savebangla2003 at yahoo.com Tue Oct 28 02:41:51 2003 From: savebangla2003 at yahoo.com (save bangla) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 13:11:51 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] An investigative Report: A minority victim was brutally gang raped by criminal and police together in Bangladesh In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20031027211151.52989.qmail@web13302.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.hrcbm.org/NEWLOOK/bargmara_10_212003.html Minority girl was gang raped by criminal as well as by two police constables at Bagmara, Bangladesh AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT OF HRCBM-DHAKA Investigator: Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, President HRCBM-Dhaka Chapter, Bangladesh Date of Investigation: 21ST OF OCTOBER, 2003 Place: BAGHMARA PS, RAJSHAHI DIST. BANGLADESH Victim information: Babita Rani Boby (18) (Belonging to Indigenous Harijan community) daughter of late Surendra Nath Baimali of Hatgangpara, Bagmara P.S. District Rajshahi was gang-raped by Jalaluddin, Raisuddin, Raja and also two Police constables of Hatgangpara Police Camp at Bagmara P.S. Rajshahi on 16th October, 2003. (Note: Newspaper cutting from The Daily Sonali Sangbad that depicted the gang rape of Ms. Babita at Bagmara) The Report: I, Adv. Rabindra Ghosh, on behalf of Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM), Dhaka rushed to the spot on 20th of October, 03 by bus at about 11 p.m. and reached Rajshahi on 21st October,03 at about 6 a.m. 230 kilometers from Dhaka on hearing the news published in different daily news papers of Dhaka and other news agencies that an abandoned women of � Indigenous Harijan� was gang-raped by some terrorists and ultimately by some police constables at Bagmara on 16th of October, 2003. Picture (courtesy HRCBM-Dhaka, Bangladesh): Ms.Babita Rani Baimali (18) the victim of gang-rape at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. She gave statements how she has been raped by people and police constables. Before my departure from Dhaka I have contacted over telephone in the morning on 20th of October,2003 with Barrister Md.Aminul Hoque, Minister for Post and Telecommunications, Govt. of Bangladesh as the Minister is responsible for overall situation of Rajshahi District. Md. Aminul Hoque advised me to talk to the Superintendent of Police, Rajshahi but he did not encourage me to investigate the matter. The S.P. was not readily available at his place of duty over phone, and I then proceeded towards Rajshahi personally to know the overall situation of the destitute �Babita and her family. I met with Mr.Anwar Kamal, S.P. Rajshahi on 21/10/2003 at about 9.00 hours and wanted to know whether Ms. Babita Rani was gang-raped by two police constables on the way to her house on 16/10/03 or not and why the police did not file any rape case against the rapist Jalauddin? Mr.Kamal told me that enquiry is going on and two police constables namely 1) C/1016 Md. Abu Bakar Siddique and C/473 Md. Aker Ali were kept under watch at Rajshahi police line and after enquiry action would be taken against them. I requested S.P. to accord co-operation with us so that truth may prevail and the accused responsible for rape of the destitute may be punished as per law so that destitute may get proper justice. Picture (Courtesy HRCBM-Dhaka, Bangladesh): At left: Adv.Ghosh of HRCBM,Dhaka taking statements of the Police Sub-Inspector (S.I.) at Hatgangapara Police Investigation camp, Baghmara P.S. Rajshahi. At right: The investigating police office is examining the documents while HRCBM enquires. Picture (courtesy HRCBM-Dhaka, Bangladesh): The statements of the police officers and their assertion concerning the case is being video taped. I also found two Police constables Abu Bakar and Md.Aker Ali at Rajshahi Police Line and they were interviewed by me in a room and their statements have been recorded in our video tape, although they denied the allegation of rape upon the destitute Ms. Babita. They only told me that one accused Jalaluddin (26) son of Md.Saluddin along with Ms.Babita were found in a very objectionable condition near Police camp and as per advice of Camp In charge Showkat Ali both the accuseds were forwarded to Magistrate Court at Rajshahi to prosecute under section 290 of Cr.P.C. They also told me that the Magistrate fined them Taka 200 and released them at about 16.40 p.m. But said two constables denied anything else after the release of both the accused. Victim Babita was found unconscious under a tree near her house at Hatgangpara at about 11.00 at night on 16/10/03. Hospital authority failed to give medical report. I along with Ms. Kalpana Roy, Secretary of Mohilla Parishad of Rajshahi Unit went to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital to see the victim Babita where she was admitted and being treated with police guard. The Asstt. Police Sub-Inspector Ms.Sahana and also some other doctors on duty intervened us taking interview with the victim and ultimately we went to the Assistant Director of Rajshahi Medical College who allowed us to take statements of the victim Babita. Ms.Babita was interviewed by us and her some statements were recorded in our video camera and she admitted that she has been beaten up by some police constables and taken to Rajshahi treating her to be a �gay girl� and after that in the evening on way to her house she has been dragged from Mougachi to Kanai Sahar by padal rickshaw and she was forced to take some intoxicated medicine pills by the police constables and thereafter she has been gang-raped in a garden by 1) Md.Jalaluddin, 2) Md. Raisuddin, both sons of Alauddin of Kanai Sahar, P.s. Bagmara, 3) Md. Moinul Islam @ Raja son of Md. Jalauddin of Raikhali. She could not recognize other two persons as she felt unconscious due to intoxicated pills. She could not say anything how she has been brought under the tree at Hatgangpara near her house 35 kilometers away from Rajshahi town.I asked her whether she was produced before any Magistrate or not, in reply she told us that she was not produced before any Magistrate. She was traced under the tree near her house at about 11 p.m. by her sister Ms.China and her husband and hue and cry started and U.P. Member Abul Hossain was informed and he found Ms.Babita unconscious and she was taken to local doctor Md.Shamsul Alam but he refused to give any medical treatment and ultimately she has been admitted in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for examination and treatment. But it is astonishing to note that the Hospital authority miserably failed to announce medical report after 6 days of her admission in the college. Picture (courtesy HRCBM-Dhaka, Bangladesh): Adv. R. Ghosh of HRCBM taking video statements of victim family at Hatgangopara Baghmara, Rajshahi. An F.I.R. has been lodged in Bagmara Police Station excluding the names of two Police Constables on duty : Ruhul Amin Siddique, Officer-in-Charge of Baghmara Police station was contacted over telephone, but he did not want us to talk over telephone from Hatgangapara Police Camp. A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed on 18th of October,03 in Bagmara Police station by Sunil Baimali son of late Surendra Nath Baimali � the brother of destitute Ms.Babita and Bagmara P.s. case NO.12 dated 18.10.2003 under section 9(3) of Nari-O-Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain,2000 has been started against three accuseds 1) Md. Jalauddin 2) Md. Raisuddin and Md.Moinul Islam. But no names of the police constables on duty were recorded in the FIR due to interference by some police officers as they apprehend that the image of police in the eye of public may be tarnished. Picture (courtesy HRCBM-Dhaka, Bangladesh): Adv.Ghosh of HRCBM talking with Ms.Basanti Rani Baimali,the eldest sister of victim Ms.Babita at Hatgangapara,Baghmara, Dist.Rajshahi I along with other Advocate of Rajshahi Bar Association went to the place of occurrence at about 3 p.m. at Hatgangapara 35 kilometers from Rajshahi town and also Police Camp. I talked with the S.I of Police on civil duty, cross section of people, local reporter of �Jutangor� Abu Bakar Sujan irrespective of caste and creed. The neighbors, the relatives etc. vehemently told us that the S.I. of Police at Hatgangpara Police Camp did not start any case against the rapist Md.Jaluddin,rather started a non cognizable case under section 290 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with the collusion of the rapists with a view to suppress the material facts. They also confirmed us that the victim was not produced before the court of Magistrate Ist Class, Rajshahi and no such fine of taka 200 was paid by the victim as the victim is a destitute. If so how the victim along with Md. Jalaluddin were released from the court? I also talked with Ms.Zebunessa, Magistrate, 2nd Class of Rajlshahi Magistracy who could not reply us satisfactorily and could not show us the release order passed by her. Most probably there is something mysterious hiding behind with a view to suppress the material facts. The following witnesses gave us evidences and want proper justice: Ms.Basanti Rani (32) Ms.Sandha Rani (28) Ms.Joshna Rani (25) Ms.China Rani (22) Ms.Khushi Rani (20) Mr.Abu Bakar Sujan, local reporter of �Jugantor� Most of the witnesses told us that the informant Sunil Baimali was threatened not to include the names of the police constables in the FIR at that time and as a result Sunil abstained from including their names in the complaint petition as alleged. I have gone through the contents of the F.I.R. where Sunil could not mention those names of police constable due to repression by police as was disclosed by victim herself and some responsible local reporters of the dailies. During our investigation and interrogation with the family members of the victim Babita Rani, two police officers were present at that time; naturally the witnesses hardly mention the names of the police constables. Concluding Remark: But the prevailing situation of the area compelled me to understand that the victim Babita Rani was brutally raped initially by three persons namely 1) Md.Jalaluddin, 2) Md. Raisuddin 3) Md.Moinul Islam a.k.a. Raza and on the way to her home the police constable No.473 Md.Aker Ali and C/1016 Md.Abu Bakar who were responsible for her safe return is also involved in sexual intercourse with the victim Babita as per implicit confessional statements of Babita Rani. But it is strange and unfortunate to note that neither the Magistrate nor the police officers felt and took any responsibility to safeguard the victim Babita Rani, rather branded her as �gay girl� while she became senseless after gang-rape by the criminals. Apart from this, the authority of Rajshahi Medical College completely failed to give us any satisfactory examination report of the victim Babita who was still in the Hospital for treatment and examination in spite of repeated requests. All these carelessness, avoiding and neglected tendency upon the destitute Harijan minority and her family given me to understand that the authority is not bothering for any human rights of minority citizens of the country, rather trying to suppress the material facts and issue in a wrong direction, resulting which the crime against humanity is bound to be aggravated. I got full co-operation from the local journalists and especially from Jahangir Alam Akash, Staff Reporter of �Sangbad� at Rajshahi who handed over me some other valuable documents of minority repression in Rajshahi Zone for which I am really thankful to him. I came back from Bagmara to Rajshahi at about 10 p.m and discussed with some journalists there and got up a Bus to proceed to Dhaka at about 12-30 a.m. I reached Dhaka on 22nd of October, 03 at about 7 a.m. and took rest. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031027/7bd47ebc/attachment.html From slevine at yorku.ca Mon Oct 27 21:35:56 2003 From: slevine at yorku.ca (Stephen Levine) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 11:05:56 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Alain Badiou in an interview... Message-ID: Please tell me how to get access to the interview with Badiou. S. Levine From monica at sarai.net Mon Oct 27 11:48:27 2003 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 11:48:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Looking for Submissions - Signs: Gender beyond Sexual Difference Message-ID: Signs Special Issue: Gender beyond "Sexual Difference": Rethinking Feminisms and Visual Culture Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society seeks submissions for a special issue titled "Gender beyond 'Sexual Difference': Rethinking Feminisms and Visual Culture," slated for publication in spring 2006. The editors of this special issue seek manuscripts that offer new feminist strategies for examining visual culture, convincing critiques of earlier approaches to feminist visual analysis, and/or new models of feminist visual theory that accommodate the multivalence of women's identities and experiences. We are interested in essays that revise binary models of sexual difference by considering the coextensivity of gender and the myriad other aspects of identity (sexuality, race, ethnicity, etc.) defining contemporary experience. This special issue of Signs will explore the powerful political conflicts that inform the work of feminist visual theorists and practitioners today and will place a particular emphasis on the burdens and conflicts that fall on those whose work is simultaneously feminist, antiracist, queer, postcolonial, Marxist, and so on. This issue will include works that attempt to rethink the nexus of feminisms (in the plural) and visual culture beyond the dualisms generally posed by "sexual difference" theory, as important as this theory was in developing critical models for analyzing the patriarchal structures of visual representation in Euro-American cultures. Located at a moment of intense shifts in conceptions and experiences of identity (national, international, class, ethnic, racial, sexual, gender, and otherwise), this issue intends to provide multiple points of view on the intersection of feminism and visual culture, to pose new critical models of reading imagery and/or interrogating how feminist visual theories and practices from the so-called fine arts to television, performance art, and the Internet might productively negotiate the increasingly complex pressures of global capitalism. Possible topics could include: essays analyzing the productive or destructive conflicts between specific feminist visual theories and particular queer, antiracist, Marxist, postcolonial, and/or other theories of identity; articles addressing key feminist works of art (e.g., Adrian Piper's performances) through models of analysis acknowledging the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, and so on; papers examining visual images or objects that articulate complex formulations of gendered identity as multiple and unfixed; or essays offering new feminist models of visual theory that accommodate the interdependence of gender and other aspects of identity. The special issue editors are Amelia Jones (history of art, School of Art History and Archaeology, University of Manchester) and Jennifer Doyle (English, University of California, Riverside). Please send