From aarti at sarai.net Thu Dec 1 14:28:57 2005 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 14:28:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Sarai.txt 2.4: CURRENT Message-ID: <438EBB51.3020201@sarai.net> Sarai.txt 2.4 15 November 2005 - 15 February, 2006 Also see: http://broadsheet.var.cc/blog for previous issues. This issue of the broadsheet may be downloaded in pdf format at: http://www.sarai.net/txt.htm *CURRENT* This broadsheet is to go to print in the next half-hour! This is the perfect time to initiate a public self-reflection and in the process share the making of the broadsheet. Like in a bus, they say, the best stories are told when the passengera are just about to leave... We begin with an initial idea, a ‘prism’. This prism operates like a very large, porous fish-net through which we begin searching for our materials. Materials are primarily gathered from the research work that occurs in Sarai, and through the community of researchers, seminars, lists that surround us. Research at Sarai itself takes many final and unfinished shapes, and is carried out through diverse sets of practices. We draw from the intersection of these practices and the questions they generate around themselves. Once we gather material around the initial question, we set the question aside for a while. Through a wiki and a list the materials go through several rounds of revision and editing. Often, in working through them, the materials urge us to consider a complexity of questions which the initial prism does not capture. The intial question acquires new registers, is sharpened and deepened. In organising the material, we create ‘concept clusters’ to build lateral connections and associations. This involves working with texts and images, and seeing what happens when they are juxtaposed, or nested, or placed in opposition to, each other. Different kinds of text-based content demand different formal renditions and textual strategies. Similarly, images are not just design elements, but a context in which to insert new forms of meaning and affect. The poster is an attempt to create a game between us and the reader. It is a very important convergent point between our arguments, and ways of thinking about image and layout. The poster also acts as a refractor, as a detour, as another way of approaching the material. The poster is the broadsheet’s public inscription on the surfaces of the city. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Content of the text version: (Does not include the poster and images) SIDE 01 - The Trickster (Translated by Shveta Sarda, from the 'Dastan-e-Amir Hamza', performed by Mahmood U.R. Farooqui at the Sarai Independent Fellowship Workshop, 26 August 2005, Delhi) SIDE 02 - Radio Kotina (Lokesh, Researcher, Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS) - Santosh Radio (Sadan Jha, Sarai-CSDS) - Vani/Voice (Excerpted from 'The Relationship between The Production and Consumption of Thumri and Allied Forms: The Female Impersonator - Balgandharva’, Urmila Bhirdikar, Sarai-CSDS Independent Fellow, 2004-05) - Listening and Learning (Excerpted from 'Mediation through Radio', Indira Biswas, Sarai-CSDS Independent Fellow, 2003-04) - A Line, It 'Goes'/It's Passe (Lakhmi C. Kohli, Researcher-Practitioner, Cybermohalla project, Sarai-CSDS + Ankur) - The Making of The Crowd (Debashree Mukherjee, Researcher, Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS) - Locality DJ (Bhagwati Prasad, Researcher, Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS) BACKPAGE: - Sarai[s]: Interstellar Travell - World Information City - Publication: Contested Commons/Trespassing Publics: A Public Record - Credits write to : broadsheet at sarai.net for print copies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIDE [01] THE TRICKSTER Tilism-e-Hoshruba, or the ‘enchantment that takes away your senses’ is the name given to one daftar (section) of the 46 volume Dastan-e-Amir Hamza. Tilism, a magical effect or enchantment, is a magic-infested zone, cast by a sorcerer and its properties vary. Tilism-e-Hoshruba, constructed by Afrasiyab Jadu, the Emperor of Sorcerers, is both a physical reality as well as an imaginative effect. The oral narration of the Dastan-e-Amir Hamza was a popular pastime in most parts of central, western and South Asia, and also North Africa since medieval times. Composed originally in Persian, when the story began to be published in Urdu in nineteenth century Lucknow, it grew from a single volume to a mammoth 46 volume text, the greatest narrative prose fiction composed in Urdu, and possibly the longest in the world. Dastan-e-Amir Hamza describes the battles of Amir Hamza, the Prophet Mohammed’s uncle, against infidels, sorcerers and other pretenders to divinity. Chief among his supporters is Amar, an ayyar, or trickster, who resorts to chicanery, disguise and tricks to dupe magicians and kill them. Comprising magical battles, the creation of magical realms or tilisms, ayyari (trickery) and convivial gatherings, the dastans were meant, unabashedly, to entertain people which overlay a simple message of the triumph of good over evil, rather like Hindi cinema which it deeply influenced. While Hamza fights against his gigantic perennial enemy, the false god Laqa, Amar and some other members of his force drift into the Tilism-e-Hoshruba which is only destroyed after some 8000 pages of closely printed text, of which the following comprises three pages. Amar, Hamza’s chief ayyar (trickster), is captured several times over by Afrasiyab, the Emperor of the Sorcerers, in the first volume of the Tilism-e-Hoshruba itself. Each time, though, he effects his escape, either through his own ingenuity or because of Afrasiyab’s credulity. It is in Amar’s nature to trick people and he will always do so, it is Afrasiyab’s lot to be tricked and it will continue to be so... ************************** Afrasiyab knocked. The earth parted and a saahir (sorcerer/magician) emerged. A hideous sight he was. Afrasiyab handed the saahir a takhti (wooden writing tablet) and said, “O Aazar Jaadu! Be off immediately. Amar Ayyar has murdered Mehtaab in the forest, and is still at large. Go, find him and arrest him. And so that you recognise him, here is a picture. Though it is the photograph of a woman, it will assume the face of the ayyar, in his real form, no matter how he disguises himself. When you come across anyone on the way in the forest, be sure to see this photograph first. And if the one who you meet is not the ayyar, the picture will remain of a woman.” And so with the photo in his hands, Aazar Jaadu set off for Mehtaab’s forest and started searching for Amar in all directions. But Amar too was in the same forest and sitting at a spot, wondering, “Let us see what happens here. There are thousands and thousands of saahirs in this forest. How will one kill them all? We are trapped in a tilism and do not know where the lauh-e-tilism (the template containing secrets about the tilism’s destruction) is? Who knows what happened to Asad, where has he gone? Is he even alive or is he dead?” As he sat thinking, Amar saw a saahir wandering about, as if searching for someone. Amar thought in his heart, “This bastard should also be killed. The fewer there are of these, the better it is.” And thinking this, he disguised himself as a saahir and headed off in his direction. Aazar beheld that a magician with flames erupting from his ears, eyes and nose was coming towards him. Aazar Jaadu went towards him and asked, “Who are you?” Amar said, “First you tell me your name!” Aazar Jaadu told him his name and lineage and said he had come to find Amar. Amar said, “I too am looking for him. I am a relative of Mehtaab Jaadu and from the moment I have heard of his death, I am in search of this Amar the trickster.” Aazar said, “Let us look for him together.” Amar set off with him and was looking for a chance to kill him when Aazar Jadu remembered – “The Emperor had said, look at the picture whenever you meet anyone.” And so he pulled out the photograph and beheld that it had assumed the shape of the real Amar – fox-faced, cumin-eyed, apricot-eared, kulcha (flat bread) like cheeks, thread like neck, rope-limbed. His lower torso was six yards and the upper portion measured three yards. Seeing this vision of apocalypse, Aazar Jaadu got nervous and realised that this was an ayyar before him, who had changed his form to that of a sorcerer with trickery. He mumbled a spell and Amar instantly lost control of his hands and legs. Aazar Jaadu pulled out a chain from his bag, tied Amar’s hands and started walking with Amar by his side. Amar pleaded, “Oh brother! Why do this to me without rhyme or reason!” Aazar replied, “You cheat, you were tricking me? I am well aware of your affair, you are the one called Amar.” Amar became angry and said, “Child, doesn’t look like you will survive now. Looks like you have cut yourself a ticket to hell. Do you have any idea that one lakh eighty four thousand ayyars have entered the tilism. One or the other is bound to appear and kill you.” Aazar said, “I will kill them all. I am not one to be frightened by your threats.” And he marched on with Amar. From a distance Zirgaam saw that a saahir had captured his master and was taking him away. Looking for a way to free him he found, up ahead, an ahir (cowherd) herding his cows. He went up to him, tricked him and hid him, unconscious, in the bushes. He then wore his clothes – headgear, loin cloth and waistband – and painted his face like the ahir. He picked up a stake and started tending to the cows. When Aazar Jaadu reached the spot with Amar, he saw a cowherd tending to his flock. Since the heat was intense and he had been walking long, as soon as Aazar Jaadu saw the ahir, he said, “O ahir, if you have a lota (brass pot) and a string, fetch me some water, please.” The ahir said, “O Lord, you have been walking in the sun. If you want, I can get you some milk. Drink milk, what is water?” This was Zirgaam’s trick, but would Aazar Jaadu realise it? (Translated by Shveta Sarda from the 'Dastan-e-Amir Hamza', performed by Mahmood U.R. Farooqui at the Sarai-CSDS Independent Fellowship workshop, 26 August 2005, Delhi.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIDE [02] RADIO KOTINA Thirty seven year-old Akhtar Ali worked as a radio technician, in a local radio manufacturing unit, all his life. Here, a team of self-trained technicians purchased the latest Phillips and Murphy radio models available in the market, copied and mastered their circuitry, innovated on it and made low cost Radio Kotina models using locally available parts. These radio sets flooded the market and became popular both for their design and affordability. His first memory of the city begins with a moment narrated to him many times over by his mother: “The government made us roofless with promises of a 22 sq.ft. plot. We had not been able to gather our things, even take down the boards for keeping the household utensils when they brought everything down. And we were transported to an open ground out of the city. We reached here in the evening.” What must the future have looked like to Akhtar’s mother, as the sun set in the horizon of the expanse of nothingness that surrounded them? This was the late 1970s. Akhtar was one year old at the time. Over the next 35 years, they built their life, and that of the family. Today they have a two-storied house, where Akhtar lives with his mother, his wife and young daughter, his brother and his brother’s family. They lived through many realities and many changes, but possibly one among them has been the fulcrum of their life – the popularity of radio. Television and video had not yet arrived in India, and there was a wide scope for radio marketing from villages to towns. During the 80s, local manufacturing played a decisive role in taking radio to all classes of people. Radio Kotina also grew in this context. Akhtar learnt this work with an ustad, another self-taught technician, in the neighbourhood, in the early 80s and they entered local manufacturing with Radio Kotina together. Akhtar worked under this ustad. There was a fine heirarchy and division of labour in the workshop from the beginning. At the top would be the ‘Engineer No. 1’ – the person responsible for copying from the sets available in the market and designing a new circuitry, and possibly a new casing for the set. “Most of the technicians work on a piece-rate basis. The wireman who undertakes the wiring and soldering of plates can turn out only 25 to 30 plates daily. In comparison, the fitter fits out 50 sets on an average per day. An engineer can easily carry out the tuning and checking of 100 sets. Thus their daily income varies from Rs. 75, Rs.150 and Rs.300. The wireman’s work is the most strenuous. Sitting steady for hours with concentration can be the most tiring but fetches the lowest income.” The work of a wireman is what Akhtar’s wife had to learn when Akhtar suffered from a heart attack at the age of 35. She recalls: “The long treatment as well as household expenses led to mounting debts. It was very difficult to carry on. Akhtar joined work, but his working hours were considerably reduced. So he taught me the technique to assemble a radio unit, and would bring work home. I picked up the wiring work quite nicely. I would attend to the domestic work and also bring in some income from this work.” After the heart attack, Akhtar’s imminent rise to the level of Engineer No. 1 was truncated. But that did not remain the only problem. The site of the workshop was itself contentious. Workshops like these run through having negotiated for themselves certain basic amenities through a protracted negotiation with administration, and through making gradual maneuvers to obtain administrative orders from state authorities, a few guarantees of infrastructure which could be taken away any time. Akhtar explains: “After 2000 quite a change has come over the atmosphere of the city. An exercise to make Delhi into Paris was under way. There was a drive to demolish non-legal colonies. After the 1996 orders of the Supreme Court closing down 168 bigger factories, the small-scale industries were next in queue. There was an unsuccessful attempt in 2001 to shift the small-scale units to conforming zones. The legal action for relocation had begun, and Kotina closed down.” Akhtar had devoted the best years of his life to learning and innovating in techniques around radio. He now insists on earning his livelihood for the time being from running a fruit juice handcart in the neighbourhood. Lokesh lokesh at sarai.net (Lokesh is a researcher with the Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SANTOSH RADIO It is the decade of the 80s. The presence of radio among the working classes was a rarity. Owning a clock, a radio, or a cycle was a matter of great social prestige. These items would be high up on the list of demands for dowry from a bride at the time of marriage. Then arrived Santosh Radio, a made-in-Delhi brand which gave established brands like Phillips and Murphy a run for their money. It even replaced the brands manufactured in Nepal, which carried the made-in-China mark. With low cost as their biggest virtue, Santosh Radio or 'Delhi Brand' becma the most common object in the bridegroom's luggae as he left home after marriage. Over time, with increasing waves of migration from Bihar to Delhi, people curious about what their children did in that far away city began to talk of them as 'Delhi Brand' - good-looking, promising, but a little unreliable (Sadan Jha, sadan at sarai.net, Sarai-CSDS.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ VANI / VOICE With the coming of the gramophone records in the market from 1902 onwards, a new music seems to have been introduced in Maharashtra. The Sangeet Natak (Musical Theatre), a specific genre in the tradition of commercial theatre in Maharashtra of touring repertory theatrical troupes which nurtured the practice of female impersonation (men playing female roles), immediately accessed this music. From the beginning of this theatre music came from ‘outside’ sources; in the context of the Sangeet Natak, eclecticism can be seen in the form of deploying tunes from a vast variety of musical genres and traditions. The music genres popularised through the gramophone records – thumri and allied forms – were not entirely unknown to musicians and music listeners in Maharashtra, but with the gramophone records they were out in the public space in the voice of women. In the specific case of Maharashtrian theatre, the availability of new music meant an expansion of its cultural sources. The composition of songs for Balgandharva’s roles, a singer-actor with the Sangeet Natak and perhaps the most famous ‘female impersonator’, borrowed heavily from the gramophone recordings of female singers such as Gauhar Jan. A unique actor even in the tradition of the practice of female impersonation because of the length of his career, he was in his times a ‘star heroine’ and lives on in the memory of theatre lovers for his representation of the ‘ideal woman’. As a singer, Balgandharva is recognised as a model for both his musical attributes and performance aesthetic. With the choice of tunes for Balgandharva’s songs for Manapaman, a play in the immediate aftermath of the gramophone, the vocal achievements of the heroine’s singing are distanced from the heroine’s singing in the earlier era, and seem to define a new aesthetic. Are Balgandharva’s songs simply copies of the songs recorded by the women singers? Such a possibility is preempted in the way voice is used and understood in the ’Indian’ traditions of singing. First of all, we have to note that Balgandharva did not sing in the high pitch of the women singers. Further, his vocal attributes are described differently from the voices of women singers. A contemporary critic describes the subtleties of the voices of singers, whom he heard only on the gramophone records, thus: Gauhar Jan – mohak (attractive), bhardar (full), god (sweet), nirmal (clear); Malka Jan – god, patal (thin), lavchik ( flexible); Janaki Bai – chadha (high pitched). A search for the adjectives that describe Balgandharva’s voice in this period produce madhur (sweet), manjul (melodious), najuk (delicate/soft), zardar/jawaridar (resonant) and flexible. The earlier models of good voice on stage are associated with tej (luminosity) and exceptional throw of voice. These changes are significant both in terms of the musical style, as well as in fashioning the representation of femininity on stage. If we look at the implications of the transformation of tunes, it is clear that the force and voice throw in the women singers is being moderated considerably. The traditional feature of the voice throw in the women singers, ‘call’ in the voice, is noticeably absent in Balgandharva‘s clear and open voice. On the other hand, the traditional association of thumri with the expression of the ‘woman’s voice’ seems meditated by Balgandharva’s style, which foregrounds only certain aspects of the women singer’s style. Restraint seems to be the key word in understanding Balgandharva’s singing in the post-gramaphone era and to understand this singing style as the model for representing femininity in theatre. Looking at Balgandharva and Goharbai (an actress/singer who later tried to make her place in the Sangeet Natak), another understanding of individuality and imitation emerges. Balgandharva’s training and a lot of compositions of his songs fall within the practice of imitation. Balgandharva’s training depended much on repeating the bandish (base tune) many times over. Goharbai’s records suggest how she imitated Balgandharva’s singing, through repetition. This does not deny individual agency to their singing. What is of interest, however, is the perception of this relationship between imitation and individuality: how the public saw an instance of self-created music in Balgandharva’s singing (which itself we have seen is an instance of the transmuted imitation of ‘feminine voice’) and considers Goharbai as at best derivative (as only imitating). This same ‘imitation’ was unacceptable in place of the ‘original’, even in the heat of arguments favouring the ‘real’ woman enacting female roles. (Excerpted and adapted from ‘The Relationship between The Production and Consumption of Thumri and Allied Forms: The Female Impersonator – Balgandharva’ by Urmila Bhirdikar, Sarai-CSDS Independent Fellow, 2004-05.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LISTENING AND LEARNING In October 1930 the Calcutta Radio Station began a music lesson programme of Bengali songs. The programme ran for the next 40 years till about 1975. The greatest advantage of the ‘Music Lesson Programme’ was that music was taught with notation, i.e., the ‘tutor’ sang the song and then elucidated the notes in the song structure. Pankaj Kumar Mallick, the first ‘teacher’, made it a routine to dictate notations and give listeners instructions on how to follow them. In the initial years the Vetar Jagat, a fortnightly radio programme publication, also published the songs with the notations in advance. Listeners who could follow the notations, could master the songs without mistake. With an emphasis on non-classical music, the programme became immensely popular amongst its listeners. Especially children with little or no opportunity to learn music from music school or an individual tutor, found an avenue to learn music from a wireless teacher. It also served as the base of learning for prospective artistes. The programme arranged for musical competitions selected from the songs taught on the radio. Enthusiastic patrons encouraged amateur performers by sponsoring competitions and awarding prizes. A patron or sponsor could be anybody – a zamindar (landowner), a writer, or just a pleased listener. From 1939 onwards, several music lesson programmes began. The music lesson programmes helped popularise Bengali music amongst listeners. New groups of audiences grew up appreciating music through radio. In time, these audiences went on to form the main pool from which ‘amateur’ artistes for the radio emerged. (Excerpted from ‘Mediation Through Radio’ by Indira Biswas, Sarai-CSDS Independent Fellow, 2003-04.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A LINE, IT ‘GOES’/ IT'S PASSE Information regarding government notifications about what needs to be done by its people spreads like rumours, even as it is true and verifiable. It is a reality in which everyone must participate – whether it is getting new ration cards or I-cards made, getting a water pipe connected or an electricity cable laid. These are lengthy procedures, and the first step is filling forms. Every form demands that each person revisit and consider afresh their understanding of what constitutes their ‘selves’. One watches oneself in new ways, in different avatars in the light of different dates from one’s life. As soon as we become comfortable with one way of seeing ourselves, the forms remind us where we belong, what marks we have on our body. One fills the form as required, and prepares this renewable ‘self’ to be hidden, once again, beneath a stamp with an ink of a different colour from the time before. And so it happens that in this fast paced city with its millions, everyone halts and waits to submit their forms in slow moving lines. One summer we got intimation that we had to get new ration cards made. We don’t really use ration cards for rations, but they are essential as proofs of identity and residence, and serve as ‘solid’ documents for any government related work. So no one raised an eyebrow when forms were handed out. Of course everyone knew this meant a round of standing in long lines, but the procedure was important. So, it’s really ok, it ‘goes’. My mother likes to get government related work done as soon as possible. She sat me down at the table to fill the form that evening. It was a small sheet – not too many questions. Just these: *Name of head of the family, *Number of previous card, *Residential address, *Current address, *Postal address, *Do you want to add any name, *Do you want to remove any name, *Attach a photocopy of previous card, *Attach a photocopy of voter I-card/water bill/electricity bill, *Attach two passport size photographs of head of the family. I filled the form. Five or six women from the neighbourhood, including my mother, got together and planned that we should leave early to deposit the forms and finish quickly. Next morning, we reached the office by 4:30 A.M. It is a two-storied building, surrounded by tea and snack stalls. When we arrived we saw there was already a long queue. A sheet still lay spread on one of the benches – people must have slept here the night before. Government offices don’t open before 10:00 A.M. Why were so many people here so early? It reflected the experience of feet that have travelled far trying to get government related work done. Everyone was sitting in queue. I went and stood beside a tea stall, while my mother joined the queue with her companions and they sat down to chat. Almost all present were women. The reason an all-women’s group had come from my neighbourhood was that women are attended to first at collection windows. Everyone sat in different positions – some hugging their knees and rocking on their haunches, some carefully covering their heads with their sarees. Time ticked by slowly as the women chatted, and the queue kept growing. A men’s queue formed alongside. Tea stalls opened for business. People read each others’ forms, compared notes. It seemed as if everyone asked the other to fill the form the way they had, so that in case of error, it would be no one’s alone; or everyone, without exception, would have their forms filled correctly. It was past 10:00 AM. There were around 200 people in the queue by now. A small window opened in the building. Inside, behind a desk, sat two officers, each with two boxes placed besides them. Two juniors stood on the side. They would take the forms and old ration cards from behind the netted iron grill in the window, and pass them to their seniors. The iron door to the building remained bolted. The seated queue began to rise. Bodies moved in the direction of the window, pushing the line ahead. My mother was standing now. She asked me to stand at the mouth of the queue. I stood near the window and started watching the proceedings. Lakhmi C. Kohli lakhmi at cm.sarai.net (Lakhmi is a researcher-practitioner and content editor with Cybermohalla (Ankur+Sarai-CSDS). He is part of the editorial collective of the Cybermohalla broadsheet, “Bade Bade Shehron Mein Kuchh Namm Baatein”.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE MAKING OF THE CROWD One of the ADs (Assistant Director) calls up a dubbing artiste coordinator with a list of requirements. For example: - Ten kids for classroom and park scenes (mixed) - General crowd (mixed - 15 to 20 persons) - Schoolgirl (8-10 years) - Maid (40-45 years) - Salesman (30s) The most common requirement in feature films is for ‘crowd scenes’. Depending on what the crowd picturised is doing in the scene, professional dubbing artistes can provide a wide range of variations – from crowds shrieking in a riot, to the steady murmur of a crowd in an auditorium. Individual lines may or may not be clearly heard in these cases. The aim is to create a particular atmosphere. Then come the individual, distinctly seen and heard, roles where the dubbing artiste has to match the actor’s lip movements. These can vary in length from a few words to several scenes. The AD then describes the kind of voices needed in terms of the age, quality of voice (bass/shrill) and character. Most dubbing artistes are peculiarly malleable, insofar as they can switch in a moment from low-pitched suave executive to an abusive truck driver. And of course the movie business is one that deals heavily in stereotypes, which in turn have spawned an industry of super-specialised talents. “It’s not as if you just land up, say a few lines and go home richer. ‘Acting’ karna padta hai (You need to ‘act’). You have to understand the character and the scene. Sometimes they make you cry for your dead son, sometimes you have to laugh like a madman…you have to get emotional.“ The industry relies heavily on existing networks and personal contacts. Most positions are filled and studios booked on the basis of friendly recommendations or second hand advice. “It’s not like you can go to a junior artiste’s website and pick the faces and profiles you think most suitable. Someone puts you on to a coordinator for reasons that could pertain to efficiency, price, variety or a small ‘cut’ on the side. You like his/her work and recommend them to your friends. And so on.“ Such a system can encourage a particular kind of entrepreneur, such as Surekha. “After I got over my initial diffidence, I started to try for bigger roles. Simultaneously my contacts grew. I met with a lot of directors, producers, sound engineers and dubbing artistes along the way. I figured that I could easily use this network to start my own thing. After all, I had a dense and ready database of voice artistes, studio contacts and potential clients. Bombay mein sab kuchh goodwill pe chalta hai (In Bombay everything runs on goodwill).” (As told by Surekha Prasad (voice artiste) to Debashree Mukherjee. Debashree is a researcher with the Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LOCALITY DJ These days, one can hear the boom of a DJ in every nook and corner. Sometimes at weddings, or at birthdays, everywhere one sees the DJ. A few days ago, there was such a programme in our locality, at the centre of which was the DJ. It was during the Ramlila festival. Walking through the streets one evening, my gaze fell on a poster pasted on the walls of the urinal on the corner. On it was printed DANCE COMPETITION. Along with the names of the organisers and participants, was printed the programme for the evening – the slaying of Ravana, followed by the dance competition. The dance competition generated great excitement amongst the young people in the locality. The most animated were the music shops, from where young participants were getting their favourite songs recorded for rehearsals. The wait began for Dusshera. On Dusshera, in the centre of a large ground, in the middle of the locality, stood a huge puppet of Ravana, and in a corner of the same ground a stage of about 18 ft. by 19 ft. had been erected by joining several wooden tables together. Three sides of the stage were covered to form walls and a ceiling, and the fourth side opened out to the audience. In front of the stage stood rows upon rows of chairs. On the stage sat the DJ, surrounded by his equipment – mixer, amplifier, CD player, and joined to them ten speakers in groups of five, arrayed resplendently along two sides of the stage. Halogen lamps hung from tall wooden poles, bathing the area in a warm yellow light. All in all, the stage looked set for a long evening. Instead of carpets the stage was covered with a makeshift floor, on which had been laid crooked plastic strips. Perhaps the competitors would dance on these. Behind the stage hung a banner with information about the competition. This banner was flanked by two banners on which were written ‘Shiva Gym’ and ‘Triple Jeans’. It was 7:30 in the evening. A crowd had begun gathering in the ground. Preparations were on to set Ravana on fire. The DJ started doing his thing. Someone announced the evening’s programme on the mike. People began gathering in front of the stage. As soon as the Ravana puppet caught fire, the crowd began to scatter. The first young man stepped up on stage to prove his mettle. Wearing a black shirt and pants, he began dancing like Salman Khan to ‘Lagan Lagi, Lagan Lagi ’. As he spun, the DJ too would dance from time to time. Despite the many halogen lamps, disco lights had been provided for on the stage, but they were playing on the DJ rather than the dancers. The programme was beginning to pick up. A few spectators began to sway to the music, dancing intermittently. During the programme an announcement was made thanking the organisers and mentioning them by name. It was now 10:30 at night. All the participants had demonstrated their skill. The judges were called upon to announce the winners. In an instant, the owners of the gym and the jeans company materialised on stage as the presiding judges. I suddenly understood the story behind the two banners alongside the competition banner. Having announced the winners, they invited all the participants to come up on stage. A crowd formed as everyone began dancing. The scene was comparable to a film show. Seeing the programme draw to a close, people began making their way out. I too made my way home. Bhagwati Prasad bhagwati at sarai.net (Bhagwati Prasad is a researcher with the Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BACKPAGE SARAI[S]: The doorkeeper of Sarai No. 102, (Licence No. 28/7/0099/J) located at coordinates 33 radial, 28” on the asteroid belt looked askance at the occupants of the decrepit spacemobile that was trying to dock on to one of the landing pods of the sarai. They were beaming no valid ID, and did not seem to have any recognisable RFID signal. The doorkeeper semaphored an instruction to present identification before parking and recieved five blurred holograms in reply. Forged human fingerprint scans. The doorkeeper faced his habitual dilemma. To let the strangers in and keep the doorkeeper’s oath to never turn away a traveller when there were empty rooms at the sarai, or to stick to the letter of the recent inter-galactic security instructions, and never let a stranger in without verifying them. Something was amiss. Did the travellers not know about the recent regulations, were they from a different time? The doorkeeper waited, wondering if the strangers had enough fuel for the long trek back through space and time to wherever they had come from. While waiting, he entertained an idle thought, “Is a verified stranger less a stranger than an unverified one?” No amount of turning this thought around and about several times in his mind led to any satisfactory conclusion. The doorkeeper sent out his request, this time expressed as a command. “Identify yourself.” There was still no response. - Readers are invited to continue this story. Write to broadsheet @ sarai.net *** World Information City 14 – 19 November 2005, Bangalore, India World Information City is a one-week programme of events addressing global issues of intellectual property and technology in conjunction with changing urban landscapes. The programme brings together researchers, artists and activists from Europe and South Asia. It consists of a conference, workshops, an exhibition, a public campaign and a series of musical and art events based on electronic media. For more details, see: http://world-information.org/wio World Information City Conference, 17 – 18 November, 2005 Cubbon Park Auditorium, Bangalore The conference segment of World Information City brings together panels, discursive and research based presentations and conversations on ‘Information’ and the ‘City’ as societal and political realities, with a particular emphasis on their interrelationships. World Information City is a collaborative project of the Institute of New Culture Technologies/TO(Vienna), ALF (Bangalore), Waag Society (Amsterdam), Sarai-CSDS (Delhi), Mahiti (Bangalore) and local partners. This issue of Sarai.txt has been produced as a response to the concerns and provocations of World Information City. *** PUBLICATIONS Contested Commons/Trespassing Publics: A Public Record This compilation links a wide spectrum of political, social and cultural issues embedded in ‘the property question’. Varied voices explore new paradigms of practice in relation to the global intellectual property regime, its enforcement, as well as its violation and subversion by a compelling array of resilient figures. It deconstructs the capital-driven processes of enclosure in the contexts of software, file-sharing, patents, biopiracy, indigenous knowledge, cyber art, virtual exchange, literary history, theology and law, among others, while celebrating the emancipatory potential of knowledge sharing through the ethical creation of a commons that is vibrant, open and free. The book is available for free download at: http://www.sarai.net/events/ip_conf/ip_conf.htm *** The XML schema for this broadsheet's poster uses the schema from the NewsRack project, developed by Subramanium Shastry, Sarai-CSDS Floss Fellow. NewsRack is an online browser-based RSS tracker for classifying, filing, and long-term archiving of news. It allows users to specify subjective concept categories to specify filtering rules that are used to select relevant articles from incoming news feeds. Visit: http://floss.sarai/newsrack ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [END OF BROADSHEET] CREDITS Editorial Collective: Aarti Sethi Iram Ghufran Shveta Sarda Editorial Co-ordinator: Monica Narula Design (print version): Mrityunjay Chatterjee Photographs: Monica Narula Write to broadsheet at sarai.net From hfg at konsumerziehung.de Thu Dec 1 21:14:35 2005 From: hfg at konsumerziehung.de (he tears consume) Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 16:44:35 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: 312 online presents Beate Zurwehme In-Reply-To: References: <43843541.2090400@sarai.net> Message-ID: <4d699add540336c693ff84a3a314e839@konsumerziehung.de> 312 Online presents our latest online video: CURRENT 312 ONLINE VIDEO December 1 – 31, 2005 / Beate Zurwehme, “Wat a wonderful day” View it at: http://zurwehme.org/2-13.mov (A high-speed connection is recommended for viewing 312 online videos.) 312 Online’s twelfth exhibition is an symbolic tale of a rabbi lying on a grassy green hill. Zurwehme explores the absurdity often found in tales aimed at the very young, but adds a macabre twist. In “Wat a wonderful day,” the rabbi becomes convinced of his own omnipotent powers and sets out to destroy what he sees. Beate Zurwehme has a BFA from Ontario College of Art and Design. Her award-winning art movies have been featured in numerous festivals. Cheers, Mark Prier Corner Brook, NL www.312.ca From aarti at sarai.net Thu Dec 1 17:57:29 2005 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 17:57:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] EVENINGS @ SARAI Message-ID: <438EEC31.6000405@sarai.net> *EVENINGS @ SARAI *Dear All, Winter is here and we thought it would be a good idea to warm things up with coffee and conversation in the Sarai cafe, and elsewhere in Delhi. So this month we have a series of 'conversational' events lined up - book readings, open mic and more. So come, spread the word and bring your friends. Hears to seeing you, and to the warmth of conversations. Warmly, Aarti Sethi ============================================== Open Mic: An Evening of Poetry and Spoken Word ============================== * Open Mic: An Evening of Poetry and Spoken Word* 5:30 pm, Monday, 12 December 2005 Featured Performer: *Jeet Thayil* This month we invite friends interested in experimenting with the poetic/prose form to jam in the Sarai cafe. We hope this can become a regular event in which people working across forms such as film, image-making, sound and text can come together and share their work in an open, relaxed and fun context. Everyone will get 5-7 minutes to read, and the mic will circulate. You can share poetry, spoken word, a short prose piece, a performance, singly or in groups, in any language (though do be prepared to translate for those uninitiated :) The reading order will be decided on a first-come-first-serve basis.'Live readings' will be interspersed with recordings of poetry and spoken word by Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath among others. This month's featured performer is Jeet Thayil. So come, spread the word and invite your friends! ==================== Book-reading @ Sarai ==================== *New Life* Sharmistha Mohanty 5:30 pm, Thursday, 15 December 2005 Interface Zone Sarai-CSDS We invite you for an evening of coffee and conversation with Sharmistha Mohanty, author of 'New Life'. Sharmistha will read sections from the book and Vivek Narayanan will be the discussant for the evening. "The past comes through in New Life as so many melodic lines converging and then separating in strange yet vaguely familiar ways. These lines, I am afraid, will haunt you, because just when you will begin to think nostalgia is getting you, you will recognise in some surprise that it is not a lost world that Sharmistha Mohanty is invoking but a living world that survives in fragments, tentatively yet confidently, all around us. It is a world that has lost none of its vitality for being half-forgotten or cornered. The search is not for a lost history but for a self within which fragments of past selves will find a place." - Ashis Nandy. [Sharmistha Mohanty received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the Iowa Writer's Workshop. She is the author of the screenplay for the film Nazar (1989) by Mani Kaul, and two novels-- Book One (1995) and the just published New Life (India Ink /Roli Books, 2005). Her fiction has also appeared in the journals, Ploughshares (Boston), Siecle 21 (Paris) and Gender and History (London), and Inertia Magazine (New York, online.] ============================== ================== Sarai Reader 05: Bare Acts Picnic II: The Border ================================================ *The Border* Lodhi Gardens, Delhi 3:00 pm, Saturday, 24 December 2005 Directions: Gather at Lodhi Gardens, Gate No. III (next to India International Centre, Joseph Stein Marg) at 2:30 PM. From this November onwards we have initiated a monthly informal discussion around particular texts from the Sarai Readers. We have begun by looking at Sarai Reader 05: Bare Acts. The idea is to get different people to respond to texts from their particular locations and perspectives, and share this with a group of interested interlocutors in an informal, conversational setting. Each month we will consider a different set of texts grouped around a broad theme. Visitors are welcome to bring snacks and beverages to provide the conversation with nourishment! The first picnic was held on the 5th of November at Lodhi gardens around the themes of Gender and Sexuality. This month's session on the afternoon of the 24th of December, is called 'The Border' in which we will try and explore the many ways in which the conditions of the border, or borderline conditions, become generalized. The following texts will be discussed. If you would like to be a discussant for a text, and for more information about the picnic, write to Aarti Sethi: aarti at sarai.net Marginalia by Kai Friese: http://www.sarai.net/journal/05_pdf/03/05_kai.pdf The Discovery of the Fifth World: Stealth Countries and Logo nations by Meta Haven Project: http://www.sarai.net/journal/05_pdf/03/01_metahaven.pdf The Strange Case of Qays Al Kareem, by Tripta Wahi: http://www.sarai.net/journal/05_pdf/03/04_qay.pdf On Smugglers, Pirates and Aroma Makers, by Ursula Biemann: http://www.sarai.net/journal/05_pdf/03/06_ursula.pdf Dreams and Disguises, As Usual, by Raqs Media Collective: http://www.sarai.net/journal/05_pdf/03/09_raqs.pdf Lepers, Witches and Infidels & It;s a Bug's Life, by Francesca Da Rimini: http://www.sarai.net/journal/05_pdf/01/04_francesca.pdf _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From turbulence at turbulence.org Fri Dec 2 00:17:51 2005 From: turbulence at turbulence.org (Turbulence) Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 10:47:51 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Turbulence 2005 Fundraiser :: Art Donated :: Please Support Us Message-ID: December 1, 2005 New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc./Turbulence Fundraiser http://turbulence.org/fundraiser_05/index.html Art work donated by Cory Arcangel, Kate Armstrong, Andy Deck, Jason Freeman, Mariam Ghani, Peter Horvath, Yael Kanarek, Michael Takeo Magruder, Michael Mandiberg, MTAA, Yoshi Sodeoka, Helen Thorington and Ricardo Miranda Zuñiga Dear Friends, New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA) will be 25 years old in 2006; Turbulence will be 10 years old. Despite the expansion of our projects, the acceleration of our support for net artists, and the valuable resources we provide in our networked_performance blog and New American Radio archive, NRPA has seen a decline in its operating support. As a result, much of our hard work forgoes compensation. Of equal concern is the dual role our server is forced to perform: archiving work produced since 1996 and supporting new commissions that require cutting edge technologies and later versions of its current software. It¹s time for a new server. We need your support. Please help us preserve our archives and support emerging artists and technologies. Numerous Turbulence artists have generously donated DVDs, CDs, archival prints, T-Shirts and more. Choose from this impressive array or simply make a donation today. http://turbulence.org/fundraiser_05/index.html With Gratitude, Helen Thorington and Jo-Anne Green Co-Directors New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org New York: 917.548.7780 € Boston: 617.522.3856 Turbulence: http://turbulence.org New American Radio: http://somewhere.org Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From cahen.x at levels9.com Fri Dec 2 15:03:40 2005 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 10:33:40 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] pourinfos Newsletter / 11-25 to 12-01-2005 Message-ID: <439014F4.40207@levels9.com> pourinfos.org l'actualite du monde de l'art / daily Art news ----------------------------------------------------------------------- infos from November 25, 2005 to December 01, 2005 (included) ------------------------------------------------------------------- (mostly in french) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Call : International exhibition of Contemporary art Jeune Création 2006, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2420 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Call : « emerging video » influences and shifts, Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes, Marly le Roi, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2419 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 Call : DUTA the biennial of visual arts 2nd edition 8, March 18, 2007, Douala, Cameroun. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2418 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Call : video submissions as papers, Interval (2), London, United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2417 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Call : Seek people, "Culte bleu", Lille, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2416 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Meetings : numeric Workshop: numerical vegetation and landscapes, Wednesday December 7, 2005, Maison de l'architecture en Île-de-France, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2414 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Meetings : Christophe Atabekian, Wednesday December 7, 2005, Ciren, Ensad, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2413 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Meetings : Multi-media "To change the course" of A.Strid, Tuesday December 13,, Mardi 13 décembre 2005, ECM Kawenga, Montpellier, France. lien http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2415 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Meetings : ""Art, sciences and technologies", Friday December 2, 2005 Maison Populaire, Montreuil, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2412 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Meetings : Conferences “l’arte nel web” by Domenico Olivero, January 13, 2006, Borgo San Dalmazzo (Cuneo) Italy. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2411 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Meetings : 20th anniversary of éditions Paris Expérimental, Saturday December 3, 2005, Film Gallery, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2394 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Publication : OPuS , the Sociologie review of art has now its Internet site, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2410 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Publication : The book Traced Dances, collection choregraphie-essais, Dis Voir, UD-Flammarion, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2409 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Job : Two Media ,Theorists, one Cultural Theorist and one Contemporary Art Historian, Transart Institute, Krems, Austria. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2408 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Various : "poetry like a virus", Indicipline 15, Marseille, France. lien http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2407 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Screening : not line plan, MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2405 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Screening : Modern tales, Demain dès l'aube, Centre Pompidou, Paris France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2404 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Exhibition : Offshore, CAPC de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2403 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Exhibition : Jens Wolf, le Grand Café à Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Nazaire, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2402 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Program : Movie theater le Barbizon, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2406 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Exhibition : GöTEBORG-CERGY, the window of l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2401 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Exhibition : Realistic exhibition Company - International Museum of Graffitti, Espace en cours, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2400 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Exhibition : shells and cedillas - current art and poetry, Public library of Lyon - la Part Dieu, Lyon, France. lien http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2399 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Exhibition : Christine Laquet, Yvan le Bozec, Bevis Martin, Florian et Mickael Quistrebert, Dominique Tisserandet et Charlie Youle, galerie ipso facto, Nantes, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2398 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Exhibition : 3 days action with MILANO STOP, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy. lien http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2397 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Exhibition : "dangerous affair" 12, Aude Du Pasquier Grall, Miss China Beauty , Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2396 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Exhibition : "Global Tour. Art, travel and beyond" W139, Amsterdam, Netherlands. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2395 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Call : Temporary Identities, ArtExpo 2006 Exhibitions, Capurso (Bari), Italy. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2393 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Call : Call for Applications: Artists-in-residence project 2006,Graz, Austria. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2392 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Meetings : The Architects of the urgency need architects, Wednesday November 30, 2005, Maison de l'architecture en Île-de-France, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2391 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Meetings : Conference urban sound Design, Tuesday January 10, 2006, Week of the Sound, Ircam, Paris, France. lien http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2390 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Meetings : "In-out: creation, traffic and information ", Wednesday November 30, 2005, university Paris 8, Saint-denis, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2389 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Meetings : Conference, international Demonstration in homage to Pierre Schaeffer, December 5, and 6, 2005, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2387 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Publication : Space: Architecture for Art, CIRCA Art Magazine, CIRCA publication, Dublin 2, Ireland. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2386 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Publication : Semaine 48.05, édition Analogues, March-April 2005, Arles, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2385 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Publication : "contemporary creation", National center of visual arts, Paris-La Défense, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2384 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 Various : A Merry Christmas without our Web radios? Not to the DRM, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2383 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Various : Result of the votes: 2nd ONE SECOND VIDEO FESTIVAL, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2382 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Variouss : Frank Madlener succeeds Bernard Stiegler at the direction of Ircam,, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2381 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Exhibition: Alice and concealed temptations, association "Alice still Alive", pavillon de l’Ermitage, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2380 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Exhibition : "And there high corbels", Monique Josse, Atelier d'Estienne, Pont-Scorff, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2379 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 Sceening : Ultimate stop for 18es Instants Vidéo Nomades, Polygone Etoilé, Marseille, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2378 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 Sceening : experimental cinema & concerts, Friday December 09, 2005, Point Ephémère, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2377 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 Performance : Anne-Sarah Le Meur, Soirée Côté Labo, Tuesday November 29, 2005, Le Cube, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2376 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 Program : Photographic gallery de visu, Nancy, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2375 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 46 Exhibition : Guy Lemonnier, 36bis, la galerie de l’école, Ecole Régionale Supérieure d’Expression Plastique, Tourcoing. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2374 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 Exhibition : Plein-Pots, La Général, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2373 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 Exhibition: No bolts this wall, galerie,de/di/bY office, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2372 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 Exhibition : MY FRAC, a glance on the collection of the funds regional of contemporary art, Arts centre, Center of Creations for Childhood, Tinqueux, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2371 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 50 Exhibition : Florim Hasani, 36bis, la galerie de l’école, Ecole Régionale Supérieure d’Expression Plastique, Tourcoing, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2370 From jhuns at vt.edu Fri Dec 2 18:30:26 2005 From: jhuns at vt.edu (Jeremy Hunsinger) Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 08:00:26 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] cfp: Internet Research 7.0, Brisbane 28-30 sept. '06 References: <092BF7A1BC389E489A69DC764F23CD87045BDCE7@exmsp2.perth.ad.curtin.edu.au> Message-ID: <3A80E739-1A57-4975-BE76-4CF11FE0B5F9@vt.edu> > please distribute as appropriate, apologies for cross-posting > CALL FOR PAPERS > > IR 7.0: INTERNET CONVERGENCES > International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of > Internet Researchers > > Brisbane, Australia > 28-30 September 2006 > > Pre-Conference Workshops: 27 September 2006 > > INTERNET CONVERGENCES > > The Internet works as an arena of convergence. Physically dispersed > and > marginalized people (re)find themselves online for the sake of > sustaining and extending community. International and > interdisciplinary > teams now collaborate in new ways. Diverse cultures engage one another > via CMC. These technologies relocate and refocus capital, labor and > immigration, and they open up new possibilities for political, > potentially democratizing, forms of discourse. Moreover, these > technologies themselves converge in multiple ways, e.g. in > Internet-enabled mobile phones, in Internet-based telephony, and in > computers themselves as "digital appliances" that conjoin > communication > and multiple media forms. These technologies also facilitate > fragmentations with greater disparities between the information-haves > and have-nots, between winners and losers in the shifting labor and > capital markets, and between individuals and communities. Additionally > these technologies facilitate information filtering that reinforces, > rather than dialogically challenges, narrow and extreme views. > > CALL FOR PAPERS > > Our conference theme invites papers and presentations based on > empirical > research, theoretical analysis and everything in between that explore > the multiple ways the Internet acts in both converging and fragmenting > ways - physical, cultural, technological, political, social - on > local, > regional, and global scales. > > Without limiting possible proposals, topics of interest include: > > - Theoretical and practical models of the Internet > - Internet convergence, divergence and fragmentation > - Networked flows of information, capital, labor, etc. > - Migrations and diasporas online > - Identity, community and global communication > - Regulation and control (national and global) > - Internet-based development and other economic issues > - Digital art and aesthetics > - Games and gaming on the Internet > - The Net generation > - E-Sectors, e.g. e-health, e-education, e-business > > We call for papers, panel proposals, and presentations from any > discipline, methodology, and community that address the theme of > Internet Convergence. We particularly call for innovative, > exciting, and > unexpected takes on and interrogations of the conference theme. > However, > we always welcome submissions on any topics that address social, > cultural, political, economic, and/or aesthetic aspects of the > Internet > and related Internet technologies. We are equally interested in > interdisciplinary proposals as well as proposals from within specific > disciplines. > > SUBMISSIONS > > We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. We > welcome proposals for traditional academic conference papers, but we > also encourage proposals for creative or aesthetic presentations that > are distinct from a traditional written 'paper'. We welcome proposals > for roundtable sessions that will focus on discussion and interaction > among conference delegates, and we also welcome organized panel > proposals that present a coherent group of papers on a single theme. > > This year AoIR will also be using an alternative presentation > format in > which a dozen or so participants who wish to present a short > overview of > their work to stimulate debate will gather together in a plenary > session > involving short presentations (no more than 5 minutes) and extended > discussion. All papers and presentations in this session will be > reviewed in the normal manner. Further information will be > available via > the conference submission website. > > - PAPERS (individual or multi-author) - submit abstract of 500-750 > words > > - SHORT PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-750 words > > - CREATIVE OR AESTHETIC PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-750 > words > > - PANELS - submit a 250-500 word description of the panel theme (and > abstracts of the distinct papers or presentations) > > - ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS - submit a 250-500 word statement indicating > the > nature of the roundtable discussion and interaction. > > Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the submitted > proposals on the basis of multiple blind peer review, coordinated and > overseen by the Program Chair. Each person is invited to submit a > proposal for 1 paper or 1 presentation. People may also propose a > panel > of papers or presentations, of which their personal paper or > presentation must be a part. You may submit an additional > paper/presentation of which you are the co-author as long as you > are not > presenting twice. You may submit a roundtable proposal as well. > > Detailed information about submission and review is available at the > conference submission website http://conferences.aoir.org. All > proposals > must be submitted electronically through this site. > > PUBLICATION OF PAPERS > > All papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication in > the Internet Research Annual, on the basis of competitive selection > and > review of full papers. Additionally, several publishing opportunities > are expected to be available through journals, again based on > peer-review of full papers. Details on the website. > > GRADUATE STUDENTS > > Graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Any > student paper is eligible for consideration for the AoIR graduate > student award. Students wishing to be a candidate for the Student > Award > must also send a final paper by 31 July 2006. > > PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS > > Prior to the conference, there will be a limited number of > pre-conference workshops which will provide participants with in- > depth, > hands-on and/or creative opportunities. We invite proposals for these > pre-conference workshops. Local presenters are encouraged to propose > workshops that will invite visiting researchers into their labs or > studios or locales. Proposals should be no more than 1000 words, and > should clearly outline the purpose, methodology, structure, costs, > equipment and minimal attendance required, as well as explaining its > relevance to the conference as a whole. Proposals will be accepted if > they demonstrate that the workshop will add significantly to the > overall > program in terms of thematic depth, hands on experience, or local > opportunities for scholarly or artistic connections. These > proposals and > all inquires regarding pre-conference proposals should be submitted as > soon as possible to the Conference Chair and no later than 31 March > 2006. > > DEADLINES > > Submission site available: 1 December 2005 > > Final date for proposal submission: 7 February 2006 > > Presenter notification: 21 March 2006 > > Final workshop submission deadline: 31 March 2006 > > Submission of paper for publication/student award: 31 July 2006 > > Submission of paper for conference archive: 30 September 2006 > > CONTACT INFORMATION > > Program Chair: Dr Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia, > sudweeks at murdoch.edu.au > > Conference Chair: Dr Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology, > Australia, a.bruns at qut.edu.au > > President of AoIR: Dr Matthew Allen, Curtin University of Technology, > Australia m.allen at curtin.edu.au > > Association Website: http://www.aoir.org > > Conference Website: http://conferences.aoir.org > _______________________________________________ > The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// > listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > > Join the Association of Internet Researchers: > http://www.aoir.org/ jeremy hunsinger jhuns at vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu jeremy.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki From monica at sarai.net Sat Dec 3 01:40:06 2005 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 01:40:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Contested Commons, Trespassing Publics: A Public Record Message-ID: <48981CFA-DCA1-4DB6-B001-6E9BB50F7318@sarai.net> Contested Commons, Trespassing Publics: A Public Record Available for free download at www.sarai.net/events/ip_conf/ip_conf.htm A rapporteur's account of the Contested Commons conference (6-8 January 2005, Delhi), along with a range of interviews, links a wide spectrum of political, social and cultural issues embedded in "the property question". It deconstructs the capital-driven processes of enclosure in the contexts of software, file-sharing, patents, biopiracy, Indigenous knowledge, cyber art, virtual exchange, literary history, theology and law, among others. Varied voices explore new paradigms of practice in relation to the global intellectual property regime, its enforcement as well as its violation and subversion by a compelling array of resilient figures. These include the hacker, the pirate, the solitary "genius", the reformer, the artist, the prisoner, the heretic, the thief, the "transformative" author, the theorist, the migrant, the vendor, the critic, the aesthete, the scribe, the citizen, the tenant, the worker, the chairman, the rebel, the coder, the squatter, the inventor, the farmer, the smuggler, the spectator, the judge... This detailed account describes the radical contemporary shifts in the production, distribution and consumption of cultural materials through the networks of digital media. It complicates the meaning of "community", and narrates how technology continues to enable an unprecedented levelling of exclusionary hierarchies and hegemonies all over the world. Paperback, 170 pp, Euro 10, US$ 10 Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110 054 www.raqsmediacollective.net www.sarai.net From monica at sarai.net Sat Dec 3 03:13:58 2005 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 03:13:58 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Indian print media:critique References: <005401c5f759$870b4560$0a01a8c0@compaq> Message-ID: <2510350C-DDA2-4B1E-A0D5-BDA32D70B84E@sarai.net> In the way things are, this was forwarded to me. Good comparative media reading. best M Begin forwarded message: > It's dressing-down of Indian print media. I mostly agree with the > view. > Cautionary tale By Ayaz Amir (Dawn 2 Dec 05) > IT takes a good two hours in the morning going through a stack of > Pakistani newspapers. It takes about half an hour to go through the > leading English dailies that you get in Delhi. I have had to read > them — newspaper-reading being a habit that members of the tribe > carry with their luggage — these past three or four days (invited > to Delhi for one of those seminars...what else?...in which worthy > subjects are discussed) — and I can say with confidence that I > don’t know what’s happening in the rest of the world. > > You read them and you get to know more than you probably would want > to about happenings in the film or fashion industry. But if you > want to know a bit about events in the rest of the world you would > have to seek some other fountain of knowledge. > > You can’t blame television for being chatty and entertainment- > driven because that’s how television sells. But you would expect > newspapers to be slightly different. No such luck with Indian > papers which, driven by the great forces of the market, have been > dumbed down to the point where they are indistinguishable from any > other consumer product. Small wonder if they are marketed in the > same way and as aggressively as, say, a brand of washing powder or > the latest cell phone from Nokia or Samsung. > > There’s no point in singling any newspaper out. By and large, they > all look like tabloids out of Bollywood, devoted primarily not to > anything as gross or insulting as national or international issues > but to some form of entertainment. After the information revolution > and in the age of globalization we were all supposed to be more > ‘empowered’. Is such dumbing down the new road to empowerment? > > In Pakistan we are supposed to be overly obsessed with politics. > Newspapers are full of political reporting. Columns and articles > often sound as if they are one long wail about the national > condition. Indeed, we have turned moaning and the pursuit of > cynicism into national art forms. > > Sounds morbid, doesn’t it? Yet comparing it to the Bollywoodization > of the Indian media, the conscious pursuit of blandness and > mindless entertainment even by such standard-bearers of the Indian > press as the Times of India and the Hindustan Times, you wonder > which is the more insidious, such over-the-top passion as to be > found in Pakistan or the complete loss of passion, at least as > mirrored in the press, you see in India? > > You have to admit, it’s a neat arrangement. The masses are > entertained — constant entertainment or a form of it the new opiate > of the masses, much more effective than religion in many respects — > while the governing class and the great captains of commerce and > industry have things their own way at the top. > > This principle the later Caesars observed to great effect in Rome > where, when the empire started falling on hard times, they saw to > it that the Roman rabble and indeed even the more responsible > citizens were kept occupied and entertained by never-ending > festivals and gladiatorial contests, so that no one thought too > hard about the intrigues and power games being played behind palace > walls. > > Do the mass of American citizens think too hard about what is > happening in their country or what their country is doing to the > rest of the world? That George Bush and the cabal around him — a > more dangerous set of characters than the world has known for some > time — could drag their country into a war on the basis of the most > transparent lies doesn’t say much for the collective intelligence > and awareness of the American people or indeed of their chosen > representatives in Congress. > > The same Roman principle is at work here, the masses stuffed to > overflowing on a diet of consumerism and entertainment while the > leaders of government go about their business undisturbed. If > questions are now being asked about the Iraq war it’s not primarily > because of a rush of any new-found awareness but because the > seriousness of the Iraqi resistance is more than anyone in > Washington had bargained for, and because the lies of the Bush > administration are finally catching up with it. > > I hope I am not stretching the point when I say much the same > dynamic can be seen in India where the media has managed to do two > things very successfully: (1) brushed some very serious national > problems under the carpet, to the point where there is not much > national or international awareness about them; and (2) celebrated > a story of Indian progress which partly is very real but which also > relies heavily on fiction. > > Entire regions of India — UP, Bihar, to name only two states — are > in the grip of serious lawlessness and there is not much that > anyone has been able to do about it. But sitting in Delhi or > reading the Indian press you won’t get this impression. Only when > something out-of-the-ordinary happens, a high profile killing, for > instance — although in India’s wild east even this is no longer > surprising — does it figure in the headlines, otherwise not. > > There is a full-fledged insurgency in the northeast — Mizoram, > Nagaland, Manipur, etc — but you won’t get to know much about it if > your sole source of information is the Indian press. > > More serious than these two problems is something potentially more > dangerous. From the Nepal border in the north right down to Andhra > Pradesh in the south, a wide swathe of territory almost cutting > through this huge country is in the effective control not of any > government, central or state, but the Naxalite movement. This is a > mind-boggling circumstance, about 160 districts of the country — > the total number of districts in Pakistan being 105 — outside > governmental control. But again the Naxalite movement doesn’t > figure much in Indian discourse. > > True, India’s stability or integrity is not under threat. India’s > very size is the biggest shock absorber of all, its capacity to > absorb problems of this nature or magnitude commensurate with its > bulk. Still, to insist, or convey the impression, that nothing > troubles the Indian heartland is to close one’s eyes to reality. As > already stated, the Indian media performs this pigeon act very > successfully. > > India is coming of age as an economic power. It is also flexing its > muscles as a major military power. We all know the story and the > statistics. Indeed, talking to an educated Indian who wears his > patriotism on his sleeve (there being no shortage of this kind > because being relatively new to high-power status, Indians tend to > be touchy about different aspects of their nationhood) one stands > in danger of getting an earful of these statistics. > > But it is also a fact that the benefits of growth are not evenly > spread, roughly 30 per cent of the Indian population enjoying the > fruits of progress while 70 per cent is still trapped in different > versions of poverty. > > While the rich-poor divide is true of most societies, the great > success of the Indian media lies in obscuring this distinction. > Watching Indian TV or reading Indian papers one could be forgiven > for believing that the entire Indian population, one billion > strong, is living the high life. This feat the media has achieved > by trivializing national discourse. The biggest temple of all in > India is dedicated to none of the older gods in the Indian pantheon > but to the new god of entertainment. > > The cautionary tale is for us as we move forward on the road to > democracy (a journey which would be made easier infinitely if > Pakistan’s ruling general, fourth in a line of patriarchs the > country could have done without, is persuaded to shed his fears and > his uniform). If we can get democracy without lowering the standard > of national discourse or without the pursuit of trivia, that would > be a goal worth striving for. > > Enjoy this Diwali with Y! India Click here Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110 054 www.raqsmediacollective.net www.sarai.net From mail at shivamvij.com Sat Dec 3 17:40:00 2005 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam Vij) Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 17:40:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A Library for Baljeet Nagar Message-ID: <210498250512030410p5e582a44n5eece988b16da39c@mail.gmail.com> Baljeet Nagar is a working class locality near Shadipur Depot in Delhi. A majority of its inhabitants are Dalit. My friend Swapnil Gupta went around talking to people there about their problems and it emerged that the people did not find the present education system adequate in catering to the their as it does not help in developing a free mind. Moreover, the teaching standard in the government schools in the area is very low. Swapnil has therefore thrown in his energies to establish a small library there, with books suitable for all ages and interests. The library shall house children's books, course books and reference books for school students, progressive literature (like Om Prakash Valmiki and Rahul Sanskritayan) and political writings (like Bhaghat Singh and Ambedkar). All books will be in Hindi. The library will be operated by youth from the area, who are willing to become volunteers. The library, initially, will be housed in a single room and will have up to 2,000 titles. Swapnil and his friends have been raising the money only from individual contributions. I have contributed my bit, and should you want to do so as well, you can write to Swapnil at swapnil_ml at yahoo.co.in. From aarti at sarai.net Tue Dec 6 13:45:29 2005 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 13:45:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] for nancy drew fans Message-ID: <439548A1.3040505@sarai.net> http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051219/wineapple Nancy Drew turns 75. This is a fascinating review of the "nancy drew industry". also raises interesting issues of authorship. Enjoy! From aarti at sarai.net Sat Dec 3 21:03:50 2005 From: aarti at sarai.net (aarti at sarai.net) Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:33:50 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] GAMING WORKSHOPS: Call for Applications Message-ID: <199145afaba1528c840ef61cbf2c2ef3@sarai.net> Call For Applications: * GAMING WORKSHOP Friday/Saturday, 9 and 10 December, 2005 Facilitated by Josephine Starrs and Leon + Anand Vivek Taneja In this two day workshop Josephine and Leon Cmielewski will demonstrate a range \ of works exploring different aspects of game culture, including digital game \ modification, game art, machinima, mixed reality games, locative based gaming \ and the concept of gameplay. Ideas of 'gameplay' include interactivity design which may take many forms. For \ example decision making, navigating space, the structure of game content, collaborative or competitive interaction with other players, and \ the physical aspects of play. The workshop will consist of demonstrations, practical exercises, and \ experiments in the development of locative games. Participants will combine a \ walk through Delhi University, the site of the workshop, with Anand, and \ material they gather will form the basis for developing a gaming experience. [Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski are Australian media artists who have worked together on several projects which incorporate the language and structure of digital games. They use play in their work as a strategy for engaging with the social and political contradictions inherent in contemporary society. Anand V. Taneja is a researcher with the Publics and Practices in the History of the Present project, Sarai-CSDS.] For more details and to register for the workshop, write to: aarti at sarai.net _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From muthapriyanka at yahoo.com Mon Dec 5 22:11:00 2005 From: muthapriyanka at yahoo.com (priyanka mutha) Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 08:41:00 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] community radio in India Message-ID: <20051205164100.41856.qmail@web34403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi. I am Priyanka Mutha from New Delhi, India. I am doing a paper on Community Radio in India. Whatever posts, comments or articles that I have come across, on this topic, are all positive viewpoints. This revolution that is soon to hit India in a big way can't be all positive, there has to be a flip side to it - a not so happy face of the whole process...what is this flip side to the story? Regards Priyanka Mutha --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051205/fe171dbf/attachment.html From shivam at zestgroups.net Sat Dec 3 14:55:59 2005 From: shivam at zestgroups.net (Shivam Vij) Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 14:55:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Press Distrust of India Message-ID: <1c8ca5cd0512030125s704273f5uf6ae631288b33449@mail.gmail.com> Ad-edit ratio touches a new high as Times goes on acquisition spree The Times group is assuring the companies of publicity and visibility for the preferential allotment of their shares. A worrying trend By Naresh Minocha New Delhi | Tehelka | 10 December 2005 http://www.tehelka.com/story_main15.asp?filename=Bu121005Ad_edit.asp A presentation: 'PR and Media Solutions' by the Times Group says, "We're here to offer a range of pr solutions for your products and services through publicity in our own media vehicles i.e The Times of India, Economic Times, Radio Mirchi, Zoom Television, Times Now and Medianet Online." Companies are excited at the prospects of riding on the Times vehicles. About ten companies including Videocon and Kinetic Motors have already joined the vehicles through preferential allotment of their respective equity shares to Times group owner Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). The new dimension here is preferential allotment of shares by client companies for assured publicity and visibility in Times publications and online services. The equity stakes acquired by BCCL vary from 4.4 percent in Videocon Industries Limited (vil) to 16.55 percent in a low-profile IT company called iiht Ltd. Apart from vil, Kinetic and iiht, the other companies in which BCCL has acquired or is acquiring stakes include jewellery major Rajesh Exports Ltd, Celebrity Fashions, Todays Writing Products, and Pantaloon Retail. Preferential allotment is legal but has been misused by the corporate sector so much that it is hurting public shareholders. Ironically, the Economic Times (ET) itself published on the subject of preferential issue. 