submissions (three copies) no later than August 1, 2004, to Signs, "Rethinking Feminisms and Visual Culture," University of California, Los Angeles, 1400H Public Policy Building, Box 957122, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7122. Please observe the guidelines in the most recent issues of the journal or at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/Signs/instruct.html. -- 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 From aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in Tue Oct 28 09:37:24 2003 From: aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in (Dean, School of Arts & Aesthetics) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:57:24 +0550 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] school of arts and aesthetics j.n.u music appreciation lectures Message-ID: <1067315244.c8027980aesthete@mail.jnu.ac.in> SCHOOLL OF ARTS AND AESTHETICS JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY Outreach Lectures on >Hindustani Music, November,2003 TO REGISTER e-mail aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in or call 26704061, 26180476 Venue: Auditorium, School of Arts and . ; Aesthetics, JNU ; Time:3 p.m In case of vacancies late registration from 2 p.m. onwards on 1st November at the venue on >first-cum-first serve basis ; Fee : There is no registration fee ; >WEEKEND 1 >1st November:Urmila Bhirdikar,Pune, "The spread of North Indian music in >Maharashtra: socio cultural conditions of production and reception >2nd November: S.Kalidas,Delhi, "Tradition and the Individual Talent: >Mallikarjun Mansur's journey across Gwalior,Agra and Jaipur.". > >WEEKEND 2 >8th November: Vidya Rao,Delhi, "Singing the Body: Exploration of Sohar and >Thumri". >9th November: Amlan Dasgupta,Calcutta, "Women and the history of early >recording". > >WEEKEND 3 >15th November:Sandeep Bagchee,Delhi, "Khyal gayaki in the late 20th >century - a comparative study of two prominent artists". >16th November: Preeti Bahadur,Delhi,"Representations of Music: Ragamala >Paintings", to be followed by short film based on Ragamala "Rasikan Rey" by >Pooja Kaul, Delhi. > >WEEKEND 4 >22nd November: Ashok Ranade, Bombay, "Categories of Music in >India:Adima[primitive], Loka [folk], Dharma/Bhakti [religious/devotional]". >23rd November: Ashok Ranade, Bombay, "Categories of Music in India: Kala >[art/classical], Jana [popular], Sangam [confluence]". ============================================== This Mail was Scanned for Virus and found Virus free ============================================== _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From amitchavan11 at yahoo.com Tue Oct 28 14:46:55 2003 From: amitchavan11 at yahoo.com (amit chavan) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 01:16:55 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Telemedicine Message-ID: <20031028091655.26186.qmail@web40309.mail.yahoo.com> Telemedicine: Medicine from distance A. Chavan I am a Master�s student, in Chicago, majoring in Telecommunication with minor in Digital Image Processing. I am part of a team, trying to build Medical Image Query System for PDAs. This system allows the doctor to compare current patients x-ray, ct-scan, MRI, ECG, EEG, EMG and other radiological images with similar images in the hospital�s archives, refer to the other doctors diagnosis, treatments, and its effects in similar cases. Since this system is designed for PDAs, doctors can avail this facility even on their visits. While working on this project, I was exposed to field of telemedicine in USA. I feel, telemedicine begin a very contemporary field, hasn�t got full recognition in India. Telemedicine means diagnosing the patient and prescribing appropriate medicines, from remote location. Under this program, primary medical centers in remote, inaccessible locations are linked with specialty hospitals, in the city thus, improving healthcare solutions in these remote areas. Telemedicine eliminates the need for the patients to make a costly trip to towns and cities as it allows doctors in rural areas to take advice of specialist in handling the complicated medical problems, without any need to get out of their office. Underdeveloped countries like India; with maximum population living in rural areas without basic healthcare can exploit this technology, with maximum effect. Telemedicine involves transferring several, along with other data, medical images, and setting up videoconference sessions; these activities need high bandwidth. Lack of network infrastructure is one of the reasons behind lack of telemedicine penetration in India. To give you a fair idea of what I mean, consider this: I read about a hospital, in Calcutta being connected to three health care centers through a 384Kbps line. And I have a 1.5Mbps (almost a T1 line) DSL connection for my home PC, in Chicago. 384Kbps line might not be able to support seamless data transfer, especially in multi-user environment. I have also read about several pilot programs launched by ISRO, which uses INSAT (Indian National Satellite) to link hospitals. Success of these pilot programs can provide the necessary media to connect most of the far-flung locations. Further, according to Express Healthcare Management, �Success of telemedicine requires evolving an effective operations and revenue model for making the telemedicine facility self-sustainable through innovative health insurance schemes with public and private institutions partnerships for assuring quality health care to the citizens�. I will definitely like to work on projects like Deploying a High Speed Network, Medical Image Query System, etc. in India. However, as long as above-mentioned factors are not overcome and a proper Data Protection Law is not implemented (refer to �Privacy fears Before Telemedicine Debut�), we will have to wait. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031028/6f26a673/attachment.html From geobodies at smile.ch Tue Oct 28 15:49:04 2003 From: geobodies at smile.ch (Ursula Biemann) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 15:49:04 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] video essay in the digital age Message-ID: Stuff it: The Video Essay in the Digital Age edited by Ursula Biemann for the Institute for Theory of Art and Design, Zurich ISBN 3-211-20318-4 With the entry of documentarisms into the arts, the video essay, as a visual reflection on reality, has gained much attention in recent art debates. Moreover, due to its subjective, dissociative, and highly self-reflexive characteristics, this video genre has become a preferred visual medium for theoretical considerations regarding the major shifts taking place in visual culture. Stuff it maps a wide range of contemporary essayist video practice. Following the discussions on post-structuralist cinematographic experiments in the 80s, the publication seeks a deeper understanding of how essayism relates to the digital cultural developments today. On the one hand, the discursive and compressed video genre is presently situated in the context of new media, hypertext and digital image production. This raises the question of how these technologies emphasize or mutate the characteristics of the essay and potentially open up new possibilities for a critical engagement with them. On the other hand, the video essay faces an increasingly complex society. The great geographic and cultural diversity of recent video making redirects the theoretical discussion from a eurocentric literary tradition towards a postcolonial cultural studies perspective where a new set of issues including diaspora, migration and the ambivalent experience of nation, borders and belonging are being addressed. Stuff it is a profusely color illustrated collection of texts by video artists and cultural theorists who illuminate the video essay in its role as crossover and communicator between art, theory and critical practice in all its variations: from monologues of disembodyment to cartographies of the transitional, from the essay as organization of complex social shifts to transnational positionality and non-linear memory structures. With contributions by Nora Alter, Ursula Biemann, Christa Blümlinger, Eric Cazdyn, Steve Fagin, Jörg Huber, Angela Melitopoulos/Maurizio Lazzarato, Walid Ra'ad, Steve Reinke, Hito Steyerl, Alan James Thomas, Tran T. Kim-Trang, Jan Verwoert, Rinaldo Walcott, Paul Willemsen, and a video archive. The publication is in English and is a continuation of the Stuff it symposium, organized in collaboration with the Migros Museum Zurich in June 2002. published by Edition Voldemeer Zürich / Springer Wien New York, 2003 168 pages, color ill., (= T:G series, vol. 02), CHF 43.50 / EUR 27 ISBN 3-211-20318-4 -- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From shuddha at sarai.net Wed Oct 29 12:45:56 2003 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 12:45:56 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] S A R Geelani Acquitted in Delhi High Court Message-ID: <03102912455602.01256@sweety.sarai.kit> Dear all on this list, If you recall, there have been several postings on this list regarding the attack on the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001 and the detention and harrassment that S A R Geelani, a lecturer in Arabic at Zakir Husain college had to face - as one of the alleged co conspirators in the attack. The good news is - the Delhi high court, acquitted S A R Geelani, and his co accused Navjot Sandhu (alias Afsan Guru) who were both convicted under POTA. Geelani had been sentenced to death in the POTA court. Many of us have been convinced that the charge of conspiracy against S A R Geelani in the case of the attack against the Indian parliament was entirely fictional, and that it betrayed the desparation of the security apparatus of the state which required such colourful conspiracy theories to bolster an aggressive military posture throughout 2001, and introduce draconian laws like POTA under cover of the so called 'War Against Terror' The flimsiness of the evidence presented by the prosecution against Geelani will always remain a reminder of the length to which the state will go to try and prove its case. The callousness of the previous judgement, which sentenced Geelani to death, will also stand as a reminder of the depths that the judiciary can plumb. Its time to cheer all those who stood by S A R Geelani, all his lawyers, friends, family, people within the academic community and civil rights activists, people who spoke up for him in court, the few journalists who followed the case without fear, favour and prejudice and everyone who was a part of the SAR Geelani Defence Committee. It is also time for us to demand apologies from the media networks that demonized Geelani in tv reports and films, the journalists who went along with the planting of false stories in the press by the police and the prosecution, the editors who wrote insinuating editorials, those in the academic community in Delhi university who dithered on standing by him and his family at a time when they most needed support. The conduct of the mainstream media, on the whole has been utterly, disgustingly shameful. Zee news for instance, went to town, with an 'exclusive' docu drama that characterized Geelani as a machievallian monster, even while the trial was in process. There were a few significant exceptions - such as Shams Tahir Khan of Aaj Tak - whose testimony about the police's attempts to influence the content of news reports was an important contribution to Geelani's defence in court, Anjali Modi in the Hindu - whose persistent reportage of the trial was exemplary, and a few editorials in the Indian Express that stood out in terms of not buying into the police versions of the story. Geelani will go home a free man, but more than two years of torture and harrassement, mental anguish, and the damage done to his reputation is not something that can be compensated for easily. Preliminary reports suggest that the Delhi police may appeal against the acquittal in the Supreme Court, if this is indeed the case, then Geelani's tribulations are far from over, and there will remain a need to stay vigilant about this case. Finally, I am sure that there are many people like Geelani in this country and around the world who are unfairly accused, unjustly imprisoned, and summarily sentenced. Geelani was fortunate to have been someone in Delhi, to have had friends and colleagues , and good lawyears, who were prepared to stand by him, and whose word could not be dismissed. He had someone of the stature of Rajni Kothari chair a defence committee in his name. While we celebrate Geelani's acquital (as we should), we could spare a thought for all those who must be suffering just as Geelani and his family have suffered, and whom we know nothing at all about. I enclose below, the report on rediff.com this morning of Geelani's acquittal. regards Shuddha ______________________________________________________ Geelani, Navjot Sandhu acquitted Onkar Singh in New Delhi | October 29, 2003 11:05 IST http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/29parl.htm A division bench of the Delhi high court on Wednesday acquitted S A R Geelani and Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru, the lone woman convicted in the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament. Earlier, Geelani had been convicted and sentenced under POTA and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being part of the conspiracy and waging war against the state, while Sandhu was charged with concealing the conspiracy and sentenced to five years imprisonment. The bench also upheld the verdict of a special POTA court holding Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru guilty of waging war against the State and the award of death sentence. Shaukat Hussain Guru is Navjot Sandhu's husband. The bench comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog  accepted the state's appeal to enhance the punishment awarded to Afzal and Shaukat under Section 121 (A) of the IPC from life imprisonment to the death penalty. From abirbazaz at rediffmail.com Wed Oct 29 12:07:27 2003 From: abirbazaz at rediffmail.com (abir bazaz) Date: 29 Oct 2003 06:37:27 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Geelani acquitted Message-ID: <20031029063727.4653.qmail@webmail30.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031029/d9e0623f/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- Geelani, Navjot Sandhu acquitted Onkar Singh in New Delhi | October 29, 2003 11:05 IST A division bench of the Delhi high court on Wednesday acquitted S A R Geelani and Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru, the lone woman convicted in the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament. Earlier, Geelani had been convicted and sentenced under POTA and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being part of the conspiracy and waging war against the state, while Sandhu was charged with concealing the conspiracy and sentenced to five years imprisonment. The bench also upheld the verdict of a special POTA court holding Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru guilty of waging war against the State and the award of death sentence. Shaukat Hussain Guru is Navjot Sandhu's husband. The bench comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog accepted the state's appeal to enhance the punishment awarded to Afzal and Shaukat under Section 121 (A) of the IPC from life imprisonment to the death penalty. With inputs from PTI From kanti.kumar at oneworld.net Wed Oct 29 18:42:04 2003 From: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net (Kanti Kumar) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 18:12:04 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel Message-ID: <271100-22003103291242463@oneworld.net> What's New at Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org ********************************* Latest News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1138 ********************************* CONCERN ABOUT UKRAINE'S BID TO CONTROL THE INTERNET --------------------------------------------------- Reporters Without Borders has expressed alarm at attempts by the Ukrainian secret police to take control of Internet operations in the country and intercept e-mail messages. The government's bid to take over management of the national domain name ".ua" and its proposal that parliament legalise e-mail monitoring, will allow it to effectively gag online activity, says the media rights group. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71490/1138/592 WIRELESS COMPUTERS EXPAND THE WORLD IN US CLASSROOMS ---------------------------------------------------- Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey in the United States began this fall to establish virtual classrooms by providing all full-time undergraduate students with laptops connected to a campus-wide wireless network. Students now have the option of attending class, group meetings, or exchanging notes while sitting under trees on the quad, on park benches, in the library, or even in the cafeteria. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71489/1138/592 WEAVERS IN BHUTAN GET READY TO BUY AND SELL ONLINE -------------------------------------------------- Women weaving colourful traditional clothing in remote Himalayan areas of Bhutan will soon be able to use the power of the Internet to buy raw material from India online and advertise their products with a click of the mouse. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71383/1138/592 PAKISTAN SET TO LAUNCH DIGITAL LIBRARY -------------------------------------- Pakistan is all set to launch in January 2004 its first digital library that will give universities and research institutes in the country access to about 5,000 international journals. Ahmad Naeem Khan of OneWorld South Asia reports. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71117/1138/592 TESTIMONIES FROM WEST BANK IN AUDIO AND VIDEO --------------------------------------------- Amnesty International delegates visited the West Bank earlier this year. OneWorld TV has collected the evidence and testimonies from civilian Palestinians and posted them to its Website. You can also listen to related audio clips on the OneWorld Radio site. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71115/1138/592 ********************************* Special Coverage: Information Society & WSIS http://www.digitalopportunity.org/section/dochannel/wsis ********************************* ASIA-PACIFIC LEADERS EMPHASISE ON SPECIFIC ICT POLICIES -------------------------------------------------------- The Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ICT Policies and e-Strategies in Asia and the Pacific has laid emphasis on specific policies on poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals, governance, gender, infrastructure and access, human capacity, content and applications, enterprises and entrepreneurs, and regional co-operation. The declaration was endorsed by high-level Asian delegates at the recently concluded Asian Forum on ICT Policies and e-Strategies, as Asia-Pacific input to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71384/4732/592 INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM TO SHOWCASE ICT APPLICATIONS AT WSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ Two hundred organisations and businesses from 80 countries will participate in the ICT for Development Platform to be held concurrently with the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva. Digital Opportunity Channel will also be present at the event, which will show how ICTs - from simple transistor radios to high-tech computer systems - can be used innovatively to reduce poverty and promote development. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71308/4732/592 ********************************* Analysis http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1134 ********************************* UNIVERSAL ACCESS: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND THE CREDIBILITY GAP ------------------------------------------------------------ The issues of affordable access to the Internet, telephony and other telecom services is greatly exercising the minds of many at the World Summit on the Information Society and other arenas. There are many genuine efforts afoot to deploy ICTs more effectively for development, calling for us all to 'think outside the box'. Finding the right solution(s) to move forward, however, is not easy and demands the concentrated effort, especially, of civil society. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71390/1134/592 ********************************* Get Involved http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/1112 ********************************* CREATE AN INFORMATION SOCIETY THROUGH YOUR IMAGES! -------------------------------------------------- What does it mean to live in an �information society?" What are the images of this revolution? What are the seen and unseen roles that ICTs have in your life? Have your voice heard in the discussion around this topic by entering the Global Gallery's special contest, "Window on the Information Society," through the power of the image! The contest closes 18 November 2003. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71491/1112/592 ********************************* Partner News http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4678 ********************************* HIVOS THROWS ITS HOUSE OPEN TO EVERYONE --------------------------------------- Everyone can get to know Hivos, our donor and partner, and its employees on this day in an informal way. Films will be shown, Hivos policies explained and its campaigns highlighted. And, of course, everybody will get the chance to ask questions and converse with each other. Please feel free to visit Hivos on 22 November 2003 in The Hague (Netherlands). You can register for this day by sending an e-mail to: g.schaars at hivos.nl. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/71494/4678/592 'MAKING THE LINKS' OF DIVERSE VOICES IN CANADA'S HEARTLAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Making the Links is an independent, alternative radio from the heartland of Canada, now in its sixth year of broadcasting. Airing on community stations in Saskatoon and Regina, it features the voices of many communities fighting for social and economic change at home and globally. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70901/4678/592 ********************************* Current Funding Opportunity http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4889 ********************************* OSISA INVITES ICT4D PROPOSALS FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA ------------------------------------------------- The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) has formally launched its new ICT Programme Guidelines and has invited organisations to engage with OSISA on developing effective proposals for ICT s and development in Southern Africa. OSISA will support programmes where ICT policy, technologies, networking, literacy and development awareness are not an end in themselves, but where the emphasis is on social action for change. Contact Ashraf Patel at ashrafp at osiafrica.orgfor more information. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/70905/4889/592 Digital Opportunity Channel http://www.digitalopportunity.org Promoting Digital Opportunities for All Editor: Kanti Kumar Email: kanti.kumar at oneworld.net You can manage your email digest subscriptions with Digital Opportunity Channel and OneWorld by visiting: http://www.digitalopportunity.org/bulkmail/subscriptionlist/ You will need to log in with your nickname and password, or register for (free) OneWorld/Digital Opportunity Channel membership. _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From sarang at flomerics.com Wed Oct 29 19:55:08 2003 From: sarang at flomerics.com (Sarang Shidore) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:55:08 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] ** An Islamist woman defends the Hijab ** Message-ID: Across the Middle East and SE Asia the last 10 years have seen a huge surge among young women who voluntarily don the hijab. Some of them are highly educated professionals. It is an identity reaction, and is rooted in the desire every civilization has to embrace modernity on its own terms. This is the need of our time, because a lot of global conflicts today have their roots not in battles over economic resources or territory as much as over identity. We must understand clearly that modernity does not mean homogeneity and does not necessarily mean Westernization. As the civilization that invented the Enlightenment, democracy, global colonialism, and weapons of mass destruction (and put technology and economics at the heart of a societal quest like never before), the West has been the leading civilization of modernity for 500 years. So much so, that modernization is often confused with wholesale Westernization. Over the next 100 years this is likely to change, as other civilizations progress on the arduous journey of embracing modernity. We must also understand clearly that pre-modern societies are not necessarily more "backward" than modern societies. There is in fact no value judgment at all associated with the transition to modernity. Societies may choose to remain pre-modern and, in principle, it is an entirely valid choice. However the ugly reality is that they are likely to be decimated if they do so. Thus modernity is not a choice any realistic society can make today. We must all become Moderns. The question is how and on what terms. This is the current challenge of the thinkers and leaders within the so-called "third world". Sarang --- Me and My Hijab Reflections on the Headscarf September 2003 By Samira Ali Gutoc Young Moro Professional Network (YMPN), Philippines "Don't you get hot?," asks one lady seriously. I tried not to laugh, ignoring the allusion associated with the question. This headscarf has air conditioning, I replied. Having a hijab on and having non-Muslim friends makes me feel half-Muslim and half-Christian (or mestiza). In the Maranao lingo, this would mean being partly Muslim and partly Christian (by parentage). It is not the religion that makes me feel like I always have to be in the middle of a religious discourse, instead the feeling arises from the curiosity/half-acceptance I encounter in both Muslim and Christian circles. When I am with Muslims, I have to defend my liberal profession in the media trade. When I am with Christians, I have to explain Islam's practices. Hijab (headscarfing) is a personal decision I made when I was 17. No parental guidance, no mullah lecture, no peer pressure. I read through the Quran and saw in it the rationale for the headscarf. It was not segregationist or purist. It was an acknowledgement that women can work alongside any individual, men or non-Muslims, without the superficialities of the coiffeur. I do not have to be judged based on my physical appearance. Plus, with my hijab, (inert) vigilance is a must, - I always have to be "good" to earn my keep for the afterlife. Others wear the headscarf as a matter of culture or convenience. Having visited places in the Philippines such as Sulu, Maguindanao, Cebu and Baguio, I have observed how the headscarf has its nuances in every community or tribe. Women of the Tausug tribe wear their caps with sequins, Maguindanao in colored nets, Maranao in full triangular cover. Others have only their blackened eyes with cosmetics to match. Western Muslim ladies I have met are more conservative alongside the culture-bound women. No colored headscarfs and no hair can be seen. As I read through the hijab discourse, I realised how complex the experience was. It was not merely a spiritual experience as I and many Moros in Marawi undergo everyday. In the Middle East, "politics and hijab" exist alongside each other. In fact, headscarfing or unheadscarfing was part of a "feminist struggle." During Egypt's period of colonisation in 1899, reform laws for women on primary education, polygamy, divorce and the abolition of the wearing of the headscarf were sought. The choice to wear a hijab was an advocacy alongside the call against segregation of women and men. Hijab is also affirming the Islamic civilisation vis-a-vis the West. "Islamic headscarfing cross-cuts power relations between Islam and the West, modernity and tradition, secularism and religion, as well as between men and women and women themselves," writes anthropologist, Dr. Mohammad Talib of the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. The choice to wear the headscarf could sometimes spell discrimination or suspicion in a non-Muslim setting - to the extreme, provoking riots such as those that happened in Europe. Remember the case in Germany where a Muslim female refused to remove her headscarf in school? She, I think, was expelled. That sparked a national debate. The hijab could actually be perceived as a "threat to society." In Zamboanga, Philippines, nursing students were once disallowed from wearing the headscarf because, according to hospital administrators, it scares away patients. This sparked another public debate. It is hard to be Muslim in a non-Muslim society. Well, it may be harder for a Muslim woman, who has to undergo the daily travail of stares, questions and suspicion in a majority non-Muslim setting. Sometimes it is not that bad. When you get lost in a crowd and are looking for a friend, she or he can easily find you. You do not need designer jeans or sparkling clothes to get attention-- the headscarf just draws eyes towards youŠ. Kidding aside, the headscarf is more of an emotional experience than anything else. I wear it because it helps me draw strength from within. It is power unmeasured, its influence encompassing. From aiindex at mnet.fr Thu Oct 30 07:36:04 2003 From: aiindex at mnet.fr (Harsh Kapoor) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 03:06:04 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] More on S A R Geelani Acquittal and background info. In-Reply-To: <03102912455602.01256@sweety.sarai.kit> References: <03102912455602.01256@sweety.sarai.kit> Message-ID: The Christian Science Monitor October 30, 2003 edition India's 'Patriot Act' comes under scrutiny Wednesday, a court overturned the conviction of a Muslim professor accused in a terrorist conspiracy. by Dan Morrison | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor BOMBAY - An Indian appeals court Wednesday overturned the conviction of a Muslim professor who had been sentenced to die as a conspirator in the December 2001 terrorist attack on India's Parliament. The