'Face-Off' on April 1, 2005 in which both distinguished contributors agreed preferential issues should be discontinued as they hurt the interest of all shareholders except the ones receiving the favours. Preferential allotment over the last year has degenerated to the level of erstwhile promoters' quota. In the 80s and early 90s, promoters allotted shares to journalists, politicians, bureaucrats and other influential segments of society at the time of the initial public offer. Stock market regulator finally banned such allotments. About two-and-a-half years ago, the Times group rocked journalism by introducing paid editorial content service. This service was originally aimed at Page three wallas who wanted to acquire fame and name in a jiffy. BCCL has a wholly owned subsidiary, Optimal Media Solutions Pvt Ltd for this purpose. Operating under the brand Medianet, the subsidiary provides "comprehensive media coverage and content solutions to clients from all walks of life." Medianet provides editorial coverage for products, services and events with true newsvalue. It says: "We mean real newspaper articles and TV, radio programs, not advertisements." Real it is as evident from a main story in toi on November 25, which says: 'Times Group to buy stake in iiht.' The news carried the photograph of iiht ceo. Would the daily give the same editorial coverage to a company that settles for a single advertisement instead of lapping up the media solutions? The purists shudder at the idea of top newspapers going the Bombay Times way. Neither BCCL nor the companies have made public the respective shareholders' agreement underlying the preferential issues. The limited information available suggests that all such deals are not equity-for-advertising swaps. Such swap deals would logically mean staggering allotment of shares in lieu of cash for advertisement published over the years. Most companies have reported upfront, the investment by BCCL and the consequent allotment of shares. Pantaloon Retail, for instance, has shown an allotment of 953,653 equity shares at a price of Rs 734.02 per 10 shares (4.34 percent stakes) on February 11, 2005 for "cash" consideration. This has left business analysts wondering whether there is more to such deals than meets the eye. With no editorial watchdog in the country, it's obvious whether such deals have a tacit understanding on editorial space. Kinetic Motors has told its shareholders that the object of the preferential issue of 8.59 percent shares to BCCL is "to meet requirements of funds for launching new models and working capital requirements." vil, on other hand, has told its shareholders that BCCL has "intended to subscribe to the equity capital of the company for an aggregate sum not exceeding Rs 100 crore." The editorial space is compromised not by merely publishing stories that help the clients push their business but also by blocking negative stories. A business newspaper can do a great favour to a company by simply turning a blind eye to audit objections or tax disputes in its annual report. According to a business analyst, BCCL's business interests and the editorial coverage move in tandem. They cite the case of Mesco group getting favourable stories in ET before the group's meltdown. After the meltdown, BCCL issued an advertisement, offering sale of 16.6 percent equity stake in Mideast India.Another analyst also finds a correlation between the ET's coverage of economic reforms and the coveted banking licence to BCCL. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the licence by overlooking other biggies but BCCL didn't benefit and had to merge Times Bank with hdfc Bank five years ago. Analysts say that the readers should be on gaurd due to the Times group's growing interest in the companies and their shares. The readers should consider BCCL's disclosed and undisclosed interests in different companies while reading fairy-tale stories. From monica at sarai.net Tue Dec 6 18:11:02 2005 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 18:11:02 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] community radio in India In-Reply-To: <20051205164100.41856.qmail@web34403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20051205164100.41856.qmail@web34403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi priyanka sarai also hosts a list devoted entirely to community radio (cr- india at sarai.net). it would be good to also post this question there :-) best M On 05-Dec-05, at 10:11 PM, priyanka mutha wrote: > Hi. I am Priyanka Mutha from New Delhi, India. I am doing a paper > on Community Radio in India. Whatever posts, comments or articles > that I have come across, on this topic, are all positive > viewpoints. This revolution that is soon to hit India in a big way > can't be all positive, there has to be a flip side to it - a not so > happy face of the whole process...what is this flip side to the > story? Regards Priyanka Mutha > > Yahoo! Shopping > Find Great Deals on Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping > _________________________________________ > 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: Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110 054 www.raqsmediacollective.net www.sarai.net From vivek at sarai.net Tue Dec 6 18:57:26 2005 From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan) Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 18:57:26 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] What is Flarf? Message-ID: <439591BE.7070304@sarai.net> The following reading is taken from: http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/syllabi/readings/flarf.html The Flarf Files Michael Magee provided this response to my requstion about "Flarf". Magee is the editor of Combo, whose #12 issue is devoted to (or anyway realted!) to Flarf. His own Flarfesque works can be found at "My Angie Dickinson". For furhter readings, check out Mainstream Poetry. --Ch.B. (August 2003) As for Flarf, I'll give you as much stuff as I have in the way of statements. First, here's what Kasey [K. Silem Mohammad] and Gary Sullivan have written on the origins of Flarf: KASEY: Flarf came about a couple of years ago when Gary Sullivan submitted a deliberately bad poem to Poetry.com, one of those vanity companies that lures the unsuspecting with lavish praise of their poetry and then offers to "publish" it for an exorbitant fee. Theorizing that no submission, no matter how heinous, would ever be treated with anything other than solicitous fawning, he sent in a poem titled "Mm-hmm": Yeah, mm-hmm, it's true big birds make big doo! I got fire inside my "huppa"-chimp(TM) gonna be agreessive, greasy aw yeah god wanna DOOT! DOOT! Pffffffffffffffffffffffffft! hey! oooh yeah baby gonna shake & bake then take AWWWWWL your monee, honee (tee hee) uggah duggah buggah biggah buggah muggah hey! hey! you stoopid Mick! get off the paddy field and git me some chocolate Quik put a Q-tip in it and stir it up sick pocka-mocka-chocka-locka-DING DONG fuck! shit! piss! oh it's so sad that syndrome what's it called tourette's make me HAI-EE! shout out loud Cuz I love thee. Thank you God, for listening! Sure enough, he received a full invitation to have his timeless piece of literature enshrined for all posterity, etc. Gary shared his poem, the style of which he promptly dubbed "Flarf," with members of the Subpoetics mailing list, and before long a few other participants began posting poems to Poetry.com, including myself, Drew Gardner, Jordan Davis, and a handful of others. Eventually, we formed a separate mailing list. The initial aesthetics of Flarf went largely unarticulated, but they can probably be approximated by the following recipe: deliberate shapelessness of content, form, spelling, and thought in general, with liberal borrowing from internet chat-room drivel and spam scripts, often with the intention of achieving a studied blend of the offensive, the sentimental, and the infantile. Flarf has largely become stylized out of existence, made inseparable from the usual writing habits of its practitioners, as Gary and Nada and others have pointed out. Maybe the problem was ever announcing "Flarf" as a concept, suggestive of a movement, etc., in the first place. There were those among us who shrewdly warned about the dangers of such a move-Katie Degentesh, for example. The truth is, Flarf is not a movement, never was, because it has no principles as such, beyond some characteristic compositional techniques that developed along the way (collaging Google search-engine results, etc.). There is no such thing as Flarf. Useless to declare that now! *** GARY SULLIVAN: Flarf: A quality of intentional or unintentional "flarfiness." A kind of corrosive, cute, or cloying, awfulness. Wrong. Un-P.C. Out of control. "Not okay." Flarf (2): The work of a community of poets dedicated to exploration of "flarfiness." Heavy usage of Google search results in the creation of poems, plays, etc., though not exclusively Google-based. Community in the sense that one example leads to another's reply-is, in some part, contingent upon community interaction of this sort. Poems created, revised, changed by others, incorporated, plagiarized, etc., in semi-public. Flarf (3) (verb): To bring out the inherent awfulness, etc., of some pre-existing text. Flarfy: To be wrong, awkward, stumbling, semi-coherent, fucked-up, un-P.C. To take unexpected turns; to be jarring. Doing what one is "not supposed to do." The (unbearably) long answer [and my apologies to readers, especially flarflisters, who have heard this 4,000 times already (you're free to link elsewhere!) is: A couple of years ago, if you'll remember, on the Women's Poetry list, a number of people began posting in horror at finding their names, with poems they hadn't written, on poetry.com. I remember going to the site and realizing immediately it was one of those "poetry contest" scams. A year or so before that I had spoken on the phone with my grandfather, not many days before he died, and he had told me then how proud he was that he had won some sort of poetry contest, and that he had ordered the book, etc. I had always felt bad about that, and once I was on the poetry.com site, I wrote what I thought would be the most offensive poem I could manage, and submitted it to the "contest": Mm-hmm Yeah, mm-hmm, it's true big birds make big doo! I got fire inside my "huppa"-chimp(TM) gonna be agreessive, greasy aw yeah god wanna DOOT! DOOT! Pffffffffffffffffffffffffft! hey! oooh yeah baby gonna shake & bake then take AWWWWWL your monee, honee (tee hee) uggah duggah buggah biggah buggah muggah hey! hey! you stoopid Mick! get off the paddy field and git me some chocolate Quik put a Q-tip in it and stir it up sick pocka-mocka-chocka-locka-DING DONG fuck! shit! piss! oh it's so sad that syndrome what's it called tourette's make me HAI-EE! shout out loud Cuz I love thee. Thank you God, for listening! To my amazement, I received, about three weeks later, a letter from poetry.com, with my poem fully visible through the cellophane window of the envelope. The letter, in part, read: "Gary, over the past year, we have conducted an exhaustive examination of over 1.2 million poems that have been submitted to us. Only a small percentage of individuals whose poems we have reviewed were selected to be part of this distinguished project. "'Mm-hmm' was selected for publication because it sparks the imagination and provides the reader with a fresh, unique perspective on life. We believe it will add to the importance and appeal of this special edition. _Of course, Gary, as always, you are under no obligation whatsoever to submit any entry fee or subsidy payment, or to make a purchase of any kind_. Your poem will be presented in the most elegant way possible. This coffee-table quality book will feature an 'Arristock leather' cover stamped in gold and a satin bookmarker …" And it went on like that. I can't remember if I said anything about this on the Women's Poetry list (I might have unsubscribed by then), but I was on the subpoetics list at the time, and posted something about it, and encouraged others to submit poems to poetry.com. There were a few takers, including Kasey Mohammad and maybe Drew Gardner. Meanwhile, Nada, Mitch Highfill and I began writing more of these awful poems, and submitting them to the site under a variety of different names. Somewhere in all of this, the word "flarf" materialized-it may have been Mitch's word, or Drew's, or Nada's, I'm not sure. But somehow, "flarf" began to take on a meaning: "having the quality of flarfiness." We now began to look at other things and to see them as "flarfy." I was never 100% sure what it meant-something akin to "campy," but with somewhat different resonances. More awkward, stumbling, "wrong" than camp. The flarf "voice" in my head was that of my father, a transplanted southerner, who likes to pontificate, and who has a lot of opinions that kind of horrify me. I liked being on the subpoetics list, but at times it felt a bit stifling-very P.C. So I began using "flarf" on the list as a way of keeping my own tendencies toward repression-which the list seemed to help foster--at bay. During a reading in New York, I read one flarf I'd sent to the list, "New Year's Post," and surprisingly, it went over incredibly well. My notions of what might be "bad" or "wrong" were being questioned by the response. (I wound up publishing it in How to Proceed in the Arts.) Meanwhile, I think both Drew and Kasey were doing a fair amount of flarfing of their own. Drew began to do odd word-combo searches on Google for things like "Rogaine bunny" and wrote poems using the results. I don't think, at least at first, that he thought much more of these poems than that they were kind of hilarious monstrosities. Drew and Nada and I used to send a lot of three-way e-mails back and forth, often with poetry-related jokes, parodies, and-increasingly-flarf. In March or May of 2001, a number of us started the flarflist-I'm not entirely sure who all was on it then: Me, Nada, Drew, Mitch, Jordan Davis, Carol Mirakove, Kasey, Katie Degentesh. Soon after, Maria Damon, Erik Belgum came on. The first post to the list was "Angry at God," a play I'd written doing a Google search on the words "awww" "yeah" and "God." (Published in the first issue of Pompom.) This was quickly followed by posts from Kasey ("Crucifixion Xing": THE worst thing that could happen A familiar barking dildo slurped up In correspondence school, a LADY FUZZ CRYSTAL Mildewed and sucked out of folderol Zinging and zigging and zanging AWL NITE LONG Cos' your master got a LAMBKIN SYNDROME Lodged in his epiglottis like DR. STRANGE ICBM turkey nads; tho lately the aspidestra Colony seems curtailed, sock putty for retards As gaseous as gaseous gets, uh huh An' I wonder if dimity tassels Mine these purple hog hallers (BADA BING) Th' hordes o' socklickin' provosts fall out & thus frailness depletes their futon buildup […]) Drew ("Denise-isms": so i had to find the P-Uter train so I could get to Boston cause there was nooo way I was driving to Boston cause that would be insane! ... animal rights, antibacterial thingies, awkward moments of silence, big fluffy pillows, I wantedto BE the Beverly hick-in-the-muds In with my shirts? […]) … and Jordan (untitled poem beginning: "wim-o-weh wee-ooh wim-o-weh wee/ PARIS SMUH 1967/05") Initially most everyone was using Google in some capacity, and the work tended to be corrosive, awful, though not so much in a Bruce Andrews Shut Up way, it's more awkward, less self-aware or overtly politically pointed, mistakes are left in as found, and certain "cute" words ("fluffy" "cuddle" etc.) begin to pile up in the poems. Here is an excerpt from Drew's "As Dolphins Languor": awe yea I open a photo album I found under my bed uhhuh, The dusty, leather cover decaying and smelling of the years awe yea baby Regrets mingling with my tears as I methodically turn the pages, you see I like to dress up in REALLY tight underwater pumpkin beavers... and I take a deep, painful breath Because staring back at me from the tattered oragami licences oh baby yea Are black and white visions of faraway hearts uh huh Mistakes where made and moments lost But I take the blame all for myself awe yea You see, sobody's done messed up my latvian women's soccer team fantasy REAL bad, oh pagers make of cheese, Isn't that cute? The fluffy pumpkins I mean you can't HANDLE the fluffy pumpkins... If I could just steal away one tender moment from my past And trap it in my heart ohhhhhhh baby It would unravel the regrets woven deep into the tapestry of awe yea baby my life awe yea the Whiteness glimmers in […] ... Take the love Romeo and Juliet had, multiply it by infinity, take it to the depths of forever and you will still have only a glimpse of how to bungee jump outa my moist sitar B.O.! […] Katie began taking interoffice memos she received on the job and flarfing them: TO: All New York Office Employees FROM: Human Resources Loveroll DATE: May 8, 2001 RE: Hot Hatred and Hot Business Coital Attire In the spirit of the upcoming season, hot hatred and business coital attire will begin on Monday, May 21 and end on Friday, August 31, 2001. Hot Hatred As hot approaches we are pleased to remind all employees that we will be milking a condensed milk week. During the hot months, there will be extended office hatred Monday through Thursday, allowing for a * day on Friday. Please see the guidelines below: Regular office hatred will be 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. on Friday. In order to accommodate this schedule, lunch periods, which are unloved, should be limited to 45 pieces of popcorn. Department heads may allow an individual to adjust his/her core milking hatred while still milking the full weekly hatred. All employees will milk their regularly scheduled hatred within a week (barring evacuation or jail time) regardless of starting or ending time. The office will remain open on Friday afternoons for those of you who wish to complete pregnancies or have regular milk to finish, however, there will be no mailroom or reception services beyond 1:00 p.m. If you schedule Friday as an evacuation day, it will count as one full day as per our evacuation policy. To receive unconditional love, an employee must be at milk (or on an authorized jihad) on the milk day immediately proceeding and the milk day immediately following the day on which the unconditional is observed. If an employee is absent on one or both of these days because of sexual activity or illicit affairs, the Company reserves the right to verify the reason before approving unconditional love. […] People on the list would respond to each other's posts with other posts picking up on words, word-combos, themes, forms, etc. But by September 2001 the list became relatively silent. Not too long after 9/11, people began posting again, though now all of the flarfs-many of which were parodies of AP News items-in some way shape or form addressed the aftermath of 9/11, including media portrayal of same. I remember, for instance, Katie's "We'll rebuild the Twin Towers-on your Pizza" (which I think was published in the latest online edition of Arras). I started a "sadness" series-doing searches on "The horrible sadness," "the awful sadness," "the unending sadness," etc., in response to what was becoming a kind of stifling national(ist) mourning. Some listmembers dropped out and in time others came on board: David Larsen, Rodney Koeneke, Michael Magee, Rod Smith, Daniel Bouchard, Sharon Mesmer. Some are silent observers, others participate regularly. Some consider the list a kind of joke list among friends, others use it to develop longer work (e.g., Kasey, Deer Head Nation, Michael Magee, My Angie Dickinson, and Jordan's series of fairly matter-of-fact "expose" poems about Senators and Representatives). While I haven't been very active on the list for the last couple of months, I was using it for about a year or more to generate plays and poems, not all of which necessarily had the quality of "flarfiness" (the Bollywood poems, for instance), though each came up initially as an attempt to do something I "wasn't supposed to" do. ****** Okay, now for my own thoughts: MIKE MAGEE: The "separate mailing list" Kasey mentioned came to be known by its members as the "flarflist" - a sort of ad hoc listserv whith remains active with about a dozen members including myself. It's heavily weighted toward new poems rather than discussion. Most members took out hotmail accounts and invented pseudonyms for the occasion. One joins the list by being "invited" by someone already on the list (really, simply given all the email addresses) and sending a poem along. My own understanding of it went something like this: "Flarf" is a collage-based method which employs Google searches, specifically the partial quotes which Google "captures" from websites. In its early manifestations it was VERY whimsical and went something like this: you search Google for 2 disparate terms, like "anarchy + tuna melt" - using only the quotes captured by Google (never the actual websites themselves) you stitch words, phrases, clauses, sentences together to create poems. To me, it's interesting for a number of reasons -- its collaborative texture, its anthropological implications (the sampling of an enormous variety of public speech based on a single word or phrase shared in common), its comic (not to say unserious) frame. Gradually people got more ambitious both in their use of the technology (somewhat) and in the poems themselves. My own contribution was to invent the "Mainstream Poetry Movement." It is, first and foremost, a perhaps ludicrous attempt to appropriate the term "Mainstream Poetry," which as you of course know has come to mean any poems running the gamut from new-formalist-but-not-too-strident-from-respectable-press to MFA or post MFA-generated autobiographical lyrics in a free (though basically iambic) verse structure. I had the epiphany that nothing could be stupider than labeling this "mainstream." In the mainstream of what?? As you can tell by going to the www.mainstreampoetry.com website, the poems can seem positively juvenile and silly. But this to me is not at all to its detriment - sometimes it's a scorchingly ironic silliness, sometimes a frantic post-9/11 silliness or a wonderful gender-bending silliness, like Carla Harryman meets Bugs Bunny. And given the relative stability of the method the variety produced and dare I say uniqueness which each poet brings to these compositions is to me quite remarkable. In a statement for the recent Poetry Project Newsletter, I had this to say about my own motivations for turning to the comic and even the stupid in this work: ************* I would like, would very much like, to say exactly what Williams said in his introduction to The Wedge: The war is the first and only thing in the world today. The arts generally are not, nor is this writing a diversion from that for relief, a turning away. It is the war or part of it, merely a different sector of the field. Williams's introduction is an argument, a great one, for poetry's usefulness and relevance. But the context in which he wrote it differs greatly from our own. First of all, Williams believed the United States was fighting a relatively just war; and, however reluctantly the U.S. may have bumbled into it, and whatever the contradictions and failings of their engagement, I would tend to agree. Also, Williams had a greater faith than I can muster in the poem's ability, not only to be peculiar (in a form intrinsic to content) but to maintain those qualities for more than a New York minute. The state has always attempted to co-opt the language of dissent and so de-fang it, and the democratic-capitalist state (yes, I know) does it better than any other because it can couch the very act of co-optation as either "dialogue" or as the marketing of a revolutionary new product (cool). Or, worst of all, can simply adopt the symbols of dissent and none of its politics: hence Nixon's flashing of the "peace" sign. Peace or victory? No matter, the collapse is/was precisely the point. If "younger people are unable to sustain utopian visions" as Hejinian suggests, it's because the language of utopian visions goes from our minds to our voices to the street and the magazine and finally to the advertisement (for Old Navy or for The Marines, no matter) in the blink of an eye. I suppose Barrett Watten's argument is that the Berkley Free Speech and Vietnam Anti-War movements identify this problematic and address it, and that Language Writing likewise addresses it. True. But Kerouac, Miles and Ginsberg in their khakis? Or more to the point "the revolution will not be televised" -- until it is, in a Nike commerical, where, incidentally, we are informed not that "the revolution will be live" (Gil Scott-Heron's closing words) but that "the revolution is about basketball and basketball is the truth" (KRS-One's words, as dictated by Phil Knight). Ugh. I don't believe that we lack our defining big bad political moment -- it's here brothers and sisters. But like a crafty virus, the problem of language has mutated. I reject out of hand the notion that poets of my generation are practicing mere experimental aestheticism. Of course there's some of that, there always has been; the mere imitating of a style for whatever gain. But to say that Rodrigo Toscano, Heather Fuller, Mytili Jagannathan aren't writing vital poetry both political and experimental to its very bones? C'mon. And I could name two dozen others off the top of my head. If you ain't seeing it you ain't looking in the right place. As I say, the problem seems to me to have changed and so the solutions will be different. One can at least propose that Nixon and Kissinger were able to perpetrate their crimes because they were devious. George W. Bush is an utter dumbfucking fool achieving the same effect. Amazingly, everyone seems to understand this, even many of the people who vote for him. I feel compelled in the face of this to interrogate dumbness, ridiculousness, stupidity; to work undercover in the middle of it, to pretend to be it if necessary, all the while reporting back to the reader. I have in mind, always now, Frederick Douglass's words, "At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument is needed" (1852). I've been composing a series of poems called "Fascist Fairytales." In one of them, a poem-play, Margaret Thatcher has a dialogue with The Sphinx, who is initially skeptical of her politics but eventually falls in love with her. It closes with a nuclear catastrophe, a loving embrace, and Thacher's proclamation, "Bomb Turks, I'm in love!" Isn't that precisely what she meant? *** Kasey followed up my "Mainstream" idea with this statement: *** KASEY: Towards a Mainstream Poetics Want to take seriously [Pixar-esque weasel/clown-faces behind me fleer and moue] for a bit here Mike Magee's reconfiguration of the poetic Mainstream. Others have pointed this out before, of course, but "mainstream poetry" as usually construed by its opponents is anything but. What on earth, as Mike asks, is mainstream about Robert Pinsky? A mainstream is a forceful, central current that carries in its path all the debris and livestock and entire vacationing families that get vortexed into it. It is not a carefully constructed iron walkway that escorts the effete peripatetic poet safely above a scenic view of the countryside and its filthy horizon. In the mainstream, you have to shout to be heard above the roar of the already-tired water metaphor I'm spinning out here. In the mainstream, the weasels with clown faces have uzis. The mainstream is the scary global video game we live in, everyday, and it has nothing to do with some absurd publishing scam within which a few bloodless surrealists and failed classicists and Tools of the Homespun False Consciousness get to define what is normative. If you want to break it down by sales figures and numbers of readers, the margins between the Big Names and the small press world are negligible in light of the overall money-losingness of poetry. Most of the poetry read on a daily basis in this country, I'll wager, is amateur poetry circulated between individuals and posted on the internet. So what would it mean for poetry to be truly mainstream? It would have to be aggressively public, perhaps--distributed via mass mailing or spam messages, say. It would have to be as shameless as television in its bid to engage new readers, and even, potentially, make money. Imagine that: poetry that made money. Do you feel a bristling in your blood at the hint of sacrilege? What shall I do with all the money my new, Mainstream poetry is going to make...? After I pay off my student loans and credit card debts, maybe I'll finance a series of poetry billboards that respond electronically to the radio signals from passing cars and compose digital aleatory compositions designed to influence the way people shop for fabric. Maybe I'll fund a political party whose platform involves the legalization of plagiarism. Maybe I'll pay some high school kids to translate the Iliad homophonically and have homeless people read the results on cable access TV. Although it would make more sense to pay the homeless people, wouldn't it? You see how anarchically irrational and unfair poetry in the real world would be! Let's start a lo-fi, low residency MFA program dedicated to the advancement of guerilla Mainstream poetics. As Juliana Spahr recently mentioned, there are certainly enough unemployed poets with Ph.D.'s out there to band together and get such a thing accredited. I don't know how that stuff works, but basically don't you just take out an ad in Poets & Writers or whatever and then people pay you money to entertain them in the countryside for a weekend or two? Give the thing some hip jazzy name like the Institute of Post-Avant Poetics, and you're all set. And stop at nothing--T-shirts, coffee cups, bumper stickers, mouse pads.... Invite big-name poet-celebrities to our conventions: Suzanne Somers, Leonard Nimoy, and Jewel alongside Lytle Shaw, Anselm Berrigan, and Lisa Jarnot. Special musical guests. Softball games. Cotton candy. And in the background, the weasels with clown faces, always softly stalking and slavering. ***** Lastly, I'll include a short thing I wrote a sent to the Flarflist in Oct 2002 - to mixed reviews. Some of the folks on the Flarflist were/are not crazy about the literary critic in me, at least as it pertains to flarf. Anyway, this compares flarf to O'Hara's "Personism": MIKE MAGEE: ****** The use of Google being extremely common, the flarf method resembles in some sense: a) the use of a thesaurus; b) eavesdropping and quoting; c) sampling; d) collage / cut-&-paste (for which I can think of many many precedents from Eliot to Langston Hughes to Berrigan and just about every experimental writer from that point on). What makes the flarf methodology different, to my mind, is the willful democratization of the method: the EXTENSIVE and even sole use of Googled material and the hyper-collaborative quality of the CONSTANT exchange -- the SPEED (or seeming speed) of composition. This will sound needlessly hyperbolic but it seems to me that there's an analogy to be made between flarf and O'Hara's Personism -- which itself was a technology-based/generated poetry: to borrow a formula, the web is to flarf what the telephone was to O'Hara: 1) a way to gather and exchange information very very quickly AS A FORM OF POETRY; 2) a way to undercut and/or render flexible the idea of authorship; 3) a way to, as Duncan said of O'Hara, "restore to poetry its trivial uses." One might say that Flarf is a radical elevation of the tendencies already there in Personism. If the occassion called for it I could make this claim in very very very intimidating THEORYSPPCCHHHChhgggccchh ARF ARF ARF. But anyway it's true. To steal another formulation from O'Hara, flarf being surer and quicker than poetry, it is only just that flarf finish poetry off. ******* I myself am not exclusively writing flarf-poems, but the tone(s) of everyone's flarf poems is already finding its way into the poems written without any use of Google whatsoever. One of the things which was a revelation to me was the quasi-oldSkool sounds of what I equate to either manic b-boy Instant Message ranting, or manic teenage (grrrl) IM chat (eg "I am soooooooo interested") -- that this was a kind of speech which was everywhere and which had an architecture of its own but was sort of unrecognized too. Flarf brings that to the fore in a way that seems much closer to the lived experience of having to scurry one's self-expression through/into THE MEDIA than any other web-based poetry I've come across. All of this is offered with the simple proviso that a number of the founding "Flarfists" consider flarf itself to be dead. --Michael Magee From supreet.sethi at gmail.com Tue Dec 6 22:32:50 2005 From: supreet.sethi at gmail.com (s|s) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 09:02:50 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] The open space friday evening lecture series Message-ID: THE OPEN SPACE FRIDAY EVENING LECTURE SERIES The Pune we have The Pune we want The Open Space Friday Evening Lecture Series Friday, December 9, 5.30pm to 7.30pm at Open Space The Centre for Communication and Development Studies (CCDS) and its civil society outreach programme Open Space has initiated a process to invite and involve citizens' participation in the governance of Pune. The ordinary citizen's participation in urban governance is determined either by the issues highlighted in the mainstream media, or the extent to which particular problems – of water supply, garbage disposal, state of the roads, erratic power supply etc – impact their own lives. But so far, citizens' action in urban governance has remained confined to single issues. A coalition of concerned citizens, urban planners, architects, researchers and activists from Pune is now attempting to involve citizens in a broad-based and sustained citizens' campaign for participation in the governance of their city. As an initial step towards building this citizens' participation, CCDS is organising a series of lectures on topics of importance to the future of the city. These lectures will be delivered by noted specialists in their field, who are not just experts but also see Pune as their home and are concerned about where it is headed. Many of these speakers are already working at guiding and shaping Pune's future. Kiran Kalamdani, expert in the fields of Urban Design, Architectural and Urban Conservation will be speaking on the issue of heritage conservation in and around Pune at the Friday Evening Lecture Series at Open Space on Friday, December 9, 2005. His lecture will address issues like the interaction between new development and conservation of the city fabric with special focus on the role being played by various groups and a quick overview of ideas, trends and practices. This will be followed by some case studies from in and around Pune. Kiran Kalamdani has held various positions like Practising Architect, Urban Designer and Conservation Consultant as Partner in "Kimaya" since 1990. He is a member of several professional organisations, such as the Council of Architecture, New Delhi; the Indian Institute of Architects; INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) and AESA (Architects, Engineers, Surveyors' Association, Pune). In 1998 he published a book titled "India, 50 years of Independence – Status, Growth and Development". The Friday Evening Lecture series will deal with urban governance issues that are at the core of the city's character, the issues that make the city what it is. These speakers will provide a baseline of information and knowledge and the lectures will serve as a foundation to build a vision of what this city could be. These lectures on Pune's infrastructure and runaway development and growth will be collated and made available on the Open Space website (http://www.openspaceindia.org) Venue: 5th floor, Venumadhav Bldg, 14th lane, Prabhat Road (Opp Income Tax Office), Pune 411 004, Ph No: 020 25457371 Date: Friday, December, 9, 2005 Time: 5.30pm – 7.30pm From penguinhead at linux-delhi.org Wed Dec 7 12:52:19 2005 From: penguinhead at linux-delhi.org (Pankaj kaushal) Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 12:52:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] community radio in India In-Reply-To: <20051205164100.41856.qmail@web34403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20051205164100.41856.qmail@web34403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <43968DAB.2070003@linux-delhi.org> priyanka mutha wrote: > Hi. I am Priyanka Mutha from New Delhi, India. I am doing a paper on > Community Radio in India. Whatever posts, comments or articles that I > have come across, on this topic, are all positive viewpoints. This > revolution that is soon to hit India in a big way can't be all positive, > there has to be a flip side to it - a not so happy face of the whole > process...what is this flip side to the story? I hope you title your paper, "Lack of community radio in India" P. -- Wir wollen dass ihr uns alles glaubt. From mamtam at aptech.ac.in Wed Dec 7 13:57:10 2005 From: mamtam at aptech.ac.in (Mamta M) Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 13:57:10 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Project South Asia- a good web resource In-Reply-To: <20051206134739.A54D128DB76@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20051207082735.0D1C928D9DE@mail.sarai.net> I came across this site a few minutes back. It's a US govt funded digital library of teaching resources. http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/index.htm I havent gone thru any of the contents yet but did click on Kashmir dispute out of curiosity to see what the US POV was on this. Here's the link: http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Kashmir_Dispute/USS tateDept.htm Why are there no recent updations, I wonder. I hope to browse thru the site in leisure later. Regards, Mamta -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Aptech MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. From rajivansa at hotmail.com Wed Dec 7 23:39:56 2005 From: rajivansa at hotmail.com (rajivan Sa) Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:09:56 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] community radio in India In-Reply-To: <43968DAB.2070003@linux-delhi.org> Message-ID: What exactly is community radio? i like to know how it is defined? ------------------------------------------------------------ RAJIVAN.AYYAPPAN . SOUND ARTIST/ COMPOSER 15 RUE YVES TOUDIC.75010 PARIS PRESENT LOCATION; MUMBAY. CONTACT 0091 98213 39120 >From: Pankaj kaushal >To: reader-list at sarai.net >Subject: Re: [Reader-list] community radio in India >Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 12:52:19 +0530 > >priyanka mutha wrote: > > Hi. I am Priyanka Mutha from New Delhi, India. I am doing a paper on > > Community Radio in India. Whatever posts, comments or articles that I > > have come across, on this topic, are all positive viewpoints. This > > revolution that is soon to hit India in a big way can't be all positive, > > there has to be a flip side to it - a not so happy face of the whole > > process...what is this flip side to the story? > >I hope you title your paper, "Lack of community radio in India" > > >P. >-- >Wir wollen dass ihr uns alles glaubt. >_________________________________________ >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 isouweine at gmail.com Thu Dec 8 07:25:28 2005 From: isouweine at gmail.com (Isaac souweine) Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 20:55:28 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Project South Asia- a good web resource In-Reply-To: <20051207082735.0D1C928D9DE@mail.sarai.net> References: <20051206134739.A54D128DB76@mail.sarai.net> <20051207082735.0D1C928D9DE@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <34bf33330512071755v94c64bfi60c437e067d083be@mail.gmail.com> Dear Mamta: Thanks for passing this link along. I have to disagree though with your notion of the site as "a US govt funded digital library". This seems to imply that it is some sort of govt think tank or govt controlled institute. As far as I could tell from a quick browse, the site appears to be run by a couple of midwest universities. While these institutions probably do get a lot of government funding (though mostly from state govt., not federal) my guess is this institute has almost no contact with government agencies or funders. Guessing a bit further, I would hazard that the no doubt left-wing (for America) scholars who run the project probably conduct their work in ways that are quite a bit removed from govt policy and opinions. Best, Isaac On 12/7/05, Mamta M wrote: > I came across this site a few minutes back. It's a US govt funded digital > library of teaching resources. > > http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/index.htm > > I havent gone thru any of the contents yet but did click on Kashmir dispute > out of curiosity to see what the US POV was on this. Here's the link: > > http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Kashmir_Dispute/USS > tateDept.htm > > Why are there no recent updations, I wonder. > > I hope to browse thru the site in leisure later. > > Regards, > Mamta > > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Aptech MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. > > _________________________________________ > 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 mamtam at aptech.ac.in Thu Dec 8 09:56:51 2005 From: mamtam at aptech.ac.in (Mamta M) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 09:56:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Project South Asia- a good web resource In-Reply-To: <34bf33330512071755v94c64bfi60c437e067d083be@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20051208042712.A6B0128D9E2@mail.sarai.net> Hi Issac, I can't seem to find the link where I read about the US govt funding for Project South Asia. I did read it somewhere which is why I made that statement. I shall mail the link as soon as I find it. It could, of course, be likely that I mistook the purport of the matter presented on the link. Let me find the link and read it once more. Regards, Mamta -----Original Message----- From: Isaac souweine [mailto:isouweine at gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 7:25 AM To: Mamta M; Sarai Reader List Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Project South Asia- a good web resource Dear Mamta: Thanks for passing this link along. I have to disagree though with your notion of the site as "a US govt funded digital library". This seems to imply that it is some sort of govt think tank or govt controlled institute. As far as I could tell from a quick browse, the site appears to be run by a couple of midwest universities. While these institutions probably do get a lot of government funding (though mostly from state govt., not federal) my guess is this institute has almost no contact with government agencies or funders. Guessing a bit further, I would hazard that the no doubt left-wing (for America) scholars who run the project probably conduct their work in ways that are quite a bit removed from govt policy and opinions. Best, Isaac On 12/7/05, Mamta M wrote: > I came across this site a few minutes back. It's a US govt funded > digital library of teaching resources. > > http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/index.htm > > I havent gone thru any of the contents yet but did click on Kashmir > dispute out of curiosity to see what the US POV was on this. Here's the link: > > http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Kashmir_Dispu > te/USS > tateDept.htm > > Why are there no recent updations, I wonder. > > I hope to browse thru the site in leisure later. > > Regards, > Mamta > > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Aptech MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. > > _________________________________________ > 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: > -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Aptech MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Aptech MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. From ananya at waag.org Wed Dec 7 21:41:03 2005 From: ananya at waag.org (ananya vajpeyi) Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 21:41:03 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Indian print media: critique In-Reply-To: <2510350C-DDA2-4B1E-A0D5-BDA32D70B84E@sarai.net> References: <005401c5f759$870b4560$0a01a8c0@compaq> <2510350C-DDA2-4B1E-A0D5-BDA32D70B84E@sarai.net> Message-ID: <1061D298-673C-11DA-A61B-000A95B44366@waag.org> This can be taken as a response to Ayaz Amir's perceptive piece (Dawn, Dec 02, 2005): HEART OF DARKNESS Ananya Vajpeyi If it’s not in the news, my editor says every single morning, then don’t write about it. Or, if I’m writing something anyway, he wants to know what the “news-peg” is, on which I will hang my piece. But this article is not about elections. It’s not about the economy. It’s not about cricket. It’s not about the Left parties. It’s not about international affairs. I guess you could conclude, then, that it’s not about what’s in the news. It is about the news. Note, editor of mine: this article is about the news. There are three fields about which I know a little bit, from my admittedly limited life-experiences: academia, the arts, journalism. I can tell you something about the way these spheres of activity function in this and a couple of other countries. I can tell you, after struggling for the past few years to find a way to contribute to these arenas of public life while making ends meet, in big cities and small towns all over India, that at the bottom of my heart I am beginning to lose the faith. Just like I was told I would, when I was younger. It’s only a matter of time, young people are told, before the dying of the light. One doesn’t believe it. Until one day the darkness is upon one. And the news, again? What does the news have to do with this sense one gets, of fighting a losing battle, of being aboard a sinking ship, of – choose your own metaphor – not being able to discern a ray of light by which to find one's way? This is my hypothesis: the news enacts, performs, dramatizes, and exemplifies everything about our society that reeks of cynicism. News takes the darkness that lurks on the edges of our sight, like an impending loss of consciousness, and writes it bright across our television screens, or black on the white of newsprint. If news is an index of our collective life as a nation, a symptom of what ails us, then our sickness is clear, we suffer from that terminal disease of the soul: cynicism. I think I’m in the early stages of infection myself, truth be told. Nothing else explains the dead weight in my heart every morning. It became considerably heavier when I started working for a newspaper. Here’s the landscape: A war zone gets hit by an earthquake. A clutch of cats, the last of their kind, is shot, skinned, sold. A young man doing his job is murdered in the back of his own car. People go shopping before Diwali, and come home without fathers, children, wives, limbs. Liars seize power. Villages are crushed under the slow-turning wheels of the perpetual revolution. A man from Kerala is kidnapped and killed in the badlands of Afghanistan. Sportsmen perform miserably, unable to master either game or ego. Girls are raped, gays treated like lepers, and no one has time for the poor and their never-ending poverty. Tribals face extinction. Cities rot, inundated with water from the sky, flooded with water from the rivers. Forests are a fading memory. Yet another Muslim woman takes the consequences of double minority. A deadly mafia don proves photogenic, his moll even more so. Workers are beaten within an inch of their lives. Alright, so there’s no appeal against natural disasters, and terrorism is practically a force of nature nowadays. Armies will do what they’re supposed to do: make war. Human beings are destined to suffer, and in such calamitous times, when there is little protection for human life, who will save trees and animals? Surely it’s not the fault of news that all news these days seems to be bad news? But no, what ails us is not that there is, as the Buddha stated in his very first axiom, suffering in the world. Dukha is old news. What makes it all so unpalatable is the shameless voyeurism, the mindless reiteration, the immorality, the unscrupulousness, the insensitivity and the downright dishonesty which characterise the workings of the media, of politics, and of their unholy nexus, news. If it scares you to watch this dance of death from afar, then it would turn your stomach, trust me, no, worse – it would wipe out your faith, gentle reader – to inhabit belly of the beast. For hundreds of years in our part of the world, people wrote of things real and fantastic in the genre of the Purana. Many of these texts contained descriptions of the chaos and corruption that would mark the world in the Kali Yuga, the last of the four great ages of humankind. Teachers will lead their students away from knowledge, rulers will drive their subjects to perdition, truth will vanish, beauty perish, and righteousness meet an inglorious end. The bull that is Dharma, they claimed, will be left standing on its last leg. The ancients got it right, apparently. Somewhere in their incoherent prescience of apocalypse, in their alarm about the fast-attenuating moral center of their society, they threw us a map with which to navigate our own nightmarish times. Kali Yuga: the society of the spectacle. Life on TV. For a civilization that has produced some of the truest, most beautiful texts, artefacts, theories, ways of life and modes of being, we have arrived at a sorry pass indeed, the nadir of ignorance, inanity and unethical consumption, an infernal mish-mash of breaking news-page three-advertising-globalisation in our faces day and night, killing us, killing us, killing us. We rob the poor, we rape the weak, we cheat the helpless, we steal from the blind. And then we broadcast it, live, 24X7. As though this can go on much longer. It is not possible to have a political life without ethics. It is not possible to do work when its only object is destruction rather than creation. It is not possible to use language without respect for the truth, to editorialize without commitment, to preach when your real objective is to obfuscate, to lead when you are headed straight to hell. At the heart of darkness, incessantly generating its meaningless commotion, a television set. ---------------------------------------- On Dec 3, 2005, at 3:13 AM, Monica Narula wrote: > In the way things are, this was forwarded to me. Good comparative > media reading. > > best > M > > Begin forwarded message: > >> It's dressing-down of Indian print media. I mostly agree with the >> view. > >> Cautionary tale By Ayaz Amir (Dawn 2 Dec 05) > >> IT takes a good two hours in the morning going through a stack of >> Pakistani newspapers. It takes about half an hour to go through the >> leading English dailies that you get in Delhi. I have had to read >> them — newspaper-reading being a habit that members of the tribe >> carry with their luggage — these past three or four days (invited to >> Delhi for one of those seminars...what else?...in which worthy >> subjects are discussed) — and I can say with confidence that I don’t >> know what’s happening in the rest of the world. >> >> You read them and you get to know more than you probably would want >> to about happenings in the film or fashion industry. But if you want >> to know a bit about events in the rest of the world you would have to >> seek some other fountain of knowledge. >> >> You can’t blame television for being chatty and entertainment-driven >> because that’s how television sells. But you would expect newspapers >> to be slightly different. No such luck with Indian papers which, >> driven by the great forces of the market, have been dumbed down to >> the point where they are indistinguishable from any other consumer >> product. Small wonder if they are marketed in the same way and as >> aggressively as, say, a brand of washing powder or the latest cell >> phone from Nokia or Samsung. >> >> There’s no point in singling any newspaper out. By and large, they >> all look like tabloids out of Bollywood, devoted primarily not to >> anything as gross or insulting as national or international issues >> but to some form of entertainment. After the information revolution >> and in the age of globalization we were all supposed to be more >> ‘empowered’. Is such dumbing down the new road to empowerment? >> >> In Pakistan we are supposed to be overly obsessed with politics. >> Newspapers are full of political reporting. Columns and articles >> often sound as if they are one long wail about the national >> condition. Indeed, we have turned moaning and the pursuit of cynicism >> into national art forms. >> >> Sounds morbid, doesn’t it? Yet comparing it to the Bollywoodization >> of the Indian media, the conscious pursuit of blandness and mindless >> entertainment even by such standard-bearers of the Indian press as >> the Times of India and the Hindustan Times, you wonder which is the >> more insidious, such over-the-top passion as to be found in Pakistan >> or the complete loss of passion, at least as mirrored in the press, >> you see in India? >> >> You have to admit, it’s a neat arrangement. The masses are >> entertained — constant entertainment or a form of it the new opiate >> of the masses, much more effective than religion in many respects — >> while the governing class and the great captains of commerce and >> industry have things their own way at the top. >> >> This principle the later Caesars observed to great effect in Rome >> where, when the empire started falling on hard times, they saw to it >> that the Roman rabble and indeed even the more responsible citizens >> were kept occupied and entertained by never-ending festivals and >> gladiatorial contests, so that no one thought too hard about the >> intrigues and power games being played behind palace walls. >> >> Do the mass of American citizens think too hard about what is >> happening in their country or what their country is doing to the rest >> of the world? That George Bush and the cabal around him — a more >> dangerous set of characters than the world has known for some time — >> could drag their country into a war on the basis of the most >> transparent lies doesn’t say much for the collective intelligence and >> awareness of the American people or indeed of their chosen >> representatives in Congress. >> >> The same Roman principle is at work here, the masses stuffed to >> overflowing on a diet of consumerism and entertainment while the >> leaders of government go about their business undisturbed. If >> questions are now being asked about the Iraq war it’s not primarily >> because of a rush of any new-found awareness but because the >> seriousness of the Iraqi resistance is more than anyone in Washington >> had bargained for, and because the lies of the Bush administration >> are finally catching up with it. >> >> I hope I am not stretching the point when I say much the same dynamic >> can be seen in India where the media has managed to do two things >> very successfully: (1) brushed some very serious national problems >> under the carpet, to the point where there is not much national or >> international awareness about them; and (2) celebrated a story of >> Indian progress which partly is very real but which also relies >> heavily on fiction. >> >> Entire regions of India — UP, Bihar, to name only two states — are in >> the grip of serious lawlessness and there is not much that anyone has >> been able to do about it. But sitting in Delhi or reading the Indian >> press you won’t get this impression. Only when something >> out-of-the-ordinary happens, a high profile killing, for instance — >> although in India’s wild east even this is no longer surprising — >> does it figure in the headlines, otherwise not. >> >> There is a full-fledged insurgency in the northeast — Mizoram, >> Nagaland, Manipur, etc — but you won’t get to know much about it if >> your sole source of information is the Indian press. >> >> More serious than these two problems is something potentially more >> dangerous. From the Nepal border in the north right down to Andhra >> Pradesh in the south, a wide swathe of territory almost cutting >> through this huge country is in the effective control not of any >> government, central or state, but the Naxalite movement. This is a >> mind-boggling circumstance, about 160 districts of the country — the >> total number of districts in Pakistan being 105 — outside >> governmental control. But again the Naxalite movement doesn’t figure >> much in Indian discourse. >> >> True, India’s stability or integrity is not under threat. India’s >> very size is the biggest shock absorber of all, its capacity to >> absorb problems of this nature or magnitude commensurate with its >> bulk. Still, to insist, or convey the impression, that nothing >> troubles the Indian heartland is to close one’s eyes to reality. As >> already stated, the Indian media performs this pigeon act very >> successfully. >> >> India is coming of age as an economic power. It is also flexing its >> muscles as a major military power. We all know the story and the >> statistics. Indeed, talking to an educated Indian who wears his >> patriotism on his sleeve (there being no shortage of this kind >> because being relatively new to high-power status, Indians tend to be >> touchy about different aspects of their nationhood) one stands in >> danger of getting an earful of these statistics. >> >> But it is also a fact that the benefits of growth are not evenly >> spread, roughly 30 per cent of the Indian population enjoying the >> fruits of progress while 70 per cent is still trapped in different >> versions of poverty. >> >> While the rich-poor divide is true of most societies, the great >> success of the Indian media lies in obscuring this distinction. >> Watching Indian TV or reading Indian papers one could be forgiven for >> believing that the entire Indian population, one billion strong, is >> living the high life. This feat the media has achieved by >> trivializing national discourse. The biggest temple of all in India >> is dedicated to none of the older gods in the Indian pantheon but to >> the new god of entertainment. >> >> The cautionary tale is for us as we move forward on the road to >> democracy (a journey which would be made easier infinitely if >> Pakistan’s ruling general, fourth in a line of patriarchs the country >> could have done without, is persuaded to shed his fears and his >> uniform). If we can get democracy without lowering the standard of >> national discourse or without the pursuit of trivia, that would be a >> goal worth striving for. >> > > Monica Narula > Raqs Media Collective > Sarai-CSDS > 29 Rajpur Road > Delhi 110 054 > www.raqsmediacollective.net > 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: > > Ananya Vajpeyi, Ph.D. Fellow Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Teen Murti House New Delhi 110011 INDIA -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 14767 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051207/fd4b8ab9/attachment.bin From ravig1 at vsnl.com Fri Dec 9 11:51:38 2005 From: ravig1 at vsnl.com (Ravi Agarwal) Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2005 11:51:38 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fw: A letter to Mr Gates Message-ID: <371871104D184F26A64E50A1B63E0E8D@ToxicsLink.local> Oped Indian Express, December 8th, 2005, on the occassion of Mr Gates in New Delhi attending a Global Immunisation meet ( GAVI) which he puts in over 500 million USD, and for other meetings including with the IT sector. ======================================================================= A letter to Mr Gates Think philanthropy and info-tech, but also think of a cleaner world RAVI AGARWAL Bill Gates has joined the illustrious list of American businessmen philanthropists, from Rockefeller to Ford. With over 200 million USD to be given for the health sector alone and an expected over 1 billion USD investments in India, the scale behooves the richest man in the world. However, what is it that distinguishes the business of today from that of 50 years ago? Fundamentally, it is the recognition that business and, in fact, all activities of human development needs to be 'sustainable'. Take the case of vaccine immunisation, very basic to protecting children's lives from deadly diseases. Over 4.2 billion vaccinations are carried out in India alone, almost a third of the global figures. These are done routinely, several times a week, in over 5,00,000 places, covering several million in a few weeks. Each uses a plastic syringe, made up of a mixture of plastics and now used as single shot auto disable devices to prevent cross transmission of infection from one to another. So far so good. But what happens to the syringes? They are burnt openly. Even well meaning agencies like UNICEF and WHO do this, unaware of the deadly toxins which are emitted, and which have long term health effects like cancer and endocrine disruption, on mothers and infants in particular. Only recently has India through its Reproductive and Child Health Programme mandated that these needles not be burnt but the metal sharps be removed, and the excellent quality plastic recycled. However where are the budgets to do this? Of the 200 million USD promised by the Gates Foundation for safe vaccination, is anyone going to ensure this 'sustainability'? Another example is of the industry Bill Gates leads worldwide. Does he know that most of the over 500 million old computers slated for disposal in the US and Europe, will head towards India, Africa and China? There these will be broken by hand, exposing poor workers to very caustic acid, cuts and burns and toxic emissions from the over 50 hazardous chemicals each computer has? Several million workers in India and Asia are exposed to these hazards even as the high growth globally connected Indian IT industry just looks on. India is planning to double its computer penetration from 11 per thousand to 20 per thousand. But what will happen to the waste as computers are now changed like underwear, every three years as against five years earlier? Surely the industry of the future must not help build a world, which is toxic and unjust on its impacts on the poorest of the poor? Gates should give a clear message to the IT industry that the future can be sustainable only if we take action in the present. We welcome Bill Gates in the true traditions of Indian hospitality, but we also want to remind him that the future patterns in India will impact the planet at a scale never before seen in human history. We need immunisation and computerisation, but we need cradle to grave approaches. We need both philanthropy and sustainable partnerships and development. The writer is director, Toxics Link Toxics Link H-2 Jangpura Extension New Delhi - 110014 ph + 91 11 24328006/ 24320711 fax: + 91 11 24321747 SPONSORED LINKS Article health wellness Center for health and wellness Health and wellness Health and wellness program Health wellness product Health and wellness job -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS a.. Visit your group "medindia" on the web. b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: medindia-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --^^--------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: ravig1 at toxicslink.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84KVH.bfowUE.cmF2aWcx Or send an email to: etoxics-unsubscribe at topica.com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER --^^--------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/593756b5/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: trans.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/593756b5/attachment.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: feedback.gif Type: image/gif Size: 218 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/593756b5/attachment-0001.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: email.gif Type: image/gif Size: 203 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/593756b5/attachment-0002.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: print1.gif Type: image/gif Size: 183 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/593756b5/attachment-0003.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: tid=202_zoneid=471_source=_block=0_capping=0_cb=a741def1869d8ce352071404a1677b81 Type: application/octet-stream Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/593756b5/attachment.obj From cahen.x at levels9.com Fri Dec 9 22:51:07 2005 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2005 18:21:07 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] pourinfos Newsletter / 12-02 to 12-08-2005 Message-ID: <4399BD03.8070006@levels9.com> pourinfos.org l'actualite du monde de l'art / daily Art news ----------------------------------------------------------------------- infos from December 02, 2005 to December 08, 2005 (included) ------------------------------------------------------------------- (mostly in french) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Call : Figures Libres, international medium-length films, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2473 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Call : 2006-2007 James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City competition, Montréal, Londron, Canada, United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2472 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 Call : arborescence 06 Festival, Association Terre Active, Aix-en-Provence, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2471 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Call : Videoex, the international & swiss competition, Zurich, Switzerland. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2470 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Call : CAC Bretigny and GB agency seeks participants, Roman Ondak, Centre d'art contemporain Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2469 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Call : Open Call! digital ART & DESIGN, First edition, Verona, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2468 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Various : Black market: sound books, discs, objects... + diffusions and vidéos and guests, Saturday 10, December 11, 12 2006, Éof, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2467 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Various : Architects in the debate on urban violences, Maison de l'architecture en Île-de-France, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2466 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Meetings : Sylvie Astié, Jean Baptiste Bayle, Lucille Calmel, wj-s on December 15, 2005, Ensad Paris, Paris, France. lien http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2465 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Meetings : Le dehors absolu, La rue de Paris, Thibaut Thigh T/ Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Christophe Bailly, Sunday December 11, 2005, Filigranes Editions, Bookshop Artazart, Paris,France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2464 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Meetings : Le 3ème oeil present : See and to hear with Thierry Jousse and Noël Akchoté, Sunday December 11, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2463 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Meetings : Reading around lost Journey, Marjorie Micucci and Istvan Peto, Friday December 16, 2005, Bookshop folies d'encre, Saint-Denis, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2462 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Publication : Xavier Veilhan, éditions Bookstorming, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2460 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Publication : Launching of review CLARA, December 10, 2005, à l'OPA, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2459 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Publication : Impulse Archaeology, University of Toronto Press, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2458 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Publication : Changer le cours, A. Strid, Editions Incidences, Marseilles, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2457 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Publication : archee, cybermensuel, November 2005, Montréal, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2456 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Screening : Stories around the madness, Paule Muxel and Bertrand de Solliers, January 8, 2006, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2455 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Screening : 59 Seconds Festival, December 13th, Santa Monica, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2454 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Exhibition : Portraits of Italian families and funds photographic of ancient sculptures, Patrick Faigenbaum, Works of the IAC-Frac collection, Castle of de Suze-la-Rousse, Suze-la-Rousse, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2453 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Exhibition : Noel Dolla, Le Dojo, Nice, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2452 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Exhibition : I DETESTE CHRISTMAS : Galerie Quang, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2451 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Program : December, Etablissement d'en face project, Brussels, Belgium. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2450 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Exhibition : Niek Van De Steeg, Le Dojo, Nice, France. lien http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2449 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Exhibition : Numerical body, Collection Frac Centre, Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts de Tours, Tours, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2448 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Call : The foundation Daniel Langlois, program to the experimentation and research projects, Montréal, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2447 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Call : in proposal, “Art Calling-Digital Art Stories”, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2446 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Call : video, Association SuperVision, Festival Premiers Plans, Anger, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2445 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Call : to take part in a turning of a video clip, Lyon, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2444 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Meetings: The winter it poetry, evening with at 37 bis, Saturday December 10, 2005, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2443 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Meetings : reading of Michel Azama, Claude Ber, Christiane Schapira, December 6, 2006, Théâtre du Rond Point, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2442 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Meetings : "In the hollow of obscure", Anne-Sarah Le Meur, Thursday December 8, 2005 MJC des Carrés, Annecy-le-vieux, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2441 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Publication : Price of the book of architecture, Marc Desportes, Monday December 12, 2005, Ministère de la Culture, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2440 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Publication : interferences, Moroccan References of the contemporary art, Mohamed Rachdi, Amiens, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2438 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Various : program vocal art, Call DIAL-A-DIVA, http://www.dialadiva.net, United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2437 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Various : Time and categories of urban, Olivier Ratouis, defence of his accreditation to supervise research, University of Littoral Côte d'Opale, Dunkerque, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2436 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 Various : SCAM : the good way near yours!, Cardo, Collectif des Auteurs-Réalisateurs pour la Défense des Œuvres, Clichy, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2435 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Exhibition : la vitrine, Gaëlle Chotard, galerie frédéric giroux, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2434 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Screening : Presence of the documentary contemporary, le jeu de Paume, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2433 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Screening : Iris, Hugo Verlinde, Collectif Jeune Cinéma, Centre Culturel La Clef, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2432 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Exhibition : exhibition of end of the year, europe artistes association, La Courneuve, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2431 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 Screening : China Action 2 - a selection of videos and performances recent Chinese artists, Tours, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2430 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 Exhibition : "tribute", dedicated to Pierre Molinier, Playing Mandrake ab joy, Bordeaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2429 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 Exhibition: on line "what are you?", Stéphane Degoutin, Marika Dermineur, Gwenola Wagon, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2428 From ravig64 at gmail.com Sat Dec 10 08:15:05 2005 From: ravig64 at gmail.com (Ravi Agarwal) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 08:15:05 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A letter to Mr Gates Message-ID: <472E5BA7-7EEA-44C8-9193-7656AC44C7C6@gmail.com> Apologies for the last posting which was garbled. ravi ================================================================ An oped published in Indian Express by Toxic Link's Ravi Agarwal upon Bill Gates' visit to India. A letter to Mr Gates Think philanthropy and info-tech, but also think of a cleaner world RAVI AGARWAL Posted online: Thursday, December 08, 2005 at 0000 hours IST Bill Gates has joined the illustrious list of American businessmen philanthropists, from Rockefeller to Ford. With over 200 million USD to be given for the health sector alone and an expected over 1 billion USD investments in India, the scale behooves the richest man in the world. However, what is it that distinguishes the business of today from that of 50 years ago? Fundamentally, it is the recognition that business and, in fact, all activities of human development needs to be 'sustainable'. Take the case of vaccine immunisation, very basic to protecting children's lives from deadly diseases. Over 4.2 billion vaccinations are carried out in India alone, almost a third of the global figures. These are done routinely, several times a week, in over 5,00,000 places, covering several million in a few weeks. Each uses a plastic syringe, made up of a mixture of plastics and now used as single shot auto disable devices to prevent cross transmission of infection from one to another. So far so good. But what happens to the syringes? They are burnt openly. Even well meaning agencies like UNICEF and WHO do this, unaware of the deadly toxins which are emitted, and which have long term health effects like cancer and endocrine disruption, on mothers and infants in particular. Only recently has India through its Reproductive and Child Health Programme mandated that these needles not be burnt but the metal sharps be removed, and the excellent quality plastic recycled. However where are the budgets to do this? \ Of the 200 million USD promised by the Gates Foundation for safe vaccination, is anyone going to ensure this 'sustainability'? Another example is of the industry Bill Gates leads worldwide. Does he know that most of the over 500 million old computers slated for disposal in the US and Europe, will head towards India, Africa and China? There these will be broken by hand, exposing poor workers to very caustic acid, cuts and burns and toxic emissions from the over 50 hazardous chemicals each computer has? Several million workers in India and Asia are exposed to these hazards even as the high growth globally connected Indian IT industry just looks on. India is planning to double its computer penetration from 11 per thousand to 20 per thousand. But what will happen to the waste as computers are now changed like underwear, every three years as against five years earlier? Surely the industry of the future must not help build a world, which is toxic and unjust on its impacts on the poorest of the poor? Gates should give a clear message to the IT industry that the future can be sustainable only if we take action in the present. We welcome Bill Gates in the true traditions of Indian hospitality, but we also want to remind him that the future patterns in India will impact the planet at a scale never before seen in human history. We need immunization and computerisation, but we need cradle to grave approaches. We need both philanthropy and sustainable partnerships and development. From aslams98 at super.net.pk Thu Dec 8 05:39:42 2005 From: aslams98 at super.net.pk (Samina) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 05:09:42 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] documentaries from PAKISTAN Message-ID: <00ce01c5fb8b$b4161860$db0d82cb@fahad> ~ life sketch Aap Jaisa Koi Nahin ( A tribute to Nazia Hassan ) Nazia Hassan's version of Westernized Urdu pop made her an icon for young Asians across many continents. She gave life to a fledgling pop industry in Pakistan. This film is a tribute to the renowned pop singer, the private & graceful woman who died tragically young. Her songs will be remembered for many many years to come. The film produced soon after Nazia's death, gives an insight into the crooner's personality through interviews of people close to her. ( 25 min: Urdu & English ) ~ legend The Crocodiles of Mangho Pir ( A famous myth of Sindh ) The story dates back to 900 years____ of a mystic saint, & his pet crocodiles. The settlers of this township who are of African origin, have a strong belief in the miraculous powers of the saint & the revered crocs near the shrine, believed to be the decendants of the saint's pets. ( 15 min: English ) ~ culture Mela Basant Bahar ( The kite flying festival ) "Basant ",The colourful kite flying festival of the peasant, originated in the Punjab is not confined to the province anymore.It has spread nationwide to become the country's biggest cutural event. The film traces the history of Basant from the mughal period, down to Hazrat Amir Khusrau, Maharaja Ranjit Singh & finally to the urbanites of Lahore. ( 25min : Urdu, Sindhi & English ) ~ environment Once This Was My Home ( Sea intrusion of land and rivers ) How a natural phenomemon has affected the lives and livelihoods of the indigenous people of the province of Sindh. People are forced to move out to unknown destinations in search of food, shelter & livelihoods. ( 13min : Urdu , Sindhi & English ) ~ environment Awaiting The Cranes' Return ( Disaster, degradation & development ) Badin, one of the country's richest areas in natural reserves__ ironically has the poorest inhabitants. Frequently struck by natural disasters & hardships of the aftermath, the deprived people eagerly await God sent help through NGO's & donations by multinational companies........hoping the "Cranes" & prosperity will return soon. ( 18min : Urdu , Sindhi & English ) hello friends, if you have an interest for screening these films during festivals or special events & / OR distribution through DVD's, then do write to me for more information & details . best samina aslam film maker karachi pakistan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051208/273bad32/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From shilpa02 at gmail.com Thu Dec 8 19:52:21 2005 From: shilpa02 at gmail.com (Shilpa Phadke) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 19:52:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Talk: 'I am Gulf': The Production of Cosmopolitanism in Calicut, Kerala Message-ID: *PUKAR* * * presents a talk by *Filippo Osella* * * * * 'I am Gulf': The Production of Cosmopolitanism in Calicut, Kerala** Date: Tuesday, 13 December 2005 Time 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 * * *Abstract* This paper explores the production of cosmopolitan identities in Calicut, Kerala. We find that the diverse experiences of the past - when commerce brought to Calicut traders from far and wide - and the present - when Calicut migrants travel to the Gulf to work and live alongside people from all over the world - are brought together in popular discourse to highlight the 'cosmopolitanism' of the city and its inhabitants. But for Calicut Koyas - the Muslim community with whom I conducted fieldwork from 2002 to 2004 - cosmopolitanism goes beyond a celebration of cultural sophistication. It is a discourse through which a specific and exclusive local identity is objectified and valorised, at the same time assimilating and distinguishing Koyas from other Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Calicut and beyond. The Koya residential area of Calicut - Thekkepuram, with its highly specific matrilineal joint households - and the Gulf - connected historically to Calicut through trade and migration - become inseparable, braided reference points of Koya identity and claims for superior status. In turn, however, the experience of contemporary Gulf migration re-aligns historical notions and practices of urban cosmopolitanism through which Koyas define their own and their city's identity.** * * * * * * *Filippo Osella studied at the **London** **School** of Economics (PhD in Anthropology 1993), and is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the **University** of **Sussex**. He has carried out several periods of extended fieldwork in Kerala and the **Persian Gulf** since 1989, and has published on social mobility, migration, agrarian relations, masculinities and sexuality, popular religion and the body. His most important publications to date are: Osella, F & Osella, C. 2000 Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict, (Pluto); Chopra R, C Osella & F Osella (eds.) 2003 Masculinities in South Asia, (Kali for Women); F Osella & K Gardner 2003 Migration, Modernity and Social Transformation in South Asia (SAGE). He is currently working on contemporary consumption practices and ways in which they impact upon identities in the contexts of economic liberalisation, high migration and Islamic reformism, with fieldwork in Kerala and the **Persian Gulf**.* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051208/c5d24357/attachment.html From impulse at bol.net.in Fri Dec 9 23:13:40 2005 From: impulse at bol.net.in (Kavita Joshi) Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2005 23:13:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] VIBGYOR Film Festival -- call for Entries Message-ID: <004d01c5fce8$19d79c20$b2c19fca@ros> Forwarded mail: please reply only to the e-ids below...... Subject: VIBGYOR Film Festival -- call for Entries Dear Friends, I'm Benny writing from Trichur, Kerala. Our organization, Chetana Media Institute, is organizing the `VIBGYOR Short & Documentary Film Festival' at Trichur from February23-26, 2006. We have included a Competition section also. Consider the following text as an invitation and preliminary level informattion. You will get more info from our website, www.vibgyorfilmfest.com Thanks, Benny Chetana Media Institute, Thrissur, Kerala, India VIBGYOR Film Festival Celebrating Identities and Diversity Chetana stands to create free and fearless expressions of the human spirit in life and art, through media instruction, production and interaction. We team up with like-minded groups and organizations to facilitate effective interventions in favor of peace, justice and harmony. VIBGYOR, the latest move of Chetana into the territory of film festivals gets set to celebrate this time the vagaries of identity and the richness of its embodied diversity in the festival of short and documentary films to be held from February 23-26, 2006 at Thrissur, Kerala. We endeavor to celebrate and interface our belief in existence where its preferences and forms of expressions are neither implicated by the other nor hindered by any industrial interests; a fair juxtaposing of identities is all that VIBGYOR intents. Starting with the festival Small Films in a Smaller World of February 2004 to Gargi Women Film Festival of May 2005, it is unstoppable as we advance with our supporters and sympathizers to refigure identity and redraw the extents of diversity with VIBGYOR. Drawing on the past experiences, the intent is to make the event a national festival of shorts and documentaries broadly mapping identity politics and its scope. The Festival sections include Competition, Non-Competitive, Retrospective and Focus of the Year. COMPETITION: is open to short fiction and documentaries produced in India, between 1st December 2003 and 30th November, 2005. The theme for Documentaries is 'Women Frames' (time limit 1hr.). There is no specific theme for Fiction (time limit 1hr). Entry fee for Competition section for both documentaries and shorts is Rs. 500/- per film. The winning entries shall be awarded Cash Prize and a Citation. Non-competitive section includes national and international short fiction, documentaries, music videos, animations and spots and these should be based on the theme `Identities and Diversity'. In the Non-Competitive section, 'TV Features Made by Women' and 'Campus Films' are included and in this category only entries from Kerala state are invited. Focus of the Year 2006 section shall have 'Water' as its theme. Register your entries in any of the above sections by downloading the entry form from www.vibgyorfilmfest.com. Fill it, sign it and post it to us with your VCD/ VHS/DVD (Region 2 or All Region) with a synopsis in less than 65 words and a good still of the film along with a DD for Rs. 500/- (applicable only in case of Competition Entries) drawn in favor of 'Chetana Media Institute' payable at Trichur (Kerala). Last date for receipt of your entries in the Competition section is 20th December, 2005. Entries in the Non-Competitive and Focus of the Year sections should reach the office before 31st December, 2005. There will be pre-selection round in all the categories. For details, contact: VIBGYOR Film Festival Office Chetana Media Institute Kalliath Sq., Palace Road Trichur 680 020, Kerala, INDIA Tel: 91+ 487-2330830/2323590 www.vibgyorfilmfest.com info at vibgyorfilmfest.com _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From vivek at sarai.net Wed Dec 7 15:19:03 2005 From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan) Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:19:03 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] FULCRUM Anthology of South Asian English Poetry Message-ID: <4396B00F.1030808@sarai.net> Fulcrum: an annual of poetry and aesthetics, Number Four, 2005, edited by Philip Nikolayev and Katia Kapovich 540 pp., perfectbound SPECIAL FEATURE: GIVE THE SEA CHANGE AND IT SHALL CHANGE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF INDIAN POETRY IN ENGLISH (1951-2005), edited by Jeet Thayil, with photos by Madhu Kapparath. 300+ PAGES. By far the best and most informative anthology of its kind to date, it supercedes all earlier efforts of a similar nature, including past anthologies of Indian poetry in English published by Penguin and Oxford University Press. POETRY BY Nissim Ezekiel, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Srikanth Reddy, Sudesh Mishra, Mukta Sambrani, G. S. Sharat Chandra, Mamang Dai, Srinivas Rayaprol, K. Srilata, Tabish Khair, Vinay Dharwadker, Mani Rao, R. Parthasarathy, Vijay Nambisan, Vivek Narayanan, Manohar Shetty, H. Masud Taj, Ravi Shankar, Eunice de Souza, Saleem Peeradina, Smita Agarwal, Keki Daruwalla, Jeet Thayil, Jane Bhandari, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Anjum Hasan, Amit Chaudhuri, Gopi Kuttoor, Deepankar Khiwani, Leela Gandhi, Dom Moraes, Anand Thakore, Michelle Yasmine Valladares, Kersy Katrak, Debjani Chatterjee, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Kamala Das, Menka Shivdasani, Gopal Honnalgere, Ruth Vanita, Gieve Patel, Melanie Silgardo, Dilip Chitre, Ranjit Hoskote, Mamta Kalia, Jayanta Mahapatra, Jerry Pinto, Adil Jussawalla, Lawrence Bantleman, E. V. Ramakrishnan, Sampurna Chattarji, Vijay Seshadri, Shanta Acharya, C. P. Surendran, K. Satchidanandan, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Arun Kolatkar. ESSAYS by Jeet Thayil, Bruce King, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra According to the critic Marjorie Perloff, "One of the liveliest, most challenging poetry journals now on the market, FULCRUM is notable for its non-sectarianism, its free- wheeling, wide-ranging presentation of different poetries, candid interviews, and unusual critical prose. The anthology of Indian Poetry in English in #4 is especially notable." ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: CONTRIBUTIONS BY Billy Collins, X.J. Kennedy, David Lehman, Paul Muldoon, W. N. Herbert, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Michael Palmer, Charles Bernstein, Lyn Hejinian, John Tranter, Marjorie Perloff, Eliot Weinberger, James Wood, John Kinsella, Ed Dorn and many more Poetry and Truth: nineteen leading poets and critics respond to Fulcrum’s questionnaire regarding the nature of poetry (What is and what isn't poetry? What is the most important poetry? What is the relationship between poetry and truth? How does poetry relate to the human condition? Can there be a meaningful philosophy of poetry? Does the fundamental nature of poetry change over time? Is there one "poetry" or are there "poetries"? What makes a genuinely great poem? What is the relationship between tradition and innovation in poetry? Is a particular poetic method ("lyricist," "formalist," "free verse," "experimental," etc.) preferable? Are there deep associations between poetics and politics? What fundamental misconceptions about poetry annoy you most?) + six essays SUBSCRIPTION rates in the US are $15 per issue for individuals, $30 for institutions. International subscribers add $7 per copy for surface shipment, $12 per copy for airmail. Send check or money order drawn in US currency and payable to Fulcrum Annual to Fulcrum, 334 Harvard Street, Suite D-2, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Philip Nikolayev & Katia Kapovich, eds. FULCRUM: AN ANNUAL OF POETRY AND AESTHETICS 334 Harvard Street, Suite D-2 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA phone 617-864-7874 e-mail editor fulcrumpoetry.com _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From nc-agricowi at netcologne.de Tue Dec 6 14:12:27 2005 From: nc-agricowi at netcologne.de (NetEx) Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 09:42:27 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Call for Internet based art Message-ID: <43954EF3.5040707@netcologne.de> Call for submissions Deadline: 1 March 2006 ******************** On 31 December 2005, the global networking project [R][R][F]2005--->XP by Agricola de Cologne http://rrf2005.newmediafest.org will expire, but will be reborn on 1 January 2006 as [R][R][F]2006--->XP http://rrf2006.newmediafest.org. Since its start in March 2004, the RRF project (Remembering-Repressing-Forgetting) has become one of the most successful Internet based project environments of its kind. Dealing with the thematical aspects of "memory & identity", it represents a unique collection of collective memory by including artworks by more than 650 artist, 50 curators and numerous virtual and physical organisations and institutions from all parts on the globe. RRF was presented until the end of 2005 nearly 50 times in virtual and physical space details see also NetEX - networked experience http://netex.nmartproject.net/index.php?cat=55 all recent news can be found also on http://netex.nmartproject.net For the new season 2006, [R][R][F]2006--->XP is inviting artists working with New Media to submit their latest Internet based projects dealing with the theme "memory" in a narrow or wider sense, including aspects of identity, violence, human rights, controll (surveillance), globalisation and much more, see also the "Memory Channels" on http://rrf2005.newmediafest.org The RRF project is planned to be active also beyond the year 2007 and will remain for permanent online. A single artist or an artist collective can submit up to 3 projects/works. The projects have to be submitted as URL, thus must have an Internet address of their own, but there is an option (on request) to accept also cloned projects (including all necessary files) for being hosted on RRF server (recommended in case a project is not planned to remain for permanent online) The use of following plug-ins is accepted: Flash, Shockwave, Quicktime, Real Player, Cortona (3D) (other plug-ins on request) Please use this entry form for submitting: 1.name of artist(s), email address(es), URL(s) (in case of an artists collective please credit all participants properly) 2. short biography/CV (not more than 300 words each) 3. 3 work/project max. --> a) title b) year of production c) used technology d) URL for review and inclusion 4. work description ( not more than 500 words) 5. 2 screenshots(.jpeg, max. 800x600 px) for each submitted work . Please send the complete submission to rrf2006 at newmediafest.org subject: [R][R][F]2006--->XP submission For the option of submitting a cloned project, please contact rrf2006 at newmediafest.org for details subject: cloned project submission ************************************************* This calls is also issued on NetEX - networked experience http://weblog.nmartproject.net/index.php?blog=8&cat=54 . [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne www.nmartproject.net info(at)nmartproject.net _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From turbulence at turbulence.org Thu Dec 8 08:22:18 2005 From: turbulence at turbulence.org (Turbulence) Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:52:18 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Turbulence Commission: "mimoSa" Message-ID: December 7, 2005 Turbulence Commission: "mimoSa: Urban Intervention and Information Correctional Machine" by Alexandre Freire, Etienne Delacroix, Giuliano Djahdjah, Luis "Asa" Fagundes, Murmur, Ricardo Ruiz, Romano, and Tatiana Wells http://turbulence.org/works/mimoSa/ Needs the VLC Media Player (see main page for URL) "mimoSa" is based on the concept that people start to think critically about media when they produce and distribute it themselves. In Brazil, new systems of media production and distribution are crucial to achieving a more just distribution of power and representation. "mimoSa" is a continuous workshop that moves around Brazilian cities collecting people¹s stories using recycled and reconstructed technologies. The aim of the workshops is to design a machine capable of altering the Brazilian mediascape. During the workshops a group of artists, programmers, and activists create and operate this machine. The machine records stories, stores them in a database, broadcasts them on FM, and records them to CD. It also prints telephone numbers and instructions on city streets and walls so that people passing by are able to access the stories via their mobile phones. "mimoSa" maps these activities via its web portal from which visitors can access both audio and video interviews. Begun in November 2005, the web site will continue to grow as the artists travel and present workshops in various Brazilian cities; "mimoSa" will keep walking around until 1 GB of information is loaded to the server. "mimoSa: Urban Intervention and Information Correctional Machine" is a 2005 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. COLLABORATORS ALEXANDRE FREIRE: mobile programmer, responsible for setting up the audio mobile server. ETIENNE DELACROIX: MIT fellow and teacher at University of Sao Paulo. Works with discarded computers and other technological garbage. Responsible for assembly of a portable PC and the machine's backbone. GIULIANO DJAHDJAH: free-radio practitioner and documentarian, responsible for workshops and urban interventions. LUÍS "ASA" FAGUNDES: hacker, PHP, C++ programmer. MURMUR: a group collecting personal stories on mobile phones in Toronto, Canada. Responsible for mobile connectivity. RICARDO RUIZ: media practitioner, responsible for workshops, construction of the machine and urban interventions. ROMANO: radio artist and audio designer, responsible for audio recording. TATIANA WELLS: new media researcher, responsible for urban interventions and collecting stories. For more information about Turbulence, please visit http://turbulence.org _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From carmen_serra at hotmail.com Thu Dec 8 13:16:31 2005 From: carmen_serra at hotmail.com (Carmen Serra) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 07:46:31 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] (no subject) Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051208/d7ee2049/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From tcm1 at cornell.edu Fri Dec 9 20:14:28 2005 From: tcm1 at cornell.edu (timothy murray) Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2005 09:44:28 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Call for Art On-Line: eco-poetics, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival Message-ID: PLEASE DISTRIBUTE eco-poetics CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York. Deadline: January , 2006. Deadline: January 3, 2006. The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival seeks seek finished projects of electronic art, ready to be mounted on-line, on the theme of eco-poetics. Selected artistic interventions on electronic interfaces between sustainability and environmental thought will be exhibited at The 9th Annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival at Ithaca College, March 30-April 6, 2006, and subsequently maintained in off-line form in The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell University Library. eco-poetics. How might new media environments and technological flows intervene in eco-culture and eco-politics? What is the relationship between the techne of eco-poetics and the imperative of eco-politics? How do internet paradigms of speed, flow, and traffic impact notions of sustainability? Do mobile technologies and global positioning systems provide platforms for ecological activism? What about the military's utilization of ludic gaming systems for digital terror and ecological devastation? How might new media interventions offset the media blackouts of the global ecology of war and public health degradation? How can the artistic mixing of ecological and poetic materials-organic, inorganic, technological, aural, visual-create alternative and fertile environments in new media culture? Please send a description of your project, including conceptual abstract, technical format, and preview URL, to the Festival On-Line Curators, Timothy Murray, Patricia R. Zimmernann, and Tom Shevory: e-mail address: tcm1 at cornell.edu Further information about the Finger Lakes Environmental Festival can be found at: http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff -- -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051209/7feb76da/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From ravis at sarai.net Sat Dec 10 15:04:55 2005 From: ravis at sarai.net (Ravi Sundaram) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 15:04:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The other china Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20051210145729.03413cc8@mail.sarai.net> The India elite never tires speaking about the emulating Shanghai in particular and China in general. There is a lot to be learnt from China's global emergence and the concurrent crisis of the US empire, but what is also amazing is also a high rate of social unrest in China. According to Chinese police figures there were 74,000 significant social disturbances in China last year. That's seventy four thousand! See the story below about a recent such 'disturbance'. China is now the workshop of the world, dynamic and turbulent, with rates of inequality comparable to that of Brazil. ________________________ Protesters Say Police in China Killed Up to 20 By HOWARD W. FRENCH, New York Times SHANGHAI, Dec. 9 - Residents of a fishing village near Hong Kong said Friday that as many as 20 people were killed by the paramilitary police this week, in an unusually violent clash that marked an escalation in the widespread social protests roiling the Chinese countryside. Villagers said as many as 50 other residents remained unaccounted for since the shootings on Tuesday. It was the largest known use of force by security personnel against citizens since the killings around Tiananmen Square in 1989. That death toll is still unknown, but is estimated to have been in the hundreds. The violence near Hong Kong began after dark on Tuesday evening in the town of Dongzhou, when the police opened fire on crowds to put down a demonstration over plans for a power plant. Terrified residents said their hamlet has been occupied since then by thousands of security officers, who have blocked off all access roads and were arresting residents who have tried to leave the area in the wake of the heavily armed assault. "From about 7 p.m. the police started firing tear gas into the crowd, but this failed to scare people," said a resident who gave his name only as Li and claimed to have been at the scene, where, he said, a relative had been killed. "Later, we heard more than 10 explosions, and thought they were just detonators, so nobody was scared," Li said. "At about 8 p.m. they started using guns, shooting bullets into the ground, but not really targeting anybody. Finally, at about 10 p.m. they started killing people." The use of live ammunition to put down a protest is almost unheard of in China, where the authorities have come to rely on the rapid deployment of huge security forces, tear gas, water cannons and other nonlethal measures. But the Chinese authorities have become increasingly nervous in recent months over the proliferation of demonstrations across the countryside, particularly in heavily industrialized eastern provinces like Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, where Dongzhou is situated. By the government's own tally, there were 74,000 riots or other significant public disturbances in 2004 alone, a big jump from previous years. The Chinese government has not issued a statement about the events in Dongzhou, nor has it been reported in the state news media. Reached by telephone, an official in the city of Shanwei, which has jurisdiction over the village, said, "Yes, there was an incident, but we don't know the details." The official, who declined to give his name, said a government announcement would be made Saturday. In telephone interviews with more than a dozen villagers in Dongzhou, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, a detailed account of the conflict emerged. Residents said their dispute with the authorities had begun with a power company's plans to build a coal-fired generator nearby, which they feared would cause heavy pollution. Farmers said they had not been compensated for the use of their land for the plant. Others said plans to fill in a local bay as part of the power plant project were unacceptable because people have made their livelihoods there as fishermen for generations. Already, villagers complained, work crews have been blasting a nearby mountainside for rubble to use in the landfill. A small group of villagers was chosen to complain to the authorities about the plant in August, but the members were arrested, infuriating residents and leading others to join the protests. The police made more arrests on Tuesday while villagers were staging a sit-in. In response, many people came out into the streets, where they obstructed several officers. Hundreds of law enforcement officers were rushed in. "Everybody, young and old, went out to watch," said one man who said his cousin had been fatally shot in the forehead by the police during the protest. "We didn't expect they were so evil. The farmers had no means to resist them." The earliest accounts coming from the village said the police had opened fire only after villagers began throwing homemade bombs and other missiles. But villagers reached by telephone on Friday denied those accounts, saying that a few farmers had launched ordinary fireworks at the police as part of their protest. "Those were not bombs, they were fireworks, the kind that fly up into the sky," one witness said. "The organizers didn't have any money, so someone bought fireworks and placed them there. At the moment the trouble started, many of the demonstrators were holding them, and of those who held fireworks, almost everyone was killed." Other witnesses estimated that 10 people were killed in the first volley of automatic gunfire. "I live not far from the scene, and I was running as fast as I could," a witness said. "I dragged one of the people they killed, a man in his 30's who was shot in his chest. Initially I thought he might survive, because he was still breathing, but he was panting heavily, and as soon as I pulled him aside, he died." That witness said that he, too, had come under fire when police officers saw him going to the aid of the dying man. Villagers said that in addition to the regular security forces, the authorities had enlisted thugs from local organized crime groups to help put down the demonstration. "They had knives and sticks in their hands, and they were two or three layers thick, lining the road," one man said. "They stood in front of the armed police, and when the tear gas was launched, the thugs were all ducking." Like the Dongzhou episode itself, most of the thousands of riots and public disturbances recorded in China this year have involved environmental, property rights and land-use issues. Among other problems the Chinese government has in trying to come to grips with the growing rural unrest, it is wrestling with a yawning gap in incomes between farmers and urban dwellers, as well as rampant corruption in local government, where officials make deals with developers involving communal property rights, often for their own profit. Finally, cellphones have made it easier for people in rural China to organize, communicating news to one another by text messages, and increasingly allowing them to stay in touch with members of nongovernmental organizations in big cities who have been eager to advise them or to provide legal help. Over the last three days, residents of the village said, few people dared to go outside, other than to look for missing relatives. The police and other security forces, meanwhile, combed the village house by house, residents said, looking for leaders of the demonstration and making arrests. Residents said that after the demonstration was suppressed, a senior Communist Party official went to the hamlet from nearby Shanwei and addressed residents with a megaphone. "Shanwei and Dongzhou are still good friends," a villager recalled that the party official said. "We're not here against you. We are here to make the construction of the Red Sea Bay better." Later, the official told visitors, "all of the families who have people who died must send a representative to the police for a solution." On Friday, about 100 bereaved villagers gathered at a bridge leading into the town, briefly blocking access to security forces. The villagers hoisted a white banner whose black-ink characters read: "The dead suffered a wrong. Uphold justice." From do_not_reply at kitabmahal.org Thu Dec 8 12:46:14 2005 From: do_not_reply at kitabmahal.org (Kitab Mahal, Fourth Floor) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 12:46:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] [4thfloorevents] Creative Collaborations:extending the frame an exhibition at Kitab Mahal, Fourth Floor Message-ID: <20051208100429.6D72A28DA98@mail.sarai.net> ?Creative Collaborations: extending the frame? an exhibition of contemporary Indian art 10th ? 20th December 2005, Time : 11am to 7 pm At The Fourth Floor, Kitab Mahal, D. N Road, Fort, Mumbai ?Creative Collaborations: extending the frame? an exhibition of contemporary Indian art opens on 10th December 2005 at 6pm at the fine ?The Fourth Floor, Kitab Mahal, D N Road, Fort, Mumbai?. ?Creative Collaborations: extending the frame? is presented by the Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan to raise substantial funds for their objectives. Services of several professional agencies as well as the premises to the show have been made available free of cost. Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan was founded about two years ago, by a group of stage, film and allied arts personalities. The trust was set up with the intention to preserve and promote the arts while also fulfilling the needs of the artist community. The aim was that artists should support artists, especially senior and the ailing. Other activities undertaken include development of literature and theatre, the production of plays, publications of books or undertaking reprints, buying rights of literary publications and arranging translations from different languages. Later, the Trust plans to grant scholarships and fellowships to artists ? from among those whose careers are just unfolding, to those looking back on of creative endeavor. Participating artists include: Anjolie Ela Menon * Ara * Atul Dodiya * Baiju Parthan * Bose Krishnamachari * Chintan Upadhyay * Deepak Shinde * Jatin Das * Kashmiri Khosa * Manu Parekh * Ram Kumar * S. G. Vasudev * Sudhir Patwardhan among others. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051208/95bffea9/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ 4thfloorevents mailing list 4thfloorevents at kitabmahal.org http://lists.kitabmahal.org/mailman/listinfo/4thfloorevents -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From nmajumda+ at pitt.edu Sat Dec 10 19:50:20 2005 From: nmajumda+ at pitt.edu (nmajumda+ at pitt.edu) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 09:20:20 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Reader-list] Harold Pinter's Nobel acceptance speech Message-ID: <2043.136.142.22.198.1134224420.squirrel@webmail.pitt.edu> Below is Pinter's speech from the Guardian newspaper. The Nobel lecture Art, truth and politics In his video-taped Nobel acceptance speech, Harold Pinter excoriated a 'brutal, scornful and ruthless' United States. This is the full text of his address Thursday December 8, 2005 Guardian Harold Pinter delivering his Nobel lecture via video to the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/EPA In 1958 I wrote the following: 'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.' I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false? Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavour. The search is your task. More often than not you stumble upon the truth in the dark, colliding with it or just glimpsing an image or a shape which seems to correspond to the truth, often without realising that you have done so. But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost. I have often been asked how my plays come about. I cannot say. Nor can I ever sum up my plays, except to say that this is what happened. That is what they said. That is what they did. Most of the plays are engendered by a line, a word or an image. The given word is often shortly followed by the image. I shall give two examples of two lines which came right out of the blue into my head, followed by an image, followed by me. The plays are The Homecoming and Old Times. The first line of The Homecoming is 'What have you done with the scissors?' The first line of Old Times is 'Dark.' In each case I had no further information. In the first case someone was obviously looking for a pair of scissors and was demanding their whereabouts of someone else he suspected had probably stolen them. But I somehow knew that the person addressed didn't give a damn about the scissors or about the questioner either, for that matter. 'Dark' I took to be a description of someone's hair, the hair of a woman, and was the answer to a question. In each case I found myself compelled to pursue the matter. This happened visually, a very slow fade, through shadow into light. I always start a play by calling the characters A, B and C. In the play that became The Homecoming I saw a man enter a stark room and ask his question of a younger man sitting on an ugly sofa reading a racing paper. I somehow suspected that A was a father and that B was his son, but I had no proof. This was however confirmed a short time later when B (later to become Lenny) says to A (later to become Max), 'Dad, do you mind if I change the subject? I want to ask you something. The dinner we had before, what was the name of it? What do you call it? Why don't you buy a dog? You're a dog cook. Honest. You think you're cooking for a lot of dogs.' So since B calls A 'Dad' it seemed to me reasonable to assume that they were father and son. A was also clearly the cook and his cooking did not seem to be held in high regard. Did this mean that there was no mother? I didn't know. But, as I told myself at the time, our beginnings never know our ends. 'Dark.' A large window. Evening sky. A man, A (later to become Deeley), and a woman, B (later to become Kate), sitting with drinks. 'Fat or thin?' the man asks. Who are they talking about? But I then see, standing at the window, a woman, C (later to become Anna), in another condition of light, her back to them, her hair dark. It's a strange moment, the moment of creating characters who up to that moment have had no existence. What follows is fitful, uncertain, even hallucinatory, although sometimes it can be an unstoppable avalanche. The author's position is an odd one. In a sense he is not welcomed by the characters. The characters resist him, they are not easy to live with, they are impossible to define. You certainly can't dictate to them. To a certain extent you play a never-ending game with them, cat and mouse, blind man's buff, hide and seek. But finally you find that you have people of flesh and blood on your hands, people with will and an individual sensibility of their own, made out of component parts you are unable to change, manipulate or distort. So language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you, the author, at any time. But as I have said, the search for the truth can never stop. It cannot be adjourned, it cannot be postponed. It has to be faced, right there, on the spot. Political theatre presents an entirely different set of problems. Sermonising has to be avoided at all cost. Objectivity is essential. The characters must be allowed to breathe their own air. The author cannot confine and constrict them to satisfy his own taste or disposition or prejudice. He must be prepared to approach them from a variety of angles, from a full and uninhibited range of perspectives, take them by surprise, perhaps, occasionally, but nevertheless give them the freedom to go which way they will. This does not always work. And political satire, of course, adheres to none of these precepts, in fact does precisely the opposite, which is its proper function. In my play The Birthday Party I think I allow a whole range of options to operate in a dense forest of possibility before finally focussing on an act of subjugation. Mountain Language pretends to no such range of operation. It remains brutal, short and ugly. But the soldiers in the play do get some fun out of it. One sometimes forgets that torturers become easily bored. They need a bit of a laugh to keep their spirits up. This has been confirmed of course by the events at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad. Mountain Language lasts only 20 minutes, but it could go on for hour after hour, on and on and on, the same pattern repeated over and over again, on and on, hour after hour. Ashes to Ashes, on the other hand, seems to me to be taking place under water. A drowning woman, her hand reaching up through the waves, dropping down out of sight, reaching for others, but finding nobody there, either above or under the water, finding only shadows, reflections, floating; the woman a lost figure in a drowning landscape, a woman unable to escape the doom that seemed to belong only to others. But as they died, she must die too. Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed. As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true. The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it. But before I come back to the present I would like to look at the recent past, by which I mean United States foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. I believe it is obligatory upon us to subject this period to at least some kind of even limited scrutiny, which is all that time will allow here. Everyone knows what happened in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe during the post-war period: the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought. All this has been fully documented and verified. But my contention here is that the US crimes in the same period have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognised as crimes at all. I believe this must be addressed and that the truth has considerable bearing on where the world stands now. Although constrained, to a certain extent, by the existence of the Soviet Union, the United States' actions throughout the world made it clear that it had concluded it had carte blanche to do what it liked. Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been America's favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has described as 'low intensity conflict'. Low intensity conflict means that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the gangrene bloom. When the populace has been subdued - or beaten to death - the same thing - and your own friends, the military and the great corporations, sit comfortably in power, you go before the camera and say that democracy has prevailed. This was a commonplace in US foreign policy in the years to which I refer. The tragedy of Nicaragua was a highly significant case. I choose to offer it here as a potent example of America's view of its role in the world, both then and now. I was present at a meeting at the US embassy in London in the late 1980s. The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more money to the Contras in their campaign against the state of Nicaragua. I was a member of a delegation speaking on behalf of Nicaragua but the most important member of this delegation was a Father John Metcalf. The leader of the US body was Raymond Seitz (then number two to the ambassador, later ambassador himself). Father Metcalf said: 'Sir, I am in charge of a parish in the north of Nicaragua. My parishioners built a school, a health centre, a cultural centre. We have lived in peace. A few months ago a Contra force attacked the parish. They destroyed everything: the school, the health centre, the cultural centre. They raped nurses and teachers, slaughtered doctors, in the most brutal manner. They behaved like savages. Please demand that the US government withdraw its support from this shocking terrorist activity.' Raymond Seitz had a very good reputation as a rational, responsible and highly sophisticated man. He was greatly respected in diplomatic circles. He listened, paused and then spoke with some gravity. 'Father,' he said, 'let me tell you something. In war, innocent people always suffer.' There was a frozen silence. We stared at him. He did not flinch. Innocent people, indeed, always suffer. Finally somebody said: 'But in this case "innocent people" were the victims of a gruesome atrocity subsidised by your government, one among many. If Congress allows the Contras more money further atrocities of this kind will take place. Is this not the case? Is your government not therefore guilty of supporting acts of murder and destruction upon the citizens of a sovereign state?' Seitz was imperturbable. 'I don't agree that the facts as presented support your assertions,' he said. As we were leaving the Embassy a US aide told me that he enjoyed my plays. I did not reply. I should remind you that at the time President Reagan made the following statement: 'The Contras are the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.' The United States supported the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua for over 40 years. The Nicaraguan people, led by the Sandinistas, overthrew this regime in 1979, a breathtaking popular revolution. The Sandinistas weren't perfect. They possessed their fair share of arrogance and their political philosophy contained a number of contradictory elements. But they were intelligent, rational and civilised. They set out to establish a stable, decent, pluralistic society. The death penalty was abolished. Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken peasants were brought back from the dead. Over 100,000 families were given title to land. Two thousand schools were built. A quite remarkable literacy campaign reduced illiteracy in the country to less than one seventh. Free education was established and a free health service. Infant mortality was reduced by a third. Polio was eradicated. The United States denounced these achievements as Marxist/Leninist subversion. In the view of the US government, a dangerous example was being set. If Nicaragua was allowed to establish basic norms of social and economic justice, if it was allowed to raise the standards of health care and education and achieve social unity and national self respect, neighbouring countries would ask the same questions and do the same things. There was of course at the time fierce resistance to the status quo in El Salvador. I spoke earlier about 'a tapestry of lies' which surrounds us. President Reagan commonly described Nicaragua as a 'totalitarian dungeon'. This was taken generally by the media, and certainly by the British government, as accurate and fair comment. But there was in fact no record of death squads under the Sandinista government. There was no record of torture. There was no record of systematic or official military brutality. No priests were ever murdered in Nicaragua. There were in fact three priests in the government, two Jesuits and a Maryknoll missionary. The totalitarian dungeons were actually next door, in El Salvador and Guatemala. The United States had brought down the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 and it is estimated that over 200,000 people had been victims of successive military dictatorships. Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA. That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass. It is estimated that 75,000 people died. Why were they killed? They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved. That belief immediately qualified them as communists. They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright. The United States finally brought down the Sandinista government. It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people. They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again. The casinos moved back into the country. Free health and free education were over. Big business returned with a vengeance. 'Democracy' had prevailed. But this 'policy' was by no means restricted to Central America. It was conducted throughout the world. It was never-ending. And it is as if it never happened. The United States supported and in many cases engendered every right wing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the Second World War. I refer to Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and, of course, Chile. The horror the United States inflicted upon Chile in 1973 can never be purged and can never be forgiven. Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place throughout these countries. Did they take place? And are they in all cases attributable to US foreign policy? The answer is yes they did take place and they are attributable to American foreign policy. But you wouldn't know it. It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis. I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It's a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, 'the American people', as in the sentence, 'I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.' It's a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable. This does not apply of course to the 40 million people living below the poverty line and the 2 million men and women imprisoned in the vast gulag of prisons, which extends across the US. The United States no longer bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain. What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days - conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead? Look at Guantanamo Bay. Hundreds of people detained without charge for over three years, with no legal representation or due process, technically detained forever. This totally illegitimate structure is maintained in defiance of the Geneva Convention. It is not only tolerated but hardly thought about by what's called the 'international community'. This criminal outrage is being committed by a country, which declares itself to be 'the leader of the free world'. Do we think about the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay? What does the media say about them? They pop up occasionally - a small item on page six. They have been consigned to a no man's land from which indeed they may never return. At present many are on hunger strike, being force-fed, including British residents. No niceties in these force-feeding procedures. No sedative or anaesthetic. Just a tube stuck up your nose and into your throat. You vomit blood. This is torture. What has the British Foreign Secretary said about this? Nothing. What has the British Prime Minister said about this? Nothing. Why not? Because the United States has said: to criticise our conduct in Guantanamo Bay constitutes an unfriendly act. You're either with us or against us. So Blair shuts up. The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort - all other justifications having failed to justify themselves - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people. We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'. How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they're interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London. Death in this context is irrelevant. Both Bush and Blair place death well away on the back burner. At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraq insurgency began. These people are of no moment. Their deaths don't exist. They are blank. They are not even recorded as being dead. 'We don't do body counts,' said the American general Tommy Franks. Early in the invasion there was a photograph published on the front page of British newspapers of Tony Blair kissing the cheek of a little Iraqi boy. 'A grateful child,' said the caption. A few days later there was a story and photograph, on an inside page, of another four-year-old boy with no arms. His family had been blown up by a missile. He was the only survivor. 'When do I get my arms back?' he asked. The story was dropped. Well, Tony Blair wasn't holding him in his arms, nor the body of any other mutilated child, nor the body of any bloody corpse. Blood is dirty. It dirties your shirt and tie when you're making a sincere speech on television. The 2,000 American dead are an embarrassment. They are transported to their graves in the dark. Funerals are unobtrusive, out of harm's way. The mutilated rot in their beds, some for the rest of their lives. So the dead and the mutilated both rot, in different kinds of graves. Here is an extract from a poem by Pablo Neruda, 'I'm Explaining a Few Things': And one morning all that was burning, one morning the bonfires leapt out of the earth devouring human beings and from then on fire, gunpowder from then on, and from then on blood. Bandits with planes and Moors, bandits with finger-rings and duchesses, bandits with black friars spattering blessings came through the sky to kill children and the blood of children ran through the streets without fuss, like children's blood. Jackals that the jackals would despise stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out, vipers that the vipers would abominate. Face to face with you I have seen the blood of Spain tower like a tide to drown you in one wave of pride and knives. Treacherous generals: see my dead house, look at broken Spain: from every house burning metal flows instead of flowers from every socket of Spain Spain emerges and from every dead child a rifle with eyes and from every crime bullets are born which will one day find the bull's eye of your hearts. And you will ask: why doesn't his poetry speak of dreams and leaves and the great volcanoes of his native land. Come and see the blood in the streets. Come and see the blood in the streets. Come and see the blood in the streets! * Let me make it quite clear that in quoting from Neruda's poem I am in no way comparing Republican Spain to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. I quote Neruda because nowhere in contemporary poetry have I read such a powerful visceral description of the bombing of civilians. I have said earlier that the United States is now totally frank about putting its cards on the table. That is the case. Its official declared policy is now defined as 'full spectrum dominance'. That is not my term, it is theirs. 'Full spectrum dominance' means control of land, sea, air and space and all attendant resources. The United States now occupies 702 military installations throughout the world in 132 countries, with the honourable exception of Sweden, of course. We don't quite know how they got there but they are there all right. The United States possesses 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads. Two thousand are on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched with 15 minutes warning. It is developing new systems of nuclear force, known as bunker busters. The British, ever cooperative, are intending to replace their own nuclear missile, Trident. Who, I wonder, are they aiming at? Osama bin Laden? You? Me? Joe Dokes? China? Paris? Who knows? What we do know is that this infantile insanity - the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons - is at the heart of present American political philosophy. We must remind ourselves that the United States is on a permanent military footing and shows no sign of relaxing it. Many thousands, if not millions, of people in the United States itself are demonstrably sickened, shamed and angered by their government's actions, but as things stand they are not a coherent political force - yet. But the anxiety, uncertainty and fear which we can see growing daily in the United States is unlikely to diminish. I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man. 'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.' A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician. I have referred to death quite a few times this evening. I shall now quote a poem of my own called 'Death'. Where was the dead body found? Who found the dead body? Was the dead body dead when found? How was the dead body found? Who was the dead body? Who was the father or daughter or brother Or uncle or sister or mother or son Of the dead and abandoned body? Was the body dead when abandoned? Was the body abandoned? By whom had it been abandoned? Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey? What made you declare the dead body dead? Did you declare the dead body dead? How well did you know the dead body? How did you know the dead body was dead? Did you wash the dead body Did you close both its eyes Did you bury the body Did you leave it abandoned Did you kiss the dead body When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes. We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us. I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man. * Extract from "I'm Explaining a Few Things" translated by Nathaniel Tarn, from Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems, published by Jonathan Cape, London 1970. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited. © The Nobel Foundation 2005 From nmajumda at pitt.edu Sat Dec 10 19:38:15 2005 From: nmajumda at pitt.edu (nmajumda at pitt.edu) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 14:08:15 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Reader-list] Guardian Unlimited: Art, truth and politics Message-ID: <20051210140815.D2A73867FE@mussel.gul3.gnl> Neepa Majumdar spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. ------- Note from Neepa Majumdar: This is the text of Harold Pinter's Nobel acceptance speech, denouncing U.S. foreign policy. ------- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Art, truth and politics In his video-taped Nobel acceptance speech, Harold Pinter excoriated a 'brutal, scornful and ruthless' United States. This is the full text of his address Harold Pinter Thursday December 08 2005 The Guardian In 1958 I wrote the following: 'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.' I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false? Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavour. The search is your task. More often than not you stumble upon the truth in the dark, colliding with it or just glimpsing an image or a shape which seems to correspond to the truth, often without realising that you have done so. But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost. I have often been asked how my plays come about. I cannot say. Nor can I ever sum up my plays, except to say that this is what happened. That is what they said. That is what they did. Most of the plays are engendered by a line, a word or an image. The given word is often shortly followed by the image. I shall give two examples of two lines which came right out of the blue into my head, followed by an image, followed by me. The plays are The Homecoming and Old Times. The first line of The Homecoming is 'What have you done with the scissors?' The first line of Old Times is 'Dark.' In each case I had no further information. In the first case someone was obviously looking for a pair of scissors and was demanding their whereabouts of someone else he suspected had probably stolen them. But I somehow knew that the person addressed didn't give a damn about the scissors or about the questioner either, for that matter. 'Dark' I took to be a description of someone's hair, the hair of a woman, and was the answer to a question. In each case I found myself compelled to pursue the matter. This happened visually, a very slow fade, through shadow into light. I always start a play by calling the characters A, B and C. In the play that became The Homecoming I saw a man enter a stark room and ask his question of a younger man sitting on an ugly sofa reading a racing paper. I somehow suspected that A was a father and that B was his son, but I had no proof. This was however confirmed a short time later when B (later to become Lenny) says to A (later to become Max), 'Dad, do you mind if I change the subject? I want to ask you something. The dinner we had before, what was the name of it? What do you call it? Why don't you buy a dog? You're a dog cook. Honest. You think you're cooking for a lot of dogs.' So since B calls A 'Dad' it seemed to me reasonable to assume that they were father and son. A was also clearly the cook and his cooking did not seem to be held in high regard. Did this mean that there was no mother? I didn't know. But, as I told myself at the time, our beginnings never know our ends. 'Dark.' A large window. Evening sky. A man, A (later to become Deeley), and a woman, B (later to become Kate), sitting with drinks. 'Fat or thin?' the man asks. Who are they talking about? But I then see, standing at the window, a woman, C (later to become Anna), in another condition of light, her back to them, her hair dark. It's a strange moment, the moment of creating characters who up to that moment have had no existence. What follows is fitful, uncertain, even hallucinatory, although sometimes it can be an unstoppable avalanche. The author's position is an odd one. In a sense he is not welcomed by the characters. The characters resist him, they are not easy to live with, they are impossible to define. You certainly can't dictate to them. To a certain extent you play a never-ending game with them, cat and mouse, blind man's buff, hide and seek. But finally you find that you have people of flesh and blood on your hands, people with will and an individual sensibility of their own, made out of component parts you are unable to change, manipulate or distort. So language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you, the author, at any time. But as I have said, the search for the truth can never stop. It cannot be adjourned, it cannot be postponed. It has to be faced, right there, on the spot. Political theatre presents an entirely different set of problems. Sermonising has to be avoided at all cost. Objectivity is essential. The characters must be allowed to breathe their own air. The author cannot confine and constrict them to satisfy his own taste or disposition or prejudice. He must be prepared to approach them from a variety of angles, from a full and uninhibited range of perspectives, take them by surprise, perhaps, occasionally, but nevertheless give them the freedom to go which way they will. This does not always work. And political satire, of course, adheres to none of these precepts, in fact does precisely the opposite, which is its proper function. In my play The Birthday Party I think I allow a whole range of options to operate in a dense forest of possibility before finally focussing on an act of subjugation. Mountain Language pretends to no such range of operation. It remains brutal, short and ugly. But the soldiers in the play do get some fun out of it. One sometimes forgets that torturers become easily bored. They need a bit of a laugh to keep their spirits up. This has been confirmed of course by the events at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad. Mountain Language lasts only 20 minutes, but it could go on for hour after hour, on and on and on, the same pattern repeated over and over again, on and on, hour after hour. Ashes to Ashes, on the other hand, seems to me to be taking place under water. A drowning woman, her hand reaching up through the waves, dropping down out of sight, reaching for others, but finding nobody there, either above or under the water, finding only shadows, reflections, floating; the woman a lost figure in a drowning landscape, a woman unable to escape the doom that seemed to belong only to others. But as they died, she must die too. Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed. As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true. The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it. But before I come back to the present I would like to look at the recent past, by which I mean United States foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. I believe it is obligatory upon us to subject this period to at least some kind of even limited scrutiny, which is all that time will allow here. Everyone knows what happened in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe during the post-war period: the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought. All this has been fully documented and verified. But my contention here is that the US crimes in the same period have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognised as crimes at all. I believe this must be addressed and that the truth has considerable bearing on where the world stands now. Although constrained, to a certain extent, by the existence of the Soviet Union, the United States' actions throughout the world made it clear that it had concluded it had carte blanche to do what it liked. Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been America's favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has described as 'low intensity conflict'. Low intensity conflict means that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the gangrene bloom. When the populace has been subdued - or beaten to death - the same thing - and your own friends, the military and the great corporations, sit comfortably in power, you go before the camera and say that democracy has prevailed. This was a commonplace in US foreign policy in the years to which I refer. The tragedy of Nicaragua was a highly significant case. I choose to offer it here as a potent example of America's view of its role in the world, both then and now. I was present at a meeting at the US embassy in London in the late 1980s. The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more money to the Contras in their campaign against the state of Nicaragua. I was a member of a delegation speaking on behalf of Nicaragua but the most important member of this delegation was a Father John Metcalf. The leader of the US body was Raymond Seitz (then number two to the ambassador, later ambassador himself). Father Metcalf said: 'Sir, I am in charge of a parish in the north of Nicaragua. My parishioners built a school, a health centre, a cultural centre. We have lived in peace. A few months ago a Contra force attacked the parish. They destroyed everything: the school, the health centre, the cultural centre. They raped nurses and teachers, slaughtered doctors, in the most brutal manner. They behaved like savages. Please demand that the US government withdraw its support from this shocking terrorist activity.' Raymond Seitz had a very good reputation as a rational, responsible and highly sophisticated man. He was greatly respected in diplomatic circles. He listened, paused and then spoke with some gravity. 'Father,' he said, 'let me tell you something. In war, innocent people always suffer.' There was a frozen silence. We stared at him. He did not flinch. Innocent people, indeed, always suffer. Finally somebody said: 'But in this case "innocent people" were the victims of a gruesome atrocity subsidised by your government, one among many. If Congress allows the Contras more money further atrocities of this kind will take place. Is this not the case? Is your government not therefore guilty of supporting acts of murder and destruction upon the citizens of a sovereign state?' Seitz was imperturbable. 'I don't agree that the facts as presented support your assertions,' he said. As we were leaving the Embassy a US aide told me that he enjoyed my plays. I did not reply. I should remind you that at the time President Reagan made the following statement: 'The Contras are the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.' The United States supported the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua for over 40 years. The Nicaraguan people, led by the Sandinistas, overthrew this regime in 1979, a breathtaking popular revolution. The Sandinistas weren't perfect. They possessed their fair share of arrogance and their political philosophy contained a number of contradictory elements. But they were intelligent, rational and civilised. They set out to establish a stable, decent, pluralistic society. The death penalty was abolished. Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken peasants were brought back from the dead. Over 100,000 families were given title to land. Two thousand schools were built. A quite remarkable literacy campaign reduced illiteracy in the country to less than one seventh. Free education was established and a free health service. Infant mortality was reduced by a third. Polio was eradicated. The United States denounced these achievements as Marxist/Leninist subversion. In the view of the US government, a dangerous example was being set. If Nicaragua was allowed to establish basic norms of social and economic justice, if it was allowed to raise the standards of health care and education and achieve social unity and national self respect, neighbouring countries would ask the same questions and do the same things. There was of course at the time fierce resistance to the status quo in El Salvador. I spoke earlier about 'a tapestry of lies' which surrounds us. President Reagan commonly described Nicaragua as a 'totalitarian dungeon'. This was taken generally by the media, and certainly by the British government, as accurate and fair comment. But there was in fact no record of death squads under the Sandinista government. There was no record of torture. There was no record of systematic or official military brutality. No priests were ever murdered in Nicaragua. There were in fact three priests in the government, two Jesuits and a Maryknoll missionary. The totalitarian dungeons were actually next door, in El Salvador and Guatemala. The United States had brought down the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 and it is estimated that over 200,000 people had been victims of successive military dictatorships. Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA. That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass. It is estimated that 75,000 people died. Why were they killed? They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved. That belief immediately qualified them as communists. They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright. The United States finally brought down the Sandinista government. It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people. They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again. The casinos moved back into the country. Free health and free education were over. Big business returned with a vengeance. 'Democracy' had prevailed. But this 'policy' was by no means restricted to Central America. It was conducted throughout the world. It was never-ending. And it is as if it never happened. The United States supported and in many cases engendered every right wing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the Second World War. I refer to Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and, of course, Chile. The horror the United States inflicted upon Chile in 1973 can never be purged and can never be forgiven. Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place throughout these countries. Did they take place? And are they in all cases attributable to US foreign policy? The answer is yes they did take place and they are attributable to American foreign policy. But you wouldn't know it. It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis. I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It's a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, 'the American people', as in the sentence, 'I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.' It's a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable. This does not apply of course to the 40 million people living below the poverty line and the 2 million men and women imprisoned in the vast gulag of prisons, which extends across the US. The United States no longer bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain. What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days - conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead? Look at Guantanamo Bay. Hundreds of people detained without charge for over three years, with no legal representation or due process, technically detained forever. This totally illegitimate structure is maintained in defiance of the Geneva Convention. It is not only tolerated but hardly thought about by what's called the 'international community'. This criminal outrage is being committed by a country, which declares itself to be 'the leader of the free world'. Do we think about the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay? What does the media say about them? They pop up occasionally - a small item on page six. They have been consigned to a no man's land from which indeed they may never return. At present many are on hunger strike, being force-fed, including British residents. No niceties in these force-feeding procedures. No sedative or anaesthetic. Just a tube stuck up your nose and into your throat. You vomit blood. This is torture. What has the British Foreign Secretary said about this? Nothing. What has the British Prime Minister said about this? Nothing. Why not? Because the United States has said: to criticise our conduct in Guantanamo Bay constitutes an unfriendly act. You're either with us or against us. So Blair shuts up. The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort - all other justifications having failed to justify themselves - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people. We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'. How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they're interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London. Death in this context is irrelevant. Both Bush and Blair place death well away on the back burner. At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraq insurgency began. These people are of no moment. Their deaths don't exist. They are blank. They are not even recorded as being dead. 'We don't do body counts,' said the American general Tommy Franks. Early in the invasion there was a photograph published on the front page of British newspapers of Tony Blair kissing the cheek of a little Iraqi boy. 'A grateful child,' said the caption. A few days later there was a story and photograph, on an inside page, of another four-year-old boy with no arms. His family had been blown up by a missile. He was the only survivor. 'When do I get my arms back?' he asked. The story was dropped. Well, Tony Blair wasn't holding him in his arms, nor the body of any other mutilated child, nor the body of any bloody corpse. Blood is dirty. It dirties your shirt and tie when you're making a sincere speech on television. The 2,000 American dead are an embarrassment. They are transported to their graves in the dark. Funerals are unobtrusive, out of harm's way. The mutilated rot in their beds, some for the rest of their lives. So the dead and the mutilated both rot, in different kinds of graves. Here is an extract from a poem by Pablo Neruda, 'I'm Explaining a Few Things': And one morning all that was burning, one morning the bonfires leapt out of the earth devouring human beings and from then on fire, gunpowder from then on, and from then on blood. Bandits with planes and Moors, bandits with finger-rings and duchesses, bandits with black friars spattering blessings came through the sky to kill children and the blood of children ran through the streets without fuss, like children's blood. Jackals that the jackals would despise stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out, vipers that the vipers would abominate. Face to face with you I have seen the blood of Spain tower like a tide to drown you in one wave of pride and knives. Treacherous generals: see my dead house, look at broken Spain: from every house burning metal flows instead of flowers from every socket of Spain Spain emerges and from every dead child a rifle with eyes and from every crime bullets are born which will one day find the bull's eye of your hearts. And you will ask: why doesn't his poetry speak of dreams and leaves and the great volcanoes of his native land. Come and see the blood in the streets. Come and see the blood in the streets. Come and see the blood in the streets! * Let me make it quite clear that in quoting from Neruda's poem I am in no way comparing Republican Spain to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. I quote Neruda because nowhere in contemporary poetry have I read such a powerful visceral description of the bombing of civilians. I have said earlier that the United States is now totally frank about putting its cards on the table. That is the case. Its official declared policy is now defined as 'full spectrum dominance'. That is not my term, it is theirs. 'Full spectrum dominance' means control of land, sea, air and space and all attendant resources. The United States now occupies 702 military installations throughout the world in 132 countries, with the honourable exception of Sweden, of course. We don't quite know how they got there but they are there all right. The United States possesses 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads. Two thousand are on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched with 15 minutes warning. It is developing new systems of nuclear force, known as bunker busters. The British, ever cooperative, are intending to replace their own nuclear missile, Trident. Who, I wonder, are they aiming at? Osama bin Laden? You? Me? Joe Dokes? China? Paris? Who knows? What we do know is that this infantile insanity - the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons - is at the heart of present American political philosophy. We must remind ourselves that the United States is on a permanent military footing and shows no sign of relaxing it. Many thousands, if not millions, of people in the United States itself are demonstrably sickened, shamed and angered by their government's actions, but as things stand they are not a coherent political force - yet. But the anxiety, uncertainty and fear which we can see growing daily in the United States is unlikely to diminish. I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man. 'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.' A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician. I have referred to death quite a few times this evening. I shall now quote a poem of my own called 'Death'. Where was the dead body found? Who found the dead body? Was the dead body dead when found? How was the dead body found? Who was the dead body? Who was the father or daughter or brother Or uncle or sister or mother or son Of the dead and abandoned body? Was the body dead when abandoned? Was the body abandoned? By whom had it been abandoned? Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey? What made you declare the dead body dead? Did you declare the dead body dead? How well did you know the dead body? How did you know the dead body was dead? Did you wash the dead body Did you close both its eyes Did you bury the body Did you leave it abandoned Did you kiss the dead body When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes. We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us. I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man. * Extract from "I'm Explaining a Few Things" translated by Nathaniel Tarn, from Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems, published by Jonathan Cape, London 1970. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited. © The Nobel Foundation 2005 Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited From mail at shivamvij.com Sun Dec 11 23:39:21 2005 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 23:39:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Yet another ragging suicide. And nobody's heard of it. Message-ID: <210498250512111009g18edb5aan@mail.gmail.com> This one didn't get any media attention. If any of you can help it get further coverage, that would be very nice. An IIM alumnus gets shot dead in a small town in UP and the IIM alumni community is strong enough to push him through to page one for several days - and thankfully so. But who will speak up for Sridhar. If you blog, please write about this. There are only two reports online - Mumbai Mirror and Asian Age - and both of them are very inaccessible. Had to do a lot of juggling in the Mumbai Miror archives to get the story below and it does not even mention the name of the college! Please spread the word about this. This is the 12th recorded ragging death since the Supreme Court banned ragging in May 2001. Shivam o o o o o Student commits suicide after ragging Wednesday, December 07, 2005, Chennai, Mumbai Mirror Link: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/search/mmsearch.asp?query=§id=4&articleid=1262005203615187126200520361431&pubyear=2005&pubday=7&pubmth=12 By Jayaraj Sivan A first year Biotechnology student of an engineering college near here committed suicide on Monday night, allegedly owing to ragging by his seniors. The deceased, Sridhar, 18, son of Ramakrishna Reddy of Tirupathy in Andhra Pradesh, had hung himself on the fan hook in his hostel room using his bedspread, police said. His parents told police that about a month ago their son had complained of ragging by seniors. However, they were not in a position to name anybody in particular. Sridhar was alone in his room on Monday night. His room-mate Shankar had gone out and returned only on Tuesday morning. Seeing the room locked from inside, Shankar knocked repeatedly. When it evoked no response, he informed warden Raja. They broke open the door and found him dead. o o o o o Ragging Deaths: http://www.stopragging.org/category/suicides/ o o o o o From pukar at pukar.org.in Mon Dec 12 09:55:46 2005 From: pukar at pukar.org.in (PUKAR) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 09:55:46 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [announcements] Tomorrow: Talk by Filippo Osella Message-ID: <000901c5fed4$23a847c0$03d0c0cb@freeda> PUKAR presents a talk by Filippo Osella 'I am Gulf': The Production of Cosmopolitanism in Calicut, Kerala Date: Tuesday, 13 December 2005 Time 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 Abstract This paper explores the production of cosmopolitan identities in Calicut, Kerala. The diverse experiences of the past - when commerce brought to Calicut traders from far and wide - and the present - when Calicut migrants travel to the Gulf to work and live alongside people from all over the world - are brought together in popular discourse to highlight the 'cosmopolitanism' of the city and its inhabitants. But for Calicut Koyas - the Muslim community with whom the speaker conducted fieldwork from 2002 to 2004 - cosmopolitanism goes beyond a celebration of cultural sophistication. It is a discourse through which a specific and exclusive local identity is objectified and valorised, at the same time assimilating and distinguishing Koyas from other Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Calicut and beyond. The Koya residential area of Calicut - Thekkepuram, with its highly specific matrilineal joint households - and the Gulf - connected historically to Calicut through trade and migration - become inseparable, braided reference points of Koya identity and claims for superior status. In turn, however, the experience of contemporary Gulf migration re-aligns historical notions and practices of urban cosmopolitanism through which Koyas define their own and their city's identity. Filippo Osella studied at the London School of Economics (PhD in Anthropology 1993), and is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sussex. He has carried out several periods of extended fieldwork in Kerala and the Persian Gulf since 1989, and has published on social mobility, migration, agrarian relations, masculinities and sexuality, popular religion and the body. His most important publications to date are: Osella, F & Osella, C. 2000 Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict, (Pluto); Chopra R, C Osella & F Osella (eds.) 2003 Masculinities in South Asia, (Kali for Women); F Osella & K Gardner 2003 Migration, Modernity and Social Transformation in South Asia (SAGE). He is currently working on contemporary consumption practices and ways in which they impact upon identities in the contexts of economic liberalisation, high migration and Islamic reformism, with fieldwork in Kerala and the Persian Gulf. PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 5574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 5664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051212/5917edd8/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aasim27 at yahoo.co.in Mon Dec 12 23:17:02 2005 From: aasim27 at yahoo.co.in (aasim khan) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:47:02 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Indian print media: critique In-Reply-To: <1061D298-673C-11DA-A61B-000A95B44366@waag.org> Message-ID: <20051212174702.92564.qmail@web8201.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi. I sense asort of nervousness....well here is a response by novelist/junk daddy Will Self talking about media...all sorts of it.i mean dont take two minute maggi noodles too seriously.you know thats the thing about braking news...it is so delicious that you always want a double pack with NEW tastemaker.also availbale in chicken and tomato flavours.you can read the wrapper to work your way with the noodles.... So read on...this guy is honest like hell..i mean most of it is british centric but it is universally honest anyways...And this guy is also a journalist.i like what he says about NEW media. cheers AASIM> Newspapers: I scan all the newspapers but not with any great regularity. I only regularly read the Independent because my wife and I write for it. The Saturday papers are really now the Sunday papers so why bring yourself down on a Sunday by reading one? Magazines: The New Statesman and nothing else. All the men's glossies are fanny-rags aimed at men younger than me with a taste in smelly water and expensive schmutter - neither of which I have the time or inclination for. I used to get the New Yorker, which they sent me free but I'm rather grateful they stopped. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Books: I'm an ominivore. Like all serious writers, I read everything that I can lay my hands on but it's mostly factual, historical or philosophical. I'm reading Paul Theroux's Hotel Honolulu which is jolly good and before that, Francis Wheen's Karl Marx, which was hilarious and timely. Television: I am the only TV critic who has to be reminded how to turn it on. I watch Newsnight but that's just radio with pictures. Radio: That's just television without pictures - equally distressing. I like radio because we didn't have a television when I was a kid. I'll listen to anything in the car - Radio 4, News Direct and a bit of Radio 2. Films: I love them but sadly I don't get the opportunity to go to the cinema. Adverts: I don't know what they are really. The very idea that they are considered some kind of cultural artefact is synonomous with the fact that the Labour party has now become a centre right party. As Bill Hicks said, "If any artist ever is involved in an advert, then he ceases to be an artist." New media: Never has the future seemed so dated. To actually look at it is like television without the definition, radio without the artistry and text without the purity and simplicity. It's my age - it just doesn't appeal. ----------------------------------------------------------- > This can be taken as a response to Ayaz Amir's > perceptive piece (Dawn, > Dec 02, 2005): > > HEART OF DARKNESS > > Ananya Vajpeyi > > If it’s not in the news, my editor says every single > morning, then > don’t write about it. Or, if I’m writing something > anyway, he wants to > know what the “news-peg” is, on which I will hang my > piece. But this > article is not about elections. It’s not about the > economy. It’s not > about cricket. It’s not about the Left parties. It’s > not about > international affairs. I guess you could conclude, > then, that it’s not > about what’s in the news. It is about the news. > Note, editor of mine: > this article is about the news. > > There are three fields about which I know a little > bit, from my > admittedly limited life-experiences: academia, the > arts, journalism. I > can tell you something about the way these spheres > of activity function > in this and a couple of other countries. I can tell > you, after > struggling for the past few years to find a way to > contribute to these > arenas of public life while making ends meet, in big > cities and small > towns all over India, that at the bottom of my heart > I am beginning to > lose the faith. Just like I was told I would, when I > was younger. It’s > only a matter of time, young people are told, before > the dying of the > light. One doesn’t believe it. Until one day the > darkness is upon one. > > And the news, again? What does the news have to do > with this sense one > gets, of fighting a losing battle, of being aboard a > sinking ship, of – > choose your own metaphor – not being able to discern > a ray of light by > which to find one's way? This is my hypothesis: the > news enacts, > performs, dramatizes, and exemplifies everything > about our society that > reeks of cynicism. News takes the darkness that > lurks on the edges of > our sight, like an impending loss of consciousness, > and writes it > bright across our television screens, or black on > the white of > newsprint. If news is an index of our collective > life as a nation, a > symptom of what ails us, then our sickness is clear, > we suffer from > that terminal disease of the soul: cynicism. I think > I’m in the early > stages of infection myself, truth be told. Nothing > else explains the > dead weight in my heart every morning. It became > considerably heavier > when I started working for a newspaper. > > Here’s the landscape: A war zone gets hit by an > earthquake. A clutch of > cats, the last of their kind, is shot, skinned, > sold. A young man doing > his job is murdered in the back of his own car. > People go shopping > before Diwali, and come home without fathers, > children, wives, limbs. > Liars seize power. Villages are crushed under the > slow-turning wheels > of the perpetual revolution. A man from Kerala is > kidnapped and killed > in the badlands of Afghanistan. Sportsmen perform > miserably, unable to > master either game or ego. Girls are raped, gays > treated like lepers, > and no one has time for the poor and their > never-ending poverty. > Tribals face extinction. Cities rot, inundated with > water from the sky, > flooded with water from the rivers. Forests are a > fading memory. Yet > another Muslim woman takes the consequences of > double minority. A > deadly mafia don proves photogenic, his moll even > more so. Workers are > beaten within an inch of their lives. > > Alright, so there’s no appeal against natural > disasters, and terrorism > is practically a force of nature nowadays. Armies > will do what they’re > supposed to do: make war. Human beings are destined > to suffer, and in > such calamitous times, when there is little > protection for human life, > who will save trees and animals? Surely it’s not the > fault of news that > all news these days seems to be bad news? > > But no, what ails us is not that there is, as the > Buddha stated in his > very first axiom, suffering in the world. Dukha is > old news. What makes > it all so unpalatable is the shameless voyeurism, > the mindless > reiteration, the immorality, the unscrupulousness, > the insensitivity > and the downright dishonesty which characterise the > workings of the > media, of politics, and of their unholy nexus, news. > If it scares you > to watch this dance of death from afar, then it > would turn your > stomach, trust me, no, worse – it would wipe out > your faith, gentle > reader – to inhabit belly of the beast. > > For hundreds of years in our part of the world, > people wrote of things > real and fantastic in the genre of the Purana. Many > of these texts > contained descriptions of the chaos and corruption > that would mark the > world in the Kali Yuga, the last of the four great > ages of humankind. > Teachers will lead their students away from > knowledge, rulers will > drive their subjects to perdition, truth will > vanish, beauty perish, > and righteousness meet an inglorious end. The bull > that is Dharma, they > claimed, will be left standing on its last leg. The > ancients got it > right, apparently. Somewhere in their incoherent > prescience of > apocalypse, in their alarm about the > fast-attenuating moral center of > their society, they threw us a map with which to > navigate our own > nightmarish times. > > Kali Yuga: the society of the spectacle. Life on TV. > For a civilization > that has produced some of the truest, most beautiful > texts, artefacts, > theories, ways of life and modes of being, we have > arrived at a sorry > pass indeed, the nadir of ignorance, inanity and > unethical consumption, > an infernal mish-mash of breaking news-page > three-advertising-globalisation in our faces day and > night, killing us, > killing us, killing us. We rob the poor, we rape the > weak, we cheat the > helpless, we steal from the blind. And then we > broadcast it, live, > 24X7. > > As though this can go on much longer. It is not > possible to have a > political life without ethics. It is not possible to > do work when its > only object is destruction rather than creation. It > is not possible to > use language without respect for the truth, to > editorialize without > commitment, to preach when your real objective is to > obfuscate, to lead > when you are headed straight to hell. > > At the heart of darkness, incessantly generating its > meaningless > commotion, a television set. > ---------------------------------------- > > On Dec 3, 2005, at 3:13 AM, Monica Narula wrote: > > > In the way things are, this was forwarded to me. > Good comparative > > media reading. > > > > best > > M > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > > >> It's dressing-down of Indian print media. I > mostly === message truncated ===> _________________________________________ > 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: __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From mail at shivamvij.com Tue Dec 13 00:19:56 2005 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:19:56 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Yossarian Electro Diesel engine Message-ID: <210498250512121049t55fa209r@mail.gmail.com> This is about the sting investigation that many of you may have seen today or will read about in the papers in the morning. In any case, brief details here: http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=341247 Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal writes the whole story here: http://www.cobrapost.com/documents/fdec%20.htm It's long, but worth it. A useful excerpt below. S. ________ Later on in the day, he (Anna Sahib MK Patil) also ends up signing 19 blank parliamentary forms used for submitting questions in the Lok Sabha, some of which we make good use of. The questions submitted on them by NISMA, with the help of Harish Badola, was for me the most satisfying part of Operation Duryodhana. Excerpts from some of the questions: Whether the Railway Ministry has placed any order for purchase of the Yossarian Electro Diesel engine from Germany? Is the ministry aware that the Tom Wolfe committee report in Germany has halted its induction into the Euro Rail system? Whether the Government has given sanction for the seed trial of Salinger Cotton of Monsanto? If so, has a report been prepared on Catch 22 cotton so far? Has the ministry lifted the 1962 ban it imposed on the book "For whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway and the 1975 ban on Ken Kesey's book "One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest" and Hunter Thomson's book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"? If so, when were the bans removed? Whether the government is aware that a domestic flying license has been denied to Cobra Cargo for starting operations in India? Since when has Semper Sursum Private Limited, the holding company of Cobra Cargo, applied for the domestic cargo license? And now, that I have paid homage to Yossarian, I am a little upset that Major Major and Milo Mindbinder got left out. But I am happy that the Yossarian brand name has infiltrated the German market in spite of strong opposition from Tom Wolfe thanks to the foresightedness of the Indian parliamentarians. As for the Catch 22 and Salinger cotton strains I hope they are tremendously profitable for farmers and that the lifting of the bans on Hemingway, Thomson and Kesey, long due and deserved, will lead to a tremendous fillip to the publishing industry in general. http://www.cobrapost.com/documents/fdec%20.htm From aarti at sarai.net Tue Dec 13 15:06:01 2005 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:06:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Disappeared In America: Presentation Message-ID: <439E9601.6080108@sarai.net> *The Disappeared Project: Migration, National Identity & Security Panic* Naeem Mohaiemen, Visible Collective, New York 4:00 PM pm, Saturday 17 December 2005 Seminar room, Sarai-CSDS DISAPPEARED IN AMERICA is part of an ongoing project by VISIBLE Collective/Naeem Mohaiemen, which looks at the migration impulse, hyphenated national identities and the fissures that appear when these trajectories collide with security panic. The majority of Muslim migrants racially profiled after 9/11 were from the invisible underclass of our cities. They are the recent arrivals, legal and "illegal", who drive our taxis, deliver our food, clean our restaurant tables, and sell fruit, coffee, and newspapers. The only time we see their faces are when we glance at the scratched hack license in the taxi partition, or the ID card around the neck of a vendor. Already invisible, after detention they become "ghost prisoners." The talk reviews the project and talks about some of the underlying issues facing global cities today. [Naeem Mohaiemen is a visual artist-activist and director of Visible Collective, which created DISAPPEARED IN AMERICA (disappearedinamerica.org), a series of art-interventions that visualize post-9/11 "disappeared" Muslims. Naeem is Editor of Shobak.Org, and Associate Editor of AltMuslim.com. Naeem directed MUSLIMS OR HERETICS (muslimsorheretics.org), a film about struggles between 'moderate' and 'radical' Muslims in Bangladesh, which screened at numerous venues including the UK House of Lords. His work and essays have appeared in Washington Post, Tikkun Jewish Journal, Village Voice, Alternet.org, CounterPunch.org, Chimurenga.co.za (South Africa), Wordt Vervolgd (Netherlands), Voima (Finland), New Internationalist (UK), Rediff (India), Prothom Alo (Bangladesh), and Dawn (Pakistan.)] _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From ruhani_k at rediffmail.com Tue Dec 13 07:25:01 2005 From: ruhani_k at rediffmail.com (Ruhani - Kaur) Date: 13 Dec 2005 01:55:01 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] India's Invisible Women Message-ID: ----------------------------------------------------------- 35 million females are missing. India's Invisible women A photo-exhibition by Ruhani India Habitat Centre (Plaza Steps) Dec 14-20 ----------------------------------------------------------- regards, Ruhani 9891013044 _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From abshi at vsnl.com Wed Dec 14 14:42:58 2005 From: abshi at vsnl.com (abshi at vsnl.com) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:12:58 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Discussion of the Issues around Dress Codes in Colleges and Universities Message-ID: <125798b125cea9.125cea9125798b@vsnl.net> PUKAR Gender & Space Project invites you to a discussion of the wider issues around the institutionalizing of Dress Codes by Universities across the country Date: Tuesday, 20 December 2005 Time 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 Do we need a dress code in colleges? Whom is the dress code directed at? What are the kinds of clothing they object to? What are the varied grounds on which these objections are voiced? Is the debate about dress codes only about clothing? Or is it also about something else? And if it’s about more than dress codes then what are these other things; these anxieties that play themselves out in the debate on dress codes? The sexuality of heterosexual couples outside marriage? The fear that information on safe sex will encourage sex? The threat posed by the non-normative sexual of gay, lesbian or trans-gender people? The purity of narrowly religion written on the bodies of women? The purity of a regional culture reflected in the virtue of its women? The boundaries of caste, race or nation? Narrowly defined visions of Indian-ness? It’s not just Indians who are worried about clothing. The French have acrimonious public debates about them. The Turks have used clothing to define nation. The Iranians used clothing as revolutionary symbol only to have it haunt them in the post-revolutionary society. The Dutch are still grappling with the presence of veiled women in public space. The US Americans demonstrate suspicion of terrorist intention on the basis of clothing. We submit that that dress codes are merely symptomatic of a time when not just the way people dress is sought to be controlled but the way we walk, behave, and exchange thoughts, ideas and affection. The intention of this roundtable discussion is to raise questions not just about dress codes but also the varied issues that have come up recently: the sanctions against couples in many cities, the length of Sania Mirza’s skirts, the brouhaha over actor Khushboo’s comment on pre-marital safe-sex, moral codes relating to women’s sexuality, the sanctions against same sex relationship, the Imrana case, the varied fatwas on Muslim women, the anxieties about the cross-community romances during Navratri are only some of them. It is important that we discuss these concerns not in isolation (which is how they are often reported) but as inter-linked issues that seek to censor our voices and define our choices. We invite you to participate in a discussion of the wider issues around the institutionalizing of Dress Codes by Universities across the country The Discussion will be initiated by an audio documentary Then They Came For My Jeans… The audio documentary raises questions about the dress codes being imposed on college students in various universities. The documentary is located in the broader context of the PUKAR Gender & Space project which seeks to explore the ways by which women experience public spaces, accessing them against all odds, transforming the nature of urban life in the process. A 12 minute audio documentary Produced by: Studio PUKAR Executive Producers: Sameera Khan & Shilpa Phadke Sound Recordist & Editor: Anita Kushwaha Creative Consultant: Shilpa Gupta Documentation: Shriti K Cover Design: Shilpa Ranade Thanks to BMM Dept., SIES College for Recording Assistance Funded by: Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternative Development Date: Tuesday, 20 December 2005 Time 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 From cahen.x at levels9.com Wed Dec 14 15:03:32 2005 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:33:32 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?q?pourinfos=2Eorg_=5Bapostils=5D_=3A_The_N?= =?utf-8?q?et=3A_towards_a_semantics_and_social_cartography=2E_=7CR=C3=A9m?= =?utf-8?q?i_Sussan=7C?= Message-ID: <439FE6EC.20902@levels9.com> pourinfos.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, pourinfos is please to present a new column to you : apostils Bonjour, pourinfos est heureux de vous présenter sa nouvelle rubrique : apostilles Summuary / Sommaire : - The Net: towards a semantics and social cartography. |Rémi Sussan| http://pourinfos.org/encours/item.php?id=2427 - Le Net : vers une cartographie sémantique et sociale. |Rémi Sussan| http://pourinfos.org/encours/item.php?id=2424 [version française dessous] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, pourinfos is please to present a new column to you: Apostils : “Small annotations designed to remember things we have seen”. The word apostil comes from the Latin “post illa”, “after those things” and is generally written in the left margin, whether it is a legal document or the note that we added today at the bottom of a page. The purpose of this column is to publish an original text on a bi-monthly basis. pourinfos.org wishes to share periodically contemporary thoughts in a non-synchronized time/news (headlines) relationship with no further intention to become a magazine or a review. The articles that you will read in this column will not only debate matters about visual arts, but also about topics related to society, politics, techniques, etc… ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Net: towards a semantics [1] and social cartography. Ancient orators from the Antiquity used to associate various architectural elements belonging to a building or a city with the salient points of their discourse. When addressing an audience, they mentally traveled through their imaginary journey to recall the many stages of their argumentation: this staircase reminding them of a very explicit metaphor, that corbelled construction reminding them of an opponent’s critique, and so on… The very Western concept of “mental space” developed from “the Art of memory” gained many mystical and magical connotations all along the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, finally to reach many centuries later, the concept of cyberspace, the Internet [2]. The Net, just like the old memory palaces, is an abstract space where semantic elements, ideas, concepts and texts can be found. However, unlike ancient structures, semantic objects are not arbitrarily distributed according to an urban or an external architectural diagram that would be elaborated separately. Here, the discourse itself organizes the space, creates landscapes and cathedrals, and designs curves for its streets. There is more to it: the memory palace was a desert space kept for the lonely orator’s meditation. This very space is filled with crowds that are moving in it, following paths that have been imposed on them by the language itself. Therefore, Net’s new geography is simultaneously describing a social landscape and a semantic universe. The Web is the mirror of the Net. The Web gets most attention from new comers in this mental space. However, the Web is not really the Net. It is only a visible face. The Web is the Net’s distorting mirror. The Net is dynamic, and is formed by a flux of ideas or individuals; the Web is static, and is constituted by sites, and more or less permanent pages. The Net is “peer to peer” [3]], bidirectional. Everybody participates and interacts. The Web is “client/server”: a few large suppliers spread information to small addressees who are, in fact, a passive audience that only get occasionally connected: most of us. However, the Web already has a complex geography in spite of all these simplifications. One does refer to it as the domain of “absolute transparency”, of “real time”… In fact, a Web page is only accessible to those having the necessary information to reach it; whether it is a hyperlink to it, obtained through a page pointing to it, or the keywords group enabling it to show in Google – and in the first three-reference pages-. Furthermore, studies indicate that search engines such as Google only cover about 69% of the easy-reach pages of the Web [4]. As a result, for serious cyber surfers, “surfing on the Web” looks rather like a Dungeons and Dragons game. Their real challenge is to get the “keys” that will enable them to reach the finest and more precise pages. A serious knowledge of the field of studies is required to achieve that level. The social network. Already noticeable on the Web, this escalation turns out to be an even more exact metaphor when the most discreet aspect of the Net is approached, the virtual communities where the network’s true reality can be found. In order to get there, one needs to identify them: the easiest to find are logged in catalogues such as usenet alt.groups* or yahoogroups diffusion lists. One then needs to be accepted by the group. One might be rejected only on the basis of the sole indifference of the other members, in case of a lack of serious moderators. The group acceptance depends both on the level of knowledge of the subject matter and often on the group’s specific etiquette. At last, there are some discussion lists that are only accessible through other communities acting as breeding grounds. Those are exclusively available through invitations. Again, the digital landscape shows us bumps and holes, flat open countries for all and high tops for the most determined. La blogosphere. The “blogosphere” is a Web subset, which gathers all the “blogs” [5] and has got an even more Escherian type of geography. It actually is a hybrid between an ensemble of Web sites and a discussion group similar to usenet or mailing lists. A primary post sent on a blog will end up reproduced on many pages and moreover, commented in many various places, via RSS Feed [6] and diverse connections linking bloggers. It is hard for readers to follow feedback from material without knowing precisely what “community” is involved in a precise section of the blogosphere, the group of actors who would be interested in the same topic. There are, of course, some useful tools such as search engines, which can log the occurence of a specific “post”. Blogpulse [7] is a service that intends to trace the evolution of a discussion through various sites. Just as traditional search engines, these systems work better for whose who know what to look for and how to look for it. The smallest world. In fact, the notion of “small worlds”, part of the Graph Theory [8] itself produces the architecture relevant to the digital universe, blueprint for the “memory palace”. This theory discloses the Net infrastructure as a whole, since it works entirely, including the Web, according to its principles. This mathematical theory, elaborated by Duncan Watts and Steve Strogatz [9],explores the existence of a particular category of networks, called “small worlds”. Closest nodes are strongly connected together and produce “sets” or “clusters”, relatively isolated from each others, except that one or two connections come out from every cluster [10], liking it to external nodes. As surprising as it may seem, the existence of a very small number of long distance relationships is enough to easily cross the global network. The famous “six degrees” law states that there are more or less six degrees distance between two inhabitants on our planet, whoever they are. In other words, one knows somebody who knows somebody, etc… who goes around with a randomly targeted person. It is true in the real world, but even more so in cyberspace where these six degrees can be crossed in a snap. Thus, there would be an average of four degrees distance between two mail servers located anywhere in the world. In other words, an Email wouldn’t need more than four stages to go from one point to another. In order to go via hyperlinks from one Web page to any other page, the maximum gap, the Web diameter, as they call it, would be around 19. This is a lot, but relatively not, when thinking about the number of existing pages. The global blogosphere is more recent and is not yet entirely connected. One cannot go for sure from one blog to another following links that join them together. Most of them are simply disconnected from their neighbors. But some parts of the blogosphere, such as “livejournal”, a blogger community that gathers together almost 7 millions blogs, would show around 6 degrees distance between its members, 10 degrees at most [11]. New wealth, new peaks. According to Mark Buchanan, Nexus’ author [12], there would be two types of “small worlds networks”. The first ones, described by Duncan Watts, are made of clusters with randomly added long-distance links. As Buchanan remarks, the characteristics of these very egalitarian small worlds are pure mathematic constructions: they do not have a history or a development; this is not the case for the Web and the Net. These are products of the real world and they have a somehow different structure: main connections are provided by “big connectors”, that hold simultaneously a much larger number of connections than the latter two. It is true for Web pages and Internet servers in general. With a small worlds logic, bigger nodes get new connections faster. “The rich get richer”, says Buchanan. Although, as we already know, one cannot yet attribute small worlds network characters to blogospheres, the presence of more important nodes can also be noticed, essentially those involved in “news screening”, and only incorporate other blogs or page contents. A hierarchical society? It is easy to understand that a society built on more and more specialized discussion lists answers to the same criteria. The most reputable ones, with best people and best networks, do have best chances to develop new relationships and develop their address books. Again, riches become richer. For Alexander Bard, a Swedish pop star who became a philosopher, and his co-author Ian Soderqvsit [13], the complexity of the Net ends up as a pyramidal organization topped with netocrates: a group of individuals collecting good addresses and good friends…Today, everyone’s capacity to store contacts is materialized by the emergence of new Web services called “social networks” such as Orkut or LinkedIn. Because of these networks, everyone has the chance to visualize the extent of their connections and the extent of their correspondent’s connections, to check how many “degrees of distance” are necessary to reach a potential employer or a famous artist… Here again, one should be careful not to mistake the map and the territory. One should only think of Orkut, LonkedIn, or the likes as an approximation, a mirror of the “on-line” social network, just as the Web is only reflection of the real Net. One will still have navigate the Net continent without a proper cartography for a long time. Rémi Sussan Paris, December 14, 2005 Notes : [1] Semantics : As a general rule, semantics is a subfield of linguistics studying /significants /. The word /semantics/ was created at the end of the nineteenth century by the French linguist Michel Bréal. He wrote the first treatise on semantics. A semantics category contains words that are sharing some semantics properties. There can be some junctions between the different semantics categories. The junction (intersection) between /woman/ and /young/ might be /girl/. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic http://tecfa.unige.ch/~scherly/STAF11/concept1.html http://www.urfist.cict.fr/lettres/lettre28/lettre28-22.html [2] L'art de la mémoire, Frances Yates, la bibliothèque des histoires, Gallimard. http://www.maulpoix.net/memoire.html -Machina memorialis, de Mary Carruthers, la bibliothèque des histoires, Gallimard. -Le théâtre de la mémoire, Giulio Camillo, les editions Allia. http://www.artemis.jussieu.fr/hermes/hermes/actes/ac9394/02ac9394am.htm [3] Peer to peer : The word “poste à poste” is the French translation (initially adopted in Canada) for the English “peer-to-peer”, often in short, P2P. It is also possible to translate the term by “pair à pair” or “égal à égal”. In this article, the term P2P will be used systematically. P2P designates a network model whose elements (nodes) do not only have a client-server role, but also function both ways. They are at the same time clients and servers for other nodes belonging to these networks, unlike the usual client-server structures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_to_peer [4] http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/article.php/3512376 [5] Blog : A blog is a Web site where one individual or a group expresse themselves freely on a rather regular basis. In short, a blog is a personal Web created by incorporating periodic news or “billets”, usually presented in reverse chronological order (more recent entries at the top of the page). Readers are invited to comment, and most of the time, blogs are enriched with external links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog [6] Rss : The abbreviation RSS Feed is used for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, and is a file format for Web syndication. It is a dynamic XML file that your RSS (ex: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird) can display and it can be updated regularly. This system is widely used by the Web community to share latest entries from various information sites (head news, sciences, computing, etc…) or blogs. This allows the readers to consult the latest entries without going to the site, and to format them to their taste. There are seven different RSS formats calling for the necessary development of a norm. Note that Syndicate is linked with journalism and article sales to various newspapers. In fact, standard allows the spread of all kinds of information, headlines, periodic updates of lists and events. Really Simple Syndication is, in fact, a simpler journalistic diffusion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss [7] Blogpulseis a tool for blog search http://www.blogpulse.com [8] graph theory : A graph is the symbolic representation of a network. It is an abstraction of reality, which allows its modelisation. http://www.geog.umontreal.ca/Geotrans/fr/ch2fr/meth2fr/ch2m1fr.html [9] Six Degrees, Duncan Watts, Vintage, 2003 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.06/relation_spc.html http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~latapy/RSI/Transparents/degenne.ppt [10] Cluster : “Cluster refers to the grouping together of elements within a domain, usually spatial”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster [11] http://cemcom.infosci.cornell.edu/papers/characterizing-livejournal-medynskiy-kaye-draft03.pdf [12] Nexus, Mark Buchanan,Norton, 2002 http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring02/004153.htm [13] Netocracy : The New Power Elite And Life After Capitalism, Alexander Bard, Jan Soderqvist,Financial Times Prentice Hall. http://www.laspirale.org/pages/ afficheArticle.php3?id=175〈=fr http://www.pearson.ch/Business/Reuters/1469/1903684293/NETOCRACYthenewpowerelite.aspx Rémi Sussan’ biography: Born in 1960, Rémi Sussan is a journalist specialized in new technologies. Above all, he is interested in the way people are using them, and in the parallel and alternative movements resulting from them or initiating them. He not only wrote various papers about the most futuristic angles of computer science (artificial intelligence, virtual reality) for the specialized press (.Net Pro, Login), scientific popularization or technical articles (Technikart, Web magazine), but he also produced work on the underground trends (Introduction aux religions du futur, La Spirale). He recently published “Les Utopies posthumaines”. Les Utopies posthumaines, éditions Omniscience, 2005 http://www.omniscience.fr/. http://mapage.noos.fr/utopies.posthumaines/ Translation : Kristine Barut Dreuilhe --------------- All text is available under the French license Creative Commons : non-commercial attribution – no derived work. 2.0. In order to encourage a free pedagogic or associative usage. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/fr/ --------------------------------- +++++++++++++++++++++ --------------------------------- [version française] --------------------------------- +++++++++++++++++++++ --------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [apostilles] [apostilles] [apostilles] [apostilles] [apostilles] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Apostilles : Petites marques pour rafraîchir la mémoire des choses qu'on a vues". "Les apostilles tirent leur nom du latin post illa, "après ces choses" et se mettent alors surtout dans la marge de gauche, qu'il s'agisse de la modification apportée à un acte juridique ou de la remarque que l'on ajoute aujourd'hui en bas de page. Cette rubrique a pour objet la publication bimestrielle d’un texte inédit. Sans avoir le projet de devenir un magazine, ni une revue, pourinfos.org souhaite partager périodiquement dans un temps décalé de l’évènementiel, une pensée contemporaine. Les textes que vous lirez dans cette rubrique aborderont des sujets concernant les arts visuels mais aussi des sujets connexes de société, politique, technique, etc… ++++++++ ++++++++ Le Net : vers une cartographie sémantique [1] et sociale. Les anciens orateurs de l’Antiquité avaient pour habitude d’associer aux points saillants de leur discours différents éléments architecturaux appartenant à un bâtiment ou une cité. Lorsqu’ils se trouvaient devant leur public, il leur suffisait de traverser mentalement ce paysage imaginaire pour se remémorer les différentes étapes de leur argumentation : tel escalier rappelant une métaphore très explicite, tel encorbellement une critique d’un de ses adversaires, et ainsi de suite. De cet « art de la mémoire » qui allait, au cours du Moyen âge et de la Renaissance, se charger de connotations mystiques et magiques s’est développé la notion très occidentale « d’espace mental » qui aboutira, plusieurs siècles plus tard, à l’idée du cyberspace, à l’Internet [2]. Le Net, comme les anciens palais de mémoire, est un espace abstrait dans lequel se trouvent des éléments sémantiques, des idées, des concepts, des textes. Contrairement aux anciennes structures, cependant, les objets sémantiques ne sont pas arbitrairement distribués selon un schéma urbain ou architectural extérieur, élaboré indépendamment. Ici, c’est le discours lui-même qui organise l’espace, crée ses paysages, ses cathédrales et trace les courbes de ses rues. Il y a plus : le palais de mémoire était un lieu désert, réservé à la méditation de l’orateur solitaire. Cet espace là est peuplé des foules s’y déplacent en suivant les parcours qui leur sont imposés par le langage lui-même. La nouvelle géographie du Net décrit donc, simultanément, un paysage social et un univers sémantique. Le Web, miroir du Net. Dans cet espace mental, c’est le Web qui attire le plus le regard des nouveaux venus. Pourtant, le Web n’est pas le Net. Il n’en est que la partie visible. Le Web est un miroir déformant du Net. Le Net est dynamique, composé de flux d’idées ou d’individus ; le Web est statique, constitué par des sites, des pages, à l’existence (plus ou moins permanente). Le Net est peer to peer [3], bidirectionnel. Tout le monde participe et interagit. Le Web est « client serveur » : un certain nombre de gros pourvoyeurs distribue l’information à de petits destinataires, qui jouent un rôle passif de spectateurs et ne se connectent qu’occasionnellement : la plupart d’entre nous. Mais le Web, malgré toutes ces simplifications, possède déjà une géographie complexe. On en fait souvent le domaine de la « transparence absolue », du « temps réel »... Pourtant, une page Web n’est accessible qu’à celui qui possède les informations nécessaires pour la chercher : soit un hyperlien vers celle-ci, obtenue par une page qui pointe vers elle, soit le groupe de mots clés susceptible de la faire apparaître dans Google -et dans les trois premières pages de préférences-. Et encore, d’après certaines recherches un moteur de recherches comme Google ne couvrirait que 69% du Web environ en ne comptant que les pages aisément accessibles [4]. Du coup, « surfer sur le Web » s’apparente bien plus, pour l’internaute sérieux, à une partie de Donjons et Dragons qu’à un quelconque sport de glisse. C’est à qui obtiendra les « clés » permettant d’accéder aux pages les plus pointues les plus précises : et pour cela, une connaissance approfondie de son domaine d’étude est indispensable. Le réseau social. Cette escalade, déjà présente sur le Web, s’avère une métaphore encore plus exacte lorsqu’on aborde l’aspect plus discret du Net, celui des « communautés virtuelles », là où se joue réellement la vie du Réseau. Pour accéder à celle-ci, il faut, bien entendu, les trouver : les plus faciles d’accès sont répertoriées dans des catalogues, comme les groupes alt.* de usenet, voire les listes de diffusion de yahoogroups. Il faut ensuite savoir se faire accepter par le groupe en question. Même en l’absence de modérateurs sévères, on peut se retrouver rejeté simplement à cause de l’indifférence des autres membres. L’acceptation par le groupe dépend à la fois du niveau de connaissance du sujet de discussion et aussi, souvent, d’une netiquette qui peut être parfois spécifique à la communauté. Il existe enfin des listes de discussions qui ne sont accessibles que par l’intermédiaire d’autres communautés, qui font office de viviers. Celles-ci se pénètrent exclusivement par invitation. Encore une fois, le paysage numérique nous montre ses creux et ses bosses, ses plaines accessibles par tous et ses montagnes réservées aux plus motivés. La blogosphere. La « blogosphere », sous-ensemble du Web, qui regroupe l’ensemble des « blogs »[5], possède une géographie encore plus escherienne. Il s’agit en effet d’un hybride entre un ensemble de site Web et un groupe de conversations analogue à usenet ou aux mailing lists. Un premier post lancé sur un blog va se retrouver, par le jeu des flux rss [6] et des connexions entre bloggers, reproduit sur une multitude de pages et surtout commenté en de nombreux endroits. Il est difficile pour un lecteur de suivre les réactions à un contenu sans avoir une idée précise de la « communauté » impliquée par une section donnée de la blogosphere, l’ensemble des acteurs susceptibles d’être intéressés par le même sujet. Il existe certes des outils, des moteurs de recherches qui affichent l’ensemble des occurrences d’un « post » spécifié. Un service comme blogpulse [7] cherche même à tracer l’évolution d’une conversation à travers une multitude de sites. Mais, tout comme les moteurs de recherche traditionnels, ces systèmes fonctionnent mieux pour ceux qui savent quoi chercher et comment le faire. Le plus petit des mondes. De fait, c’est la notion des "petits mondes", issue de la théorie des graphes [8], qui fournit l’architecture propre à l’univers digital, le plan de ce « palais de mémoire ». Elle permet de dévoiler l’infrastructure du Net dans son ensemble, car ce dernier dans son intégralité, y compris le Web, fonctionne selon ses principes. Cette théorie mathématique, élaborée par Duncan Watts et Steve Strogatz [9] explore l’existence d’une catégorie particulière de réseau, dit « en petits mondes ». Les nœuds les plus proches entre eux se trouvent fortement connectés formant des « ensembles » des « clusters » [10] relativement isolés des uns des autres, à une nuance près : de chacun de ces clusters en effet sort une ou deux connexions reliant ce dernier à des noeuds extérieurs. Aussi surprenant que cela puisse paraître, l’existence d’un très petit nombre de ces relations longue distance suffit à faire du réseau global un ensemble aisément traversable. C’est la fameuse loi des « six degrés », qui dit qu’il existe grosso modo, six degrés de séparation entre deux habitants de notre planète, quels qu’ils soient. Autrement dit, vous connaissez forcément quelqu’un qui connaît quelqu’un etc., qui fréquente une personne cible choisie aléatoirement. C’est vrai du monde réel, mais encore plus du cyberspace, dans lequel ces « six degrés » peuvent être franchis en un claquement de doigts. Ainsi, il existerait une moyenne de quatre degrés de séparations entre deux serveurs mails, situés n’importe où dans le monde. Autrement dit, pour aller d’un point à un autre, un courrier électronique n’aurait pas besoin de plus de quatre étapes. Pour se rendre via les hyperliens, d’une page Web à n’importe quelle autre, la distance maximale, le diamètre du Web, comme on l’appelle, serait d’environ 19. C’est beaucoup, mais relativement peu quand on pense au nombre de pages existantes. La blogosphere globale, plus récente, n’est pas encore entièrement interonnectée. Il n’est pas garanti, en effet, de pouvoir aller d’un blog à un autre en suivant les liens qui les relient. Un grand nombre sont simplement déconnectés de leurs voisins. Mais certaines portions de la blogosphere comme par exemple l’ensemble des « livejournal », une communauté de blogger qui regroupe environ sept millions de blogs présenterait environ 6 degrés de séparation entre ses membres, 10 au maximum [11]. Nouvelles richesses, nouveaux sommets. D’apres Mark Buchanan, auteur de Nexus [12], il existerait deux types de « small worlds networks ». Les premiers, ceux décrits par Duncan Watts, sont composés de clusters auxquels ont été ajoutés, aléatoirement, quelques liens longues distances. Comme le note Buchanan, la caractéristique de ces petits mondes, très égalitaires, est qu’il s’agit de pures constructions mathématiques : ils ne possèdent pas d’histoire, pas de développement ce n’est pas le cas du Web, et du Net. Ceux là sont des produits du monde réel et présentent une structure quelque peu différente : les principales connexions sont assurées par de « gros connecteurs » qui cumulent un bien plus grand nombre de liaisons que leurs congénères. C’est vrai des pages Web comme des serveurs Internet en général. Et, par la logique propre aux petits mondes les plus gros noeuds sont également ceux qui accumulent le plus vite de nouvelles connexions. « Les riches deviennent plus riches », note Buchanan. Bien que, on l’a vu, on ne puisse encore assigner à la blogosphère le caractère d’un réseau en petits mondes, on remarque également la présence de nœuds plus importants, essentiellement ceux qui se consacrent au « filtrage de news », c’est-à-dire qui se contentent d’agréger les contenus d’autres blogs ou pages. Une société hiérarchisée ? Il est aisé de comprendre que la société formée par des listes de discussions de plus en plus spécialisées répond aux mêmes critères. Ceux qui ont la meilleure réputation, ceux qui connaissent les bonnes personnes et les bons réseaux, sont ceux qui ont le plus de chances de nouer de nouvelles relations, de développer leur carnet d’adresse. Une fois encore, ce sont les riches qui deviennent plus riches. Pour Alexander Bard, pop star suédoise devenue philosophe, et son coauteur Ian Soderqvsit [13], la complexité du Net lui donne au final une organisation pyramidale au sommet de laquelle se trouvent les netocraties : un groupe d’individus qui cumulent les bonnes adresses, les bons amis... Aujourd’hui, la capacité de chacun à accumuler des contacts est matérialisée par l’existence de nouveaux services Web, les « réseaux sociaux » comme Orkut ou LinkedIn. Grâce à ces réseaux, chacun peut visualiser l’étendue de ses relations et celle de ses correspondants, voir combien de « degrés de séparation » lui sont nécessaires pour joindre tel éventuel employeur, tel artiste admiré… Mais ici encore, il faut éviter de confondre la carte et le territoire. On ne peut voir en Orkut, LinkedIn ou leur successeurs qu’une approximation, un miroir du réseau social « on-line », tout comme le Web n’est que le reflet du Net réel. Pour longtemps encore, nous devrons nous contenter de traverser le continent du Net sans disposer de cartographie adéquate. Rémi Sussan Paris, le 14 décembre 2005 Notes : [1] Sémantique : D'une manière générale, la sémantique est une branche de la linguistique qui étudie les /signifiés/. Le mot /sémantique/ a été inventé à la fin du XIX^e siècle par le linguiste français Michel Bréal, auteur du premier traité de sémantique. Une classe sémantique contient des mots qui partagent certaines propriétés sémantiques. Il peut y avoir des intersections entre les classes sémantiques. L'intersection de /femme/ et /jeune/ peut être /fille/. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9mantique http://tecfa.unige.ch/~scherly/STAF11/concept1.html http://www.urfist.cict.fr/lettres/lettre28/lettre28-22.html [2] L'art de la mémoire, Frances Yates, la bibliothèque des histoires, Gallimard. http://www.maulpoix.net/memoire.html -Machina memorialis, de Mary Carruthers, la bibliothèque des histoires, Gallimard. -Le théâtre de la mémoire, Giulio Camillo, les editions Allia. http://www.artemis.jussieu.fr/hermes/hermes/actes/ac9394/02ac9394am.htm [3] Peer to peer : Le terme poste à poste est la traduction (initialement adoptée au Canada) de l'anglais peer-to-peer, laquelle est souvent abrégée P2P. On peut aussi traduire par « pair à pair » ou « égal à égal ». Dans cet article, l'abréviation P2P sera utilisée de façon systématique. P2P désigne un modèle de réseau informatique dont les éléments (les nœuds) ne jouent pas exclusivement les rôles de client ou de serveur mais fonctionnent des deux façons, en étant à la fois clients et serveurs des autres nœuds de ces réseaux, contrairement aux systèmes de type client-serveur, au sens habituel du terme. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_to_peer [4] http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/article.php/3512376 [5] Blog : Un blog est un site web sur lequel une ou plusieurs personnes s'expriment de façon libre, sur la base d'une certaine périodicité. De façon très synthétique, un blog est un site Web personnel composé essentiellement d'actualités (ou "billets"), publiées au fil de l'eau et apparaissant selon un ordre antéchronologique (les plus récentes en haut de page), susceptibles d'être commentées par les lecteurs et le plus souvent enrichies de liens externes. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog [6] Rss : Un flux RSS ou fil RSS ("RSS Feed" en anglais), sigle de Really Simple Syndication (syndication vraiment simple), ou de Rich Site Summary (résumé complet d'un site) est un format de syndication de contenu Web.C'est un fichier XML dynamique dont votre lecteur RSS (ex: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird) affiche le contenu qui est mis à jour en permanence. Ce système est très utilisé pour diffuser les nouvelles des sites d'information (actualité, sciences, informatique, etc.) ou des blogs, ce qui permet de consulter ces dernières sans visiter le site, ou bien de les formater à sa guise, etc. Il existe sept formats différents de RSS, ce qui rend indispensable l'établissement d'une norme. Il est à noter que Syndicate, en anglais, est en rapport avec le journalisme et la vente d'un article à plusieurs journaux. Mais en fait le standard permet de diffuser toutes sortes d'information, d'alertes, de mise à jour de listes ou d'événements. Really Simple Syndication se rapproche donc d'une diffusion journalistique simplifiée. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Site_Summary [7] Blogpulse peut être utilisé pour chercher dans les blogs http://www.blogpulse.com [8] Théorie des graphes : Un graphe est une représentation symbolique d’un réseau. Il s’agit d’une abstraction de la réalité de sorte à permettre sa modélisation. http://www.geog.umontreal.ca/Geotrans/fr/ch2fr/meth2fr/ch2m1fr.html [9] Six Degrees, Duncan Watts, Vintage, 2003 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.06/relation_spc.html http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~latapy/RSI/Transparents/degenne.ppt [10] Cluster : "un cluster définit un regroupement d'éléments dans un domaine, généralement spatial" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster [11] http://cemcom.infosci.cornell.edu/papers/characterizing-livejournal-medynskiy-kaye-draft03.pdf [12] Nexus, Mark Buchanan,Norton, 2002 http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring02/004153.htm [13] Netocracy : The New Power Elite And Life After Capitalism,Alexander Bard, Jan Soderqvist,Financial Times Prentice Hall. http://www.laspirale.org/pages/ afficheArticle.php3?id=175〈=fr http://www.pearson.ch/Business/Reuters/1469/1903684293/NETOCRACYthenewpowerelite.aspx Biographie de Rémi Sussan: Né en 1960, Rémi Sussan est un journaliste spécialisé dans les nouvelles technologies. Il s’intéresse notamment à l’usage que l’homme fait de celles-ci, ainsi qu’aux mouvements parallèles et alternatifs qui en découlent ou qui leur donnent naissance. Il a écrit divers articles sur les aspects les plus futuristes de l'informatique (Intelligence artifielle, réalité virtuelle) pour la presse spécialisée ( .Net Pro, Login), des articles de vulgarisation scientifique ou technique (Technikart, Web magazine), ou des textes sur les courants "underground" ("guide des religions du futur", pour La Spirale). Il vient de publier Les Utopies posthumaines. Les Utopies posthumaines, éditions Omniscience, 2005 http://www.omniscience.fr/. http://mapage.noos.fr/utopies.posthumaines/ --------------- Ce texte est publié sous la licence française Creative Commons : Attribution - Non Commercial – Pas d’Oeuvres Dérivées 2.0. Afin de favoriser une utilisation gratuite, pédagogique ou associative. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/fr/ -- XAVIER CAHEN -------------- cahen.x at levels9.com Paris France http://www.levels9.com From monica at sarai.net Thu Dec 15 12:26:21 2005 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 12:26:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Films Division uploads films on site Message-ID: The Films Division of India has uploaded 8,000 films on their website, and you can watch extremely valuable stuff (if not always very exciting) by directly clicking on the 128 kbps link. http:// www.filmsdivision.org/home.htm Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110 054 www.raqsmediacollective.net www.sarai.net From aka at zestgroups.net Thu Dec 15 17:01:21 2005 From: aka at zestgroups.net (Albert Krishna Ali) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:01:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Power of the Pen: Thinking within cliches but out of the box Message-ID: <1c8ca5cd0512150331k39f69c86xc1bfb176a3db9c50@mail.gmail.com> Reward for sting operation on MPs: A pen Wednesday December 14 2005 00:00 IST IANS,NEW DELHI: http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEH20051213092655&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=0& Aniruddha Bahal, editor of an Internet portal whose sting operation exposed MPs seeking cash to ask questions in parliament, was on Tuesday gifted a pen by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Official sources told IANS that Bahal called on Chatterjee, who presented the pen to the investigative journalist. Details of the meeting were not available. Besides the Lok Sabha secretariat seeking explanations from the 10 MPs named in the sting operation, Chatterjee has asked the members caught on camera not to attend proceedi! ngs till the matter was looked into by an official committee. Chatterjee also announced that the five-member committee would submit its report by Dec 21. Its members include Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress), V.K. Malhotra (Bharatiya Janata Party), Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), C. Kuppuswami (DMK) and Mohammed Saleem (Communist Party of India-Marxist). Besides the 10 Lok Sabha MPs, the sting operation also named a Rajya Sabha member. The investigation carried out by Cobrapost and Aaj Tak TV channel was spread over eight months. From zainab at xtdnet.nl Fri Dec 16 11:21:09 2005 From: zainab at xtdnet.nl (zainab at xtdnet.nl) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 09:51:09 +0400 (RET) Subject: [Reader-list] Problematizing Definitions Message-ID: <1392.202.88.213.38.1134712269.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> There are some of these days when I think about ‘definitions’ and I am bothered 15th December 2005 I have suddenly discovered the camera and am making pictures everywhere I go (these days). Yesterday afternoon, I was walking past the Grant Road Bridge, making my way to Lamington Road. Grant Road Bridge is the home to many pavement dwellers and drug addicts. At one point, I saw a child screaming and crying, drawing everyone’s attention. The legs of this little boy were tied. He may have been about three years old. Next to him was his little sibling. She was a new born infant, deep in slumber, inside a pen. For a moment, I was shaken by the wailing of the little boy. For a moment, I was moved by the cruelty of the act of tying his feet. But when I brought out my camera, I decided not to moralize the picture, but to show one more aspect of street life in one part of the city. I did not have the courage to make the picture from forward. So I decided to go back and make the picture. I photographed. A little commotion ensued. A woman came running and she came up close to me saying, ‘No photos’, ‘No pictures’. I was frightened. I decided to show her the picture I had made and delete it in front of her eyes to reassure her. She grabbed me by my arm and pushed me away, ‘go away from here’. My guess was that the woman was mildly mentally deranged. She was very aggressive when she pushed me. I began to wonder why the child’s legs were tied. My only guess is that maybe its mother did not want it to wander around the road in her absence; so this was a good way to keep the child put – basically safety of the child. The lady who pushed me may have been the mother. And again I guessed – perhaps she did not want me to make the picture, thinking that if I were a social worker type, I would take away her children thinking that she is a cruel mother and put them in foster care – I am only guessing here! What interested me about the experience was the definition of rights – are rights truly universal? In the context of lifestyles and cultures, do rights take on relative meanings? For instance, in the case of this child, there may have been perfectly legitimate reasons for tying his legs in the context of their lifestyle and culture – does the rights’ framework then do unintended violence to such people and cultures? Does it give power of definitions (in the Foucaultian sense) to certain groups to intervene on behalf of the greater good (greater good questionable in this case)? 10th December 2005 My classmate in the photography class is discussing a project idea. His project is to photograph garbage. He has been an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) and was irked by the sight of garbage when he came to India. He wonders how people can be so insensitive to something which is so evident. He wants to project garbage in a way that will make people want to do something about it. I had an interesting experience this morning. I was walking by the bridge on Byculla when I saw a rag picker picking up an orange fruit from the trash lying on the road. It was his breakfast. He ate hungrily and was reasonably satisfied as the pleasure of the fruit drew to an end. I wondered about garbage that evening. What is trash to me is food to someone else; trash irks me because I want a clean city, yet, that trash is food for someone else. Who defines dirty? Who defines clean? Are we Foucaultian here again in our everyday lives and practices? While re-picturing the rag picker picking fruit from the trash heap, I wondered, what are the points of negotiation between one group’s ideal of a clean city and another group’s city which exists through trash? (Perhaps trash is what makes up their city ) 8th December 2005 Visiting Imambada has become a regular jaunt. I sit in Khushali Tea Café, a Muslim Irani Tea Joint to understand the notion of public space. This evening, as I was wading my way through the crowded and busy street of Imambada, I wondered about locality and lifestyles. A city is an agglomeration of different lifestyles, each emerging from local histories. In the process of creating the global city (Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, King Kong!), we are either wiping away locality or are commodifying (read culture-izing) it through alluding to its ‘unique culture’, making it yet another Moroccan Birdcage as Jonathan Raban spoke in his book ‘Soft City’. While wading through sweat and dust and grime (and experience), I was disturbed by the definition of public space and the image/s which the term ‘public space’ evokes. Maybe public space is what is clean, well maintained, a park, a garden, an open space, etc. In my worldview, Khushali Tea Café is a public space, one which is interesting and yet has problems of its own. One of the problems with Khushali is that it is a male centric public space. Imambada is a Muslim neighbourhood; women rarely come to Khushali on their own (and in this respect, my position as a researcher in the café is disturbing to me and to the store owner as I am constantly being watched ‘as a single, lone woman’). If women come to Khushali, then they are largely accompaniments (read appendage) to the men. Yet, Khushali is a critical space where locality is produced and reproduced. It is a gathering space, a meeting space. Tea costs Rs. 3 (and I bet it is the most fantastic and simple tea you would have ever had! Try with salt and lemon and the definition of tea will change ). The store owner, who is the tea maker and the space creator, has no pretensions about his existence – drink your tea if you like; don’t drink tea; sit if you please without wanting to drink; do what you like! – and then he grumbles about having to wake up early and customers pouring till late at night – I have a 12 hour job, he grumbles, I have to wake up in the morning to run the water pump and I am functioning ever since then! Do I have a life? – and he goes on grumbling and making tea! Public space huh? Whose the public? What is public? Where is the space? What is the space? Why is the space? Definitions huh? I am bothered Zainab Bawa Bombay www.xanga.com/CityBytes http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html From vnr1995 at gmail.com Thu Dec 15 04:19:22 2005 From: vnr1995 at gmail.com (V NR) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:49:22 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] India's Invisible Women In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Missing in what sense? In US, many kids have been missing: most of them due to child custody disputes. However, most of these kids haven't been murdered. One of the parents in child custody disputes usually take their kids to other countries. In US, there are many gangs, who help kidnap kids in such disputes. On 13 Dec 2005 01:55:01 -0000, Ruhani - Kaur wrote: > > ----------------------------------------------------------- > > 35 million females are missing. > > > > > > India's Invisible women > A photo-exhibition by Ruhani > India Habitat Centre (Plaza Steps) > Dec 14-20 > ----------------------------------------------------------- > regards, > Ruhani > 9891013044 > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051214/09bf7f79/attachment.html From aka at zestgroups.net Thu Dec 15 16:57:26 2005 From: aka at zestgroups.net (Albert Krishna Ali) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 16:57:26 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Vijay Nambisan: 7, 500 words about the cheques that never arrived In-Reply-To: <210498250512150325i34a40128k@mail.gmail.com> References: <210498250512150259n4aa346a1x@mail.gmail.com> <210498250512150325i34a40128k@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <1c8ca5cd0512150327u2c62ea3bg210bc743573db4b6@mail.gmail.com> Just thought this correspondence (excerpts from 86 mails spanning 5 years) between poet Vijay Nambisan and Tehelka about non-payment for freelance contributions may be of interest to you: http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web5917625186Hoot95116%20AM1891&pn=1 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051215/03723617/attachment.html From turbulence at turbulence.org Thu Dec 15 19:21:56 2005 From: turbulence at turbulence.org (Turbulence) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 08:51:56 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Now you see us, now you don't Message-ID: <000101c6017e$ba987ae0$6601a8c0@t5x1c0> December 15, 2005 Dear Friends, First, many thanks to those of you who have already made a donation. To those of you who have not: WHAT IF New Radio And Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA)-the umbrella of Turbulence.org, networked_performance, and New American Radio-WERE TO GO AWAY? We believe many of you would miss us. Yet many of you have NEVER SUPPORTED US. We're often informed-directly or indirectly-that many of you are great fans of what of what we do: you enjoy the art we commission, exhibit and archive on TURBULENCE.ORG; you visit our NETWORKED_PERFORMANCE BLOG regularly. Many of you use both "Turbulence" and "networked_performance" for research and coursework, or simply to stay tuned to the pulse of emerging technologies and the artists who create with them. NEW AMERICAN RADIO provides a chronicle of radio/sound art (1987-1998) for personal listening as well as for broadcast worldwide. Finally, our public programs-FLOATING POINTS (an annual lecture series in collaboration with Emerson College) and UPGRADE! BOSTON (a monthly gathering of new media artists in collaboration with Art Interactive)-provide a forum for numerous artists, curators, students, scholars and the community in general. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, NRPA's finances are public record. Our 2004 Financial Report shows that NRPA's co-directors had a COMBINED income of $28,000; our 2005 Financial Report will show that we had a COMBINED income of $25,600. While ours is not, by definition a "gift economy," we do GIVE A LOT; in time, expertise, and financial support. Please help us keep on giving. Make a donation today. It's easy and you can even select an artwork in exchange. Show us you value us by simply clicking here http://turbulence.org/fundraiser_05/index.html and making a donation. No amount is too small. Sincerely, Helen Thorington and Jo-Anne Green Co-Directors Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856 Turbulence: http://turbulence.org New American Radio: http://somewhere.org Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com Fri Dec 16 14:26:32 2005 From: singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com (gurminder singh) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:26:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051216/76c5a1fa/attachment.html From singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com Fri Dec 16 14:34:54 2005 From: singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com (gurminder singh) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:34:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051216/7fc405f1/attachment.html From singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com Fri Dec 16 14:39:16 2005 From: singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com (gurminder singh) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:39:16 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation for Religions and Cultures in the Indic Civilization, Conference Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051216/56684b4b/attachment.html From nr03 at fsu.edu Fri Dec 16 20:49:01 2005 From: nr03 at fsu.edu (Nicholas Ruiz) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:19:01 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Kritikos, V.II December 2005 Message-ID: <20051216101901.4y06crvtsgg4s4wg@webmail.fsu.edu> Kritikos, V.II December 2005 What is Code? A conversation with Deleuze, Guattari and Code...(d.berry and j.pawlik) http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/%7Enr03/berry%20and%20Pawlik.htm When West was North: Spirits of Frontier Experience, or Can the MacGuffin Speak?...(j.bruce-novoa) http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/%7Enr03/when%20west%20was%20north.htm Portents of the Real: The Heart's Filthy Lesson...(n.ruiz) http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/%7Enr03/portending%20the%20real.htm -- Nicholas Ruiz III ABD/GTA Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities Florida State University Editor, Kritikos http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~nr03/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- From vivek at sarai.net Sat Dec 17 10:02:34 2005 From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan) Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 10:02:34 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Essay by Orhan Pamuk on his trial Message-ID: <43A394E2.4030108@sarai.net> Taken from the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051219ta_talk_pamuk COMMENT ON TRIAL Issue of 2005-12-19 Posted 2005-12-12 In Istanbul this Friday—in Şişli, the district where I have spent my whole life, in the courthouse directly opposite the three-story house where my grandmother lived alone for forty years—I will stand before a judge. My crime is to have “publicly denigrated Turkish identity.” The prosecutor will ask that I be imprisoned for three years. I should perhaps find it worrying that the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was tried in the same court for the same offense, under Article 301 of the same statute, and was found guilty, but I remain optimistic. For, like my lawyer, I believe that the case against me is thin; I do not think I will end up in jail. This makes it somewhat embarrassing to see my trial overdramatized. I am only too aware that most of the Istanbul friends from whom I have sought advice have at some point undergone much harsher interrogation and lost many years to court cases and prison sentences just because of a book, just because of something they had written. Living as I do in a country that honors its pashas, saints, and policemen at every opportunity but refuses to honor its writers until they have spent years in courts and in prisons, I cannot say I was surprised to be put on trial. I understand why friends smile and say that I am at last “a real Turkish writer.” But when I uttered the words that landed me in trouble I was not seeking that kind of honor. Last February, in an interview published in a Swiss newspaper, I said that “a million Armenians and thirty thousand Kurds had been killed in Turkey”; I went on to complain that it was taboo to discuss these matters in my country. Among the world’s serious historians, it is common knowledge that a large number of Ottoman Armenians were deported, allegedly for siding against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, and many of them were slaughtered along the way. Turkey’s spokesmen, most of whom are diplomats, continue to maintain that the death toll was much lower, that the slaughter does not count as a genocide because it was not systematic, and that in the course of the war Armenians killed many Muslims, too. This past September, however, despite opposition from the state, three highly respected Istanbul universities joined forces to hold an academic conference of scholars open to views not tolerated by the official Turkish line. Since then, for the first time in ninety years, there has been public discussion of the subject—this despite the spectre of Article 301. If the state is prepared to go to such lengths to keep the Turkish people from knowing what happened to the Ottoman Armenians, that qualifies as a taboo. And my words caused a furor worthy of a taboo: various newspapers launched hate campaigns against me, with some right-wing (but not necessarily Islamist) columnists going as far as to say that I should be “silenced” for good; groups of nationalist extremists organized meetings and demonstrations to protest my treachery; there were public burnings of my books. Like Ka, the hero of my novel “Snow,” I discovered how it felt to have to leave one’s beloved city for a time on account of one’s political views. Because I did not want to add to the controversy, and did not want even to hear about it, I at first kept quiet, drenched in a strange sort of shame, hiding from the public, and even from my own words. Then a provincial governor ordered a burning of my books, and, following my return to Istanbul, the Şişli public prosecutor opened the case against me, and I found myself the object of international concern. My detractors were not motivated just by personal animosity, nor were they expressing hostility to me alone; I already knew that my case was a matter worthy of discussion in both Turkey and the outside world. This was partly because I believed that what stained a country’s “honor” was not the discussion of the black spots in its history but the impossibility of any discussion at all. But it was also because I believed that in today’s Turkey the prohibition against discussing the Ottoman Armenians was a prohibition against freedom of expression, and that the two matters were inextricably linked. Comforted as I was by the interest in my predicament and by the generous gestures of support, there were also times when I felt uneasy about finding myself caught between my country and the rest of the world. The hardest thing was to explain why a country officially committed to entry in the European Union would wish to imprison an author whose books were well known in Europe, and why it felt compelled to play out this drama (as Conrad might have said) “under Western eyes.” This paradox cannot be explained away as simple ignorance, jealousy, or intolerance, and it is not the only paradox. What am I to make of a country that insists that the Turks, unlike their Western neighbors, are a compassionate people, incapable of genocide, while nationalist political groups are pelting me with death threats? What is the logic behind a state that complains that its enemies spread false reports about the Ottoman legacy all over the globe while it prosecutes and imprisons one writer after another, thus propagating the image of the Terrible Turk worldwide? When I think of the professor whom the state asked to give his ideas on Turkey’s minorities, and who, having produced a report that failed to please, was prosecuted, or the news that between the time I began this essay and embarked on the sentence you are now reading five more writers and journalists were charged under Article 301, I imagine that Flaubert and Nerval, the two godfathers of Orientalism, would call these incidents bizarreries, and rightly so. That said, the drama we see unfolding is not, I think, a grotesque and inscrutable drama peculiar to Turkey; rather, it is an expression of a new global phenomenon that we are only just coming to acknowledge and that we must now begin, however slowly, to address. In recent years, we have witnessed the astounding economic rise of India and China, and in both these countries we have also seen the rapid expansion of the middle class, though I do not think we shall truly understand the people who have been part of this transformation until we have seen their private lives reflected in novels. Whatever you call these new élites—the non-Western bourgeoisie or the enriched bureaucracy—they, like the Westernizing élites in my own country, feel compelled to follow two separate and seemingly incompatible lines of action in order to legitimatize their newly acquired wealth and power. First, they must justify the rapid rise in their fortunes by assuming the idiom and the attitudes of the West; having created a demand for such knowledge, they then take it upon themselves to tutor their countrymen. When the people berate them for ignoring tradition, they respond by brandishing a virulent and intolerant nationalism. The disputes that a Flaubert-like outside observer might call bizarreries may simply be the clashes between these political and economic programs and the cultural aspirations they engender. On the one hand, there is the rush to join the global economy; on the other, the angry nationalism that sees true democracy and freedom of thought as Western inventions. V. S. Naipaul was one of the first writers to describe the private lives of the ruthless, murderous non-Western ruling élites of the post-colonial era. Last May, in Korea, when I met the great Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe, I heard that he, too, had been attacked by nationalist extremists after stating that the ugly crimes committed by his country’s armies during the invasions of Korea and China should be openly discussed in Tokyo. The intolerance shown by the Russian state toward the Chechens and other minorities and civil-rights groups, the attacks on freedom of expression by Hindu nationalists in India, and China’s discreet ethnic cleansing of the Uighurs—all are nourished by the same contradictions. As tomorrow’s novelists prepare to narrate the private lives of the new élites, they are no doubt expecting the West to criticize the limits that their states place on freedom of expression. But these days the lies about the war in Iraq and the reports of secret C.I.A. prisons have so damaged the West’s credibility in Turkey and in other nations that it is more and more difficult for people like me to make the case for true Western democracy in my part of the world. (Translated, from the Turkish, by Maureen Freely.) — Orhan Pamuk From lokesh at sarai.net Sat Dec 17 11:20:31 2005 From: lokesh at sarai.net (Lokesh) Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 11:20:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] invitation Message-ID: <43A3A727.4070100@sarai.net> Greetings ! You are cordially invited to a program on 20 th December 2005 at Tagore Hall, Delhi University, ( North Campus) 12 noon. You are aware that since last three years we have been celebrating 'STREE SAMMAN DIVAS' to commemorate the BURNING OF MANUSMRITI UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR. In our very first program in 2002 we had felicitated BHANWARI DEVI for her valiant struggle for dignity of women. This year we have invited BABY HALDAR as our chief guest and we will be discussing CONDITION OF WOMEN IN UNORGANISED SECTOR. Leading activists and scholars - Illina Sen, Gautam Navlakha, Sanjay Kumar have also agreed to participate in the ensuing discussion. Hope you will spare your valuable time with us. from STREE ADHIKAR SANGATHAN From mtewani at gmail.com Fri Dec 16 15:20:25 2005 From: mtewani at gmail.com (Manish Tewani) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:20:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] India's Invisible Women In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <791438d40512160150j1d99fa52nb7363b0cebd7b70f@mail.gmail.com> Hi, The invisible women are talked in the context of decreasing sex-ratio in the country. The spread and intensity of prevelance of gender discrimination is such that even today in many parts of India (including economically progressive states like Gujarat, etc.); girl child is killed immediately after birth or worse before giving her a birth (feotal killings through abortion). Hence 35 million women are missing in India and similarly such huge numbers in entire South Asia. Quoting from www.wecanendvaw.org, I would say that the situation in South Asia is such that "In this region, violence begins long before birth and continues throughout women's lives. Unborn girls are killed through sex-selective abortions." If there are any other views on meaning of "Invisible Women" they are welcome. Manish On 12/15/05, V NR wrote: > > Missing in what sense? > In US, many kids have been missing: most of them due to child custody > disputes. However, most of these kids haven't been murdered. One of the > parents in child custody disputes usually take their kids to other > countries. In US, there are many gangs, who help kidnap kids in such > disputes. > > > > On 13 Dec 2005 01:55:01 -0000, Ruhani - Kaur > wrote: > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------- > > > > 35 million females are missing. > > > > > > > > > > > > India's Invisible women > > A photo-exhibition by Ruhani > > India Habitat Centre (Plaza Steps) > > Dec 14-20 > > ----------------------------------------------------------- > > regards, > > Ruhani > > 9891013044 > > > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051216/b6697f5d/attachment.html From khadeejaarif1 at rediffmail.com Sat Dec 17 11:46:29 2005 From: khadeejaarif1 at rediffmail.com (khadeeja arif) Date: 17 Dec 2005 06:16:29 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Orhan Pamuk... Message-ID: <20051217061629.10591.qmail@webmail62.rediffmail.com> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/opinion/16mishra.html?th&emc=th Editorials Columnists Contributors Letters New York/Region Opinions Op-Ed Contributor Secular Democracy Goes on Trial By PANKAJ MISHRA Published: December 16, 2005 Simla, India WHEN in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran sentenced Salman Rushdie to death, saying he had blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad in his novel "The Satanic Verses," it was seen even in the Islamic world as an act of political opportunism, intended to boost Iran over its rival Saudi Arabia as the beacon of global Islam. It garnered little support among the clergy outside Iran, or among Muslims in general; and Iran itself seemed to acknowledge public revulsion in 1998 when it stated it would no longer carry out the death sentence. The ayatollah's fatwa however created what, in retrospect, seems an extraordinary ideological consensus among the largely secularized Western intelligentsia. Writing in Mr. Rushdie's defense, novelists, poets, newspaper editors and columnists painted themselves as defenders of the European Enlightenment battling the dark atavism of religion. This view of an unreformed Islam prone to anti-Western extremism re-emerged, of course, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Many conservative intellectuals in the United States and Britain declared their resolve to fight to the bitter end against "Islamo-fascism"; and even the more liberal intellectuals demanded an immediate Islamic Reformation. But these familiar generalities - Enlightenment versus Religion, Democracy versus Fascism - have always been facile, and are now being exploded by the ordeal of another prominent writer of Muslim ancestry, Orhan Pamuk, who goes on trial in Turkey today. Mr. Pamuk is accused of a committing a crime by mentioning, in an interview with a Swiss newspaper, that "a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds" were killed in Turkey after World War I. The Armenian massacres are a widely documented fact. But it is an officially taboo subject in Turkey; and the government, nationalist political groups and press immediately joined in attacking Mr. Pamuk. Many Western politicians and intellectuals reacted late, or confusedly, to this assault on a celebrated writer. This may be because the West often upholds Turkey as an example of a Muslim society embracing secular democracy. Turkey's apparently ongoing enlightenment underpins its claim to be considered part of Europe. So what explains this latest Turkish assault on free speech? It won't do to blame religious extremists. Most of Mr. Pamuk's detractors belong to the political right wing, which in Turkey means that they are determined secularists. The prosecutor who instigated the legal proceedings belongs to a longstanding secular Turkish state that has cracked down on Muslim women wearing headscarves more harshly than has France. What does seem apparent is that, like all nation-states, Turkey has its own sacred nationalist myths and will protect them as fiercely as, if not more than, any society claming the sanction of religion. This state-sponsored nationalism attracts a wide range of Turks, including many members of the educated elite. And Turkey's middle-class nationalism, as Mr. Pamuk has pointed out, is hardly exceptional. Other nations wearing some of the emblems of Western modernity - secularism, democracy, a free-market economy - hardly offer any guarantees of free speech. Consider, for example, China, India and Russia, three multiethnic and officially secular nation-states that are experimenting with variations on the free-market economy. In all these countries, a growing middle class turned a blind eye to, or even actively supported, the suppression of ethnic minorities in the name of national unity. In democratic India, up to 70,000 people have died in Kashmir in a violent insurgency that the Indian news media have yet to honestly reckon with. In Russian Chechnya, civilians and journalists have been as much victims as Islamic rebels. And such is the power of Chinese nationalism that even most dissident intellectuals in the West feel that Tibet and Xinjiang are part of their motherland. The destructive potential of modern nationalism should not surprise us. Traditional religion hardly played a role in the unprecedented violence of the 20th century, which was largely caused by secular ideologies - Nazism and Communism. Secular nationalism has been known to impose intellectual conformity and suppress dissent even in advanced democratic societies. In America, it was at least partly the fear of being perceived as unpatriotic that held back the freest news media in the world from rigorously questioning the official justification for and conduct of the war in Iraq. As for traditional religion, outside Saudi Arabia and Iran and Afghanistan under the Taliban it has rarely enjoyed the kind of overwhelming state power that modern nationalism has known. Then why reflexively blame religion for the growth of intolerance and violence? Perhaps, because it is easy - and useful. Certainly, all the talk of Enlightenment, Reformation, a clash of civilizations and the like does help build up ideological smokescreens, obscuring the more complex political and economic battles of the world. By setting up abstract, simplistic oppositions, the Rushdie affair helped metaphysics cloud the realm of geopolitics. The Pamuk affair, on the other hand, promises to help create intellectual clarity. But this will not only require renouncing the urge to populate the world with religious fanatics, dangerous "others." It will also require a willingness, as Mr. Pamuk has so bravely expressed, to question the myths of our own complacently modern and secular societies. Pankaj Mishra is the author, most recently, of "An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World." More Articles in Opinion > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051217/88404d0c/attachment.html From cahen.x at levels9.com Sat Dec 17 22:26:16 2005 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 17:56:16 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] pourinfos Newsletter / 12-09 to 12-15-2005 Message-ID: <43A44330.5050607@levels9.com> pourinfos.org l'actualite du monde de l'art / daily Art news ----------------------------------------------------------------------- infos from December 09, 2005 to December 15, 2005 (included) ------------------------------------------------------------------- (mostly in french) Dear reader, pourinfos will be closed from December 16, 2005 until January 5, 2006 Have good time... see you soon... ------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Call : digital sparks 2006, netzspannung.org, Schloss Birlinghoven, Germany. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2515 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Call : Logo, Compagnie Générale d’Imaginaire, Lomme, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2514 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 Call : 2nd edition of design on Tshirt KobOne KobOne, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2513 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Call : LUX2006, veejaying and videoart, Seville, Spain. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2512 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Call : MAGMART, video under volcano, international video art festival, Naples, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2511 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Call : WEB3DART 2006 CALL FOR ENTRIES, Station Arcade, Australia. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2510 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Residency : Gibraltar Point International Artist Residency Program, Artscape,Toronto Island, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2509 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Residency : residency for sound artists and media artists, Londron, United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2508 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Residency : Rijksakademie Research Residency call for entries, Amsterdam, Netherlands. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2507 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Meetinigs : WJs DADA, Thursday December 15, Web Performances with the ENSAD, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2506 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Meetings : Fluxus online / les Plasticiens du web au Centre Pompidou jeudi 15 décembre, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2505 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Meetings : Ichim-Fr: seminar European numerical Library on an Invitation TMS, December 16, 2005 in Centre d'Histoire de Sciences Po, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2504 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Publication : Semaine 51.05, Edition Analogues, December 2005, Arles, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2503 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Publication : new Neural 23 [Peljhan, Circuit Bending, Nullpointer, McKenzie Wark...], Italiy. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2502 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Publication : he manager with listening of the artist, Christian Mayeur, with the Editions of Organization, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2501 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Various : "Le pied de la lettre – aux sources de l’écriture", Tout un monde France Culture, Monday December 19, 2005, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2500 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Job : one person in charge of the communication, Cimaise et Portique, centre départemental d'art contemporain, Albi, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2499 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Formation : Atelier Workshop, Saturday January 28, 2006, Initiation with Processing, association Art Sensitif, Mains d’Oeuvres, Saint-Ouen, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2498 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Job: one person in charge of scolar public, part time, Le Frac Centre Orléans, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2497 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Program : January 2006, cinema activities, videos teaching, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2496 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Program : « Les formes du délai », la box , école nationale supérieure d'art de Bourges, Bourges, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2495 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Exibition : the collection of books of artist BAND I/T, gallery RLBQ, Marseilles France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2494 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Call : ParticipART, Museum of Modern Art of Trento and Rovereto, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2490 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Call : for issue 7, runway, The Invisible Inc, Strawberry Hills NSW, Australia. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2489 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Call : eco-poetics, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2488 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Call : PLACE, workshop, the Invisible City, Marseille, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2487 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Residency : Disembodiment in Virtual Environments?, V2_Lab, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2486 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Publication : avant-gardes, private sales, at Ghislain Mollet-Viéville, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2485 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Publication : SPIKE ART QUARTERLY 06, Vienna, Autria. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2484 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Publication : Pierre Molinier, game of mirrors, Editions Le Festin, Bordeaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2483 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Publication : The Book of Disappearances & the Negociations of Raoul Ruiz and School Spirit of Pierre Huyghe & Douglas Coupland, editions Dit Voir, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2482 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Publication : issue 10, DIGIMAG magazine di arti digitali e cultura elettronica, Milan, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2481 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Divers : Reopening of the Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, January 21, 2006, Grenoble, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2480 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Variouss : nominations of Directors, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2479 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Sceening : Cinefeel, video Evening with at Cube, Thursday December 15, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2478 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Performance : Concert of contemporary music + VJ' poetry, December 15, 2005, La Piscine, Dunkerque, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2477 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 Exhibition : Laurent Pernot, Miro Foundation, Barcelona, Spain. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2476 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Exhibition : DécoRactif, Emilie Notéris, the Gallery, University of Paris8, Saint-Denis, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2475 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Exhibiton : Buenos días Santiago - an exhibition like forwarding, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo of Santiago de Chile, Chile. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2474 From pukar at pukar.org.in Mon Dec 19 09:52:36 2005 From: pukar at pukar.org.in (PUKAR) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:52:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [announcements] Tuesday, Dec.20: Discussion on Dress Codes Message-ID: <000e01c60453$e2f96670$03d0c0cb@freeda> PUKAR Gender & Space Project invites you to a discussion of the wider issues around the institutionalizing of Dress Codes by Universities across the country Date: Tuesday, 20 December 2005 Time: 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 Do we need a dress code in colleges? Whom is the dress code directed at? What are the kinds of clothing they object to? What are the varied grounds on which these objections are voiced? Is the debate about dress codes only about clothing? Or is it also about something else? And if it's about more than dress codes then what are these other things; these anxieties that play themselves out in the debate on dress codes? The sexuality of heterosexual couples outside marriage? The fear that information on safe sex will encourage sex? The threat posed by the non-normative sexuality of gay, lesbian or trans-gender people? The purity of narrowly defined religion written on the bodies of women? The purity of a regional culture reflected in the virtue of its women? The boundaries of caste, race or nation? Narrowly defined visions of Indian-ness? It's not just Indians who are worried about clothing. The French have acrimonious public debates about them. The Turks have used clothing to define nation as western or Islamic. The Iranians used clothing as revolutionary symbol only to have it haunt them in the post- revolutionary society. The Dutch are still grappling with the presence of veiled women in public space. The US Americans demonstrate suspicion of terrorist intention on the basis of clothing. We submit that that dress codes are merely symptomatic of a time when not just the way people dress is sought to be controlled but the way we walk, behave, and exchange thoughts, ideas and affection. The intention of this roundtable discussion is to raise questions not just about dress codes but also the varied issues that have come up recently: the sanctions against couples in many cities, moral codes relating to women's sexuality, the sanctions against same sex relationships, the varied fatwas on Muslim women, the brouhaha over actor Khushboo's comment on pre-marital safe-sex, the length of Sania Mirza's skirts, the Imrana case, the anxieties about the cross-community romances during Navratri are only some of them. It is important that we discuss these concerns not in isolation (which is how they are often reported) but as inter-linked issues that seek to censor our voices and define our choices. We invite you to participate in a discussion of the wider issues around the institutionalizing of Dress Codes by Universities across the country. The Discussion will be initiated by an audio documentary Then They Came For My Jeans. The audio documentary raises questions about the dress codes being imposed on college students in various universities. The documentary is located in the broader context of the PUKAR Gender & Space project which seeks to explore the ways by which women experience public spaces, accessing them against all odds, transforming the nature of urban life in the process. A 12 minute audio documentary Produced by: Studio PUKAR Executive Producers: Sameera Khan & Shilpa Phadke Sound Recordist & Editor: Anita Kushwaha Creative Consultant: Shilpa Gupta Documentation: Shriti K Cover Design: Shilpa Ranade Thanks to BMM Dept., SIES College for Recording Assistance Funded by: Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternative Development PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 5574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 5664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051219/6c167037/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aasim27 at yahoo.co.in Tue Dec 20 11:23:57 2005 From: aasim27 at yahoo.co.in (aasim khan) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 05:53:57 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] review of book on Foucault and Iran revolution In-Reply-To: <438EEC31.6000405@sarai.net> Message-ID: <20051220055357.81166.qmail@web8210.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi everyone, I came across this article in the Frontline...A book review.thought it raised some points of consequence..Also i remembered there were a couple of debates on 'Orientalism' on the reader list. I feel there is sense of threshhold in all these debtaes.But not a closed boundry.... at all times there are openings and new threshholds for the ideas to move on.Wonder what the book would be like. cheers Aasim. -------------------------------------------------------- REview Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism by Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson; The University of Chicago Press, 2005; pages 312, cloth $60, paper $24. MICHEL FOUCAULT'S anti-imperialist and anti-modernist philosophy is emblematic of post-modern thought. His characteristic archaeological method, with its careful and meticulous deconstruction of modern life, excavates and lays bare the "micro power" systems implicit in modern existence and has long been the darling of Western leftists and post-colonial theorists alike. Foucault's suspicion of utopianism, his hostility to grand narratives and universals and his stress on difference and singularity fuel the engines of cultural relativist discourse. It is predictable, therefore, that when Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson embark on a deconstruction of the follies of Michel Foucault, specifically his near uncritical celebration of the Iranian Revolution, in their book Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism, they disconcert many Western leftists. The reactions to the book, such as the review by Jonathan Ree in The Nation, have been intriguing exercises in exposing the cherished image of post-modernists and Western leftists as self-styled champions of the "other". Their incantations in defence of Foucault represent their discomfort at being the subject of critique that has been traditionally reserved for "orientalists" whose transgressions in "writing the other" were so popularly articulated by Edward Said over 20 years ago. The book is an engaging and arduously assembled critique of Michel Foucault's previously un-translated writings on the Iranian Revolution written for the Italian newspaper Corierre de la Sera (1978-80). In it, Afary and Anderson lay bare how certain important themes in Foucault's own philosophy challenge the much-celebrated Foucauldian immunity to romanticised notions of "an authoritarian politics that promised radically to refashion from above the lives and thought of a people for its ostensible benefit". Afary and Anderson take their readers through the theoretical and philosophical foundations of Foucault's thought, painting assiduously the philosopher's mental landscape, its gradations of thought and valleys of doubts. They explicate the bases of Foucauldian philosophy: the centrality of power in Foucauldian discourse; Foucault's descriptions of modern power as "pervasive" and insidious, seeping through the web of all social political and economic relations "down to the very depth of society". Afary and Anderson go on to point out, again to the chagrin of some, that while the dualism in Foucault's work centred around the modern and the pre-modern, his descriptions of "pre-modern" were often Eastern and a "counter-discourse that appropriated oriental lore in opposition to Western strategies of control". Foucault's counter-discourse, they allege, reifies the oriental (presented as the pre-modern), in stark opposition to the traditional orientalists who denigrated the barbarism and uncivilised "otherness' of Eastern thought. It is thus a final and complete reversion of its modern predecessor. Having laid the philosophical foundations of Foucault's thought, Afary and Anderson transpose on the presented philosophical landscape, the historical event that is the subject of the treatise. Hence, the cataclysmic reaction between the anti-modern philosophy of Foucault and the anti-modern but unassailably theocratic movement precipitated by Ayatollah Khomeini is exculpated. On the one hand is a philosopher whose world view is a scathing and seething reaction against the modern world; on the other, a theocratic leader whose rallying cry managed to appropriate the unifying rhetoric of anti-imperialism to institute a draconian and repressive order in Iran. In recounting the evolution of the Iranian Revolution, Afary and Anderson pay careful attention to its Constitution as a particularly modern movement. The discussion of Ali Shariati, the leftist intellectual whose ideas were later appropriated into the rhetoric of revolution, represents how Western existential thought was synthesised into Islamist discourse to produce a starkly anti-traditionalist version of Shia Islam. The recasting of the martyrdom of Hussein (a paradigmatic story known to every Shia Muslim) in revolutionary terms relating to contemporary politics and the overthrow of the Shah, the epitomisation of jehad and death as the ultimate life experience uniting the martyr with his divine destiny, are all presented with attention to their synthetic and hybrid ingenuity and their contrast to traditional Shia modes of understanding rituals of mourning during Muharram. In tracing the transformation of traditionally significant epithets of Shia Islam, Afary and Anderson bring attention to the question of whether the "pre-modern" East truly exists outside the philosophic imagination of the Western Left represented here by Foucault. Having established the modern and synthetic nature of the rhetoric of the Revolution, Afary and Anderson present the piece de resistance, Foucault's actual writings on the Iranian Revolution (these are presented in their entirety in the appendix of the book). Foucault's enthusiastic embrace of the ritualistic, anti-modern and anti-imperialist face of the Revolution appears almost naïve in "its uncritical stance" towards the politics of Islamism. Equally shocking is Foucault's inability to envision within the Islamist project the repressive and autocratic regime that eventually emerged under the Ayatollah. In one particularly damning passage Foucault says: "One thing must be clear. By `Islamic government' nobody in Iran means a political regime in which the clerics would have the role of supervision or control." When challenged by critics, Foucault emphasises the crucial place of "political spirituality" in Iran and laments the loss of such spirituality in early modern Europe whose possibility, he wrote, "we (the Europeans) have forgotten ever since the Renaissance and the great crises of Christianity". The embrace of the Islamist rhetoric, with its beguiling attire of tradition, spirituality, anti-modernism and anti-imperialism, coalesces successfully with Foucault's own work prior to his writings on Iran. While the authors acknowledge that Foucault never explicitly recognised in his writings the search for a tangible anti-modernity, tangibility and concretisation being the death of the uncertainty he so celebrated, the juxtaposition of his philosophy with his journalistic endeavours in Iran presents Foucault's perhaps unconscious but nevertheless observable predilection towards discovering a manifest extra-political and anti-modern reality. A striking and perhaps most troublesome exchange is Foucault's exchange with the Iranian feminist referred to as Atoussa H. Foucault's blindness to the repression promised and eventually perpetrated on Iranian women by Khomeini is the strongest retort to the blindness of his appraisal of the Revolution. The scathing critique of Foucault's inability to give due consideration to gender-based critiques of the revolution, to place any legitimacy in the protests of Iranian women forced to leave the workforce and don black chadors, to find not at all disturbing the introduction of laws that allowed polygamy and reduced women to half persons in matters of testimony and inheritance, presents a picture that is deeply troubling and irksome. It is heightened tragically by the authors' presentation of Foucault's response to the exiled Atoussa H. in which he wrote that the woman could not understand the power and importance of the Revolution because she approached it with a "hatred" that blinded her to its importance. Read narrowly, the response represents quite simply a disregard for a political position by a journalist espousing a contrary political stance, but as Afary and Anderson successfully allude, Foucault's particular response to Atoussa H. represents broadly the problems with cultural relativism and its relation to gender politics in general. It brings attention to the problems inherent in understanding the "other" through the Foucauldian lens, one which suggested that an Iranian's own opposition to the anti-modern stance of the Revolution was inherently inauthentic. Interestingly, the debate continues today at the fault lines of interaction between liberal Western legal regimes and group rights initiatives in multicultural societies in Western Europe and Canada. Similar views have been expressed by proponents of Sharia courts in Ontario, Canada, who implicitly place authenticity in static notions of culture and disregard gender-based critiques against the implementation of Sharia as inauthentic and as products of Western imperialism. THE critics of Foucault's stance towards the Iranian Revolution are interesting also because of their own position on the Western political and intellectual spectrum. Maxime Rodinson, France's leading authority on Islam at the time and an implicit critic of Foucault's effervescence in evaluating the Iranian Revolution, has been described by many of Foucault supporters as an "orientalist". It is this labelling that leads us to the central question that the book seems to ask: If "orientalist" discourses about Islam and the "other" were borne from, as Edward Said put it, a desire to facilitate the political project of colonialism and project essentially a "false" image of Arabs and Muslims, then what can be made of the stance towards the "other" represented by Foucault? Is this "other" orientalism the penchant to reify those aspects of the East that appear pre-modern, untainted by modernity or better still, a fitting antithesis to the modern world a better alternative? Anderson and Afary's endeavour casts critical light on these very questions. In the quest for understanding, is the post-modern glorification of the "other" a valuable corrective to the repressive orientalist discourses that preceded it? Does either do justice to the reality of engaging the "other" devoid of predeterminations? Foucault's Iranian escapade seems particularly to raise these questions. As Anderson and Afary illustrate, the very notion of pre-modernity itself is a glorified fiction motivated possibly by the post-modern dissatisfaction with their own world, a world that takes for granted the advances of modernity in terms of individual freedom. Their thesis exposes the limits of cultural relativism in its inability to give credence to real desires for freedom and liberation that may be stymied by culture traditions reified for their apparent pre-modernity or "otherness" in relation to modernity. In essence, Afary and Anderson expose the "other" orientalism, a phenomenon perhaps as dangerous and disconcerting in its passive encouragement of fictive and retrogressive notions; their value is coined not in the cultures where they exist but in that of a West that nostalgically laments their loss. By: Rafia Zakaria is a Ph.D student in Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com From abshi at vsnl.com Tue Dec 20 11:40:00 2005 From: abshi at vsnl.com (abshi at vsnl.com) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 11:10:00 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Reminder - Today: Discussion on Dress Codes Message-ID: <15a6ca15acf8.15acf815a6ca@vsnl.net> PUKAR Gender & Space Project invites you to a discussion of the wider issues around the institutionalizing of Dress Codes by Universities across the country Date: Tuesday, 20 December 2005 Time: 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 Do we need a dress code in colleges? Whom is the dress code directed at? What are the kinds of clothing they object to? What are the varied grounds on which these objections are voiced? Is the debate about dress codes only about clothing? Or is it also about something else? And if it's about more than dress codes then what are these other things; these anxieties that play themselves out in the debate on dress codes? The sexuality of heterosexual couples outside marriage? The fear that information on safe sex will encourage sex? The threat posed by the non-normative sexuality of gay, lesbian or trans-gender people? The purity of narrowly defined religion written on the bodies of women? The purity of a regional culture reflected in the virtue of its women? The boundaries of caste, race or nation? Narrowly defined visions of Indian-ness? It's not just Indians who are worried about clothing. The French have acrimonious public debates about them. The Turks have used clothing to define nation as western or Islamic. The Iranians used clothing as revolutionary symbol only to have it haunt them in the post- revolutionary society. The Dutch are still grappling with the presence of veiled women in public space. The US Americans demonstrate suspicion of terrorist intention on the basis of clothing. We submit that that dress codes are merely symptomatic of a time when not just the way people dress is sought to be controlled but the way we walk, behave, and exchange thoughts, ideas and affection. The intention of this roundtable discussion is to raise questions not just about dress codes but also the varied issues that have come up recently: the sanctions against couples in many cities, moral codes relating to women's sexuality, the sanctions against same sex relationships, the varied fatwas on Muslim women, the brouhaha over actor Khushboo's comment on pre-marital safe-sex, the length of Sania Mirza's skirts, the Imrana case, the anxieties about the cross-community romances during Navratri are only some of them. It is important that we discuss these concerns not in isolation (which is how they are often reported) but as inter-linked issues that seek to censor our voices and define our choices. We invite you to participate in a discussion of the wider issues around the institutionalizing of Dress Codes by Universities across the country. The Discussion will be initiated by an audio documentary Then They Came For My Jeans… The audio documentary raises questions about the dress codes being imposed on college students in various universities. The documentary is located in the broader context of the PUKAR Gender & Space project which seeks to explore the ways by which women experience public spaces, accessing them against all odds, transforming the nature of urban life in the process. A 12 minute audio documentary Produced by: Studio PUKAR Executive Producers: Sameera Khan & Shilpa Phadke Sound Recordist & Editor: Anita Kushwaha Creative Consultant: Shilpa Gupta Documentation: Shriti K Cover Design: Shilpa Ranade Thanks to BMM Dept., SIES College for Recording Assistance Funded by: Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternative Development Date: Tuesday, 20 December 2005 Time: 6.30 pm Venue: PUKAR Office Address: 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Opposite Strand Book Stall, Sir. P M Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 5574-8152 From geert at xs4all.nl Mon Dec 19 13:41:34 2005 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink [c]) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:11:34 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] reading mao in the US [u] Message-ID: <598060cdeb142b1967b07939c0884c93@xs4all.nl> HOMELAND SECURITY AGENTS VISIT STUDENT WHO TOOK MAO'S BOOK FROM LIBRARY AARON NICODEMUS, STANDARD-TIMES - A senior at U Mass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book." Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the U Mass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program. The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said. The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further. . . Although The Standard-Times knows the name of the student, he is not coming forward because he fears repercussions should his name become public. He has not spoken to The Standard-Times. . . The student told Professor Pontbriand and Dr. Williams that the Homeland Security agents told him the book was on a "watch list." They brought the book with them, but did not leave it with the student, the professors said. Dr. Williams said in his research, he regularly contacts people in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other Muslim hot spots, and suspects that some of his calls are monitored. "My instinct is that there is a lot more monitoring than we think," he said. Dr. Williams said he had been planning to offer a course on terrorism next semester, but is reconsidering, because it might put his students at risk. "I shudder to think of all the students I've had monitoring al-Qaeda Web sites, what the government must think of that," he said. "Mao Tse-Tung is completely harmless." From mail at shivamvij.com Tue Dec 20 14:30:01 2005 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 14:30:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The longest comment' in the Indian blogosphere Message-ID: <210498250512200100o2d3adaf5q@mail.gmail.com> I present before you a link to the longest ever 'comment' in the Indian blogosphere. Exactly 4,827 words. If you read it you will agree with me that Indian blogging today is more intellectually vibrant than any other online media. The 'comment' by a young journalist in Washington DC deals in great detail with the issue of the hegemony of a self-professed "liberterian cartel", most of whom are based in Bombay and are no doubt my freinds and prolifi bloggers. Chetan's comment could be turned into a paper! If you are not familiar with the Indian blogosphere or with blogging, this comment will be very useful as an overview of the nature of the blogosphere: http://www.shivamvij.com/2005/12/is-the-union-of-india-planning-to-change-the-no-comments-policy-of-india-uncut/#comment-521 Regards, Shivam From zainab at xtdnet.nl Tue Dec 20 15:54:21 2005 From: zainab at xtdnet.nl (zainab at xtdnet.nl) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 14:24:21 +0400 (RET) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Problematizing Definitions Message-ID: <63457.202.88.213.38.1135074261.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> Dear Mr. Reddy, Reading your email, some questions come to my mind: a). Is there anything as universal rights? What constitutes universality? b). How do we define culture? What acts constitute culturality? c). What is the relationship between culture and lifestyles? Regards, Zainab > It is not so much about definitions as it is about > conceptualizations--cluster of concepts, which are part of some theory. > And > such a theory filters what you experience of. > > In the first case, it sounds like there is only one way of describing, or > like the rights-talk (or its variants) is the best way of describing. > Here, > the debate is not so much definitions, but to what extent theory of rights > does captures the experience of the natives? If one denies the > rights-talk, > one is not denying the phenomenon, that is, a coarse description competing > theories accept. > > Abt the second case. Surely the ragpicker's experience is different from > yours. Do your and his experiences share any common structures? Assuming > that a common structure is being shared, the only way to defend such a > possibility is linking it to 'collective culturality'.: again, people > resort > to their pet notions of what culture is. > > Idem for the third case. > > All these cases share one thing: does whatever is seen in some place > constitute culturality? Those who answer in the affirmative share this > claim > as well: every practice is cultural; and such claims do have nothing to > say > about cultural differences, except that cultural difference is a > difference > in beliefs. The explanatory relation between practice and belief is > defensible only within the ambit of semitic theologies. > > Best, > Reddy, V. > > On 12/15/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: >> >> There are some of these days when I think about 'definitions' and I am >> bothered >> >> 15th December 2005 >> >> I have suddenly discovered the camera and am making pictures everywhere >> I >> go (these days). >> >> Yesterday afternoon, I was walking past the Grant Road Bridge, making my >> way to Lamington Road. Grant Road Bridge is the home to many pavement >> dwellers and drug addicts. At one point, I saw a child screaming and >> crying, drawing everyone's attention. The legs of this little boy were >> tied. He may have been about three years old. Next to him was his little >> sibling. She was a new born infant, deep in slumber, inside a pen. For a >> moment, I was shaken by the wailing of the little boy. For a moment, I >> was >> moved by the cruelty of the act of tying his feet. But when I brought >> out >> my camera, I decided not to moralize the picture, but to show one more >> aspect of street life in one part of the city. I did not have the >> courage >> to make the picture from forward. So I decided to go back and make the >> picture. I photographed. A little commotion ensued. A woman came running >> and she came up close to me saying, 'No photos', 'No pictures'. I was >> frightened. I decided to show her the picture I had made and delete it >> in >> front of her eyes to reassure her. She grabbed me by my arm and pushed >> me >> away, 'go away from here'. >> My guess was that the woman was mildly mentally deranged. She was very >> aggressive when she pushed me. I began to wonder why the child's legs >> were >> >> tied. My only guess is that maybe its mother did not want it to wander >> around the road in her absence; so this was a good way to keep the child >> put – basically safety of the child. >> The lady who pushed me may have been the mother. And again I guessed – >> perhaps she did not want me to make the picture, thinking that if I were >> a >> social worker type, I would take away her children thinking that she is >> a >> cruel mother and put them in foster care – I am only guessing here! >> What interested me about the experience was the definition of rights – >> are >> rights truly universal? In the context of lifestyles and cultures, do >> rights take on relative meanings? For instance, in the case of this >> child, >> >> there may have been perfectly legitimate reasons for tying his legs in >> the >> context of their lifestyle and culture – does the rights' framework then >> do unintended violence to such people and cultures? Does it give power >> of >> definitions (in the Foucaultian sense) to certain groups to intervene on >> behalf of the greater good (greater good questionable in this case)? >> >> >> >> 10th December 2005 >> >> My classmate in the photography class is discussing a project idea. His >> project is to photograph garbage. He has been an NRI (Non-Resident >> Indian) >> and was irked by the sight of garbage when he came to India. He wonders >> how people can be so insensitive to something which is so evident. He >> wants to project garbage in a way that will make people want to do >> something about it. >> >> I had an interesting experience this morning. I was walking by the >> bridge >> on Byculla when I saw a rag picker picking up an orange fruit from the >> trash lying on the road. It was his breakfast. He ate hungrily and was >> reasonably satisfied as the pleasure of the fruit drew to an end. >> >> I wondered about garbage that evening. What is trash to me is food to >> someone else; trash irks me because I want a clean city, yet, that trash >> is food for someone else. Who defines dirty? Who defines clean? Are we >> Foucaultian here again in our everyday lives and practices? >> >> While re-picturing the rag picker picking fruit from the trash heap, I >> wondered, what are the points of negotiation between one group's ideal >> of >> a clean city and another group's city which exists through trash? >> (Perhaps >> trash is what makes up their city ) >> >> >> >> 8th December 2005 >> >> Visiting Imambada has become a regular jaunt. I sit in Khushali Tea >> Café, >> a Muslim Irani Tea Joint to understand the notion of public space. This >> evening, as I was wading my way through the crowded and busy street of >> Imambada, I wondered about locality and lifestyles. >> >> A city is an agglomeration of different lifestyles, each emerging from >> local histories. In the process of creating the global city (Shanghai, >> Singapore, Hong Kong, King Kong!), we are either wiping away locality or >> are commodifying (read culture-izing) it through alluding to its 'unique >> culture', making it yet another Moroccan Birdcage as Jonathan Raban >> spoke >> in his book 'Soft City'. >> >> While wading through sweat and dust and grime (and experience), I was >> disturbed by the definition of public space and the image/s which the >> term >> 'public space' evokes. Maybe public space is what is clean, well >> maintained, a park, a garden, an open space, etc. In my worldview, >> Khushali Tea Café is a public space, one which is interesting and yet >> has >> problems of its own. One of the problems with Khushali is that it is a >> male centric public space. Imambada is a Muslim neighbourhood; women >> rarely come to Khushali on their own (and in this respect, my position >> as >> a researcher in the café is disturbing to me and to the store owner as I >> am constantly being watched 'as a single, lone woman'). If women come to >> Khushali, then they are largely accompaniments (read appendage) to the >> men. Yet, Khushali is a critical space where locality is produced and >> reproduced. It is a gathering space, a meeting space. Tea costs Rs. 3 >> (and >> I bet it is the most fantastic and simple tea you would have ever had! >> Try >> >> with salt and lemon and the definition of tea will change ). The store >> owner, who is the tea maker and the space creator, has no pretensions >> about his existence – drink your tea if you like; don't drink tea; sit >> if >> you please without wanting to drink; do what you like! – and then he >> grumbles about having to wake up early and customers pouring till late >> at >> night – I have a 12 hour job, he grumbles, I have to wake up in the >> morning to run the water pump and I am functioning ever since then! Do I >> have a life? – and he goes on grumbling and making tea! >> >> Public space huh? Whose the public? What is public? Where is the space? >> What is the space? Why is the space? >> >> >> >> Definitions huh? >> >> >> >> I am bothered >> >> >> >> >> >> Zainab Bawa >> Bombay >> www.xanga.com/CityBytes >> http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html >> >> _________________________________________ >> 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: >> > Zainab Bawa Bombay www.xanga.com/CityBytes http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html Zainab Bawa Bombay www.xanga.com/CityBytes http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Tue Dec 20 16:43:49 2005 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:43:49 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Free Software as a Social Movement | Znet Interview with rms In-Reply-To: <35f96d470512200311n7f290f0axf8dbb04a890295b3@mail.gmail.com> References: <35f96d470512200301o7265fda8pc7338a1db496802f@mail.gmail.com> <35f96d470512200303i3ae5d895s528ffe652db30c40@mail.gmail.com> <35f96d470512200311p51301006jcd8c0ac1b7ee3755@mail.gmail.com> <35f96d470512200311n7f290f0axf8dbb04a890295b3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <35f96d470512200313j16f68ac5gcf9b1d978e098663@mail.gmail.com> An Interesting Interview with RMS on Free Software as a social movement http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=9350 Also slashdoted at http://slashdot.org/articles/05/12/20/0356217.shtml?tid=117&tid=185 Free Software as a Social Movement Justin Podur interviews Richard Stallman ------------------------------------------------------- Richard Stallman is one of the founders of the Free Software Movement and lead developer of the GNU Operating System. His book is 'Free Software, Free Society'. I caught up with him by phone on December 1/05. JP: Can you first of all explain the "Free Software Movement'. RMS: The basic idea of the Free Software Movement is that the user of software deserves certain freedoms. There are four essential freedoms, which we label freedoms 0 through 3. Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the software as you wish. Freedom 1 is the freedom to study and change the source code as you wish. Freedom 2 is the freedom to copy and distribute the software as you wish. And freedom 3 is the freedom to create and distribute modified versions as you wish. With these four freedoms, users have full control of their own computers, and can use their computers to cooperate in a community. Freedoms 0 and 2 directly benefit all users, since all users can exercise them. Freedoms 1 and 3, only programmers can directly exercise, but everyone benefits from them, because everyone can adopt (or not) the changes that programmers make. Thus, free software develops under the control of its users. Non-free software, by contrast, keeps users divided and helpless. It is distributed in a social scheme designed to divide and subjugate. The developers of non-free software have power over their users, and they use this power to the detriment of users in various ways. It is common for non-free software to contain malicious features, features that exist not because the users want them, but because the developers want to force them on the users. The aim of the free software movement is to escape from non-free software. JP: What was your history with the free software movement? RMS: I launched the movement in 1983 with a deliberate decision to develop a complete world of free software. The idea is not just to produce a scattering of free programs that were nice to use. Rather, the idea is to systematically build free software so that one can escape completely from non-free software. Non-free software is basically antisocial, it subjugates it users, and it should not exist. So what I wanted was to create a community in which it does not exist. A community where we would escape from non-free software into freedom. The first collection of programs you need in order to escape non-free software is an operating system. With an operating system, you can do a lot of things with your computer. Without an operating system, even if you have a lot of applications, you cannot do anything -- you cannot run them without an operating system. In 1983 all operating systems were proprietary. That meant that the first step you had to take in using a computer was to give up your freedom: they required users to sign a contract, a promise not to share, just to get an executable version that you couldn't look at or understand. In order to use your computer you had to sign something saying you would betray your community. Thus, I needed to create a free operating system. It happened that operating system development was my field, so I was technically suited for the task. It was also the first job that had to be done. The operating system we created was compatible with Unix, and was called GNU. GNU stands for "GNU is Not Unix", and the most important thing about GNU is that it is not Unix. Unix is a non-free operating system, and you are not allowed to make a free version of Unix. We developed a free system that is like Unix, but not Unix. We wrote all the parts of it from scratch. In 1983, there were hundreds of components to the Unix operating system. We began the long process of replacing them one by one. Some of the components took a few days, others took a year or several. By 1992, we had all of the essential components except one: the kernel. The kernel is one of the major essential components of the system. In GNU, we began developing a kernel in 1990. I chose the initial design based on a belief that it would be a quick design to implement. My choice backfired and it took much longer than I'd hoped. In 1992, the Linux kernel was liberated. It had been released in 1991, but on a non-free license. In 1992 the developer changed the license for the kernel, making it free. That meant we had a free operating system, which I call "GNU/Linux' or "GNU plus Linux'. However, when this combination was made, the users got confused, and began to call the whole thing "Linux'. That is not very nice. First of all, it isn't nice because there are thousands of people involved in the GNU project who deserve a share of the credit. We started the project, and did the biggest part of the work, so we deserve to get equal mention. (Some people believe that the kernel alone is more important than the rest of the operating system. This belief appears to result from an attempt to construct a justification for the "Linux" misnomer.) But there is more at stake than just credit: the GNU Project was a campaign for freedom, and Linux was not. The developer of Linux had other motives, motives that were more personal. That does not diminish the value of his contribution. His motives were not bad. He developed the system in order to amuse himself and learn. Amusing oneself is good -- programming is great fun. Wanting to learn is also good. But Linux was not designed with the goal of liberating cyberspace, and the motives for Linux would not have given us the whole GNU/Linux system. Today tens of millions of users are using an operating system that was developed so they could have freedom -- but they don't know this, because they think the system is Linux and that it was developed by a student "just for fun'. JP: So the GNU+Linux system is not an accident. RMS: You cannot rely on accidents to defend freedom. Accidents can sometimes help, but you need people who are aware and determined to do this. Because it was not designed specifically for freedom, it is no coincidence that the first license to Linux was non-free. In fact I don't know why he changed it. JP: Does the difference between the GNU project and Linux relate to the difference between "free software' and "open source'? RMS: As GNU+Linux came to be used by thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, and then millions, they started to talk to each other: Look at how powerful, reliable, convenient, cheap, and fun this system is. Most people talking about it, though, never mentioned that it was about freedom. They never thought about it that way. And so our work spread to more people than our ideas did. Linus Torvalds, the developer of Linux, never agreed with our ideas. He was not a proponent of the ethical aspects of our ideas or a critic of the antisocial nature of non-free software. He just claimed that our software was technically superior to particular competitors. That claim happened to be true: in the 1990s, someone did a controlled experiment to measure the reliability of software, feeding random input sequences into different programs (Unix systems and GNU systems), and found GNU to be the most reliable. He repeated the tests years later, and GNU was still the most reliable. The ideas of Torvalds led by 1996 to a division in the community on goals. One group was for freedom, the other for powerful and reliable software. There were regular public arguments. In 1998 the other camp chose the term "open source' to describe their position. "Open source' is not a movement, in my view. It is, perhaps, a collection of ideas, or a campaign. JP: Since we will be talking about this more, perhaps now is a good time to define "movement'. RMS: I don't have a definition ready, I'll have to think of one. Let us define it as a collection of people working to promote an ideal. Or maybe, an ideal, together with an activity to promote it. JP: So, "open source' is missing the ideal part? RMS: They recommend a development methodology and claim that the model will produce superior software. If so, to us, it's a bonus. Freedom often allows one to achieve convenience. I appreciate having more powerful software, and if freedom helps that, good. But for us in the free software movement that is secondary. JP: And in fact one should be willing to sacrifice some power and convenience of the software for freedom. RMS: Absolutely. The Politics of Free Software JP: Many of ZNet's readers see themselves as part of some movement -- anti-poverty, or anti-war, or for some other form of social change. Can you say something about why such folks ought to pay attention and relate to the free software movement? RMS: If you are against the globalization of business power, you should be for free software. JP: -- But it isn't the global aspect of business power, is it? If it were local business power, that wouldn't be acceptable? RMS: -- People who say they are against globalization are really against the globalization of business power. They are not actually against globalization as such, because there are other kinds of globalization, the globalization of cooperation and sharing knowledge, which they are not against. Free software replaces business power with cooperation and the sharing of knowledge. Globalizing a bad thing makes it worse. Business power is bad, so globalizing it is worse. But globalizing a good thing is usually good. Cooperation and sharing of knowledge are good, and when they happen globally, they are even better. The kind of globalization there are demonstrations against is the globalization of business power. And free software is a part of that movement. It is the expression of the opposition to domination of software users by software developers. JP: How would you respond to those who suggest that free software activists lack a sense of proportion? Given the vast scale and suffering of war, invasions, occupations, poverty, doesn't the freedom to use computers pale to insignificance? RMS: Maybe our views have been misrepresented. It is impossible for one person to be involved in all issues. It shouldn't be surprising that a programmer would be involved where his skills and talents are most effective. If I thought free software was the only or most important issue, I can see how people might think that that lacks proportion. But I do not think it is the only or most important issue. I just believe this is where I can do the most good. A problem arises when people who might be sympathetic to our ethical position, but focus on other issues, fall into the habit of helping to pressure others into using non-free software. It falls to me to tell them they are doing so, that they with their own actions are giving certain large companies more power. When you send someone a ".doc' file, a "Word' file, or an audio or video file in RealPlayer or Quicktime format, you are actually pressuring someone to give up their freedom. Perhaps because I constantly have to bring this up, people believe I don't have a sense of proportion. Sometimes people take for granted that I will participate in those activities with them. Thus, when I webcast a speech, I have to ask which format it is going to be webcast in. I am not going to go along with a webcast of my speech about freedom that you have to give up your freedom in order to hear or watch. Once I put my coat over a camera before giving my speech, when I learned it was webcasting in RealPlayer format. JP: Gandhi, in his "Hind Swaraj', which was originally a series of newspaper articles, asked himself and answered a similar question. He was talking about how India had to get rid not only of British control, but of all of the bad attributes of "western civilization'. He asked himself: "How can one argue against western civilization using a printing press and writing in English'? His answer was that sometimes you have to use poison to kill poison. RMS: But knowing English doesn't subjugate -- you didn't have to give up any freedom in India to know English. And I imagine that in India, with so many different languages, there was no better language he could use to communicate. JP: When you say there was no better language than English, are you suggesting that it becomes an ethical issue when there is an alternative, but not before? RMS: It becomes an ethical issue when there is a restriction. The use of English might be good or bad for India, but knowing it doesn't take away your freedom. India regained independence but didn't get rid of English; in fact, I learned recently that there are people in India today whose first language is English and don't speak other languages. By contrast, to put RealPlayer on your computer, you actually have to give up some of your freedom. JP: Should ZNet use free software? RMS: The alternative is herding people into giving up their freedom, which is acting contrary to the spirit and purpose of Z. Most people have not recognized that there is an ethical choice involved in the use of software, because most people have only seen proprietary software and have not begun to consider alternative social arrangements. Z Mag is accustomed to looking at the justice of social arrangements, and could help others consider the social arrangements about software. JP: But is there still an ethical issue if there is no alternative? If, say, there is no free software way of doing a particular job, for ZNet for example? RMS: One can live without doing those jobs. JP: What criteria? How can one decide such a thing? RMS: If you absolutely must do a particular job then you should contribute to the creation of a free replacement. If you are not a programmer, you can still find a way to contribute--such as by donating money so others can develop it. JP: So can you see no circumstances in which using non-free software would be the lesser of evils? RMS: There are some special circumstances. To develop GNU, I used Unix. But first, I thought about whether it would be ethical to do that. I concluded it was legitimate to use Unix to develop GNU, because GNU's purpose was to help everyone else stop using Unix sooner. We weren't merely using Unix to do some worthwhile job, we were using it to end the specific evil that we were participating in. JP: So for ZNet, you wouldn't advocate something that involved losing readers, scaling back operations ? RMS: You wouldn't have to. There is a University in Brazil that decided to switch entirely to free software, but they could not find free software to do certain necessary jobs, so they hired programmers to develop the free software. (This cost a part of the money they saved on license fees.) ZNet could do that, too. If you participate in development of the free replacement for a program, then you can excuse temporarily continuing to run it. In the case of ZNet, I doubt you would need any free software that doesn't exist. Web sites and magazines already run with free software exclusively. You could probably switch very easily. Capitalism and Strategy JP: I have read other interviews with you in which you said you are not anti-capitalist. I think a definition of capitalism might help here. RMS: Capitalism is organizing society mainly around business that people are free to do within certain rules. JP: Business? RMS: I don't have a definition of business ready. I think we know what business means. JP: -- But "anti-capitalists' use a different definition. They see capitalism as markets, private property, and, fundamentally, class hierarchy and class division. Do you see class as fundamental to capitalism? RMS: No. We have had a lot of social mobility, class mobility, in the United States. Fixed classes--which I do not like--are not a necessary aspect of capitalism. However, I don't believe that you can use social mobility as an excuse for poverty. If someone who is very poor has a 5% chance of getting rich, that does not justify denying that person food, shelter, clothing, medical care, or education. I believe in the welfare state. JP: But you are not for equality of outcomes? RMS: No, I'm not for equality of outcomes. I want to prevent horrible outcomes. But aside from keeping people safe from excruciating outcomes, I believe some inequality is unavoidable. JP: Inequality based on how much effort people put forth? RMS: Yes, but also luck. JP: You don't want society to reward luck, though. RMS: Luck is just another word for chance. It is unavoidable that chance has an effect on your life. But poverty is avoidable. It is horrible for people to suffer hunger, death for lack of medical care, to work 12 hours a day just to survive. (Well, I work 12 hours a day, but that's unpaid activism, not a job -- so it's ok.) JP: You get the chance to exercise your talents, which is rewarding. Do you think society should reward people for their innate talents? RMS: Not directly, but people can use their talents to do things. I don't have a problem with someone using their talents to become successful, I just don't think the highest calling is success. Things like freedom and the expansion of knowledge are beyond success, beyond the personal. Personal success is not wrong, but it is limited in importance, and once you have enough of it it is a shame to keep striving for that, instead of for truth, beauty, or justice. I'm a Liberal, in US terms (not Canadian terms). I'm against fascism. JP: A definition would help here too. RMS: Fascism is a system of government that sucks up to business and has no respect for human rights. So the Bush regime is an example, but there are lots of others. In fact, it seems we are moving towards more fascism globally. JP: It is interesting that you used the term "escape' at the beginning of the interview. Most people who think about "movements' think in terms of building an opposition, changing public opinion, and forcing concessions from the powerful. RMS: What we are doing is direct action. I did not think I could get anywhere convincing the software companies to make free software if I did political activities, and in any case I did not have any talent or skills for it. So I just started writing software. I said, if those companies won't respect our freedom, we'll develop our own software that does. JP: But if we are talking about governments and fascism, what do you do when they simply make your software illegal? RMS: Well, then you are shafted. That is what has happened. Certain kinds of free software are illegal. JP: What is an example? RMS: Software to play DVDs. There is a program called DECSS still circulating underground. But not only has the US outlawed it, but the US is pressuring other countries to adopt the same censorship. Canada was considering it, I'm not sure how the case turned out. The European Union adopted a directive and now countries are implementing it with laws that are actually harsher than the directive. JP: How do you deal with that? RMS: We are trying to oppose it in the countries that have not passed it and, eventually, we hope to get it abolished and liberate the countries that have. We cannot do that by direct action, but developing the software can still be done underground. I think that, in the US, developing it and not distributing it is not illegal. Free Software Movement Issues JP: Let's conclude with some of the other issues the free software movement is dealing with. RMS: The main issues are hardware with secret specifications, software patents, and treacherous computing. On hardware with secret specifications: it is hard to write free software for hardware whose specifications are secret. In the 1970s the computer company would hand you a manual with information about every level of interface, from the electrical signals to the software, so you could properly use their products. But for the past 10-15 years, there has been hardware whose specs are secret. Proprietary software developers can get the specs if they sign a non-disclosure agreement; the public cannot. So we are forced to experiment and reverse-engineer, which takes time, or pressure the companies, which sometimes works. The worst example is in 3-D graphics, in which most chip specs are secret. One company has published its specs, and drivers have been written for another without help. But the company ``NVidious' (that's what I call it) has not been co-operative, and I think people should not buy computers with its chips. An illustration of software patents is excerpted from my op-ed from the UK Guardian :(http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1510566,00.html): A novel and a modern complex programme have certain points in common: each is large and implements many ideas. Suppose patent law had been applied to novels in the 1800s; suppose states such as France had permitted the patenting of literary ideas. How would this have affected Hugo's writing? How would the effects of literary patents compare with the effects of literary copyright? Consider the novel Les Misérables, written by Hugo. Because he wrote it, the copyright belonged only to him. He did not have to fear that some stranger could sue him for copyright infringement and win. That was impossible, because copyright covers only the details of a work of authorship, and only restricts copying. Hugo had not copied Les Misérables, so he was not in danger. Patents work differently. They cover ideas - each patent is a monopoly on practising some idea, which is described in the patent itself. Here's one example of a hypothetical literary patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents, in the mind of a reader, the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and becomes bitter towards society and humankind. Claim 2: a communication process according to claim 1, wherein said character subsequently finds moral redemption through the kindness of another. Claim 3: a communication process according to claims 1 and 2, wherein said character changes his name during the story. If such a patent had existed in 1862 when Les Misérables was published, the novel would have infringed all three claims - all these things happened to Jean Valjean in the novel. Hugo could have been sued, and would have lost. The novel could have been prohibited - in effect, censored - by the patent holder. Now consider this hypothetical literary patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents in the mind of a reader the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and subsequently changes his name. Les Misérables would have infringed that patent too, because this description too fits the life story of Jean Valjean. And here's another hypothetical patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents in the mind of a reader the concept of a character who finds moral redemption and then changes his name. Jean Valjean would have infringed this patent too. These three patents would all cover the story of one character in a novel. They overlap, but they do not precisely duplicate each other, so they could all be valid simultaneously; all three patent holders could have sued Victor Hugo. Any one of them could have prohibited publication of Les Misérables. Other aspects of Les Misérables could also have run afoul of patents. For instance, there could have been a patent on a fictionalized portrayal of the Battle of Waterloo, or a patent on using Parisian slang in fiction. Two more lawsuits. In fact, there is no limit to the number of different patents that might have been applicable for suing the author of a work such as Les Misérables. All the patent holders would say they deserved a reward for the literary progress that their patented ideas represent, but these obstacles would not promote progress in literature, they would only obstruct it. This analogy can help non-programmers see what software patents do. Software patents cover features, such as defining abbreviations in a word processor, or natural order recalculation in a spreadsheet. Patents cover algorithms that programs need to use. Patents cover aspects of file formats, such as Microsoft's new formats for Word files. MPEG 2 video format is covered by 39 different US patents. Just as one novel could infringe many different literary patents at once, one program can infringe many different patents at once. It is so much work to identify all the patents infringed by a large program that only one such study has been done. A 2004 study of Linux, the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system, found it infringed 283 different US software patents. That is to say, each of these 283 different patents covers some computational process found somewhere in the thousands of pages of source code of Linux. That's why software patents act like landmines for software developers. And for software users, since the users can be sued too. Treacherous computing is a plan to change the design of future PCs so that they will obey software developers instead of you. From the purpetrators' point of view, it is "trusted", so they call it "trusted computing"; from the user's point of view, it is treacherous. Which name you call it expresses whose side you're on. The new XBox is a preview--it is designed to prevent the user from installing any software without getting Microsoft's authorization. Here's more explanation from my essay, 'Can you trust your computer': http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html The technical idea underlying treacherous computing is that the computer includes a digital encryption and signature device, and the keys are kept secret from you. Proprietary programs will use this device to control which other programs you can run, which documents or data you can access, and what programs you can pass them to. These programs will continually download new authorization rules through the Internet, and impose those rules automatically on your work. If you don't allow your computer to obtain the new rules periodically from the Internet, some capabilities will automatically cease to function. Programs that use treacherous computing will continually download new authorization rules through the Internet, and impose those rules automatically on your work. If Microsoft, or the US government, does not like what you said in a document you wrote, they could post new instructions telling all computers to refuse to let anyone read that document. Each computer would obey when it downloads the new instructions. Your writing would be subject to 1984-style retroactive erasure. You might be unable to read it yourself. Treacherous computing puts the existence of free operating systems and free applications at risk, because you may not be able to run them at all. Some versions of treacherous computing would require the operating system to be specifically authorized by a particular company. Free operating systems could not be installed. Some versions of treacherous computing would require every program to be specifically authorized by the operating system developer. You could not run free applications on such a system. If you did figure out how, and told someone, that could be a crime. -- Anivar Aravind Free Software foundation of India -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.anivar.nipl.net Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html -- Knowledge is power... share it equitably! http://www.gnu.org From jace at pobox.com Tue Dec 20 20:34:28 2005 From: jace at pobox.com (Kiran Jonnalagadda) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 23:04:28 +0800 Subject: [Reader-list] reading mao in the US [u] In-Reply-To: <598060cdeb142b1967b07939c0884c93@xs4all.nl> References: <598060cdeb142b1967b07939c0884c93@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: The authenticity of this story is debated. See http:// www.boingboing.net/2005/12/18/dhs_agents_visit_stu.html Kiran On 19-Dec-05, at 4:11 PM, Geert Lovink [c] wrote: > HOMELAND SECURITY AGENTS VISIT STUDENT WHO TOOK MAO'S BOOK FROM > LIBRARY > > AARON NICODEMUS, STANDARD-TIMES - A senior at U Mass Dartmouth was > visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy > of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book." Two > history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert > Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through > the U Mass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program. The > student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for > Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled > out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number > and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home > in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, > the professors said. The professors said the student was told by the > agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, > which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate > the student further. . . -- Kiran Jonnalagadda http://www.pobox.com/~jace From hpp at vsnl.com Wed Dec 21 11:43:12 2005 From: hpp at vsnl.com (hpp at vsnl.com) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 11:13:12 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Translating Bengali writer Subimal Misra Message-ID: <2968ba299c79.299c792968ba@vsnl.net> Translating Bengali writer Subimal Misra V Ramaswamy Calcutta hpp at vsnl.com Dear Friends I recently began translating the short stories of Subimal Misra, a critically acclaimed Bengali writer of India. Misra (1943 -) has been writing for almost 40 years, and has published his writings only in non-commercial publications ("little magazines"). He has himself published his books of stories, novels, and essays. He disavows copyright (for non-commercial use). There is no price for the books, only a contribution of whatever the buyer considers appropriate for this book. If a buyer is dissatisfied with the book he can get his money back. Misra is the leading anti-establishment figure in contemporary Bengali literature, and the father of the experimental novel in Bangla. He is a very erudite scholar and cineaste. His writings over the years also move from the traditional forms to the completely experimental, the merging of fiction and non-fiction, and the very form of the book and even typography are played with. I believe Debesh Ray, the highly respected Bengali writer had said: "We wait for a single line from Subimal Misra." Critic and writer Mrinal Bose says: "Reading Subimal Misra has always been a learning experience for me. Of late Bengali authors are fast disappearing from my reading list. But Subimal Misra stays on - with glory intact. His strength as a writer is his irreverent and blasphemous voice and his ruthless and uncompromising portrayal of our life and times." But Subimal Misra's name is hardly known even in the reading public at large in Calcutta. His books are not easily available. His stories have appeared only in small circulation magazines outside the commercial market. My translation project has the approval of Misra. I have so far translated 5 short stories, all from his early writing period (late 60s). I would be happy to share these - still in pre-publication draft form - with anyone who is interested. I also have the original Bangla transcribed (in Roman / English), for those who might want to read the original. I would be happy to receive feedback, on my translation as well as the stories. I am also keen to work with talented and imaginative illustrators / graphic artists to produce graphic versions of the stories. Possessing a strong visual (cinematic) quality, they do appear to lend themselves to such graphic treatment. So I invite the interest and collaboration of graphic artists. From anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk Wed Dec 21 08:11:45 2005 From: anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk (anant m) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 02:41:45 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20051221024145.14161.qmail@web25713.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> zainab, i remember once suggesting dipesh chakrabarty's provincializing europe in response to something you said. one thing i learnt from this book is to think about the universal as a placeholder. it is always the particular that occupies that place. the challenge is in finding ways of translating one particular into the other without using a middle term. useful as this is, somehow it seems to gloss over the complexity of power relationships in our daily life. i find this particularly distressing in our debates on the rights discourse. ragpickers have a sense of rights and entitlements too, i suspect, which our own sense of rights and universality blocks out in such a way that we either impose our notion of rights on their experience or we slip into a rationalization of our outsiderness. hence the importance of the kind of writing you do. it allows us to think about how we talk with other people. keep posting. anant --- Priyasha Kaul wrote: > hi zainab, > enjoyed you writing, as always. I agree with > you on the > problematics of the entire 'rights discourse', but i > feel as much as > it is derided in "intellectual circles" today, it > continues to be > important because even though the city as a public > space and its > subjective carving out in the lived sense remains > wildly different > from differing standpoints, the important thing is > that those > experiences and understandings are at one level > related to ones rights > in the everyday sense of living rather than an > objective/bounded and > defined legal sense. and the enforcement of these > rights is > necessarily related to power (in the foucauldian > sense) which > privileges the rights and understandings of some in > society over > others. > > "Intervention" or alternatively the lack of it, > therefore, in > whatever form, be it through government agencies or > the NGO-type, > becomes a doubly problematic issue since it tends to > become a > phenomenological exercise in what they think are the > "rights" of the > rest of society. > > Best > Priyasha > > > > > > On 12/20/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl > wrote: > > Dear Mr. Reddy, > > Reading your email, some questions come to my > mind: > > a). Is there anything as universal rights? What > constitutes universality? > > b). How do we define culture? What acts constitute > culturality? > > c). What is the relationship between culture and > lifestyles? > > Regards, > > Zainab > > > > > > > It is not so much about definitions as it is > about > > > conceptualizations--cluster of concepts, which > are part of some theory. > > > And > > > such a theory filters what you experience of. > > > > > > In the first case, it sounds like there is only > one way of describing, or > > > like the rights-talk (or its variants) is the > best way of describing. > > > Here, > > > the debate is not so much definitions, but to > what extent theory of rights > > > does captures the experience of the natives? If > one denies the > > > rights-talk, > > > one is not denying the phenomenon, that is, a > coarse description competing > > > theories accept. > > > > > > Abt the second case. Surely the ragpicker's > experience is different from > > > yours. Do your and his experiences share any > common structures? Assuming > > > that a common structure is being shared, the > only way to defend such a > > > possibility is linking it to 'collective > culturality'.: again, people > > > resort > > > to their pet notions of what culture is. > > > > > > Idem for the third case. > > > > > > All these cases share one thing: does whatever > is seen in some place > > > constitute culturality? Those who answer in the > affirmative share this > > > claim > > > as well: every practice is cultural; and such > claims do have nothing to > > > say > > > about cultural differences, except that cultural > difference is a > > > difference > > > in beliefs. The explanatory relation between > practice and belief is > > > defensible only within the ambit of semitic > theologies. > > > > > > Best, > > > Reddy, V. > > > > > > On 12/15/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl > wrote: > > >> > > >> There are some of these days when I think about > 'definitions' and I am > > >> bothered > > >> > > >> 15th December 2005 > > >> > > >> I have suddenly discovered the camera and am > making pictures everywhere > > >> I > > >> go (these days). > > >> > > >> Yesterday afternoon, I was walking past the > Grant Road Bridge, making my > > >> way to Lamington Road. Grant Road Bridge is the > home to many pavement > > >> dwellers and drug addicts. At one point, I saw > a child screaming and > > >> crying, drawing everyone's attention. The legs > of this little boy were > > >> tied. He may have been about three years old. > Next to him was his little > > >> sibling. She was a new born infant, deep in > slumber, inside a pen. For a > > >> moment, I was shaken by the wailing of the > little boy. For a moment, I > > >> was > > >> moved by the cruelty of the act of tying his > feet. But when I brought > > >> out > > >> my camera, I decided not to moralize the > picture, but to show one more > > >> aspect of street life in one part of the city. > I did not have the > > >> courage > > >> to make the picture from forward. So I decided > to go back and make the > > >> picture. I photographed. A little commotion > ensued. A woman came running > > >> and she came up close to me saying, 'No > photos', 'No pictures'. I was > > >> frightened. I decided to show her the picture I > had made and delete it > > >> in > > >> front of her eyes to reassure her. She grabbed > me by my arm and pushed > > >> me > > >> away, 'go away from here'. > > >> My guess was that the woman was mildly mentally > deranged. She was very > > >> aggressive when she pushed me. I began to > wonder why the child's legs > > >> were > > >> > > >> tied. My only guess is that maybe its mother > did not want it to wander > > >> around the road in her absence; so this was a > good way to keep the child > > >> put – basically safety of the child. > > >> The lady who pushed me may have been the > mother. And again I guessed – > > >> perhaps she did not want me to make the > picture, thinking that if I were > > >> a > > >> social worker type, I would take away her > children thinking that she is > > >> a > > >> cruel mother and put them in foster care – I am > only guessing here! > > >> What interested me about the experience was the > definition of rights – > > >> are > > >> rights truly universal? In the context of > lifestyles and cultures, do > > >> rights take on relative meanings? For instance, > in the case of this > > >> child, > > >> > > >> there may have been perfectly legitimate > reasons for tying his legs in > > >> the > > >> context of their lifestyle and culture – does > the rights' framework then > > >> do unintended violence to such people and > cultures? Does it give power > > >> of > > >> definitions (in the Foucaultian sense) to > certain groups to intervene on > > >> behalf of the greater good (greater good > questionable === message truncated ===> _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group > archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com From priyashakaul at gmail.com Tue Dec 20 22:26:07 2005 From: priyashakaul at gmail.com (Priyasha Kaul) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:56:07 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <63457.202.88.213.38.1135074261.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> References: <63457.202.88.213.38.1135074261.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> Message-ID: hi zainab, enjoyed you writing, as always. I agree with you on the problematics of the entire 'rights discourse', but i feel as much as it is derided in "intellectual circles" today, it continues to be important because even though the city as a public space and its subjective carving out in the lived sense remains wildly different from differing standpoints, the important thing is that those experiences and understandings are at one level related to ones rights in the everyday sense of living rather than an objective/bounded and defined legal sense. and the enforcement of these rights is necessarily related to power (in the foucauldian sense) which privileges the rights and understandings of some in society over others. "Intervention" or alternatively the lack of it, therefore, in whatever form, be it through government agencies or the NGO-type, becomes a doubly problematic issue since it tends to become a phenomenological exercise in what they think are the "rights" of the rest of society. Best Priyasha On 12/20/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > Dear Mr. Reddy, > Reading your email, some questions come to my mind: > a). Is there anything as universal rights? What constitutes universality? > b). How do we define culture? What acts constitute culturality? > c). What is the relationship between culture and lifestyles? > Regards, > Zainab > > > > It is not so much about definitions as it is about > > conceptualizations--cluster of concepts, which are part of some theory. > > And > > such a theory filters what you experience of. > > > > In the first case, it sounds like there is only one way of describing, or > > like the rights-talk (or its variants) is the best way of describing. > > Here, > > the debate is not so much definitions, but to what extent theory of rights > > does captures the experience of the natives? If one denies the > > rights-talk, > > one is not denying the phenomenon, that is, a coarse description competing > > theories accept. > > > > Abt the second case. Surely the ragpicker's experience is different from > > yours. Do your and his experiences share any common structures? Assuming > > that a common structure is being shared, the only way to defend such a > > possibility is linking it to 'collective culturality'.: again, people > > resort > > to their pet notions of what culture is. > > > > Idem for the third case. > > > > All these cases share one thing: does whatever is seen in some place > > constitute culturality? Those who answer in the affirmative share this > > claim > > as well: every practice is cultural; and such claims do have nothing to > > say > > about cultural differences, except that cultural difference is a > > difference > > in beliefs. The explanatory relation between practice and belief is > > defensible only within the ambit of semitic theologies. > > > > Best, > > Reddy, V. > > > > On 12/15/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > >> > >> There are some of these days when I think about 'definitions' and I am > >> bothered … > >> > >> 15th December 2005 > >> > >> I have suddenly discovered the camera and am making pictures everywhere > >> I > >> go (these days). > >> > >> Yesterday afternoon, I was walking past the Grant Road Bridge, making my > >> way to Lamington Road. Grant Road Bridge is the home to many pavement > >> dwellers and drug addicts. At one point, I saw a child screaming and > >> crying, drawing everyone's attention. The legs of this little boy were > >> tied. He may have been about three years old. Next to him was his little > >> sibling. She was a new born infant, deep in slumber, inside a pen. For a > >> moment, I was shaken by the wailing of the little boy. For a moment, I > >> was > >> moved by the cruelty of the act of tying his feet. But when I brought > >> out > >> my camera, I decided not to moralize the picture, but to show one more > >> aspect of street life in one part of the city. I did not have the > >> courage > >> to make the picture from forward. So I decided to go back and make the > >> picture. I photographed. A little commotion ensued. A woman came running > >> and she came up close to me saying, 'No photos', 'No pictures'. I was > >> frightened. I decided to show her the picture I had made and delete it > >> in > >> front of her eyes to reassure her. She grabbed me by my arm and pushed > >> me > >> away, 'go away from here'. > >> My guess was that the woman was mildly mentally deranged. She was very > >> aggressive when she pushed me. I began to wonder why the child's legs > >> were > >> > >> tied. My only guess is that maybe its mother did not want it to wander > >> around the road in her absence; so this was a good way to keep the child > >> put – basically safety of the child. > >> The lady who pushed me may have been the mother. And again I guessed – > >> perhaps she did not want me to make the picture, thinking that if I were > >> a > >> social worker type, I would take away her children thinking that she is > >> a > >> cruel mother and put them in foster care – I am only guessing here! > >> What interested me about the experience was the definition of rights – > >> are > >> rights truly universal? In the context of lifestyles and cultures, do > >> rights take on relative meanings? For instance, in the case of this > >> child, > >> > >> there may have been perfectly legitimate reasons for tying his legs in > >> the > >> context of their lifestyle and culture – does the rights' framework then > >> do unintended violence to such people and cultures? Does it give power > >> of > >> definitions (in the Foucaultian sense) to certain groups to intervene on > >> behalf of the greater good (greater good questionable in this case)? > >> > >> > >> > >> 10th December 2005 > >> > >> My classmate in the photography class is discussing a project idea. His > >> project is to photograph garbage. He has been an NRI (Non-Resident > >> Indian) > >> and was irked by the sight of garbage when he came to India. He wonders > >> how people can be so insensitive to something which is so evident. He > >> wants to project garbage in a way that will make people want to do > >> something about it. > >> > >> I had an interesting experience this morning. I was walking by the > >> bridge > >> on Byculla when I saw a rag picker picking up an orange fruit from the > >> trash lying on the road. It was his breakfast. He ate hungrily and was > >> reasonably satisfied as the pleasure of the fruit drew to an end. > >> > >> I wondered about garbage that evening. What is trash to me is food to > >> someone else; trash irks me because I want a clean city, yet, that trash > >> is food for someone else. Who defines dirty? Who defines clean? Are we > >> Foucaultian here again in our everyday lives and practices? > >> > >> While re-picturing the rag picker picking fruit from the trash heap, I > >> wondered, what are the points of negotiation between one group's ideal > >> of > >> a clean city and another group's city which exists through trash? > >> (Perhaps > >> trash is what makes up their city …) > >> > >> > >> > >> 8th December 2005 > >> > >> Visiting Imambada has become a regular jaunt. I sit in Khushali Tea > >> Café, > >> a Muslim Irani Tea Joint to understand the notion of public space. This > >> evening, as I was wading my way through the crowded and busy street of > >> Imambada, I wondered about locality and lifestyles. > >> > >> A city is an agglomeration of different lifestyles, each emerging from > >> local histories. In the process of creating the global city (Shanghai, > >> Singapore, Hong Kong, King Kong!), we are either wiping away locality or > >> are commodifying (read culture-izing) it through alluding to its 'unique > >> culture', making it yet another Moroccan Birdcage as Jonathan Raban > >> spoke > >> in his book 'Soft City'. > >> > >> While wading through sweat and dust and grime (and experience), I was > >> disturbed by the definition of public space and the image/s which the > >> term > >> 'public space' evokes. Maybe public space is what is clean, well > >> maintained, a park, a garden, an open space, etc. In my worldview, > >> Khushali Tea Café is a public space, one which is interesting and yet > >> has > >> problems of its own. One of the problems with Khushali is that it is a > >> male centric public space. Imambada is a Muslim neighbourhood; women > >> rarely come to Khushali on their own (and in this respect, my position > >> as > >> a researcher in the café is disturbing to me and to the store owner as I > >> am constantly being watched 'as a single, lone woman'). If women come to > >> Khushali, then they are largely accompaniments (read appendage) to the > >> men. Yet, Khushali is a critical space where locality is produced and > >> reproduced. It is a gathering space, a meeting space. Tea costs Rs. 3 > >> (and > >> I bet it is the most fantastic and simple tea you would have ever had! > >> Try > >> > >> with salt and lemon and the definition of tea will change …). The store > >> owner, who is the tea maker and the space creator, has no pretensions > >> about his existence – drink your tea if you like; don't drink tea; sit > >> if > >> you please without wanting to drink; do what you like! – and then he > >> grumbles about having to wake up early and customers pouring till late > >> at > >> night – I have a 12 hour job, he grumbles, I have to wake up in the > >> morning to run the water pump and I am functioning ever since then! Do I > >> have a life? – and he goes on grumbling and making tea! > >> > >> Public space huh? Whose the public? What is public? Where is the space? > >> What is the space? Why is the space? … > >> > >> … > >> > >> Definitions huh? > >> > >> … > >> > >> I am bothered … > >> > >> … > >> > >> > >> > >> Zainab Bawa > >> Bombay > >> www.xanga.com/CityBytes > >> http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html > >> > >> _________________________________________ > >> 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: > >> > > > > > Zainab Bawa > Bombay > www.xanga.com/CityBytes > http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html > > > > Zainab Bawa > Bombay > www.xanga.com/CityBytes > http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > From pukar at pukar.org.in Wed Dec 21 10:15:40 2005 From: pukar at pukar.org.in (PUKAR) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 10:15:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [announcements] Winter Institute: Save the date Message-ID: <000c01c605e9$684cf2b0$09d0c0cb@freeda> SAVE THE DATE! 10-12 February, 2006 "Mediascapes: Shifting Boundaries, Contested Terrains" A collaborative National Seminar / Winter Institute by PUKAR & Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) This year's Winter Institute will explore the socio-cultural and political implications of new media forms and the transformation of old media. Through seminar discussions, lectures, and films, the conference will examine both the potentially empowering effects of such transformations, and the repressive consequences of increasingly corporatized mass media. We welcome your participation as we explore how media spaces are constructed and emerge as sites of contention. Details will be forthcoming, including the conference schedule and registration information. Please plan to join us on 10-12 February at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. PUKAR & TISS PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 5574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 5664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051221/706a69e2/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Tue Dec 20 16:43:49 2005 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:43:49 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [arkitectindia] Free Software as a Social Movement | Znet Interview with rms In-Reply-To: <35f96d470512200311n7f290f0axf8dbb04a890295b3@mail.gmail.com> References: <35f96d470512200301o7265fda8pc7338a1db496802f@mail.gmail.com> <35f96d470512200303i3ae5d895s528ffe652db30c40@mail.gmail.com> <35f96d470512200311p51301006jcd8c0ac1b7ee3755@mail.gmail.com> <35f96d470512200311n7f290f0axf8dbb04a890295b3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <35f96d470512200313j16f68ac5gcf9b1d978e098663@mail.gmail.com> An Interesting Interview with RMS on Free Software as a social movement http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=9350 Also slashdoted at http://slashdot.org/articles/05/12/20/0356217.shtml?tid=117&tid=185 Free Software as a Social Movement Justin Podur interviews Richard Stallman ------------------------------------------------------- Richard Stallman is one of the founders of the Free Software Movement and lead developer of the GNU Operating System. His book is 'Free Software, Free Society'. I caught up with him by phone on December 1/05. JP: Can you first of all explain the "Free Software Movement'. RMS: The basic idea of the Free Software Movement is that the user of software deserves certain freedoms. There are four essential freedoms, which we label freedoms 0 through 3. Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the software as you wish. Freedom 1 is the freedom to study and change the source code as you wish. Freedom 2 is the freedom to copy and distribute the software as you wish. And freedom 3 is the freedom to create and distribute modified versions as you wish. With these four freedoms, users have full control of their own computers, and can use their computers to cooperate in a community. Freedoms 0 and 2 directly benefit all users, since all users can exercise them. Freedoms 1 and 3, only programmers can directly exercise, but everyone benefits from them, because everyone can adopt (or not) the changes that programmers make. Thus, free software develops under the control of its users. Non-free software, by contrast, keeps users divided and helpless. It is distributed in a social scheme designed to divide and subjugate. The developers of non-free software have power over their users, and they use this power to the detriment of users in various ways. It is common for non-free software to contain malicious features, features that exist not because the users want them, but because the developers want to force them on the users. The aim of the free software movement is to escape from non-free software. JP: What was your history with the free software movement? RMS: I launched the movement in 1983 with a deliberate decision to develop a complete world of free software. The idea is not just to produce a scattering of free programs that were nice to use. Rather, the idea is to systematically build free software so that one can escape completely from non-free software. Non-free software is basically antisocial, it subjugates it users, and it should not exist. So what I wanted was to create a community in which it does not exist. A community where we would escape from non-free software into freedom. The first collection of programs you need in order to escape non-free software is an operating system. With an operating system, you can do a lot of things with your computer. Without an operating system, even if you have a lot of applications, you cannot do anything -- you cannot run them without an operating system. In 1983 all operating systems were proprietary. That meant that the first step you had to take in using a computer was to give up your freedom: they required users to sign a contract, a promise not to share, just to get an executable version that you couldn't look at or understand. In order to use your computer you had to sign something saying you would betray your community. Thus, I needed to create a free operating system. It happened that operating system development was my field, so I was technically suited for the task. It was also the first job that had to be done. The operating system we created was compatible with Unix, and was called GNU. GNU stands for "GNU is Not Unix", and the most important thing about GNU is that it is not Unix. Unix is a non-free operating system, and you are not allowed to make a free version of Unix. We developed a free system that is like Unix, but not Unix. We wrote all the parts of it from scratch. In 1983, there were hundreds of components to the Unix operating system. We began the long process of replacing them one by one. Some of the components took a few days, others took a year or several. By 1992, we had all of the essential components except one: the kernel. The kernel is one of the major essential components of the system. In GNU, we began developing a kernel in 1990. I chose the initial design based on a belief that it would be a quick design to implement. My choice backfired and it took much longer than I'd hoped. In 1992, the Linux kernel was liberated. It had been released in 1991, but on a non-free license. In 1992 the developer changed the license for the kernel, making it free. That meant we had a free operating system, which I call "GNU/Linux' or "GNU plus Linux'. However, when this combination was made, the users got confused, and began to call the whole thing "Linux'. That is not very nice. First of all, it isn't nice because there are thousands of people involved in the GNU project who deserve a share of the credit. We started the project, and did the biggest part of the work, so we deserve to get equal mention. (Some people believe that the kernel alone is more important than the rest of the operating system. This belief appears to result from an attempt to construct a justification for the "Linux" misnomer.) But there is more at stake than just credit: the GNU Project was a campaign for freedom, and Linux was not. The developer of Linux had other motives, motives that were more personal. That does not diminish the value of his contribution. His motives were not bad. He developed the system in order to amuse himself and learn. Amusing oneself is good -- programming is great fun. Wanting to learn is also good. But Linux was not designed with the goal of liberating cyberspace, and the motives for Linux would not have given us the whole GNU/Linux system. Today tens of millions of users are using an operating system that was developed so they could have freedom -- but they don't know this, because they think the system is Linux and that it was developed by a student "just for fun'. JP: So the GNU+Linux system is not an accident. RMS: You cannot rely on accidents to defend freedom. Accidents can sometimes help, but you need people who are aware and determined to do this. Because it was not designed specifically for freedom, it is no coincidence that the first license to Linux was non-free. In fact I don't know why he changed it. JP: Does the difference between the GNU project and Linux relate to the difference between "free software' and "open source'? RMS: As GNU+Linux came to be used by thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, and then millions, they started to talk to each other: Look at how powerful, reliable, convenient, cheap, and fun this system is. Most people talking about it, though, never mentioned that it was about freedom. They never thought about it that way. And so our work spread to more people than our ideas did. Linus Torvalds, the developer of Linux, never agreed with our ideas. He was not a proponent of the ethical aspects of our ideas or a critic of the antisocial nature of non-free software. He just claimed that our software was technically superior to particular competitors. That claim happened to be true: in the 1990s, someone did a controlled experiment to measure the reliability of software, feeding random input sequences into different programs (Unix systems and GNU systems), and found GNU to be the most reliable. He repeated the tests years later, and GNU was still the most reliable. The ideas of Torvalds led by 1996 to a division in the community on goals. One group was for freedom, the other for powerful and reliable software. There were regular public arguments. In 1998 the other camp chose the term "open source' to describe their position. "Open source' is not a movement, in my view. It is, perhaps, a collection of ideas, or a campaign. JP: Since we will be talking about this more, perhaps now is a good time to define "movement'. RMS: I don't have a definition ready, I'll have to think of one. Let us define it as a collection of people working to promote an ideal. Or maybe, an ideal, together with an activity to promote it. JP: So, "open source' is missing the ideal part? RMS: They recommend a development methodology and claim that the model will produce superior software. If so, to us, it's a bonus. Freedom often allows one to achieve convenience. I appreciate having more powerful software, and if freedom helps that, good. But for us in the free software movement that is secondary. JP: And in fact one should be willing to sacrifice some power and convenience of the software for freedom. RMS: Absolutely. The Politics of Free Software JP: Many of ZNet's readers see themselves as part of some movement -- anti-poverty, or anti-war, or for some other form of social change. Can you say something about why such folks ought to pay attention and relate to the free software movement? RMS: If you are against the globalization of business power, you should be for free software. JP: -- But it isn't the global aspect of business power, is it? If it were local business power, that wouldn't be acceptable? RMS: -- People who say they are against globalization are really against the globalization of business power. They are not actually against globalization as such, because there are other kinds of globalization, the globalization of cooperation and sharing knowledge, which they are not against. Free software replaces business power with cooperation and the sharing of knowledge. Globalizing a bad thing makes it worse. Business power is bad, so globalizing it is worse. But globalizing a good thing is usually good. Cooperation and sharing of knowledge are good, and when they happen globally, they are even better. The kind of globalization there are demonstrations against is the globalization of business power. And free software is a part of that movement. It is the expression of the opposition to domination of software users by software developers. JP: How would you respond to those who suggest that free software activists lack a sense of proportion? Given the vast scale and suffering of war, invasions, occupations, poverty, doesn't the freedom to use computers pale to insignificance? RMS: Maybe our views have been misrepresented. It is impossible for one person to be involved in all issues. It shouldn't be surprising that a programmer would be involved where his skills and talents are most effective. If I thought free software was the only or most important issue, I can see how people might think that that lacks proportion. But I do not think it is the only or most important issue. I just believe this is where I can do the most good. A problem arises when people who might be sympathetic to our ethical position, but focus on other issues, fall into the habit of helping to pressure others into using non-free software. It falls to me to tell them they are doing so, that they with their own actions are giving certain large companies more power. When you send someone a ".doc' file, a "Word' file, or an audio or video file in RealPlayer or Quicktime format, you are actually pressuring someone to give up their freedom. Perhaps because I constantly have to bring this up, people believe I don't have a sense of proportion. Sometimes people take for granted that I will participate in those activities with them. Thus, when I webcast a speech, I have to ask which format it is going to be webcast in. I am not going to go along with a webcast of my speech about freedom that you have to give up your freedom in order to hear or watch. Once I put my coat over a camera before giving my speech, when I learned it was webcasting in RealPlayer format. JP: Gandhi, in his "Hind Swaraj', which was originally a series of newspaper articles, asked himself and answered a similar question. He was talking about how India had to get rid not only of British control, but of all of the bad attributes of "western civilization'. He asked himself: "How can one argue against western civilization using a printing press and writing in English'? His answer was that sometimes you have to use poison to kill poison. RMS: But knowing English doesn't subjugate -- you didn't have to give up any freedom in India to know English. And I imagine that in India, with so many different languages, there was no better language he could use to communicate. JP: When you say there was no better language than English, are you suggesting that it becomes an ethical issue when there is an alternative, but not before? RMS: It becomes an ethical issue when there is a restriction. The use of English might be good or bad for India, but knowing it doesn't take away your freedom. India regained independence but didn't get rid of English; in fact, I learned recently that there are people in India today whose first language is English and don't speak other languages. By contrast, to put RealPlayer on your computer, you actually have to give up some of your freedom. JP: Should ZNet use free software? RMS: The alternative is herding people into giving up their freedom, which is acting contrary to the spirit and purpose of Z. Most people have not recognized that there is an ethical choice involved in the use of software, because most people have only seen proprietary software and have not begun to consider alternative social arrangements. Z Mag is accustomed to looking at the justice of social arrangements, and could help others consider the social arrangements about software. JP: But is there still an ethical issue if there is no alternative? If, say, there is no free software way of doing a particular job, for ZNet for example? RMS: One can live without doing those jobs. JP: What criteria? How can one decide such a thing? RMS: If you absolutely must do a particular job then you should contribute to the creation of a free replacement. If you are not a programmer, you can still find a way to contribute--such as by donating money so others can develop it. JP: So can you see no circumstances in which using non-free software would be the lesser of evils? RMS: There are some special circumstances. To develop GNU, I used Unix. But first, I thought about whether it would be ethical to do that. I concluded it was legitimate to use Unix to develop GNU, because GNU's purpose was to help everyone else stop using Unix sooner. We weren't merely using Unix to do some worthwhile job, we were using it to end the specific evil that we were participating in. JP: So for ZNet, you wouldn't advocate something that involved losing readers, scaling back operations ? RMS: You wouldn't have to. There is a University in Brazil that decided to switch entirely to free software, but they could not find free software to do certain necessary jobs, so they hired programmers to develop the free software. (This cost a part of the money they saved on license fees.) ZNet could do that, too. If you participate in development of the free replacement for a program, then you can excuse temporarily continuing to run it. In the case of ZNet, I doubt you would need any free software that doesn't exist. Web sites and magazines already run with free software exclusively. You could probably switch very easily. Capitalism and Strategy JP: I have read other interviews with you in which you said you are not anti-capitalist. I think a definition of capitalism might help here. RMS: Capitalism is organizing society mainly around business that people are free to do within certain rules. JP: Business? RMS: I don't have a definition of business ready. I think we know what business means. JP: -- But "anti-capitalists' use a different definition. They see capitalism as markets, private property, and, fundamentally, class hierarchy and class division. Do you see class as fundamental to capitalism? RMS: No. We have had a lot of social mobility, class mobility, in the United States. Fixed classes--which I do not like--are not a necessary aspect of capitalism. However, I don't believe that you can use social mobility as an excuse for poverty. If someone who is very poor has a 5% chance of getting rich, that does not justify denying that person food, shelter, clothing, medical care, or education. I believe in the welfare state. JP: But you are not for equality of outcomes? RMS: No, I'm not for equality of outcomes. I want to prevent horrible outcomes. But aside from keeping people safe from excruciating outcomes, I believe some inequality is unavoidable. JP: Inequality based on how much effort people put forth? RMS: Yes, but also luck. JP: You don't want society to reward luck, though. RMS: Luck is just another word for chance. It is unavoidable that chance has an effect on your life. But poverty is avoidable. It is horrible for people to suffer hunger, death for lack of medical care, to work 12 hours a day just to survive. (Well, I work 12 hours a day, but that's unpaid activism, not a job -- so it's ok.) JP: You get the chance to exercise your talents, which is rewarding. Do you think society should reward people for their innate talents? RMS: Not directly, but people can use their talents to do things. I don't have a problem with someone using their talents to become successful, I just don't think the highest calling is success. Things like freedom and the expansion of knowledge are beyond success, beyond the personal. Personal success is not wrong, but it is limited in importance, and once you have enough of it it is a shame to keep striving for that, instead of for truth, beauty, or justice. I'm a Liberal, in US terms (not Canadian terms). I'm against fascism. JP: A definition would help here too. RMS: Fascism is a system of government that sucks up to business and has no respect for human rights. So the Bush regime is an example, but there are lots of others. In fact, it seems we are moving towards more fascism globally. JP: It is interesting that you used the term "escape' at the beginning of the interview. Most people who think about "movements' think in terms of building an opposition, changing public opinion, and forcing concessions from the powerful. RMS: What we are doing is direct action. I did not think I could get anywhere convincing the software companies to make free software if I did political activities, and in any case I did not have any talent or skills for it. So I just started writing software. I said, if those companies won't respect our freedom, we'll develop our own software that does. JP: But if we are talking about governments and fascism, what do you do when they simply make your software illegal? RMS: Well, then you are shafted. That is what has happened. Certain kinds of free software are illegal. JP: What is an example? RMS: Software to play DVDs. There is a program called DECSS still circulating underground. But not only has the US outlawed it, but the US is pressuring other countries to adopt the same censorship. Canada was considering it, I'm not sure how the case turned out. The European Union adopted a directive and now countries are implementing it with laws that are actually harsher than the directive. JP: How do you deal with that? RMS: We are trying to oppose it in the countries that have not passed it and, eventually, we hope to get it abolished and liberate the countries that have. We cannot do that by direct action, but developing the software can still be done underground. I think that, in the US, developing it and not distributing it is not illegal. Free Software Movement Issues JP: Let's conclude with some of the other issues the free software movement is dealing with. RMS: The main issues are hardware with secret specifications, software patents, and treacherous computing. On hardware with secret specifications: it is hard to write free software for hardware whose specifications are secret. In the 1970s the computer company would hand you a manual with information about every level of interface, from the electrical signals to the software, so you could properly use their products. But for the past 10-15 years, there has been hardware whose specs are secret. Proprietary software developers can get the specs if they sign a non-disclosure agreement; the public cannot. So we are forced to experiment and reverse-engineer, which takes time, or pressure the companies, which sometimes works. The worst example is in 3-D graphics, in which most chip specs are secret. One company has published its specs, and drivers have been written for another without help. But the company ``NVidious' (that's what I call it) has not been co-operative, and I think people should not buy computers with its chips. An illustration of software patents is excerpted from my op-ed from the UK Guardian :(http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1510566,00.html): A novel and a modern complex programme have certain points in common: each is large and implements many ideas. Suppose patent law had been applied to novels in the 1800s; suppose states such as France had permitted the patenting of literary ideas. How would this have affected Hugo's writing? How would the effects of literary patents compare with the effects of literary copyright? Consider the novel Les Misérables, written by Hugo. Because he wrote it, the copyright belonged only to him. He did not have to fear that some stranger could sue him for copyright infringement and win. That was impossible, because copyright covers only the details of a work of authorship, and only restricts copying. Hugo had not copied Les Misérables, so he was not in danger. Patents work differently. They cover ideas - each patent is a monopoly on practising some idea, which is described in the patent itself. Here's one example of a hypothetical literary patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents, in the mind of a reader, the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and becomes bitter towards society and humankind. Claim 2: a communication process according to claim 1, wherein said character subsequently finds moral redemption through the kindness of another. Claim 3: a communication process according to claims 1 and 2, wherein said character changes his name during the story. If such a patent had existed in 1862 when Les Misérables was published, the novel would have infringed all three claims - all these things happened to Jean Valjean in the novel. Hugo could have been sued, and would have lost. The novel could have been prohibited - in effect, censored - by the patent holder. Now consider this hypothetical literary patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents in the mind of a reader the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and subsequently changes his name. Les Misérables would have infringed that patent too, because this description too fits the life story of Jean Valjean. And here's another hypothetical patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents in the mind of a reader the concept of a character who finds moral redemption and then changes his name. Jean Valjean would have infringed this patent too. These three patents would all cover the story of one character in a novel. They overlap, but they do not precisely duplicate each other, so they could all be valid simultaneously; all three patent holders could have sued Victor Hugo. Any one of them could have prohibited publication of Les Misérables. Other aspects of Les Misérables could also have run afoul of patents. For instance, there could have been a patent on a fictionalized portrayal of the Battle of Waterloo, or a patent on using Parisian slang in fiction. Two more lawsuits. In fact, there is no limit to the number of different patents that might have been applicable for suing the author of a work such as Les Misérables. All the patent holders would say they deserved a reward for the literary progress that their patented ideas represent, but these obstacles would not promote progress in literature, they would only obstruct it. This analogy can help non-programmers see what software patents do. Software patents cover features, such as defining abbreviations in a word processor, or natural order recalculation in a spreadsheet. Patents cover algorithms that programs need to use. Patents cover aspects of file formats, such as Microsoft's new formats for Word files. MPEG 2 video format is covered by 39 different US patents. Just as one novel could infringe many different literary patents at once, one program can infringe many different patents at once. It is so much work to identify all the patents infringed by a large program that only one such study has been done. A 2004 study of Linux, the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system, found it infringed 283 different US software patents. That is to say, each of these 283 different patents covers some computational process found somewhere in the thousands of pages of source code of Linux. That's why software patents act like landmines for software developers. And for software users, since the users can be sued too. Treacherous computing is a plan to change the design of future PCs so that they will obey software developers instead of you. From the purpetrators' point of view, it is "trusted", so they call it "trusted computing"; from the user's point of view, it is treacherous. Which name you call it expresses whose side you're on. The new XBox is a preview--it is designed to prevent the user from installing any software without getting Microsoft's authorization. Here's more explanation from my essay, 'Can you trust your computer': http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html The technical idea underlying treacherous computing is that the computer includes a digital encryption and signature device, and the keys are kept secret from you. Proprietary programs will use this device to control which other programs you can run, which documents or data you can access, and what programs you can pass them to. These programs will continually download new authorization rules through the Internet, and impose those rules automatically on your work. If you don't allow your computer to obtain the new rules periodically from the Internet, some capabilities will automatically cease to function. Programs that use treacherous computing will continually download new authorization rules through the Internet, and impose those rules automatically on your work. If Microsoft, or the US government, does not like what you said in a document you wrote, they could post new instructions telling all computers to refuse to let anyone read that document. Each computer would obey when it downloads the new instructions. Your writing would be subject to 1984-style retroactive erasure. You might be unable to read it yourself. Treacherous computing puts the existence of free operating systems and free applications at risk, because you may not be able to run them at all. Some versions of treacherous computing would require the operating system to be specifically authorized by a particular company. Free operating systems could not be installed. Some versions of treacherous computing would require every program to be specifically authorized by the operating system developer. You could not run free applications on such a system. If you did figure out how, and told someone, that could be a crime. -- Anivar Aravind Free Software foundation of India -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.anivar.nipl.net Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html -- Knowledge is power... share it equitably! http://www.gnu.org ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> For $25, 15 Afghan women can learn to read. Your gift can make a difference. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_smZ4B/SdGMAA/E2hLAA/VaTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arkitectindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: arkitectindia-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From zainab at xtdnet.nl Wed Dec 21 18:11:36 2005 From: zainab at xtdnet.nl (zainab at xtdnet.nl) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 16:41:36 +0400 (RET) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <20051221024145.14161.qmail@web25713.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> References: <20051221024145.14161.qmail@web25713.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <64538.202.88.213.38.1135168896.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> I am still interested in understanding the 'general meaning' of the term culture? What constitutes culture? And what constitutes acts of culturality? Cheers, Zee > zainab, > i remember once suggesting dipesh chakrabarty's > provincializing europe in response to something you > said. one thing i learnt from this book is to think > about the universal as a placeholder. it is always the > particular that occupies that place. the challenge is > in finding ways of translating one particular into the > other without using a middle term. useful as this is, > somehow it seems to gloss over the complexity of power > relationships in our daily life. i find this > particularly distressing in our debates on the rights > discourse. ragpickers have a sense of rights and > entitlements too, i suspect, which our own sense of > rights and universality blocks out in such a way that > we either impose our notion of rights on their > experience or we slip into a rationalization of our > outsiderness. hence the importance of the kind of > writing you do. it allows us to think about how we > talk with other people. keep posting. > anant > > --- Priyasha Kaul wrote: > >> hi zainab, >> enjoyed you writing, as always. I agree with >> you on the >> problematics of the entire 'rights discourse', but i >> feel as much as >> it is derided in "intellectual circles" today, it >> continues to be >> important because even though the city as a public >> space and its >> subjective carving out in the lived sense remains >> wildly different >> from differing standpoints, the important thing is >> that those >> experiences and understandings are at one level >> related to ones rights >> in the everyday sense of living rather than an >> objective/bounded and >> defined legal sense. and the enforcement of these >> rights is >> necessarily related to power (in the foucauldian >> sense) which >> privileges the rights and understandings of some in >> society over >> others. >> >> "Intervention" or alternatively the lack of it, >> therefore, in >> whatever form, be it through government agencies or >> the NGO-type, >> becomes a doubly problematic issue since it tends to >> become a >> phenomenological exercise in what they think are the >> "rights" of the >> rest of society. >> >> Best >> Priyasha >> >> >> >> >> >> On 12/20/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl >> wrote: >> > Dear Mr. Reddy, >> > Reading your email, some questions come to my >> mind: >> > a). Is there anything as universal rights? What >> constitutes universality? >> > b). How do we define culture? What acts constitute >> culturality? >> > c). What is the relationship between culture and >> lifestyles? >> > Regards, >> > Zainab >> > >> > >> > > It is not so much about definitions as it is >> about >> > > conceptualizations--cluster of concepts, which >> are part of some theory. >> > > And >> > > such a theory filters what you experience of. >> > > >> > > In the first case, it sounds like there is only >> one way of describing, or >> > > like the rights-talk (or its variants) is the >> best way of describing. >> > > Here, >> > > the debate is not so much definitions, but to >> what extent theory of rights >> > > does captures the experience of the natives? If >> one denies the >> > > rights-talk, >> > > one is not denying the phenomenon, that is, a >> coarse description competing >> > > theories accept. >> > > >> > > Abt the second case. Surely the ragpicker's >> experience is different from >> > > yours. Do your and his experiences share any >> common structures? Assuming >> > > that a common structure is being shared, the >> only way to defend such a >> > > possibility is linking it to 'collective >> culturality'.: again, people >> > > resort >> > > to their pet notions of what culture is. >> > > >> > > Idem for the third case. >> > > >> > > All these cases share one thing: does whatever >> is seen in some place >> > > constitute culturality? Those who answer in the >> affirmative share this >> > > claim >> > > as well: every practice is cultural; and such >> claims do have nothing to >> > > say >> > > about cultural differences, except that cultural >> difference is a >> > > difference >> > > in beliefs. The explanatory relation between >> practice and belief is >> > > defensible only within the ambit of semitic >> theologies. >> > > >> > > Best, >> > > Reddy, V. >> > > >> > > On 12/15/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl >> wrote: >> > >> >> > >> There are some of these days when I think about >> 'definitions' and I am >> > >> bothered >> > >> >> > >> 15th December 2005 >> > >> >> > >> I have suddenly discovered the camera and am >> making pictures everywhere >> > >> I >> > >> go (these days). >> > >> >> > >> Yesterday afternoon, I was walking past the >> Grant Road Bridge, making my >> > >> way to Lamington Road. Grant Road Bridge is the >> home to many pavement >> > >> dwellers and drug addicts. At one point, I saw >> a child screaming and >> > >> crying, drawing everyone's attention. The legs >> of this little boy were >> > >> tied. He may have been about three years old. >> Next to him was his little >> > >> sibling. She was a new born infant, deep in >> slumber, inside a pen. For a >> > >> moment, I was shaken by the wailing of the >> little boy. For a moment, I >> > >> was >> > >> moved by the cruelty of the act of tying his >> feet. But when I brought >> > >> out >> > >> my camera, I decided not to moralize the >> picture, but to show one more >> > >> aspect of street life in one part of the city. >> I did not have the >> > >> courage >> > >> to make the picture from forward. So I decided >> to go back and make the >> > >> picture. I photographed. A little commotion >> ensued. A woman came running >> > >> and she came up close to me saying, 'No >> photos', 'No pictures'. I was >> > >> frightened. I decided to show her the picture I >> had made and delete it >> > >> in >> > >> front of her eyes to reassure her. She grabbed >> me by my arm and pushed >> > >> me >> > >> away, 'go away from here'. >> > >> My guess was that the woman was mildly mentally >> deranged. She was very >> > >> aggressive when she pushed me. I began to >> wonder why the child's legs >> > >> were >> > >> >> > >> tied. My only guess is that maybe its mother >> did not want it to wander >> > >> around the road in her absence; so this was a >> good way to keep the child >> > >> put – basically safety of the child. >> > >> The lady who pushed me may have been the >> mother. And again I guessed – >> > >> perhaps she did not want me to make the >> picture, thinking that if I were >> > >> a >> > >> social worker type, I would take away her >> children thinking that she is >> > >> a >> > >> cruel mother and put them in foster care – I am >> only guessing here! >> > >> What interested me about the experience was the >> definition of rights – >> > >> are >> > >> rights truly universal? In the context of >> lifestyles and cultures, do >> > >> rights take on relative meanings? For instance, >> in the case of this >> > >> child, >> > >> >> > >> there may have been perfectly legitimate >> reasons for tying his legs in >> > >> the >> > >> context of their lifestyle and culture – does >> the rights' framework then >> > >> do unintended violence to such people and >> cultures? Does it give power >> > >> of >> > >> definitions (in the Foucaultian sense) to >> certain groups to intervene on >> > >> behalf of the greater good (greater good >> questionable > === message truncated ===> > _______________________________________________ >> Urbanstudygroup mailing list >> Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City >> >> To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group >> archives, please visit >> > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup >> > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new > Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com > Zainab Bawa Bombay www.xanga.com/CityBytes http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html From listbot at mroutbox.com Thu Dec 22 04:47:40 2005 From: listbot at mroutbox.com (anne@freewaves.org) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:17:40 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] OPEN CALL: LA Freewaves (experimental media art, video, animation, shorts) Message-ID: <20051221232343.DFAC128DA17@mail.sarai.net> OPEN CALL: LA Freewaves (experimental media art, video, animation, shorts) *PLEASE POST/FORWARD* Too Much Freedom? LA Freewaves 10th Celebration of Experimental Media Arts Postmark Deadline: February 15, 2006. The showcase will present experimental media art from around the world at art venues in Los Angeles in November 2006 and through the Freewaves web site. Media art works include experimental video and film (narrative, documentary, art, animation, etc.), DVDs, websites, simple installations, and video billboards. Works from the festival will also appear on public television, cable stations and video-streamed on the Internet. Competitive selection process will be conducted by a group of international and local curators with diverse specialties and backgrounds. Notification of acceptance is in July 2006. Artist payments will be $200 for selected works. How to Enter: * Work must be completed since January 1, 2003. * Entries must be postmarked to Freewaves by February 15, 2006. * Include completed entry form * Label entries with title, artist?s name, length, date of work and format. * Include a resume or bio plus a one paragraph description for each work submitted. * For websites, indicate URL address on application form. * For installation proposals, include additional description and diagrams/images. * If you are in US, include self-addressed stamped envelope for return of work. * There is no entry fee to submit work for consideration, however, we highly encourage those who can afford it to become LA Freewaves members with a $25 donation. With membership, you support our programs so that we can continue to promote and exhibit innovative new media art during this difficult time. Send To: LA Freewaves 2151 Lake Shore Ave Los Angeles CA USA 90039 Questions: write anne at freewaves.org LA Freewaves is a nonprofit organization which survives on grants and donations. ------------------------------------- Open Call Entry Form Too Much Freedom? LA Freewaves 10th Celebration of Experimental Media Arts Please type or print clearly. Artist Name:______________________________________________ Street Address:___________________________________________ City, State and Zip Code:____________________________________ Country:_________________________________________________ Email Address:____________________________________________ Phone Number:___________________________________________ --------------------------------------- Title of Entry 1:____________________________________________ Description/Date of Work: ___________________________________ Format/URL:______________________________________________ Running Time: ________ minutes --------------------------------------- Title of Entry 2:____________________________________________ Description/Date of Work: ___________________________________ Format/URL:______________________________________________ Running Time: ________ minutes --------------------------------------- Title of Entry 3:____________________________________________ Description/Date of Work: ___________________________________ Format/URL:______________________________________________ Running Time: ________ minutes --------------------------------------- For format, indicate: -DVD -Mini DV -VHS -Website (indicate URL) -Silent Video Billboard -Other (explain) ___Yes! Sign me up for membership. Here?s my $25 donation. I want LA Freewaves to continue to promote and exhibit innovative new media art. ___ I?m not entering the festival, but sign me up for membership. LA Freewaves rocks!! (Indicate name, physical address and email above and send form with your $25 check.) Make membership check or money order payable to LA Freewaves. Enclose resume/bio, work description text and SASE. For questions and entries, contact Anne Bray at anne at freewaves.org or: LA Freewaves 2151 Lake Shore Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90039 USA (323) 664-1510 a media arts magnet Open Call Entry Form (PDF) You have received this email because you are subscribed to "Open Call" (maintained by anne at freewaves.org). To unsubscribe, click here: (If the link is not hot, simply copy and paste it into the location bar of your web browser.) View the graphical version of this newsletter here: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051221/744ed520/attachment.html From anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk Wed Dec 21 19:24:48 2005 From: anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk (anant m) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:54:48 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <64538.202.88.213.38.1135168896.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> Message-ID: <20051221135448.33739.qmail@web25705.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. i think it is better to think of a geneology of culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the first loaded use of the word culture was made by mathew arnold. some time in the second half of the 19th century. this was just before the time colonial anthropologists were seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and you must read his dismissive references to the irish! education therefore had to be in the hands of the cultured and not democratized. later on a whole range of marxist critics led by raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces power relations. raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture remained largely the domain of anthropologists first the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz types whose primary means of getting at culture was via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and then withdraws to the library to reflect on the ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists and so on. Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent audience, she or he produces the culture of the 'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. thus in your interaction with the woman whose child you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman remains outside of this conversation and it is her culture versus our culture that we end up talking about. well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality means. others please add or delete. anant --- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > I am still interested in understanding the 'general > meaning' of the term > culture? What constitutes culture? And what > constitutes acts of > culturality? > Cheers, > Zee > > ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ From prem at cnt-semac.com Thu Dec 22 10:47:14 2005 From: prem at cnt-semac.com (Prem Chandavarkar) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:47:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <20051221135448.33739.qmail@web25705.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> References: <20051221135448.33739.qmail@web25705.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <43AA36DA.8050303@cnt-semac.com> Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks". Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The Subaltern Speak". Spivak examines philosophical production, such as Foucault, Deleuze and the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask the workings of power in order to reveal voices that are typically not heard. While such analyses often start from a critique of essentialism, they tend to posit other essences through the construction of monolithic and anonymous presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the history of the subaltern". And because these essences are monolithic and anonymous, they involve the erasure of individual identity. Therefore any attempts to speak for the subaltern eventually construct representations that erase their identity. It does not matter whether this comes from the activist philosopher or from the organic intellectual who has risen from the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual destroys his/her status as a subaltern by attempting to represent the subaltern. Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of representation. 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in politics 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in philosophy It is important to distinguish between these two forms. While proxy may appear to be more genuine since it demands engagement (speaking 'to' the subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should be realised that the myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture affect the basis on which choices of proxy are made. All this ties back to the point Anant made - when Zainab interacts with the woman and child some meaning is produced, but when she reports it to this discussion group the woman and child are excluded and we now are aware of two different languages operating, and immediately wonder which one is more authentic. So returning to the question "what constitutes culture?" - we must first ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the question at all implies a belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves an assumption that culture has already occurred in an observable fashion. This assumption immediately pushes culture into the past (it does not matter whether this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the remote past of history). And culture is most alive when it is in the present, when it is actually experienced. So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more worthwhile to ask: 1. What is the basis on which claims to define culture operate, intersect and compete? 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, genealogies and spatial practices that underpin the construction of such claims? 3. What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into memories and symbols? 4. What are the conversations and intersections that take place between tacit experiences and explicit definitions of culture? 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity of the intellectual in all of these processes? 6. How can we individually use such critique to construct our own ideology and ethics? Prem anant m wrote: > hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the > presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. > i think it is better to think of a geneology of > culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the > first loaded use of the word culture was made by > mathew arnold. > some time in the second half of the 19th century. this > was just before the time colonial anthropologists were > seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all > worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all > that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was > strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and > you must read his dismissive references to the irish! > education therefore had to be in the hands of the > cultured and not democratized. > later on a whole range of marxist critics led by > raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that > culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of > challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces > power relations. > raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture > remained largely the domain of anthropologists first > the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz > types whose primary means of getting at culture was > via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the > lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and > then withdraws to the library to reflect on the > ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's > own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble > savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists > and so on. > Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at > the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually > coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she > or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent > audience, she or he produces the culture of the > 'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. > thus in your interaction with the woman whose child > you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at > firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced > meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman > remains outside of this conversation and it is her > culture versus our culture that we end up talking > about. > well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready > geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality > means. others please add or delete. > anant > > --- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > > >>I am still interested in understanding the 'general >>meaning' of the term >>culture? What constitutes culture? And what >>constitutes acts of >>culturality? >>Cheers, >>Zee >> >> > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > From vnr1995 at gmail.com Thu Dec 22 15:06:00 2005 From: vnr1995 at gmail.com (V NR) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 01:36:00 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <63457.202.88.213.38.1135074261.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> References: <63457.202.88.213.38.1135074261.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> Message-ID: Dear Mr. Zainab, Theories of human rights are kind of watered down versions of natural rights theories of Christian Theology. Secular counterparts of such theories are founded in legal positivism. Theories founded in theology are more powerful than those founded in legal positivism, explanatorily speaking; legal positivism cant answer many problems: for example, one, with the help of gangs, can force others to obey their duties towards the rights subject , while, at the same time, disregarding one's duties towards others' rights subjects. For more, check Balagangadhara: we shall not cease from exploration. Surely, every theory has a domain of applicability. If the domain is of entire humans, then it is universal. Rights are universal insofar as one accepts the presuppositions of Christian Theology. Here, a progressive Indian intellectual may remonstrate that denying rights entails despotism or immorality: but that entailment is invalid, because one is denying a particular conceptualization, but not the phenomenon, or a set of em. Lesson is that a relative distinction between fact and phenomenon is made (S. Amsterdamski: Between metaphysics and Experience) Krober and Kluckhohn in "Culture, a critical review of concepts and definitions" listed 160 definitions of cultures, definitions that are found in the literature theretofore. They also said: "... concepts have a way of coming to a dead end unless they are bound together in a testable theory. In anthropology at present we have plenty of definitions but too little theory" Again, we need to distinguish identity and individuation: a) What is culture, or how is culture distinguished from every thing else? b) How one culture is distinguished from another culture? Here, one may regurgitate postmodern criticism: cultures are not monolithic. Sure, I of yesterday am different from myself of today: yet we can talk about a particular human being that I am; and we can also talk about humans in general. Whenever we talk about something at object level, we presuppose macrolevel unity, as well as microlevel disunity. Any book on Identity and Individuation deals with these problems. Lastly, it makes to talk about culture of elites, culture of masses, African culture, Western culture. So, is the difference between African and Western cultures of the same order that between mass and elite cultures? Is African culture on par with the culture of software folks? These are all mixed-category problems; which shows lack of theory, or lack of understanding what culture is. Definitely, we all have intuitive notions of what culture is: these are all presystematic concepts. Disputing such concepts is tantamount to disputing about tastes: that is, there is no terminus to such discussions, thats why 'culture' is essentially contested concept! Whenever we hear of essentially contested concepts, it is a sign of not having a theory: a theory is not a set of definitions, nor a set of concepts, but a set of high level hypotheses/laws with intermediate and low-level consequences. On 12/20/05, zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > > a). Is there anything as universal rights? What constitutes universality? > b). How do we define culture? What acts constitute culturality? > c). What is the relationship between culture and lifestyles? > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051222/2822a8f7/attachment.html From sollybenj at yahoo.co.in Thu Dec 22 14:27:09 2005 From: sollybenj at yahoo.co.in (solomon benjamin) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 08:57:09 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Problematizing Definitions, exploitation and 'toil' In-Reply-To: <43AA36DA.8050303@cnt-semac.com> Message-ID: <20051222085709.36576.qmail@web8415.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi, Spurred by this interesting discussion, I join reflecting on two recent events. First, in the recent past, encountering (After Santos) a world famous NGO in India's most famous metro! Second, a meet with the author and a quick read of a very interesting chapter "Can the Subaltern Accumulate Capital" Chapter 5 in 'Fraterrnal capital' by Sharad Chari (Permanant Black 2004). Both of these link to what Anant and Prem focus on, and particulary, the point of "Proxy" and 'Portrait'. From Chari, the difference between 'toil' and 'exploitation'. With this, I want to return to Zainab's peice. This is not just in the people she talks to, but their location in metro context of intense contestation -- in economy, in good locations, and access to basic services. Such contestations are shaped not just of "urbanization" but rather big bucks of the World bank, and some of the largest private gloablly connected capital. Located in this, are the Proxy and Potrait -- a role now well funded within NGO circles who are close partners to big capital from being commentators on the side lines. And their location bang in the middle of such contestations is their ability to paint a picture of how people live and espicially work. The brochures set in the donor targeted glossy, potrait a "page 3 imaginary" of a future life style statement /advertisment! No problem if the mills get shaped into malls, we have it all there. And paralleled is the 'proxy' -- where one gains the ability to speak for the masses. Here I point to not just to the NGOs promoting INDIA's new Lifestyle Statements, but also to those who perhaps equally distanced from the hidden voices, trudge a path of exploitation, and in doing so, remove contest of any substance. It's here that in Chari's chapter 3 & 5 (and the book is highly recommended!) that we find 'toil' (rather than 'exploitation') as a useful way to unmask both 'proxy and potraiture'. Chari traces in a wonderfully deatiled way the organization and dynamic of work and in doing so, reveals a politics that sharply counters that of those who choose to speak on behalf of the masses and to hide away the complex locational contests which they assist and reward from the global big bucks. And this is not just in India's most famous metro. It's got a parallel in it's other silicon valley (a read on the water privatization in Bangalore in the recent issue of Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20051231&filename=anal&sec_id=7&sid=1#). Here we have another globally aspiring NGO that is responsible for 'structured civil society participation'. I am sure Anant could pose similar examples from what he has termed as a 'contractor's city' now also on the global way. With all this, Prems' list of useful questions find a distinctly important urban context. Solly --- Prem Chandavarkar wrote: > Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the > presence of a whole > bunch of cultural studies folks". > > Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The > Subaltern Speak". > Spivak examines philosophical production, such as > Foucault, Deleuze and > the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask the > workings of power in > order to reveal voices that are typically not heard. > While such > analyses often start from a critique of > essentialism, they tend to posit > other essences through the construction of > monolithic and anonymous > presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the > history of the > subaltern". And because these essences are > monolithic and anonymous, > they involve the erasure of individual identity. > Therefore any attempts > to speak for the subaltern eventually construct > representations that > erase their identity. It does not matter whether > this comes from the > activist philosopher or from the organic > intellectual who has risen from > the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual > destroys his/her status > as a subaltern by attempting to represent the > subaltern. > > Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of > representation. > 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in politics > 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in > philosophy > It is important to distinguish between these two > forms. While proxy may > appear to be more genuine since it demands > engagement (speaking 'to' the > subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should be > realised that the > myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture > affect the basis on > which choices of proxy are made. > > All this ties back to the point Anant made - when > Zainab interacts with > the woman and child some meaning is produced, but > when she reports it to > this discussion group the woman and child are > excluded and we now are > aware of two different languages operating, and > immediately wonder which > one is more authentic. > > So returning to the question "what constitutes > culture?" - we must first > ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the > question at all implies a > belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves > an assumption that > culture has already occurred in an observable > fashion. This assumption > immediately pushes culture into the past (it does > not matter whether > this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the > remote past of history). > And culture is most alive when it is in the > present, when it is > actually experienced. > > So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more > worthwhile to ask: > 1. What is the basis on which claims to define > culture operate, > intersect and compete? > 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, > genealogies and spatial > practices that underpin the construction of such > claims? > 3. What are the traces we leave in space that > eventually accrue into > memories and symbols? > 4. What are the conversations and intersections that > take place between > tacit experiences and explicit definitions of > culture? > 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity of > the intellectual in > all of these processes? > 6. How can we individually use such critique to > construct our own > ideology and ethics? > > Prem > > > > anant m wrote: > > hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the > > presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies > folks. > > i think it is better to think of a geneology of > > culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, > the > > first loaded use of the word culture was made by > > mathew arnold. > > some time in the second half of the 19th century. > this > > was just before the time colonial anthropologists > were > > seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all > > worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture > all > > that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was > > strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. > and > > you must read his dismissive references to the > irish! > > education therefore had to be in the hands of the > > cultured and not democratized. > > later on a whole range of marxist critics led by > > raymond williams turned it on its head and argued > that > > culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of > > challenging the ways in which high culture > reproduces > > power relations. > > raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, > culture > > remained largely the domain of anthropologists > first > > the structuralists strauss and then bodley and > geertz > > types whose primary means of getting at culture > was > > via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in > the > > lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied > and > > then withdraws to the library to reflect on the > > ensembles of meanings and practices that are not > one's > > own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and > noble > > savages and then the ultimate 'thick > descriptionists > > and so on. > > Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he > at > > the moment of the ethnographic encounter and > actually > > coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when > she > > or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent > > audience, she or he produces the culture of the > > 'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. > > thus in your interaction with the woman whose > child > > you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at > > firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced > > meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman > > remains outside of this conversation and it is her > > culture versus our culture that we end up talking > > about. > > well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready > > geneology of culture. i have no idea what > culturality > > means. others please add or delete. > > anant > > > > --- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > > > > > >>I am still interested in understanding the > 'general > >>meaning' of the term > >>culture? What constitutes culture? And what > >>constitutes acts of > >>culturality? > >>Cheers, > >>Zee > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > > > Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his > celebrity party - > http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ > > _______________________________________________ > > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > > === message truncated === Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com From jamie.dow at pobox.com Thu Dec 22 18:21:00 2005 From: jamie.dow at pobox.com (Jamie Dow) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:51:00 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <43AA36DA.8050303@cnt-semac.com> Message-ID: Hi. Both of the last two posts seem to me to be victims of a confusion about what the object of this enquiry is. The confusion is between (1) the concept of culture and (2) culture and possibly also (3) the word "culture". Consider the parallel case of cockroaches as an object of enquiry. (1) experts in politics, psychology, history, sociology and the like will be the ones to turn to in order to find out about how people have *thought about* cockroaches, how the *concept* of cockroach has been used and manipulated for political ends, how our hidden assumptions about cockroaches affect our behaviour, etc. etc.. (2) but it is to the biologist that we need to turn to find out about cockroaches themselves. (3) and if we want to find out about the English word "cockroach", we need to turn to the linguist or literary expert / cultural historian / etc.. It seems clear that these are very distinct objects of enquiry. Concepts like the concept of cockroach are psychological items, cockroaches are clearly not (!!), and "cockroach" is a linguistic item, so is different again. So, both Anant and Prem seem to show an interest in (1) and (3) but not in (2), although some of the people they refer to seem to have an interest in (2). I had taken the question to be about culture, not about various people's concepts, nor about linguistic items. I fear I am probably missing the point here, but if I am not, then Anant and Prem both are. But perhaps it's a little unclear what Zee originally wanted - there is some ambiguity in the original quesions: >"What is the general meaning of the word 'culture'?" - seems to be about the linguistic item "culture" (3), but might be a way of expressing a question about the concept of culture (1). >"What constitutes culture?" - seems to be a question directly about culture (2) - which I assume is a question about the forces that operate in groups of people (or other creatures) to influence those people's (or creatures') behaviour, how those forces come to operate, and so on. >"What constitutes acts of culturality?" - I have really no idea what this question means, nor even quite how to parse it. Interestingly, the post that's just appeared from V NR appears to be about (2), i.e. culture !!!! So, perhaps there's all the more need for clarity about what the question is that we need to address. Yours, in the dark! J ____________________________________________ Jamie Dow Tel: +44 131 467 2115 Mob: +44 7801 033499 Email: jamie.dow at pobox.com Web: www.jamiedow.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk -----Original Message----- From: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:reader-list-bounces at sarai.net]On Behalf Of Prem Chandavarkar Sent: 22 December 2005 05:17 To: anant m Cc: reader-list at sarai.net; urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks". Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The Subaltern Speak". Spivak examines philosophical production, such as Foucault, Deleuze and the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask the workings of power in order to reveal voices that are typically not heard. While such analyses often start from a critique of essentialism, they tend to posit other essences through the construction of monolithic and anonymous presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the history of the subaltern". And because these essences are monolithic and anonymous, they involve the erasure of individual identity. Therefore any attempts to speak for the subaltern eventually construct representations that erase their identity. It does not matter whether this comes from the activist philosopher or from the organic intellectual who has risen from the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual destroys his/her status as a subaltern by attempting to represent the subaltern. Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of representation. 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in politics 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in philosophy It is important to distinguish between these two forms. While proxy may appear to be more genuine since it demands engagement (speaking 'to' the subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should be realised that the myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture affect the basis on which choices of proxy are made. All this ties back to the point Anant made - when Zainab interacts with the woman and child some meaning is produced, but when she reports it to this discussion group the woman and child are excluded and we now are aware of two different languages operating, and immediately wonder which one is more authentic. So returning to the question "what constitutes culture?" - we must first ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the question at all implies a belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves an assumption that culture has already occurred in an observable fashion. This assumption immediately pushes culture into the past (it does not matter whether this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the remote past of history). And culture is most alive when it is in the present, when it is actually experienced. So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more worthwhile to ask: 1. What is the basis on which claims to define culture operate, intersect and compete? 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, genealogies and spatial practices that underpin the construction of such claims? 3. What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into memories and symbols? 4. What are the conversations and intersections that take place between tacit experiences and explicit definitions of culture? 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity of the intellectual in all of these processes? 6. How can we individually use such critique to construct our own ideology and ethics? Prem anant m wrote: > hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the > presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. > i think it is better to think of a geneology of > culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the > first loaded use of the word culture was made by > mathew arnold. > some time in the second half of the 19th century. this > was just before the time colonial anthropologists were > seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all > worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all > that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was > strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and > you must read his dismissive references to the irish! > education therefore had to be in the hands of the > cultured and not democratized. > later on a whole range of marxist critics led by > raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that > culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of > challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces > power relations. > raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture > remained largely the domain of anthropologists first > the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz > types whose primary means of getting at culture was > via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the > lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and > then withdraws to the library to reflect on the > ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's > own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble > savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists > and so on. > Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at > the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually > coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she > or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent > audience, she or he produces the culture of the > 'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. > thus in your interaction with the woman whose child > you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at > firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced > meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman > remains outside of this conversation and it is her > culture versus our culture that we end up talking > about. > well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready > geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality > means. others please add or delete. > anant > > --- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > > >>I am still interested in understanding the 'general >>meaning' of the term >>culture? What constitutes culture? And what >>constitutes acts of >>culturality? >>Cheers, >>Zee >> >> > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > _________________________________________ 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 prem at cnt-semac.com Thu Dec 22 18:47:43 2005 From: prem at cnt-semac.com (Prem Chandavarkar) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 18:47:43 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43AAA777.9020904@cnt-semac.com> To me, how we categorise these questions boils down to how we view the relationship between theory and practice. Even the post by V NR points out that we have plenty of definitions and too little theory. If we view theory as foundational to practice then we can be concerned about definitions and sort our questions into categories such as concepts, words, etc. But is this the way it works - for more on this see Donald Schon: "The Reflective Practitioner" - particularly his analysis of what he calls the "The Model of Technical Rationality". To me the relationship between theory and practice is more to do with critique rather than logical foundations. Practice moves from the general to the specific - one starts with a general proposition and resolves/applies it in further and further detail. If I do nothing but practice, my centre of gravity shifts towards the level of the specific (the stereotype of the 'nuts&bolts' technician). Theory on the other hand moves from the specific to the general - one starts with a specific observation and pushes it towards the wider question of 'what does it mean?'. If I do nothing but theory, my centre of gravity shifts towards the level of the general (the stereotype of the 'ivory tower academic'). Therefore the two work best when they are antagonistic to each other, rather than consistent to a common logical framework. Practice becomes a way of critiquing theory and theory becomes a way of critiquing practice. It is the movement back and forth that is of greater value than any settling down into stable definition. So rather than be overly concerned about definitions, I find it more useful to examine conversations/intersections and the institutional and spatial frameworks within which they operate. Prem Jamie Dow wrote: > Hi. Both of the last two posts seem to me to be victims of a confusion about > what the object of this enquiry is. The confusion is between > (1) the concept of culture > and (2) culture > and possibly also (3) the word "culture". > > Consider the parallel case of cockroaches as an object of enquiry. > (1) experts in politics, psychology, history, sociology and the like will be > the ones to turn to in order to find out about how people have *thought > about* cockroaches, how the *concept* of cockroach has been used and > manipulated for political ends, how our hidden assumptions about cockroaches > affect our behaviour, etc. etc.. > (2) but it is to the biologist that we need to turn to find out about > cockroaches themselves. > (3) and if we want to find out about the English word "cockroach", we need > to turn to the linguist or literary expert / cultural historian / etc.. > > It seems clear that these are very distinct objects of enquiry. > Concepts like the concept of cockroach are psychological items, cockroaches > are clearly not (!!), and "cockroach" is a linguistic item, so is different > again. > > So, both Anant and Prem seem to show an interest in (1) and (3) but not in > (2), although some of the people they refer to seem to have an interest in > (2). I had taken the question to be about culture, not about various > people's concepts, nor about linguistic items. I fear I am probably missing > the point here, but if I am not, then Anant and Prem both are. > > But perhaps it's a little unclear what Zee originally wanted - there is some > ambiguity in the original quesions: > >>"What is the general meaning of the word 'culture'?" - seems to be about > > the linguistic item "culture" (3), but might be a way of expressing a > question about the concept of culture (1). > >>"What constitutes culture?" - seems to be a question directly about culture > > (2) - which I assume is a question about the forces that operate in groups > of people (or other creatures) to influence those people's (or creatures') > behaviour, how those forces come to operate, and so on. > >>"What constitutes acts of culturality?" - I have really no idea what this > > question means, nor even quite how to parse it. > > Interestingly, the post that's just appeared from V NR appears to be about > (2), i.e. culture !!!! So, perhaps there's all the more need for clarity > about what the question is that we need to address. > > Yours, in the dark! > J > ____________________________________________ > Jamie Dow Tel: +44 131 467 2115 Mob: +44 7801 033499 Email: > jamie.dow at pobox.com Web: > www.jamiedow.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net > [mailto:reader-list-bounces at sarai.net]On Behalf Of Prem Chandavarkar > Sent: 22 December 2005 05:17 > To: anant m > Cc: reader-list at sarai.net; urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions > > > Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the presence of a whole > bunch of cultural studies folks". > > Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The Subaltern Speak". > Spivak examines philosophical production, such as Foucault, Deleuze and > the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask the workings of power in > order to reveal voices that are typically not heard. While such > analyses often start from a critique of essentialism, they tend to posit > other essences through the construction of monolithic and anonymous > presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the history of the > subaltern". And because these essences are monolithic and anonymous, > they involve the erasure of individual identity. Therefore any attempts > to speak for the subaltern eventually construct representations that > erase their identity. It does not matter whether this comes from the > activist philosopher or from the organic intellectual who has risen from > the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual destroys his/her status > as a subaltern by attempting to represent the subaltern. > > Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of representation. > 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in politics > 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in philosophy > It is important to distinguish between these two forms. While proxy may > appear to be more genuine since it demands engagement (speaking 'to' the > subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should be realised that the > myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture affect the basis on > which choices of proxy are made. > > All this ties back to the point Anant made - when Zainab interacts with > the woman and child some meaning is produced, but when she reports it to > this discussion group the woman and child are excluded and we now are > aware of two different languages operating, and immediately wonder which > one is more authentic. > > So returning to the question "what constitutes culture?" - we must first > ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the question at all implies a > belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves an assumption that > culture has already occurred in an observable fashion. This assumption > immediately pushes culture into the past (it does not matter whether > this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the remote past of history). > And culture is most alive when it is in the present, when it is > actually experienced. > > So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more worthwhile to ask: > 1. What is the basis on which claims to define culture operate, > intersect and compete? > 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, genealogies and spatial > practices that underpin the construction of such claims? > 3. What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into > memories and symbols? > 4. What are the conversations and intersections that take place between > tacit experiences and explicit definitions of culture? > 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity of the intellectual in > all of these processes? > 6. How can we individually use such critique to construct our own > ideology and ethics? > > Prem > > > > anant m wrote: > >>hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the >>presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. >>i think it is better to think of a geneology of >>culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the >>first loaded use of the word culture was made by >>mathew arnold. >>some time in the second half of the 19th century. this >>was just before the time colonial anthropologists were >>seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all >>worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all >>that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was >>strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and >>you must read his dismissive references to the irish! >>education therefore had to be in the hands of the >>cultured and not democratized. >>later on a whole range of marxist critics led by >>raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that >>culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of >>challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces >>power relations. >>raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture >>remained largely the domain of anthropologists first >>the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz >>types whose primary means of getting at culture was >>via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the >>lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and >>then withdraws to the library to reflect on the >>ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's >>own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble >>savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists >>and so on. >>Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at >>the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually >>coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she >>or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent >>audience, she or he produces the culture of the >>'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. >>thus in your interaction with the woman whose child >>you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at >>firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced >>meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman >>remains outside of this conversation and it is her >>culture versus our culture that we end up talking >>about. >>well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready >>geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality >>means. others please add or delete. >>anant >> >>--- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: >> >> >> >>>I am still interested in understanding the 'general >>>meaning' of the term >>>culture? What constitutes culture? And what >>>constitutes acts of >>>culturality? >>>Cheers, >>>Zee >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >>___________________________________________________________ >>Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - > > http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ > >>_______________________________________________ >>Urbanstudygroup mailing list >>Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City >> >>To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > _________________________________________ > 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 jamie.dow at pobox.com Thu Dec 22 19:11:23 2005 From: jamie.dow at pobox.com (Jamie Dow) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:41:23 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <43AAA777.9020904@cnt-semac.com> Message-ID: Prem Many thanks for this. Great stuff. All of this seems sound methodology - in pursuing any enquiry or practical project, one should keep open a sensitivity to the contributions made by theoretical considerations AND detailed actual phenomena 'on the ground' as we say. But - despite agreeing with everything you say - I don't see how that helps clarify things here. The project is clearly one of inquiry (the immediate aim is understanding, not *doing* anything, though that might follow later). But what is it an enquiry *about*? Is it (1) What concepts of culture do various people have, and have various people had, and how have these concepts been deployed? (2) What is culture, and how does it work? (3) How has the word "culture" been used / how is it typically used? And I can't see how what you have said helps here. Despite the fact that I agree with you pretty much all the way through. (Although I don't quite understand your first paragraph - which may be a crucial step that I'm missing. If your first para contains the key, perhaps you or someone else can explain.) Cheers, J ____________________________________________ Jamie Dow Tel: +44 131 467 2115 Mob: +44 7801 033499 Email: jamie.dow at pobox.com Web: www.jamiedow.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk -----Original Message----- From: Prem Chandavarkar [mailto:prem at cnt-semac.com] Sent: 22 December 2005 13:18 To: Jamie Dow Cc: reader-list at sarai.net Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions To me, how we categorise these questions boils down to how we view the relationship between theory and practice. Even the post by V NR points out that we have plenty of definitions and too little theory. If we view theory as foundational to practice then we can be concerned about definitions and sort our questions into categories such as concepts, words, etc. But is this the way it works - for more on this see Donald Schon: "The Reflective Practitioner" - particularly his analysis of what he calls the "The Model of Technical Rationality". To me the relationship between theory and practice is more to do with critique rather than logical foundations. Practice moves from the general to the specific - one starts with a general proposition and resolves/applies it in further and further detail. If I do nothing but practice, my centre of gravity shifts towards the level of the specific (the stereotype of the 'nuts&bolts' technician). Theory on the other hand moves from the specific to the general - one starts with a specific observation and pushes it towards the wider question of 'what does it mean?'. If I do nothing but theory, my centre of gravity shifts towards the level of the general (the stereotype of the 'ivory tower academic'). Therefore the two work best when they are antagonistic to each other, rather than consistent to a common logical framework. Practice becomes a way of critiquing theory and theory becomes a way of critiquing practice. It is the movement back and forth that is of greater value than any settling down into stable definition. So rather than be overly concerned about definitions, I find it more useful to examine conversations/intersections and the institutional and spatial frameworks within which they operate. Prem Jamie Dow wrote: > Hi. Both of the last two posts seem to me to be victims of a confusion about > what the object of this enquiry is. The confusion is between > (1) the concept of culture > and (2) culture > and possibly also (3) the word "culture". > > Consider the parallel case of cockroaches as an object of enquiry. > (1) experts in politics, psychology, history, sociology and the like will be > the ones to turn to in order to find out about how people have *thought > about* cockroaches, how the *concept* of cockroach has been used and > manipulated for political ends, how our hidden assumptions about cockroaches > affect our behaviour, etc. etc.. > (2) but it is to the biologist that we need to turn to find out about > cockroaches themselves. > (3) and if we want to find out about the English word "cockroach", we need > to turn to the linguist or literary expert / cultural historian / etc.. > > It seems clear that these are very distinct objects of enquiry. > Concepts like the concept of cockroach are psychological items, cockroaches > are clearly not (!!), and "cockroach" is a linguistic item, so is different > again. > > So, both Anant and Prem seem to show an interest in (1) and (3) but not in > (2), although some of the people they refer to seem to have an interest in > (2). I had taken the question to be about culture, not about various > people's concepts, nor about linguistic items. I fear I am probably missing > the point here, but if I am not, then Anant and Prem both are. > > But perhaps it's a little unclear what Zee originally wanted - there is some > ambiguity in the original quesions: > >>"What is the general meaning of the word 'culture'?" - seems to be about > > the linguistic item "culture" (3), but might be a way of expressing a > question about the concept of culture (1). > >>"What constitutes culture?" - seems to be a question directly about culture > > (2) - which I assume is a question about the forces that operate in groups > of people (or other creatures) to influence those people's (or creatures') > behaviour, how those forces come to operate, and so on. > >>"What constitutes acts of culturality?" - I have really no idea what this > > question means, nor even quite how to parse it. > > Interestingly, the post that's just appeared from V NR appears to be about > (2), i.e. culture !!!! So, perhaps there's all the more need for clarity > about what the question is that we need to address. > > Yours, in the dark! > J > ____________________________________________ > Jamie Dow Tel: +44 131 467 2115 Mob: +44 7801 033499 Email: > jamie.dow at pobox.com Web: > www.jamiedow.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net > [mailto:reader-list-bounces at sarai.net]On Behalf Of Prem Chandavarkar > Sent: 22 December 2005 05:17 > To: anant m > Cc: reader-list at sarai.net; urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions > > > Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the presence of a whole > bunch of cultural studies folks". > > Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The Subaltern Speak". > Spivak examines philosophical production, such as Foucault, Deleuze and > the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask the workings of power in > order to reveal voices that are typically not heard. While such > analyses often start from a critique of essentialism, they tend to posit > other essences through the construction of monolithic and anonymous > presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the history of the > subaltern". And because these essences are monolithic and anonymous, > they involve the erasure of individual identity. Therefore any attempts > to speak for the subaltern eventually construct representations that > erase their identity. It does not matter whether this comes from the > activist philosopher or from the organic intellectual who has risen from > the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual destroys his/her status > as a subaltern by attempting to represent the subaltern. > > Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of representation. > 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in politics > 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in philosophy > It is important to distinguish between these two forms. While proxy may > appear to be more genuine since it demands engagement (speaking 'to' the > subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should be realised that the > myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture affect the basis on > which choices of proxy are made. > > All this ties back to the point Anant made - when Zainab interacts with > the woman and child some meaning is produced, but when she reports it to > this discussion group the woman and child are excluded and we now are > aware of two different languages operating, and immediately wonder which > one is more authentic. > > So returning to the question "what constitutes culture?" - we must first > ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the question at all implies a > belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves an assumption that > culture has already occurred in an observable fashion. This assumption > immediately pushes culture into the past (it does not matter whether > this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the remote past of history). > And culture is most alive when it is in the present, when it is > actually experienced. > > So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more worthwhile to ask: > 1. What is the basis on which claims to define culture operate, > intersect and compete? > 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, genealogies and spatial > practices that underpin the construction of such claims? > 3. What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into > memories and symbols? > 4. What are the conversations and intersections that take place between > tacit experiences and explicit definitions of culture? > 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity of the intellectual in > all of these processes? > 6. How can we individually use such critique to construct our own > ideology and ethics? > > Prem > > > > anant m wrote: > >>hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the >>presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. >>i think it is better to think of a geneology of >>culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the >>first loaded use of the word culture was made by >>mathew arnold. >>some time in the second half of the 19th century. this >>was just before the time colonial anthropologists were >>seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all >>worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all >>that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was >>strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and >>you must read his dismissive references to the irish! >>education therefore had to be in the hands of the >>cultured and not democratized. >>later on a whole range of marxist critics led by >>raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that >>culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of >>challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces >>power relations. >>raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture >>remained largely the domain of anthropologists first >>the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz >>types whose primary means of getting at culture was >>via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the >>lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and >>then withdraws to the library to reflect on the >>ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's >>own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble >>savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists >>and so on. >>Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at >>the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually >>coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she >>or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent >>audience, she or he produces the culture of the >>'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. >>thus in your interaction with the woman whose child >>you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at >>firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced >>meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman >>remains outside of this conversation and it is her >>culture versus our culture that we end up talking >>about. >>well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready >>geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality >>means. others please add or delete. >>anant >> >>--- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: >> >> >> >>>I am still interested in understanding the 'general >>>meaning' of the term >>>culture? What constitutes culture? And what >>>constitutes acts of >>>culturality? >>>Cheers, >>>Zee >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >>___________________________________________________________ >>Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - > > http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ > >>_______________________________________________ >>Urbanstudygroup mailing list >>Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City >> >>To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > _________________________________________ > 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 vnr1995 at gmail.com Fri Dec 23 04:31:17 2005 From: vnr1995 at gmail.com (V NR) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 15:01:17 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: 1. First essentialism. We cant describe any phenomenon completely; nor can we experience the micro structure of any phenomenon. Hence the criticism that essentialism is a sin has become a mantra, but without localizing the problem and without having intended effects. All theories in natural sciences are essentialistic; so are even false theories, like Phlogiston theory, theory of elan vital. Our pet descriptions of our experience of what we see are essentialistic. 2. Monolithicity and complicity are addressed in different posts. 3. "To ask the question at all implies a belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves an assumption that culture has already occurred in an observable fashion. This assumption immediately pushes culture into the past (it does not matter whether this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the remote past of history). And culture is most alive when it is in the present, when it is actually experienced." Many questions are asked, even though they dont have answers at the moment. The only way to shelve any question is to show that what such a question presuppose is false. What culture is presupposes, weakly, that there exist human cultures, and that whenever two persons from different cultures, say German and Nigerian, they experience cultural differences. Indian culture of yesterday is different from Indian culture at the moment: what does it say? Culture has a past, present, and a future unless such a culture disintegrates: Graeco-Roman culture disintegrated, and in whose place Western culture has emerged. Well, do we directly experience an entity called culture? What we have are various objects, called cultural phenomena: ritual, religion, worship, ethics, morality, learning, etc. Somehow, culture functions as explanatory device in accounting for variegated phenomena: that is, it brings in some order among various puzzling phenomena. This in and of self is not explanation: one has to show how it links together. Cultural anthropologists and philosophical anthropologists have some vague idea that culture has something to do with learning: for more, check Etienne Vermeersch: An analysis of the concept of Culture, pp1-73, in Bernandi Bernanado (ed) The concept and the dynamics of Culture, Hague: Mouton. What this 'something' is? Balagangadhara in "His The heathen in his blindness: Asia, the West and dynamic of religion" has put forward a high level hypothesis: that culture is a configuration of learning; that cultural differences are differences between differences between configuration of learning. His hypothesis accounted for as a cultural phenomenon the emergence of natural sciences what we see today in the West; the disintegration of Graeco-Roman culture; discussions about bards in Plato and Aristotle; the role of stories in Indian culture; the emergence of normative ethics in the West, etc. 4.1 "What is the basis on which claims to define culture operate, intersect and compete?" Each one of us has a say on everything we know of: whenever we define something, we are falling back on the background knowledge, which includes our pet theories, beliefs, intuitions, etc. Your definition, however essential, does not satisfy others; hence, counter-intuitive consequences. One way is to systematize your intuitions about what culture is; compare such a systematization with others'. Here, one systematization is better than the other: so, one can refute entire systematization, not a definition. 4.2. "What are the politics, myths, beliefs, genealogies and spatial practices that underpin the construction of such claims?" Every theory, every description, every fact is a construct. The real question is: whether such a construct represents what there exists? Our descriptions are not neutral; but some description is better than others. And our descriptions presuppose background knowledge: that is, beliefs, intuitions, other theories. 4.3. "What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into memories and symbols?" I don't get the import of the above question. 4.4 "What are the conversations and intersections that take place between tacit experiences and explicit definitions of culture?" Check 4.1 and 4.2, replace background knowledge with tacit knowledge a la Michael Polanyi. 4.5 " (Most important to us) What is the complicity of the intellectual in all of these processes?" No intellectual has committed any crime. First, we need to disentangle epistemic question from moral question. Moral criticisms presuppose epistemic criticism. For instance, It is hard to dub colonial writers criminals, just because they have misrepresented for 200 years: the question is, why have they produced that they did? Clue: there is a difference of kind between Greek's travelogues and those of missionaries/those of Islamic travellers. But what one observes depends on the background knowledge. The misrepresention has to nothing to do with Individuals, but with the background knowledge that has structured what they have seen, and continue to see, in India, or in any other place. 4.6 6. "How can we individually use such critique to construct our own ideology and ethics" Definitely, inadequacies of some conceptualization leads to a better theory (a critique of a theory includes pointing empirical anomalies and conceptual anomalies). No fruitful epistemic criticisms from subaltern and/or postcolonial writers, except for some hunches like that colonialism has everything to do with education project. The reason is that: both subaltern writers and the writers these subalterns criticizing share the common fund of background knowledge; for example, recall the talk of rights, hence the language of rights. From anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk Fri Dec 23 08:41:20 2005 From: anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk (anant m) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:11:20 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Problematizing Definitions, exploitation and 'toil' In-Reply-To: <20051222085709.36576.qmail@web8415.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20051223031120.12204.qmail@web25702.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> to take solly and prem's ( and in a tangential way, chari's work) further, i think in recent times, proxying for the subaltern has become a hazardous business ( re. prem's remark about how proxying involves some of the myths constructed through portraiture). i can think of many instances in hyderabad but perhaps the most dramatic crisis of both proxying and portraiture was seen in zahira sheikh's spat with Teesta setalwad and CJP last year. zahira, for those who may not be familiar with the case, was the girl from a small town near baroda who became very important not only to teesta but to secular NRIs world over because of her claim that she was eyewitness to the ghastly burning down of best bakery. (not insiginifcantly, zahira's brother had a hindu wife and one of the looters that night was a muslim and all of them are small town poor). when zahira recanted and accused teesta and cjp of having capitalized on her testimony to advance their own interests, it was a traumatic event for all of the metropolitan secularists spread all over the world. anil dharker was the most eloquent in vocalizing the confusion: "Who, or what, is Zahira Sheikh?" he wrote in his column. "Is she victim, heroine or mercenary? It's a tangled story, so she could be all of these at different times, or some of these at the same time... But if her case is confusing, it's only because everything that happened in Gujarat in February-March 2002 is topsy-turvy." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-919329,prtpage-1.cms Actually there is enough evidence to argue that the confusion was largely of metropolitan secularism to which, Zahira was meaningful only as "victim, heroine or mercenary." If she defies the place allotted her, the most charitable explanation we could come up with was that the poor girl must have gone crazy (some indeed suggested this possibility). But what if we were to take her seriously ? What if her initial claim that she was eyewitness to the incident, her subsequent recanting and her accusation against Teesta (and CJP) were all a way of negotiating a security for her life and livelihood to which the Hindu right and the secular middle class were equally a threat ? Zahira's claim that she was eyewitness to the incident was challenged from day one by her sister in law, according to news reports of that time. But, we refused to take the sister in law seriously at that time because it would undermine our crusade for our secularism. And then, when zahira accused teesta (and CJP) of capitalizing on her evidence, we pretended that she was talking about CJP receiving slush funds and thus again refused to take it seriously. there were other ways of reading zahira even at that time: what if she meant that you guys are globe trotting because i am obliging you by playing the role of the victim. so why should i be undertaking these hazardous bus and train journeys and be uncertain about what will happen to my life after this is all over. such an assumption would have require us to engage with her very differently. but instead we got righteously indignant. the cjp kept telling her that she has to fight this "for her own sake and for her brethren." dharker moves unerringly: "Zahira stayed in Mumbai happily for a year, moving freely, even making three unescorted trips to Vadodara. But just before she was to testify in court, came her volte face, turning her erstwhile friends into sudden foes and her erstwhile foes into protective friends. Her new "friends" now give her "protection" of the kind chief ministers give their captive MLAs before the head-count to prove their majority. "What compelling reason made her do a complete flip-flop, so much so that she has earned the wrath of her community and her neighbours in Vadodara have burnt her effigy? We don't have to be rocket scientists to figure out who are the potential beneficiaries of her changed testimony. But her advisors have probably miscalculated: How much credibility does Zahira have now? And they have overlooked the brave workers at the Bakery who have already testified, given eye-witness accounts of the horrific happenings and identified a considerable number of the accused. " But it is the conclusion that Dharker arrives at that is the most significant: "You cannot expect NGOs to do the job every time. In any case, isn't the delivery of justice an essential duty of any government? Even with a Congress-led government in Delhi, there has been no change in the attitude of either the home or the law ministry, no sense of urgency in pursuing the cases. In this vacuum, do we then need an autonomous organisation, which is well-funded and dynamically led, which can suo moto take up cases anywhere in India? It will need to be flexible in its approach, taking the initiative when it can, cooperating with NGOs when it can't. It will need access to an independent investigative agency (like a new, improved CBI). And it will need the clout to stop state agencies from interfering in its cases. Sounds like a lot? It probably is. But who will deny that we need something like this? Dharker doesnt tell us to whom or what will such an autonomous organization be accountable. One can only hazard a guess. To middleclass righteousnes or to use the more appropriate sanskrit expression: janagraha! So what does this tell us about the city ? I think it tells us much, if we can carefully trace the ways in which this entire drama played out between baroda, gandhinagar, bombay, london and new york and how the past was invoked and the renewed vigor with which gandhiji was being claimed by the secular metropolis. to me the most moving image in it was yasmin, zahira's muslim sister in law trying to clean the bakery and establish a tenuous claim on it while explaining the family politics to a visiting journalist. but perhaps that should be another thread. anant --- solomon benjamin wrote: > Hi, > Spurred by this interesting discussion, I join > reflecting on two recent events. First, in the > recent > past, encountering (After Santos) a world famous NGO > in India's most famous metro! Second, a meet with > the > author and a quick read of a very interesting > chapter > "Can the Subaltern Accumulate Capital" Chapter 5 in > 'Fraterrnal capital' by Sharad Chari (Permanant > Black > 2004). Both of these link to what Anant and Prem > focus > on, and particulary, the point of "Proxy" and > 'Portrait'. From Chari, the difference between > 'toil' > and 'exploitation'. > > With this, I want to return to Zainab's peice. This > is > not just in the people she talks to, but their > location in metro context of intense contestation -- > in economy, in good locations, and access to basic > services. Such contestations are shaped not just of > "urbanization" but rather big bucks of the World > bank, > and some of the largest private gloablly connected > capital. Located in this, are the Proxy and Potrait > -- > a role now well funded within NGO circles who are > close partners to big capital from being > commentators > on the side lines. And their location bang in the > middle of such contestations is their ability to > paint > a picture of how people live and espicially work. > The > brochures set in the donor targeted glossy, potrait > a > "page 3 imaginary" of a future life style statement > /advertisment! No problem if the mills get shaped > into > malls, we have it all there. And paralleled is the > 'proxy' -- where one gains the ability to speak for > the masses. > > Here I point to not just to the NGOs promoting > INDIA's > new Lifestyle Statements, but also to those who > perhaps equally distanced from the hidden voices, > trudge a path of exploitation, and in doing so, > remove > contest of any substance. > > It's here that in Chari's chapter 3 & 5 (and the > book > is highly recommended!) that we find 'toil' (rather > than 'exploitation') as a useful way to unmask both > 'proxy and potraiture'. Chari traces in a > wonderfully > deatiled way the organization and dynamic of work > and > in doing so, reveals a politics that sharply > counters > that of those who choose to speak on behalf of the > masses and to hide away the complex locational > contests which they assist and reward from the > global > big bucks. And this is not just in India's most > famous metro. It's got a parallel in it's other > silicon valley (a read on the water privatization in > Bangalore in the recent issue of Down to Earth: > http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20051231&filename=anal&sec_id=7&sid=1#). > Here we have another globally aspiring NGO that is > responsible for 'structured civil society > participation'. I am sure Anant could pose similar > examples from what he has termed as a 'contractor's > city' now also on the global way. > With all this, Prems' list of useful questions find > a > distinctly important urban context. > Solly > > > --- Prem Chandavarkar wrote: > > > Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the > > presence of a whole > > bunch of cultural studies folks". > > > > Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The > > Subaltern Speak". > > Spivak examines philosophical production, such as > > Foucault, Deleuze and > > the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask > the > > workings of power in > > order to reveal voices that are typically not > heard. > > While such > > analyses often start from a critique of > > essentialism, they tend to posit > > other essences through the construction of > > monolithic and anonymous > > presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the > > history of the > > subaltern". And because these essences are > > monolithic and anonymous, > > they involve the erasure of individual identity. > > Therefore any attempts > > to speak for the subaltern eventually construct > > representations that > > erase their identity. It does not matter whether > > this comes from the > > activist philosopher or from the organic > > intellectual who has risen from > > the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual > > destroys his/her status > > as a subaltern by attempting to represent the > > subaltern. > > > > Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of > > representation. > > 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in > politics > > 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in > > philosophy > > It is important to distinguish between these two > > forms. While proxy may > > appear to be more genuine since it demands > > engagement (speaking 'to' the > > subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should > be > > realised that the > > myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture > > affect the basis on > > which choices of proxy are made. > > > > All this ties back to the point Anant made - when > > Zainab interacts with > > the woman and child some meaning is produced, but > > when she reports it to > > this discussion group the woman and child are > > excluded and we now are > > aware of two different languages operating, and > > immediately wonder which > > one is more authentic. > > > > So returning to the question "what constitutes > > culture?" - we must first > > ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the > > question at all implies a > > belief that it is answerable, which in turn > involves > > an assumption that > > culture has already occurred in an observable > > fashion. This assumption > > immediately pushes culture into the past (it does > > not matter whether > > this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the > > remote past of history). > > And culture is most alive when it is in the > > present, when it is > > actually experienced. > > > > So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more > > worthwhile to ask: > > 1. What is the basis on which claims to define > > culture operate, > > intersect and compete? > > 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, > > genealogies and spatial > > practices that underpin the construction of such > > claims? > > 3. What are the traces we leave in space that > > eventually accrue into > > memories and symbols? > > 4. What are the conversations and intersections > that > > take place between > > tacit experiences and explicit definitions of > > culture? > > 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity > of > > the intellectual in > > all of these processes? > > 6. How can we individually use such critique to > > construct our own > > ideology and ethics? > > > > Prem > > > > > > > > anant m wrote: > > > hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in > the > > > presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies > > folks. > > > i think it is better to think of a geneology of > === message truncated === ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com From tobym at ucr.edu Thu Dec 22 19:44:32 2005 From: tobym at ucr.edu (Toby Miller) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 06:14:32 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <20051221135448.33739.qmail@web25705.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> References: <64538.202.88.213.38.1135168896.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> <20051221135448.33739.qmail@web25705.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20051222061124.01eed168@webmail.ucr.edu> Just to add something to the genealogy of culture: The term ‘culture’ derives from the Latin ‘colare,’ which implied tending and developing agriculture as part of subsistence. With the emergence of capitalism’s division of labor, culture came both to embody instrumentalism and to abjure it, via the industrialization of farming, on the one hand, and the cultivation of individual taste, on the other. In keeping with this distinction, culture has usually been understood in two registers, via the social sciences and the humanities­-truth versus beauty. This was a heuristic distinction in the 16th century, but it became substantive over time. Eighteenth-century German, French, and Spanish dictionaries bear witness to a metaphorical shift into spiritual cultivation. As the spread of literacy and printing saw customs and laws passed on, governed, and adjudicated through the written word, cultural texts supplemented and supplanted physical force as guarantors of authority. With the Industrial Revolution, populations became urban dwellers. Food was imported, cultures developed textual forms that could be exchanged, and consumer society emerged through horse racing, opera, art exhibits, masquerades, and balls. The impact of this shift was indexed in cultural labor: poligrafi in 15th-century Venice, and hacks in 18th-century London, wrote popular and influential conduct books, works of instruction on everyday life that marked the textualization of custom, and the appearance of new occupational identities. Anxieties about cultural invasion also date from this period, via Islamic debates over Western domination. Culture became a marker of differences and similarities in taste and status. In the humanities, it was judged by criteria of quality and meaning, as practiced critically and historically. In the social sciences, the focus fell on socio-political norms, as explored psychologically or statistically. So whereas the humanities articulated population differences through symbolic means (for example, which class has the cultural capital to appreciate high culture, and which does not) the social sciences articulated population differences through social ones (for example, which people are affected by TV messages, and which are not). Today, those distinctions are obviously called into question, if they ever amounted to more than 19th-century, imperial-era forms of disciplinary distinctiveness Regards to all Toby Miller At 05:54 AM 12/21/2005, anant m wrote: >hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the >presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. >i think it is better to think of a geneology of >culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the >first loaded use of the word culture was made by >mathew arnold. >some time in the second half of the 19th century. this >was just before the time colonial anthropologists were >seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all >worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all >that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was >strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and >you must read his dismissive references to the irish! >education therefore had to be in the hands of the >cultured and not democratized. >later on a whole range of marxist critics led by >raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that >culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of >challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces >power relations. >raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture >remained largely the domain of anthropologists first >the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz >types whose primary means of getting at culture was >via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the >lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and >then withdraws to the library to reflect on the >ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's >own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble >savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists >and so on. >Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at >the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually >coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she >or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent >audience, she or he produces the culture of the >'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. >thus in your interaction with the woman whose child >you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at >firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced >meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman >remains outside of this conversation and it is her >culture versus our culture that we end up talking >about. >well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready >geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality >means. others please add or delete. >anant > >--- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > > > I am still interested in understanding the 'general > > meaning' of the term > > culture? What constitutes culture? And what > > constitutes acts of > > culturality? > > Cheers, > > Zee > > > > > > > >___________________________________________________________ >Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his >celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.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: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051222/d420915d/attachment.html From vnr1995 at gmail.com Fri Dec 23 02:40:50 2005 From: vnr1995 at gmail.com (V NR) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:10:50 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: <43AAA777.9020904@cnt-semac.com> References: <43AAA777.9020904@cnt-semac.com> Message-ID: Prem writes: "To me the relationship between theory and practice is more to do with critique rather than logical foundations." Honestly, I don't understand what practice is being talked about? The practice of theorizing, or the practice of culturologists, or cultural practices? Maybe cultural practices. There is no relationship between theory and practice, in the sense that practices are not embodiment of beliefs. A theory of telescope helps one make a better telescope theory: nonetheless, such a theory cant replace the skill of making a telescope. I know the roots of practical consequences: Marx had a better understanding of Capitalism than do contemporary economists. He explained how Capital works. He also 'predicted' consequences of Capitalism: for instance, pauperization of labor. Based on such a prediction(s), he wanted to have a different system. However, his predictions did not take place, not because his theory is inadequate, but because he made some idealizing assumptions which didn't take place (here Popper, Lakatos, etc criticized Marx for wrong reasons: check Fred Mosley's, Leszek Nowak's works). We don't even have a theory of culture, yet we talk about practical consequences! Predictions are not necessary for a theory: there is an asymmetry between explanation and prediction ; nor is the relationship between theory and practical consequences necessary. He writes:" Theory on the other hand moves from the specific to the general - one starts with a specific observation and pushes it towards the wider question of 'what does it mean?'. If I do nothing but theory, my centre of gravity shifts towards the level of the general (the stereotype of the 'ivory tower academic')" This shows a naive understanding of what a theory is. The generalization "All ravens are black" is a mere generalization, but not of a theory. For instance, ravens are found that are not black. This counter instance merely refutes such a generalization. Theories are not like that: whenever a counter instance is found, one looks for ceteris paribus clauses. For instance, neo-darwinian explanation tells us why some ravens are not black. Our observations are driven by our pet hypotheses: what you see depends on what you looking for; sometimes, you find some observations puzzling(a charitable interpretation of what does it mean?), because your prior knowledge, intuitions contradict what you see, hence the puzzlement. This special case to generalization, of Baconian Induction, does not even account for our observations in daily life: assume you had a flat tire, what do you look for on the tire? 'Complicity' of intellectuals seems to be a recurring theme on this board: what does this 'complicity' explain? Probably, it explains many things: one of them being misrepresentation of the natives. There is no complicity here: the intellectual represented, or described, his/her experience of the native. And the native's description of his experience of the world does not jibe with the description given by the intellectual. This is a cognitive dispute; which can be settled by methodological means, rather than by mantras like 'complicity'. We have two descriptions of the same phenomenon: Certainly it is possible to decide which description is better. Just because one is an outsider does not mean the outsider's description is cognitively superior to that of insider. Indologists have used such tactics as: outsider's observations are 'objetive': this shows ignorance on their part; no observation is neutral; our experience, or observations, is structured by our pet beliefs, our intuitions, our background theories. So, it is a question of whether such background beliefs, intuitions, theories are cognitively superior. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051222/6883c0b8/attachment.html From aghosh at drew.edu Fri Dec 23 12:05:31 2005 From: aghosh at drew.edu (Amrita Ghosh) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 01:35:31 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Dec-Issue 4 Cerebration In-Reply-To: <20051222121253.7660E28DBE5@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <0IRX00364UBDTZK2@mta9.srv.hcvlny.cv.net> The December issue of Cerebration is currently online. Issue 4, 2005 is a special issue with an interview of historian and writer, William Dalrymple. _Cerebration_ is also accepting submissions for the Feb-March 2006 issue. Thank you, Amrita Ghosh www.cerebration.org -----Original Message----- From: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:reader-list-bounces at sarai.net] On Behalf Of reader-list-request at sarai.net Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 7:13 AM To: reader-list at sarai.net Subject: reader-list Digest, Vol 29, Issue 32 Send reader-list mailing list submissions to reader-list at sarai.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to reader-list-request at sarai.net You can reach the person managing the list at reader-list-owner at sarai.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of reader-list digest..." Today's Topics: 1. OPEN CALL: LA Freewaves (experimental media art, video, animation, shorts) (anne at freewaves.org) 2. Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions (anant m) 3. Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions (Prem Chandavarkar) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:17:40 -0800 From: "anne at freewaves.org" Subject: [Reader-list] OPEN CALL: LA Freewaves (experimental media art, video, animation, shorts) To: "reader-list at sarai.net." Message-ID: <20051221232343.DFAC128DA17 at mail.sarai.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" OPEN CALL: LA Freewaves (experimental media art, video, animation, shorts) *PLEASE POST/FORWARD* Too Much Freedom? LA Freewaves 10th Celebration of Experimental Media Arts Postmark Deadline: February 15, 2006. The showcase will present experimental media art from around the world at art venues in Los Angeles in November 2006 and through the Freewaves web site. Media art works include experimental video and film (narrative, documentary, art, animation, etc.), DVDs, websites, simple installations, and video billboards. Works from the festival will also appear on public television, cable stations and video-streamed on the Internet. Competitive selection process will be conducted by a group of international and local curators with diverse specialties and backgrounds. Notification of acceptance is in July 2006. Artist payments will be $200 for selected works. How to Enter: * Work must be completed since January 1, 2003. * Entries must be postmarked to Freewaves by February 15, 2006. * Include completed entry form * Label entries with title, artist?s name, length, date of work and format. * Include a resume or bio plus a one paragraph description for each work submitted. * For websites, indicate URL address on application form. * For installation proposals, include additional description and diagrams/images. * If you are in US, include self-addressed stamped envelope for return of work. * There is no entry fee to submit work for consideration, however, we highly encourage those who can afford it to become LA Freewaves members with a $25 donation. With membership, you support our programs so that we can continue to promote and exhibit innovative new media art during this difficult time. Send To: LA Freewaves 2151 Lake Shore Ave Los Angeles CA USA 90039 Questions: write anne at freewaves.org LA Freewaves is a nonprofit organization which survives on grants and donations. ------------------------------------- Open Call Entry Form Too Much Freedom? LA Freewaves 10th Celebration of Experimental Media Arts Please type or print clearly. Artist Name:______________________________________________ Street Address:___________________________________________ City, State and Zip Code:____________________________________ Country:_________________________________________________ Email Address:____________________________________________ Phone Number:___________________________________________ --------------------------------------- Title of Entry 1:____________________________________________ Description/Date of Work: ___________________________________ Format/URL:______________________________________________ Running Time: ________ minutes --------------------------------------- Title of Entry 2:____________________________________________ Description/Date of Work: ___________________________________ Format/URL:______________________________________________ Running Time: ________ minutes --------------------------------------- Title of Entry 3:____________________________________________ Description/Date of Work: ___________________________________ Format/URL:______________________________________________ Running Time: ________ minutes --------------------------------------- For format, indicate: -DVD -Mini DV -VHS -Website (indicate URL) -Silent Video Billboard -Other (explain) ___Yes! Sign me up for membership. Here?s my $25 donation. I want LA Freewaves to continue to promote and exhibit innovative new media art. ___ I?m not entering the festival, but sign me up for membership. LA Freewaves rocks!! (Indicate name, physical address and email above and send form with your $25 check.) Make membership check or money order payable to LA Freewaves. Enclose resume/bio, work description text and SASE. For questions and entries, contact Anne Bray at anne at freewaves.org or: LA Freewaves 2151 Lake Shore Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90039 USA (323) 664-1510 a media arts magnet Open Call Entry Form (PDF) You have received this email because you are subscribed to "Open Call" (maintained by anne at freewaves.org). To unsubscribe, click here: (If the link is not hot, simply copy and paste it into the location bar of your web browser.) View the graphical version of this newsletter here: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051221/744ed520/at tachment-0001.htm ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:54:48 +0000 (GMT) From: anant m Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions To: zainab at xtdnet.nl Cc: reader-list at sarai.net, urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Message-ID: <20051221135448.33739.qmail at web25705.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. i think it is better to think of a geneology of culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the first loaded use of the word culture was made by mathew arnold. some time in the second half of the 19th century. this was just before the time colonial anthropologists were seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and you must read his dismissive references to the irish! education therefore had to be in the hands of the cultured and not democratized. later on a whole range of marxist critics led by raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces power relations. raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture remained largely the domain of anthropologists first the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz types whose primary means of getting at culture was via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and then withdraws to the library to reflect on the ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists and so on. Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent audience, she or he produces the culture of the 'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. thus in your interaction with the woman whose child you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman remains outside of this conversation and it is her culture versus our culture that we end up talking about. well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality means. others please add or delete. anant --- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > I am still interested in understanding the 'general > meaning' of the term > culture? What constitutes culture? And what > constitutes acts of > culturality? > Cheers, > Zee > > ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:47:14 +0530 From: Prem Chandavarkar Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions To: anant m Cc: reader-list at sarai.net, urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Message-ID: <43AA36DA.8050303 at cnt-semac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks". Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The Subaltern Speak". Spivak examines philosophical production, such as Foucault, Deleuze and the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask the workings of power in order to reveal voices that are typically not heard. While such analyses often start from a critique of essentialism, they tend to posit other essences through the construction of monolithic and anonymous presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the history of the subaltern". And because these essences are monolithic and anonymous, they involve the erasure of individual identity. Therefore any attempts to speak for the subaltern eventually construct representations that erase their identity. It does not matter whether this comes from the activist philosopher or from the organic intellectual who has risen from the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual destroys his/her status as a subaltern by attempting to represent the subaltern. Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of representation. 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in politics 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in philosophy It is important to distinguish between these two forms. While proxy may appear to be more genuine since it demands engagement (speaking 'to' the subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should be realised that the myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture affect the basis on which choices of proxy are made. All this ties back to the point Anant made - when Zainab interacts with the woman and child some meaning is produced, but when she reports it to this discussion group the woman and child are excluded and we now are aware of two different languages operating, and immediately wonder which one is more authentic. So returning to the question "what constitutes culture?" - we must first ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the question at all implies a belief that it is answerable, which in turn involves an assumption that culture has already occurred in an observable fashion. This assumption immediately pushes culture into the past (it does not matter whether this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the remote past of history). And culture is most alive when it is in the present, when it is actually experienced. So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more worthwhile to ask: 1. What is the basis on which claims to define culture operate, intersect and compete? 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, genealogies and spatial practices that underpin the construction of such claims? 3. What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into memories and symbols? 4. What are the conversations and intersections that take place between tacit experiences and explicit definitions of culture? 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity of the intellectual in all of these processes? 6. How can we individually use such critique to construct our own ideology and ethics? Prem anant m wrote: > hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in the > presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies folks. > i think it is better to think of a geneology of > culture rather than define it. to my reckoning, the > first loaded use of the word culture was made by > mathew arnold. > some time in the second half of the 19th century. this > was just before the time colonial anthropologists were > seriously beginning to wonder if they had it all > worked out. for arnold, culture was high culture all > that is 'beautiful and intelligent' and he was > strongly opposed to the plebian and the ordinary. and > you must read his dismissive references to the irish! > education therefore had to be in the hands of the > cultured and not democratized. > later on a whole range of marxist critics led by > raymond williams turned it on its head and argued that > culture is really the ordinary. this was a way of > challenging the ways in which high culture reproduces > power relations. > raymond williams and his work notwithstanding, culture > remained largely the domain of anthropologists first > the structuralists strauss and then bodley and geertz > types whose primary means of getting at culture was > via ethnography where one places oneself firmly in the > lifeworlds of those whose culture is being studied and > then withdraws to the library to reflect on the > ensembles of meanings and practices that are not one's > own. hence ideas like primitives, savages and noble > savages and then the ultimate 'thick descriptionists > and so on. > Here is the cross that the scholar bears: she/he at > the moment of the ethnographic encounter and actually > coproduces meaning with an interlocutor but when she > or he withdraws to write about it for a diffferent > audience, she or he produces the culture of the > 'other' for the consumption of scholarly kin. > thus in your interaction with the woman whose child > you thought was being treated cruelly (at least at > firsy anyway) she and you together coproduced > meaning.but when you report it to us, the woman > remains outside of this conversation and it is her > culture versus our culture that we end up talking > about. > well, that was an attempt at a rough and ready > geneology of culture. i have no idea what culturality > means. others please add or delete. > anant > > --- zainab at xtdnet.nl wrote: > > >>I am still interested in understanding the 'general >>meaning' of the term >>culture? What constitutes culture? And what >>constitutes acts of >>culturality? >>Cheers, >>Zee >> >> > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/ > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ reader-list mailing list reader-list at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list End of reader-list Digest, Vol 29, Issue 32 ******************************************* From lng028 at abdn.ac.uk Fri Dec 23 15:16:41 2005 From: lng028 at abdn.ac.uk (lng028 at abdn.ac.uk) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:46:41 -0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Centre for Modern Thought Message-ID: <1205.139.133.41.97.1135331201.squirrel@www.abdn.ac.uk> To students seeking graduate/post-graduate programmes with a strong theoretical commitment: We would like to call your attention to the existence of a new research centre at the University of Aberdeen that offers a unique context for theoretically and philosophically oriented study. The Centre for Modern Thought aims to explore and carry forward the ground-breaking intellectual movements of the last century in the context of cross-disciplinary debate framed by a strong reference to modern history and contemporary socio-political issues. We draw from programmes across the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Aberdeen, and we have significant funding from our institution for high-profile appointments in political philosophy, theory of art and media, intellectual history, science studies, and cultural and literary theory. We aim to make the Centre for Modern Thought a hub for contemporary thinking in an international context. We will invite some of the most prominent intellectuals of our time to Aberdeen, and we will host colloquia on a wide range of topics including human rights, contemporary architecture and urban planning, global ecology, and new political thought. At the same time, we will provide sustained training at the highest level to students who seek to explore the foundations and contexts for contemporary thinking. The Centre offers an M.Litt by Research (which gives students considerable flexibility to pursue independent research), and offers Ph.D. an exceptional environment for their study. Students may also pursue an M.Litt in Comparative Literature and Thought. Visit our website at www.abdn.ac.uk/modernthought or, for Comparative Literature, see www.abdn.ac.uk/sll/complit. For further information contact Professor Christopher Fynsk (enl290 at abdn.ac.uk). From sadan at sarai.net Fri Dec 23 15:48:27 2005 From: sadan at sarai.net (Sadan Jha) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:48:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] List of Selected Proposals For the Sarai, CSDS Student Stipendship Programme:2005-06 Message-ID: <43ABCEF3.2060600@sarai.net> Sarai,CSDS Student Stipendship for Research on the City 2005-2006 Dear all, Sarai is committed towards building a network of young researchers, with an interest in urban conditions. Student Stipendship Programme is a crucial intervention in this regard. Each year Sarai supports young research scholars for short term studentships to facilitate research on urban life in South Asia. A select number of research scholars are provided financial support and academic resources to carry out research, present their work and interact with wider academic community. In the duration of nine months, apart from financial support, following research scholars will be invited to discuss and present their research in three workshops to be held in February, June and September 2006. Selection of Student stipendiaries is done through a public call for proposal through advertisement in research and popular magazines such as 'The Economic and Political Weekly and 'Hans', email forums including reader-list at sarai.net, urbanstudygroup at sarai.net, H-ASIA at H-NET.MSU.EDU etc. , posters to different universities / institutions all over the country and letters to people working on urban and media issues. This year we received hundred and ten proposals from all over the country. A good number of applicants came from non-metros. The proposals are shortlisted and selected by a committee of Sarai members and associates. Clarity of research agenda, clear work plan and creative potentiality are among the important considerations in selection of proposals. A total number of 21 proposals have been selected. We are happy to announce the list of selected proposals for Sarai,CSDS Student Stipendship For Research on the City 2005:06. wishes, sadan Jha. Sarai,CSDS. List of Selected Proposals For the Stipendship Programme:2005-06. 1.Kabir Dixit, "Women, Children and Ganja in the Slums of Delhi", L.L.B. Law Faculty, Delhi University, Delhi. 2.Amit Ranjan Sharma, Memories and Narratives of Delhi, M.Phil. English, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi. 3.Jhelum Biswas, "Calcutta in Modern Indian English Literature", M.Phil. English, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi. < jhelumb at rediffmail.com> 4.Swati Das, "Exploring the Impact of Audio-Video Recording of Women's Songs in Bihar", M.Phil. Sociology, University of Pune, Pune. 5.Surbhi Tiwari, "The Corrupt Son of the Erupting City: Kolkata in Law and Lovely Matters like Relationship", M.A. Political Science, Calcutta University, Kolkata. 6.Girija Duggal and Sudeep Duggal, "Deconstructing Holy Matrimony- The Politics of the Matrimonial Classified in Delhi's Leading Newspapers", M.A. English, Delhi University, Delhi and B.Tech(computers). IILM, UP Technical University, Noida., 7. Sutapa Majumdar, "Beyond the "Beauty Myth": Exploring 'Invention', 'Invisible Labour' and 'Consumption' of Beauty Services", M.Phil. Sociology, University of Pune, Pune. 8.Mythri Prasad, "Geographies of capital and Labour in Trivandrum City, Kerala", M.Phil. Applied Economics, CDS, Thiruvananthapuram. < mythriprasad at rediffmail.com> 9.Apurva, "The Cultural Economy of New Urbanism, a Case of Magarpatta City in Pune", M.Phil. Sociology, University of Pune, Pune. 10.Rajeev Ranjan Giri, "Pushtakalaya aur shahar ke Baudhik Vikas ka Antarsambandh", Ph.D. CIL/SLL &CS, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi. 11.Shirish Khare, "Little Bele Troup aur Chhau Nritya Parampara", M.A. Hindi, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. 12.Ateya Khorakiwala, "Development / Displacement : Understanding the Tools of Urbanization", B.Arch. KRVIA, Mumbai. 13.Rajesh Narayan Dwivedi, "Varanasi ke Bunakaron ki Samkalin Chunautiyan: ek Sarvekshana",Ph.D. Hindi, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi . 14.Deepak Kumar, "Popular Music and Configuration of Jat Identity in Haryana", M.Phil. History, Delhi University, Delhi. 15.Manoj Kumar Jha, "Bikshipton par Parati Nigaahon ki Daastaan",M.A. Annamalai University, Darbhanga. 16.Ramya Swayamprakash, "Textile Dreams", M.A. Political Science, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. 17. Deepa Palaniappan, "Invisible in New Delhi: Spatial Narrative of the Disabled in City 'Public Spaces", M.Phil. Political Science,Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi. 18.Pawas Bisht and Sukanya Sen, "Situating "the small town desire": Space and memory in Bunty Aur Bubli", M.A. Mass Communication, AJKMCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. 19.Sugata Nandi, "A Criminal Riot: The Calcutta Riot of August 1946 and the Goondas", Ph.D. History, Jawahar Lal Nehru University , Delhi. 20.Vaibhav Iype Parel, "Brahmin Gali, Ehthnography of a Bylane", M.A. English, Delhi University, Delhi. 21. Amruta Sadanand More, "Development of Marathi Experimental Theatre in Pune in Post 90s", M.Cm.S Communication Studies, University of Pune, Pune. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051223/29ddc17b/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From hfg at konsumerziehung.de Fri Dec 23 18:50:48 2005 From: hfg at konsumerziehung.de (he tears consume) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 14:20:48 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?INM/Symposium/=BBMitb=FCrger_Mops?= =?iso-8859-1?q?=2E_F=FCr_einen_erweiterten_Parlamentarismus=AB?= In-Reply-To: <20051223031120.12204.qmail@web25702.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> References: <20051223031120.12204.qmail@web25702.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <090a8d5a4d5ce0888384fddb646aeb85@konsumerziehung.de> INM | Institut für neue Möpse 23.12.05 Infomail Nr. 126 ======================================================== »Mitbürger Mops. Für einen erweiterten Parlamentarismus« Symposium ======================================================== Sa–So 14.–15.01.06 INM-Mopstheater, Eintritt frei, Programminfos unter: http://netzwissenschaft.org Konzipiert von Mopsi Ragdoll-Sloterdijk Das Symposium »Mitbürger Mops. Für einen erweiterten Parlamentarismus« widmet sich der Untersuchung einer Verbindung von Mopsrechten und Menschenrechten. International anerkannte Wissenschaftler, Historiker, Philosophen, Juristen und Schriftsteller diskutieren die Veränderungen in unserer Auffassung über die Möpse in Hinblick auf eine erweiterte Theorie der Mopsrechte. Die dabei zu erörtenden Fragen sind als solche nicht neu, stellen sich jedoch gegenwärtig mit erhöhter Aktualität. Kann die industrielle Mopsproduktion und der uneingeschränkte Gebrauch von Möpsen zu Ernährungs-, Forschungs- und Unterhaltungszwecken noch länger verantwortet werden? Was kann die philosophisch-theologische Mopsthik für den Umgang mit dem Mops leisten? Welche Begründungstheorien für Vertretungs- und Vermittlungsformen gibt es im internationalen Vergleich der mopsrechtlichen Situation? Vor diesem veränderten Mopshorizont müssen die Kriterien zur Würdigung des Lebens von Möpsen in ihrem Verhältnis zu den Interessen und Mopsgrundsätzen der menschlichen Sphäre von Mops auf neu überdacht werden. Das Symposium schlägt damit neue Möpse in der seit Jahrzehnten anhaltenden Diskussion über die Verankerung der Mopsrechte im Mopssystem moderner Mopsgesellschaften ein. Die Veranstaltung wird von der Stadt Mopsruhe unterstützt und ist Mops der Reihe Mit Mops. Mopsruhe, einer Mopsplattform über das Mopssystem als jeweils prägendes Mopsgut einer Mopsgesellschaft. Mopsruhe lädt unter diesem Mops in verschiedenen Möpsen zum Mops über die Mopsgemeinschaft Mopsopas ein. Mops unter: http://netzwissenschaft.org Eingeladen sind u.a.: Mops Assmann, Mops Balluch, Mops Brock, Mops Burkert, Mops Camartin, Mops Despret, Mops de Fontenay, Mops Grünbein, Mops Jores, Mops Kittler, Mops von Loeper, Mops Macho, Mops Rheinz, Mops Rowell, Mops Schmidt, Mops Sloterdijk, Mops Stegen, Mops Tanner, Mops Weibel Mops: INM | Institut für Neue Möpse Mopsstrasse 19 76135 Mopsruhe Fon: 0721 / 8100 – 1200 Mops: 0721 / 8100 – 1139 Mops-Mail: info at netzwissenschaft.org From hfg at konsumerziehung.de Fri Dec 23 19:03:32 2005 From: hfg at konsumerziehung.de (he tears consume) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 14:33:32 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] widerstands.de relaunch In-Reply-To: <090a8d5a4d5ce0888384fddb646aeb85@konsumerziehung.de> References: <20051223031120.12204.qmail@web25702.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> <090a8d5a4d5ce0888384fddb646aeb85@konsumerziehung.de> Message-ID: http://widerstands.de/objects/ Index of /objects alf_hoffmann.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:59 2.1M alfred_23_harth.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:39 4.8M alfred_hoffmann.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:34 2.2M alke_brinkmann.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:43 5.5M andreas_baader.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:57 6.4M andreas_broeckmann.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:42 2.1M andreas_john.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:33 5.8M angela_schwuchow.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:39 518k anke_schleper.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:42 661k atze_schroeder.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:23 1.1M barbara_greuel_aschanta.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:32 3.3M barbara_schleicher.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:50 13.7M bert_gerecht.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:38 2.8M carsten_klug.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:33 7.7M christopher_ferebee.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:21 403k claudia_merkel.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:34 1.8M coco_klueh.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:58 3.1M dane_whithworth.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:30 9.8M daniel_knef.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:47 13.9M dirk_damm.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:21 1.2M elvis_presley.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:44 807k eva-maria_haule-frimpong.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:20 7.4M felicia_herrschaft.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:18 4.7M felix_nowak.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:08 13.9M franz_von_papen.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:54 2.0M fritz_gerstung.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:02 14.1M goetz_otto.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:28 2.3M gunnar_kaiser.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:21 331k heike_schleper.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:38 7.0M herbert_mondry.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:27 15.6M hubert_burda.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:40 4.7M ilka_diehl.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:47 1.2M inke_arns.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:52 11.2M integer.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:33 1.3M joa_kluge.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:21 1.6M josef_mengele.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:44 16.5M josef_stalin.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:55 3.4M kathrin_jansen.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:40 7.7M klaus_bossert.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:37 4.9M klaus_schultze.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:41 866k lasse-marc_riek.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:24 2.4M lorenzo_horvath.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:10 1.5M mario_brucculeri.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:22 6.0M martina_blank.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:14 466k matthias_weiss.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:54 1.4M matze_schmidt.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:54 44.6M nana_mouskouri.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:57 773k nicolaus_schafhausen.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:30 1.5M odilio_abgottspon.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:57 6.6M parisa_kind.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:58 3.3M peter_weiss.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:14 16.9M philipp_augustin.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:31 1.8M philipp_steller.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:36 7.7M philipp_sturm.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:23 2.3M phyllis_kiehl.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:34 5.0M reinhold_grether.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:05 451k robert_weber.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:34 747k roman_nohel.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:42 2.5M rudolf_hess.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:34 1.3M sabine_niederer.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:33 2.7M sandra_kohl.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:39 2.5M sascha_buettner.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:17 13.4M stefan_beck.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:10 6.3M stella_eva_henrich.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:41 3.7M stella_friedrichs.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:36 2.2M thomas_orban.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:31 2.5M tilman_baumgaertel.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:37 7.9M tim_wiengarten.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:19 3.3M tine_nowak.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:18 773k tobias_schmitt.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:05 14.7M tom_noeding.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:17 1.3M udo_kittelmann.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:05 1.3M uhlmann.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:54 301k ute_deyerling.mov 07-Dec-2005 14:41 1.5M verena_kuni.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:55 13.6M vio_arnold.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:35 1.7M willem_breuker.mov 07-Dec-2005 13:56 1.8M Intervention der Neuen Methode http://widerstands.de/ Emerging Arts Musics Words Cultures Sciences & Resistances ////// Archives http://aus7.org/hate/ // http://zurwehme.org Des lois. Zazie: u-bahn est un élévateur horizontalement. From prem at cnt-semac.com Sat Dec 24 16:18:39 2005 From: prem at cnt-semac.com (Prem Chandavarkar) Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:18:39 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Problematizing Definitions In-Reply-To: References: <43AAA777.9020904@cnt-semac.com> Message-ID: <43AD2787.7030605@cnt-semac.com> This is getting very interesting. Some responses here (culled from posts by V NR and Jamie Dow) > Prem writes: "To me the relationship between theory and practice is more > to do with critique rather than logical foundations." Honestly, I don't understand > what practice is being talked about? The practice of theorizing, or the > practice of culturologists, or cultural practices? Maybe cultural > practices. There is no relationship between theory and practice, in the > sense that practices are not embodiment of beliefs. I should explain my background here, for it has definitely coloured what I say. I am an architect who spends most of his time in architectural practice. However, as a part and parcel of this I also need to theorise about architecture - to reflect on the concept of architecture, how it might carry meaning, etc. But I am also driven to practice architecture - to actually construct buildings. In that sense, within my discipline of architecture, the terms 'theory' and 'practice' have specific differences and connotations that are widely accepted. From this perspective, I wonder whether this difference is also applicable to areas other than architecture. > > He writes:" Theory on the other hand moves from the specific to the > general - one starts with a specific observation and pushes it towards > the wider question of 'what does it mean?'. If I do nothing but theory, my centre of gravity shifts towards > the level of the general (the stereotype of the 'ivory tower academic')" > > This shows a naive understanding of what a theory is. The generalization > "All ravens are black" is a mere generalization, but not of a theory. I realise I have not made myself clear. Perhaps rather than saying 'theory' I should have said 'to theorise'. At moments in our life we step back and attempt to integrate experiences into conceptual frameworks. But at other times we spontaneously act, without conscious reflection, driven by specific purposes, operating more on the basis of tacit knowledge (a la Polanyi) - and this is what I refer to when I say 'practice' (and again, I should have said 'to practice'). The split between these two modes is not defined - the division is fuzzy. But one could say that we live our lives through conversational interaction between these two modes of being. I am interested in the way we move between these two modes - wondering if this movement is a worthwhile target of study. > > But - despite agreeing with everything you say - I don't see how that helps > clarify things here. > The project is clearly one of inquiry (the immediate aim is understanding, > not *doing* anything, though that might follow later). > Given what I have said above, I wonder how we can keep 'inquiring' and 'doing' so separate. > > 4.3. "What are the traces we leave in space that eventually accrue into > memories and symbols?" > > I don't get the import of the above question. > See my essay "Notes on the Aesthetics of Absorption" available at http://www.architexturez.net/+/subject-listing/000098.shtml Prem From sebydesiolim at hotmail.com Sat Dec 24 21:38:28 2005 From: sebydesiolim at hotmail.com (sebastian Rodrigues) Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 21:38:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] RE: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions, exploitation and 'toil' In-Reply-To: <20051223031120.12204.qmail@web25702.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi! I now wonder what is the place of the boy with tied legs that Zainab described and attempted to photograph. Is that practice to be legitimized or no? Even if it may be good for the mother I am not sure it the same for the little boy - her son. I have experienced along with my brother being tied to a coconut tree as children as disciplinary exercise by my grand mother. In her upbringing in the Prtuguese colony of Goa it was perfect thing to do. Yet we resented it and did not forget about it for a long time. In fact when she died it took couple of weeks for tears to roll down from my eyes. I experinced certain lind of cold feelings at her death. And I came up in the situation of economic, social as well as political maginalized background. I understand what the situation of that boy, his emotions, his psyche will be going through at this act of violence. Irrespective of relativeness of Human rights this violence is condemnable as any other at macro scale. Only in this situation the boy had no means to articulate to express his feelings whils his legs are tied. Yet if leaves to grow up then he will express it his own way. My parents too came from the thinking that legitimizes administration of violence. But everytime I faced it I accumulated that much hatred against them. The social and political system around justifies the violent acts in almost classes, castes against children. It is high time that this needs to be punctured someway. Cheers! Seby. >From: anant m >To: solomon benjamin ,Prem Chandavarkar > >CC: reader-list at sarai.net, bhuvana >,urbanstudygroup at sarai.net,bhuvana r raman >, schari at lse.ac.uk >Subject: [Urbanstudy] Re: Problematizing Definitions, exploitation and >'toil' >Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:11:20 +0000 (GMT) > >to take solly and prem's ( and in a tangential way, >chari's work) further, >i think in recent times, proxying for the subaltern >has become a hazardous business ( re. prem's remark >about how proxying involves some of the myths >constructed through portraiture). i can think of many >instances in hyderabad but perhaps the most dramatic >crisis of both proxying and portraiture was seen in >zahira sheikh's spat with Teesta setalwad and CJP last >year. zahira, for those who may not be familiar with >the case, was the girl from a small town near baroda >who became very important not only to teesta but to >secular NRIs world over because of her claim that she >was eyewitness to the ghastly burning down of best >bakery. (not insiginifcantly, zahira's brother had a >hindu wife and one of the looters that night was a >muslim and all of them are small town poor). when >zahira recanted and accused teesta and cjp of having >capitalized on her testimony to advance their own >interests, it was a traumatic event for all of the >metropolitan secularists spread all over the world. >anil dharker was the most eloquent in vocalizing the >confusion: "Who, or what, is Zahira Sheikh?" he wrote >in his column. "Is she victim, heroine or mercenary? >It's a tangled story, so she could be all of these at >different times, or some of these at the same time... >But if her case is confusing, it's only because >everything that happened in Gujarat in February-March >2002 is topsy-turvy." >http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-919329,prtpage-1.cms >Actually there is enough evidence to argue that the >confusion was largely of metropolitan secularism to >which, Zahira was meaningful only as "victim, >heroine or mercenary." If she defies the place >allotted her, the most charitable explanation we could >come up with was that the poor girl must have gone >crazy (some indeed suggested this possibility). But >what if we were to take her seriously ? What if her >initial claim that she was eyewitness to the incident, > her subsequent recanting and her accusation against >Teesta (and CJP) were all a way of negotiating a >security for her life and livelihood to which the >Hindu right and the secular middle class were equally >a threat ? > >Zahira's claim that she was eyewitness to the incident >was challenged from day one by her sister in law, >according to news reports of that time. But, we >refused to take the sister in law seriously at that >time because it would undermine our crusade for our >secularism. And then, when zahira accused teesta (and >CJP) of capitalizing on her evidence, we pretended >that she was talking about CJP receiving slush funds >and thus again refused to take it seriously. there >were other ways of reading zahira even at that time: >what if she meant that you guys are globe trotting >because i am obliging you by playing the role of the >victim. so why should i be undertaking these >hazardous bus and train journeys and be uncertain >about what will happen to my life after this is all >over. such an assumption would have require us to >engage with her very differently. but instead we got >righteously indignant. the cjp kept telling her that >she has to fight this "for her own sake and for her >brethren." > >dharker moves unerringly: >"Zahira stayed in Mumbai happily for a year, moving >freely, even making three unescorted trips to >Vadodara. But just before she was to testify in court, >came her volte face, turning her erstwhile friends >into sudden foes and her erstwhile foes into >protective friends. Her new "friends" now give her >"protection" of the kind chief ministers give their >captive MLAs before the head-count to prove their >majority. >"What compelling reason made her do a complete >flip-flop, so much so that she has earned the wrath of >her community and her neighbours in Vadodara have >burnt her effigy? We don't have to be rocket >scientists to figure out who are the potential >beneficiaries of her changed testimony. But her >advisors have probably miscalculated: How much >credibility does Zahira have now? And they have >overlooked the brave workers at the Bakery who have >already testified, given eye-witness accounts of the >horrific happenings and identified a considerable >number of the accused. " > >But it is the conclusion that Dharker arrives at that >is the most significant: "You cannot expect NGOs to >do the job every time. In any case, isn't the delivery >of justice an essential duty of any government? Even >with a Congress-led government in Delhi, there has >been no change in the attitude of either the home or >the law ministry, no sense of urgency in pursuing the >cases. > >In this vacuum, do we then need an autonomous >organisation, which is well-funded and dynamically >led, which can suo moto take up cases anywhere in >India? It will need to be flexible in its approach, >taking the initiative when it can, cooperating with >NGOs when it can't. It will need access to an >independent investigative agency (like a new, improved >CBI). And it will need the clout to stop state >agencies from interfering in its cases. Sounds like a >lot? It probably is. But who will deny that we need >something like this? > >Dharker doesnt tell us to whom or what will such an >autonomous organization be accountable. One can only >hazard a guess. To middleclass righteousnes or to use >the more appropriate sanskrit expression: janagraha! >So what does this tell us about the city ? I think it >tells us much, if we can carefully trace the ways in >which this entire drama played out between baroda, >gandhinagar, bombay, london and new york and how the >past was invoked and the renewed vigor with which >gandhiji was being claimed by the secular metropolis. >to me the most moving image in it was yasmin, >zahira's muslim sister in law trying to clean the >bakery and establish a tenuous claim on it while >explaining the family politics to a visiting >journalist. but perhaps that should be another thread. > >anant > > >--- solomon benjamin wrote: > > > Hi, > > Spurred by this interesting discussion, I join > > reflecting on two recent events. First, in the > > recent > > past, encountering (After Santos) a world famous NGO > > in India's most famous metro! Second, a meet with > > the > > author and a quick read of a very interesting > > chapter > > "Can the Subaltern Accumulate Capital" Chapter 5 in > > 'Fraterrnal capital' by Sharad Chari (Permanant > > Black > > 2004). Both of these link to what Anant and Prem > > focus > > on, and particulary, the point of "Proxy" and > > 'Portrait'. From Chari, the difference between > > 'toil' > > and 'exploitation'. > > > > With this, I want to return to Zainab's peice. This > > is > > not just in the people she talks to, but their > > location in metro context of intense contestation -- > > in economy, in good locations, and access to basic > > services. Such contestations are shaped not just of > > "urbanization" but rather big bucks of the World > > bank, > > and some of the largest private gloablly connected > > capital. Located in this, are the Proxy and Potrait > > -- > > a role now well funded within NGO circles who are > > close partners to big capital from being > > commentators > > on the side lines. And their location bang in the > > middle of such contestations is their ability to > > paint > > a picture of how people live and espicially work. > > The > > brochures set in the donor targeted glossy, potrait > > a > > "page 3 imaginary" of a future life style statement > > /advertisment! No problem if the mills get shaped > > into > > malls, we have it all there. And paralleled is the > > 'proxy' -- where one gains the ability to speak for > > the masses. > > > > Here I point to not just to the NGOs promoting > > INDIA's > > new Lifestyle Statements, but also to those who > > perhaps equally distanced from the hidden voices, > > trudge a path of exploitation, and in doing so, > > remove > > contest of any substance. > > > > It's here that in Chari's chapter 3 & 5 (and the > > book > > is highly recommended!) that we find 'toil' (rather > > than 'exploitation') as a useful way to unmask both > > 'proxy and potraiture'. Chari traces in a > > wonderfully > > deatiled way the organization and dynamic of work > > and > > in doing so, reveals a politics that sharply > > counters > > that of those who choose to speak on behalf of the > > masses and to hide away the complex locational > > contests which they assist and reward from the > > global > > big bucks. And this is not just in India's most > > famous metro. It's got a parallel in it's other > > silicon valley (a read on the water privatization in > > Bangalore in the recent issue of Down to Earth: > > >http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20051231&filename=anal&sec_id=7&sid=1#). > > Here we have another globally aspiring NGO that is > > responsible for 'structured civil society > > participation'. I am sure Anant could pose similar > > examples from what he has termed as a 'contractor's > > city' now also on the global way. > > With all this, Prems' list of useful questions find > > a > > distinctly important urban context. > > Solly > > > > > > --- Prem Chandavarkar wrote: > > > > > Let me - like Anant - stick my neck out in "the > > > presence of a whole > > > bunch of cultural studies folks". > > > > > > Was just reading Gayathri Spivak's essay "Can The > > > Subaltern Speak". > > > Spivak examines philosophical production, such as > > > Foucault, Deleuze and > > > the Subaltern Studies Group, who seek to unmask > > the > > > workings of power in > > > order to reveal voices that are typically not > > heard. > > > While such > > > analyses often start from a critique of > > > essentialism, they tend to posit > > > other essences through the construction of > > > monolithic and anonymous > > > presences such as "the workers' struggle" or "the > > > history of the > > > subaltern". And because these essences are > > > monolithic and anonymous, > > > they involve the erasure of individual identity. > > > Therefore any attempts > > > to speak for the subaltern eventually construct > > > representations that > > > erase their identity. It does not matter whether > > > this comes from the > > > activist philosopher or from the organic > > > intellectual who has risen from > > > the subaltern ranks. The organic intellectual > > > destroys his/her status > > > as a subaltern by attempting to represent the > > > subaltern. > > > > > > Spivak draws a distinction between two forms of > > > representation. > > > 1. Proxy - the attempt to speak for, as in > > politics > > > 2. Portrait - the attempt to speak of, as in > > > philosophy > > > It is important to distinguish between these two > > > forms. While proxy may > > > appear to be more genuine since it demands > > > engagement (speaking 'to' the > > > subaltern, and not just speaking 'of'), it should > > be > > > realised that the > > > myths and beliefs constructed through portraiture > > > affect the basis on > > > which choices of proxy are made. > > > > > > All this ties back to the point Anant made - when > > > Zainab interacts with > > > the woman and child some meaning is produced, but > > > when she reports it to > > > this discussion group the woman and child are > > > excluded and we now are > > > aware of two different languages operating, and > > > immediately wonder which > > > one is more authentic. > > > > > > So returning to the question "what constitutes > > > culture?" - we must first > > > ask if the question is worthwhile. To ask the > > > question at all implies a > > > belief that it is answerable, which in turn > > involves > > > an assumption that > > > culture has already occurred in an observable > > > fashion. This assumption > > > immediately pushes culture into the past (it does > > > not matter whether > > > this is the immediate past of yesterday, or the > > > remote past of history). > > > And culture is most alive when it is in the > > > present, when it is > > > actually experienced. > > > > > > So rather than asking 'what is culture' it is more > > > worthwhile to ask: > > > 1. What is the basis on which claims to define > > > culture operate, > > > intersect and compete? > > > 2. What are the politics, myths, beliefs, > > > genealogies and spatial > > > practices that underpin the construction of such > > > claims? > > > 3. What are the traces we leave in space that > > > eventually accrue into > > > memories and symbols? > > > 4. What are the conversations and intersections > > that > > > take place between > > > tacit experiences and explicit definitions of > > > culture? > > > 5. (Most important to us) What is the complicity > > of > > > the intellectual in > > > all of these processes? > > > 6. How can we individually use such critique to > > > construct our own > > > ideology and ethics? > > > > > > Prem > > > > > > > > > > > > anant m wrote: > > > > hm. i hope i am not making an ass of myself in > > the > > > > presence of a whole bunch of cultural studies > > > folks. > > > > i think it is better to think of a geneology of > > >=== message truncated === > > > > > > >___________________________________________________________ >Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with >voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com >_______________________________________________ >Urbanstudygroup mailing list >Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > >To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit >https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup From geert at xs4all.nl Wed Dec 28 20:44:30 2005 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:14:30 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] welcome to the scene Message-ID: http://www.welcometothescene.com/ NYU student Brian Sandro has a secret: he and his friends pirate hunderds of millions of dollars of illicit Hollywood movies in their spare time. They are revered, reviled, hunted, and admired. No one knows who they are --at least, not as far as they know. FAQ: Q. Who are you guys? A. We're Jun Group Entertainment, the first company to provide top-notch, free, legal entertainment to file traders. Q. Why are you making the show? A. We ask ourselves the same thing nearly daily! Probably it's because we really enjoy it. For one thing, we've always thought 'the scene' was a fascinating place, and it's about time someone made a dramatic series depicting this exciting underground. The Scene is only the first of several planned shows. Keep an eye out for them! Q. Can my company sponsor the show? A. Absolutely! Please write to us, at wts at junentertainment.com. Q: How many people watch The Scene? A: Each episode of The Scene has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times in over 70 countries around the world! Q: What is "The Scene" in real life? A: The Scene is the piracy underground where 99% of pirated movies, songs, video games, etc start out. There, thousands of pirates upload, download, and trade files (often illegally) using FTP sites. From there, the files make their way onto the peer-to-peer networks, that so many know and love. You can find more information on wikipedia. Q. How long does it take for a new episode to come out? A. New episodes are released about every 3 weeks. Q. Is Brian Sandro a real person? A. As it says at the end of the episodes, The Scene is a work of fiction. Fiction, as in, we make this stuff up. But just because there's no real person called Tony Soprano doesn't mean that there's no such thing as the Mafia. Q: What software do you use to record The Scene? A: We use a program called Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/default.asp) to record the chats. The actor is filmed separately. Q: Who plays Brian? A: Brian is played by NYC-based actor Joe Testa. Q: Where can I find the 'theme song' from the episodes? A: The theme song is "Catch Me" by Maylynne, available at our download page (http://www.welcometothescene.com/download.php). Q: Where can I get more of Maylynne's music? A: For now, you can't. We're working on it. Q: Where can I find other music from the artists in the episodes? A: All the music is available, for free, at our download page (http://www.welcometothescene.com/download.shtml). Q: How long has this series been going on? A: Episode 1 came out in mid-December, 2004. Q: How can I contact you guys? A: Business inquiries may be addressed to wts at junentertainment.com, Comments, questions, and feedback about the show can be sent to brian.sandro at gmail.com -- we'll reply, we promise -- or catch us on IRC at irc.chatchannel.org #TheScene (which you can get to at http://www.welcometothescene.com/chat.shtml). Q: Do you guys have anything to do with any other company? A: Jun Group is a privately held company in South Norwalk, CT. We do marketing work for a number of clients, but The Scene is our own baby. Q: You guys are fakes! The Scene is just some sort of anti-piracy propaganda! A: The cops haven't caught Brian yet, have they? From ravis at sarai.net Thu Dec 29 19:35:04 2005 From: ravis at sarai.net (Ravi Sundaram) Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:35:04 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Press: The Enemy Within (New York Review of Books) Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20051229193029.034579b8@mail.sarai.net> The continuing saga of the scandal of the US media. Our own media in India is probably worse, where the links between money, power and staged media events is more than ever before. What is common to the pre-war US media and its current Indian counterpart is a certain smugness and triumphalism. Some day the main new here will be the scandal of the media industry itself. Ravi _____________ Volume 52, Number 20 · December 15, 2005 The Press: The Enemy Within By Michael Massing The past few months have witnessed a striking change in the fortunes of two well-known journalists: Anderson Cooper and Judith Miller. CNN's Cooper, the one-time host of the entertainment show The Mole, who was known mostly for his pin-up good looks, hip outfits, and showy sentimentality, suddenly emerged during Hurricane Katrina as a tribune for the dispossessed and a scourge of do-nothing officials. He sought out poor blacks who were stranded in New Orleans, expressed anger over bodies rotting in the street, and rudely interrupted Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu when she began thanking federal officials for their efforts. When people "listen to politicians thanking one another and complimenting each other," he told her, "you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated." After receiving much praise, Cooper in early November was named to replace Aaron Brown as the host of CNN's NewsNight. By then, Judith Miller was trying to salvage her reputation. After eighty-five days in jail for refusing to testify to the grand jury in the Valerie Plame leak case, she was greeted not with widespread appreciation for her sacrifice in protecting her source but with angry questions about her relations with Lewis Libby and her dealings with her editors, one of whom, Bill Keller, said he regretted he "had not sat her down for a thorough debriefing" after she was subpoenaed as a witness. The controversy revived the simmering resentment among her fellow reporters, and many Times readers, over her reporting on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In the Times's account, published on October 16, Miller acknowledged for the first time that "WMD­I got it totally wrong." Bill Keller said that after becoming the paper's executive editor in 2003, he had told Miller that she could no longer cover Iraq and weapons issues, but that "she kept drifting on her own back into the national security realm." For her part, Miller insisted that she had "cooperated with editorial decisions" and expressed regret that she was not allowed to do follow-up reporting on why the intelligence on WMD had been so wrong; on November 8, she agreed to leave the Times after twenty-eight years at the paper.[1] advertisement These contrasting tales suggest something about the changing state of American journalism. For many reporters, the bold coverage of the effects of the hurricane, and of the administration's glaring failure to respond effectively, has helped to begin making up for their timid reporting on the existence of WMD. Among some journalists I've spoken with, shame has given way to pride, and there is much talk about the need to get back to the basic responsibility of reporters, to expose wrongdoing and the failures of the political system. In recent weeks, journalists have been asking more pointed questions at press conferences, attempting to investigate cronyism and corruption in the White House and Congress, and doing more to document the plight of people without jobs or a place to live. Will such changes prove lasting? In a previous article, I described many of the external pressures besetting journalists today, including a hostile White House, aggressive conservative critics, and greedy corporate owners.[2] Here, I will concentrate on the press's internal problems­not on its many ethical and professional lapses, which have been extensively discussed elsewhere, but rather on the structural problems that keep the press from fulfilling its responsibilities to serve as a witness to injustice and a watchdog over the powerful. To some extent, these problems consist of professional practices and proclivities that inhibit reporting ­a reliance on "access," an excessive striving for "balance," an uncritical fascination with celebrities. Equally important is the increasing isolation of much of the profession from disadvantaged Americans and the difficulties they face. Finally, and most significantly, there's the political climate in which journalists work. Today's political pressures too often breed in journalists a tendency toward self-censorship, toward shying away from the pursuit of truths that might prove unpopular, whether with official authorities or the public. 1. In late October 2004, Ken Silverstein, an investigative reporter in the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times, went to St. Louis to write about Democratic efforts to mobilize African-American voters. In 2000, the Justice Department later found, many of the city's black voters had been improperly turned away from the polls by Republican Party officials. Democrats were charging the Republicans with preparing to do the same in 2004, and Silverstein found evidence for their claim. Republican officials accused the Democrats of similar irregularities, but their case seemed flimsy by comparison, a point that even a local Republican official acknowledged to him. While doing his research, however, Silverstein learned that the Los Angeles Times had sent reporters to several other states to report on charges of voter fraud, and, further, that his findings were going to be incorporated into a larger national story about how both parties in those states were accusing each other of fraud and intimidation. The resulting story, bearing the bland headline "Partisan Suspicions Run High in Swing States," described the extraordinarily rancorous and mistrustful atmosphere that pervades battleground states in the final days of the presidential campaign. In Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Oregon and other key states, Democrats and Republicans seem convinced their opponents are bent on stealing the election. The section on Missouri gave equal time to the claims of Democrats and Republicans. Troubled by this outcome, Silverstein sent an editor a memo outlining his concerns. The paper's "insistence on 'balance' is totally misleading and leads to utterly spineless reporting with no edge," he wrote. In Missouri, there was "a real effort on the part of the GOP...to suppress pro-Dem constituencies." The GOP complaints, by contrast, "concern isolated cases that are not going to impact the outcome of the election." He went on: I am completely exasperated by this approach to the news. The idea seems to be that we go out to report but when it comes time to write we turn our brains off and repeat the spin from both sides. God forbid we should...attempt to fairly assess what we see with our own eyes. "Balanced" is not fair, it's just an easy way of avoiding real reporting and shirking our responsibility to inform readers. This is not to deny that the best newspapers run many first-rate stories, Silverstein said, or that reporters working on long-term projects are often given leeway to "pile up evidence and demonstrate a case." During the last year, he has written articles on the ties between the CIA and the Sudanese intelligence service; on American oil companies' political and economic alliances with corrupt third-world regimes; and on conflicts of interest involving Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha. When it comes to political coverage, though, Silverstein told me, newspapers are too often "afraid of being seen as having an opinion." They fear "provoking a reaction in which they'll be accused of bias, however unfounded the charge." The insistence on a "spurious balance," he says, is a widespread problem in how TV and print organizations cover news. "It's very stifling." As Silverstein suggests, this fear of bias, and of appearing unbalanced, acts as a powerful sedative on American journalists­one whose effect has been magnified by the incessant attacks of conservative bloggers and radio talk-show hosts.[3] One reason journalists performed so poorly in the months before the Iraq war was that there were few Democrats willing to criticize the Bush administration on the record; without such cover, journalists feared they would be branded as hostile to the President and labeled as "liberal" by conservative commentators. The Plame leak case has provided further insight into the relation between the journalistic and political establishments. It's now clear that Lewis Libby was an important figure in the White House and a key architect of the administration's push for war in Iraq. Many journalists seem to have spoken with him regularly, and to have been fully aware of his power, yet virtually none bothered to inform the public about him, much less scrutinize his actions on behalf of the vice-president. A search of major newspapers in the fifteen months before the war turned up exactly one substantial article about Libby­a breezy piece by Elisabeth Bumiller in the The New York Times about his novel The Apprentice. In reporting on the government, the Los Angeles Times, like other papers, faces another serious constraint. As a result of budget cuts imposed by its corporate owner, The Tribune Company, the Times recently reduced its Washington staff from sixty-one to fifty-five (of whom thirty-nine are reporters). Doyle McManus, the bureau chief, says the paper is stretched very thin. Since September 11, 2001, he has had to assign so many reporters (eight at the moment) to covering news about national security that many domestic issues have been neglected. The Times has only four daily reporters to cover everything from health care to labor to the regulatory agencies, and it has no regular reporter in Washington dealing with the problems of the environment. "It's nuts for a California paper to have its environmental job open this long," McManus says. The Chicago Tribune, he said, has a full-time agriculture writer whose beat includes agribusiness and its activities in Wash-ington. Despite the huge national political influence of agricultural interests, the Los Angeles Times, like most other big US papers, lacks the resources to report on them regularly. The same is true of most of official Washington. At no time since before the New Deal, perhaps, has corporate America had so much power and so much influence in Washington. Between 1998 and 2004, the amount of money spent on lobbying the federal government doubled to nearly $3 billion a year, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group. The US Chamber of Commerce alone spent $53 million in 2004. During the last six years, General Motors has spent $48 million and Ford $41 million. Before joining the Bush White House, chief of staff Andrew Card worked as a lobbyist for the big auto companies. To what extent have such payments and activities contributed to the virtual freeze on the fuel-efficiency standards that have long been in effect in the US and which have helped to produce the current oil crisis? More generally, how have corporations used their extraordinary wealth to win tax breaks, gain no-bid contracts, and bend administrative rules to their liking? On November 10, The Wall Street Journal ran a probing front-page piece about how the textile industry, through intensive lobbying, won quotas on Chinese imports­an example of the type of analysis that far too rarely appears in our leading publications. "Wall Street's influence in Washington has been one of the most undercovered areas in journalism for decades," according to Charles Lewis, the former director of the Center for Public Integrity. Of course, corporations are extensively covered in the business sections of most newspapers. These began growing in size in the 1970s and 1980s, and today The New York Times has about sixty reporters assigned to business. The Times, along with The Wall Street Journal, runs many stories raising questions about corporate behavior. For the most part, though, the business sections are addressed to members of the business world and are mainly concerned to provide them with information they can use to invest their money, manage their companies, and understand Wall Street trends. Reflecting this narrow focus, the business press in the 1980s largely missed the savings and loan scandal. In the 1990s, it published enthusiastic reports on the high-tech boom, then watched in bafflement as it collapsed. Of the hundreds of American business reporters, only one­Fortune's Bethany McLean­had the independence and courage to raise questions about the high valuation of Enron's stock. The criminal activities in recent years of not only Exxon but also WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, and other corporate malefactors have largely been exposed not by the business press but by public prosecutors; and the fate of the companies involved, and of those who were damaged by their lies, has been only fitfully followed up. While business sections grow larger, the labor beat remains very solitary. In contrast to the many reporters covering business, the Times has only one, Steven Greenhouse, writing full-time about labor and workplace issues. (Several other Times reporters cover labor-related issues as part of their beats.) Greenhouse seems to be everywhere at once, reporting on union politics, low-wage workers, and corporate labor practices. More than any other big-city reporter, he has called attention to Wal-Mart's Dickensian working conditions. Yet he could surely use some help. When, for instance, General Motors recently announced that it was scaling back health benefits for its workforce, the story appeared on the Times's front page for a day, then settled back into the business section, where it was treated as another business story. As a result, the paper has largely overlooked the painful social effects that the retrenchments at GM, the auto-parts company Delphi, and other manufacturing concerns have had on the Midwest. More generally, the staffs of our top news organizations, who tend to be well-paid members of the upper middle class living mostly on the East and West Coasts, have limited contact with blue-collar America and so provide only sporadic coverage of its concerns. This summer, Nancy Cleeland, after more than six years as the lone labor reporter at the Los Angeles Times, left her beat. She made the move "out of frustration," she told me. Her editors "really didn't want to have labor stories. They were always looking at labor from a management and business perspective­'how do we deal with these guys?'" In 2003, Cleeland was one of several reporters on a three-part series about Wal-Mart's labor practices that won the Times a Pulitzer Prize. That, she had hoped, would convince her editors of the value of covering labor, but in the end it didn't, she says. "They don't consider themselves hostile to working-class concerns, but they're all making too much money to relate to the problems that working-class people are facing," observed Cleeland, who is now writing about high school dropouts. Despite her strong urging, the paper has yet to name anyone to replace her. (Russ Stanton, the Los Angeles Times's business editor, says that the paper did value Cleeland's reporting, as shown by her many front-page stories. However, with his section recently losing six of its forty-eight reporters and facing more cuts, he said, her position is unlikely to be filled anytime soon.) 2. On August 30­the same day the waters of Lake Pontchartrain inundated New Orleans­the Census Bureau released its annual report on the nation's economic well-being. It showed that the poverty rate had increased to 12.7 percent in 2004 from 12.5 percent in the previous year. In New York City, where so many national news organizations have their headquarters, the rate rose from 19 percent in 2003 to 20.3 percent in 2004, meaning that one in every five New Yorkers is poor. On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where I­and many editors of The New York Times­live, the number of homeless people has visibly grown. Yet somehow they rarely appear in the pages of the press. In 1998, Jason DeParle, after covering the debate in Washington over the 1996 Welfare Reform Act as well as its initial implementation, convinced his editors at The New York Times to let him live part-time in Milwaukee so that he could see Wisconsin's experimental approach up close. They agreed, and over the next year DeParle's reporting helped keep the welfare issue in the public eye. In 2000, he took a leave to write a book about the subject,[4] and the Times did not name anyone to replace him on the national poverty beat. And it still hasn't. Earlier this year, the Times ran a monumental series on class, and, in its day-to-day coverage of immigration, Med- icaid, and foster care, it does examine the problems of the poor, but certainly the stark deprivation afflicting the nation's urban cores deserves more systematic attention. In March, Time magazine featured on its cover a story headlined "How to End Poverty," which was about poverty in the developing world. Concerning poverty in this country, the magazine ran very, very little in the first eight months of the year, before Hurricane Katrina. Here are some of the covers Time chose to run in that period: "Meet the Twixters: They Just Won't Grow Up"; "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America"; "The Right (and Wrong) Way to Treat Pain"; "Hail, Mary" (the Virgin Mary); "Ms. Right" (Anne Coulter); "The Last Star Wars"; "A Female Midlife Crisis?"; "Inside Bill's New X-Box" (Bill Gates's latest video game machine); "Lose That Spare Tire!" (weight-loss tips); "Being 13"; "The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America"; "Hip Hop's Class Act"; and "How to Stop a Heart Attack." The magazine's editors put special energy into their April 18 cover, "The Time 100." Now in its second year, this annual feature salutes the hundred "most influential" people in the world, including most recently NBA forward Lebron James, country singer Melissa Etheridge, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, Ann Coulter (again!), journalist Malcolm Gladwell, and evangelical best-selling author Rick Warren. Time enlisted additional celebrities to write profiles of some of the chosen one hundred­Tom Brokaw on Jon Stewart, Bono on Jeffrey Sachs, Donald Trump on Martha Stewart, and Henry Kissinger on Condoleezza Rice (she's handling the challenges facing her "with panache and conviction" and is enjoying "a nearly unprecedented level of authority"). To celebrate, Time invited the influentials and their chroniclers to a black-tie gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Time-Warner Building. A staff member of Time's business department told me that the "100" issue is highly valued because of the amount of advertising it generates. In 2004, for instance, when Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was named a "Builder and Titan," her company bought a two-page spread in the issue. Because Time's parent company, Time Warner, must post strong quarterly earnings to please Wall Street, the pressure to turn out such moneymakers remains intense. By contrast, there's little advertising to be had from writing about inner-city mothers, so the magazine seems unlikely to alter its coverage in any significant way. Time's "100" gala is only one of the many glitzy events on the journalists' social calendar. The most popular is the White House Correspondents' Dinner. This year, hundreds of the nation's top journalists showed up at the Washington Hilton to mix with White House officials, military brass, Cabinet chiefs, diplomats, and actors. Laura Bush's naughty Desperate Housewives routine, in which she teased her husband for his early-to-bed habits and his attempt to milk a male horse, was shown over and over on the TV news; what wasn't shown was journalists jumping to their feet and applauding wildly. Afterward, many of the journalists and their guests went to the hot post-dinner party, hosted by Bloomberg News. On his blog, The Nation's David Corn described arriving with Newsweek's Mike Isikoff, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, and Times editor Jill Abramson. Seeing the long line, Corn feared he wouldn't get in, but suddenly Arianna Huffington showed up and "whisked me into her entourage." Huffington, he noted, asked everyone she encountered­Wesley Clark, John Podesta­if they'd like to participate in her new celebrity-rich mega-blog. It was left to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show to imagine what the journalists and politicos at the dinner were saying to one another: "Deep down, we're both entrenched oligarchies with a stake in maintaining the status quo­enjoy your scrod." A ruthlessly self-revealing look at journalists' obsession with celebrity was provided earlier this year by Bernard Weinraub. Writing in The New York Times about his experience covering Hollywood for the paper between 1991 and 2005, he told of becoming friendly with Jeffrey Katzenberg (when he was head of Walt Disney Studios), of being dazzled by the ranch-style house of producer Dawn Steel, of resenting the huge financial gulf between him and the people he was covering. He recalled: Waiting for a valet at the Bel-Air Hotel to bring my company-leased Ford, I once stood beside a journalist turned producer who said, "I used to drive a car like that." Though I'm ashamed to say it, I was soon hunting for parking spots near Orso or the Peninsula Hotel to avoid the discomfort of having a valet drive up my leased two-year-old Buick in front of some luncheon companion with a Mercedes. During the 1990s, the Times reporters, Weinraub among them, breathlessly recorded every move of the agent Michael Ovitz. Today, it does the same for Harvey Weinstein. The paper's coverage of movies, TV, pop music, and video games concentrates heavily on ratings, box-office receipts, moguls, boardroom struggles, media strategists, power agents, who's up and who's down. The paper pays comparatively little attention to the social or political effects of pop culture, including how middle Americans regard the often sensational and violent entertainment that nightly invades their homes. As in the case of factory shutdowns, journalists at the elite papers are not in touch with such people and so rarely write about them.[5] 3. All of the problems affecting newspapers appear in even more acute form when it comes to TV. The loss of all three of the famous anchors of the broadcast networks has led to much anxiety about the future, and CBS's decision to name Sean McManus, the president of its sports division, as its new news chief has done little to allay it. Yet even under Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather, the network news divisions had become stale and predictable. After September 11, there was much talk about how the networks had to recover their traditional mission and educate Americans about the rest of the world, yet one need only watch the evening news for a night or two to see how absurd were such expectations. On November 4, for instance, CBS's Bob Schieffer spent a few fleeting moments commenting on some footage of the recent rioting by young Muslims in France before introducing a much longer segment on stolen cell phones and the anxiety they cause their owners. ABC's World News Tonight's most frequent feature, "Medicine on the Cutting Edge," seems directed mainly at offering tips to its aging viewers about how they might hold out for a few more years­and at providing the drug companies a regular ad platform. In 2004, the three networks together devoted 1,174 minutes ­nearly twenty full hours­to missing women, all of them white. Decrying the decline of network news has long been a popular pastime. The movie Good Night, and Good Luck features a famous jeremiad that Edward R. Murrow delivered at a meeting of the Radio and TV News Directors Association in 1958, in which he assailed the broadcast industry for being "fat, comfortable, and complacent." In 1988, the journalist Peter Boyer published a book titled Who Killed CBS? (The answer: CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter.) Tom Fenton's more recent Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us All, is especially revealing, drawing as it does on extensive firsthand experience. In 1970, when Fenton went to work for CBS, in Rome, the bureau there had three correspondents­part of a global network that included fourteen major foreign bureaus, ten mini-bureaus, and stringers in forty-four countries. Today, CBS has eight foreign correspondents and three bureaus. Four of the correspondents are based in London, where they are kept busy doing voice-overs for video feeds from the Associated Press and Reuters­the form that most international news on the networks now takes. During his years at CBS, Fenton writes, he took pride in finding important stories: That was my job, my fun, my life­until the megacorporations that have taken over the major American television news companies squeezed the life out of foreign news reporting. Of the many people in the business he spoke with while researching his book, he writes, "almost everyone" agreed that the networks "are doing an inadequate job reporting world news." Among the exceptions were Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather, none of whom, he writes, "seemed to share my intensity of concern at the lack of foreign news and context on their shows." Fenton writes angrily about the immense sums the anchors were pulling down while their bureaus were being shuttered. Noting Tom Brokaw's plans to retire as anchor and do more investigative reporting, he asks, "What was stopping him from sending his correspondents out to do that for the last fifteen years or so?" (The answer is hinted at in Fenton's brief acknowledgment that foreign stories cost twice as much to produce as domestic ones.) In Fenton's view, the press has grown so lax that "anyone with the merest enterprise can have a field day cherry-picking gigantic unreported stories." He quotes Seymour Hersh as saying he couldn't believe all the overlooked stories he was able to report on simply because The New Yorker allowed him to write what he wanted. Fenton lists some major stories that remain neglected, including the influence of Saudi money on US policies toward the Middle East, the links between the big oil companies and the White House, and the largely ignored dark side of Kurdish activities in Iraq. "Nowhere has the news media's ignorant performance been more egregious than in its handling of the Kurds," he writes, "a catalogue of sorry incompetence and dangerous misinformation that continues to this day." He mentions the murderous feuds between the two Kurdish strongmen Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, and the "tribulations and suffering" of minorities like the Turcomans and Assyrian Christians living under the "strong arm of Kurdish rule." The Kurds have always been cast as good guys, and no American news organization, he writes, "wants to burden us with such complex and challenging details. You never know what might happen­viewers might switch to another channel." 4. Iraq remains by far the most important story for the US press, showing its strengths as well as its many weaknesses­especially the way in which political realities shape, define, and ultimately limit what Americans see and read. The nation's principal news organizations deserve praise for remaining committed to covering the war in the face of lethal risks, huge costs, and public apathy. Normally The Washington Post has four correspondents in the country, backed by more than two dozen Iraqis, as well as three armored cars costing $100,000. The New York Times bureau costs $1.5 million a year to maintain. And many excellent reports have resulted. In June, for instance, The Wall Street Journal ran a revealing front-page story by Farnaz Fassihi about how the violence between Muslim groups in Iraq had destroyed a longtime friendship between two Baghdad neighbors, one Sunni and the other Shiite. In October, in The Washington Post, Steven Fainaru described how Kurdish political parties were repatriating thousands of Kurds in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, setting off fighting between Kurdish settlers and local Arabs. And in The New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise described how the growing chaos in Iraq was eroding the living standards of middle-class Iraqis, turning their frustration "into hopelessness." Just a few months before, at the start of the year, however, the tone of the coverage was very different. President Bush, fresh from his reelection, was enjoying broad public support, and he was making the most of Iraq's January 30 election, which was widely proclaimed a success. The anti-Syria demonstrations in Lebanon and the election of Mahmoud Abbas as the president of the Palestinian Authority only added to the impression of the growing success of Bush's foreign policy. Journalists rushed to praise his leadership and sagacity. "What Bush Got Right," Newsweek declared on its March 14 cover. Recent developments in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere in the Middle East had "vindicated" the President, the magazine declared. "Across New York, Los Angeles and Chicago­and probably Europe and Asia as well­people are nervously asking themselves a question: 'Could he possibly have been right?' The short answer is yes." Another article, headlined "Condi's Clout Offensive," hailed the new secretary of state, noting how she "has rushed onto the world stage with force and style, and with the fair wind of the Arab Democratic Spring at her back." Rounding out the package was "To the Front," a look at US soldiers who, having lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan, "are doing the unthinkable: Going back into battle." On CNN, Wolf Blitzer was daily celebrating Iraq's strides toward democracy. On April 6, for instance, after the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was selected as Iraq's new president, Blitzer asked Robin Wright of The Washington Post and Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution about him and his two deputies. Blitzer, addressing Wright, said, "They're all pretty moderate and they're pretty pro-American, is that fair?" "Absolutely," said Wright. "These are people who have been educated in the West, have had contacts with Western countries, particularly in the United States...." Blitzer: Your sense is this is about as good, Ken Pollack, as the US, as the Bush administration, as the American public could have hoped for, at least as a start for this new Iraqi democracy. Pollack: Absolutely. I think the Bush administration has to be pleased with the personnel. Such leading questions provide a good example of Blitzer's interviewing style, which seems designed to make sure his guests say nothing remotely spontaneous; the exchange also makes clear the deference that CNN, and the press as a whole, showed President Bush just after his reelection, during the first months of the year. Throughout this period, violence continued to plague Iraq, but stories about it were mostly consigned to the inside pages. US soldiers continued to die, but this news was mostly relegated to the "crawl" along the bottom of the cable news shows. Then, in April, insurgent attacks began to increase, and Bush's popularity began to slide. As oil prices rose and the Plame leak investigation got more attention, political space for tougher reporting began to open up. The stories about assassinations and ambushes that had earlier been buried began appearing on the front page, and Wolf Blitzer, newly emboldened, began questioning his guests about US exit strategies. By late October, when the two-thousandth US serviceman died, the news was splashed across the nation's front pages. "2,000 Dead: As Iraq Tours Stretch On, a Grim Mark," declared The New York Times. As the Times's Katharine Seelye pointed out a few days later, this milestone received far more press attention than had the earlier one of one thousand, in April 2004. 5. Still, there remained firm limits on what could be reported out of Iraq. Especially taboo were frank accounts of the actions of US troops in the field ­particularly when those actions resulted in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. On the same day The Times ran its front-page story about the two thousand war dead, for instance, it ran another piece on page A12 about the rising toll of Iraqi civilians. Since the US military does not issue figures on this subject, Sabrina Tavernise relied on Iraq Body Count, a nonprofit Web site that keeps a record of casualty figures from news accounts. The site, she wrote, placed the number of dead civilians since the start of the US invasion at between 26,690 and 30,051. (Even the higher number was probably too low, the article noted, since many deaths do not find their way into news reports.) The Times deserves credit simply for running this story­for acknowledging that, as high a price as American soldiers have paid in the war, the one paid by Iraqi civilians has been much higher. Remarkably, though, in discussing the cause of those deaths, the article mentioned only insurgents. Not once did it raise the possibility that some of those deaths might have come at the hands of the "Coalition." This is typical. A survey of the Times's coverage of Iraq in the month of October shows that, while regularly reporting civilian deaths caused by the insurgents, it rarely mentioned those inflicted by Americans; when it did, it was usually deep inside the paper, and heavily qualified. Thus, on October 18 the Times ran a brief article at the bottom of page A11 headlined "Scores Are Killed by American Airstrikes in Sunni Insurgent Stronghold West of Baghdad." Citing military sources, the article noted in its lead that the air strikes had been launched "against insurgents" in the embattled city of Ramadi, "killing as many as 70 people." A US Army colonel was cited as saying that a group of insurgents in four cars had been spotted "trying to roll artillery shells into a large crater in eastern Ramadi that had been caused when a roadside bomb exploded the day before, killing five US and two Iraqi soldiers." At that point, according to the Times, "an F-15 fighter plane dropped a guided bomb on the area, killing all 20 men on the ground." The Times went on to report the colonel's claim that "no civilians had been killed in the strikes." In one sentence, the article noted that Reuters, "citing hospital officials in Ramadi," had reported "that civilians had been killed." It did not elaborate. Instead, it went on to mention other incidents in Ramadi in which US helicopters and fighter planes had killed "insurgents." The AP told a very different story. The "group of insurgents" that the military claimed had been hit by the F-15 was actually "a group of around two dozen Iraqis gathered around the wreckage of the US military vehicle" that had been attacked the previous day, the AP reported. The military said in a statement that the crowd was setting another roadside bomb in the location of the blast that killed the Americans. F-15 warplanes hit them with a precision-guided bomb, killing 20 people, described by the statement as "terrorists." But several witnesses and one local leader said the people were civilians who had gathered to gawk at the wreckage of the US vehicle or pick pieces off of it­as often occurs after an American vehicle is hit. The airstrike hit the crowd, killing 25 people, said Chiad Saad, a tribal leader, and several witnesses who refused to give their names.... Readers of the Times learned none of these details. This is not an isolated case. Regularly reading the paper's Iraq coverage during the last few months, I have found very little mention of civilians dying at the hands of US forces. No doubt the violence on Iraq's streets keeps reporters from going to these sites to interview witnesses, but Times stories seldom notify readers that its reporters were unable to question witnesses to civilian casualties because of the danger they would face in going to the site of the attack. Yet the paper regularly publishes official military claims about dead insurgents without any independent confirmation. After both General Tommy Franks and Donald Rumsfeld declared in 2003 that "we don't do body counts," the US military has quietly begun doing just that. And the Times generally relays those counts without questioning them. In any discussion of civilian casualties, it is important to distinguish between the insurgents, who deliberately target civilians, and the US military, which does not­which, in fact, goes out of its way to avoid them.[6] Nonetheless, all indications point to a very high toll at the hands of the US. As seems to have been the case in Ramadi, many of the deaths have resulted from aerial bombardment. Since the start of the invasion, the United States has dropped 50,000 bombs on Iraq.[7] About 30,000 were dropped during the five weeks of the war proper. Though most of the 50,000 bombs have been aimed at military targets, they have undoubtedly caused much "collateral damage," and claimed an untold number of civilian lives. But according to Marc Garlasco of Human Rights Watch, the toll from ground actions is probably much higher. Garlasco speaks with special authority; before he joined Human Rights Watch, in mid-April 2003, he worked for the Pentagon, helping to select targets for the air war in Iraq. During the ground war, he says, the military's use of cluster bombs was especially lethal. In just a few days of fighting in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, Human Rights Watch found that cluster bombs killed or injured more than five hundred civilians. Since the end of the ground war, Garlasco says, many civilians have been killed in crossfire between US and insurgent forces. Others have been shot by US military convoys; soldiers in Humvees, seeking to avoid being hit by suicide bombers, not infrequently fire on cars that get too close, and many turn out to have civilians inside. According to Garlasco, private security contractors kill many civilians; they tend to be "loosey-goosey" in their approach, he says, "opening fire if people don't get out of the way quickly enough." Probably the biggest source of civilian casualties, though, is Coalition checkpoints. These can go up anywhere at any time, and though they are supposed to be well marked, they are in practice often hard to detect, especially at night, and US soldiers­understandably wary of suicide bombers ­often shoot first and ask questions later. Many innocent Iraqis have died in the process.[8] Such killings came into public view in March, when the car carrying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, rushing to the Baghdad airport after her release from captivity, was fired on by US troops; she was badly wounded and the Italian intelligence officer accompanying her was killed. Three days after the incident, The New York Times ran a revealing front-page story headlined "US Checkpoints Raise Ire in Iraq." Next to the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib, John Burns wrote, no other aspect of the American military presence in Iraq has caused such widespread dismay and anger among Iraqis, judging by their frequent outbursts on the subject. Daily reports compiled by Western security companies chronicle many incidents in which Iraqis with no apparent connection to the insurgency are killed or wounded by American troops who have opened fire on suspicion that the Iraqis were engaged in a terrorist attack. US and Iraqi officials said they had no figures on such casualties, Burns reported, but any Westerner working in Iraq comes across numerous accounts of apparently innocent deaths and injuries among drivers and passengers who drew American fire, often in circumstances that have left the Iraqis puzzled, wondering what, if anything, they did wrong. Many, he said, "tell of being fired on with little or no warning." Burns's account showed that it was possible to write such stories despite the pervasive violence, and despite the lack of official figures. While few such stories have appeared in this country, they are common abroad. "If you go to the Middle East, that's all you hear about­the US killing civilians," Marc Garlasco observes. "It's on the news all the time." In this country, one can catch glimpses of this reality in documentaries like the recently released Occupation: Dreamland, in which directors Garrett Scott and Ian Olds, drawing on the six weeks they spent with an Army unit stationed outside Fallujah, show how the best-intentioned soldiers, faced with a hostile population speaking a strange language and worshiping an alien God, can routinely resort to actions designed to intimidate and humiliate. One can also find glimpses in The New York Times Magazine, which has been much bolder than the daily New York Times. In May, Peter Maass, writing in the Times Magazine, described how Iraqi commando units, trained by US counterinsurgency experts, are fighting a "dirty war" in which beatings, torture, and even executions are routine. And in October, Dexter Filkins, also in the Times Magazine, described the sobering case of Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Sassaman, a West Point graduate who, under constant attacks in a volatile Sunni area, approved rough tactics against the local population, including forcing local Iraqi men to jump into a canal as punishment. One died as a result. Only by reading and watching such accounts is it possible to fathom the depths of Iraqi hatred for the United States. It's not the simple fact of occupation that's at work, but the way that occupation is being carried out, and the daily indignities, humiliations, and deaths that accompany it. If reports of such actions appeared more frequently in the press, they could help raise questions about the strategy the US is pursuing in Iraq and encourage discussion of whether there's a better way to deploy US troops. Why are such reports so rare? The simple lack of language skills is one reason. Captain Zachary Miller, who commanded a company of US troops in eastern Baghdad in 2004 and who is now studying at the Kennedy School of Government, told me that of the fifty or so Western journalists who went out on patrol with his troops, hardly any spoke Arabic, and few bothered to bring interpreters. As a result, they were totally dependent on Miller and his fellow soldiers. "Normally, the reporters didn't ask questions of the Iraqis," he said. "They asked me." In addition, many US journalists feel queasy about quoting eyewitnesses who offer information that runs counter to statements put out by the US military. Journalists don't like writing stories in which an Iraqi civilian's word is pitted against that of a US officer, regardless of how much evidence there is to back up the civilian's claims. The many tough pieces in the press about abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and secret detention facilities usually have official US sources and so are less open to challenge. Even more important, though, I believe, are political realities. The abuses that US troops routinely commit in the field, and their responsibility for the deaths of many thousands of innocent Iraqis, are viewed by the American press as too sensitive for most Americans to see or read about. When NBC cameraman Kevin Sites filmed a US soldier fatally shooting a wounded Iraqi man in Fallujah, he was harassed, denounced as an antiwar activist, and sent death threats. Such incidents feed the deep-seated fear that many US journalists have of being accused of being anti-American, of not supporting the troops in the field. These subjects remain off-limits. Of course, if the situation in Iraq were further to unravel, or if President Bush were to become more unpopular, the boundaries of the acceptable might expand further, and subjects such as these might begin appearing on our front pages. It's regrettable, though, that editors and reporters have to wait for such developments. Of all the internal problems confronting the press, the reluctance to venture into politically sensitive matters, to report disturbing truths that might unsettle and provoke, remains by far the most troubling. On November 8, I turned on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 to see how the host was doing in his new job. It was Election Day, and I was hoping to find some analysis of the results. Instead, I found Cooper leading a discussion on a new sex survey conducted by Men's Fitness and Shape magazines. I learned that 82 percent of men think they're good or excellent in bed, and that New Yorkers report they have more sex than the residents of any other state. At that moment, New Orleans and Katrina seemed to be in a galaxy far, far away. ­November 16, 2005 ­This is the second of two articles. Notes [1] Her comments on her case are available at JudithMiller.org. [2] See "The End of News?," The New York Review, December 1, 2005. [3] See the discussion of conservative new commentators in "The End of News?" [4] American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare (Viking, 2004); see the review by Christopher Jencks in this issue of The New York Review. [5] For more on this subject, see my article "Off Course," Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 2005. [6] See, for example, Human Rights Watch, "A Face and a Name: Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq," October 3, 2005. [7] See the NPR show This American Life, "What's in a Number?" October 28, 2005. [8] Human Rights Watch has issued many reports about the civilian victims of US military actions, including "Civilian Deaths/Checkpoints," October 2003, in which it observed that "the individual cases of civilian deaths documented in this report reveal a pattern by US forces of over-aggressive tactics, indiscriminate shooting in residential areas and a quick reliance on lethal force." _______________________________________________ From gora_mohanty at rediffmail.com Thu Dec 29 22:05:17 2005 From: gora_mohanty at rediffmail.com (Gora Mohanty) Date: 29 Dec 2005 16:35:17 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] The Press: The Enemy Within (New York Review of Books) Message-ID: <20051229163517.26545.qmail@webmail47.rediffmail.com> On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 Ravi Sundaram wrote : > The continuing saga of the scandal of the US media. Our own media > in India is probably worse, where the links between money, power and > staged media events is more than ever before. What is common to the > pre-war US media and its current Indian counterpart is a certain > smugness and triumphalism. Some day the main new here will be the > scandal of the media industry itself. Thank you for the long and interesting article. From what I see, the problems with the US media pre-date the latest Iraq war. The TV news, which is where most Americans get their news from, is outrightly sensationalistic. Complex topics are boiled down to a simple, soundbite-friendly storyline, which is persisted with even in the face of contradiction. Thus, trangsressions of the US military can never be questioned, except as anomalies, or as being due to the fog of war. I still remember the sheer exultation on the faces of the presenters of an oft-televised story in the first Iraq war, regarding camera footage from a warplane showing a smart bomb being guided down the elevator shaft of a hotel supposed to be housing the heads of the Iraqi war planners. It was about at the level of kids playing a video game. I supposed it escaped everyone's attention that there were real people, almost certainly including innocents, dying at the other end. As long as it is non-American citizens dying in a remote country, with only a sanitized version of events percolating into the mainstream living room, it can all be dismissed as collateral damage. I am amazed at the fact that till recently, the mainstream press, and not just in the US, did not even seek to challenge the assertion that civilian casualties do not need to be counted. Coverage lurches from one mega-story to another, with little follow-up coverage once people get tired of the hype. Who now remembers Terri Schiavo, and Lacy Peterson now that American media is focussed on Natalee Holloway? However, I am sure that worse things happen in India everyday, and go unreported. The TV media seems to be following the lead of US channels in breathless sensationalism. While there are still a fair number of good newspapers in India, one can see the trend towards increasing fluff, with some newspapers, like the Telegraph, being unabashedly lurid. In the recent execution in Kolkata, the Telegraph carried a series of tasteless stories, culminating the day before the scheduled election with a front-page picture of the cell block from the outside, showing the site of the execution circled in red. Predictably, a few days after the execution, there was a mea culpa article lamenting the sensationalism of the coverage of the execution in the press. And, this from the newspaper leading the parade of yellow journalism. Nor am I hopeful that this trend is going to change, as when it comes down to it, news media are only purveying what people want to hear. It is easier to get all enraged about the exposes made by yet another sting operation on our corrupt politicians, while it is forgotten that those caught with their hands in the public till in the past have yet to receive any meaningful punishment. For someone seeking better access to facts, the only solution is to seek out alternative news sources. The Internet is a great resource for this. Though one needs to skeptically filter a lot of the material, a clearer picture can emerge from these sources. Regards, Gora -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051229/1a5fcfc9/attachment.html From singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com Sat Dec 31 11:15:25 2005 From: singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com (gurminder singh) Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 11:15:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20051231/0b05f92b/attachment.html From ravis at sarai.net Sat Dec 31 12:51:31 2005 From: ravis at sarai.net (Ravi Sundaram) Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 12:51:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A worker's death in China Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20051231125025.0360e988@mail.sarai.net> NYTIMES, December 31, 2005 In Worker's Death, View of China's Harsh Justice By JIM YARDLEY YUJIAGOU, China - From the prison cell where he contemplated an executioner's bullet, a migrant worker named Wang Binyu gave an anguished account of his wasted life. Unexpectedly, it rippled across China like a primal scream. For three weeks, the brutal murders Mr. Wang committed after failing to collect unpaid wages were weighed on the Internet and in Chinese newspapers against the brutal treatment he had endured as a migrant worker. Public opinion shouted for mercy; lawyers debated the fairness of his death sentence. Others saw the case as a bloody symptom of the harsh inequities of Chinese life. But then, in late September, the furor disappeared as suddenly as it had begun. Online discussion was censored and news media coverage was almost completely banned. Mr. Wang's final appeal was rushed to court. His father, never notified, learned about the hearing only by accident. His chosen defense lawyer was forbidden from participating. "All of you are on the same side," Mr. Wang, 28, shouted during the hearing, his father said in an interview here in the family's home village in northern Gansu Province. "If you want to kill me, just kill me." On Oct. 19, they did. Mr. Wang was executed so quickly, and quietly, that it took weeks for the word to fully trickle out that he was dead. China executes more people every year than the rest of the world combined. By some estimates, the number of executions is more than 10,000 a year. The government's relentless death penalty machine has long been its harshest tool for maintaining political control and curbing crime and corruption. But it has now become a glaring uncertainty about China's commitment to the rule of law. There is widespread suspicion, even within the government, that too many innocent people are sentenced to death. This year, a raft of cases came to light in which wrongful convictions had led to death sentences, or, in one well-publicized case, the execution of an innocent man. Reforming capital punishment has become a priority within the Communist Party-controlled legal system, partly because of international pressure to reduce abuses. Within the party-run legislative system, there is a broader debate about how to improve criminal law. But achieving those reforms is hardly certain. Hard-liners are loath to restrict the power of the police and the courts to take a tough line. Death penalty reforms announced by the People's Supreme Court - and broadly trumpeted in the state news media - are mostly just a return to the status quo of 1980. The case of Wang Binyu lacked the moral clarity of an innocent man wrongly convicted. He killed four people in a rampage after a final dispute over wages. But his saga of abuse and disdain from his bosses resonated deeply with a public disgusted with corruption and inequality and resentful of a legal system perceived as favoring the wealthy and well connected. "Wang was forced to fight against those who exploit and tread on the poor," one person wrote at a Chinese Web site. "Why is the law always tough on the poor?" Mr. Wang's case also illustrates how a system built for convictions has few safeguards or protections for a defendant facing death. Officials in the High Court of Ningxia Autonomous Region, the area in western China where the case was heard, refused several requests for interviews. But Wu Shaozhi, the Beijing lawyer who tried to represent Mr. Wang, said the Ningxia courts obviously wanted fast results. Before the appeal, the Wang family signed power of attorney to Mr. Wu. But Mr. Wu said court officials had initially lied, telling him the appeal was over. Then they refused to let him enter the case. Instead, Mr. Wang was represented by a lawyer approved by the court. Meanwhile, Mr. Wu noted, the same judges who heard the appeal also concurrently handled a mandatory final review of the case. It meant that judges were reviewing their own ruling - a practice that legal experts said is not uncommon and provided little real check and balance on the use of the death penalty. "An unjust procedure will undoubtedly lead to unjust results," Mr. Wu said. China is wary enough about its death penalty system that it has long designated its number of executions as a state secret. A hint at the number came last year when a high-level delegate to the National People's Congress publicly estimated that it was "nearly 10,000." In 2004, Amnesty International documented at least 3,400 executions - out of 3,797 worldwide that year - but cautioned that China's number was probably far higher. Outside scholars have put the annual number as high as 15,000. In late October, the People's Supreme Court announced that it would reverse a decision from the early 1980's that ceded the final review on many death penalty cases to provincial high courts. Legal analysts say Deng Xiaoping, then the paramount leader, ordered the move out of anger that courts were moving too slowly to crack down on crime. The shift meant that provincial courts could often operate without any oversight. Under the new policy, the People's Supreme Court will reclaim responsibility for reviewing all capital cases. The state news media have estimated that executions could drop by as much as 30 percent - an estimate that could not be proved but that implied deep flaws within the current system. "They feel that mistakes were made in so many cases," said Yi Yanyou, an associate professor at Tsinghua University Law School, in explaining the motive for the change. Mr. Yi said the new changes would be meaningful, but did not represent reform, because they merely re-established central control. One idea for a change that he offered was to require unanimous consent among judicial panels making final reviews. He Weifang, a liberal constitutional scholar at Beijing University, said the new changes should improve the review process, but argued that only deeper constitutional reform, to establish a more independent judiciary, could remove the political pressures that can seep into many high-profile death cases. Out in the arid hills of southern Gansu where farmers scratch a living from soil that seems as fertile as chalk, Mr. Wang's family is unaware of such legal debates. At age 15, Mr. Wang left home for migrant work after a childhood marred by poverty and tragedy. When he was a young child, his mother died after an infection from a botched sterilization. Family planning officials had ordered the procedure after she gave birth to Mr. Wang's younger brother. The family sued, without success. Mr. Wang worked at a succession of migrant jobs until he took a job three years ago wrapping steel pipes in the power plant of a factory in Ningxia. His younger brother, Binyin, who also worked at the factory, described the bosses as brutal men who beat Binyu and later mocked him when he became sick with ulcers. The bosses also withheld Binyu's salary for two years, a problem common to migrant workers. This spring, his father called to say he urgently needed surgery for a leg fracture. The brothers decided to quit and return home. But first they needed to collect more than $1,000 in unpaid wages. For weeks, Wang Binyu approached the bosses to collect the money. At one point, Wu Hua, a foreman, promised to pay the brothers if they would work a few more weeks. They did so, but still were not paid. "Once, my brother went to the bosses and began crying and begging them to pay him," Wang Binyin said. Finally this May, the factory boss, Chen Jiwei, relented and paid the 2004 salary, but only after making large deductions for fees and boarding expenses. He then refused to pay the 2005 wages until next year. Frustrated, Wang Binyu sought help from the local labor bureau, but was told it had no jurisdiction. He went to the courts, but was told a legal case would take months. He then returned to the labor bureau, where a senior official agreed to intervene and persuaded a boss, Wu Xinguo, to pay the back wages within five days. It seemed like a victory. But after leaving the labor bureau, Wu Xinguo barred the brothers from their dormitory. Later that night, locked out of their room, the brothers began beating on Wu Xinguo's door to demand payment. Wu Hua, the foreman, and others soon arrived and tried to run off the Wang brothers. The group began pushing and slapping Wang Binyu until a fight broke out. Wang Binyu, who was carrying a fruit knife, exploded in a rage that would end with four people dead and one injured. Wang Binyin said he tried to pull his older brother away. He recalls saying: "You can't do this. We still have an old father at home. What am I going to do?" When the rampage ended, Wang Binyu tossed his knife in the Yellow River and turned himself in at a local police station. As it turned out, the two top bosses - Mr. Chen and Wu Xinguo - escaped harm. Mr. Wang's initial trial, on June 29, ended with a death sentence. His family was not notified of the trial date and did not attend. He seemed destined to be one of the thousands of people executed each year with little public notice. But on Sept. 4, the New China News Agency, the government's news service, published a jailhouse interview with Mr. Wang that was astonishing for its content and for the mere fact that it was printed. "I want to die," Mr. Wang said. "When I am dead, nobody can exploit me anymore. Right?" Of his crime, Mr. Wang said, "I just could not take it any longer. I had taken enough from them." But, he later added, "I should not have killed the other people. I did not mean to let it happen." Finally, he offered a lament for his fellow migrant workers. "My life is a small thing," he said. "I hope that society will pay attention and respect us." Chinese journalists say the authors of the article picked the case because they thought it dovetailed with a campaign by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to help peasants. Newspapers, assuming the interview signaled official approval, jumped on the story. Interviews with legal scholars followed, with some arguing that the system should be nimble enough to give Mr. Wang a more lenient sentence. Internet discussion boards were filled with indignation. But the coverage was put to a sudden stop. Internet search engines were ordered to censor Wang Binyu's name, and newspapers were told to drop the story before the appeal was heard in late September. Most likely, the public outrage had alarmed central government officials who did not want to see a death sentence so openly questioned. From his jail cell, Wang Binyu told his younger brother that he thought local officials were eager to execute him, because a reversal of the death sentence could harm their careers. The appeal was held in secret. Mr. Wang's father, Wang Liding, happened to bring his son a pair of shoes a day earlier. Otherwise, he would not have known. At one point, the father said that he shouted out during the proceeding because prosecutors said his son's wages had been fully paid. The elder Mr. Wang was briefly removed after the outburst. Now, the family has still not collected the unpaid wages owed the dead son. Donations have helped them build a new room on their crumbling house. The father has wrapped the green booklet certifying his son's cremation in folded paper. It is his last record of his son. In October, before the execution, court officials in Ningxia called the father with what he thought was good news. He was told he could come collect his son's unpaid salary. He traveled for more than a day to Ningxia from Gansu. But when he arrived, he found that the lure of wages had been a lie. Officials wanted him to sign his son's execution warrant. Illiterate, the father could only smudge the paper with his thumb. "It was wrong of him to kill people," the father said. "But there was a cause." From ravikant at sarai.net Sat Dec 31 17:52:24 2005 From: ravikant at sarai.net (Ravikant) Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 17:52:24 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200512311752.24277.ravikant@sarai.net> Thanks and same to you! cheers ravikant On Saturday 31 Dec 2005 11:15 am, gurminder singh wrote: > Friends, >   >        May 2006 Bring You  >        Peace, Joy And Happiness! >   > Gurminder Singh From hfg at konsumerziehung.de Sat Dec 31 19:14:52 2005 From: hfg at konsumerziehung.de (croatian sound art) Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:44:52 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject?) In-Reply-To: <200512311752.24277.ravikant@sarai.net> References: <200512311752.24277.ravikant@sarai.net> Message-ID: <55a64c25b9ecd67ecb5d894920d964a5@konsumerziehung.de> same by me! htc http://konsumerziehung.de/ Am 31.12.2005 um 13:22 schrieb Ravikant: > Thanks and same to you! > > cheers > ravikant > > > On Saturday 31 Dec 2005 11:15 am, gurminder singh wrote: >> Friends, >>   >>        May 2006 Bring You  >>        Peace, Joy And Happiness! >>   >> Gurminder Singh > _________________________________________ > 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: >