attack, for which India blamed neighboring Pakistan, almost drove the nuclear rivals to war. Prof. Syed Abdul Geelani and three other defendants had been convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), which grants broad powers to police and prosecutors and which critics say tramples the rights of the accused. The Delhi High Court verdict came as India is reassessing the terrorism law and adding measures meant to safeguard defendants from abuse. There are complaints that federal and state governments have wrongly used the law against common criminals, political opponents, journalists, and even children. "Indian justice has redeemed itself,'' says Ram Jethmalani, Mr. Geelani's lawyer. Geelani, a lecturer at Delhi University, had been sentenced to the gallows on the basis of a brief cellphone conversation in which, prosecutors said, he showed knowledge of and approval for the attack. The high court said the conversation wasn't sufficient to convict him. "The evidence turned out to be useless,'' Mr. Jethmalani says. "It established his innocence rather than his guilt.'' Generally speaking, India's debate over POTA is similar to concerns in the United States over the USA Patriot Act. Both laws give the government broad powers to investigate and interrogate suspects. In India, the law for the first time makes jailhouse confessions admissible as evidence. In nonterrorism cases, such confessions are not admissible because they are assumed to be the product of torture. Wiretaps and transcripts of phone conversations are also admissible, and bail is all but impossible. "This was a test case for POTA with its draconian provisions, which hold that we must deviate from the norms of justice to fight terrorism,'' says attorney Nitya Ramakrishnan, whose client, Navjot Sandhu, was ordered freed. "The verdict shows a lack of accountability, a lack of conscience'' by the authorities. Ms. Sandhu had been sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly concealing her husband's role in the conspiracy. The high court upheld the death sentences handed to her husband, Shaukat Hussain, and another man, Mohammad Afzai, for their roles in the conspiracy. Prosecutor Gopal Subramanian says he can't comment until he reads the decision. "I have not yet observed the wording,'' he says. The Dec. 13, 2001, assault on India's Parliament is seen as India's Sept. 11. Five attackers stormed the walled Parliament complex and killed nine people before they were gunned down. India blamed Pakistan-backed militants for the attack, which Pakistan denied, and more than a million soldiers were massed at the border. None of the four defendants was present at the attack. Instead they were linked to it through intercepted mobile-phone conversations and by confessions they claimed were the result of police torture. Police deny those charges. Human rights advocates say the trial, most notably Geelani's conviction, was rife with procedural errors, fabricated evidence, and capriciousness by the judge. "It throws open all these questions,'' Ms. Ramakrishnan says. "A trial court sentences a man to death after tying both hands behind his back, and the high court acquits him.'' Ajai Sahni, editor of the South Asia Intelligence Review, says the verdict "does not reflect on the validity of the law or the necessity for the law." He says POTA is one of the weakest antiterrorism laws in the world, but seeks to adapt the antiquated Indian penal code to the challenges of terrorism. "Most of what would be evidence in the West would not be evidence here," he says. Almost every Indian state government has been accused of misusing the terrorism law. In the state of Jharkhand, a 13-year-old boy and an 81-year-old man were charged as terrorists during a February round up of 200 suspected Maoist rebels and their supporters. In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalitha has charged a political opponent, who is also a junior member of the federal cabinet, under the law for allegedly speaking in favor of Tamil separatists. On Monday, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam added new sections to the terrorism law that give review committees the power to quash unfair prosecutions. Now the committees have the power to "review whether there is a prima facie case for proceeding against the accused under this act and issue directions accordingly.'' o o o The Hindu, Oct 30, 2003 Geelani, Afsan Guru acquitted in Parliament attack case By Anjali Mody A jubilant Arifa Geelani hugs lawyer Nandita Haksar after the Delhi High Court on Wednesday acquitted her husband, S.A.R. Geelani, who had earlier been sentenced to death, in the Parliament House terrorist attack case. Ms. Geelani's son and her father look on. -- Photo: S. Subramanium NEW DELHI OCT. 29. The Delhi High Court today acquitted S.A.R. Geelani and Afsan Guru in the December 13 Parliament attack case. Mr. Geelani, a Delhi University lecturer, had earlier been sentenced to death by a special POTA court on charges of conspiring in the attack. Ms. Guru (formerly Ms. Navjot Sandhu) had been sentenced to five-years rigorous imprisonment on the lesser charge of concealing knowledge of the conspiracy. The two-judge Bench, comprising Usha Mehra and Pradeep Nandrajog, however, dismissed the appeals of Mohammed Afzal and Ms. Guru's husband, Shaukat Hussain Guru, against their conviction under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the death sentences awarded to them on three counts. The judges also upheld an appeal by the state to increase the sentence on the charge of conspiring to wage war against the state from life to death. Citing a Supreme Court judgment of 2002, they held that "the offence is of a magnitude that the collective conscious of the community is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to inflict death penalty irrespective of their personal opinion as regards desirability or otherwise of retaining the death penalty." Eight security personnel and a gardener were killed in the attack by five armed militants on Parliament on December 13, 2001. The militants, who were named by the investigators as Mohammed, Hamza, Rana, Haidar and Raja, were also killed. A telephone number found on their persons was said to belong to Mohammed Afzal. The call records of this number led them to Mr. Geelani, who knew Afzal through his cousin, Shaukat Hussain. In a 392-page judgment, the two-judge Bench said that the evidence, on which the lower court relied in convicting Mr. Geelani, did not stand up to scrutiny. They said that "we are left with only one piece of evidence against Geelani - the record of telephone calls between him and Afzal and Shaukat. This circumstance, in our opinion, does not even remotely, far less definitely and unerringly, point towards the guilt of Geelani. We, therefore, conclude that the prosecution has failed to bring on record evidence, which cumulatively forms a chain, so complete that there is no escape from the conclusion that in all human probabilities Geelani was involved in the conspiracy." In the case of Ms. Guru, the judges dismissed the state's appeal against her acquittal in the lower court on charges of conspiracy. They upheld the trial court's judgment absolving her of any part in the conspiracy. Further, the judges held that on the evidence against Ms. Guru "even the offence that she had knowledge of the conspiracy and failed to report the same to the police is not established." They took the view that her husband's confessional statement - one of two pieces of prosecution evidence - was not evidence against her. They said that a confession made before a police officer under POTA was not admissible as evidence against a co-accused. Ms. Guru's lawyer, Nitya Ramakrishnan, told The Hindu after the verdict that the question to be asked is: "Why had the police, with the best legal advice and in such a high-profile case, not paused to consider if it had sufficient evidence to prosecute the case." Nandita Haksar of the All-India Defence Committee for S.A.R. Geelani echoed the sentiment. She said that while Mr. Geelani's acquittal vindicated the judiciary, "the question that remains to be answered is how did any court sentence a man to death on no evidence at all." Both Shaukat Hussain Guru and Mohammed Afzal are expected to file appeals in the Supreme Court. Shanti Bhushan, counsel for Shaukat Hussain, said that "he has an excellent case and should have been acquitted. He has been falsely implicated because he is a cousin of Afzal who is a surrendered militant. I am quite sure the Supreme Court will do justice and acquit him". Mohammed Afzal's counsel, Colin Gonzalves, said that he would file an appeal after a meeting with his client. The public prosecutor, Mukta Gupta, said any decision by the state to appeal against the acquittals of Mr. Geelani and Ms. Guru would be taken only after the judgment had been scrutinised by all the "relevant departments". Gopal Subramanium, who argued the case as the special prosecutor, said he could not comment on the judgment, as he had not yet read it. PTI reports: Accepting the prosecution contention that Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru were known to Mr. Geelani and used to remain in contact with him over telephone, the Bench said ``there is, however, no evidence on record to establish that he (Geelani) remained in touch over the telephone with the terrorists. When one acquires a mobile phone, it is but natural that one would test it for use. What other number would one connect other than that of a known person," the court asked, and added that "by itself, with nothing more, we are afraid that conviction cannot be sustained on this evidence." o o o Financial Times Oct 30 2003 Indian court acquits Muslim professor By Edward Luce in New Delhi Published: October 29 2003 13:35 | Last Updated: October 29 2003 13:35 A New Delhi appeals court on Wednesday overturned last year's conviction of a Muslim academic who had been sentenced to death for his alleged role in orchestrating a suicide terrorist attack on India's parliament two years ago. Wednesday's ruling, in which S.A.R. Geelani, a professor at Delhi University was freed after almost two years in custody, comes as an embarrassing blow to the New Delhi police which had based much of its case on Mr Geelani's role in the outrage. The court also acquitted Navtoj Sandhu, wife of Shaukat Hussain Guru, whose death sentence was on Wednesday confirmed by the court. Ms Sandhu had been sentenced to five years for withholding knowledge of the conspiracy. The court also upheld the death sentence against Mohammed Afzal. All five terrorists, whom New Delhi says were from Pakistan, were killed in the attack. "This ruling is a real triumph for India's judicial system," Ram Jethmalani, lawyer to Mr Geelani, told the Financial Times. "It showed that the judiciary has the courage to take on the establishment." The attack, which New Delhi says was carried out by two Pakistan-based terrorist groups, claimed 12 lives and came close to wiping out a large chunk of India's political leadership, including senior cabinet ministers. It was followed by a tense nine-month military stand-off between the two nuclear powers. Wednesday's ruling is likely to raise further questions about alleged police misuse of India's tough prevention of terrorism law which was enacted a few weeks after the attack. Human rights groups say that the law allows India's police to detain people indefinitely even where normal evidence is lacking. The verdict is also likely to add to calls for reform of India's police. "Clearly the police are not trained for long enough or well enough," said Kuldip Nayer, a commentator and former Indian high commissioner to the UK. "To have put someone so obviously innocent as Mr Geelani through all this right up to a death sentence is a sad reflection on their methods." Opponents of the anti-terrorist law also highlighted a recent case where Iftikar Geelani, a Kashmiri journalist, was detained for several months having been found in possession of a document that he downloaded from the internet. The document was widely available and unclassified. They also point to the alleged misuse of the law in the Hindu nationalist BJP-ruled state of Gujarat, where riots last year claimed up to 2,000 Muslim lives, following a mob attack on a train in which 58 Hindu passengers were incinerated. The state government has detained 240 people under the law, of whom 239 are Muslim. "If you have a law like this, which you shouldn't, then you must ensure the police are independent from political interference, which they aren't," said Mr Nayar. New Delhi recently announced the creation of state committees to review detentions under the law. But critics say the move is insufficient. o o o [USEFUL BACKGROUND MATERIAL] Victims of December 13 Basharat Peer http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,990901,00.html Delhi University Teachers in Defence of S. A. R. Gilani http://sacw.insaf.net/new/indefenceofJilani092003.html All India Defence Committee for Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani http://www20.brinkster.com/sargeelani Trial of Errors: A critique of the POTA court judgement on the 13 December case by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, (PUDR), Delhi February 2003 http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Law/2003/parliament-case.htm From geert at desk.nl Thu Oct 30 08:17:21 2003 From: geert at desk.nl (geert lovink) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 12:47:21 +1000 Subject: [Reader-list] George Monbiot: The flight to India (The Guardian) References: <03102912455602.01256@sweety.sarai.kit> Message-ID: <077801c39e90$25a69820$1cbc6682@geert> The flight to India The jobs Britain stole from the Asian subcontinent 200 years ago are now being returned George Monbiot Tuesday October 21, 2003 The Guardian If you live in a rich nation in the English-speaking world, and most of your work involves a computer or a telephone, don't expect to have a job in five years' time. Almost every large company which relies upon remote transactions is starting to dump its workers and hire a cheaper labour force overseas. All those concerned about economic justice and the distribution of wealth at home should despair. All those concerned about global justice and the distribution of wealth around the world should rejoice. As we are, by and large, the same people, we have a problem. Britain's industrialisation was secured by destroying the manufacturing capacity of India. In 1699, the British government banned the import of woollen cloth from Ireland, and in 1700 the import of cotton cloth (or calico) from India. Both products were forbidden because they were superior to our own. As the industrial revolution was built on the textiles industry, we could not have achieved our global economic dominance if we had let them in. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, India was forced to supply raw materials to Britain's manufacturers, but forbidden to produce competing finished products. We are rich because the Indians are poor. Now the jobs we stole 200 years ago are returning to India. Last week the Guardian revealed that the National Rail Enquiries service is likely to move to Bangalore, in south-west India. Two days later, the HSBC bank announced that it was cutting 4,000 customer service jobs in Britain and shifting them to Asia. BT, British Airways, Lloyds TSB, Prudential, Standard Chartered, Norwich Union, Bupa, Reuters, Abbey National and Powergen have already begun to move their call centres to India. The British workers at the end of the line are approaching the end of the line. There is a profound historical irony here. Indian workers can outcompete British workers today because Britain smashed their ability to compete in the past. Having destroyed India's own industries, the East India Company and the colonial authorities obliged its people to speak our language, adopt our working practices and surrender their labour to multinational corporations. Workers in call centres in Germany and Holland are less vulnerable than ours, as Germany and Holland were less successful colonists, with the result that fewer people in the poor world now speak their languages. The impact on British workers will be devastating. Service jobs of the kind now being exported were supposed to make up for the loss of employment in the manufacturing industries which disappeared overseas in the 1980s and 1990s. The government handed out grants for cybersweatshops in places whose industrial workforce had been crushed by the closure of mines, shipyards and steelworks. But the companies running the call centres appear to have been testing their systems at government expense before exporting them somewhere cheaper. It is not hard to see why most of them have chosen India. The wages of workers in the service and technology industries there are roughly one tenth of those of workers in the same sectors over here. Standards of education are high, and almost all educated Indians speak English. While British workers will take call-centre jobs only when they have no choice, Indian workers see them as glamorous. One technical support company in Bangalore recently advertised 800 jobs. It received 87,000 applications. British call centres moving to India can choose the most charming, patient, biddable, intelligent workers the labour market has to offer. There is nothing new about multinational corporations forcing workers in distant parts of the world to undercut each other. What is new is the extent to which the labour forces of the poor nations are also beginning to threaten the security of our middle classes. In August, the Evening Standard came across some leaked consultancy documents suggesting that at least 30,000 executive positions in Britain's finance and insurance industries are likely to be transferred to India over the next five years. In the same month, the American consultants Forrester Research predicted that the US will lose 3.3 million white-collar jobs between now and 2015. Most of them will go to India. Just over half of these are menial "back office" jobs, such as taking calls and typing up data. The rest belong to managers, accountants, underwriters, computer programmers, IT consultants, biotechnicians, architects, designers and corporate lawyers. For the first time in history, the professional classes of Britain and America find themselves in direct competition with the professional classes of another nation. Over the next few years, we can expect to encounter a lot less enthusiasm for free trade and globalisation in the parties and the newspapers which represent them. Free trade is fine, as long as it affects someone else's job. So a historical restitution appears to be taking place, as hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of them good ones, flee to the economy we ruined. Low as the wages for these positions are by comparison to our own, they are generally much higher than those offered by domestic employers. A new middle class is developing in cities previously dominated by caste. Its spending will stimulate the economy, which in turn may lead to higher wages and improved conditions of employment. The corporations, of course, will then flee to a cheaper country, but not before they have left some of their money behind. According to the consultants Nasscom and McKinsey, India - which is always short of foreign exchange - will be earning some $17bn a year from outsourced jobs by 2008. On the other hand, the most vulnerable communities in Britain are losing the jobs which were supposed to have rescued them. Almost two-thirds of call-centre workers are women, so the disadvantaged sex will slip still further behind. As jobs become less secure, multinational corporations will be able to demand ever harsher conditions of employment in an industry which is already one of the most exploitative in Britain. At the same time, extending the practices of their colonial predecessors, they will oblige their Indian workers to mimic not only our working methods, but also our accents, our tastes and our enthusiasms, in order to persuade customers in Britain that they are talking to someone down the road. The most marketable skill in India today is the ability to abandon your identity and slip into someone else's. So is the flight to India a good thing or a bad thing? The only reasonable answer is both. The benefits do not cancel out the harm. They exist, and have to exist, side by side. This is the reality of the world order Britain established, and which is sustained by the heirs to the East India Company, the multinational corporations. The corporations operate only in their own interests. Sometimes these interests will coincide with those of a disadvantaged group, but only by disadvantaging another. For centuries, we have permitted ourselves to ignore the extent to which our welfare is dependent on the denial of other people's. We begin to understand the implications of the system we have created only when it turns against ourselves. From eye at ranadasgupta.com Thu Oct 30 18:58:51 2003 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:28:51 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] What Does the Pentagon See in 'Battle of Algiers'? Message-ID: Old article, but fascinating. Film, war, torture. Iraq and Algeria. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/weekinreview/07KAUF.html?ei=5070&en=a6158f 3e6e4b04bd&ex=1067662800&pagewanted=print&position= R What Does the Pentagon See in 'Battle of Algiers'? By MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN Challenged by terrorist tactics and guerrilla warfare in Iraq, the Pentagon recently held a screening of "The Battle of Algiers," the film that in the late 1960's was required viewing and something of a teaching tool for radicalized Americans and revolutionary wannabes opposing the Vietnam War. Back in those days the young audiences that often sat through several showings of Gillo Pontecorvo's 1965 re-enactment of the urban struggle between French troops and Algerian nationalists, shared the director's sympathies for the guerrillas of the F.L.N., Algeria's National Liberation Front. Those viewers identified with and even cheered for Ali La Pointe, the streetwise operator who drew on his underworld connections to organize a network of terrorist cells and entrenched it within the Casbah, the city's old Muslim section. In the same way they would hiss Colonel Mathieu, the character based on Jacques Massu, the actual commander of the French forces. The Pentagon's showing drew a more professionally detached audience of about 40 officers and civilian experts who were urged to consider and discuss the implicit issues at the core of the film — the problematic but alluring efficacy of brutal and repressive means in fighting clandestine terrorists in places like Algeria and Iraq. Or more specifically, the advantages and costs of resorting to torture and intimidation in seeking vital human intelligence about enemy plans. As the flier inviting guests to the Pentagon screening declared: "How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range. Women plant bombs in cafes. Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor. Sound familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically. To understand why, come to a rare showing of this film." The idea came from the Directorate for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, which a Defense Department official described as a civilian-led group with "responsibility for thinking aggressively and creatively" on issues of guerrilla war. The official said, "Showing the film offers historical insight into the conduct of French operations in Algeria, and was intended to prompt informative discussion of the challenges faced by the French." He added that the discussion was lively and that more showings would probably be held. No details of the discussion were provided but if the talk was confined to the action of the film it would have focused only on the battle for the city, which ended in 1957 in apparent triumph for the French with the killing of La Pointe and the destruction of the network. But insurrection continued throughout Algeria, and though the French won the Battle of Algiers, they lost the war for Algeria, ultimately withdrawing from a newly independent country ruled by the F.L.N. in 1962. During the last four decades the events re-enacted in the film and the wider war in Algeria have been cited as an effective use of the tactics of a "people's war," where fighters emerge from seemingly ordinary lives to mount attacks and then retreat to the cover of their everyday identities. The question of how conventional armies can contend with such tactics and subdue their enemies seems as pressing today in Iraq as it did in Algiers in 1957. In both instances the need for on-the-ground intelligence is required to learn of impending attacks. Even in a world of electronic devices, human infiltration and interrogations remain indispensable, but how far should modern states go in the pursuit of such information? Mr. Pontecorvo, who was a member of the Italian Communist Party, obviously felt the French had gone much too far by adopting policies of torture, brutal intimidation and outright killings. Though their use of force led to the triumph over La Pointe, it also provoked political scandals in France, discredited the French Army and traumatized French political life for decades, while inspiring support for the nationalists among Algerians and in much of the world. It was this tactical tradeoff that lies at the heart of the film and presumably makes it relevant for Pentagon study and discussion. But this issue of how much force should be used by highly organized states as they confront the terror of less sophisticated enemies is far from simple. For example, what happens when a country with a long commitment to the Geneva Convention has allies who operate without such restriction. Consider the ambivalent views over the years of General Massu, the principal model for the film's Colonel Mathieu. In 1971, General Massu wrote a book challenging "The Battle of Algiers," and the film was banned in France for many years. In his book General Massu, who had been considered by soldiers the personification of military tradition, defended torture as "a cruel necessity." He wrote: "I am not afraid of the word torture, but I think in the majority of cases, the French military men obliged to use it to vanquish terrorism were, fortunately, choir boys compared to the use to which it was put by the rebels. The latter's extreme savagery led us to some ferocity, it is certain, but we remained within the law of eye for eye, tooth for tooth." In 2000, his former second in command, Gen. Paul Aussaresses, acknowledged, showing neither doubts nor remorse, that thousands of Algerians "were made to disappear," that suicides were faked and that he had taken part himself in the execution of 25 men. General Aussaresses said "everybody" knew that such things had been authorized in Paris and he added that his only real regret was that some of those tortured died before they revealed anything useful. As for General Massu, in 2001 he told interviewers from Le Monde, "Torture is not indispensable in time of war, we could have gotten along without it very well." Asked whether he thought France should officially admit its policies of torture in Algeria and condemn them, he replied: "I think that would be a good thing. Morally torture is something ugly." At the moment it is hard to specify exactly how the Algerian experience and the burden of the film apply to the situation in Iraq, but as the flier for the Pentagon showing suggested, the conditions that the French faced in Algeria are similar to those the United States is finding in Iraq. According to Thomas Powers, the author of "Intelligence Wars: American Secret History From Hitler to Al Qaeda": "What's called a low-intensity war in Iraq brings terrible frustrations and temptations — the frustrating difficulty of finding and fixing an enemy who could be anyone anywhere, and the temptation to resort to torture to extract the kind of detailed information from prisoners or suspects needed to strike effectively. How the United States is dealing with this temptation is one of the unknowns of the war. We are told that outright torture is forbidden, and we hope it is true. But as low-intensity wars drag on, soldiers tell themselves, `We're trying to save lives, no one will ever know, this guy can tell us where the bastards are.' " If indeed the government is currently analyzing or even weighing the tactical choices reflected in "The Battle of Algiers," presumably that is being done at a higher level of secrecy than an open discussion following a screening of the Pontecorvo film. Still, by showing the movie within the Pentagon and by announcing that publicly, somebody seems to be raising issues that have remained obscure throughout the war against terror. From humanistmovement2003 at yahoo.fr Thu Oct 30 02:50:51 2003 From: humanistmovement2003 at yahoo.fr (Humanist Movement) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 22:20:51 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Humanise India : one idea, one feeling, one action Message-ID: <20031030052601.02A2B28D863@mail.sarai.net> Hello ! The Humanist Movement, non-violent grass-roots movement acting in 105 countries over the 5 continents, is looking for new active members in India (and particularly in Mumbai) who want to join our campaign "Humanise India" starting in November 2003. We look for those men and women who feel deeply the need of doing something about a different future, of getting involved with their community, who believe in non-violent change and who know that therefore we have to work also for new values and a new mentality. So, if you are already involved in social activities (education, health, life's quality) or you sincerely want to learn how to organise people and how to develop humanist non-violent activities, then you are welcome ! We want to share and transmit our world-wide experience in self-organisation of communities : in universities (and schools), neighbourhoods and villages. We also help social organisations with new tools and methods. So if you have motivation to actively participate in this historical project and to receive more information and instructions please let us know very soon and write to humanistmovement2003 at yahoo.fr We urgently need your feed-back to know who wants to do what and in which field. Do not forget to precise your motivation, your name, address and phone number, and the field of action you are interested in : university, neighbourhood, village, social organisations. If you know some people or organisations in Mumbai (Bombay) who could be interested, please send us their e-mail or address, fax, telephone or simply forward them this e-mail. Humanist Movement : Volunteers of all ages, different social standards, religions and cultures. Our common aim is the establishment of an Universal Human Nation, our values are Active Non-Violence, Solidarity, Non Discrimination, Liberty of Choice, Real Democracy, Independence and Justice for everyone! Therefore we work for social, economic and political change, but also for personal change in our mind and behaviour. Our golden rule is : "Treating others as we would like them to treat us". Peace, Force and joy Christina General Delegate Humanist Movement (France) I found your e-mail on the net. I hope I won't disturb you, so please tell me if you don't want to receive any more messages from me. For further information : http://humanistmovement.online.fr From nyvoices at indypress.org Thu Oct 30 04:45:46 2003 From: nyvoices at indypress.org (Rehan Ansari) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 18:15:46 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Edition 88: 30 October 2003. Message-ID: <014d01c39e72$e9831c50$6901a8c0@herman> This Week's Voices That Must Be Heard By IPA-New York, a sponsored project of the Independent Press Association Edition 88: 30 October 2003. Advisory editor Deborah McGoldrick, of Irish Voice, an IPA member publication. Special Section on November 4 Elections: Non-partisan election plan stirs debate in the Chinese community by Xiaoqing Rong, Sing Tao Daily, 24 October 2003. Translated from Chinese by Xiaoqing Rong. Community organizations and influential figures are using all avenues to persuade voters to vote for-or against-the mayor's charter revision to eliminate party primaries. Both sides cite political benefits to immigrants as the basis of their opposing points of view. MORE. High stakes for people of color: vote no on charter revisions by Bill Lynch, Amsterdam News, 29 October 2003. English language. Democrats win most of the elections in New York, but three of the last six mayors have been Republicans. In general, New York voters ratify the choice of the Democratic primary in city council elections. Maybe that's because we support the vision of the Democratic Party. One thing for sure is that people of color are well represented in New York's Democratic Party. We have built up power and influence through the party that would be diluted by the proposed non-partisan elections. MORE. They want to vote in Spanish! by Juan Limachi, La Tribuna Hispana USA, 22 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hillary Hawkins. Hispanic voters in Long Island cannot vote on Nov. 4 because election materials are not in Spanish, according to 20 Long Island community organizations. MORE. 20,000 Korean Voters in New York City by Johun Kim, Korea Daily News, 24 October 2003. Translated from Korean by Sun-yong Reinish. About 72 percent of Koreans in New York live in Queens. According to a new survey only every fifth Korean is eligible to vote. MORE. NEWS ITEMS: Money transfer companies bilk money from immigrants by Claudia Zequeira, El Diario / La Prensa, 21 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. In New York state 15,000 money transfer businesses, affiliated with companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram, process 160,000 transactions per day. About $3 billion are sent annually from New York to Latin America. One bad business practice associated with these companies is not informing the consumer how exchange rates are determined. MORE. Finding, not seeking, love by Chin-he Kim, Korea Times New York, 20 October 2003. Translated from Korean by Sun-yong Reinish. A new trend has blossomed in Korean newspapers-men are taking out a large number of ads to declare their love for their wives. MORE. As numbers of single mothers grow, are Jewish agencies keeping up? by Nathaniel Popper, Forward, 24 October 2003. English language. More Jewish households are headed by single moms, representing 17 percent of all Jewish households with children. But Jewish agencies have more experience working with the elderly than impoverished families. MORE. City Council places Patriot Act under magnifying glass by Maxy Sosa, Hoy, 21 October 2003. Translated from Spanish by Hirsh Sawhney. The city council's Committee on Vigilance of Governmental Operations heard testimonies from organizations that defend the civil rights of immigrants. Representatives of these organizations denounced the "systematic harassment" and "persecution" of Muslims and immigrants of Middle Eastern and South Asian origin. MORE. BRIEFS: Turf war between two organizations claiming to represent Bangladeshi minority interests, Bangla Patrika, 24 October 2003. Translated from Bangla by Moinuddin Naser . An unsettling view of the United States, from Europe by Grzegorz Glowacki, Nowy Dziennik / Polish Daily News, 22 October 2003. Translated from Polish by Ania Milewska. English Language tests a new barrier for aspiring nurses by George Iype, India Abroad, 24 October 2003. English language. As always we welcome questions, suggestions, corrections and letters to the editor. Rehan Ansari Editor, Independent Press Association - New York nyvoices at indypress.org* 212/279-1442 * 143 West 29th St., 901, New York City, 10001 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031029/0f7d61a9/attachment.html From eye at ranadasgupta.com Thu Oct 30 13:27:35 2003 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:27:35 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] US and al Qaeda: strategic analysis Message-ID: Sorry I'm sending old articles today; going through mailbox... R ::::::::::::::::::::: Rana Dasgupta www.ranadasgupta.com ::::::::::::::::::::: THE STRATFOR WEEKLY 09 September 2003 by Dr. George Friedman Two Years of War Summary Two years into the war that began on Sept. 11, 2001, the primary pressure is on al Qaeda to demonstrate its ability to achieve its goals. The events of Sept. 11 were primarily intended to change the internal dynamics of the Islamic world, but not a single regime fell as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks. However, the United States -- unable to decline action -- has taken a huge risk in its response. The outcome of the battle is now in doubt: Washington still holds the resources card and can militarily outman al Qaeda, but the militant network's ability to pull off massive and unpleasant surprises should not be dismissed. Analysis Old military communiques used to read, "The battle has been joined but the outcome is in doubt." From Stratfor's viewpoint, that seems to be the best way to sum up the status of the war that began on Sept. 11, 2001, when al Qaeda operatives attacked U.S. political, military and economic targets. Though the militants were devastatingly successful in destroying the World Trade Center and shutting down U.S. financial markets, al Qaeda did not achieve its primary goal: a massive uprising in the Islamic world. Its attack was a means toward an end and not an end in itself. Al Qaeda's primary goal was the radical transformation of the Islamic world as a preface for re- establishing the Caliphate -- a multinational Islamic empire that, at its height, stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. To achieve this end, al Qaeda knew that it had to first overthrow existing regimes in the Islamic world. These regimes were divided into two classes. One was made up of secular, socialist and military regimes, inspired by Gamel Abdul Nasser. This class included countries such as Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Libya. The second class comprised the formally Islamic states of the Arabian Peninsula, which Osama bin Laden referred to as "hypocrites" for policies that appeared Islamic but actually undermined the construction of the Caliphate. Finally, bin Laden had to deal with the problem of Shiite Iran, which had taken the lead in revolutionizing Islam but in which the Wahhabi and Sunni al Qaeda had little confidence. Al Qaeda's political objective was to set into motion the process that would replace these governments with Islamist regimes. To achieve this, al Qaeda needed a popular uprising in at least some of these countries. But it reasoned that there could be no rising until the Islamic masses recognized that these governments were simply collaborators and puppets of the Christians, Jews and Hindus. Even more important, al Qaeda had to demonstrate that the United States was both militarily impotent and an active enemy of the Islamic world. The attacks would serve to convince the masses that the United States could be defeated. An ongoing war between the United States and the Islamic world would serve to convince the masses that the United States had to be defeated. Al Qaeda had to stage an operation that would achieve these ends: 1. It had to show that the United States was vulnerable. 2. Its action had to be sufficiently severe that the United States could not avoid a counterattack. 3. The counterattack had to be, in turn, countered by al Qaeda, reinforcing the perception of U.S. weakness. The events of Sept. 11 were intended primarily to change the internal dynamics of the Islamic world. The attacks were designed so that their significance could not be minimized in the Islamic world or in the United States -- as had been the case with prior al Qaeda strikes against U.S. interests. Al Qaeda also had to strike symbols of American power -- symbols so obvious that their significance would be understandable to the simplest Muslim. Thus, operatives struck at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and -- in a failed attack -- Congress. As expected, the attacks riveted global attention and forced the United States to strike back, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. The United States could not decline combat: If it did so, al Qaeda's representation of the United States as an essentially weak power would have been emphatically confirmed. That was not an option. At the same time, optimal military targets were unavailable, so the United States was forced into suboptimal attacks. The invasion of Afghanistan was the first of these. But the United States did not defeat the Taliban; Knowing it could not defeat U.S. troops in conventional combat -- the Taliban withdrew, dispersed and reorganized as a guerrilla force in the Afghan countryside. It is now carrying out counterattacks against entrenched U.S. and allied forces. In Iraq, the Islamist forces appear to have followed a similar strategy within a much tighter time frame. Rather than continuing conventional resistance, the Iraqis essentially dispersed a small core of dedicated fighters -- joined by an international cadre of Islamists -- and transitioned into guerrilla warfare in a few short weeks after the cessation of major conventional combat operations. However, al Qaeda did not achieve its primary mission -- Sept. 11 did not generate a mass uprising in the Islamic world. Not a single regime fell. To the contrary, the Taliban lost control of Afghanistan, and the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein fell. Nevertheless, given its goals, al Qaeda was the net winner in this initial phase. First, the U.S. obsession about being attacked by al Qaeda constantly validated the militant network's power in the Islamic world and emphasized the vulnerability of the United States. Second, the United States threw itself into the Islamic world, adding credence to al Qaeda's claim that the country is the enemy of Islam. Finally, Washington drew a range of Islamic regimes into collaboration with its own war effort, demonstrating that these regimes -- from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan -- were in fact collaborating with the Christians rather than representing Islamic interests. Finally, by drawing the United States into the kind of war it is the least competent in waging - -guerrilla war -- al Qaeda created the framework for a prolonged conflict that would work against the United States in the Islamic world and at home. Therefore, on first reading it would appear that the war has thus far gone pretty much as al Qaeda hoped it would. That is true, except for the fact that al Qaeda has not achieved the goal toward which all of this was directed. It achieved the things that it saw as the means toward the end, and yet the end is nowhere in sight. This is the most important fact of the war. Al Qaeda wins if the Islamic world transforms itself at least in part by establishing Islamist regimes. That simply hasn't happened, and there is no sign of it happening. Thus far, at least, whatever the stresses might have been in the Islamic world, existing regimes working in concert with the United States have managed to contain the threat quite effectively. This might be simply a matter of time. However, after two years, the suspicion has to be raised that al Qaeda calculated everything perfectly -- except for the response. Given what has been said about the Islamic world's anger at the United States and its contempt for the corruption of many governments, the failure of a revolutionary movement to take hold anywhere raises the question of whether al Qaeda's core analysis of the Islamic world had any truth, or whether other factors are at play. Now turn the question to the United States for a moment. The United States clearly understood al Qaeda's strategy. The government understood that al Qaeda was hoping for a massive counterattack in multiple countries and deep intrusions into other countries. Washington understood that it was playing into al Qaeda's plans; it nevertheless did so. The U.S. analysis paralleled al Qaeda's analysis. Washington agreed that the issue was the Islamic perception of U.S. weakness. It understood, as President George W. Bush said in his Sept. 7 speech, that Beirut and Somalia -- as well as other events -- had persuaded the Islamic world that the country was indeed weak. Therefore, U.S. officials concluded that inaction would simply reinforce this perception and would hasten the unraveling of the region. Therefore, they realized that even if it played directly into al Qaeda's plan, the United States could not refuse to act. Taking action carried with it a huge risk -- that of playing out al Qaeda's scenario. However, U.S. leaders made another bet: If an attack on the Islamic world could force or entice regimes in the area to act against al Qaeda inside their borders, then the threat could be turned around. Instead of al Qaeda trapping the United States, the United States could be trap al Qaeda. The central U.S. bet was that Washington could move the regimes in question in a suitable direction -- without their disintegration. If it succeeded, the tables could be turned. The invasion of Iraq was intended to achieve this, and to a great extent it did. The Saudis moved against al Qaeda domestically. Syria changed its behavior. Most importantly, the Iranians shifted their view and actions. None of these regimes fell in the process. None of these actions were as thorough as the United States wanted, either -- and certainly none were definitive. Nevertheless, collaboration increased, and no regime fell. But at this point, the battle is in doubt: 1. The United States must craft strategies for keeping both the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns at manageable levels. In particular, it must contain guerrilla activities at a level that will not be perceived by the Islamic world as a significant victory. 2. The United States must continue to force or induce nations to collaborate without bringing down any governments. 3. Al Qaeda must, at some point, bring down a government to maintain its own credibility. At this point, merely surviving is not enough. Both sides now are caught in a battle. The United States holds the resource card: Despite insufficient planning for manpower requirements over the course of the war, the United States is still in a position to bring substantial power to bear in multiple theaters of operation. For al Qaeda, the card is another massive attack on the United States. In the short run, the network cannot do more than sustain the level of combat currently achieved. This level is insufficient to trigger the political events for which it hopes. Therefore, it has to up the ante. The next months will give some indication of the direction the war is going. Logic tells us that the United States will contain the war in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, in Afghanistan. Logic also tells us that al Qaeda will attempt another massive attack in the United States to try to break the logjam in the Islamic world. What al Qaeda needs is a series of uprisings from the Pacific to the Atlantic that would topple existing regimes. What the United States needs is to demonstrate that it has the will and ability to contain the forces al Qaeda has unleashed. At this moment, two years into the war, the primary pressure is on al Qaeda. It has not yet demonstrated its ability to achieve its goals; it has only achieved an ability to mobilize the means of doing so. That is not going to be enough. On the other hand, its ability to pull off massive and unpleasant surprises should not be underestimated. From marnoldm at du.edu Thu Oct 30 23:26:07 2003 From: marnoldm at du.edu (Michael Arnold Mages) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 10:56:07 -0700 (MST) Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Neural Skeins and Digital Skins -- November on -empyre- Message-ID: The parallels between the internet and a biological system are many. Growth and decay, circulation and disease are symptoms of these living systems. In our bodies, cells, neurons, bacteria and on-line, words, memes and code-structures are vital elements of ordered, yet chaotic process. For the month of November -empyre- delights in presenting Neural Skeins and Digital Skins: code, writing, and the net as a central nervous system, with four prominent artists and theorists. *** In a pastiche of imagery and French and English text, Tamara Lai (Belgium) spins her intimate, visceral cyber-poems from her base in Liege. Lai's oeuvre includes exploration of performance, ephemerality and virtual relations. Alan Sondheim (US), New York based net artist and poet, conducts a continuous meditation on cyberspace, emphasizing issues of interiority, subjectivity, body, and language. http://www.asondheim.org/ Alessandro Ludovico (IT) publishes the critical journal neural.it in Italian and English online. and Florian Cramer (Germany), is a theorist on comparative net aesthetics and literature, and lectures at the Free University Berlin. *** As Alan writes, We collude between death and sex, to the limits of distortion - space-time burns around configurations of terror and the body. The skin is always a skein of communication. Words are performative only to the extent they can persuade physical reality beyond the sememe - propaganda or persuasion of language. How, as Florian asks, does 'codework' fit notions of text that were crafted without digital code - most importantly: machine-executable digital code - in mind, and vice versa. Is it a coincidence that, in their poetical appropriation of low-level Internet codes, codeworks ended up aesthetically resembling concrete poetry? And, apart from aesthetic resemblances, how do computer programs relate to literature? Join us in discussion to examine these questions and more on -empyre-. Subscribe at: http://www.subtle.net/empyre ------------- -- Michael Arnold Mages mailto:marnoldm at du.edu -- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From eye at ranadasgupta.com Fri Oct 31 11:28:21 2003 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:28:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Dick Cheney, Commander in Chief Message-ID: Dick Cheney, Commander in Chief By Jim Lobe, AlterNet October 27, 2003 "Like with a horse, Powell is always able to lead Bush to the water. But just as he is about to put his head down, Cheney up in the saddle says, 'Un-uh,' and yanks up the reins before Bush can drink the water. That's my image of how it goes," said Sen. Joseph Biden, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, describing the power relationship between George Bush and Dick Cheney in a recent interview with the National Journal. The image of the president of the United States as a tame horse, saddled up and ridden by his own vice president, may seem overblown, but Biden is not alone in his assessment of the White House's internal dynamics. When it comes to foreign policy, Cheney is increasingly seen as holding the reins in the power circles within Washington. While the mainstream media mostly continue to cast Bush as the captain of his ship, hints that Cheney is the dominant figure shaping Washington's diplomatic policy have become too numerous to ignore. A recent Washington Post article assessing Condoleezza Rice's performance as national security adviser revealed a most stunning example of this lopsided state of affairs. According to the Post, Bush had ordered Cabinet officials not to give any preferential treatment to Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC) when U.S. forces moved into Iraq last spring. But soon after, in flagrant violation of his directive, the Pentagon flew Chalabi and 600 of his armed followers into southern Iraq in early April, "with the approval of the vice president." It would not be the first or last time that Cheney simply ignored his commander-in-chief. The extent of Cheney's power is not surprising given the degree to which Bush relied on him during his presidential campaign and in the administration's early days. And the fact that Cheney, who was asked by Bush to recommend his running mate in 2000, picked himself for the job reveals that he expected to wield extraordinary power if Bush won the election. Cheney's dominance has been the decisive factor in the ongoing battle between the Pentagon and the State Department over U.S. foreign policy. Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to Biden's account, has sometimes talked Bush into pursuing a more conciliatory foreign-policy line, as he has done with North Korea or the United Nations from time to time. But thus far Cheney's views have always won out in the long run. Enforcing policy discipline, especially in a divided administration, is ordinarily the task of the national security adviser. But Rice, an academic whose substantive knowledge of foreign policy is largely confined to the Soviet Union and Russia, has not been equal to the job. Her failure combined with Bush's own passivity and inexperience has enabled Cheney to dominate the policy process, particularly with respect to the Middle East where Cheney's views are almost entirely consistent with those of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. A Republican right-winger, Cheney is surrounded by neo-conservatives, many with close ties to Israel's Likud Party. Even before Sept. 11, Cheney had endorsed Israel's selective assassination policy; even as the State Department was busy denouncing it. One year later, Cheney told Israel's defense minister, albeit privately, that he thought Palestinian President Yasser Arafat "should be hanged." Biden told reporters in October, "If you look at Afghanistan, if you look at the (Israeli-Palestinian peace) road map, if you look at Iraq, if you look at bilateral and multilateral dealings with the Europeans, just as Powell looks like he will stitch the garment back together again, Cheney goes to the Heritage Foundation and re-enunciates the policy of preemption." Cheney has played a much more important role than Rice since the early days of the administration, despite her closer personal relationship with the president. It was Cheney's choices that prevailed in the appointment of both cabinet and sub-cabinet national-security officials, beginning with that of Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary. Not only did Cheney personally intervene to ensure that Powell's best friend, Richard Armitage, was denied the deputy defense secretary position, but he also secured the post for his own protégé, Paul Wolfowitz. Moreover, it was Cheney who insisted that the ultra-unilateralist John Bolton be placed in a top State Department arms job; a position from which Bolton has consistently pursued policies that run counter to Powell's own views. Moreover, Cheney's own national-security staff is the largest ever employed by a vice president. Its members have largely been chosen for both their ideological affinity with their boss and proven Washington experience. "They play to win," said one State Department official. Cheney's chief of staff and national security adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a Washington lawyer and Wolfowitz protégé, is considered a far more skilled and experienced bureaucratic and political operator than Rice. With several of his political allies on Rice's own staff, including deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Middle East director Elliott Abrams; Libby "is able to run circles around Condi," noted a former NSC official . Cheney's muscle is most apparent in shaping the White House's Iraq policy. He played a key role in assigning responsibility for post-war reconstruction to the Pentagon, a major departure from the long-standing tradition to giving the State Department the lead in such areas. Similarly, Cheney backed the Pentagon's decision to entirely exclude the State Department from the planning process. The State Department's mammoth "Future of Iraq Project," which pulled together hundreds of Iraqi expatriates and other experts to come up with a detailed plan for the post-war reconstruction of Iraq, was simply ignored and so was Tom Warrick, a highly regarded Iraq specialist who oversaw the project. According to retired intelligence officers, Cheney and Libby played the decisive role in distorting the intelligence used to make Bush's case for war. Libby made frequent trips to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the run-up to the Iraq war, pressuring analysts in include questionable evidence supplied by the INC and Rumsfeld-led hawks. More recently, it was Cheney who led the effort to deny Powell the authority to negotiate a new UN Security Council resolution that would have reduced the Pentagon's control over the political transition in Iraq, even though the president initially approved such a deal. The vice president is currently working within the White House to resist congressional pressure to reduce Pentagon's control over Iraq policy and to oust several senior hawks in the DoD. Beginning with Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, the neoconservatives in the Pentagon are under fire for misleading Congress on both the evidence used to justify the war and the post-war situation. Cheney's clout has even elicited rebukes from the Hill. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar and Joe Biden, the Committee's ranking Democrat, explicitly mentioned the vice president as part of their bipartisan appeal to Bush, asking him to take control over his foreign policy. "I would say, Mr. President, take charge. Take charge ... Let your secretary of defense, state, and your vice president know 'This is my policy, any one of you that divert from the policy is off the team,'" said Biden on NBC's 'Meet the Press' in early October. Lugar, a staunch, albeit moderate Republican, appearing on the same show echoed the sentiment, adding, "The president has to be president. That means the president over the vice president and over these secretaries." Recent announcements that Rice has hired Robert Blackwill, Bush's former ambassador to India and reputedly a skilled bureaucratic and Republican infighter himself, as her top deputy and that she is heading up a new, inter-agency Iraq Stabilization Group, are designed to create the appearance that she is at last taking charge of the country's foreign policy. So far, however, there is little evidence that Cheney is prepared to turn over control of his favorite hobbyhorse. Jim Lobe writes on foreign policy for AlterNet, Inter Press Services, TomPaine.com and Foreign Policy in Focus. ::::::::::::::::::::: Rana Dasgupta www.ranadasgupta.com ::::::::::::::::::::: From eye at ranadasgupta.com Fri Oct 31 15:29:20 2003 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:29:20 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] PRESSURE ON BURMA: EU persists with 'carrot and stick' Message-ID: EU persists with 'carrot and stick': FBC Posting 10/30/03 PRESSURE ON BURMA: EU persists with 'carrot and stick' THE NATION Published on Oct 31, 2003 PRESSURE ON BURMA: EU persists with 'carrot and stick' by Rungrawee C Pinyorat Rangoon claims US sanctions forcing women into sex trade The European Union yesterday reiterated its "carrot and stick" approach to get Burma to improve its political and human rights situation, saying humanitarian issues and politics should remain separate. The need for humanitarian aid in Burma is huge, said Ruth Albuquerque, head of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) overseeing Asia and Latin America. "We do not agree with the state of affairs in Burma; however, we should address humanitarian needs," she said. "There are lots of constraints and we still cannot cover all the needs of these people," Albuquerque said. Yesterday's statement came as the Burmese military government urged the United States to lift its "misguided" economic sanctions, saying the policy was forcing people into prostitution. The sanctions - aimed at punishing the junta for detaining pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi - led to the loss of 40,000 jobs for young women, who now feel compelled to enter the "flourishing illegal sex and entertainment industry", a government statement said. "If the United States wishes to help [Burma] toward peace and democracy, we welcome their cooperation," the statement said. "But if the United States does not wish to cooperate, we ask at least that they stop forcing the people of [Burma] into poverty and prostitution." The statement was in response to a biannual US State Department review of conditions in Burma. Washington first imposed sanctions in 1997 in an effort to pressure the junta to introduce democratic reforms. Harsher sanctions were imposed after Suu Kyi's detention following clashes on May 30 between supporters of her National League for Democracy party and what many in the opposition claimed to be government thugs. The EU established its position on Burma in 1996. It includes an arms embargo, visa bans for senior Burmese officials and freezing of assets. ECHO this year provided 4.2 million euros (Bt196 million) to international non-government organisations to support projects for basic healthcare, malaria control and water sanitation. The NGOs work in remote areas such as the Rakhine, Chin, Shan and Mon states, and the Thanintharyi and Yangin Divisions. Since 1992, ECHO has provided more than 500 million euros a year on average in aid to more than 85 countries. Last year, it allocated 22 million euros to Southeast Asian countries. From grade at vsnl.com Fri Oct 31 11:42:57 2003 From: grade at vsnl.com (rakesh) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:42:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Article on SEction 377 IPC Message-ID: <000e01c39f76$11e84d60$980110ac@net> (Indian Express October 30, 2003 - edited version) GAY BOYZ OR HARDENED CRIMINALS: LAW, CRIMES AND MORALITY The Union Government stand on a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalizes homosexuality appears to be on shaky ground. The provision with its biblical overtones came into the Indian statute books through enactment by the English Parliament of the Indian Penal Code in 1872! The precedents and judgements adjudicating as to the acts of sex which would fall within the offence created by the section are replete with archaic references to the "Sin of Gomorrah being no less carnal intercourse than the Sin of Sodom" and in concluding that "all the ill consequences (of the sin of Sodom) would equally follow in a city where the sin of Gomorrah was tolerated". In earlier times, alongwith heresy and apostasy, sodomy was considered as a form of treason against God, tried in ecclesiastical courts and punished with death in England. The Sexual Offences Act, 1967 decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in United Kingdom. At the best of times the link of societal approval or disapproval to prevalent law is not easy to ascertain. In a society riven by divisions of class, gender and caste, to put forth consensual societal disapproval as the reason to oppose the legalisation of homosexuality seems to have little substance. Phrases like 'society disapproves of it' are more often than not used to try and buttress one's own biases, prejudices and views and hardly represent a legal argument worthy of adjudication. Barring a direction to hold a referendum on the issue, an argument like 'society approves of it' and the counter-argument that 'society disapproves of it' can hardly be decided in courts which, unlike the media, are concerned with law and not conducting opinion-polls in society. The presumption of an across the board accepted set of mores or norms which have societal 'approval' in contrast to 'disapproved' acts is in itself flawed. Again, lack of universal acceptance of sexual preference in society as a major plank to oppose homosexuality raises the question of the relation between law and the values, norms, behaviours prevalent in a society. In a society which is unequal should the right to equality not be postulated as fundamental? The logic of 'universal acceptance' in society as a sina qua non for law to advance would inevitably lead to the conclusion that the abolition of 'untouchability' under the Constitution and the enshrinement of equality was wrong and pre-mature lacking universal acceptance. The reduction of the dialectic and complex interplay of law, society, legal norms and social norms to a linear paradigm of 'universal acceptance' and 'societal approval' would impact social reform legislations dealing with issues like child marriage, pre-natal sex determination, Sati prevention in a major way. The 'acceptance' and 'approval' thesis also betrays a lack of understanding of the dominant norm in society. The dominant norm or ideology is not to be taken to mean that the only the dominant sections share belief in the norm or ideology. The dominant norm subsumes and occupies all space leaving no room for the subaltern. The fact that a large majority of the dominated, the exploited, the discriminated internalize and accept the prevalent norm does not alter the factum of oppression, exploitation and discrimination. Norms about a hundred different things ranging from the benign like truth, honesty, integrity to the offensive about colour, caste, class may be prevalent in any society at a given point of time. However, heterosexuality with its constricting of the fluidity and wide range of sexuality is probably the most dominant norm of them all in present times. The tremendous resistance to the acceptance of the simple fact, that just as a certain percentage of people are left-handed and the rest right-handed, people have different sexual preferences - homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual with no issues of morality and values at stake, is indicative of the deep rooted pervasiveness of the hetero-sexual norm. Infact, 'Unnatural offences', the title of the section (377 IPC) and the use of the phrase 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' in the main text bring us back to more or less the same basic paradigm. In times when governments are vigourously pushing condoms, intra-uterine devices (IUDs) and injectable contraceptives like net-en, to bring in the binary of 'natural' and 'unnatural' inorder to criminalize an act is indeed an irony! In the premises of this paradigm contraception is "unnatural" stopping the procreation of the human race which is "natural"as is believed by a sizable section in society! Carnal heterosexual intercourse using contraception will have to be penalized as 'against the order of nature' under the section! The 'natural-unnatural' as well as the 'acceptance - non-acceptance' paradigm lead to the question whether acts which are deviations from the 'approved' dominant norms should be penalized as crimes by the law. Generally, a person is punished for acts which cause harm to others as in say murder or theft. However, there are certain statutorily created offences akin to criminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults like penalizing possession of alcohol in Gujarat or of marijuana for personal use, which fall within the category of "victimless" crimes. The rationale for the criminalizing these acts is that they are considered vices which in turn are supposed to lead to crimes. As the Union Government's affidavit puts it deletion or removal of homosexuality as a crime would open "floodgates of delinquent behaviour and be construed as giving unbridled licence for the same". In this era of science no data showing that homosexual activity leads to more crimes has been offered or it appears even been considered before making this remarkable statement on oath in court. Presumably, we are to accept this co-relation as an axiomatic, God-given, self-evident truth! The larger jurisprudential question which it raises whether the State should criminalize what it considers to be vices needs to be opened up and debated. Indeed, more than a century ago, dissecting State sanctioned moral coercion, Lysander Spooner in Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty argued that the government should protect its citizens against crime, but it is foolish, unjust and tyrannical to legislate against vice. Rakesh Shukla -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031031/e16c1130/attachment.html From jeebesh at sarai.net Fri Oct 31 19:07:28 2003 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:07:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Why a Documentary Festival in Gurgaon? Documela Message-ID: <200310311907.28497.jeebesh@sarai.net> Why a Documentary Festival in Gurgaon? Asheesh Pandya How and where do you see good documentaries? This was the question that repeatedly confronted me while I was spreading the word about plans to hold a documentary festival in Gurgaon. Almost everyone I met associated documentaries with the Discovery or the National Geographic channels and it took some amount of speaking from my part to convince people that there exists the world of the independent Indian documentary which is seldom seen on TV channels. Screened often in the rarefied atmosphere of the India International Centre or the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, these films often do not get the audience they deserve. It might come as a surprise to most of us but the Indian documentary is making a mark for itself in international festivals and probably it might not be wrong to state that more documentaries get screened in festivals than feature films. What is the independent Indian documentary all about? Boring, pedantic and commentary heavy? Hardly. The documentaries being produced here in the last several years have finally shattered the image created by the ‘official’, ‘news-reel’ documentary that served as propaganda for the government. There is no subject which is taboo for the new documentary and there are as many different ways of telling the stories as there are filmmakers. Diversity in form and content marks the emergence of this brave new world of the Indian documentary. They are entertaining, engrossing and rigorous; and reveal worlds and truths the way only a documentary is capable of doing. Why is it important to see a documentary? There is probably no other creative form of expression that gets you as close to life, reality, and worlds that surround us but are often inaccessible. The documentary allows you to see life up close, witness events in a new light and reflect upon the many realities which make our world. Documela-2003 will provide an opportunity for us, the residents of Gurgaon to see for ourselves some of the best work to come out of the Indian documentary scene. And I am deeply grateful to the filmmakers who have made this dream possible. They have sent the best of their films for us and have also agreed to be here in person, so that they can have a direct conversation with the audiences here. I am thankful to the MDU National Law College, Gurgaon for providing us the venue, the most basic requirement for a festival to take place. And I’m thrilled by the enthusiastic response and support I have received from the students here. The MDU National Law College falls under the purview of the Maharishi Dayanand University (M.D.U.), Rohtak. During a telephonic conversation with the Vice Chancellor Maj. Gen. (Retd.) B. S. Suhag, the VC said, “It is a wonderful idea to hold a Documentary Film Festival in Gurgaon. So far the focus in this area has been on the industry. There is a general lack of information about various other aspects of social development. I am sure these films would be able to fill this vacuum and generate awareness amongst the people of Gurgaon. MDU Law College is proud to be the venue for such an event. I wish this festival a great success.” No such event is possible without adequate funds. I am thankful to PSBT (the Public Service Broadcasting Trust) and Fabindia, who have come forward to support Documela with generous contributions. Not the least important is the help and support provided to me by certain very special individuals. I am extremely thankful to each one of them. I also value the encouragement given to me by my friends in the media by covering this event right from its planning stage. Lastly, I wish, Documela-2003 is only the first in the series of Gurgaon Documentary Festivals and hope that the Documela will become a permanent part of the cultural landscape of Gurgaon. Like Diwali, Eid or Christmas we will celebrate the Festival of Documentaries at regular intervals. And this will only be made possible by the collective support of more and more people who believe, “Documentary has to be seen, and I will make it happen”. Happy Viewing Asheesh Pandya Facilitator, Gurgaon Documentary Festival. -------------------------------------------------------------- DOCUMELA~2003 The First Gurgaon Documentary Festival In partnership with the Public Service Broadcasting Trust Venue: MDU National Law College, Sector 40, Gurgaon Screening Schedule: Day 1 Saturday, November 1st 2003 After each film, there will be a 15 minute interactive session between the filmmaker and the audience. Feel free to ask questions. Please take your seats five minutes before the beginning of a screening. In order not to disturb others, please silence your mobile phones. 11:00-11:30 I N A U G U R A T I O N 11:35-13:00 Words on water/85min./Sanjay Kak/An urgent journey through the Narmada valley and a struggle that has exposed the deceptive heart of India’s development politics 13:15-13:45 Paradise on the river of hell/30min./Abir Bazaz, Meenu Gaur On the catastrophic desolation of Kashmir 14:00-14:45 L U N C H 14:45-15:45 Dharma Dollies/60min./Aruna Har Prasad /A portrait of young successful Indian women in search of a belief 16:00-16:55 Some Roots Grow Upwards/55min/Kavita Joshi/Seeking insights into the art of Ratan Thiyam, and his folk theatre 17:10-18:04 Barf (Snow)/54min./Saba Dewan/Trekking with a group of girls from slums going out from their city for the first time 18:20-19:00 C H A I P A A N I 19:00-19:28 Backstage Boys/28min./Meera Dewan/About brave and adventurous Punjabi boys willing to take chances through illegal immigration by the human traffickers 19:45-20:15 Portraits of belonging-Bhai Mian/30min. 20:15-20:45 Portraits of belonging-Sagira Begum/30min./Sameera Jain Sensitive sketches of two people who practice their skills in the context of belonging to an old city 21:00-21:43 When four friends meet/43min./Rahul Roy They share their secrets… sex and girls; youthful dreams and failures; frustrations and triumphs. DOCUMELA~2003 The First Gurgaon Documentary Festival In partnership with the Public Service Broadcasting Trust Venue: MDU National Law College, Sector 40, Gurgaon Screening Schedule: Day 2 Sunday, November 2nd 2003 11:00-13:30 STUDENTS’ FILMS –- a) From MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi That’s what my dad used to say/40min./Sharat Kataria, Laalit Lobo, Vikram Rohella/Filmmakers’ journeys of discovery into their gender and sexual identities Let me speak/35min./Sukrit, Manish and Sushil/A musical portrait of the music band ‘Indian Ocean’ Tedhi lakeer~the crooked line/26min./Aparna Sanyal, Amrit Sharma, Arunima Shankar/A tale about two men and their not so ‘straight’ life b) From the School of Convergence, New Delhi And it lives/5min./Deeya Prakash, Amanpreet Singh and Aien Longkumer/ About "Zafar Mahal", the summer retreat of Bahadur Shah Zafar Knock-Knock/22min./2nd batch of students/A feature magazine 13:30-14:30 L U N C H 14:30-15:00 Into the Abyss/28min/Vandana Kohli A film on major depression 15:00-16:00 Tracing the arc/38min.& A million steps/22min./Pankaj Butalia Two films about the lost history of the mapping of Asia 16:15-16:45 Ramlila/30min./Subhash Kapoor/ About how people interpret legends 17:00-18:00 Three Women & A Camera/60min./Sabeena Gadihoke/A film on three women still photographers, including Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photo-journalist 18:15-18:45 C H A I P A A N I 18:45-20:00 Tales of the Night Fairies/74min./Shohini Ghosh/ A movement of sex-workers in Calcutta 20:15-21:00 Kamlabai/45min./Reena Mohan/A portrait of the first actress of the Indian screen 21:00-21:30 A Season Outside/30min./Amar Kanwar/Examining the scars of violence and the dreams of hope _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements