From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Tue Feb 1 10:49:37 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 10:49:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] latest CO2 emissions data In-Reply-To: <6e57c9fea7fc05573a62f3ec98b083df.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> References: <6e57c9fea7fc05573a62f3ec98b083df.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> Message-ID: I'm surprised China is up 13% from the previous year, given that this period - 2009- was about the time China too was getting impacted by the economic crisis and reduced exports to the 'West'. Subsidies and other fiscal measures to boost domestic spending were yet to kick in. Need to re-check the 13% bit by going to original data, but it is still remarkable how China has leapfrogged ahead of the US over the last 4-5 years in emissions. This is despite the fact that the Chinese economy is still smaller than the US', even if considered in real terms. I forgot to point out yesterday that this data does not include CO2 emissions from deforestation, which is about 4-5 billion tonnes a year. Much of that is from Brazil and Indonesia. That takes us actually to 34-35 billion tonnes a year. Oh well... Naga On 31 January 2011 20:03, Patrice Riemens wrote: >> The Guardian has just reported CO2 emissions data for 2009, from the >> US EIA, one of the reliable sources. It's interesting for more than >> one reason, not least because it reflects the ongoing recession/ >> economic crisis. >> - Most countries are down about 7-8%, including the US, Russia, other >> countries in Europe, etc. Yet the overall emissions has remained >> almost unchanged, at little over 30 billion tonnes (almost double the >> Earth's current absorption capacity). >> - China has a spectacular rise, up 13% at 7.7 billion tonnes and way >> ahead of second-placed US (5.4 billion tonnes, down from 5.8 bn the >> previous year). >> - And much as I don't like talking in these nation-state categories >> (for many reasons), India is third at 1.6 bn. >> Naga >> > > See > http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/31/world-carbon-dioxide-emissions-country-data-co2 > (http://bit.ly/e3XxUi) > > From the-network at koeln.de Tue Feb 1 12:53:51 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (artNET) Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:23:51 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?netEX=3A_calls_=26_deadlines_--=3E_F?= =?iso-8859-1?q?ebruary_2011?= Message-ID: <20110201082351.87F74CB6.491ADB93@192.168.0.4> netEX: calls & deadlines --> February 2011 ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- newsletter contents *news *calls & deadlines --> 01 Call: 2011 deadlines internal 11 Calls: February 2011 deadlines external 11 Calls: ongoing external/internal ------------------------------------------------ News CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context nomadic festival project 1 January - 31 December 2011 was launched on 1 January 2011, on 26 January CologneOFF 2011 started its global tour on Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) 26 January -6 February 2011. In February 2011, CologneOFF 2011 will jump to Finland 10 February - Jyväskykä and 11 Feb - 31 March Keuruu Museum and in a salto forward, to Sattal in India on CeC - Carnival of e-Creativity - deep in the Himalaya mountains. All details on CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context http://coff.newmediafest.org http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/ ------------------------------------------------ Calls & deadlines ---> ------------------------------------------------ Deadlines internal ------------------------------------------------ Call for 2011 CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context artists are invited to submit experimental film and videoart extended deadline: 1 May 2011 http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2729 ------------------------------------------------ February 2011 deadlines: external ------------------------------------------------ 28 February art:screen Orebro/Sweden http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2961 28 February Arse Elektronika 2011 http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2903 28 February Videoart: Mirror/Window – UhuTUBE London http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2901 28 February K3 Short Film Festival Villach/Austria http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2912 28 February Crosstalk Videoart Festival Budapest/Hungary http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2798 27 February Culturehall NY – new artists http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2999 24 February Virtual Bloc Wales/UK http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2995 15 February Creative Research Residency at Rustine Art LAB Montreal/Ca http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2948 15 February Live Herring ’11 http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2741 10 February Currents 2011 – Santa Fe /NM/USA http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2863 1 February Residency at Marginalia & Lab Belo Horizonte/Brazil http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2934 ----------------------------------------------- Ongoing calls: external/internal ----------------------------------------------- ---> SFC - Shoah Film Collection by VideoChannel & A Virtual Memorial Foundation ---> Selfshadows 2.= - net based project by Javier Bedrina -->Videos for Bivouac Projects Sumter/USA -->OUTCASTING - web based screenings -->Films and video screenings Sioux City (USA) -->Laisle screenings Rio de Janeiro/Brazil -->Videos for Helsinki based video gallery - 00130 Gallery -->Web based works for 00130 Gallery Helsinki/Finland -->Project: Repetition as a Model for Progression by Marianne Holm Hansen -->US webjournal Atomic Unicorn seeks netart and video art for coming editions -->TAGallery and more deadlines on http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?page_id=4 ----------------------------------------------- NetEX - networked experience http://netex.nmartproject.net # calls in the external section--> http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?cat=3 # calls in the internal section--> http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?cat=1 ----------------------------------------------- # This newsletter is also released on http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?cat=9 # netEX - networked experiences is a free information service powered by [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne http://www.nmartproject.net - the experimental platform for art and new media from Cologne/Germany # info & contact: info (at) nmartproject.net From chandni_parekh at yahoo.com Tue Feb 1 14:13:22 2011 From: chandni_parekh at yahoo.com (Chandni Parekh) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 00:43:22 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Film Screenings in February Message-ID: <851043.33973.qm@web161401.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> Chandni Parekh sent a message to members of Vikalp at Prithvi on facebook: Hi all, It's the anniversary month for Vikalp at Prithvi! Did you know that we have been showing documentaries (and some short films) in collaboration with Prithvi Theatre every month since Feb 2007 (with a few months' break in '09)? A bit about yesterday's screening: One of the audience members (and there were so many of them... we had to turn away some!) sent us this today: "Following the screening of Lakshmi and Me and the short Marathi film, I'm glad that a lively discussion ensued between the filmmakers present and the audience about the motives of the filmmaker, about the gaze and objectivity, about when it is that the filmmakers blur the line between them and the subject they are filming and the relationship between the two. Nishtha Jain spoke candidly about her own approach and her reflections after seeing the film after many years of it being made and how she would or would not have approached the same subject today. Audience was also interested in the blurring of lines between filmmaker and subject, employer and maid and that of two friends in a certain circumstance. A Canadian member of the audience was intrigued with the idea of maids in Indian homes and how does that play out in the visibility and invisibility of certain people around us and our engagement with them. The film on onion prices and the strict octroi regulations vis-a-vis terrorists entering the city and creating havoc in people's lives - also led to discussions on the authenticity of the use of language in a fiction film and the use of make-up on some of the actors, who, according to a member of audience, did not look as real with make-up on given the socio-economic background portrayed in the film. Overall, the diversity of the questions from a mixed bunch audience who get to interact with filmmakers is what makes Vikalp at Prithvi a monthly must-attend film screening in the city." Thanks, Kabir! :) Anyone who wants to buy a DVD of 'Lakshmi and Me' should mail raintreefilms at gmail.com. And now for info on alternative films being shown in India this month: 'In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones' by Pradip Krishen, Feb 2, Delhi 'The Sicilian Girl' by Marco Amenta (Italian), Feb 2 and 5, Delhi 'You Don’t Belong' by Spandan Banerjee, Feb 4, Pune 'Hämnden' ('The Revenge') by Charlotte Brändström (Swedish), Feb 4, Delhi 'Sabad Nirantar' by Rajula Shah, Feb 5, Pune 'Return to Gorée' by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud (French), Feb 6, Pune 'Persistence Resistance' - A Festival of Films, Feb 7-10, Delhi 'Evening Classes' and 'Parade' by Jacques Tati (French), Feb 9, Bombay 'Escape from the Call Center' by Federico Rizzo (Italian), Feb 9 and 12, Delhi 'Swimming In Air' by Janice Tanaka, Feb 10, Delhi Alpavirama 2011 - South Asian Short & Documentary Film Festival, Feb 18-20, Ahmedabad Bring Your Own Film Festival 2011, Feb 21-25, Puri, Orissa 'The Man Who Saved The Taj Mahal' by Jay Bajaj, Feb 26, Delhi Vikalp at Prithvi Anniversary Screening of 'Inshallah, Football' by Ashvin Kumar, Monday, Feb 28, 7 pm, Prithvi House, Juhu, Bombay For details, check the Discussion Board on the facebook group. - Chandni From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Tue Feb 1 17:50:12 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 17:50:12 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] analysis of US data Message-ID: Patrice, The link below has an analysis of 2009 US emissions by the official body the Energy Info Administration. It's official but interesting. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/environment/emissions/carbon/index.html The rise in China's emissions between 2009 over the previous year is staggering, almost a billion tonnes of CO2. I was chatting about it with a colleague in Delhi Platform this morning, and we kinda concluded that China's emissions rise will be less next year. But it is staggering, given that the entire Earth's absorption capacity is currently about 16-17 Gt. Naga PS: Don't want to fill people's inbox with emails that may be of no interest to them; am unsure whether to take these discussions about global warming off the list From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Tue Feb 1 20:01:03 2011 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (SJabbar) Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:01:03 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt Message-ID: Slavoj Žižek in The Guardian Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit? The western liberal reaction to the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia frequently shows hypocrisy and cynicism What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best secular democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive regime, its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic hope. The cynical wisdom of western liberals, according to which, in Arab countries, genuine democratic sense is limited to narrow liberal elites while the vast majority can only be mobilised through religious fundamentalism or nationalism, has been proven wrong. The big question is what will happen next? Who will emerge as the political winner? When a new provisional government was nominated in Tunis, it excluded Islamists and the more radical left. The reaction of smug liberals was: good, they are the basically same; two totalitarian extremes - but are things as simple as that? Is the true long-term antagonism not precisely between Islamists and the left? Even if they are momentarily united against the regime, once they approach victory, their unity splits, they engage in a deadly fight, often more cruel than against the shared enemy. Did we not witness precisely such a fight after the last elections in Iran? What the hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters stood for was the popular dream that sustained the Khomeini revolution : freedom and justice. Even if this dream utopian, it did lead to a breathtaking explosion of political and social creativity, organisational experiments and debates among students and ordinary people. This genuine opening that unleashed unheard-of forces for social transformation, a moment in which everything seemed possible, was then gradually stifled through the takeover of political control by the Islamist establishment. Even in the case of clearly fundamentalist movements, one should be careful not to miss the social component. The Taliban is regularly presented as a fundamentalist Islamist group enforcing its rule with terror. However, when, in the spring of 2009, they took over the Swat valley in Pakistan, The New York Times reported that they engineered "a class revolt that exploits profound fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless tenants". If, by "taking advantage" of the farmers' plight, the Taliban are creating, in the words of the New York Times "alarm about the risks to Pakistan, which remains largely feudal," what prevented liberal democrats in Pakistan and the US similarly "taking advantage" of this plight and trying to help the landless farmers? Is it that the feudal forces in Pakistan are the natural ally of liberal democracy? The inevitable conclusion to be drawn is that the rise of radical Islamism was always the other side of the disappearance of the secular left in Muslim countries. When Afghanistan is portrayed as the utmost Islamic fundamentalist country, who still remembers that, 40 years ago, it was a country with a strong secular tradition, including a powerful communist party that took power there independently of the Soviet Union? Where did this secular tradition go? And it is crucial to read the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt (and Yemen and ... maybe, hopefully, even Saudi Arabia) against this background. If the situation is eventually stabilised so that the old regime survives but with some liberal cosmetic surgery, this will generate an insurmountable fundamentalist backlash. In order for the key liberal legacy to survive, liberals need the fraternal help of the radical left. Back to Egypt, the most shameful and dangerously opportunistic reaction was that of Tony Blair as reported on CNN: change is necessary, but it should be a stable change. Stable change in Egypt today can mean only a compromise with the Mubarak forces by way of slightly enlarging the ruling circle. This is why to talk about peaceful transition now is an obscenity: by squashing the opposition, Mubarak himself made this impossible. After Mubarak sent the army against the protesters, the choice became clear: either a cosmetic change in which something changes so that everything stays the same, or a true break. Here, then, is the moment of truth: one cannot claim, as in the case of Algeria a decade ago, that allowing truly free elections equals delivering power to Muslim fundamentalists. Another liberal worry is that there is no organised political power to take over if Mubarak goes. Of course there is not; Mubarak took care of that by reducing all opposition to marginal ornaments, so that the result is like the title of the famous Agatha Christie novel, And Then There Were None. The argument for Mubarak - it's either him or chaos - is an argument against him. The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly supported democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on behalf of secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all deeply concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a chance? Today, more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is great chaos under heaven - the situation is excellent." Where, then, should Mubarak go? Here, the answer is also clear: to the Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit there, it is him. From magiclantern.foundation at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 01:08:27 2011 From: magiclantern.foundation at gmail.com (Magic Lantern Foundation) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 01:08:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Persistence Resistance schedule is now on-line Message-ID: Dear all, The schedule for Persistence Resistance 2011 has been uploaded and can be viewed here: http://www.persistenceresistance.in/ Highlights of festival: Persistence Resistance: Edge of Visual Narrative. will be held from 7-10 February and following are some of the highlights of the festival. The festival will screen more than 80 films, many of which are distributed by Under Construction (www.ucfilms.in), as well as special invited packages, in a multitude of viewing spaces. Retrospectives of: Rahul Roy Kim Longinotto Arun Khopkar Special packages from: Doc Alliance films brought by Dok Leipzig Selection from London International Documentary Festival Student films from Zelig School, Italy. Selected films from South Korea, from Asian Network of the Documentary, Pusan International Film Festival Selected films from the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India World premiere of: - ‘This is cricket no?’ by Sudhir Aggarwal and Gregory French - ‘You don’t belong’ by Spandan Banerjee - ‘Partners in crime’ by Paromita Vohra - Oranges and Mangoes' by Priyanka Chhabra Seminars: Film Festivals as Public Cultures' on 7 February at the Max Mueller Bhavan. Directors of 8 international and 3 Indian film festivals will speak at this. Gender and governance' in collaboration with UN Women, focused on the work of Kim Longinotto and Rahul Roy on 10 Feb at the IIC And: Workshop on 'Crowd Funding for Production and Distribution' conducted by Charlie Phillip, director of Markets at Sheffield Doc fest and Jamie King, director Vodo, an on-line distribution platform. Peter WIntonick, award winning filmmaker and creator of several public access digital archives, would moderate the workshop. On 8 Feb at IIC. [These seminars and workshop will require prior registration.] Video Streaming: Some of the films being screened will also be streamed during the festival to enable those not present in New Delhi to 'attend' the film festival. The festival will also provide live coverage. Inaugural screening: 7 Feb Max Mueller Bhavan 6:30 pm to 11 pm Partners in Crime Dir: Paromita Vohra You Don't Belong dir: Spandan Bannerjee The festival will be inaugurated on 8 February, 10 am with the release of Shohini Ghosh's book 'Fire' by Sharmila Tagore, chairperson CBFC, and key note speeches in two parts, by Colin Gonsalves, senior advocate, director of Human Rights and Law Network and a tireless crusader for defending rights, and Peter Wintonic, award winning filmmaker, tutor, creator of may public access digital archives and consultants to several international film festivals. Entry Free. All Welcome. For more information and regular updates visit and register at: - http://persistenceresistance.in/ Festival venues: 7 February 2011 Max Mueller Bhavan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 11:00 am to 11:00 pm 8-10 February 2011 India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodi Estate, New Delhi 9:00 am – 10:00 pm Website: http://www.persistenceresistance.in/ Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=189203294440124 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/persistenceresistance --------- Magic Lantern Foundation J 1881 Chittaranjan Park, Basement, New Delhi 110019 P: +(91 11) 26273244/ 41605239 E: magiclantern.foundation at gmail.com W: http://magiclanternfoundation.org | http://www.ucfilms.in | http://persistenceresistance.in From taraprakash at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 04:12:05 2011 From: taraprakash at gmail.com (TaraPrakash) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 17:42:05 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt References: Message-ID: <8654DA84AF97444497427CA79E55EAD9@tara> I wonder why the author is selectively attacking the liberals. George Bush attacked Iraq and defended with the D word. As far as I know Bush is not was not will not ever be considered a liberal. ----- Original Message ----- From: "SJabbar" To: "Sarai" Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 9:31 AM Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt > > Slavoj Žižek in The Guardian > > > Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit? > The western liberal reaction to the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia > frequently shows hypocrisy and cynicism > > > What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia > > and Egypt > > is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best secular > democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive regime, > its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic hope. The > cynical wisdom of western liberals, according to which, in Arab countries, > genuine democratic sense is limited to narrow liberal elites while the > vast > majority can only be mobilised through religious fundamentalism or > nationalism, has been proven wrong. The big question is what will happen > next? Who will emerge as the political winner? > > When a new provisional government was nominated in Tunis, it excluded > Islamists and the more radical left. The reaction of smug liberals was: > good, they are the basically same; two totalitarian extremes - but are > things as simple as that? Is the true long-term antagonism not precisely > between Islamists and the left? Even if they are momentarily united > against > the regime, once they approach victory, their unity splits, they engage in > a > deadly fight, often more cruel than against the shared enemy. > > Did we not witness precisely such a fight after the last elections in > Iran? > What the hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters > ini-protests> stood for was the popular dream that sustained the Khomeini > revolution > > : freedom and justice. Even if this dream utopian, it did lead to a > breathtaking explosion of political and social creativity, organisational > experiments and debates among students and ordinary people. This genuine > opening that unleashed unheard-of forces for social transformation, a > moment > in which everything seemed possible, was then gradually stifled through > the > takeover of political control by the Islamist establishment. > > Even in the case of clearly fundamentalist movements, one should be > careful > not to miss the social component. The Taliban is regularly presented as a > fundamentalist Islamist group enforcing its rule with terror. However, > when, > in the spring of 2009, they took over the Swat valley in Pakistan, The New > York Times > reported that they engineered "a class revolt that exploits profound > fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless > tenants". If, by "taking advantage" of the farmers' plight, the Taliban > are > creating, in the words of the New York Times "alarm about the risks to > Pakistan, which remains largely feudal," what prevented liberal democrats > in > Pakistan and the US similarly "taking advantage" of this plight and trying > to help the landless farmers? Is it that the feudal forces in Pakistan are > the natural ally of liberal democracy? > > The inevitable conclusion to be drawn is that the rise of radical Islamism > was always the other side of the disappearance of the secular left in > Muslim > countries. When Afghanistan is portrayed as the utmost Islamic > fundamentalist country, who still remembers that, 40 years ago, it was a > country with a strong secular tradition, including a powerful communist > party that took power there independently of the Soviet Union? Where did > this secular tradition go? > > And it is crucial to read the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt (and > Yemen > and ... maybe, hopefully, even Saudi Arabia) against this background. If > the > situation is eventually stabilised so that the old regime survives but > with > some liberal cosmetic surgery, this will generate an insurmountable > fundamentalist backlash. In order for the key liberal legacy to survive, > liberals need the fraternal help of the radical left. Back to Egypt, the > most shameful and dangerously opportunistic reaction was that of Tony > Blair > as reported on CNN: change is necessary, but it should be a stable change. > Stable change in Egypt today can mean only a compromise with the Mubarak > forces by way of slightly enlarging the ruling circle. This is why to talk > about peaceful transition now is an obscenity: by squashing the > opposition, > Mubarak himself made this impossible. After Mubarak sent the army against > the protesters, the choice became clear: either a cosmetic change in which > something changes so that everything stays the same, or a true break. > > Here, then, is the moment of truth: one cannot claim, as in the case of > Algeria a decade ago, that allowing truly free elections equals delivering > power to Muslim fundamentalists. Another liberal worry is that there is no > organised political power to take over if Mubarak goes. Of course there is > not; Mubarak took care of that by reducing all opposition to marginal > ornaments, so that the result is like the title of the famous Agatha > Christie novel, And Then There Were None. The argument for Mubarak - it's > either him or chaos - is an argument against him. > > The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly supported > democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on behalf > of > secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all > deeply > concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a chance? Today, > more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is great chaos > under heaven - the situation is excellent." > > Where, then, should Mubarak go? Here, the answer is also clear: to the > Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit there, it is him. > > _________________________________________ > 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. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 08:14:36 2011 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (SJabbar) Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:14:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt In-Reply-To: <8654DA84AF97444497427CA79E55EAD9@tara> Message-ID: No but America considers itself a liberal country. It claims to wage war for 'freedom' and 'democracy' around the world. These categories, are of course, shifting goalposts. The US killed the Left and encouraged the rise of radical Islamists in Afghanistan when it considered Communism the greatest enemy of 'freedom' and 'democracy' and now... The only reason dictators like Mubarak could lord it over for 30 years is because of US and Israel support. Now if only the tide could lap against the shores of the kingdom of Saud. On 02/02/11 4:12 AM, "TaraPrakash" wrote: > I wonder why the author is selectively attacking the liberals. George Bush > attacked Iraq and defended with the D word. As far as I know Bush is not was > not will not ever be considered a liberal. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "SJabbar" > To: "Sarai" > Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 9:31 AM > Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt > > >> >> Slavoj Žižek in The Guardian >> >> >> Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit? >> The western liberal reaction to the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia >> frequently shows hypocrisy and cynicism >> >> >> What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia >> >> and Egypt >> >> is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best secular >> democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive regime, >> its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic hope. The >> cynical wisdom of western liberals, according to which, in Arab countries, >> genuine democratic sense is limited to narrow liberal elites while the >> vast >> majority can only be mobilised through religious fundamentalism or >> nationalism, has been proven wrong. The big question is what will happen >> next? Who will emerge as the political winner? >> >> When a new provisional government was nominated in Tunis, it excluded >> Islamists and the more radical left. The reaction of smug liberals was: >> good, they are the basically same; two totalitarian extremes - but are >> things as simple as that? Is the true long-term antagonism not precisely >> between Islamists and the left? Even if they are momentarily united >> against >> the regime, once they approach victory, their unity splits, they engage in >> a >> deadly fight, often more cruel than against the shared enemy. >> >> Did we not witness precisely such a fight after the last elections in >> Iran? >> What the hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters >> > ini-protests> stood for was the popular dream that sustained the Khomeini >> revolution >> >> : freedom and justice. Even if this dream utopian, it did lead to a >> breathtaking explosion of political and social creativity, organisational >> experiments and debates among students and ordinary people. This genuine >> opening that unleashed unheard-of forces for social transformation, a >> moment >> in which everything seemed possible, was then gradually stifled through >> the >> takeover of political control by the Islamist establishment. >> >> Even in the case of clearly fundamentalist movements, one should be >> careful >> not to miss the social component. The Taliban is regularly presented as a >> fundamentalist Islamist group enforcing its rule with terror. However, >> when, >> in the spring of 2009, they took over the Swat valley in Pakistan, The New >> York Times >> reported that they engineered "a class revolt that exploits profound >> fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless >> tenants". If, by "taking advantage" of the farmers' plight, the Taliban >> are >> creating, in the words of the New York Times "alarm about the risks to >> Pakistan, which remains largely feudal," what prevented liberal democrats >> in >> Pakistan and the US similarly "taking advantage" of this plight and trying >> to help the landless farmers? Is it that the feudal forces in Pakistan are >> the natural ally of liberal democracy? >> >> The inevitable conclusion to be drawn is that the rise of radical Islamism >> was always the other side of the disappearance of the secular left in >> Muslim >> countries. When Afghanistan is portrayed as the utmost Islamic >> fundamentalist country, who still remembers that, 40 years ago, it was a >> country with a strong secular tradition, including a powerful communist >> party that took power there independently of the Soviet Union? Where did >> this secular tradition go? >> >> And it is crucial to read the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt (and >> Yemen >> and ... maybe, hopefully, even Saudi Arabia) against this background. If >> the >> situation is eventually stabilised so that the old regime survives but >> with >> some liberal cosmetic surgery, this will generate an insurmountable >> fundamentalist backlash. In order for the key liberal legacy to survive, >> liberals need the fraternal help of the radical left. Back to Egypt, the >> most shameful and dangerously opportunistic reaction was that of Tony >> Blair >> as reported on CNN: change is necessary, but it should be a stable change. >> Stable change in Egypt today can mean only a compromise with the Mubarak >> forces by way of slightly enlarging the ruling circle. This is why to talk >> about peaceful transition now is an obscenity: by squashing the >> opposition, >> Mubarak himself made this impossible. After Mubarak sent the army against >> the protesters, the choice became clear: either a cosmetic change in which >> something changes so that everything stays the same, or a true break. >> >> Here, then, is the moment of truth: one cannot claim, as in the case of >> Algeria a decade ago, that allowing truly free elections equals delivering >> power to Muslim fundamentalists. Another liberal worry is that there is no >> organised political power to take over if Mubarak goes. Of course there is >> not; Mubarak took care of that by reducing all opposition to marginal >> ornaments, so that the result is like the title of the famous Agatha >> Christie novel, And Then There Were None. The argument for Mubarak - it's >> either him or chaos - is an argument against him. >> >> The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly supported >> democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on behalf >> of >> secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all >> deeply >> concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a chance? Today, >> more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is great chaos >> under heaven - the situation is excellent." >> >> Where, then, should Mubarak go? Here, the answer is also clear: to the >> Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit there, it is him. >> >> _________________________________________ >> 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. >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > From chintan.backups at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 10:58:37 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 10:58:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Primary teachers vouch for easier English Message-ID: *From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Primary-teachers-vouch-for-easier-English/articleshow/7393728.cms Primary teachers vouch for easier English* By Sruthy Susan Ullas, TNN, Jan 31, 2011, 12.18am IST BANGALORE: Sixty four years since the British left the country and at a time when English has almost become the mother tongue of GenYin urban India , the Karnataka Primary Teacher's Association (KPTA) has a problem with the standard of English in textbooks, which it feels is very high for children to understand. KPTA has requested the primary and secondary education minister to lower the language standard and tone it down for students of primary classes to easily understand subjects. "Children coming to government schools directly join class 1. They usually have no one to tutor them at home. The sentences in English texts are usually long with high-sounding words, which the kids find difficult to learn," said Narayan Swamy, secretary, KPTA. INDIAN FLAVOUR G S Mudambadithaya, coordinator of the textbook preparation committee, said that during a review it was found that the standard of language was a little high for the age of the students. "Besides, the content was also difficult for children to understand. They did not have an Indian background, which made the cultural setting alien to the children, besides the language itself. This becomes difficult for children as they cannot relate to the content," he said, adding, "Moreover, there are very few teachers who have the potential to teach the language. Many teachers, who have studied till B.Ed in the Kannada medium, are asked to teach spoken English." Mudambadithaya added that the committee, which is preparing textbooks for the academic year 2012-13, intends to give lessons an Indian flavour. There will be a variety of lessons with both Indian and foreign backgrounds. English still remains a subject that gives nightmares to many students of the state board. In the 2010 SSLC exams, 21.62% students failed to clear the English paper. Mathematics scores highest in the number of failed candidates with 26.21%, while the figures for science and social science stand at 22.10% and 18.86% respectively. It has also been observed that the cases of malpractices are high during the English exam. In April 2010, around 25 students were caught indulging in malpractices during the English examination, while 60 were caught in 2009 and 35 in 2008. From chintan.backups at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 11:05:45 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 11:05:45 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Virtual Mentoring Program from The Patchwork Collective for Writers of Color Message-ID: >From http://www.olugbemisola.com/patchwork-collective-virtual-mentors/ Patchwork Collective Virtual Mentors The *Patchwork Collective for Writers of Color* is accepting applications for its Virtual Mentoring Program! If you are a writer of children’s literature looking to improve your craft and get a better understanding of the children’s publishing industry, read on. Participants will be invited to join an online group and receive personalized advice from mentors on manuscripts and technique (no more than one critique of 10 pages of a long-form work, or 1 PB over the 8 week period), industry- and craft-related information (books, conferences, helpful organizations, Web sites, etc.), and more. Mentors will not be offering referrals to any agents or editors. *If you are a writer of color in the “intermediate” stage of your pursuit of a career in children’s literature, this is an opportunity for one-on-one online communication with a published children’s book author (PB-YA). * Mentors include authors Kelly Starlings-Lyons, Y.S. Lee, N.H. Senzai, Ebony Joy Wilkins, Jerry Craft, Christina Diaz Gonzalez, Neesha Meminger, Christine Taylor-Butler, Jennifer Cervantes, Crystal Allen, and Rachel Renee Russell. They are generously donating their time and expertise to this project, and I am extremely grateful. *If you are a writer of color 18 or over interested in this opportunity, please send* 1) a short (one paragraph) biographical sketch of your work/writing career so far; include the URL of your Web site if you have one 2) the classes, groups, conferences or other resources you’ve been involved with, etc. and 3) a *one-page* writing sample (for mentor matching purposes, not to be evaluated) to olugbemisola at olugbemisola.com. This is for writers of CHILDREN’S LITERATURE ONLY, defined as picture book (PB)-young adult (YA). PLEASE PASTE EVERYTHING INTO THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL TO olugbemisola at olugbemisola.com, with PATCHWORK COLLECTIVE MENTOR PROGRAM APPLICATION in the subject line. *Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will be discarded. There are at least 10 spots available, and matching will be first-come first-served, according to genre. The Spring 2011 submission process is open from Feb 1-Feb 4.* ** *(Source: http://blog.prathambooks.org/2011/02/virtual-mentoring-program-from.html) * From patrice at xs4all.nl Wed Feb 2 13:53:53 2011 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 09:23:53 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <38bba3593c0a694dec907f9aab4cb512.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> Meanwhile Americans might 'get it' thru this medium: http://twitpic.com/3v4mti (courtesy Fred Noronha) cheers, p+3D! > No but America considers itself a liberal country. It claims to wage war > for > 'freedom' and 'democracy' around the world. These categories, are of > course, > shifting goalposts. The US killed the Left and encouraged the rise of > radical Islamists in Afghanistan when it considered Communism the greatest > enemy of 'freedom' and 'democracy' and now... > The only reason dictators like Mubarak could lord it over for 30 years is > because of US and Israel support. Now if only the tide could lap against > the > shores of the kingdom of Saud. > > On 02/02/11 4:12 AM, "TaraPrakash" wrote: > >> I wonder why the author is selectively attacking the liberals. George >> Bush >> attacked Iraq and defended with the D word. As far as I know Bush is not >> was >> not will not ever be considered a liberal. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "SJabbar" >> To: "Sarai" >> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 9:31 AM >> Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt >> >> >>> >>> Slavoj Žižek in The Guardian >>> >>> >>> Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit? >>> The western liberal reaction to the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia >>> frequently shows hypocrisy and cynicism >>> >>> >>> What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia >>> >>> and Egypt >>> >>> is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best >>>> secular >>> democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive >>> regime, >>> its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic hope. The >>> cynical wisdom of western liberals, according to which, in Arab >>> countries, >>> genuine democratic sense is limited to narrow liberal elites while the >>> vast >>> majority can only be mobilised through religious fundamentalism or >>> nationalism, has been proven wrong. The big question is what will >>> happen >>> next? Who will emerge as the political winner? >>> >>> When a new provisional government was nominated in Tunis, it excluded >>> Islamists and the more radical left. The reaction of smug liberals was: >>> good, they are the basically same; two totalitarian extremes - but are >>> things as simple as that? Is the true long-term antagonism not >>> precisely >>> between Islamists and the left? Even if they are momentarily united >>> against >>> the regime, once they approach victory, their unity splits, they engage >>> in >>> a >>> deadly fight, often more cruel than against the shared enemy. >>> >>> Did we not witness precisely such a fight after the last elections in >>> Iran? >>> What the hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters >>> >> ini-protests> stood for was the popular dream that sustained the >>> Khomeini >>> revolution >>> >>> : freedom and justice. Even if this dream utopian, it did lead to a >>> breathtaking explosion of political and social creativity, >>> organisational >>> experiments and debates among students and ordinary people. This >>> genuine >>> opening that unleashed unheard-of forces for social transformation, a >>> moment >>> in which everything seemed possible, was then gradually stifled through >>> the >>> takeover of political control by the Islamist establishment. >>> >>> Even in the case of clearly fundamentalist movements, one should be >>> careful >>> not to miss the social component. The Taliban is regularly presented as >>> a >>> fundamentalist Islamist group enforcing its rule with terror. However, >>> when, >>> in the spring of 2009, they took over the Swat valley in Pakistan, The >>> New >>> York Times >>> reported that they engineered "a class revolt that exploits profound >>> fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless >>> tenants". If, by "taking advantage" of the farmers' plight, the Taliban >>> are >>> creating, in the words of the New York Times "alarm about the risks to >>> Pakistan, which remains largely feudal," what prevented liberal >>> democrats >>> in >>> Pakistan and the US similarly "taking advantage" of this plight and >>> trying >>> to help the landless farmers? Is it that the feudal forces in Pakistan >>> are >>> the natural ally of liberal democracy? >>> >>> The inevitable conclusion to be drawn is that the rise of radical >>> Islamism >>> was always the other side of the disappearance of the secular left in >>> Muslim >>> countries. When Afghanistan is portrayed as the utmost Islamic >>> fundamentalist country, who still remembers that, 40 years ago, it was >>> a >>> country with a strong secular tradition, including a powerful communist >>> party that took power there independently of the Soviet Union? Where >>> did >>> this secular tradition go? >>> >>> And it is crucial to read the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt (and >>> Yemen >>> and ... maybe, hopefully, even Saudi Arabia) against this background. >>> If >>> the >>> situation is eventually stabilised so that the old regime survives but >>> with >>> some liberal cosmetic surgery, this will generate an insurmountable >>> fundamentalist backlash. In order for the key liberal legacy to >>> survive, >>> liberals need the fraternal help of the radical left. Back to Egypt, >>> the >>> most shameful and dangerously opportunistic reaction was that of Tony >>> Blair >>> as reported on CNN: change is necessary, but it should be a stable >>> change. >>> Stable change in Egypt today can mean only a compromise with the >>> Mubarak >>> forces by way of slightly enlarging the ruling circle. This is why to >>> talk >>> about peaceful transition now is an obscenity: by squashing the >>> opposition, >>> Mubarak himself made this impossible. After Mubarak sent the army >>> against >>> the protesters, the choice became clear: either a cosmetic change in >>> which >>> something changes so that everything stays the same, or a true break. >>> >>> Here, then, is the moment of truth: one cannot claim, as in the case of >>> Algeria a decade ago, that allowing truly free elections equals >>> delivering >>> power to Muslim fundamentalists. Another liberal worry is that there is >>> no >>> organised political power to take over if Mubarak goes. Of course there >>> is >>> not; Mubarak took care of that by reducing all opposition to marginal >>> ornaments, so that the result is like the title of the famous Agatha >>> Christie novel, And Then There Were None. The argument for Mubarak - >>> it's >>> either him or chaos - is an argument against him. >>> >>> The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly >>> supported >>> democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on >>> behalf >>> of >>> secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all >>> deeply >>> concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a chance? >>> Today, >>> more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is great >>> chaos >>> under heaven - the situation is excellent." >>> >>> Where, then, should Mubarak go? Here, the answer is also clear: to the >>> Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit there, it is him. >>> >>> _________________________________________ >>> 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. >>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >>> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> >> > > > _________________________________________ > 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. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > > From chintan.backups at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 15:37:51 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 15:37:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Simple, unfettered faith Message-ID: From http://openthemagazine.com/article/true-life/the-man-who-doesn-t-ask-for-money By Vinod Sreedhar It was during a period of self-chosen exile when it finally hit me. February 2008. Two weeks at home quietly thinking, writing and sketching, limiting my interactions with people. An idea that had been trying to form itself for a while arrived unexpectedly out of the murky depths of confusion, aglow with promise. It was simple: I decided I would no longer charge money for my work. I was a convert to the gift economy. My time, my talents, my energy would be a gift to people, free of charge. I would accept whatever I got. Having experienced the oxymoron called ‘college education’ during my BCom studies, I had made a rapid and happy exit from the world of academia. Over the next decade, I composed music for the ad industry in Bombay and co-founded a social enterprise with friends. Now, however, I focus mostly on two things: I put together personality development workshops, and help spread green ideas for the sustainable use of the planet's resources, so it remains healthy in the future. After the initial noble high subsided, the questions rushed in. Why on earth would I want to do that? How would I make a living now? Wasn't I making myself vulnerable to exploitation? But no matter how much or long I focused on the apparent absurdity of the idea, it continued to feel right. Nearly three years on now, it still feels right. But when I look back, I wonder. Was it about feeling noble? Or having the approval of the world? My desire, however, stemmed from something more immediate. I was tired of what money was doing to me. Money had begun to dominate me, making me accept work that didn’t have any heart. Holding back my best ideas became second nature. Until the money showed up, of course. But, what use is a song that is not sung? What use is unused creativity? Creativity is also spontaneity, and spontaneity cannot be wrapped up and saved for a rainy day. If it isn’t acknowledged, it’s gone, maybe forever. That initial rush of optimism surprisingly lasted a while. My first big project was coming up—organising an ecological visit to Ladakh for a group of 15 people. This was also the first time I was openly connecting the gift economy with my work; I did not set a fee. To their credit, no one in the group looked at me as if I were mad. I think they found the idea rather curious. Twenty five days later, with many memorable experiences behind us, we returned home from Ladakh. It was time to assess my takings. My first gift economy earnings: about Rs 700. But this would barely cover a couple of taxi rides and a cold coffee at Barista. Somewhere inside, I could sense disappointment lurking. But I also knew I wasn’t supposed to be feeling this way. Where was that darned noble feeling when I needed it? And where was all the generosity I was expecting? What a hypocrite I was! I was continuing to practise the profit-seeking ways of my earlier life. Clearly, there was a long way to go. Project number two—co-facilitating a workshop that my friends were organising—materialised in winter 2008. This time I was better prepared when the inevitable question came—“What would you like as your fee for the workshop?” Nice try. “No no, we really want to pay you for this workshop.” Sure thing. I’m not saying no. “So... what would you like as your fee...?” Heh heh! This was getting better and better. I could visualise my friends struggling to deal with this. How much should they offer me? Would it be too much or too little? What if I got offended with their offer? They would just have to move past their initial discomfort and figure out what value they were receiving and were willing to support. This was fun. Finally, they called back with an offer, spoken in a rather tentative tone. And it was a very good one, too. There was no question of rejecting it, of course. I really wanted to be part of this workshop, money or no money. The gift economy roller coaster ride was becoming increasingly enjoyable. With three years of experience making such a living, I’m often asked whether I’ve been exploited. It’s quite the contrary, actually. Getting cheated was a constant worry and reasonably frequent experience earlier. Now, one of two things happen. People are mostly generous in supporting me. The amounts I’ve received for my work easily equal and sometimes outstrip current ‘market rates’. Or if people are unable to offer me much or anything at all, I take the attitude that they must have a good reason for not being able to do so. Seen from the outside, the gift economy can be confusing. It overturns the values of the market economy. The idea that one has to compete for scarce resources is jettisoned. Instead, our gifts of material goods, skills and time are freely circulated so that an ever-expanding circle of paying-it-forward is created in which the giver in turn becomes the receiver. So, how do we make this work? Two words—unconditional trust. Learning to trust the universe hasn’t been easy, but something has clearly changed. Consider the following: May 2009. My bank balance has just gone below the red line. No one else knows about this. A stressful two days ensue. And then I’m flooded with immediate and compelling relief as I remember what I need to do: ‘Give, and you shall receive’. I let the worry go and focus on work. A few days later, my friend Madhu calls saying someone has anonymously left me a gift as support for my work. It’s an envelope stuffed with cash. And it’s not a small amount. Money that I need arriving at just the right time, and anonymously at that, from someone who can’t possibly be aware of my need? What are the chances? November 2010. I need a digital video camera for my work. I post a request on Facebook asking if anyone wants to sell one. A week later, a friend who was nominated in an online competition wins the exact same model that I need and gifts it to me. Coincidence? I think not. Practising the gift economy way is ultimately an act of faith. Just like life. Belief without proof. Simple, unfettered faith. From ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de Wed Feb 2 17:24:10 2011 From: ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de (Britta Ohm) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 12:54:10 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <5F57A968-1F7A-49AF-B48F-478BF5D90A1B@zedat.fu-berlin.de> But his actual idea seems to be to strengthen the left so it can be the new front group against radical Islam, and I don't see how this should work if you antagonise the liberals in the first place. It's not only illogical, I also don't see any merit in suddenly creating a new old enemy, Islam, and just repeat the mistake already made. I find it amazing how he only seems to be able to think in head-on antagonisms, which is precisely what US policy has been doing. He probably thinks that's dialectics. Am 02.02.2011 um 03:44 schrieb SJabbar: > No but America considers itself a liberal country. It claims to wage > war for > 'freedom' and 'democracy' around the world. These categories, are of > course, > shifting goalposts. The US killed the Left and encouraged the rise of > radical Islamists in Afghanistan when it considered Communism the > greatest > enemy of 'freedom' and 'democracy' and now... > The only reason dictators like Mubarak could lord it over for 30 > years is > because of US and Israel support. Now if only the tide could lap > against the > shores of the kingdom of Saud. > > On 02/02/11 4:12 AM, "TaraPrakash" wrote: > >> I wonder why the author is selectively attacking the liberals. >> George Bush >> attacked Iraq and defended with the D word. As far as I know Bush >> is not was >> not will not ever be considered a liberal. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "SJabbar" >> To: "Sarai" >> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 9:31 AM >> Subject: [Reader-list] Zizek on Egypt >> >> >>> >>> Slavoj Žižek in The Guardian >>> >>> >>> Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit? >>> The western liberal reaction to the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia >>> frequently shows hypocrisy and cynicism >>> >>> >>> What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia >>> >> > >>> and Egypt >>> >>> is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best >>>> secular >>> democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive >>> regime, >>> its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic >>> hope. The >>> cynical wisdom of western liberals, according to which, in Arab >>> countries, >>> genuine democratic sense is limited to narrow liberal elites while >>> the >>> vast >>> majority can only be mobilised through religious fundamentalism or >>> nationalism, has been proven wrong. The big question is what will >>> happen >>> next? Who will emerge as the political winner? >>> >>> When a new provisional government was nominated in Tunis, it >>> excluded >>> Islamists and the more radical left. The reaction of smug liberals >>> was: >>> good, they are the basically same; two totalitarian extremes - but >>> are >>> things as simple as that? Is the true long-term antagonism not >>> precisely >>> between Islamists and the left? Even if they are momentarily united >>> against >>> the regime, once they approach victory, their unity splits, they >>> engage in >>> a >>> deadly fight, often more cruel than against the shared enemy. >>> >>> Did we not witness precisely such a fight after the last elections >>> in >>> Iran? >>> What the hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters >>> >> ini-protests> stood for was the popular dream that sustained the >>> Khomeini >>> revolution >>> >> > >>> : freedom and justice. Even if this dream utopian, it did lead to a >>> breathtaking explosion of political and social creativity, >>> organisational >>> experiments and debates among students and ordinary people. This >>> genuine >>> opening that unleashed unheard-of forces for social >>> transformation, a >>> moment >>> in which everything seemed possible, was then gradually stifled >>> through >>> the >>> takeover of political control by the Islamist establishment. >>> >>> Even in the case of clearly fundamentalist movements, one should be >>> careful >>> not to miss the social component. The Taliban is regularly >>> presented as a >>> fundamentalist Islamist group enforcing its rule with terror. >>> However, >>> when, >>> in the spring of 2009, they took over the Swat valley in Pakistan, >>> The New >>> York Times >> > >>> reported that they engineered "a class revolt that exploits profound >>> fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their >>> landless >>> tenants". If, by "taking advantage" of the farmers' plight, the >>> Taliban >>> are >>> creating, in the words of the New York Times "alarm about the >>> risks to >>> Pakistan, which remains largely feudal," what prevented liberal >>> democrats >>> in >>> Pakistan and the US similarly "taking advantage" of this plight >>> and trying >>> to help the landless farmers? Is it that the feudal forces in >>> Pakistan are >>> the natural ally of liberal democracy? >>> >>> The inevitable conclusion to be drawn is that the rise of radical >>> Islamism >>> was always the other side of the disappearance of the secular left >>> in >>> Muslim >>> countries. When Afghanistan is portrayed as the utmost Islamic >>> fundamentalist country, who still remembers that, 40 years ago, it >>> was a >>> country with a strong secular tradition, including a powerful >>> communist >>> party that took power there independently of the Soviet Union? >>> Where did >>> this secular tradition go? >>> >>> And it is crucial to read the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt >>> (and >>> Yemen >>> and ... maybe, hopefully, even Saudi Arabia) against this >>> background. If >>> the >>> situation is eventually stabilised so that the old regime survives >>> but >>> with >>> some liberal cosmetic surgery, this will generate an insurmountable >>> fundamentalist backlash. In order for the key liberal legacy to >>> survive, >>> liberals need the fraternal help of the radical left. Back to >>> Egypt, the >>> most shameful and dangerously opportunistic reaction was that of >>> Tony >>> Blair >>> as reported on CNN: change is necessary, but it should be a stable >>> change. >>> Stable change in Egypt today can mean only a compromise with the >>> Mubarak >>> forces by way of slightly enlarging the ruling circle. This is why >>> to talk >>> about peaceful transition now is an obscenity: by squashing the >>> opposition, >>> Mubarak himself made this impossible. After Mubarak sent the army >>> against >>> the protesters, the choice became clear: either a cosmetic change >>> in which >>> something changes so that everything stays the same, or a true >>> break. >>> >>> Here, then, is the moment of truth: one cannot claim, as in the >>> case of >>> Algeria a decade ago, that allowing truly free elections equals >>> delivering >>> power to Muslim fundamentalists. Another liberal worry is that >>> there is no >>> organised political power to take over if Mubarak goes. Of course >>> there is >>> not; Mubarak took care of that by reducing all opposition to >>> marginal >>> ornaments, so that the result is like the title of the famous Agatha >>> Christie novel, And Then There Were None. The argument for Mubarak >>> - it's >>> either him or chaos - is an argument against him. >>> >>> The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly >>> supported >>> democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on >>> behalf >>> of >>> secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all >>> deeply >>> concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a >>> chance? Today, >>> more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is >>> great chaos >>> under heaven - the situation is excellent." >>> >>> Where, then, should Mubarak go? Here, the answer is also clear: to >>> the >>> Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit there, it is him. >>> >>> _________________________________________ >>> 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. >>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >>> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> >> > > > _________________________________________ > 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. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> --------------------------------------- Dr. Britta Ohm Institute of Social Anthropology University of Bern Laenggassstr. 49a 3012 Bern Switzerland +41-(0)31-631 8995 (main office) +41-(0)31-631 5373 (direct line) britta.ohm at anthro.unibe.ch Solmsstr. 36 10961 Berlin Germany +49-(0)30-69507155 ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de From c.anupam at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 17:28:37 2011 From: c.anupam at gmail.com (anupam chakravartty) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 17:28:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture growth In-Reply-To: References: <001401cb80e0$6ba00570$42e01050$@in> <000901cb80fb$5fa77df0$1ef679d0$@in> Message-ID: Dear Bipin Trivedi, You might want to have a look at this. Rs 4375 crores, really? http://news.oneindia.in/2011/02/02/gujaratseeks-central-aid-for-farmers-hit-by-untimelyrains-aid0126.html Vadodara, Feb 1 (PTI) The Gujarat Government is goingto seek over Rs 4,000-crore package for farmerswho havesuffered crop losses on account of unseasonal rains in thestate late last year. "I will meet Union AgricultureMinister Sharad Pawarin Delhi on Wednesday and demand a special package of Rs 4,375crore for damaged crops in Gujarat," Minister for Agriculture,Cooperation, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Dileep Sanghanitold PTI today. "Gujarat wants this special package on the lines ofthose announced for the farmers of the two Congress-ruledstates Andhra Pradeshand Maharashtra," he said. "There should be no discrimination in declaring thepackage for the farmers in BJP-ruled Gujarat. We should becompensated fully for suffering the losses." A team headed by Anindo Majmumdar, Joint Secretary inUnion Agriculture and Cooperative Ministry, had visitedseveral regions of the state about a month ago for assessingthe damage caused to the crops. The Minister said the team visited various parts ofSaurashtra, North Gujarat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Rajula,Surendranagar and Mahua. The farmers in these areas have suffered an estimatedloss of about Rs 4,375 crore, Sanghani said. Chief MinisterNarendra Modi had earlier written a letter to Prime MinisterManmohan Singh seeking a special package, he added. "Why is the Centre taking so long to declare thepackage for farmers hit by unseasonal rains?" Sanghaniasked. Thanks Anupam On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 12:36 PM, anupam chakravartty wrote: > Hi Bipin, > > How it is that you went on posting the development scenario of Gujarat > earlier? How is it that you also accused one of the list members for being a > spokesperson for a writer while you went on posting stuff about Modi > administration? > > And which roads are you referring to? Roads in Ahmedabad meant for Mass > Rapid Transit System which are being used alternatively by sports bikers at > night. And Gujarat might not be getting subsidies from the centre but the > state government is major subsidies to industries in acquisition of land. > How is that possible? > > Anupam > > On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 10:49 PM, Bipin Trivedi wrote: > >> Dear Rakesh, >> >> I have never said earlier that what today Gujarat is only due to Narendra >> Modi. Please see bellow one para of my reply to you only earlier. >> >> In the field of infrastructural development, Gujarat is way ahead than >> many >> ways than the other state. Gujarat roads were much better even before >> reforms started and it was agreed by tourist come over here, in power >> sector >> Gujarat is always ahead and almost having today uninterrupted power >> including villages. For this Gujarat is paying highest tariff for power >> and >> lowest power theft than rest of the India and this is the reason they get >> uninterrupted supply. Similarly it has highest no. of ports and this is >> due >> to their long seashore and highest no. domestic airports than any other >> states. Reason is, since their establishments, Gujarat has not given any >> subsidies by any means. No free electricity to farmers and they are paying >> as per norms only, never given any subsidize rice or such other thing but >> still Gujarat is ahead of all the state in many criteria. It gives highest >> income to central govt. highest investment in share market, post office >> saving, banks. Prosperity of Gujarat was there and Narendra Modi has just >> speeded this up by improving govt. efficiency by having total control over >> IAS cadre, minimize corruption, made govt. PSU profitable. This is not >> small >> things. Gujarat has shown progress without subsidy is the proof of my >> argument. >> >> More than enough discussion made earlier on narmada dam topic. >> >> Thanks >> Bipin Trivedi >> >> >> From: Rakesh Iyer [mailto:rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com] >> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 8:06 PM >> To: Bipin Trivedi >> Cc: sarai-list >> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture >> growth >> >> Hi Bipin >> >> I am completely stunned, considering that when anything good comes, >> Narendra >> Modi's name is the first to be taken by you. It seems Gujarat was some >> sort >> of a hell before Modi came in and performed the actions which only the >> Genie >> could have done when Alladin rubbed the lamp. >> >> Anyways, regarding Narmada dam project, let me state you two things which >> the presenters of the paper haven't put and you can also know: >> >> a) Firstly, Medha Patkar, in her first 10 years of activism, was not at >> all >> asking for the dam not to be built. She was only interested in >> rehabilitation in a proper way for the displaced. That, I hope you will >> agree, is not a wrong thing to be done. She turned against the dam because >> in those 10 years, neither the Maharashtra nor the Madhya Pradesh state >> governments did anything to really rehabilitate the tribals. That the >> Central Government also contributed to it was a bigger sham. >> >> Moreover, there were alternate routes to making the dam, but this route >> was >> particularly chosen. >> >> b) The dam was being built mainly to provide water to the parched areas of >> Gujarat like Kutch and Saurashtra, while electricity was to be generated >> for >> Madhya Pradesh. Today, water has not reached most parts of Saurashtra and >> Kutch even after so many years of this project, and as for the status of >> electricity generation, the less said the better. >> >> The water has been obtained only for regions which had planned to use it >> anyways: Ahmedabad, Baroda and other urban centers which anyways have more >> rainfall in a year compared to regions in Kutch and Saurashtra. >> >> I have nothing against irrigation as such, but Sardar Sarovar Dam project >> was a project which should not have been taken up. In fact, the World Bank >> itself withdrew its funds to the project after realizing not even proper >> assessments of water supply and irrigation based on the scheme have been >> undertaken. >> >> Now you may not trust me. What about the World Bank? >> >> Rakesh >> >> >> On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 7:36 PM, Bipin Trivedi wrote: >> >> Why you are seeking answer from me for this. What I have earlier mentioned >> is Gujarat growth is healthy in agriculture and I have never mentioned >> that >> this turn around done by Narendra Modi only. >> >> The 2 reports, 1 from International Water management Institute, Sri Lanka >> and other from Institute of Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad. I am >> not the authority to judge about these reports. Some expert panel can >> decide >> about both the report status. Gujarat govt. authority must have read this >> let us wait for their reaction. But, I can see major difference by way of >> increased in happiness of the farmers in this decade. This practical >> difference can be experience in these days while roaming in the villages >> of >> Gujarat compared to previous days. Also, those opposing Narmada dam must >> notice this report that narmada dam water benefited the farmers and gave >> positive results. Check dam benefits during monsoon only while narmada dam >> water benefits whole year and for ever. >> >> Thanks >> Bipin Trivedi >> >> >> From: Rakesh Iyer [mailto:rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com] >> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 1:51 PM >> To: anupam chakravartty >> Cc: sarai list; bipin >> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture >> growth >> >> Dear all >> >> The link for the report: >> >> http://irapindia.org/gujarat_s%20agricultural_april_2010.pdf >> >> Rakesh >> On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 11:06 AM, anupam chakravartty > > >> wrote: >> Hi Bipin, >> >> I would like to know your views on the following news item that appeared >> this morning. >> >> Thanks >> >> "The study says that the "miracle" argument fails to take into account a >> crucial figure - fall of agricultural output by 30 per cent during two >> drought years, 1999 and 2000. >> >> >> Then, there is yet another distortion - the 9.6 per cent growth rate is on >> current prices, which means that the "figures are not corrected for >> inflation". >> >> It underlines, "The 'growth' observed in the recent past (2002 onwards) is >> nothing but a good recovery from a major dip in production occurred during >> the drought years of 1999 and 2000." The state officials are examining the >> study. >> >> The study also disputes the argument that dependence on rainfall went down >> in Gujarat due to a large number of check dams built in the state in >> 1999-2000. >> >> The highest growth, 22 per cent, during 1980-2006, was on account of milk >> production. As for crops like cotton and groundnut, "with good monsoons, >> production grew substantially with steady expansion in cropped area or >> yield >> growth", but in drought years "production suffered with shrinkage in area >> under irrigated winter crops, and sharp reduction in yield of crops sown >> in >> kharif, including cotton and groundnut". >> >> Read more: Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture growth - The >> Times of >> India< >> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Study-disputes-Gujar >> ats-miracle-in-agriculture-growth/articleshow/6897547.cms#ixzz14r5xAFat> >> >> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Study-disputes-Gujarats-mi >> racle-in-agriculture-growth/articleshow/6897547.cms#ixzz14r5xAFat >> >> Thanks >> Anupam >> _________________________________________ >> 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. >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> >> >> >> >> _________________________________________ >> 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. >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> >> > > From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 17:29:40 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 17:29:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Egypt, in Counterpunch Message-ID: A longish but interesting piece in Egypt. Naga http://www.counterpunch.org/alamin02012011.html From asit1917 at gmail.com Wed Feb 2 18:23:49 2011 From: asit1917 at gmail.com (asit das) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 18:23:49 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: [ESG-LIST] Scandalous Decision of Jairam Ramesh to OK POSCO project: Environment Minister disregards findings of his own Review and Statutory Clearances Committees In-Reply-To: <4D46BE4A.3070308@esgindia.org> References: <4D46BE4A.3070308@esgindia.org> Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: ESGINDIA Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:21:06 +0530 Subject: [ESG-LIST] Scandalous Decision of Jairam Ramesh to OK POSCO project: Environment Minister disregards findings of his own Review and Statutory Clearances Committees To: esglist at lists.esgindia.org, bangalore_issues at lists.esgindia.org, corporate_list at lists.esgindia.org (This Press Release is being circulated by ESG at the request of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi - POSCO Resistance Struggle Movement. Please re-circulate widely) **POSCO PRATIRODH SANGRAM SAMITI** *Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Gadkujang; Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa* *PRESS RELEASE: 31 January 2011* *Scandalous Decision of Jairam Ramesh to OK POSCO project* Environment Minister disregards findings of his own Review and Statutory Clearances Committees The decision of Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to give a comprehensive OK to the POSCO India Steel-Power Production-Captive Port project, based on some additional conditions, is nothing short of a total sell out to the politics of power and international capital. In a climate where each and every Minister of the Union Government is tumbling over with scandals, Ramesh had stood tall taking one brave legally and ethically correct decision after another. An acid test for him to continue this streak of decision making in the wider public interest, keeping in view intergenerational interests as well, was about the POSCO project. By his decision today to clear the project Ramesh has failed not only his own legacy, but has attacked the very rule of law based decision making that he has so often been harping on to be the basis of his functioning. It is well known that the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi, a peaceful movement of affected communities, has been systematically raising the deep, inter-generational and irreversible impacts of allowing this massive project to come up in the ecologically sensitive Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. This struggle began with the inking of a most controversial MOU between Orissa State and Korea's Pohang Steel (POSCO) in 2005, proposing to establish the largest industrial project ever conceived in human history: a 12 MTPA steel plant backed by captive power plant; a captive port (described as "small" but designed to receive the largest commercial ships ever built - of CAPESIZE variety); a large township to accommodate over 100000 people; a large captive mine in Kandadhar (600 MT for local processing and 400 MT for export over 30 years); fresh water intake from over 100 kms. away (while denying many towns and cities drinking water) and extensive road and rail infrastructure to support the project. The 4000 acres of land chosen for the plant site comprise of pristine coastal and deltaic ecosystems, with active nesting sites for the critically endangered Olive Ridley Turtles and the Horse Shoe Crabs. Over a third of this land comprises of coastal forests. Over 22000 people will be directly displaced by the steel plant alone, a number that has been repeatedly disputed by Orissa Government based on its spurious claims. Absolutely no impact assessment of any academic rigour worth its salt or regulatory review of value considering the mega scale of this project, has at all been conducted to support the project is environmentally and socially useful. In fact, the so-called Rapid Environment Impact Assessment reports prepared by M/s Dastur for POSCO India, was only for 4 MTPA steel production and not for the entire project as is required by law. Clearly against statutory standards and norms, the project was still accorded environmental, forest and coastal regulation zone clearances in 2007. In addition, the Orissa Government engaged the /National Council for Applied Economic Research /(/NCAER) to cook up data claiming the benefits from the project as phenomenal, which when verified even cursorily proved to be junk statistics supporting desperate political games promoting the project. / *Background to the Independent Review of POSCO by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF):* Following what is widely regarded as a politically brave but legally correct decision of Jairam Ramesh to reject on grounds of fraud the clearance accorded to the infamous Vedanta Bauxite project in Orissa during 2010, the much larger POSCO issue came into focus. After all communities affected by POSCO had been engaged for over 5 years in the most outstanding example of peaceful resistance against such unprecedented unjust development. Bending to reason, Mr. Ramesh agreed to constitute a sub-Committee under the N. C. Saxena Committee reviewing Forest Rights Act implementation, to also enquire if the POSCO project's forest clearances were compliant with the Forests Rights Act enacted only in 2006. Producing their report the Committee put beyond any reasonable doubt that the forest clearances accorded were in comprehensive violation of the Forest Rights Act. A right step taken soon after by the Minister was to stay the forest clearance accorded - a decision taken that was taken at a time when brutal dislocation of forest dwelling communities was underway by the Orissa Government. Subsequently, Ramesh ordered an independent enquiry into all aspects of the project's clearance coordinated by Ms. Meena Gupta, former MoEF Environment Secretary, with Mr. Devendra Pandey (IFS, Retd.), former Director of Forest Survey of India, Mr. V. Suresh, Advocate and PUCL activist and Dr. Urmila Pingle, expert on tribal affairs, as members. Following three months of deliberate and extensive consultations, and also detailed investigation into all aspects of the clearances accorded, and on the basis of detailed verification of compliance review files the Committee by a majority decision (3:1) comprehensively rejected all the clearances granted to the project. Ms. Meena Gupta who stood up for the POSCO project, dubiously recommended additional conditions to adjust against serious statutory violations and fraud in the decision making process -- a line of thinking that Jairam Ramesh now scandalously subscribes to. In the subsequent review by Statutory Appraisal Committees of the MoEF, the Committees reviewing the Forest and Coastal Clearances recommended withdrawal of clearances granted. The only Committee that proposed a go-ahead was the one reviewing the environmental impacts under the EIA Notification. It was for Ramesh to now decide on the right steps to be taken to correct this gross injustice and irregularities in environmental decision making. In the face of extensive burden of proof of fraud involved in securing clearances for the POSCO project, the matter should legally have been to withdraw clearances accorded -- as in the Vedanta case. This was the time to test the honesty of a man to stand up and uphold Constitutional and Ethical values, regardless of any and all forms of pressures. Jairam Ramesh has miserably failed this test. *Jairam Ramesh's pro-POSCO decision:* The report presented today by Jairam Ramesh is nothing but a capitulation to corrupt forces both within India and abroad. After all POSCO, though a Korean company, is held largely by American corporations, and no less than Warren Buffet holds 5% stake in this transnational corporation. For the single largest project FDI investment in India at 2005 prices (Rs. 51,000 crores or USD 12 billion capital cost), analysis reveal that this investment can be recovered in less than a decade given the pittance of a royalty that POSCO will pay for iron ore extracted. (Rs. 30/tonne at the official ore valuation of Rs. 300/tonne, compared with the commercial value of Rs. 7,000/tonne). It is to make such unprecedented profits from the plunder of India's natural resources that POSCO demanded a coastal location for its super large CAPESIZE ships to be berthed to cart away our precious iron ore. What India would be left with is the toxic residue of its dirty ore processing, while the refined ore (perhaps not even the finished steel) would be exported to Korea and elsewhere to add more value to POSCO's profits. This is not merely a flight of the nation's natural wealth but also a massive planned political exercise for erosion of financial resources with questionable legal sanction. The POSCO episode, simply stated, shockingly resembles operations of the East India Company, only that this time it is aided not by any Victorian empire, but democratically elected Governments in Orissa and the Centre. Just as Mahatma Gandhi led India's valiant battle against exploitation of India by the British Empire, it is time now for PPSS to actively challenge this gross violation of Constitutional Rights, Statutes and Norms, dubiously legitimised by Jairam Ramesh ignoring substantive findings of Enquiry Committees that he himselft constituted. The struggle against POSCO in Jagatsinghpur will continue. The struggle against exploitation of tribal, farming and fishing communities of Orissa will continue. The battle to expose corruption in the Orissa Government and the Union Government (especially MoEF) will continue. This is a struggle to expose the most corrupt and socially and environmentally disastrous deal ever legitimised in India's history. Abhay Sahoo President 09556666552 Prashant Paikray Spokesperson 09437571547 prashantpaikray at gmail.com POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi -- Environment, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives Environment Support Group Trust 1572, 36th Cross, Banashankari II Stage Bangalore 560070 Tel: 91-80-26713559-61 Voice/Fax: 91-80-26713316 Email: esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org From Image.Science at donau-uni.ac.at Wed Feb 2 20:46:58 2011 From: Image.Science at donau-uni.ac.at (Image Science) Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:16:58 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] HALF-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP for the program EXHIBITION DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT Message-ID: <4D49837A0200007D0002133F@gwgwia.donau-uni.ac.at> HALF-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP for the program EXHIBITION DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT (UNESCO World Cultural Landscape Wachau, international faculty, low residency, parallel to employment) > Deadline March 13, 2011 The Department for Image Science and the MUSEUM ASSOCIATION AUSTRIA are pleased to announce a half-tuition scholarship for the certified program "Exhibition Design and Management" starting in April 2011 As part of a long-standing cooperation with the Museum Association Austria, the Department for Image Science announces a half-tuition scholarship for the program "Exhibition Design and Management". A jury will screen the applications and decide upon the recipient of the scholarship. Application deadline: March 13, 2011 (Application consists of an application form and letter of motivation.) >EXHIBITION DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT This scholarship will support the continuing education of artists and scholars in the area of exhibition design and management. Especially welcome are applicants interested in further engagement in the development and management of exhibitions, experiential worlds and immersive environments. The modularized and low-residency certified program "Exhibition Design and Management" imparts the core skills of contemporary exhibition practice in 2 presence modules in April and November 2011. >IN ENGLISH - After being offered 4 successful years in German, the program will now step into the European scene and be offered for the first time in English. => EXPERTS - With a faculty of international experts: Prof. Herbert LACHMAYER (Staging Knowledge; U.- Arts & Design, Linz), Gerfried STOCKER (director; Ars Electronica), Frank den OUDSTEN (designer, teacher, writer, performer), Lutz ENGELKE (founder; Triad- Berlin), Martin FRITZ (curator, consultant, writer), Dr. Harald GRÜNDL (founder; EOOS * Vienna), Pat MUNRO (exhibition evaluator), Dr. Dieter BOGNER (museum planner), Prof. Jorge WAGENSBERG (scientific director; Fundacio *la Caixa*, Barcelona, Becky GILBERT (board member; European Fundraising Association), Dieter RONTE (art museum director; Hannover, Bonn, Krems), Audrey O*CONNELL (Natural History Museum; London) and others. Case-studies and best-practice examples from today and tomorrow will be shown for their far-reaching insights into the contemporary varieties of exhibiting. >PROGRAM - The certified program is a part of the post-graduate masters program at the Department for Image Science, under the direction of the American exhibition developer Wendy Jo Coones, M.Ed., who has been a part of the realization of 60 international exhibitions. Based on the needs and schedules of the students, the credits earned in Exhibition Design and Management can be combined with other programs to upgrade to an academic expert or masters degree. MODULES Module 1: From Theory to Practice: competent planning and organization of exhibitions April 16-24, 2011 Module 2: From the Practice to Preparation: professional realization of exhibitions November 5-17, 2011 >CONTENT OF TEACHING - In our modern knowledge society, exhibitions are more than just presentations of artifacts; they enable experiences to take place in special staged spaces with a variety of purposes. Exhibitions inform, entertain and animate. Whether for a museum, theme park, science center, exhibit hall, or experiential world * a harmonious visitor experience can only be accomplished through sensible implementation of design and organizational knowledge. >FACTS - The program addresses anyone who needs current skills and competencies for handling the realization of exhibition projects. For example: staff in museums, collections and similar institutions, promoters and curators of science or art / culture, and staff in tourist, fair or theme park establishments. Further information on the program: www.donau-uni.ac.at/exhibit contact: Andrea Haberson Department for Image Science Danube-University Krems Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Str. 30, A-3500 Krems Tel: +43(0)2732 893-2569 andrea.haberson at donau-uni.ac.at www.donau-uni.ac.at/dbw From aswathypsenan at gmail.com Thu Feb 3 10:08:06 2011 From: aswathypsenan at gmail.com (Aswathy Senan) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 10:08:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Spicmacay Scholarship Message-ID: http://www.artscapeindia.org/Other-Events/Spic-Macay-Scholarship-scheme-2011.html From chandni_parekh at yahoo.com Thu Feb 3 13:44:02 2011 From: chandni_parekh at yahoo.com (Chandni Parekh) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 00:14:02 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Free Five-Day Course on Human Development at TISS, Bombay ((tag: Funds Offered)) Message-ID: <510185.76242.qm@web161408.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> >From Vasudha Dhingra Tata Institute of Social Sciences Orientation Course on Human Development (25-29 April 2011) (Supported by UNDP, India) Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai will conduct an orientation course on Human Development at TISS, Mumbai from 25-29 April 2011, as part of a project supported by UNDP, India. The objective of the course is to orient young development practitioners to the human development approach and its operationalization into development practice. Eligibility to apply: (a) Should be working on development issues of the poor and marginalized in India, in the government, NGOs, development agencies or as faculty in academic institutions. (b) Should be postgraduates (in any discipline) and preferably not more than 35 years of age. How to apply: The application should consist of the following:- (a) CV of the applicant (not to exceed 4 pages). (b) A brief note (not to exceed 1 page) on why the applicant would like to participate in the course. The application should be sent by email to hdcourse.tiss at gmail.com *and * rohit at tiss.edu not later than *28 February 2011*. Selected participants will be informed by 15 March 2011. The selected participants will be provided with lodging and boarding by TISS, however they will have to bear their own travel costs. There is no registration fee for the course. From the-network at koeln.de Thu Feb 3 13:47:44 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (Coff2011) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:17:44 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?CologneOFF_2011_--=3E_February_2011?= Message-ID: <20110203091744.9EA0EDA9.D1004C52@192.168.0.4> CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context nomadic festival project 1 January - 31 December 2011 http://coff.newmediafest.org _______________________________________________ After its official launch on 1 January 2011, CologneOFF 2011 has now all basic components installed online and it's ready for its physical and virtual tours around the world. The virtual tour started when CologneOFF 2011 was launching on 6 January its basic festival program - CologneOFF VI - Let's Celebrate including all videos selected by the international jury http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=153 The physical tour started on 26 January 2011 in the framework of Rotterdam International Film Festival at CUCOSA Art Space Rotterdam with the special selection "Attracted by the Opposite?" more info on netMAXX http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=161 February 2011 1. virtual tour geographical focus: USA solo feature: Henry Gwiazda, USA In February, CologneOFF 2011 starts its program series of videoart from different geographical regions around the globe - with videoart from Northern America, basically USA. The first released component represents the solo feature of 6 videos by the US media artist - Henry Gwiazda, who is following his own individual artistic path. In his animated 3D worlds he pays attention to the minimal physical and psychological movements of his protagonists in an everyday world, and makes hidden secrets visible, always fascinating the viewer who does not know what is coming next. Henry Gwiazda's solo feature can be accessed via the main festival application on http://coff.newmediafest.org, but also via Screen 3 on http://www.nmartproject.net or Screen 4 on http://www.newmediafrest.org During February 2011, each week additional aspects of video art from Northern America will be posted and featured online. 2. physical tour 1. Rotterdam continues until 6 February 2011 http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=161 2. CologneOFF 2011 is jumping to Finland presenting in collaboration with Live Herring 2011 two compilations under the themes "Privat Space -Open Space?" & "Imagining the Real" to be presented between 10 Feb and 31 March in Jyvaskyla and Keuruu - more info on netMAXX http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=170 3. Between 18 and 20 February, CologneOFF 2011 is making a short visit in India, where CeC - Carnival of e-Creativity is being celebrated in Sattal, a place not far from New Delhi, but located deeply in the Himalaya mountains. Agricola de Cologne, the creator and curator of CologneOFF 2011, who is also co-curator of this event of digital art, is presenting CologneOFF 2011 as it was previously shown on Delhi International Arts Festival 12-13 Dec 2010, consisting of the basic festival program CologneOFF VI and the programs by 5 curators included in the curatorial programs of CologneOFF 2011 - Margarida Paiva (Norway), Alysse Stepanian (USA), Pedro Almeida & Sergio Gomes (Portugal), Kai Lossgott (South Africa) and Giorgio Fedeli (Italy) More details on netMAXX - http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=175 -------------------------------------------------- CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context is organised online via multi screens. --> The Mains Screen 1 - http://coff.newmediafest.org offers the entire project of CologneOFF 2011 in one single application while the additional screens display individual components separately. Here is the list of currently available screens Main screen 1 - CologneOFF VI http://coff.newmediafest.org Screen 2 - interactive - the interactive component of CologneOFF VI http://www.javamuseum.org Screen 3 - geographical this monthly changing geographiocal focus is under construction, yet. http://www.nmartproject.net Screen 4 - solo features from February 2011 on, each month an individual videoartist from another country will be featured with a selection of 5 video works http://www.newmediafest.org Screen 5 - curatorial will be containing all info and lists videos & artists selected by about 40 participating curators, under construction http://soundlab.newmediafest.org Screen 6 - topical This screen is displaying from February 2011 on each month other video selections under different topics http://videochannel.newmediafest.org Screen 7 - special This screen will feature special videos from CologneOFF VI and the future CologneOFF VII (see also the current call for entries) http://cinema.nmartproject.net Screen 8 - contextual updates & info This is the festival blog where all textual info can be found the ideal pleace to keep oneself updated http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/ (English) http://2011.newmediafest.org (Deutsch) Screen 9 - exhibition details This screen will display the info about the programs of the physical venues http://maxx.nmartproject.net --------------------------------------------------------- CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context nomadic festival project 1 January - 31 December 2011 powered by artvideoKOELN - the curatorial initiative "art & moving images" http://video.mediaartcologne.org & CologneOFF - Cologne International Videoart Festival http://coff.newmediafest.org 2011 (at) coff.newmediafest.org -------------------------------------------------- From chintan.backups at gmail.com Thu Feb 3 14:38:51 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 14:38:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Books for children, and wearing our anxieties lightly Message-ID: >From http://www.teacherplus.org/book-review/a-breath-of-fresh-air *A breath of fresh air* Once when author Anushka Ravishankar was travelling by train, a young man sharing the compartment was curious about what she did for a living. “I write for children,” she said. Surprised at this, the young man blurted, “Oh, textbooks!” No, she said. “Storybooks?” No, not quite there yet. “I write nonsense,” she told him. The puzzled look on the young man’s face is worth imagining. The author of much-adored books like *Catch That Crocodile!, Tiger On A Tree, Today Is My Day, Wish You Were Here*, and many others, likes to write “books that kids can just have fun with, play with.” I met Anushka in November 2010 at *Damroo!*, a workshop for creating content for children, hosted by the Industrial Design Centre at IIT Bombay. Her approach comes like a breath of fresh air in a scenario where parents are either trying to dissuade their children from looking beyond their textbooks or stuffing their children with moral tales that hope to fortify their young souls against the big bad world. “Books that start off with educational intent tend to be less exciting for children. I tend to react strongly against didactic books for children. Their purpose is to simply inform or improve the child, not to let him or her simply enjoy reading. Fun books aren’t necessarily irresponsible. They too have a world view,” she remarks. I am reminded of another storyteller, another train journey, another man. HH Munro’s short story, *The Storyteller*, is set in a railway carriage occupied by three children, their aunt, and a bachelor who is travelling alone. In order to keep the children from making noise, the aunt tells them a story about a little girl who was good, was liked by everyone because she was good, and was rescued from a mad bull by a number of people who admired her moral character. At this point, one of the children suspects that the people would have saved the girl even if she hadn’t been good. The aunt offers an unconvincing reply saying that the rescuers wouldn’t have run as fast to help the girl if they hadn’t liked her a lot. The children are little inclined to buy this; they find the story absolutely stupid. At this point, the bachelor begins telling a story hoping to keep the children engaged. This one is about a little girl called Bertha, who was “extraordinarily good.” Allergic to the very mention of goodness, the children begin to lose interest, suspecting another variant of their aunt’s tale. Munro tells us that there is “a wave of reaction” when he speaks of Bertha as “horribly good.” The children find this oddly surprising, but they are hooked. Bertha is awarded medals for obedience, punctuality, and good behaviour – and the privilege to walk in the Prince’s park, which is out of bounds for other children. The park is infested with pigs that have eaten up all the flowers in the garden. One day, a wolf comes to the park to see if it can catch a pig or two. Bertha scampers for her life, and finds shelter among a few bushes. In her moment of fear, she says, “If I had not been so extraordinarily good I should have been safe in the town at this moment.” With all the anxious trembling, her medals clink against one another, and the wolf dashes into the bush, drags her out and gobbles her up. We are told that “All that was left of her were her shoes, bits of clothing, and the three medals for goodness.” All our ideas about children as sweet, innocent angels are shattered. The children listening to the story are thrilled; they even call it beautiful. The aunt, like many adults, who want to protect children from violence and expose them only to models of virtue, is shocked. She yells at the bachelor, “A most improper story to tell young children! You have undermined the effect of years of careful teaching.” He, of course, is rather smug. “At any rate,” he says, picking up his things before leaving the carriage, “I kept them quiet for ten minutes, which was more than you were able to do.” I wonder what Anushka thinks of Munro’s story, but it is clear here that what children are excited by is not necessarily congruent with adult perceptions about what is good for them; what they must read, watch or be exposed to. This is not to say that we must give up the idea of sharing stories that we feel our children could learn from; rather we should perhaps begin to wear our anxieties a bit lightly. If something is imposed, there’s bound to be resistance. “Sometimes when I visit schools, I ask children how many of them don’t like to read. Many of them say that it’s because the books at home are all picked up by their parents, and they find those books boring. They don’t have a choice in what they read. Also, I think some children will never love books, and that’s okay. They can go play in the park, or do something else that they enjoy,” she says. There’s too much pressure on children. Even in the case of parents who encourage their children to read, there is often an impulse to push them into reading seemingly more complex books; for instance, to move beyond picture books, and to read ‘real’ books packed with text. Says Anushka “Children relate to pictures in a very different way than adults. For many adults, the concern is how to keep them occupied instead of thinking about what the children will engage with and enjoy.” So how does she manage to figure out what a child will enjoy? “I don’t think of a reader out there. You have to tap into the child in yourself and write for that.” *References* Modi, C. (2008). Official School Poetry in Indian Textbooks: A Critical View. *Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language* 12/3, 1-8. http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume12/ej47/ej47r1/ Munro, H. H. (1949). The storyteller. In L. B. Cook, W. Loban, O.J. Campbell, & R.M. Stauffer (Eds.), *The world through literature*. California: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 406-411. From chintan.backups at gmail.com Thu Feb 3 14:58:22 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 14:58:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The encyclopaedia of informal education Message-ID: >From http://www.teacherplus.org/2011/february-2011/a-fabulous-resource I was first introduced to this website by a university professor of mine during a post-graduate class on curriculum design, and I’ve kept coming back to it every once in a while. What I like about this encyclopaedia of informal education is that it brings together a wealth of information and insight in accessible language. While it would certainly interest teachers, teacher educators, and students of education, it also promises to be of value to other readers looking for a simple, uncluttered exposition on ‘key ideas, practices and thinkers’. Those are the three categories under which the encyclopaedia is organized. The offerings here extend beyond informal education to the fields of lifelong learning as well as social action. Since there is so much available on the Internet, credibility is definitely a concern. It helps to know that www.infed.orgis run by YMCA George Williams College, London. A quick look at a random selection of entries would assure you that a great amount of thought and research has gone into the building of this fabulous resource. All entries are accompanied by a bibliography; so you can trace back original sources and find avenues to read up more. They also welcome contributions, in case you feel inspired to add to the existing set of resources. The subject areas they need help with are listed out on the website, so you can figure out where to chip in. From Image.Science at donau-uni.ac.at Thu Feb 3 17:27:42 2011 From: Image.Science at donau-uni.ac.at (Image Science) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:57:42 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Rewire 2011 - Conf. on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology Message-ID: <4D4AA6460200007D000213CC@gwgwia.donau-uni.ac.at> Rewire 2011 - Call for Proposals The Fourth International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology Location: Liverpool , UK (Host: FACT, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) Dates: September 28 - October 1, 2011 = >> Due to large number of submissions that continue to come in towards the last few days before the closing deadline, it was decided to keep the submissions open until the 17th of February 2011. submit : www.MediaArtHistory.org = >> Media Art History 2011 - Rewire will increase the voltage and ignite key debates within the internationally distributed network of histories, which takes account of the questions surrounding documentation and methodologies, materiality, and agency. Rewire aims to illuminate the global phenomena of media art. Given Liverpool*s historic role as a center of British industry and its leadership in the sector of digital culture, we shall explore the relationship between the industrial revolution and the information age with respect to media art around the world. Considering the international scope of the histories of media art, science and technology, Rewire is also listed as part of the "McLuhan in Europe" programme, and will take place concurrently with The Asia Triennial in Manchester and Abandon Normal Devices, the North West's festival of new cinema and digital culture which returns to Liverpool in September 2011.The reviewers especially welcome proposals for presentations that resonate thematically with these events. We are looking for original research on: * Media art history in relation to the biological, biomedical and ecological sciences * Colonial experiences and non-Western histories of media art, science and technology * How the field of science and technology studies (STS) can offer useful models for new paradigms for art history * Writing art history in a technologised and scientific culture, including the documentation of media art and how it is changed in a technologised and scientific culture * Local histories and practices of media art * Relations between the histories of media art and those of computing and new technologies * New paradigms and alternative discourses for media art and media art history, such as, for example, craft, design, social media, or cybernetics * The relations between art, science, technology and industry, both historically and now * The heritage of British industry and computing and its global contributions to media art = >> Following the success of Media Art History 05 Re:fresh in Banff, Media Art History 07 Re:place in Berlin and Media Art History 09 Re:live in Melbourne, Media Art History 11 Rewire will host three days of keynotes, panels and poster sessions. =>> Hosted by FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool. In collaboration with academic partners: Liverpool John Moores University, CRUMB at the University of Sunderland, the Universities of the West of Scotland and Lancaster, and the Database of Virtual Art at the Dept. for Image Science. Rewire Conference Chair: Mike STUBBS, FACT Rewire Conference Co-chairs: Paul BROWN, University of Sussex Sarah COOK, University of Sunderland/CRUMB Colin DAVIES, Liverpool John Moores University Charlie GERE, Lancaster University Andy MIAH, University of the West of Scotland Ed SHANKEN, University of Amsterdam Laura SILLARS, FACT International Advisory Committee: Steven BALL, Tatiana BAZZICHELLI, Stuart COMER, Sean CUBITT, Dieter DANIELS, Sara DIAMOND, Vince DZIEKAN, Charles ESCHE, Sarah FISHER, Jean GAGNON, Graham HARWOOD, Erkki HUHTAMO, Nick LAMBERT, Debbi LANDER, Tapio MAKELA, Chris MEIGH-ANDREWS, Frieder NAKE, Taylor NUTTALL, Steve PARTRIDGE, Christiane PAUL, Ned ROSSITER, Paul SERMON, Jinsuk SUH, Brett STALBAUM, Julian STALLABRASS, Atau TANAKA, Andrea ZAPP MediaArtHistory Board (Conference Series Steering Committee) Erkki HUHTAMO, Tim LENOIR, Machiko KUSAHARA, Gunalan NADARAJAN, Oliver GRAU, Doug KAHN, Linda HENDERSON, Sean CUBITT, Martin KEMP and Paul THOMAS = >> forwarded by:: Department for Image Science at Danube University, Austria Media Art History conference series partner and web-platform home www.mediaarthistory.org www.donau-uni.ac.at/mah (mediaarthistories group) www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=36056054067 (rewire group) www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=109013832492013 From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Fri Feb 4 08:21:57 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 08:21:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?Fwd=3A_=91The_Arab_World_Is_on_Fir?= =?windows-1252?q?e=92_by_Noam_Chomsky?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Date: 3 February 2011 Subject: ‘The Arab World Is on Fire’ by Noam Chomsky ZCommunications | ‘The Arab World Is on Fire’ by Noam Chomsky | ZSpace [image: 9] ‘The Arab World Is on Fire’ ------------------------------ By Noam Chomsky Source: ITT/New York Times Syndicate Thursday, February 03, 2011 “The Arab world is on fire,” al-Jazeera reported on January 27, while throughout the region, Western allies “are quickly losing their influence.” The shock wave was set in motion by the dramatic uprising in Tunisia that drove out a Western-backed dictator, with reverberations especially in Egypt, where demonstrators overwhelmed a dictator’s brutal police. Observers compared the events to the toppling of Russian domains in 1989, but there are important differences. Crucially, no Mikhail Gorbachev exists among the great powers that support the Arab dictators. Rather, Washington and its allies keep to the well-established principle that democracy is acceptable only insofar as it conforms to strategic and economic objectives: fine in enemy territory (up to a point), but not in our backyard, please, unless it is properly tamed. One 1989 comparison has some validity: Romania, where Washington maintained its support for Nicolae Ceausescu, the most vicious of the East European dictators, until the allegiance became untenable. Then Washington hailed his overthrow while the past was erased. That is a standard pattern: Ferdinand Marcos, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Chun Doo Hwan, Suharto and many other useful gangsters. It may be under way in the case of Hosni Mubarak, along with routine efforts to try to ensure that a successor regime will not veer far from the approved path. The current hope appears to be Mubarak loyalist Gen. Omar Suleiman, just named Egypt’s vice president. Suleiman, the longtime head of the intelligence services, is despised by the rebelling public almost as much as the dictator himself. A common refrain among pundits is that fear of radical Islam requires (reluctant) opposition to democracy on pragmatic grounds. While not without some merit, the formulation is misleading. The general threat has always been independence. In the Arab world, the United States and its allies have regularly supported radical Islamists, sometimes to prevent the threat of secular nationalism. A familiar example is Saudi Arabia, the ideological center of radical Islam (and of Islamic terror). Another in a long list is Zia ul-Haq, the most brutal of Pakistan’s dictators and President Reagan’s favorite, who carried out a program of radical Islamization (with Saudi funding). “The traditional argument put forward in and out of the Arab world is that there is nothing wrong, everything is under control,” says Marwan Muasher, former Jordanian official and now director of Middle East research for the Carnegie Endowment. “With this line of thinking, entrenched forces argue that opponents and outsiders calling for reform are exaggerating the conditions on the ground.” Therefore the public can be dismissed. The doctrine traces far back and generalizes worldwide, to U.S. home territory as well. In the event of unrest, tactical shifts may be necessary, but always with an eye to reasserting control. The vibrant democracy movement in Tunisia was directed against “a police state, with little freedom of expression or association, and serious human rights problems,” ruled by a dictator whose family was hated for their venality. This was the assessment by U.S. Ambassador Robert Godec in a July 2009 cable released by WikiLeaks. Therefore to some observers the WikiLeaks “documents should create a comforting feeling among the American public that officials aren’t asleep at the switch”—indeed, that the cables are so supportive of U.S. policies that it is almost as if Obama is leaking them himself (or so Jacob Heilbrunn writes in *The National Interest*.) “America should give Assange a medal,” says a headline in the *Financial Times*. Chief foreign-policy analyst Gideon Rachman writes that “America’s foreign policy comes across as principled, intelligent and pragmatic—the public position taken by the U.S. on any given issue is usually the private position as well.” In this view, WikiLeaks undermines the “conspiracy theorists” who question the noble motives that Washington regularly proclaims. Godec’s cable supports these judgments—at least if we look no further. If we do, as foreign policy analyst Stephen Zunes reports in *Foreign Policy in Focus*, we find that, with Godec’s information in hand, Washington provided $12 million in military aid to Tunisia. As it happens, Tunisia was one of only five foreign beneficiaries: Israel (routinely); the two Middle East dictatorships Egypt and Jordan; and Colombia, which has long had the worst human-rights record and the most U.S. military aid in the hemisphere. Heilbrunn’s Exhibit A is Arab support for U.S. policies targeting Iran, revealed by leaked cables. Rachman too seizes on this example, as did the media generally, hailing these encouraging revelations. The reactions illustrate how profound is the contempt for democracy in the educated culture. Unmentioned is what the population thinks—easily discovered. According to polls released by the Brookings Institution in August, some Arabs agree with Washington and Western commentators that Iran is a threat: 10 percent. In contrast, they regard the U.S. and Israel as the major threats (77 percent; 88 percent). Arab opinion is so hostile to Washington’s policies that a majority (57 percent) think regional security would be enhanced if Iran had nuclear weapons. Still, “there is nothing wrong, everything is under control” (as Marwan Muasher describes the prevailing fantasy). The dictators support us. Their subjects can be ignored—unless they break their chains, and then policy must be adjusted. Other leaks also appear to lend support to the enthusiastic judgments about Washington’s nobility. In July 2009, Hugo Llorens, U.S. ambassador to Honduras, informed Washington of an embassy investigation of “legal and constitutional issues surrounding the June 28 forced removal of President Manuel `Mel’ Zelaya.” The embassy concluded that “there is no doubt that the military, Supreme Court and National Congress conspired on June 28 in what constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch.” Very admirable, except that President Obama proceeded to break with almost all of Latin America and Europe by supporting the coup regime and dismissing subsequent atrocities. Perhaps the most remarkable WikiLeaks revelations have to do with Pakistan, reviewed by foreign policy analyst Fred Branfman in Truthdig. The cables reveal that the U.S. embassy is well aware that Washington’s war in Afghanistan and Pakistan not only intensifies rampant anti-Americanism but also “risks destabilizing the Pakistani state” and even raises a threat of the ultimate nightmare: that nuclear weapons might fall into the hands of Islamic terrorists. Again, the revelations “should create a comforting feeling—that officials are not asleep at the switch” (Heilbrunn’s words)—while Washington marches stalwartly toward disaster. *The New York Times Syndicate* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Free Binayak Sen" group. To post to this group, send an email to free-binayaksen at googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to free-binayaksen+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/free-binayaksen?hl=en-GB. From the-network at koeln.de Fri Feb 4 14:13:31 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (JavaMuseum) Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:43:31 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?=22Celebrate!=22_-_netart_features_-?= =?iso-8859-1?q?_10_Years_JavaMuseum?= Message-ID: <20110204094331.E7F8C9CE.9662AD0B@192.168.0.4> - Celebrate! - netart features 2010 10 Years JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technology http://2010.javamuseum.org Between 1 January and 31 December 2010, JavaMuseum was celebrating its 10th anniversary by releasing the ongoing journal "Celebrate", featuring 102 artists and including more than 300 netart pieces Now after its completion, "Celebrate!" is representing another excellent resource of netart created by JavaMuseum, dedicated this time to the periode since 2004. "Celebrate!" includes netart works by following artists 001.Lederman, Russet - 002.Perrin, Natalie - 003.Qohtaiwoo 004.Andre Sier - 005.Rebecca Young - 006.Ida Julsen 007.Erika Lincoln - 008.José Vieira - 009.Michael Cousin 010.Adam Trowbridge - 011.xname - 012.Ubermorgen.com 013.Marcello Mercado - 014.Isabel Aranda Yto - 015.Carmen Olmo 016.Jeremy Hight - 017.Alan Bigelow - 018.Mark Cypher 019.Aleksandar Janicijevic - 020.Chris Basmajian 021.Jing Zhou - 022.Grégoire Zabé - 023.Marc Lee 024.Timo Kahlen - 025.Curt Cloninger - 026.Susanne Berkenheger 027.Jurgen Trautwein aka jtwine - 028.Carlo Sansolo - 029.Reginald Brooks 030.York Is Us Collective - 031.AND-OR and Johannes Auer 032.Osvaldo Cibils - 033.KPHB - Philippe Bruneau - 034.Ian Flitman 035.Katty Vandenberghe - 036.Ethan Ham/Benjamin Rosenbaum 037. Adele Prince - 038.Jihyun Ahn - 039.Lily & Honglei 040.Christophe Bruchansky - 041.Henri Gwiazda 042.Michael Takeo Magruder - 043. Julian Konczak - 044.Santo File 045.J.R.Carpenter - 046.DLSAN - 047.MEZ - Mary Anne Breeze 048.80/81 - 049.Gaya Gajewska - 050.Pat Badani 051.Tirso Orive Liarte - 052.Jane Crayton - 053.Simon Fildes & Katrina McPherson 054.Andrea Polli - 055.Indira Montoya - 056.Gregory Chatonsky 057.Myriam Thyes - 058.Tomas Rawski - 059.ui uuii 060.Evelin Stermitz - 061.David Boardman & Paolo Gerbaudo 062.Tamar Schori & Oded Perry - 063.Calin Man - 064.Lisa Cianci 065.Nanette Wylde - 066.Dawid Marcinkowski - 067.Greg Giannis 068.Constant Dullaart - 069.Mike Ruiz - 070.Videored Collective 071.Sean Hovendick - 072.Roberto Echen - 073.Nicole Stenger 074.Ayman Alazraq - 075.Doron Golan - 076.Westbrook/Trowbridge 077.Michiel Koelink - 078.Dida Papalexandrou - 079.Hyeseung Yoo 080.David Morneau - 081.E.W.Walters - 082.P. J. Moskal 083.Ana Carvalho - 084.Ximena Alarcón - 085.Mark Beasley 086.James B. Pollack - 087.Panayiotis Payiatis - 088.Miriam Needoba 089.Roderick Coover - 090.Agam Andreas - 091.Gonzalo Cueto 092.Stefan Baltensberger - 093.Matias Giulani - 094.Ernesto Rios Lanz 095.Aaron Oldenburg - 096.Matthieu Cherubini - 097.Volkslesen.tv 098.Andrei Thomaz & Martin Heuser - 099.Yota Morimoto 100.Aleksandar Janicijevic - 101.Vesna Srnic - 102.David Colagiovanni JavaMuseum and its creator and director Wilfried Agricola de Cologne would like to thank all artists and supporters for helping to establish "netart" as an art genre of its own. Time will show, whether 10 Years of JavaMuseum activities will have such a desired lasting effect. On 1 January 2011, JavaMuseum became part of the new museum of networked art "Le Musee -di-visioniste", a virtual museum with extensions in physical space which is currently under construction - http://www.le-musee-divisioniste.org In this way, JavaMuseum will remain completely available online as an historical monument and document, including the option to face also recent developments occasionally. You are invited to visit "Celebrate!" - netart features 2010 http://2010.javamuseum.org ------------------------------------------------------------- JavaMuseum - Forum of Internet Technology in Contemporary Art http://www.javamuseum.org corporate part of Le Musee di-visioniste - the new museum of networked art http://www.le-musee-divisioniste.org info (at) javamuseum.org ------------------------------------------------------------- From rohitrellan at aol.in Fri Feb 4 21:35:31 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:05:31 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Walkwater PitchFEST : An opportunity for writers Message-ID: <8CD929C7BDD0E5C-EFC-4BD2@webmail-d127.sysops.aol.com> What is it? PITCHFEST is an opportunity for writers to ‘pitch’ their television ideas to Walkwater Media! It is an open callout to writers all over India who want to write television content and have an interesting idea germinating in their mind. Pitchfest is open to new as well as experienced writers. Walkwater is open to ideas across various genres be it children’s content, daily soaps, crime thrillers, comedy, or any other genre for which you want to pitch! You can also turn in your ideas for non-fiction television content including reality TV! We will choose the best entries keeping in mind criteria such as innovation, creativity, well-etched characters, interesting plots as well as demands from TV channels. How do I qualify? You don’t need to be an experienced writer to qualify for PITCHFEST. If you’re over 16 years of age and have an interesting idea for a TV show, you qualify! All you need is to register your idea under a recognized agency (FWA, WGA etc.) and you are on your way! How do I apply? You can enter by clicking on ‘Enter Pitchfest’ and following the entry process at this website. You will need to upload your material, written in English or Hindi in the following format - a. Logline – a 2-3 line brief about your idea. b. Concept Note – not larger than 2 A4 size pages. c. Character sketches of all important characters – not larger than 2 A4 size pages. d. 5 episode story arc. Please note that due to the large volume of entries anticipated your up loaded files can be no larger in size than 5 MB. We can accept your documents in the following formats only - .txt, .doc, .docx and .pdf There is no limit on the number of ideas a registered participant can send in. Please note that your entry will be disqualified if it does not follow the format outlined above. If you have any questions email us at pitchfest at walkwater.in and we’ll do our best to respond within a reasonable time. Entries open on February 1st 2011 and the competition closes on February 28th 2011. Keep checking the website for updates! What if my idea is selected? If we like your idea we will contact you for optioning the idea i.e. buying optioning rights to the idea for a period of at least 12 months months during which Walkwater will propose the idea to television channels. Upon selection by a channel, Walkwater will embark on the pre-production of the show. In this case a concept fee is paid to the winning writer. You may stand to win a concept fee of upto one lakh Rupees! During pre-production you may be contracted professionally as a writer of the show. In this case you will be paid a writer's fee as well. All fees will be discussed on an individual basis. ENTER PitchFEST : http://walkwater.in/pitchfest/ Terms and Conditions: Walkwater Media Limited (“Walkwater”), a company duly incorporated under the provisions of Companies Act, 1956 having its registered office at 9th Floor, Lotus Business Park, Off New Link Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai 400053 are interalia engaged in the business of production of films, TV serials and other activities related to the entertainment industry. Walkwater is organizing a festival called ‘Pitchfest’ (hereinafter “said Festival”), wherein Walkwater will allow the writers (individually referred to as “Writer”) from across the country / world to send their original ideas in the format stipulated as per the terms and conditions stipulated hereinbelow: 1. That the Writer shall submit his original idea i.e. an idea which is not plagiarized or infringement of anybody’s copyrights (hereinafter “Idea”), to Walkwater in the format as below (“said Format”): a. Having concept note of more than 500 words or 2 complete A4 size papers; b. Having character sketches of all important characters; c. Having a logline of the idea; and d. Having minimum of 5 episodes. 2. That the Writer must submit his / her idea only after getting it registered with the Film Writer’s Association or with the “Writer’s Guild of America”. However, in case if the Idea is not registered in the manner agreed in this clause; the Writer shall be free to register it before 28th February, 2011. If the Idea is not registered by the Writer before 28th February, 2011; then Walkwater shall be free to discard such Idea from the said Festival. 3. That all the ideas will be read by the experts of Walkwater during March 1, 2011 to April 30, 2011. 4. That the authorized team of Walkwater will announce the winners of the said Festival by 15th May, 2011. 5. Winners who will be shortlisted by Walkwater will be paid a Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand only) by Walkwater as the option fee towards the grant of an option right in favour of Walkwater whereby Walkwater shall be free to pitch these ideas to various television channels to develop the said Idea further into a TV serial or into any other format, either with the help of the Writer or with the help of any third party. In the event the Idea gets into the process of production of a TV serial or any other format, save and except production of any pilot episode/s; then the Writer will be paid the assignment fee of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh only) for exclusive assignment of the Copyrights in the Idea in favour of Walkwater and after payment of this assignment fee of Rs. 1,00,000/- to the Writer, the exclusive assignment of the Copyrights in the Idea in favour of Walkwater shall be deemed to have taken place. Depending upon the Writer’s involvement in the development of the said Idea, any further fees of the Writer shall be decided by Walkwater in consultation with the Writer. However, in case of any disagreement, the decision of Walkwater shall be final and binding on the Writer. 6. The Writer shall not be entitled to share the Idea submitted with Walkwater to any third party during the period of this agreement and 3 months after the date of declaration of names of the winners of the said Festival. 7. In case of any claim for infringement of copyrights or plagiarism with respect to the Idea of the Writer; the Writer shall completely indemnify Walkwater against any and all such claims at his / her own cost and Walkwater shall not be held liable for the same in any manner whatsoever. 8. The writer shall not make any claims against Walkwater in the event Walkwater develops a concept of any other writer, which concept could be similar to the concept / idea submitted by the Writer. 9. If the Writer is declared as a winner of the Festival and if his / her idea is selected for development; then the Writer shall be required to sign a new agreement allowing Walkwater to have an exclusive lock-in period with respect to the Idea for 12 more months. However, after the assignment in favour of Walkwater, the exclusivity shall be for perpetual period. 10. That the Writer has specifically acknowledged the following facts: a. That Walkwater has not made representation to the Writer about promotion of the career of the Writer in any manner; b. That Walkwater shall not be held responsible for any misuse of Idea of the Writer by any third party in any manner whatsoever. c. That all the decisions with respect to the Festival are reserved with Walkwater and Walkwater shall be free to amend / change any terms and conditions at any time and the same shall be binding on the Writer. 11. ARBITRATION Any dispute or difference arising between the Parties shall be referred to the arbitration of a sole independent arbitrator appointed by Walkwater as per the provisions of Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The venue of the Arbitration shall be Mumbai. The Arbitration proceedings shall be conducted in English. The decision of arbitrator(s) shall be final and binding on the Parties. From ish at sarai.net Sat Feb 5 17:36:59 2011 From: ish at sarai.net (ISh S) Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:36:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation to the launch of PIX and music by edGeCut (sound reasons records) Message-ID: <4D4D3D63.8030602@sarai.net> Dear All, We are very happy to be launching PIX: A Photography Quarterly on Friday, Feb 11 at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. The launch will be followed by a performance by edGeCut (sound reasons records) . The works of edGeCut can be found online at http://soundcloud.com/edgecut/sets/edgecut-live-set/ http://myspace.com/edgecutting http://soundreasons.in | edGeCut | Live Set | sounds reasons records | *edGeCut* is an electro-acoustic project by ISh and the music under this project comprises of a mixture of acoustic compositions arranged with synthetic electronic music. These together reflect the crystalline layered music a his influences ranging from classical music to Jazz and electro. The music here is produced under the Sound reasons records/ Delhi. He has recently performed with this project at Art Basel 2010 , electron@ fete de la Musiqe -- Geneva, Ignite festival of contemporary Dance -- Delhi to name a few. He has also created Sound/Video installations along with compositions for Theater and Contemperory Dance performances which have been showcased at | Khoj Studio's Noise Workshop | 1st international art | tech | media congress | 'SoundLAB - Edition V' | 12th and 13th Bharat Rang Mahautsav at NSD( National School of Drama) | Action Field Kodra , Greece | 2nd IBSN festival, Delhi | Ignite, Festival of Contemporary Dance by Gati, delhi | press__ "His affinity to warm, richly resounding bass lines, intricate echo chamber manipulations and melancholic progressions shines through regardless of whether he's exploring nocturnal ambient territory with the members of the 4th world orchestra ("cosmiconomics") or revelling in bittersweet songs without words under the edGeCut banner, a collaboration with Namrata Pamnani ("last train to Sarai"), which also features his skills as a classically trained guitarist. More importantly, however, all acts represented here treat their sources with both playfulness and respect, manifesting their personality without loosing sight of the sampler's overall goals." *Tobias Fischer (tokafi | beat.de )* * * best ISh -- Sound Reasons Records/ Sarai-CSDS http://soundreasons.in http://freemuzik.net http://sarai.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Nandita* > Date: Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 6:32 PM Subject: Invitation to the launch of PIX To: Nandita > Dear All, We are very happy to be launching PIX: A Photography Quarterly on Friday, Feb 11 at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. There will be talks by 3 photographers form PIX's first issue (Suburbia). An exhibition of all contributors works will be on display between Feb 11-Feb 18. Hope to see you there! Warmly, Nandita -- Sound Reasons Records/ Sarai-CSDS http://soundreasons.in http://freemuzik.net http://sarai.net From rohitrellan at aol.in Sun Feb 6 07:37:12 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:07:12 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] A Season of Footage and Films, Part 7. Disket Document. Sunday, February 6, 7:00 pm at CAMP, Mumbai In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8CD93B9B41E04ED-22F8-1D15A@webmail-m040.sysops.aol.com> CAMP continues our winter season of screenings exploring footage, both within and without the usual capsule of "the film".  This Sunday we present: Disket Document 60 mins. 2001 Chitrakarkhana Sunday, February 6,  7:00 pm At CAMP Roof 310, Alif Apartments, 34-A Chuim Village, Khar West, Mumbai- 52 In July 2001, a few historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the remote Nubra Valley of Ladakh, to participate in a National Integration Seminar.  However, it appears that there has been a miscommunication, on arrival they are told that the event is actually the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", part of a series of nation-wide events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradesh) organised by the VHP. What were a group of mostly left-liberal folks to do? They performed impromptu speeches for the gathered public of Disket, and talked late into the night. Attempts to reckon with the situation erupt only on the sidelines: for example at breakfast, where a 20-something Maulana from Delhi seeks to provoke the VHP representative at the table. Or in guest-house debates on topics such as "the left",  feminism, environmentalism, Islamic law and Kashmir. The footage, shot by a participant, includes stadium scenes, a minibus ride returning from the stadium, a sunset stop, a friendly ghost's dance, and a peculiar atmosphere that hangs over this high-altitude encounter. See you there! For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org From kalakamra at gmail.com Sun Feb 6 12:05:51 2011 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 12:05:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A Season of Footage and Films, Part 7. Disket Document. Sunday, February 6, 7:00 pm at CAMP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear all, and with apologies for cross-posting. CAMP continues our winter season of screenings exploring footage both within and without the usual capsule of "the film". This Sunday we present: *Disket Document* 60 mins. 2001 Chitrakarkhana * * *Sunday February 6, 7:00 pm* At CAMP Roof 310, Alif Apartments, 34-A Chuim Village, Khar West, Mumbai- 52 In July 2001, about a dozen historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in a National Integration Seminar. However, it appears that there has been a miscommunication, on arrival they are told that the event is actually the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", part of a series of nation-wide events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradesh) organised by the VHP. What were a group of mostly left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the gathered people of Disket, and talked late into the night. Attempts to reckon with the situation erupt only on the sidelines: for example at breakfast, where a 20-something Maulana from Delhi seeks to provoke the VHP representative at the table. Or in guest-house debates on topics such as Islamic law, feminism, environmentalism and Kashmir. The videos, shot by a participant, include stadium scenes, a minibus ride returning from the stadium, a sunset stop, a friendly ghost's dance, and a peculiar atmosphere that hangs over this high-altitude encounter. For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org To unsubscribe, simply send an email with the word "unsubscribe" as the subject to camp-request at lists.mailb.org -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net From rohitrellan at aol.in Sun Feb 6 18:05:53 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:35:53 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] SAM 2011 : A campus theatre festival for the colleges with dramatic societies, Feb 19-21, 2011, National School of Drama In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8CD9411872ED7FD-F4C-CCA0@webmail-m058.sysops.aol.com> Dear all, The Students’ Union of National school of Drama is organizing 'SAM 2011' a campus theatre festival for the colleges with dramatic societies , on February 19, 20 and 21, 2011 at NSD ; with the goal of providing a common ground for performance and a wider exposure to the enthusiastic, talented college-going actors. Your dramatic society is invited to participate in the festival. The details of the festival are given below- 1.सम  is a festival of both street and stage plays by the college groups from in and around Delhi. 2. This is a festival, not a competition; hence there will be no awards. However, certificates of participation and mementos of the festival will be given away. 3. Entries will be accepted till 8th of February,2011. 4. Entries, -comprising a note about the group, a synopsis of the play,  a good quality digital photograph of the group (which is to be used in the print-material of the festival), names and mobile numbers of the group-members, names of the characters and the group member playing it  - are to be emailed to - stunionsd at gmail.com. Only emailed entries will be accepted and further correspondences will be made through emails only. 5. All the applicant groups will go through a screening process. For that, the applicant groups will need to come to NSD campus on February 12th and 13th, 2011. They are expected to come with their group members. However, some basic equipment will be provided.  T.A.  will be provided for screening. 6. Each group will be allowed a 15 minute slot (which includes the time of setting up the equipment etc.) to perform in the screening. 7. The selected group will be informed about the date and time of their performance on 15th February, 2011. 8.To give better exposure to the students NSD is conducting workshops on sound,lights,make-up, properties and new media. 9.Schedule of the work shop: 16th February - Sound workshop by Manoharan 17th February - Light workshop by Suresh Bharadwaj 18th February - Make up workshop by Roshan N.G and Properties workshop by Arun 21st February - New Media workshop by Amitesh Grover. Timing:  10am to 1pm, 1 to 2 lunch break, 2pm to 6pm. 10. From each college only two people can participate in the workshop. 11. Who ever want to register for the workshop has to register by 6th February from 10am to 12pm. 12. For further queries please contact: Priyanka 9891407689 Bandana9911040500 stunionsd at gmail.com From pkray11 at gmail.com Sun Feb 6 18:31:06 2011 From: pkray11 at gmail.com (Prakash K Ray) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 18:31:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] UID cards and the Constitution Message-ID: Nandan Nilekani is subverting the Constitution: Gopal Krishna. Read the entire interview here: http://tinyurl.com/4kd4pw6 prakash From iram at sarai.net Sun Feb 6 22:42:45 2011 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:12:45 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] face to face: writers and artists meet @sarai Message-ID: <4D4ED68D.2060704@sarai.net> face to face writers and artists meet at sarai csds, 29 rajpura road, delhi monday, feb 7, 2011 4 pm onwards showkat kathjoo, basharat peer, inder salim, silke kaestner, siddharth gigoo, nitsha kaul, amjid majid, gauhar yaqoob, zubair darzi, malik sajad and najeeb mubarki you are invited for an interactive session between artists, scholars, writers and journalists for exploring possibilities to know each others approach in the present while dealing with the ever changing nature of the subject. an interaction with the audience will be specially taken care of, since different people with different professional backgrounds are constantly infulencing the serious practioners in the field of art, multi media and literature. plz do join us to enrich this monday afternoon with love inder salim From chintan.backups at gmail.com Mon Feb 7 11:57:08 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 11:57:08 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Help Comet connect with academic institutions and libraries in Mumbai Message-ID: Dear friends Do make some time to read this note written by Chandita Mukherjee, Director of Comet Media Foundation. Comet has done some fabulous work in the field of education, and I've had the opportunity to see some of it closely. If you can extend any help at this moment, please do. Warmth and gratitude Chintan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Chandni Parekh Please see if you can help Comet. I really like some of the things they do. - Chandni From: Comet Media Foundation Date: 6 February 2011 16:29 Subject: Need your suggestions re school contacts Dear Chandni As you know, Comet Media Foundation or Comet is an NGO working since 1985 in the field of communications media for education. Please visit our website www.cometmedia.org for details of our activities, but here are some brief pointers: * The context of our work: the educational system in India, by and large, emphasises learning by rote and discourages creativity. * Our mission: to develop media for education, social change and sustainability. We facilitate processes of lifelong learning, learning through living, learning from nature and community learning. * Our vision: a society where young people are empowered from childhood through free access to the vision and method of science, through information communication technologies (ICTs) and open source culture. Such knowledge would help them to discover their full potential, to contribute to society and to experience personal fulfilment. We have been working from premises in the BMC School at Topiwala Lane off Lamington Road, since 1989. As of Saturday February 5th we have been evicted and we are searching for an alternative place and so are coming to you for help in this emergency situation where we may have to consider closing the organisation. You would be aware of the high property rates in the city and as a non-profit body, we are not in a position to buy or take a place on rent at the prevailing rates. We are wondering if you could connect us with some institutions such as schools, colleges and public libraries with unused rooms in the city area. We would be happy to enter into a partnership with such a school to provide services to its students during school hours and to the community living around it, after school hours. Our assets include a library of over 4000 books, some 1500 films, a collection of traditional toys and a professional video studio with shooting and editing equipment. We would provide valuable training and resources based on information communication technologies (ICTs) in a manner relevant to the learners. Such a partnership would be an asset to the host school and will be reflected immediately in the creative outputs and academic results of the children. In return, we would expect about 2000 sq ft of space to work from, for which we would pay a reasonable rent, but not at market rates. Please let us have your suggestions and introduce us to people who would appreciate such an arrangement, for the mutual benefit of all concerned. Chandita Mukherjee From rashneek at gmail.com Mon Feb 7 12:45:16 2011 From: rashneek at gmail.com (rashneek kher) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 12:45:16 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Journalism or Artistry-Hajra Mumtaz in Dawn Message-ID: As relevant to India as to Pakistan ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/07/journalism-or-artistry.html *REMEMBER the Khabarnama at nine that used to be the main source of electronic news in Pakistan? It’s hard to believe now that it was barely a little over a decade ago. * In an astonishingly short period of time, journalism in Pakistan has gone from being the world of the lean and the deadpan to that of the glitterati. The hacks of the old days got along with salaries that were less than the lunch expense accounts of today’s journalism stars. They worked hours that prevented them from socialising with anyone other than their colleagues, chased stories that they meticulously but baldly reported in full detail: name, age, resident of, and so on. How different that is from the current climate, when practically every bright young thing wants a career in the media. And yet, go to any gathering of an older generation of journalists and you hear many a hack — a term they use with pride to describe themselves — sigh that ‘journalism is no longer what it used to be’. The young ‘uns often find themselves struggling to understand this nostalgia: why, given that today’s media landscape in Pakistan is more outspoken and more exciting than ever before? Sure, tendencies have been evident towards sensationalism and rumour-mongering, but on the other hand, very little is beyond the scope of today’s journalists, unafraid as they are of any topic. Newspaper language is today far more lively and evocative than the deadpan reports of yesteryear, and television — well, we all know how exciting televised news in Pakistan is. I found the answer in a book called Secrets of the Press, in a 1999 essay ‘Dumbing up’ by British writer and broadcaster Peregrine Worsthorne, who retired from journalism as the editor of the Sunday Telegraph. He starts the essay talking about when he joined the profession, shortly after the Second World War. For the entire two years of that first job, he wasn’t allowed to write a single line, and was instead expected to content himself with subbing the writing of others, correcting grammar, fact-checking, etc. For an aspiring writer such as himself, this was frustrating in the extreme. He likens it to expecting a future virtuoso pianist to concern himself with misprints in the concert’s programme. This essay was written at the end of his career, however, and after decades of experience here is how he put the difference between then and now: “The most important qualification for being a journalist when I began 50 years ago was not an ability to write. That was even a disadvantage or a liability, since literary facility could so easily tempt a journalist into embroidering the tale which needed, above all else, to be told plainly and unvarnished.” Worsthorne writes that in that age, raking up muck was considered unworthy of a quality press, for “an adversarial stance, while being the easiest to take, might not always be the right one”. By the end of the century, the UK press was very different and as Worsthorne concedes, newspapers across the board have become more well-written, sophisticated and lively, as well as more adversarial. “Journalism, instead of being the Cinderella of the professions, has become the most sought-after of all, attracting a quite disproportionate number of the brightest in the land,” he points out. This is quite similar to what has happened to journalism in Pakistan. And as Worsthorne says, the influx of the best and the brightest ought, theoretically, to have led to the raising of standards. But in the UK, in Worsthorne’s view, merely the quality of writing has improved. No advances have been seen, according to him, in the reliability of the news, accuracy in reporting and balance in comment. This is because “the journalist as aspiring writer or intellectual, rather than as hack, has little concern with ‘mean’ facts, as the poet Coleridge called them, if they get in the way of a more ‘comprehensive’ truth that he is trying to make, either in his stories, if he is a reporter, or in his ideas and arguments, if he is a columnist. For the journalist as writer or intellectual fancies himself an artist, and an artist is by definition someone who has a skill which enables him to improve on nature, as much in words as in paint, clay or music. There is an element of trickery in art — sublime trickery, at best, but trickery nevertheless.” Worsthorne’s point is that “Increasingly in the media today, truth is being sacrificed to art (or at least artfulness); reporting to literature. […] Newspapers are far more sophisticated, far cleverer, far better written than they ever were before; incomparably more entertaining and readable. […] But therein lies the danger: the picture of the world presented by the media is both much more beautiful and much more ugly, both much more eye-catching and much more dramatic, both much more simple and much more complicated, than in actuality it ever is. […] When the ancient Chinese wished to lay a curse on an enemy, they said ‘May you live in interesting times.’ “Given today’s media, nobody can any longer escape falling victim to that malediction. Just as the painter excludes from his painting any colour extraneous to his personal vision, so does the contemporary journalist-writer-intellectual filter anything uninteresting from his story, leader, column or feature article.” His comments are extremely relevant to journalists in Pakistan, whether in print or on television. Journalism, when held hostage to artistry and artifice, is in danger of becoming fiction — or, at least, fictionalised. On television in particular, there is often evidence of journalism that is the product of the purported journalist’s dedication to some higher purpose or truth, be it ideological or otherwise. In such a situation — as we have unfortunately seen over the blasphemy laws’ issue in particular — the plain facts can be drowned out in all the shouting, or be forgotten by the way. Former Guardian editor C.P. Scott observed that “comment is free, but facts are sacred”. Pakistani journalists must ask themselves: are they disseminating the whole truth or nothing but the truth, or merely presenting their own version of the truth? The writer is a member of staff. * hajrahmumtaz at gmail.com* [image: Share] -- Rashneek Kher http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com From nilankur at sarai.net Mon Feb 7 18:30:40 2011 From: nilankur at sarai.net (nilankur) Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:30:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Screening of film, Under This Sun Message-ID: <4D4FECF8.6070606@sarai.net> Dear Friends,You are invited to the screening of my documentary, UNDER THIS SUN, in Persistence Resistance Film Festival on 10 February 4:30pm at Conference Room no:1, India International Centre, Delhi. See you there. Nilanjan Under This Sun “Best Environmental Film”- winner of National Film Award 2005 India is among the richest countries in terms of biodiversity and its folk knowledge. For various reasons, there has been a rapid loss of biodiversity and in related knowledge. The documentary, Under This Sun attempts to capture the magnitude of India’s biological wealth as well as the depth of folk knowledge. The film also tries to identify the reasons for their rapid decline. Camera: Ranu Ghosh / Sound: Partha Barman/ Edit: Ranojit Dasgupta Direction: Nilanjan Bhattacharya _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From patrice at xs4all.nl Mon Feb 7 19:51:04 2011 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 15:21:04 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Climateprogress.org: Egyptian and Tunisian riots were driven in part by the spike in global food prices Message-ID: bwo nettime-l (but plain-texted ;-) original at: http://climateprogress.org/2011/01/30/egyptian-tunisian-riots-food-prices-extreme-weather-and-high-oil-prices/ (http://bit.ly/g9RMy1) Reports: Egyptian and Tunisian riots were driven in part by the spike in global food prices Food prices were driven up by extreme weather and high oil prices January 30, 2011 UPDATE: See “Expert consensus grows on contribution of record high food prices to Middle East unrest” and my ongoing series on “food insecurity.”  Get daily updates on climate and energy by clicking here. Political unrest has broken out in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab countries. Social media and governmental policies are getting most of the credit for spurring the turmoil, but there’s another factor at play. Many of the people protesting are also angry about dramatic price hikes for basic foodstuffs, such as rice, cereals, cooking oil and sugar. This summer’s extreme global weather raised fears of a “Coming Food Crisis,” as CAP’s John D. Podesta and Jake Caldwell warned in Foreign Policy:  “Global food security is stretched to the breaking point, and Russia’s fires and Pakistan’s floods are making a bad situation worse.”  Earlier this month I discussed how, in fact, “Extreme weather events helped drive food prices to record highs.”  Back then, experts were worried about food riots.  Now they are happening. UPDATE:  The anti-science, pro-pollution crowd are going flat-earth over this post because I point out that leading political experts say the Middle East rioting is driven in part by the dramatic rise in food prices, which the agricultural experts say is driven in large part by oil prices and the extreme weather we’ve seen in the last few months.  Of course, the climate science experts have been saying for a while now that the extreme weather is driven in large part by human emissions — see Terrific ABC News story: “Raging Waters In Australia and Brazil Product of Global Warming” and Munich Re: “The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change.”  See also Russian President Medvedev: “What is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past.” — NYT: “Russia Bans Grain Exports After Drought Shrivels Crop”  I have some more comments on this at the end, but the analysis as written here stands. The Washington Post reported on the connection between food prices and Tunisian  violence in mid-January, in a piece headlined, “Spike in global food prices contributes to Tunisian violence”: The state of emergency in Tunisia has economists worried that we may be seeing the beginnings of a second wave of global food riots. Battered by bad weather and increasing demand from the developing world, the global food supply system is buckling under the strain. This month, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that its food price index jumped 32 percent in the second half of 2010 — surpassing the previous record, set in the early summer of 2008, when deadly clashes over food broke out around the world, from Haiti to Somalia . The price of grains began to rise last fall after fires in Russia wiped out hundreds of thousands of acres of grains and heavy rain destroyed much of Canada’s wheat crop. The problems were followed by hot, dry weather in Argentina that devastated the soybean crop of the key exporter. This month, floods in Australia destroyed much of the country’s wheat crop. Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali on Thursday vowed to reduce the price of staples such as sugar, milk and bread ,but the pledge wasn’t enough to placate the thousands of protesters who mobbed the capital, Tunis, on Friday to demand his ouster. The country’s prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, has appeared on state TV to announce he is assuming power. See also the 1-15-11 Guardian story, “Jordanians protest against soaring food prices:  Protesters angry over high food costs and unemployment call for the prime minister to step down, in an echo of Tunisian demonstrations.” And then we have Egypt. Robin Niblett, director of the Chatham House, was interviewed at Davos (click here) and said the Egyptian riots “were driven partly of course by the rise of food prices.” NPR had a long story on the subject today, “Rising Food Prices Can Topple Governments, Too” (quoted at the top), which notes: Rising prices are “leading to riots, demonstrations and political instability,” New York University economics professor Nouriel Roubini said during a panel discussion. “It’s really something that can topple regimes, as we have seen in the Middle East.” And, the Davos experts warn, higher prices could hurt consumers and derail the economic recoveries under way in wealthier countries. In large part, the food-price crisis reflects the simple law of supply and demand. The supply of food has been diminished by bad weather in many crucial crop-growing areas of the world. Russia, Ukraine and Argentina have had severe droughts, while Pakistan and Australia have had massive flooding.At the same time, demand for food has been rising as people in fast-developing countries, such as India and China, have been buying more groceries. In addition, production and transportation costs have been driven up by the rising price of oil. Energy insecurity and climate instability have now become key factors in food insecurity, which in turn has become a key factor in toppling governments.  And that’s without even considering the impact of the nation and the world’s wildly counterproductive strategy of growing crop-based biofuels (see “Are biofuels a core climate solution?” and “Let them eat biofuels!” and ““The Fuel on the Hill — The Corn Supremacy“). It’s hard to see how oil prices won’t keep rising, absent another deep global economic downturn (see World’s top energy economist warns: “We have to leave oil before oil leaves us and  German military study warns of peak oil crisis and Peak oil production coming sooner than expected). And the extreme weather we are seeing is only going to get worse.  The country’s top climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, recently explained: Given the association of extreme weather and climate events with rising global temperature, the expectation of new record high temperatures in 2012 also suggests that the frequency and magnitude of extreme events could reach a high level in 2012. Extreme events include not only high temperatures, but also indirect effects of a warming atmosphere including the impact of higher temperature on extreme rainfall and droughts. The greater water vapor content of a warmer atmosphere allows larger rainfall anomalies and provides the fuel for stronger storms driven by latent heat. It’s likely half the years this decade will be hotter and more extreme than 2010 — and most of the years in the next decade. “Bread and Circuses” (panem et circenses) is the Roman phrase denoting the superficial effort of maintaining public approval through cheap food and entertainment.  When the food isn’t cheap, though, the strategy collapses, perhaps along with the entire global Ponzi scheme. Those who think that the serious impacts of climate change — and our inane energy policies — on the world economy and U.S. national security are decades away are simply not paying attention. UPDATE:  The climate ostriches at NewsBusters — and anti-science extremist Michelle Malkin — have actually attacked this post for daring to suggest that climate change plays any role whatsoever in the higher food prices that numerous experts say are contributing to the unrest.  The point, of course, is not that global warming is causing the unrest or that there aren’t major underlying causes. The question is why specifically now have the Egyptians and Tunisians rioted after decades of anti-democratic rule?  Certainly one can ignore the experts and say that it is a complete coincidence that the rioting occurred as food prices hit record levels — in spite of the fact that the last time there was this kind of rioting globally food prices were at record levels, which is precisely why experts were predicting that record hide food prices would lead to riots.  Now the question is, why are food prices are at record levels?  Again, reality pretty much speaks for itself here.  Extreme weather is a major contributing factor — and our top climate scientists say global warming has contributed.   From ravig64 at gmail.com Tue Feb 8 08:07:43 2011 From: ravig64 at gmail.com (Ravi Agarwal) Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2011 08:07:43 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Indian new Plastic Waste Law notified In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: (http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/DOC070211-005.pdf) pl circulate and apologies for x posting Dear all, This is the new Indian plastics waste law notified yesterday. It incorporates Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastics waste management for the first time, and is a significant change from the earlier law made in 1999. (EPR makes waste as part of the life cycle of the product/packaging, in legal and management terms) It is close to what was proposed by a special committee late last year, but with significant differences favoring the industry, especially which dealt with restricting that kind of plastic packaging which cannot be recycled properly. There is dilution of direct industry responsibility for setting up and management of collection centers (the committee had proposed both financing and managing the centers by the industry, while the notified law is ambivalent about managing the centers by the industry, but more clear about funding) as well as of a proposed condition that provisions for collecting of end-of-life multi layered packaging must be made before it can be introduced in the market. The dilution seems to be owing to pressure from the large packaging industry (including FNB) and the plastics industry. Some significant features: 1. plastic bags less than 40 micron banned 2. plastics bags will not be available free of cost to the consumer. 3. Introduction of a mandatory 'waste management' clause in the law with EPR 4. Setting up of plastic waste management centers in each municipality funded by the industry under EPR (the committee had proposed both funded by and managed as well) 5. Labeling of bags and multilayered packaging (we had proposed more extensive labeling) 6. Setting up on a State level advisory body (in each State) for overseeing the implementation with civil society as a part of the body 7. Ban on open burning of plastics 8 Ban on use of small packages from tobacco and 'gutka' (as per Supreme Court orders) The committee had proposed some more stringent measures regarding size of bags, conditional introduction of new multilayered packaging etc. taxes and duties, which seems to have been removed. Best ravi agarwal From dak at sarai.net Mon Feb 7 19:46:37 2011 From: dak at sarai.net (The Sarai Programme) Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:46:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Partha Chatterjee lecture: Black Hole of Empire Message-ID: <4D4FFEC5.1060904@sarai.net> The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies invites you to the B.N Ganguli Memorial Lecture by Partha Chatterjee *The Black Hole of Empire *Date: Wednesday February 9 Time: 5-7pm Location: CSDS Seminar Room. Partha Chatterjee is one of India's best known thinkers, whose writings have been translated into many languages. Associated with the Centre for the Study of Social Sciences Kolkata for many years, he is also a Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University. -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From bawazainab79 at gmail.com Tue Feb 8 18:00:06 2011 From: bawazainab79 at gmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2011 18:00:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Support for SPARROW Message-ID: Dear all, I am putting out some of my books for sale. I am selling these books to raise a total of Rs. 10,000 as my commitment for support to SPARROW. Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW) is an organization based in Mumbai. It is an archival repository that has been collecting oral history and visual material connected with women’s lives and experiences in India and South Asia for the past twenty years. In the words of C S Lakshmi, one of the trustees of SPARROW, “We record histories of individual women from various walks of life such as educationists, artists, writers, feminists, women from left and other progressive movements, freedom fighters, traditional medicine practitioners and so on. Sometimes, we even interview women who may not be “achievers” but who have taken decisions that have affected the lives of members in their family. In sum, what we are recording is what we call the politics of everyday life.” I believe that it is very important to support archives such as SPARROW in order to access histories and narratives of everyday politics. These stories and accounts can have a powerful impact on people’s perspectives and worldviews, thus holding a great possibility of bringing about change in our society. SPARROW is currently in need of funds in order to support their digitization work and to continue to sustain. I am making a very small attempt in the direction of supporting SPARROW, which actually involves nourishing persons like myself who have learnt and grown - emotionally, intellectually and politically - from the insights of other people’s lives. Please support me in this endeavour. 1) Joe Studwell's "Asian Godfathers - Money and Power in Hong Kong and South East Asia" - Rs. 700 2). Pinki Virani's "Once was a Bombay" - Rs. 200 3). Vikram Kapadia's "Black with Equal" - Rs. 65 4). Michel Foucault's "The History of Sexuality" - Volume 1 - Rs. 250 5). Bimal Jalan's "India's politics: a view from the back bench" - Rs. 250 6). Louise Brown's "Sex Slaves - the trafficking of women in Asia" - Rs. 300 7). Howard Becker's "Tricks of the Trade - How to think about your research while you're doing it." - Rs. 250 8). John Pickering and Martin Skinner's "From Sentience to Symbols - Readings on Consciousness" - Rs. 400 9). Sampurna Chattarji's "Sight May Strike You Blind" - Rs. 50 10). R. K. Narayan's "The Financial Expert" - Rs. 95 11). Paul Theroux's "Kowloon Tong" - Rs. 80 12). Charles Landry’s “The Creative City” - Rs. 400 Regards, Zainab -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher http://writerruns.wordpress.com/ ... ambling along roads and courses, not knowing whether I am running towards a destination or whether the act of running is destination in itself From leonardo.electronic.almanac at gmail.com Fri Feb 4 22:21:44 2011 From: leonardo.electronic.almanac at gmail.com (Lanfranco Aceti) Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 17:51:44 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] LEA Conversation on Contemporary Digital Identities Message-ID: The Thursday Club on February 24th in collaboration with ISEA2011 Istanbul and with the Leonardo Electronic Almanac invites you to a conversation on contemporary digital identities. Christiane Paul (Curator), Frieder Nake (artist) in conversation with Lanfranco Aceti, conference Chair, ISEA Istanbul 2011. Christiane Paul is the Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the director of Intelligent Agent (http://www.intelligentagent.com). Currently she also teaches in the MFA computer arts department at the School of Visual Arts in New York and has lectured internationally on art and technology. Frieder Nake belongs to the founding fathers of (digital) computer art. He produced his first works in 1963. Frieder Nake is Professor for Compter Graphics and Interactive Systems at the University of Bremen, Germany, and has had a long involvement with digital art. Primarily a mathematician, Nake’s colored computer drawings in 1967, for example, explored the visual expression of series of matrix multiplications, imagery that has an undeniable artistic intention. He has contributed to all major exhibitions of computer art, including Cybernetic Serendipity in London (1968), tendencies 4 in Zagreb (1968), and the long lasting Goethe Institute show during the 1970s. Lanfranco Aceti works as an academic, artist and curator. He is Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths College, department of Art and Computing, London; teaches Contemporary Art and Digital Culture at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul; and is Editor in Chief of the Leonardo Electronic Almanac (the MIT Press, Leonardo journal and ISAST). Currently he is the Artistic Director and Conference Chair for ISEA2011 Istanbul. The event will be followed by a one day conference, Digital Portraits of Transculturalism – London, at the Centre for Creative Collaboration, University of London http://www.creativecollaboration.org.uk. Location: 3/4, Ben Pimlott Building Cost: Free to all Department: Computing http://www.leoalmanac.org/index.php/lea/entry/the_thursday_club_event/ Time: 24 February 2011, 18:00 – 20:00 Please visit the current exhibition of Leonardo Electronic Almanac: Facebook: http://ow.ly/3pAjd Flickr: http://ow.ly/3pAKp Twitter: http://ow.ly/3pALO For more information contact: Ozden Sahin, ozden.sahin at leoalmanac.org Leonardo is a registered trademark of Leonardo/ISAST. From ish at sarai.net Sat Feb 5 17:31:37 2011 From: ish at sarai.net (ISh S) Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:31:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation to the launch of PIX and music by edGeCut (sound reasons records) Message-ID: <4D4D3C21.3010103@sarai.net> Dear All, We are very happy to be launching PIX: A Photography Quarterly on Friday, Feb 11 at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. the launch will be followed by a performance by edGeCut (sound reasons records) . The works of edGeCut can be found online at http://soundcloud.com/edgecut/sets/edgecut-live-set/ http://myspace.com/edgecutting http://soundreasons.in | edGeCut | Live Set | sounds reasons records | *edGeCut* is an electro-acoustic project by ISh and the music under this project comprises of a mixture of acoustic compositions arranged with synthetic electronic music. These together reflect the crystalline layered music a his influences ranging from classical music to Jazz and electro. The music here is produced under the Sound reasons records/ Delhi. He has recently performed with this project at Art Basel 2010 , electron@ fete de la Musiqe -- Geneva, Ignite festival of contemporary Dance -- Delhi to name a few. He has also created Sound/Video installations along with compositions for Theater and Contemperory Dance performances which have been showcased at | Khoj Studio's Noise Workshop | 1st international art | tech | media congress | 'SoundLAB - Edition V' | 12th and 13th Bharat Rang Mahautsav at NSD( National School of Drama) | Action Field Kodra , Greece | 2nd IBSN festival, Delhi | Ignite, Festival of Contemporary Dance by Gati, delhi | press__ "His affinity to warm, richly resounding bass lines, intricate echo chamber manipulations and melancholic progressions shines through regardless of whether he's exploring nocturnal ambient territory with the members of the 4th world orchestra ("cosmiconomics") or revelling in bittersweet songs without words under the edGeCut banner, a collaboration with Namrata Pamnani ("last train to Sarai"), which also features his skills as a classically trained guitarist. More importantly, however, all acts represented here treat their sources with both playfulness and respect, manifesting their personality without loosing sight of the sampler's overall goals." *Tobias Fischer (tokafi | beat.de )* * * best ISh -- Sound Reasons Records/ Sarai-CSDS http://soundreasons.in http://freemuzik.net http://sarai.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Nandita* > Date: Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 6:32 PM Subject: Invitation to the launch of PIX To: Nandita > Dear All, We are very happy to be launching PIX: A Photography Quarterly on Friday, Feb 11 at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. There will be talks by 3 photographers form PIX's first issue (Suburbia). An exhibition of all contributors works will be on display between Feb 11-Feb 18. Hope to see you there! Warmly, Nandita -- Sound Reasons Records/ Sarai-CSDS http://soundreasons.in http://freemuzik.net http://sarai.net From khoj at dispatch.khojworkshop.org Sat Feb 5 13:09:19 2011 From: khoj at dispatch.khojworkshop.org (KHOJ) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 13:09:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [KHOJ] Invitation: Discussion on The Idea of Fashion Message-ID: KHOJ International Artists' Association invites you to a Discussion on The Idea of Fashion 10th February 2011, 5:00 pm at Khoj Studios, S-17 Khirkee Extension, New Delhi- 110017 'The Idea of Fashion' Residency at Khoj will question the role that fashion plays in shaping one's everyday realities and dreams. The individual and collective processes of identity, self perception, communication; What is intended with these perceptions and processes? What is achieved and what is at play here. What is at stake and the powerful role that fashion has played in history and continues to play? Project Website: http://www.khojworkshop.org/project/idea_fashion Invited Speakers: Santosh Desai (Founder, Head of Ideas & Knowledge Initiate & MD/CEO of Futurebrands India), David Abraham (Designer- Abraham & Thakore), Parmesh Shahani (Editor at Large- Verve Magazine/ Head of Godrej India Culture Laboratory), Kavita Singh (Art Historian) Participating Artists: Anay Mann, Arjun Saluja, Kallol Datta, Manisha Parekh, Mithu Sen Curated by KHOJ and Mayank Mansingh Kaul -------------- next part -------------- KHOJ International Artists' Association S-17, Khirkee Ext. New Delhi - 110017 Ph: 00-91-11-29545274 email: interact at khojworkshop.org http://khojworkshop.org From aswathypsenan at gmail.com Wed Feb 9 16:51:53 2011 From: aswathypsenan at gmail.com (Aswathy Senan) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 16:51:53 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fullbright fellowship Message-ID: http://www.iie.org/en/Fulbright/ From the-network at koeln.de Wed Feb 9 18:45:01 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (CologneOFF) Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:15:01 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?Call=3A_CologneOFF_2011_-_videoart_i?= =?iso-8859-1?q?n_a_global_context?= Message-ID: <20110209141501.9FDCA8FC.1659C0F1@192.168.0.4> Call for entries extended deadline: 1 May 2011 -------------------------------------------- CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context is a world wide unique festival project by - Cologne International Videoart Festival - starting on 1 January 2011 and lasting until 31 December 2011 simultaneously in physical & virtual space. It's goal is to show during one year at many venues around the globe the diversity of the creative potential of "art and moving images" transported via the global medium of "video" The videos can be submitted only online. Selected works will be featured on CologneOFF individually online and will become later in 2011 the 7th edition of CologneOFF - Cologne International Videoart Festival. CologneOFF 2011 is inviting creators in the field of "art and moving images" - this may be experimental forms of film and video art - to submit up to 3 works --> Please find the entry details and form on http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2729 -------------------------------------------- CologneOFF - Cologne International Videoart Festival http://coff.newmediafest.org is powered by artvideoKOELN the curatorial initiative "art & moving images" http://video.mediaartcologne.org 2011 (at) coff.newmediafest.org -------------------------------------------- From magiclantern.foundation at gmail.com Thu Feb 10 08:08:58 2011 From: magiclantern.foundation at gmail.com (Magic Lantern Foundation) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:08:58 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Colin Gonsalves's Key Note address at the inauguration of Persistence Resistance 2011 Message-ID: Dear Friends, Colin Gonsalves delivered the Key note address at the inauguration of Persistence Resistance 2011 and spoke of the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression and the Law of Sedition. The transcripts are available here: http://www.persistenceresistance.in/festival2011/news/freedom-of-speech-and-expression-and-the-law-of-sedition-keynote-address-by-colin- Those of you interested to follow Persistence Resistance 2011 can get video and other reports + see films screening at the festival that are being streamed during the festival here: www.persistenceresistance.in/ Gargi Sen --------- Magic Lantern Foundation J 1881 Chittaranjan Park, Basement, New Delhi 110019 P: +(91 11) 26273244/ 41605239 E: magiclantern.foundation at gmail.com W: http://magiclanternfoundation.org | http://www.ucfilms.in | http://persistenceresistance.in From patrice at xs4all.nl Thu Feb 10 12:48:58 2011 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:18:58 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Nilanjana Roy: Torchbearers for Victims in a Violent Land (NYT) Message-ID: <57c1febce4879df60e37911020ab3324.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> original to: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/world/asia/09iht-letter09.html Torchbearers for Victims in a Violent Land By NILANJANA S. ROY (Feb 8, 2011) NEW DELHI — Whenever Ojas Suniti Vijay performs the one-woman play “Le Mashale” (The Torchbearer), whether at a recent conference on peace in the insurgency-racked states of northeast India or at colleges in Delhi, the audience flinches at exactly the same point. This is where Ms. Ojas intones the line that declares how women have been treated by the security forces in Manipur State through a decades-long conflict marked by incidents of sexual abuse and rape: “Just a piece of flesh with two round breasts and a vagina.” “Le Mashale” has gained a cult following over the past two years on India’s independent theater circuit, in large part for the woman it celebrates, Irom Sharmila — the Torchbearer whose story testifies to the courage women have shown in the face of the armed struggle for greater autonomy for the ethnically distinct northeast and an often controversial military occupation. This month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh celebrated what he called the “trend of declining violence and casualties” in the northeast. Several months earlier, another milestone was observed. Nov. 4, 2010, was the 10th anniversary of the start of Ms. Sharmila’s hunger strike in response to the killings of civilians by the military in the region. What was intended to be a fast to the death has continued through a decade of forced feedings. Ms. Sharmila was 28 in November 2000, when the shooting of 10 civilians in the village of Malom rocked Manipur, a state with a long history of clashes between military forces and insurgents. A group of rebels had attacked a convoy of the Assam Rifles; the soldiers retaliated by opening fire on people at a bus stop. Ms. Sharmila began her fast, a form of protest made popular in India by Gandhi during the struggle for independence from British rule. Her main demand was the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958, which had often been used to detain local residents on the suspicion that they were aiding rebel groups. Reports of torture, disappearances and deaths were common, with women often being caught in the cross-fire between insurgents and the military. Long criticized by human rights groups, the act grants expanded powers to the armed forces to search, arrest and, under some circumstances, use lethal force against, civilians. Ms. Sharmila’s hunger strike to garner support for the act’s repeal put her in direct conflict with the Indian state. She spent much of the next decade in judicial custody for “attempt to suicide,” detained at hospitals in Delhi or Imphal and force-fed through nasal tubes. Although her campaign at first attracted little attention, she has since become an emblem of resistance, her name invoked by authors like Mamang Dai and Arupa Kalita Patangia whenever the question of the insurgency, women’s rights or the repeal of the act comes up. It was in 2004, after the killing and apparent rape of Thangjam Manorama by security forces, that Manipur saw its most startling protests — and that Ms. Sharmila emerged as an icon of public resistance. In July 2004, Ms. Manorama’s bullet-ridden body was found in a field near her village, after she had been picked up for questioning by members of the Assam Rifles. That discovery was followed by one of the most remarkable demonstrations in the recent history of the northeast. Several elderly women stripped in front of the Assam Rifles headquarters, while carrying a banner that read: “Indian Army, Rape Us.” One of the women, L. Gyaneshori, was quoted as saying, “The women of Manipur have been disrobed by the A.F.S.P.A.,” using the initials for the special powers act. “We are still naked.” Last month, Ms. Sharmila announced that she would persist in her hunger strike until the government repeals the act. Around the same time that women’s rights and peace advocates were observing the 10th anniversary of Ms. Sharmila’s fast, Binalakshmi Nepram was assessing other aspects of the damage inflicted by decades of strife. “Violence against women has been on the rise due to the ongoing conflict,” said Ms. Nepram, who has lived and worked in Manipur and Delhi for the past decade. In 2007, she founded the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network to assist victims of the violence against women that she says is routinely committed by the state and insurgency groups, or that arises from the proliferation of firearms that has accompanied the turmoil. The impetus for Ms. Nepram was an incident in 2004. A 27-year-old man was dragged out of his car-battery workshop and killed by three unidentified gunmen. Ms. Nepram and others helped his 24-year-old widow rebuild her livelihood and life with the donation of a sewing machine, and the idea for the Survivors Network was born. Through her work she has concluded that the involvement of women, in effecting social change and peace, is key. “There can be no peace and no peace process without the active involvement of women, in villages as well as at the negotiating table,” she said. Temsula Ao, who has written about the effects of violence in the northeast in a collection of short stories titled “These Hills Called Home,” agrees. “No one will give us peace,” she said. “We women have to take it for ourselves.” Between the figure of a woman in a hospital bed, kept forcibly alive, and women like Ms. Nepram, seeking ways to counteract the violence, the women of this generation from the northeast are ready to fight for the peace they so badly want. From javedmasoo at gmail.com Thu Feb 10 14:42:46 2011 From: javedmasoo at gmail.com (Javed) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:42:46 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Israeli Economy For Beginners Message-ID: Gilad Atzmon: Israeli Economy For Beginners We learn from the press and political analysts that, against all odds and in spite of the global financial turmoil, Israel’s economy is booming. Some even suggest that Israel is one of the strongest economies around. ‘How come?’ you may ask; besides maybe avocado, oranges, and some Dead Sea beauty products, none of us has actually ever seen an Israeli product on the shelves. They don’t make cars; nor do they make electric or electronic appliances, and they hardly manufacture any consumer goods. Israel claims to be advanced in high-tech technologies but somehow, the only Israeli advanced software ever to settle within our computers have been their Sabra Trojan Horses. In the land they grabbed by force from the indigenous Palestinians, they are yet to find any lucrative minerals or oil. So what is it? How is it that Israel is impervious to the global financial disaster? How can Israel be so rich? Israel may be rich because, according to the Guardian, “out of the seven oligarchs who controlled 50% of Russia’s economy during the 1990s, six were Jewish.” During the last two decades, many Russian oligarchs have acquired Israeli citizenship. They also secured their dirty money by investing in the kosher financial haven; Wikileaks has revealed lately that “sources in the (Israeli) police estimate that Russian organised crime (Russian Mafia) has laundered as much as US $10 billion through Israeli holdings."[1] Israel's economy is booming because mega swindlers such as Bernie Madoff have been channeling their money via Zionists and Israeli institutions for decades.[2] Israel is ‘doing well’ because it is the leading trader in blood diamonds. Far from being surprising, Israel is also the fourth biggest weapon dealer on this planet. Clearly, blood diamonds and guns are proving to be a great match. As if this is not enough, Israel is also prosperous because, every so often, it is caught engaged in organ trafficking and organ harvesting. In short, Israel is doing better than other countries because it runs one of the dirtiest- non -ethical economies in the world. In spite of the Zionists' initial promise to bring about a civilised ethical Jew, Israel has, instead, managed to develop an outstanding level of institutional dismissal of international law and universal values. It operates as a safe haven for money made in some horrendous global criminal activities. And it employs one of the world’s strongest army to defend the wealth of just a few of the wealthiest Jews around. Increasingly, Israel seems to be nothing more than a humongous money laundering haven for Jewish oligarchs, swindlers, weapons dealers, organ traffickers, organised crime and blood diamond traders. Such a realization can certainly explain why Israel is totally impervious to social equality within its borders. Poor Israelis Since Israel defines itself as the Jewish state, one may expect the Jewish people to be the first to benefit from their country’s booming economy. This seems to be not at all the case. In spite of the economy's strength, Israel’s record on social justice is appalling. In the Jewish state 18 families control 60% of the equity value of all companies in the land. The Jewish State is shockingly cruel to its poor. As far as the gap between rich and poor is concerned, Israel is listed right at the top of the scale. The meaning of all of that is pretty devastating; though Israel operates as an ethno-centric racially orientated, tribal setting, it is proving to be totally careless of the members of its own tribe -- In fact, in the Jewish state, a few million Jews are serving the darkest possible interests, the fruits of which, are to be enjoyed by just a very few rich villains. Smoke Screen But there is a deeper and far more devastating meaning implicit within it all. If my reading of the Israeli economy is correct, and Israel is indeed a monstrous cash haven for the dirtiest money around, then the Israeli Palestinian conflict is , at least, from the Israeli-elite's perspective , nothing but a smoke screen. I hope that my readers and friends will forgive me for saying it -- I hope that I will forgive myself for saying it -- But it seems to me that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Israel's horrendous crimes against the Palestinian people, actually serves to divert attention away from Israel's complicity in some colossal and global crimes against vast populations around the world. Instead of addressing the above relentless greed-driven attempt to grab wealth on the expense of the rest of humanity, we are all focusing on a single territorial conflict, that actually brings to light just one devastating criminal side of the Jewish national project. It is more than likely that the vast majority of Israelis also fail to detect the deceitful role of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The Israelis are indoctrinated to look at every possible issue from a national security perspective. They have failed to realise that along the intensive militarization of their society, their Jewish state has become a money laundering haven and a refuge for villains from all over the world. But here is some bad news for Israel and its corrupted elite. It is just a question of time before the Russians, Americans, Africans, Europeans, all of humanity, begin to grasp it all -- We are all Palestinians and we all share one enemy. I would even take it further, and argue that it is possible that, not before too long -- some deprived Jews and Israelis will also begin to realise how deceptive and sinister Israel and Zionism truly are. --------------------------------- [1] For more information about global organized crime connections with Likud or other major Israeli political parties. Please follow this link http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/topic.php?tid=147 [2] Also, it is rumoured that, prior to its collapse, Lehman Brothers transferred 400 billion dollars to Israeli banks. I am not in a position to substantiate any of these theories -- but I would strongly suggest that it is of some urgency to find out how truthful these accusations are. http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-israeli-economy-for-beginners.html From kiccovich at yahoo.com Thu Feb 10 18:28:07 2011 From: kiccovich at yahoo.com (francesca recchia) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 04:58:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Open Show - Invite for Bangalore Submissions Message-ID: <15459.69916.qm@web113207.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Open Show is a free monthly social mixer + screening event that provides photographers, filmmakers and multimedia producers the chance to present their work in high-profile spaces. OPEN SHOW FORMAT Five curated presenters have 10 minutes each to introduce one project. Both ongoing and completed work is accepted. We welcome diverse topics ranging from documentary to fine art. SHOW: 24th February 2011. STILL IMAGE PROJECTS 1) 20 images on a single narrative topic or visual theme (note this is NOT a portfolio review!). 2) File format: full-frame image 1500 pixels on the longest side (square images should be 1500x1500 pixels), 72 DPI and JPEG format. 3) NO text on images, watermarks, masking, or borders. Cropping and minor image adjustments are acceptable. 4) Upload files via http://openshow.org/submissions/. FILM/MULTIMEDIA PROJECTS 1) Running time must be between 4-7 minutes. (exceptions made please contact us) 2) Audio should be complimentary (ambient recording, interview, etc.) - anything NOT recorded by the presenter must be properly licensed. 3) Send a link to your project via http://openshow.org/submissions/. 4) If your project is selected we will need a Quicktime (.MOV) file at 1024x768 pixels exported using the H.264 Codec and a maximum of 250 MB. We cannot accept Soundslides, Adobe Flash files or other formats. You can also nominate someone you know has amazing work that needs to get seen via http://openshow.org/nominate/. EVERYTHING ELSE ● You MUST be present at Open Show for your work to be shown, so please keep your schedule free for the show date (to be announced). ● Our event team creates all title slides and NO explanatory text slides are allowed. ● Open Show will notify artists the week of the show to announce who will be presenting. For other queries on Open Show (Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi) madhu at openshow.org For queries in Bangalore: Poonam Parihar & Roy Sinai openshowbglre at gmail.com For queries for Delhi: Vidisha Saini delhi at openshow.org -- Madhu Reddy Open Show Hyderabad Co-Producer Submit Your Work I Join Our Facebook Group I Follow us @open show From anoopkheri at gmail.com Thu Feb 10 19:43:36 2011 From: anoopkheri at gmail.com (anoop kumar) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:43:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Dr. Suryakant Waghmore: Subalterns have a role in making of civil society (New Interview on www.scststudents.org) Message-ID: *Dr. Suryakant Waghmore: Subalterns have a role in making of civil society * *Dr Suryakant Waghmore is an Assistant Professor, Centre for Social Justice and Governance, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. He has been recently awarded with his Doctorate degree from University of Edinburgh, Scotland where he was studying as one of the recipients of prestigious Commonwealth Scholarships.* *In this interview, Dr Waghmore shares about the scholarship, opportunities for Dalit and Adivasi Students for higher education abroad together with his area of research - Caste, Civility and Civil Society in India. * *First of all, let us congratulate you for Doctorate degree that has been recently awarded to you at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in Sociology.* Thanks. * You were a recipient of prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship while pursuing your PhD there. Can you please tell our readers about this scholarship? * Commonwealth scholarship is an annual scheme made available to all Commonwealth countries by the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission. The India programme is managed jointly by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU, UK); Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India and the British Council Read the entire Interview here @ www.scststudents.org (Dalit and Adivasi Students' Portal) -- "Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run, Obama ran so your children can fly" From kiccovich at yahoo.com Thu Feb 10 22:53:02 2011 From: kiccovich at yahoo.com (francesca recchia) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:23:02 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Documentary project on global suburbanism Message-ID: <400126.43616.qm@web113207.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Dear all This is a fascinating interactive documentary on global suburban highrising http://highrise.nfb.ca/outmywindow Enjoy! francesca francesca recchia it +39 338 166 3648 uk +44 7866477605 From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com Fri Feb 11 01:26:42 2011 From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:56:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Save the Mahasthangarh (one of the most prominent 'citadel' cities in South Asia) from educated destruction Message-ID: <675580.96664.qm@web130206.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Save the Mahasthangarh (one of the most prominent 'citadel' cities in South Asia) from educated destruction   Swadhin Sen   Mahasthangarh is one of the most prominent 'urban citadel site' in South Asia. There are over hundred satellite sites in the form of mound surrounding the main city fortified by a massive wall and rampart. It is identified as the Pundranagar, the ancient capital of Pundrabardhan. Several excavations have been conducted on various parts of this site. Continuous habitation from the early historic period to the colonial period has been detected. Archaeological stratigraphy from the Interim Report of the excavation conducted by the Bangladesh-France joint team has suggested with the corroboration of the Radiocarbon dates that the earliest date goes back to the 4th-3rd century BCE. However, most of the area covered by the citadel is yet to be excavated. Besides, recent excavations at Vasu Bihara (a Buddhist monastery) and Bihar dhap (a mound) and Mazar area have revealed interesting cultural history in this part of undivided Bengal.   There is a Mazar of Saint Shah Sultan Mahisawar on one of the prominent location of the southern fortification wall. Oral history and legends associate Mahisawar with Raja Parashuram. The narrative suggests that local Hindu king Parashuram was defeated by the saint. The narratives are different in the causes and consequences of the battle between the two, embodying possibly the rise of Islam in this part of Bengal.   The site, site museum and the mazar attract thousands of people every year. A huge mela (fair) is organized during the Bengali month of Boisakh (April-May) in the Mazar area.   The recent event of destruction started in the name of constructing a multistoried building beside the mazar on 27 November 2010. Digging of foundation trenches and destruction of precious archaeological remains were noted by the officials of Department of Archaeology under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. Many people acted immediately against these act of destruction. The custodian and other officials of the Mahasthan Site Museum and regional office of the Department of Archaeology, and local journalists, in particular of the Daily Star and the Kaler Kantha acted promptly in taking administrative and legal steps and moves of dissemination of the news of the destruction.   It is to be noted that, the destruction, illegal digging for looting valuable artefacts, for the collection of soil for even governmental developmental activities are very common in the Mahasthan area where site density is heavy in a wide area. Mention could be made of the Karmasrijan Project (Project to ensure employment) by the local Shibganj Upazila Parishad involved the digging of an important archaeological mound - Baro Tangra Dhap- in mid-2010 for the construction of a road.   On 7 December Human Rights for Peace in Bangladesh submitted a writ petition to the High Court of Bangladesh alleging the violation of the constitution by the destruction. Preservation and protection of the National Cultural Heritage have been ensured in the constitution of Bangladesh and any kind of construction work threatening the protection has been prohibited. High Court Bench promptly ruled for the immediate stop of the destruction in the name of construction. The nexus between the ruling party president of the Bogra district, District Commissioner of Bogra and Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Shibganj upazila was covert. The nexus of the local elites and Bureaucrats inhibited the implementation of the high court rule.   Another Karmasrijan project by the UNO started ransacking another satellite mound - Nitai Dhapanir Pat for the construction of a road. The grass root level Govt. officials and several local journalists acted promptly again. The same High Court bench again summoned five persons including two local ruling party men on 2 February 2011. The bench again ruled for the construction of a ten member inquiry committee and asked the ministry and local administration for their failure in the protection. Unfortunately, most of the members are either bureaucrats or intellectuals with no background in grass root level archaeological reality and heritage studies.   Latest ruling of the High Court followed the newspaper reports of the re-commencing the construction activities during night. The District Commissioner, Police Super and The chairman of the Mazar Development Committee have been summoned to the court for their failure in following previous High Court ruling. The bench has also asked the ministry to find the possibility of removing the mosque associated with the mazar considering religious sentiments.   Meanwhile, reliable sources disclosed several acts of threatening and harassment of the grass root level Govt. Department of Archaeology officials and journalists by the District Commissioner and UNO. They and their families are living under constant fear of physical attacks.   Interestingly, the urban elite perception about the destruction of archaeological material and cultural heritage in Bangladesh uncritically take the 'illiterate', 'ignorant' and 'poor' mass as the main agents of the destruction of the cultural heritage. In contrast to this urban middle class perception, this series of events pertaining to the demolition of the rich and unique cultural heritage of an extremely important site as Mahasthangarh overtly illustrates that the main agents and culprits are educated, conscious and powerful elite groups. This is true to many other cases of destruction of cultural heritage in Bangladesh. This is a case of educated destruction of cultural patrimony of Bangladesh.   We call for immediate action to stop these educated peoples:   We demand immediate punishment of the District Commissioner, Police Super and Bogra district Awami Leage President for violating the constitution, failure in upholding the High Court ruling and for complete negligence and sheer audacity they have shown by crossing the limits of the jurisprudence.   We demand a judicial inquiry into the entire affair.   We demand that all the reports by previous inquiry committee should be made public and placed before the High Court.   Finally, we demand the security of the grass root level Govt. officials and journalists who are continuously living with fear and terror by the educated powerful sections related to the state apparatus.   13 Bachelors' Quarter; Jahangirnagar University   Swadhin Sen Archaeologist - Assistant Professor   Dept.of Archaeology            Tel:       +88 02 779 10 45-51 Ext. 1326 Jahangirnagar University      Mobile:  +88 0172 019 61 76   Savar,Dhaka. Bangladesh    Fax:      +88 02 779 10 52   swadhin_sen at yahoo.com; swadhinsen at hotmail.com www.juniv.edu ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121 From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Fri Feb 11 15:40:07 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:40:07 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Mockery of Justice, Yet Again! Join Protest demo on Saturday against Dr. Binayak Sen's bail rejection In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: manisha sethi Date: 11 February 2011 15:07 Subject: [humanrights-movement:3721] Mockery of Justice, Yet Again! Join Protest demo on Saturday against Dr. Binayak Sen's bail rejection To: Mockery of Justice, Yet Again! Dr. Binayak Sen denied bail by Chattisgarh High Court Join Protest Demonstration in large numbers 12th February/ Saturday / 12 noon Jantar Mantar AISA, HRLN, JTSA, ANHAD, Delhi Film Archives, Jan Sanskriti Manch, APCR, Delhi Solidarity and many others Sandipan Talukdar: 9899957032 Harsh Dobhal: 9818569021 Manisha Sethi: 9811625577 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to humanrights-movement at googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to humanrights-movement+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Fri Feb 11 17:03:03 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:03:03 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Peak_oil approaching fast? Message-ID: This is one of the key data issues in the peak oil debate, how much does Saudi have? I believe that many of the key OPEC countries doubled their reported reserves in the late 1980s, and some folks are sceptical of those claims. Naga ------------------------------------------ WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices US diplomat convinced by Saudi expert that reserves of world's biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40% • Jeremy Leggett: We are asleep at the wheel on peak oil • Datablog: Are we running out of oil? John Vidal, environment editor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 February 2011 22.00 GMT The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show. The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%. The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the Saudis and their Opec cartel partners would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand. However, Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, met the US consul general in Riyadh in November 2007 and told the US diplomat that Aramco's 12.5m barrel-a-day capacity needed to keep a lid on prices could not be reached. According to the cables, which date between 2007-09, Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m barrels a day in 10 years but before then – possibly as early as 2012 – global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch point is known as "peak oil". Husseini said that at that point Aramco would not be able to stop the rise of global oil prices because the Saudi energy industry had overstated its recoverable reserves to spur foreign investment. He argued that Aramco had badly underestimated the time needed to bring new oil on tap. One cable said: "According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold. First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray." It went on: "In a presentation, Abdallah al-Saif, current Aramco senior vice-president for exploration, reported that Aramco has 716bn barrels of total reserves, of which 51% are recoverable, and that in 20 years Aramco will have 900bn barrels of reserves. "Al-Husseini disagrees with this analysis, believing Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300bn barrels. In his view once 50% of original proven reserves has been reached … a steady output in decline will ensue and no amount of effort will be able to stop it. He believes that what will result is a plateau in total output that will last approximately 15 years followed by decreasing output." The US consul then told Washington: "While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line, he is no doomsday theorist. His pedigree, experience and outlook demand that his predictions be thoughtfully considered." Seven months later, the US embassy in Riyadh went further in two more cables. "Our mission now questions how much the Saudis can now substantively influence the crude markets over the long term. Clearly they can drive prices up, but we question whether they any longer have the power to drive prices down for a prolonged period." A fourth cable, in October 2009, claimed that escalating electricity demand by Saudi Arabia may further constrain Saudi oil exports. "Demand [for electricity] is expected to grow 10% a year over the next decade as a result of population and economic growth. As a result it will need to double its generation capacity to 68,000MW in 2018," it said. It also reported major project delays and accidents as "evidence that the Saudi Aramco is having to run harder to stay in place – to replace the decline in existing production." While fears of premature "peak oil" and Saudi production problems had been expressed before, no US official has come close to saying this in public. In the last two years, other senior energy analysts have backed Husseini. Fatih Birol, chief economist to the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian last year that conventional crude output could plateau in 2020, a development that was "not good news" for a world still heavily dependent on petroleum. Jeremy Leggett, convenor of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, said: "We are asleep at the wheel here: choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch, quite possibly worse." -------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiaclimatejustice" group. To post to this group, send email to indiaclimatejustice at googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to indiaclimatejustice+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiaclimatejustice?hl=en. From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com Fri Feb 11 21:07:21 2011 From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:37:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?q?Appeal_from_the_January_25_Movement=3A_Su?= =?utf-8?q?pport_the_People=27s_Revolution_in_Egypt=E2=80=8F?= Message-ID: <284885.15559.qm@web130208.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Ten days ago, when the government turned the phones back on for a few hours, two young Egyptian street activists called us from Tahrir Square: Mahmoud Salem, a well known 29-year-old Egyptian activist and blogger, and Gihan Ibrahim (pictured to the right), a 24-year-old activist who calls herself “Gigi.” The two of them dictated the text for an international campaign over the phone.  It’s become one of the top petitions ever on Change.org. You can add your name here:  http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-peoples-revolution-in-egypt-?alert_id=EVTdCNXGMB_EskdWqYZsc&me=aa Earlier today, we spoke with Gigi and Mahmoud again. Here is their dictated letter to you:   Dear fellow Change.org members,   We've been in Tahrir Square -- at the epicenter of the Egyptian revolution -- day and night since January 25th. People here are tired. We’ve been beaten, shot at, tear-gassed, rained on, denied medical access, and have lived in a public square for more than two weeks. Mercenary thugs on horses have attacked us with whips, swords, and knives. Hundreds of people have lost their lives and thousands are hurt or missing. But when we tell people here that more than 41,000 people from 120 countries have added their voice to our campaign, it gives them a sense of vindication, telling us that we are not crazy and what we are asking for is something that all human beings deserve. The revolutionary feeling here is incredible. Every day this square is full of peasants, workers, students and professionals, engineers, teachers, singers, writers and celebrities, Muslims, Christians, young, old, rich and poor. We are demanding things which everyone can agree on: an end to corruption, dictatorship and oppression; the ability to vote in free, fair and democratic elections; freedom, dignity and social justice to all citizens. Yet many governments around the world still do not support us. They call for "stability" in the region, even when we lack democracy and human rights in a "stable" country. This is why your solidarity is so important. It sends a simple message to those in this square who are risking their lives to support democracy: Even if the governments of the world aren’t with us, the people of the world are. After just two weeks of protest, President Mubarak has called off his brutal police forces, modified the constitution, and promised to step down ahead of upcoming elections. But these are only baby steps, which should happen as part of open negotiations after the president's resignation, not instead of it. We are dealing with a corrupt, brutal government led by a dictator of 30 years. This has to stop, it has to change, and we will not leave until he does. Are you with us? http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-peoples-revolution-in-egypt-?alert_id=EVTdCNXGMB_EskdWqYZsc&me=aa أشكركم على تضامنكم (Thank you for your solidarity)  Gigi Ibrahim and Mahmoud Salem The January 25 Movement Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt Swadhin Sen Archaeologist - Assistant Professor   Dept.of Archaeology            Tel:       +88 02 779 10 45-51 Ext. 1326 Jahangirnagar University      Mobile:  +88 0172 019 61 76   Savar,Dhaka. Bangladesh    Fax:      +88 02 779 10 52   swadhin_sen at yahoo.com; swadhinsen at hotmail.com www.juniv.edu From rintz.thomas at gmail.com Sat Feb 12 08:06:51 2011 From: rintz.thomas at gmail.com (Rintu Thomas) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 08:06:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Assistant Director for Documentary Film series Message-ID: Black Ticket Films is a media collective based in New Delhi that has produced award winning documentaries on themes of human rights, gender and sexuality and climate change. We're currently looking for graduates to work with us on a series of short documentary films to be shot across India. The work profile entails both creative (scripting, conceptualization etc) as well as production work. Functional knowledge of Final Cut Pro will be an added advantage. The project will be based out of New Delhi and will entail travel to North and East India in April and May 2011. This is an internship leading to the possibility of a paid position. To apply, send in your resume to: blackticketfilms[at]gmail[dot]com From sacw at sacw.net Sat Feb 12 10:22:22 2011 From: sacw at sacw.net (Harsh / sacw.net) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 05:52:22 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Mubarak Ho ! Kudos to the Egyptian uprising 2011 Message-ID: >From Sacw.net Mubarak Ho ! Kudos to the Egyptian uprising 2011 Select content on the protest movement that led to the departure on despotic Mubarak http://www.sacw.net/article1939.html From kalakamra at gmail.com Sat Feb 12 18:29:53 2011 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:29:53 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A Season of Footage and Films, Part 8. The City Plays Itself. Sunday, Feb 13th at CAMP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear all, This Sunday, February 13th, 6:30 pm onwards, we present: The City Plays Itself. Two films by film critics, who cut and paste their own very different paths into cities (or neighbourhoods) that "play themselves", in cinema. In Los Angeles and in Bandra, it was possible to make a film about this idea, rather than write a book, a review, or a conference paper. It was not possible to "release" the resulting films, but they still, as you can see, have a life of their own. Bandra in Bollywood Amrit Gangar 2006, 75 mins Los Angeles Plays Itself Thom Anderson 2003, 179 mins at CAMP roof 301, Alif Apartments, Chium village, Khar (w) Mumbai- 52 See you there! For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net From leonardo.electronic.almanac at gmail.com Fri Feb 11 21:37:00 2011 From: leonardo.electronic.almanac at gmail.com (Lanfranco Aceti) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:07:00 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] ISEA2011 - Pre-Symposium Event London - Digital Portraits of Transculturalism Message-ID: Dear Friends and Colleagues, We are happy to announce the ISEA2011 Istanbul Pre-Symposium Event Digital Portraits of Transculturalism - London, a one-day event taking place at the The Centre for Creative Collaboration, University of London on February 25, 2011, under the aegis of Goldsmiths College and Sabanci University. The symposium is also supported by FACT(Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and sees as partners The Arts Catalyst, SCAN and the Leonardo Electronic Almanac. The event will form part of an international series of conferences in London, New York, and Istanbul. The symposia are the starting point to generate a discussion about the digital portraiture internationally and in response a series of digital artworks and curated exhibitions will complement the conferences. Digital Portraits of Transculturalism – London will be preceded by a conversation on digital identities taking place on February 24 and realized in collaboration between The Thursday Club and the Leonardo Electronic Almanac. For further information click here. http://isea2011.sabanciuniv.edu/transculturalism.html http://www.leoalmanac.org/index.php/lea/entry/the_thursday_club_event/ http://www.leoalmanac.org/index.php/lea/entry/transculturalism_london/ Follow LEA on: The Newsletter: http://ow.ly/3pAgW Facebook: http://ow.ly/3pAjd Flickr: http://ow.ly/3pAKp Twitter: http://ow.ly/3pALO Vimeo: http://ow.ly/3UtYy For more information contact: Ozden Sahin, ozden.sahin at leoalmanac.org Leonardo is a registered trademark of Leonardo/ISAST. From aliens at dataone.in Sun Feb 13 20:58:29 2011 From: aliens at dataone.in (Bipin Trivedi) Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:58:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] FAIR SHARE OF VIBRANT GUJARAT Message-ID: <001b01cbcb92$ab0d2420$01276c60$@in> It is not just the educated or the established Muslim business families that have managed to grow in the last few years. Ayub Pathan, who used to earn Rs 600 a month from his job at the city airport, owns a fleet of seven taxis. "In 2001, I had sold my wife's jewellery, borrowed money at high interest rate from the unorganised market, and bought my first taxi. Bank loans were not easy for a Muslim entrepreneur then. But, things have improved. I have moved from my humble hutment at Camp Hanuman to an apartment at Shahibaug," Pathan says with pride. He earns close to Rs 50,000 a month from his taxis. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fair-sharevibrant-gujarat/424871 / Sohini Das and Vinay Umarji find out if there is any truth in Narendra Modi's claim that Muslim businessmen in Gujarat never had it better In a locality scarred by the Gujarat riots of 2002, one store stands apart - Hearty Mart. The "community store" in Ahmedabad's Juhapura neighborhood is the brainchild of Nadeem Jafri. He started the mini-supermarket in 2004 in what was a ghetto. With discounted prices and a no-frills shopping environment, it is targeted at people who find big-brand organised retail intimidating. He also supplies food to the hotels and restaurants run by the Momin community across Gujarat. "We leveraged the strength of our community which lies in running restaurants, around 2,000 of which are in on the Ahmedabad-Vapi belt," says Jafri, an MBA from FMS Indore. Hearty Mart has grown from one store in Ahmedabad to nine more in Gujarat. The condition of Muslims in Gujarat under chief minister Narendra Modi has been the subject of much debate. The riots that followed the Godhra massacre tarnished the state's secular image. Yet, Gujarat remains the most popular destination for investments, with businessmen falling over each other to put money into the state. Have Muslims got their rightful share of the prosperity? Modi has said Muslim businessmen never had it better in Gujarat. But what is the situation on the ground? Almost every businessman in Gujarat has basked in the glory of the state's growth story. "Muslims too have made the most of this opportunity, and have prospered," says Talha Sareshwala, CEO and managing director of Parsoli Motors, the leading BMW dealer in the city. When the dealership started in 2008, it hardly had Muslim customers. "I have seen the spending power of Muslims rise tremendously in these 8 to 10 years. Now, around 10 to 12 per cent of my customers comprise Muslims," he says. "If one is living in a society, one cannot lead a secluded existence; one has to come forward and join the mainstream. Any setback is actually an investment and becomes the cause for going forward," says Uves Sareshwala, Talha's elder brother and one of the co-promoters of Parsoli Corporation. The Parsolis have tried their hand at several lines of businesses including poultry, industrial valves, stock broking, paints and luxury cars. It is not just the educated or the established Muslim business families that have managed to grow in the last few years. Ayub Pathan, who used to earn Rs 600 a month from his job at the city airport, owns a fleet of seven taxis. "In 2001, I had sold my wife's jewellery, borrowed money at high interest rate from the unorganised market, and bought my first taxi. Bank loans were not easy for a Muslim entrepreneur then. But, things have improved. I have moved from my humble hutment at Camp Hanuman to an apartment at Shahibaug," Pathan says with pride. He earns close to Rs 50,000 a month from his taxis. Muslims, according to the 2001 census, make up nearly nine per cent of Gujarat's population of 50 million. The Sachar Committee says Muslims aren't badly off in Gujarat. Their literacy rate of 73.5 per cent is better than the national average of 59.1. The per capita income of Muslims in urban Gujarat is Rs 875 per month, higher than the national average of Rs 804. The number of Muslims living below the poverty line in Gujarat has also come down, from 54 per cent in 1987-88 to 34 per cent in 2004-2005. Muslims form 5.4 per cent in the state government's roll call, compared with 2.1 per cent in West Bengal, 3.2 per cent in Delhi and 4.4 per cent in Maharashtra. So, did government policies have a role to play? Yes, says Kaizar Mahuwala of Gurjar Images: "Our plant needs to run 24X7; if we shut down for a day, it would take 36 hours to restart production. Such a plant could possibly run only in a state like Gujarat where the power infrastructure can support industrial growth." The sentiment is echoed by others. "The future is here. I cannot even think of living in any other city but Ahmedabad, everywhere else seems alien to me," says Talha Sareshwala who is now planning to open BMW showrooms across Gujarat. From navayana at gmail.com Mon Feb 14 14:55:54 2011 From: navayana at gmail.com (Navayana Publishing) Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:55:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Bhimayana launch: 16 Fe, IIC Annexe, 6.30 p.m. Message-ID: This is to invite you to the launch of Bhimayana, the graphic biography of Ambedkar, on Wednesday, 16 Feb, at 6.30 p.m. The launch is at the India International Centre, Annexe Court, 40 Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi. Please do share this invite with others who may be interested. Writer Ajay Navaria (author of Udhar ke Log),Graphic artist Orijit Sen and academic Nandini Chandra (author of The Classic Popular: Amar Chitra Katha, 1967-2007) will have a conversation with the artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam, and publisher Anand. For further details: Ph: 9873338291 or 9971433117. The Caravan magazine, principal sponsor of the events, will be offering an exclusive subscription of 12 issues of their magazine for the price of one copy of the special limited edition hardback of Bhimayana (Rs 995) As at other launches, at the Delhi events Bhimayana-People T-shirts (priced at Rs 495 but available at the event for Rs 450 with further discounts for students and dalits-adivasis) and 13 inch x 19 inch prints on special paper (Rs 750, with similar discounts) shall also be available. Do join us if you are in Delhi and tell your friends. For more details, see: http://navayana.org/?p=1304 And on FB: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=200796133268623 regards Anand “Ambedkar’s story, told like never before”: DNA, Mumbai “Bhim me up”: Time Out review “Why you should read Bhimayana”: Malarvizhi Jayanth “In Graphic Detail”: Frontline feature “Ambedkar didn’t have to travel to South Africa to face discrimination” Mid-Day interview and feature “The Politics of Art”: Indian Express review “Caste in Gond”, Indian Express Eye feature “Gond artists find new canvas in graphic novels”: Chennai Times of India report “Know Ambedk ar”: New Indian Express, Chennai, report “Indian graphic artists draw outside the box for nonfiction Bhimayana”: Washington Post’s report “They are Not Exactly Comics”: feature in Open magazine S. Anand Navayana Publishing 155, Second Floor (Near DDA Park) Shahpur Jat New Delhi 110049 www.navayana.org From iram at sarai.net Tue Feb 15 01:13:40 2011 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:43:40 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] An evening on art, performance, poetry @sarai Message-ID: <4D5985EC.8070806@sarai.net> You are invited for a presentation by Silke Kaestner on her ongoing art project on Kashmir in collaboration with Inder Salim. Silke Kaestner is a visual artist based in Berlin, and is currently the Artist in Residence at the Sarai Programme at CSDS, Delhi. Silke will be presenting some sketches of her work, emerging from conversations on alternative expressions and forms with artists of Kashmiri origin and others. The space will be open for other artists to perform, to paint, to tell anecdotes and stories, to recite poems, to sing and dance :) Participating artists include: Aleph Meme Amjid Majeed Gauhar Yaqoob Iram Ghufran Inder Salim Minakshi Watts Mini Kumar Ondi McMaster Ranjit Silka Kaestner Showkat Kathjoo Vivek Raina Neha Tickoo Zubair Darzi Time: 6 pm onwards Date: Friday, February 18, 2011 Venue: Sarai CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054 -------------- From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com Tue Feb 15 19:59:49 2011 From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:29:49 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Mubarak's Ignominious Departure and the fear factor Message-ID: <424432.80578.qm@web130224.mail.mud.yahoo.com> CONCLUDING PART          THE END OF AUTHORITARIANISM IN THE ARAB WORLD?   Mubarak's Ignominious Departure and the Fear Factor rahnuma ahmed   Mubarak is gone! Egypt is free!   Equally true is the fact that power has been assumed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. That the 30 year-old state of emergency has not yet been lifted, neither has any time frame been set, nothing beyond the invocation, "as soon as the current circumstances are over." Equally true is the fact that Egypt's new, transitional (military) rulers have been quick to affirm Egypt's commitment to all regional and international obligations and treaties, an implicit signal that the treaty of all treaties, Egypt's peace treaty with Israel—propagated as a bulwark for peace and stability in the region, but in reality, one which helps sustain Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and the seige of Gaza—is not under threat. An affirmation swiftly welcomed by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the treaty as "having greatly contributed to both countries," as "the cornerstone for peace and stability in the entire Middle East"; close at his heels was US president Barack Obama who welcomed the Egyptian pledge to "stand by" its international obligations.   But, it is also true that while Egyptian demonstrators, both young and old, rallied to scrub off slogans and graffiti from walls, to clean up the streets of Cairo of rocks, debris of violence, charred remains of Mubarak's effigy ("Clearing the streets is just a start. It is our country now"), protestors still camped out in Tahrir square, refusing to leave until the military issued official statements on their next steps. It is also true that pro-democracy activists insist that their revolt was not against one man but against the whole regime, which Mubarak and his predecessors, had instituted. It is also true that their invincible strength prevented Omar Suleiman—the CIA's man in Cairo who devised and implemented the programme for renditioning and torturing terrorist suspects, in whom Mubarak transferred authorities while still clinging to power—from taking charge. Pro-democracy activists insist that the revolution will not be over until all responsible for the hundreds of deaths will be investigated, tried and punished. It will not be over until Egypt's stolen funds are restored.   Swiss banks have frozen assets of the ousted president, who is currently hunkered down in his residence at the Red Sea tourist resort, Sharm al-Sheikh. Former interior minister Habib El Adly, former prime minister Ahmed Nazif have been banned from travelling, their assets have been frozen. Former information minister Anna El Feqy has been placed under house arrest while rumors fly of business tycoons fleeing. But it is also true that while figures are totted up of how much the former president, his Welsh wife and their son fleeced Egypt, that while the huge personal wealth amassed by other members of the corrupt coterie are calculated, one does not hear of corruption within the army. That these stories are silenced.   But it is undeniable that the mass uprising was organic. One that persisted after Mubarak's ouster, attested to by scenes of youths in Alexandria, the mainstay of the uprising, stopping cars and telling their occupants, abide by traffic rules. Of telling pedestrians, do not give bribes, read up the constitution.   It is also true that the mass uprising did not occur overnight but was, as Marwan Bishara reminds us, "the culmination of countless sit-ins, strikes, pickets, and demonstrations." That behind the 18 day popular revolt lies long years of grassroots mobilisation, the tireless efforts of scores of coalition builders who worked with labour unions and opposition parties, both old and new, including the Muslim Brotherhood. That we must not forget people such as, says Bishara, the late Mohammad El-Sayed Said who helped to found the Cairo Institute of Human Rights Studies and, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights. Who underwent arrest and torture for writing the "much-acclaimed report about the punishment of dissidents by torture" (Al-Ahram). Who died last year after a long period of ill-treatment at the hands of the Mubarak regime, and a 2-year struggle with cancer. Who was "much missed in Tahrir Square." There were many others.   It is also true that Mubarak was suffering from severe delusions when he confided in a 20 minute telephone conversation to former Israeli defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a close friend and ally, that he was looking for "an honorable way out" (Press TV, February 12, 2011). This was on Thursday, February 10, the day he refused to step down as anticipated, offering his "children" constitutional changes instead, and transfer of authorities to Suleiman. It was the speech greeted with raised shoes, the ultimate sign of dishonor for leaders and politicians in our parts of the world. One that was globally iconised by Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoe at George Bush in 2008. A farewell parting.   It is also true that the US, Israel and western allies are the greatest obstacles to democratisation and peace in the Middle East. That the US now has to toe a careful line, that it should not appear too hasty in consigning puppet dictators—whose political use has rapidly expired in the face of mass uprisings—to (past) "history" as (present) "history unfolds" (Obama, the world was "witnessing history unfold [in Egypt]", February 10). As other Middle Eastern dictators, close allies and friends of the US, closely watch every move of the administration while they themselves scurry around and offer handouts to their people, as they wonder what the future holds for them.   For, despite the fact that we do not know which deals have been struck in the corridors of power, which new ones are being negotiated now, right now, as I write, it is undeniable that storms of change are blowing over Egypt. Over the entire Middle East as Arabs rise in the thousands, in the millions in Egypt, in revolt against autocrats. For democracy. For freedom.   Some call it the domino effect, but this blunts awareness of other issues. It deflects attention from the long-propagated western myth that Arabs are not capable of achieving democracy. In other words, that political subjection is natural to them. A myth manufactured to hide the reality of autocrats either installed, and/or bolstered by US intervention, both politically and militarily. "We are now proud to be Egyptians, we have gained back our dignity as human beings" declared a woman excitedly  to al-Jazeera, a sentiment voiced by millions of other Egyptians. A sentiment shared the world over, We are all Egyptians now. We are all Tunisians now.   "This revolution," says Irish-American activist, former US marine, passenger on the MV Mavi Marmara Kenneth O'Keefe rightly, "is not a revolution for Tunisia and Egypt, it is a global revolution." But he couldn't be more right  when he adds, "what the people in Tunisia and Egypt are doing is what we should be doing in the West but we haven't done while our corrupt governments have sat by and allowed the Israeli blockade to continue, to torture all those who stand up against the Tunisian and Egyptian tyrannies, supported by the Western governments, in particular the US, Britain, the EU, all of them" (recorded in Gaza, January 27, 2011).   As Egyptians declared their pride in being Egyptian, US commentators dished out "the Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theory" (Justin Raimondo, February 3, 2011). In the words of America's former  ambassador to the UN John Bolton, “I think the question is whether and to what extent the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Islamists have infiltrated the leadership...I don’t think we have evidence yet that these demonstrations are necessarily about democracy. You know the old saying, ‘one person, one vote, one time.’ The Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t care about democracy, if they get into power you’re not going to have free and fair elections either." But the Muslim Brotherhood, undoubtedly the largest and best organised opposition force in the country, had abstained January 25 demonstrations, had belatedly endorsed January 28 demonstrations.   The tone of the demonstrations has been nationalist and secular. Ibrahim Hodeibi, one of the new generation Brotherhood members and an important blogger, had earlier suggested that the Brotherhood slogan "Islam is the solution" should be replaced by the religiously neutral one, "Egypt is for all Egyptians" (Charles Hirschkind, The road to Tahrir), and this is what resounded from Tahrir square. Egypt's Coptic Christian minority joined in the million-strong demonstrations too; it was more urgent, said many, to end Mubarak's three decade rule than "any fears that a change of power might empower Islamist groups" (Reuters, February 1, 2011). No doubt the Brotherhood will be "a factor in post-Mubarak Egypt" but hardly decisive, for they will be a "part of the democratic mosaic" as will be other parties bearing other visions and agendas of political change (Raimondo).   But if these changes set a precedent that could be repeated in other countries, says Deputy Israeli prime minister Silvan Shalom, "Israeli national security might significantly be threatened." Undeniably true, for democratic governments in the Middle East would see no reason to give precedence to Israeli national interests over and above their own. There may no longer be any close coordination between Israel and Arab regimes over intelligence and security. Over renditions and torture. On the contrary, it is quite likely that a democratically-elected government would want the Rafah border to be re-opened. And, could possibly want the Egypt-Israel peace treaty to be abrogated..?   As news of the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen's visit to Israel and Jordan to "discuss security issues of mutual concern," to reassure these "key partners of the US military's commitment to that partnership" (February 13-14) filters through, I feel apprehensive. I can only ask, why are people in the West not rising up against their war criminal rulers? Against colonial occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine? Against drone attacks that kill and maim civilians in Pakistan?   They need lessons in democracy and freedom. From the Egyptians. Tunisians. Yemenis. Jordanians...In short, from the Arabs.   ---------  Published in New Age, Monday February 14, 2011   PIC 1 CAPTION        Anti-government protestors gathered in central Cairo wave their shoes, in a gesture of anger, after President Hosni Mubarak announces that he will not seek re-election. ©Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/110201_108703164b_b.jpg   PIC 2 CAPTION             A Muslim holding the Koran (left) and a Coptic Christian holding a cross are carried through opposition supporters in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 6, 2011. ©Dylan Martinez/Reuters http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/02/07/muslim-christian-unity-at-tahrir-square/     To post comments pls go to: http://www.shahidulnews.com/    if you do not wish to receive my weekly columns pls let me know   --     "I am because we are." Ubuntu/African concept   rahnuma ahmed writer, columnist New Age rahnumaa at gmail.com Swadhin Sen Archaeologist - Assistant Professor   Dept.of Archaeology            Tel:       +88 02 779 10 45-51 Ext. 1326 Jahangirnagar University      Mobile:  +88 0172 019 61 76   Savar,Dhaka. Bangladesh    Fax:      +88 02 779 10 52   swadhin_sen at yahoo.com; swadhinsen at hotmail.com www.juniv.edu From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com Tue Feb 15 20:10:32 2011 From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:40:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Road to Tahrir by Charles Hirschkind Message-ID: <963269.43098.qm@web130201.mail.mud.yahoo.com> http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2011/02/09/the-road-to-tahrir/ The road to Tahrir posted by Charles Hirschkind While the uprising in Egypt caught most observers of the Middle East off guard, it did not come out of the blue. The seeds of this spectacular mobilization had been sown as far back as the early 2000s and had been carefully cultivated by activists from across the political spectrum, many of these working online via Facebook, twitter, and within the Egyptian blogosphere. Working within these media, activists began to forge a new political language, one that cut across the institutional barriers that had until then polarized Egypt’s political terrain, between more Islamically-oriented currents (most prominent among them, the Muslim Brotherhood) and secular-liberal ones. Since the rise of the Islamist Revival in the 1970s, Egypt’s political opposition had remained sharply divided around contrasting visions of the proper place of religious authority within the country’s social and political future, with one side viewing secularization as the eminent danger, and the other emphasizing the threat of politicized religion to personal freedoms and democratic rights. This polarity tended to result in a defensive political rhetoric and a corresponding amplification of political antagonisms, a dynamic the Mubarak regime has repeatedly encouraged and exploited over the last thirty years in order to ensure a weak opposition. What was striking about the Egyptian blogosphere as it developed in the last seven or so years is the extent to which it engendered a political language free from the problematic of secularization vs. fundamentalism that had governed so much of political discourse in the Middle East and elsewhere. The blogosphere that burst into existence in Egypt around 2004 and 2005 in many ways provided a new context for a process that had begun somewhat earlier, in the late 1990s: namely, the development of practices of coordination and support between secular leftist organizations and associations and Islamist ones (particularly the Muslim Brotherhood)—a phenomenon almost completely absent in the prior decades. Toward the end of the decade of the ’90s, Islamist and leftist lawyers began to agree to work together on cases regarding state torture, whereas in previous years, lawyers of one affiliation would almost never publicly defend plaintiffs from the other. The most successful experiment at reaching across Egypt’s political spectrum came in 2004 with the emergence of what is called the Kifaya movement, a political formation that brought together Islamists, Muslim Brothers, communists, liberals, and secular-leftists, joined on the basis of a common demand for an end to the Mubarak regime and a rejection of Gamal Mubarak’s succession of his father as president. Kifaya was instrumental in organizing a series of demonstrations between 2004 and 2007 that for the first time explicitly called for the president of Egypt to step down, an unheard of demand prior to that moment, insomuch as any direct criticism of the president or his family had until then always been taboo and met by harsh reprisals from the state. Kifaya not only succeeded in bringing large numbers of people of different political persuasions into the street to protest government policies and actions; they were also the first political movement in Egypt to exploit the organizing potential of the Internet, founding a number of blog sites from which to coordinate and mobilize demonstrations and strikes. When Kifaya held its first demonstrations, at the end of 2004, a handful of bloggers both participated and wrote about the events on their blogs. Within a year, the number of blogs had jumped into the hundreds. Today there are 1000s of blogs, many tied to activism, street politics, solidarity campaigns, and grassroots organizing. Many of the bloggers who helped promote the Kifaya movement have played key roles in the events of the past two weeks. One event highlighted the political potential of blogging in Egypt and helped secure the practice’s new and expanding role within Egyptian political life. It had long been known that the Egyptian state routinely abused and tortured prisoners or detainees (hence the U.S.’s choice of Egypt in so-called rendition cases). For its part, the state has always denied that abuse took place, and lacking the sort of evidence needed to prosecute a legal case, human rights lawyers and the opposition press had never been able to effectively challenge the state’s official position. This changed when a blogger named Wael Abbas, whose blog is titled al-wa’i al-masri (“Egyptian Awareness”), placed on his blog site a cellphone-recorded video he had been sent by another blogger that showed a man being physically and sexually abused by police officers at a police station in Cairo. (Apparently, the clip had been filmed by officers with the intention of intimidating the detainee’s fellow workers.) Once this video clip was placed on YouTube and spread around the Egyptian blogosphere, opposition newspapers took up the story, citing the blogs as their source. When the victim was identified and encouraged to come forth, a human rights agency raised a case on his behalf against the officers involved that eventually resulted in their conviction, an unprecedented event in Egypt’s modern history. Throughout the entire year that the case was being prosecuted, bloggers tracked every detail of the police and judiciary’s handling of the case, their relentless scrutiny of state actions frequently finding its way into the opposition newspapers. Satellite TV talk shows followed suit, inviting bloggers on screen to debate state officials concerned with the case. Moreover, within a month of posting the torture videos on his web site, Abbas and other bloggers started receiving scores of similar cellphone films of state violence and abuse taken in police stations or during demonstrations. This new relation between bloggers and other media forms has now become standard: not only do many of the opposition newspapers rely on bloggers for their stories; news stories that journalists can’t print themselves without facing state persecution—for example, on issues relating to the question of Mubarak’s successor—such stories are first fed to bloggers by investigative reporters; once they are reported online, journalists then proceed to publish the stories in newsprint, citing the blogs as sources, in this way avoiding the accusation that they themselves invented the story. Moreover, many young people have taken up the practice of using cellphone cameras in the street, and bloggers are constantly receiving phone film-footage from anonymous sources that they then put on their blogs. This event played a key role in shaping the place that the blogosphere would come to occupy within Egypt’s media sphere. Namely, bloggers understand their role as that of providing a direct link to what they call “the street,” conceived primarily as a space of state repression and political violence, but also as one of political action and popular resistance. They render visible and publicly speakable a political practice—the violent subjugation of the Egyptian people by its authoritarian regime—that other media outlets cannot easily disclose, due to censorship, practices of harassment, and arrest. This includes not only acts of police brutality and torture, but also the more mundane and routine forms of violence that shape the texture of everyday life. For example, blogs frequently include reporting on routine injustices experienced in public transportation, the cruel indifference of corrupt state bureaucrats, sexual harassment encountered in the streets, as well as the many faces of pain produced by conditions of intense poverty, environmental toxicity, infrastructural neglect, and so on. The blogosphere was joined by another powerful media instrument in 2008. On April 6 of that year, a general strike took place in Egypt, an event that saw vast numbers of workers and students stay home from their sites of work or school. The strike, the largest anti-government mobilization to occur in Egypt in many years, had been initiated by labor activists in support of striking workers at the Mahalla textile factory who had for months been holding out for better salaries and improved work conditions. In the month leading up to the strike, however, the aim of the action enlarged beyond the scope of the specific concerns of the factory workers. Propelled by the efforts of a group of activists on Facebook, the strike shifted to become a national day of protest against the corruption of the Mubarak regime, and particularly against the regime’s complete inaction in the face of steadily declining wages and rising prices. Most stunning about the event, and most worrisome to the Egyptian state, was the way the idea of a general strike had been generated: Esra’ ‘Abd al-Fattah, a young woman with little experience as an activist, who lived just outside of Cairo, had initiated a group on Facebook calling for a sympathy strike with the textile workers. Within two weeks, close to 70,000 Facebook members had signed on. Political bloggers also began to promote the strike, and by the time the first of April came around, most of the political opposition parties had been brought on board and were vigorously trying to mobilize their constituencies. When the sixth arrived, Egypt witnessed its most dramatic political mobilization in decades, an event that brought together people across the political spectrum, from Muslim Brotherhood members to Revolutionary Socialists. Egyptian Facebook activists and bloggers took up and extended the political platform that the Kifaya movement had introduced into Egyptian political life, the same exact platform that has brought millions of Egyptians into the street these days. Four issues have defined a common moral stance: a forceful rejection of the Mubarak regime and a demand for its end; a stand against tawrith, or “succession,” specifically Gamal Mubarak’s succession of his father as president of the country; a demand for the expansion of political freedoms and the creation of fair and democratic institutions; and a condemnation of routinized state violence. Although those who forged this common ground online have done so through different institutional experiences, and have brought with them different conceptions of the place of religion within politics, they write and interact as participants in a shared project. While they recognize the difference between their political commitments and those of other online activists, they engage with an orientation toward creating conditions of political action and change, and therefore seek to develop arguments, styles of writing, and self-presentation that can bridge these differences and hold the plurality together. As one secularist blogger put it in commenting on the protocols of online engagement: “The atheists reign in their contempt for religion, while the religious bloggers—who would not even accept the existence of non-believers in the first place—can now see some shared values.” For Islamist activists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, this agenda marks a radical shift. Until quite recently, Islamist political arguments have focused on the importance of adopting the shari’a as a national legal framework, and on the need to counter the impact of Western cultural forms and practices in order to preserve the values of an Islamic society. Granted, an earlier generation of intellectuals linked to Islamic political parties had, since the mid-1980s, emphasized the necessity of democratic political reforms. Leading Islamist writers such as Fahmi Howeidi, ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Messiri, and Tarek al-Bishri had attempted to build a movement that would bring about an end to the rampant corruption afflicting Egypt’s political institutions and establish a solid basis for representative governance, but their viewpoints generally remained marginal within Islamist political currents, and the organizations they tried to establish were largely undermined by the state. For many of those making up the new generation of Islamist activists, however, the goal of creating a flourishing Islamic society must start with the reform of Egypt’s stultified authoritarian system, and, therefore, with the development of a political discourse capable of responding to the requirements of this task. This political reorientation can be seen in a statement made a few years back by Ibrahim Hodeibi, an important voice among the new generation of Brotherhood members and a well-known blogger. Writing in the context of a debate with fellow Brotherhood members about the future of the organization, Hodeibi suggested that the Brotherhood slogan, “Islam is the solution,” should be replaced by the religiously-neutral “Egypt for all Egyptians.” This is indeed the call we hear today rising up above the streets of Egypt. These online activists have played a key role in transforming the conditions of political possibility in Egypt during the last decade, and of paving the way to Tahrir Square today. They have sought out and cultivated new forms of political agency in the face of the predations and repressive actions of the Egyptian state. They have pioneered forms of political critique and interaction that can mediate and encompass the heterogeneity of religious and social commitments that constitute Egypt’s contemporary political terrain. From the latest news reports, it is clear that many of them are now being arrested and beaten for their efforts. The regime has again shown itself implacable in its disregard for the people of Egypt. For a longer version of this article, see “New Media and Political Dissent in Egypt,” Revista de Dialectologia y Tradiciones Populares 65, 1 (2010): 137-153.—Ed. Tags: blogs, Egypt, Kifaya movement, new media, protests, social media, Tahrir Square Swadhin Sen Archaeologist - Assistant Professor   Dept.of Archaeology            Tel:       +88 02 779 10 45-51 Ext. 1326 Jahangirnagar University      Mobile:  +88 0172 019 61 76   Savar,Dhaka. Bangladesh    Fax:      +88 02 779 10 52   swadhin_sen at yahoo.com; swadhinsen at hotmail.com www.juniv.edu From the-network at koeln.de Tue Feb 15 20:15:04 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (CologneOFF2011) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:45:04 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?CologneOFF_2011_on_CeC_-_Carnival_of?= =?iso-8859-1?q?_e-Creativity_in_India?= Message-ID: <20110215154504.ED7D2BF.28E21DC0@192.168.0.4> CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context nomadic festival project 1 January - 31 December 2011 --------------------------------------------- CologneOFF 2011 Sattal/Uttarakhand - India 18-19-20 February 2011 at CeC - Carnival of e-Creativity --------------------------------------------- While CologneOFF 2011 is still being present at Keuruu Museum, in Finland, http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=170 it is also already on the way to India for making a stop at Sattal, a magnificent place in the Himalaya mountains not too far from New Delhi, where since some years in February each year - CeC - Carnival of e-Creativity - is taking place, a festival of digital and electronic art where Western and Eastern art and philosophy meet each other http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=175 In India - CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context - is presenting not only the entire festival program of CologneOFF VI http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=752 including more than 80 videos, but also the series of compilations of videoart from USA (Alysse Stepanian, Los Angeles), Norway (Margarida Paiva, Oslo Screen Festival) Italy (Giorgio Fedeli, Visual Container Milan) South Africa (Kai Lossgott, City Breath Festival Cape Town, RSA) and Portugal (Pedro Almeida & Sergio Gomes, VideoLab Project Portugal) The same programs were previously presented on Delhi International Art Festival in the framework of "Edgelogue" at Alliance Francaise, New Delhi - 12-13 December 2010. http://downloads.nmartproject.net/Edgelogue_New-Delhi_CologneOFF2011.pdf --------------------------------------- CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context 1 January 2011 - 31 December 2011 http://coff.newmediafest.org is collabortative project between --> Le Musee di-visioniste - the new museum of networked art http://www.le-musee-divisioniste.org --> Cologne International Videoart Festival http://coff.newmediafest.org powered by --> artvideoKOELN - the initiative "art & moving images" http://video.mediaartcologne.org contact --> info (at) coff.newmediafest.org ------------------------------------------ From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com Tue Feb 15 20:33:27 2011 From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:03:27 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Withdrawing consent Message-ID: <256935.46071.qm@web130204.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Uprising in Egypt: Withdrawing consent posted by Stathis Gourgouris For the last month, we have been witnessing, in Tunisia and Egypt, the first revolution of the twenty-first century. We are indeed fortunate to live in the presence of such a world-making event, even if we are not in the streets together with those who are making it a reality in daily life. Hastening to provide analyses of ongoing social and political alterations of such magnitude is always ill-advised, because world-historical events also alter the known modes and means of analysis, especially those crafted by pundits and academics. Nonetheless, in an attempt to respond to the sublime sentiment of watching an entire people erupt in a collective desire for self-determination, which is, moreover, actualized in the very means of conducting and realizing this desire, I feel a personal exigency to articulate certain elementary observations on what I perceive to be the worldwide consequences of these alterations. I do so in the spirit, not of analysis, but of speculation, and with the self-conscious risk of being an amateur observer. My overall sense is that this is a revolution that has already transformed the terms with which, up to now, we have conceptualized revolution. Even if, as has been said repeatedly, one can connect the manner of the Egyptian revolution to what led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and thereby the Soviet world, the present event – which, I repeat, is still taking place – transcends the events of 1989. And this, because it does not remain tied merely to the demand for political freedom, but demands in addition the full reconfiguration of society, the creation of new institutions (political and social), and the actualization of social justice and isonomy. Whether these will be achieved is unclear. But the demand for them and the self-authorized way in which this demand was articulated is revolutionary in itself and cannot be effaced. Moreover, since this revolution is taking place in the Arab world, and in a primarily Muslim society, the range of its consequences overcomes its strict geographical boundaries, which are, in any case, plural and overlapping (Middle East, North Africa, Southeastern Mediterranean), broaching, indeed, worldwide dimensions, all the more because simultaneously it deauthorizes the previous model of Islamic revolution in Iran. Two things to be said here: First: It is impossible at this moment to judge the magnitude of significance these events will have for the self-determination of every single Arab person, wherever s/he happens to reside on the planet. The revolution in Egypt and Tunisia means the reawakening of the Arab world in general and against an increasingly powerless (in world terms) Arab elite. Whatever the outcome, the rupture with the past century that saw the shift from colonization to national independence—indeed, a century of continuous dependence—is unbridgeable and irreversible. All Arabs now know—and those who still govern them know it too, but with fear—what autonomy really means: what it means to demand, unhesitant and unafraid, and to achieve, as a society en masse, the right to decide your own present and your own future. For the Arab world—and hence for all its enemies—these events testify to a foundational reconfiguration of the geopolitical dynamic, whose consequences may still be indeterminate but are most definitely subversive. The re-awakening of the sense of Arab self-determination and the demands that it poses cannot be blanketed in the language of ethno-nationalism, because it is a political action that cuts to the core of the most existential demand. The celebration with which ordinary Arabs, in the streets and in their homes all over the world, welcomed the announcement of Mubarak’s political demise on February 11, 2011, is an indelible indication of a personalized, existential sense of awakening. But the regional reconfiguration reaches beyond the Arab world as such. One might say that, in a Mediterranean context, the catalytic event took place in December 2008, when Greek youth, responding to a case of public police brutality, and using exactly the same technological modes of communication and organization, rebelled against the state with unprecedented rage, even if this action, as radical as it was, remained inadequate in its constituent dimensions. I note that, in those days, Arab youth hailed the Greek rebellion in various blogs as an example to be followed. On the other side, temporally speaking, the recent mass protest action in Italy, spearheaded by women, against the Berlusconi government cannot possibly be disconnected from the impact that images from Egyptian streets had on the imagination of the protesters, even if this would be difficult to quantify. That these actions remain incomplete (and perhaps inadequate) speaks more to the disempowerment of European societies (even the two most politicized ones) versus Arab ones than an entrenchment of unalterable institutions. Second: Historical coincidence is always ironic, because it can never be deliberately produced, and because, when one event shadows another, all precedent meaning is thrown off kilter. This is especially the case here, where the collapse of the Mubarak regime happens to coincide to the day with the thirty-second anniversary of the collapse of the Pahlavi regime, as a result of a revolution that led to the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Feb. 11, 1979). This coincidence signifies in essence the historically actualized disengagement of two otherwise incompatible names, because the revolutionary movement for democracy in both Egypt and Tunisia never gestured toward any religious authorization. Even the instances of collective prayer in Tahrir Square before projected mass actions remained in the realm of a social, not political, practice. Sublime remains, above all, the image of Egyptian Christians forming a human chain of protection around Muslims in prayer against possible attacks by thugs of the secret police. (The gesture, I was told, was reversed when Muslims stood guard outside a Coptic church during mass.) Against all talk by fear-mongering pundits from quarters that wish to denigrate Egypt’s achievement, the Muslim Brotherhood explicitly articulated its support from the outset for a real—therefore, secular—democracy. Let us not mince words in the face of sublime events. The Tunisian and Egyptian popular uprisings are the epitome of secular action—which is not to say, secularist. Whatever will be the ultimate expression of the movement’s constituent power—and, at present, this is still profoundly unknown, and all bets are off—the constitution of the action itself, in terms of both the intention and the execution of the actors day after day, unfolded with a univocal concentration on self-determination extraneous to any external, transcendental, authorization. Moreover, the fact that a world-historical secular event is taking place in Muslim society—and especially insofar as it goes against the legacy of the Iranian Revolution—registers as a powerful indication of how inadequate has been the haste among pundits and academics to proclaim the advent of a post-secular age. Although this is a broader issue pertaining to the general politics of the “post-”—which testifies ultimately to a generally inadequate intellectual response to the emergent—it deserves to be underlined as a point of departure for some urgent reconsiderations. Finally: The dominant Orientalism that wants every resistance to power in Muslim societies to be an expression of religious fanaticism and terrorism was dealt a brutal blow in just eighteen days. We are speaking of eighteen days of explosive popular action that interwove a technologically ingenious urban youth; a deeply entrenched workers’ syndicalist movement; the initiative of independent women in and out of the family structure; the liberal bourgeoisie of the main Egyptian cities; the well-trained organization of the Muslim Brotherhood among key professions (especially doctors); the explicit participation of people working in the judicial system (including judges wearing, as signs, their court regalia); and, above all, the spontaneously and autonomously enraged association of tens of thousands of the poorest of the poor. Let us not forget that the spark for this revolutionary rage was struck by a food-vendor’s act of self-immolation on a Tunis street. In Egypt and Tunisia, we see the very idea of revolution being transformed before our eyes, yet simultaneously connecting itself with its elemental and integral significance. Revolution no longer means the violent overthrow of a political regime in an orchestrated (or hijacked) action, under the command of a revolutionary vanguard, secular or religious—an action that inevitably leads to a civil war that never ends for the generations who experience it and indelibly marks the generations that follow it. Revolution now means what it has always meant in essence: the people’s removal of their consent to power. For, in the last instance, no regime can continue to exist without the consent of the society it reigns over, whether this consent is conscious or unconscious, willful or coerced, driven by interest or driven by fear. The great Etienne de La Boétie first spoke of voluntary servitude in 1549, simultaneously directing our attention to the fact that it only takes the many to realize they hold more power than the One who nominally controls them. La Boétie’s calling continues to be utterly apt to the contemporary situation, where the world’s ubiquitous oligarchies, which trade in the name of democracy, sustain themselves with the profound collaboration of a demos that disavows its responsibility for self-determination and self-governance. I understand that many would say that it’s much too early to tell. And, even more, mere withdrawal of consent is inadequate without the move to constituent power. Strictly speaking, this is true: withdrawal of consent to heteronomous power (a negative action) must be followed by constituent action of autonomous power (a positive action) for democracy to be fully enacted as a regime (kratos). However, without the first, nothing happens at all. And, indeed, the first moment—withdrawal of consent to power—is, in itself (in its negativity), autonomous action. Much has been written, from within the Arab world, about the complexity of alliances and intersections that played a role in the process of this spontaneous revolution. I isolate especially two articles by Paul Amar in Jadaliyya: “Why Mubarak is Out,” on February 1, and “Why Egypt’s Progressives Win,” on February 8. I also note Mona El-Ghobashy’s account of Egyptian political structure in the panel “Egypt Arising” that took place at Columbia University on February 9. Every presentation on this panel (El-Ghobashy, Juan Cole, Jean-Pierre Filiu, Rashid Khalidi) was right on the mark, but Filiu’s focus on the new political culture of avowed ex-jihadists in Egypt deserves further exploration and discussion. There is a last instance, of course, in hard social-historical terms. No doubt, capitalism’s worldwide economic crisis and the wound it inflicted on the poorest strata of Egyptian and Tunisian society drew the bottom line of forbearance and was the catalyst that dissolved and streamlined the sedimented desperation of generations. And this too was conducted and guided through a well honed and organized workers’ movement with a profound history of strike action behind it, whose articulated (and utterly realizable) threat of a general strike that would include Suez Canal workers—in what, we must admit, was an uncanny historical realization of the Sorelian myth—was what ultimately precipitated Mubarak’s final demise. Beyond all this, however, let us remember that one of the demands that became a chant on the lips of the multitude was karama: dignity. This demand has already been met, no matter what may ensue, by the revolution itself, by the dignity of this revolution. Tags: consent, Egypt, Orientalism, revolution, Tunisia Swadhin Sen Archaeologist - Assistant Professor   Dept.of Archaeology            Tel:       +88 02 779 10 45-51 Ext. 1326 Jahangirnagar University      Mobile:  +88 0172 019 61 76   Savar,Dhaka. Bangladesh    Fax:      +88 02 779 10 52   swadhin_sen at yahoo.com; swadhinsen at hotmail.com www.juniv.edu ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail From sreejatac at gmail.com Tue Feb 15 22:38:43 2011 From: sreejatac at gmail.com (sreejata roy) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:08:43 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Invisible Constellation Message-ID: Dear Friends, 'Invisible Constellation' is a work by *Sreejata Roy* and *Mrityunjay Chatterjee, *January 2011. This is an online interactive work. We are inviting people across the globe to participate and share stories. *Introduction* In recent past Delhi has been changing drastically, one of the major reasons for that is Common Wealth Game which took place in 2010. But transformation of a city is not a new or isolated event. Expansion of urban spaces, gentrifications etc. are happening all the time. The paranoia of insecurity is also doing havoc in urban everyday activities. Open spaces are becoming gated communities; ghettos are coming up as several sections of people find it important to live in close quarters. Khirki Village is one such place in Delhi. Khirki has changed radically in last couple of years. The new Malls and Hospitals across the road have changed the demography of the locality. Older people staying there have shifted out and new people have come in. Garment workshops are closing down and flats are coming up. This event has major impact on social and cultural activities in the locality. In 2008, while working on Khoj residency, when we spoke to people in Khirki-Hauz Rani neighbourhood they were only nostalgic about the open space across the road. But the business was still as usual. Later in 2009, we could see significant implications of the development happened across the road. In the present project, our intention is not to look at narratives of Khirki-Hauz Rani only; rather we are trying to locate similar events unfolding all over the world. We are concentrating mainly on stories and news related to demolitions, displacements and gentrifications happening around the world. This project is an attempt to relate these events and try to make a link between them through constellations of dots on an invisible map. We want to invite others to contribute their stories or information on similar experiences through this website. We hope that this website will become a repository of urban narratives which remotely link with each other and possibly surprise us through its linkages from one part of the world to another. This is the link: http://www.invisibleconstellation.net/ Looking forward to seeing more stories. Thanks Warmly Sreejata From rohitrellan at aol.in Wed Feb 16 10:31:53 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:01:53 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?b?4KSt4KWL4KSc4KSq4KWB4KSw4KWAIOCkuOCkvw==?= =?utf-8?b?4KSo4KWH4KSu4KS+IOCkleClhyDgpKrgpJrgpL7gpLgg4KS44KS+4KSyIA==?= =?utf-8?b?4KSq4KSwIOCkquCkn+CkqOCkviDgpK7gpYfgpIIg4KS54KWL4KSX4KWAIA==?= =?utf-8?b?4KSs4KS54KS4IC8gRkVMTE9XU0hJUFMgVE8gT1VUU1RBTkRJTkcgUEVSU09O?= =?utf-8?q?S_IN_THE_FIELD_OF_CULTURE/_PSBT=27s_Roots_of_Love=3A_Telecast?= Message-ID: <8CD9BADC2F4C4C9-1E34-3CFBE@webmail-stg-m01.sysops.aol.com> 16 फरवरी को भोजपुरी सिनेमा के पचास साल पूरे हो रहे हैं। इस मौके पर एफएमसीसीए (फाउंडेशन फॉर मीडिया कल्‍चर एंड सिनेमा अवेयरनेस) पटना में तीन दिनों का भोजपुरी फिल्‍म और सांस्‍कृतिक समारोह आयोजित करने जा रहा है। 14, 15 और 16 फरवरी को एएन सिन्‍हा इंस्‍टीच्‍यूट और श्रीकृष्‍ण मेमोरियल हॉल में आयोजित इस समारोह में भोजपुरी के लगभग सभी जाने माने चेहरे मौजूद रहेंगे। दो सेमिनार, पांच सिनेमा, मूविंग एग्जिविशन, फूड कोर्ट और तीन संगीत संध्‍या से सजे इस समारोह की रौनक होंगे शारदा सिन्‍हा, छन्‍नूलाल मिश्रा, भरत शर्मा व्‍यास, गिरिजा देवी, मालिनी अवस्‍थी, ब्रजकिशोर दुबे, रवि किशन, मनोज तिवारी, नितिन चंद्रा और त्रिपुरारी शरण। भोजपुरी के पांच दशक की कुछ चुनिंदा फिल्‍में दिखायी जाएंगी, जिनमें गंगा मइया तोहे पियरी चढ़इबो, बलम परदेसिया, हमार संसार, ससुरा बड़ा पइसा वाला, कब अइबू अंगनवा हमार, देसवा और उधेड़बुन जैसी फिल्‍में शामिल हैं। भोजपुरी के शेक्‍सपीयर कहे जाने वाले भिखारी ठाकुर कृत और संजय उपाध्‍याय निर्देशित बिदेसिया का मंचन भी इस मौके पर किया जाएगा। पचास सालों में भोजपुरी जैसी भाषा ने सिनेमा के मोर्चे पर जितनी भी कामयाबी हासिल की हो, उसे विमर्श के केंद्र में लाना जरूरी है। दुनिया की तमाम भाषाओं के सिनेमा का विमर्श हमारे सामने है, लेकिन भोजपुरी सिनेमा को लेकर विमर्श की स्थिति अच्‍छी नहीं है। समारोह में भोजपुरी सिनेमा के विभिन्‍न आयामों और उसके भविष्‍य पर सिनेमा के बड़े दिग्‍गज अपनी राय रखेंगे। सेमिनार के चेहरे होंगे अभय सिन्‍हा, अनीश रंजन, हृषिकेश सुलभ, त्रिपुरारी शरण, आनंद भारती, अनिल अजिताभ, कुणाल, राकेश पांडेय, शंकर प्रसाद, मनोज भावुक, किरण कांत वर्मा, सिद्धार्थ सिन्‍हा, विनोद अनुपम, आलोक रंजन, पंकज शुक्‍ला, मुन्‍ना कुमार पांडेय, ज्ञानदेव मणि त्रिपाठी, सफदर इमाम कादरी, डॉ सुनील कुमार, विनय बिहारी, रंजन सिन्‍हा और लालबहादुर ओझा। इस मौके पर वरिष्‍ठ पत्रकार आलोक रंजन भोजपुरी सिनेमा के पचास सालों के सफर पर एक मूविंग एग्जिविशन भी लगाएंगे। साथ ही बिहार के स्‍वादों पर आधारित फूड कोर्ट्स भी लगेंगे। भोजपुरी फिल्‍म एवं सांस्‍कृतिक समारोह से जुड़ी किसी भी तरह की सूचना के लिए आप समरेंद्र और अविनाश से संपर्क कर सकते हैं। समरेंद्र का ईमेल आईडी indrasamar at gmail.com है और नंबर है 09504901446, जबकि अविनाश से avinashonly at gmail.com और 09811908884 पर संपर्क किया जा सकता है। ---------------------------------------------------------------- SCHEME FOR THE AWARD OF FELLOWSHIPS TO OUTSTANDING PERSONS IN THE FIELD OF CULTURE (As applicable w.e.f. 1.11.2010 for fresh cases to be sanctioned for the year 2010-11 onwards) Apply now for 2010-11: http://indiaculture.nic.in/indiaculture/fellowship_award.htm Attention: All Grantees : http://indiaculture.nic.in/indiaculture/PDF/NOTICE%20FOR%20GRANTEES.pdf Old Scheme: http://indiaculture.nic.in/indiaculture/sjf-fellowship.htm ---------------------------------------------------- PSBT's Roots of Love: Telecast The Public Service Broadcasting Trust presents ROOTS OF LOVE by Harjant Gill 10:30 pm, 16 February 2011 DD News* Told through the stories of six different men ranging in age from fourteen to eighty‐six, the Film documents the changing significance of hair and the turban among Sikhs in India. We see younger Sikh men abandoning their hair and turban to follow the current fashion trends, while the older generation struggles to retain the visible symbols of their religious identity. The Film is a timely and relevant exploration of the inherent conflict between tradition and modernity, between pragmatism and faith. The choice of cutting one’s hair is one that not only concerns the individual and his family, but an entire community. For Indian-born filmmaker Harjant Gill, making films is about casting a spotlight on urgent and often overlooked social issues and making marginalised members of society feel less isolated and more understood. His Films include: As if it Matters, Everything, Some Reasons for Living, Lot’s Wife and Mission Movie and Milind Soman Made Me Gay. He was recently featured in a book Our Time is Now: Young People Changing the World. Gill was born in India, grew up in San Francisco, and now lives in Washington DC, where he teaches Anthropology and Cultural Studies at American University. His research looks at cinema, masculinity and migration in north India. Gill is a Point Foundation Scholar. *Subject to change by the Channel. From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Wed Feb 16 18:00:56 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:00:56 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: PUDR Welcomes Supreme Court Judgment on Arup Bhuyan v/s the State of Assam In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Subject: PUDR Welcomes Supreme Court Judgment on Arup Bhuyan v/s the State of Assam Press Release February 15, 2011 People’s Union for Democratic Rights welcomes the recent Supreme Court judgement (Arup Bhuyan v/s the State of Assam) passed by the bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra stating: `Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence.’ It also stresses upon Section 25 of the Evidence Act which mandates that if not supported by material evidence, confession to the police is inadmissible in court. In so doing, it takes into account the gruesome forms of torture a person is subjected to in custody, which, the Court said, can force a person to `confess to almost any crime’. The judgement terms such statements, brought forth by arm-twisting, ‘extra-judicial’. This verdict could have a significant bearing on the cases of Piyush Guha, Narayn Sanyal, Binayak Sen and several thousand others who continue to face incarceration in jail on insubstantial grounds. The criticism of this judgement by the Congress led Government and the BJP, and their stated intent to file a review petition before a larger bench of the Court, warrants complete censure. The concern expressed by the BJP was that in the light of this judgement only specific acts of crime would have to be proved. This takes us back to the premise upon which draconian laws like UAPA and CSPSA have been successful in criminalizing legitimate activities: the presumption that an accused is guilty until proven innocent. The spurious argument being given by the Congress and the BJP ——that the judgement is a threat to national security—— feeds into the State-encouraged paranoia among the general public. This anxiety regarding public security is being conveyed by the same State that is waging war against its own people and has caused insecurity amongst its citizens not just in terms of their physical safety but in the form of inflation, unemployment and a consistent misappropriation of public funds, to name a few. Proscription of organizations only serves to curtail constitutional rights like freedom of association, expression and conscience as well as discourages the sustenance of a congenial atmosphere for debate and discussion. When the articulation and propagation of one’s beliefs and ideologies is prevented, organization banned and its membership criminalized the suppressed dissent festers into antagonism against the suppressors, in this case, the State. Unmindful of these fall-outs, when the State decides to ban organizations, it displays the perverse logic of a Government which grants patronage to majoritarian fascist organizations such as the RSS and Shiv Sena to propagate and practice divisive politics. And treats heinous crimes by its members as crimes of individuals——not of or by the organizations——a principle which both the Congress led UPA Government and the BJP are reluctant to follow for others. PUDR urges the democratic opinion in the country to raise their voice against those who are critiquing the judgement from a myopic illiberal perspective and demands that in the light of the aforesaid judgement, the State must discontinue the prohibition of lawful activities by outlawing groups and organizations. We also demand that laws like UAPA and CSPSA, that strengthen the State’s hand in arbitrarily targeting groups and individuals working for the safeguard of democratic rights and constitutional freedoms, be revoked to restore a functional democracy. Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh Secretaries From nagraj.adve at gmail.com Wed Feb 16 19:16:17 2011 From: nagraj.adve at gmail.com (Nagraj Adve) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:16:17 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] invasion of a different kind Message-ID: Extraordinary, and sobering. There's a tendency to think about climate change - among those who think about it at all - only in terms of impacts on the human species. This should give us pause. Naga Warming Arctic brings invasion of southern species Yale Environment 360: Grizzly bears mating with polar bears and exotic diseases making their way into once-isolated polar realms are just two of the effects of soaring Arctic temperatures * Ed Struzik for Yale Environment 360 * guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 February 2011 15.49 GMT Scientist John England was flying in the High Arctic last summer when he spotted something large moving on a tiny island in the Beaufort Sea, not far from the Alaska-Yukon border. When he and the helicopter pilot moved in to get a closer look, they were astounded to see a grizzly bear prowling the shoreline. What this brown bear was doing in the kingdom of its white cousin is not entirely clear. But a week later when I joined England in the field, we found the tracks of the animal leading to a partially excavated den. It was obvious that the bear had no intention of going back to the mainland. Up until about twenty years ago, sightings of grizzlies in the High Arctic were extremely rare; a quirk of nature, many biologists thought, that may have simply occurred because the bear ended up walking the wrong way or because it had strayed too far following mainland caribou that sometimes cross the sea ice to the Arctic islands. But that thinking began to change in recent years as more brown bears and a succession of other animals such as red fox, white-tailed deer, Pacific salmon, and killer whales began showing up in areas traditionally occupied by polar bears, Arctic fox, caribou, Arctic char, and beluga whales. Most scientists now believe that climate change, which is warming the Arctic faster than any other place on Earth, is responsible for removing the barriers — long winters, bitterly cold temperatures, and thick, continent-size sheets of sea ice — that once stopped these southern animals from moving into the far north. Initially, the fear was that some of these Arctic animals would not be able to compete with their southern cousins. Experimental studies have shown that Arctic fox do not fare well in competition with red fox, and anecdotal evidence from some Arctic regions — including a video from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay Oilfield showing a red fox killing an Arctic fox — suggests that this is the case in the wild. Killer whales moving into the Arctic from more southerly waters have eaten beluga whales and narwhal, as Inuit hunters have been reporting for years. In August 2005, several biologists from Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans witnessed such an attack at Kakiak Point in Admiralty Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. Now, the new concern is that interbreeding might result in hybrid creatures that will water down a unique gene pool that has helped Arctic animals adapt to this harsh environment. Interbreeding is "likely to become increasingly important as the summer ice diminishes and is ultimately lost," says David Tallmon, a marine biologist at the University of Alaska. "Hybridization is essentially impossible to reverse once it has begun on a large scale." The possibility of this happening came to light for biologist Brendan Kelly in 2006 when an American hunter killed an animal in the High Arctic that turned out to be the offspring of a female polar bear and a male grizzly. The bear had a combination of traits from both species, including a mix of white fur on its torso and brown fur on its paws. It also had a head shaped more like that of a grizzly, but the longer claws of a polar bear. Kelly, who is now the deputy director of the Arctic Sciences Division at the National Science Foundation, wondered then whether this kind of hybridization was occurring in other species. Marine mammals such as seals, walrus and sea lions, he knew, are more prone to hybridization, because they share the same number of chromosomes, which allows them to produce offspring. If you removed this vast ice sheet that prevented southern marine mammals from moving north, he thought, what might be the outcome? In a recent paper published in the journal Nature, Kelly and two colleagues reported that hybridization had already occurred between harp and hooded seals, narwhal and beluga whales, and very likely between North Pacific right whales and bowhead whales. This is not unimportant because with only a few hundred North Pacific right whales left in the world, for example, the species' gene pool is becoming perilously shallow. Kelly and his colleagues suggested that at least 22 Arctic marine mammals — many of them already threatened or endangered — are at risk from hybridization. "There is something to be said about species adapting to climate change," Kelly says. "But the kind of adaptation that's necessary is a shift to genes that fit the new climatic environment better than the old genes. That takes time. The change that is taking place in the Arctic now is happening so fast that long-lived animals like whales, seals and polar bears aren't getting the chance to adapt as quickly as it is necessary." Kelly likens the role that sea ice has played in the Arctic to the role South America has played in separating the world's two great oceans. For tens of millions of years, the continent was a barrier to dispersal and gene flow between the South Atlantic and the South Pacific. If you could somehow remove South America, its disappearance would be similar to eliminating the big barrier of sea ice in the Arctic world. "People have a tough time wrapping their minds around this concept," says Kelly, "but sea ice is a huge barrier that prevents air-breathing marine mammals from moving from one place to the other. It is also in its own way a very important habitat for many Arctic species. Removing that as quickly as is happening now is going to have an impact." Almost lost in the current debate about Arctic hybridization and invasive species from the south is that some southern marine mammals will also bring with them diseases for which Arctic marine mammals have no immunity. The possibility of this happening came to light several years ago when Canadian scientists were monitoring the spread of trichinella in the Arctic. This parastic roundworm, which is commonly found in polar bears and Arctic fox, was of little concern in the Arctic until the 1980s, when it began to spread to walrus and to humans who had eaten uncooked walrus meat, as occurred last fall in a village in Nunavut. Trichinosis in humans can create severe gastrointestinal problems and in some cases can be fatal. Ole Nielsen, a microbiologist working for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, was assigned the task of tracking the spread of this parasite and determining whether there might be anything else of concern in the hunter-killed samples he was given. He soon found evidence of brucellosis, a bacterial disease — sometimes found in cattle, wild animals, dogs, and humans — that has been linked to reproductive failure in dolphins and baleen whales. The disease is extremely widespread in the marine world, and Nielsen said it wasn't a stretch to think it might have gotten a foothold in the Arctic. What did surprise him was the speed with which the disease has spread since he began sampling in the Arctic more than two decades ago. He now sees it in 21 percent of his samples, a four-fold increase from the 1980s. A bigger concern, however, was the discovery that neither beluga whales nor narwhal have antibodies that would help them resist phocine distemper, a deadly virus that was first discovered in the marine environment in 1988 when it killed 20,000 harbor seals in northwestern Europe. Since then it has spread to seals in Russia's Lake Baikal, striped dolphins in the Mediterranean, and to several other marine mammals species worldwide. No one knows how phocine distemper made its way into the ocean. But because it is so closely related to canine distemper, it is thought to have its origins in land-based species whose remains were dumped into salt water. "There are a lot of unknowns should distemper strains capable of infecting narwhal and beluga make their way to the North American Arctic," says Nielsen. "If distemper gets a foothold here, it could get ugly. With as many as 80,000 narwhal and 150,000 belugas in the North American Arctic for most if not all of the year, a massive die-off somewhere is not out of the question." All that's required is a carrier: a pilot whale, harbor seal, or dolphin — marine mammals that are known to carry the virus for long periods of time before suffering the symptoms. Any number of them could ride a warm current into an Arctic environment that is no longer choked with ice. Brendan Kelly acknowledges that there is no easy solution to what's happening. Culling hybrids, as some countries do, for example, would be difficult in an environment as large and as hostile as the Arctic. One step advocated by Kelly is more careful study of mammals killed by Arctic hunters, so that the spread of various lethal viruses can be tracked and better understood. "Many of the species that are vulnerable are already endangered or threatened," he says. "Removing that barrier of ice as fast as is happening now could be the final straw for many of them." Heading back home last summer, England and I crossed paths on separate occasions with an Inuit hunter and mining geologists who had spotted a total of three other grizzly bears. The Inuk turned out to be Roger Kuptana, the guide who led the American hunter to the hybrid "grolar" bear in 2006. He was also the cousin of the man who shot a second hybrid bear in the Arctic that spring. "I'm sure there are more out there," Kuptana told me. "Think about it. Bears almost always produce more than one cub. So it's very likely that there are brothers or sisters of those two animals still out there mating with other bears, including that grizzly bear you saw." From rohitrellan at aol.in Wed Feb 16 22:46:08 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:16:08 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] AIC Young Media Fellowships Message-ID: <8CD9C14554903EA-1C34-41426@webmail-stg-m04.sysops.aol.com> Introduction The Australia-India Council (AIC) is pleased to announce that applications are open for the AIC Young Media Fellowships. The Fellowships provide career development opportunities for promising young Indian print and television journalists in Australia. The Fellowships encourage long-term networks between Indian and Australian journalists and media organisations, and expose young Indian journalists to Australian stories. Media release – 28 January 2011, http://www.dfat.gov.au/aic/aic_ymf_media_release.doc What does the Fellowship provide? In 2011, the AIC will award three Fellowships, each comprising: a grant of AU $7,000 to cover international airfares, domestic travel, accommodation and other expenses; and assistance with establishing contacts in Australia. What are Fellowship recipients required to do? Fellowship recipients will be expected to: spend a minimum of 21 days (and a maximum of 28 days) in Australia; visit a minimum of three Australian states and/or territories; publish or broadcast six stories in the Indian media; and provide a written report and a financial acquittal of the grant funds to the AIC. Who Can Apply? To be eligible for an AIC Young Media Fellowship, you must be: a journalist in print or television media; born after 1 January 1971; employed by a professional Indian print or television media organisation; and have the permission of your employer to apply and participate. How to Apply: Application form [PDF] , http://www.dfat.gov.au/aic/aic_ymf_application.pdf [Word], http://www.dfat.gov.au/aic/aic_ymf_application.doc You will need to provide: an outline of the project you will pursue in Australia (1000 words or less); proof of age (eg. a certified copy of birth certificate, driver’s license or passport); two pieces of published or broadcast work (maximum length 2,000 words (or equivalent) (applicants can submit an online link or a written transcript. Where DVDs/VCDs are provided, three copies are required and cannot be returned); a letter from your employer confirming their support for your application, and their agreement to release you to undertake the Fellowship; and two letters from referees other than your employer. The application form must be signed and returned by mail, fax or email to: AIC Country Manager C/- Australian High Commission 1/50 G, Shantipath, Chanakyapuri New Delhi – 110 021 Tel: +91 98108 60451 Fax: +91 2688 2732 Email: Asha.Das at dfat.gov.au Selection Applications will be assessed by a panel comprising judges from the AIC and the Australian High Commission in New Delhi. Applications will be assessed against the following criteria: quality of the applicant’s submitted work; quality and relevance of the applicant’s project outline; applicant’s long-term potential in media; applicant’s demonstrated initiative; and applicant’s likelihood of long-term engagement with Australia. Conditions of the Fellowships Fellowship recipients must: provide the AIC with copies of their work, or drafts of their work, before leaving Australia; and arrange for their work to be published or broadcast within six weeks of leaving Australia. Recipients are free to work on other, additional stories during the Fellowship and retain the intellectual property of their published or broadcast work. The AIC does not undertake publication or broadcast, or find publishers or broadcasters for the work, but retains the right to use material produced during the Fellowship in consultation with the successful applicants. When to apply Application close COB 28 February 2011. Successful applicants will be notified in March 2011. From bawazainab79 at gmail.com Thu Feb 17 19:49:52 2011 From: bawazainab79 at gmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:49:52 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Call for Papers - Journal of Community Informatics, Special Issue on Open Data Message-ID: Journal of Community Informatics: Call for Papers for Special issue on Open Data Guest editors: Tim Davies, Practical Participation and Zainab Bawa, CIS-RAW fellow Call for Proposals The Journal of Community Informatics (http://ci-journal.net)is a focal point for the communication of research that is of interest to a global network of academics, Community Informatics practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers. We invite submission of original, unpublished articles for a forthcoming special edition of the Journal that will focus on Open Data. We welcome research articles, case studies and notes from the field. All research articles will be double blind peer-reviewed. Insights and analytical perspectives from practitioners and policy makers in the form of notes from the field or case studies are also encouraged. These will not be peer-reviewed. Why a special issue on Open Data In many countries across the world, discussions, policies and developments are actively emerging around open access to government data. It is believed that opening up government data to citizens is critical for enforcing transparency and accountability within the government. Open data is also seen as holding the potential to bring about greater citizens’ participation, empowering citizens to ask questions of their governments via not only the data that is made openly available but also through the interpretations that different stakeholders make of the open data. Besides advocacy for open data on grounds of democracy, it is also argued that opening government data can have significant economic potential, generating new industries and innovations. Whilst some open government data initiatives are being led by governments, other open data projects are taking a grassroots approach, collecting and curating government data in reusable digital formats which can be used by specific communities at the grassroots and/or macro datasets that can be used/received/applied in different ways in different local/grassroots contexts. INGOs, NGOs and various civil society and community based organizations are also getting involved with open data activities, from sharing data they hold regarding aid flows, health, education, crime, land records, demographics, etc, to actively sourcing public data through freedom of information and right to information acts. The publishing of open data on the Internet can make it part of a global eco-system of data, and efforts are underway in technology, advocacy and policy-making communities to develop standards, approaches and tools for linking and analysing these new open data resources. At the same time, there are questions surrounding the very notion of ‘openness’, primarily whether openness and open data have negative repercussions for particular groups of citizens in certain social, geographic, political, demographic, cultural and other grassroots contexts. In sum then, what we find in society today is not only various practices relating to open data, but also an active shift in paradigms about access and use of information and data, and notions of “openness” and “information/data”. These emerging/renewed paradigms are also configuring/reconfiguring understandings and practices of “community” and “citizenship”. We therefore find it imperative to engage with crucial questions that are emerging from these paradigm shifts as well as the related policy initiatives, programmatic action and field experiences. Some of the questions that we hope this special issue will explore are: 1. How are citizens’ groups, grassroots organizations, NGOs, diverse civil society associations and other public and private entities negotiating with different arms of the state to provide access to government data both in the presence and absence of official open data policies, freedom/right of information legislations and similar commitments on the part of governments? 1. What are the various models of open data that are operational in practice in different parts of the world? What are the different ways in which open data are being used by and for the grassroots and what are the impacts (positive, negative, paradoxical) of such open data for communities and groups at the grassroots? 1. Who/which actors are involved in opening up what kinds of data? What are their stakes in opening up such data and making it available for the public? 1. What are the different technologies that are being used for publishing, storing and archiving open data? What are the challenges/issues that various grassroots users and the stakeholders, experience with respect to these technologies i.e., design, scale, costs, dissemination of the open data to different publics and realizing the potential of open data? 1. What notions of openness and publicness are at work in both policies as well as initiatives concerning open data and what impacts do these notions have on grassroots’ practitioners and users? 1. Following from the above, what are the implications of opening up different kinds of data for privacy, security and local level practices and information systems? Thematic focus The following suggested areas of thematic focus (policy, technology, uses, impacts) give a non-exhaustive list of potential topic areas for articles or case studies. The core interest of the special issue is addressing each of these themes from, or taking into account, grassroots, local citizen and community perspectives. 1. Different policy and practice approaches to open data and open government data 2. Diverse uses of open data and their impacts 3. Technologies that are deployed for implementing open data and their implications 4. Critical assessments of stakeholders and stakes in opening up different kinds of data. Submission Abstracts are invited in the first instance, to be submitted by e-mail to jociopendata at gmail.com. Deadline for abstracts: 31st March 2011 Deadline for complete paper submissions: 15th September 2011 Publication date is forthcoming Please send abstracts, in the first instance, of up to 300 words to jociopendata at gmail.com. For information about JCI submission requirements, including author guidelines, please visit: http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions Guest Editors Zainab Bawa Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) RAW fellow bawazainab79 at gmail.com Tim Davies Director, Practical Participation (http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk) tim at practicalparticipation.co.uk | @timdavies | +447834856303 -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher http://writerruns.wordpress.com/ ... ambling along roads and courses, not knowing whether I am running towards a destination or whether the act of running is destination in itself From aliens at dataone.in Thu Feb 17 23:06:27 2011 From: aliens at dataone.in (Bipin Trivedi) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:06:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] PM's GUJARAT EXCUSES Message-ID: <001e01cbcec9$352f9410$9f8ebc30$@in> PM's press conference and excuses. Describing coalition compulsion for compromise. But, what about CWG, Adarsh scam. There was no coalition compulsion there. However, in this also Gujarat comes in between. This proves that politics always ends with Gujarat criticism for no reason. Any topic Gujarat comes in between. Now, soft PM is also follow the same preceding. This is the reason Gujarat going more and more anti-congress. Gujarat is always ahead for any reforms, but CM has to look for the state benefit also. Centre must degenerate power and make state more autonomous. The reason obstruction in GST so many and nothing to do with minister arrest. Thanks Bipin Trivedi From rohitrellan at aol.in Fri Feb 18 09:30:50 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:00:50 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Cinema Satsang - Film Festival in Mumbai, Feb 21-25 In-Reply-To: <20110217051849.6F3908E8041@mdreg-mst.qlc.co.in> References: <20110217051849.6F3908E8041@mdreg-mst.qlc.co.in> Message-ID: <8CD9D3790D756A9-1870-51A18@webmail-stg-d11.sysops.aol.com> Katha Centre for Film Studies in collaboration with India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) presents Cinema Satsang, a five-day film festival, which will show 20 films including features, short films and documentaries. The festival will be held from 21-25 February 2011 at the Alliance Franciase auditorium, New Marine Lines, Mumbai between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.   The festival is supported by the Jamsetji Tata Trust (JTT). 21 February, Sisir Anand, from Pune, looks at Sports in Films, selections range from Offside to Jorgen Leth’s A Sunday in Hell about the Tour de France. 22 February, Sruti Hari from Chennai showcases films from different stages of Rajnikanth’s life through 3 films in Rajnikanth – Journey of a Superstar. 23 February, Mumbai-based filmmaker, Pankaj Kumar will curate films of family footage and share some home movies. 24 February, Malcolm Pope from England will look at low-budget films which have ‘democratized’ film making and Allan Ritchie from Bangalore will be looking at student films. 25 February, Aritra Bhattacharya from Mumbai will look at documentaries of people’s resistance from around the country and some from a global perspective.   ·      Entry Free. Seating on First Come, First Serve Basis only. ·      Timings and Films are subject to change. For complete festival details and schedule click HERE, http://www.kathacfs.in/Site/ComingSoon_files/CinemaSatsang-Schedule.pdf From chintan.backups at gmail.com Fri Feb 18 11:48:24 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:48:24 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Discussion: How Communities Help Children Learn and Keep Schools Honest, Bangalore, Feb. 22 Message-ID: From http://india.ashoka.org/ashoka-open-house-how-communities-help-children-learn-and-keep-schools-honest The Power of Many: How Communities Help Children Learn and Keep Schools Honest The discussion will hinge on the strength of communities in helping organizations and individuals overcome challenges of scale and achieve goals that are otherwise difficult. Gautam John works on creating online and offline communities that are helping realise twin missions of “A Book in Every Child's Hand” and “Every Child in School and Learning Well”... He will share his experiences and learnings from these community models and why he thinks communities ought to be central to any organization's theory of change, their organizational model and their delivery methods. About Gautam John Gautam John used to be a lawyer with a an interest in Intellectual Property Rights. Recently, he has been an entrepreneur and since 2007 has worked with the Akshara Foundation, where he manages the Karnataka Learning Partnership and at Pratham Books building a new, social,publishing model. He is a founder member of Wikimedia Chapter (India), was a TED India Fellow in 2009 and is an advisor to Inclusive Planet. He is passionate about education, equality and equity and focuses on 'access' as a way to achieve these. Date : On Tuesday February 22nd , 7:00PM to 8:30PM Venue Ashoka, 54, 1st cross Domlur Layout, Bangalore Seats are limited RSVP : sparker at ashoka.org or call 42745777/41480496 From chintan.backups at gmail.com Fri Feb 18 11:51:36 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:51:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A curriculum to teach kids about copyright and fair use Message-ID: >From http://www.teachingcopyright.org/ There's a lot of misinformation out there about legal rights and responsibilities in the digital era. This is especially disconcerting when it comes to information being shared with youth. Kids and teens are bombarded with messages from a myriad of sources that using new technology is high-risk behavior. Downloading music is compared to stealing a bicycle — even though many downloads are lawful. Making videos using short clips from other sources is treated as probably illegal — even though many such videos are also lawful. This misinformation is harmful, because it discourages kids and teens from following their natural inclination to be innovative and inquisitive. The innovators, artists and voters of tomorrow need to know that copyright law restricts many activities but also permits many others. And they need to know the positive steps they can take to protect themselves in the digital sphere. In short, youth don't need more *intimidation* — what they need is solid, accurate *information*. EFF's Teaching Copyright curriculum was created to help teachers present the laws surrounding digital rights in a balanced way. Teaching Copyright provides lessons and ideas for opening your classroom up to discussion, letting your students express their ideas and concerns, and then guiding your students toward an understanding of the boundaries of copyright law. (Source: http://blog.prathambooks.org/) From javedmasoo at gmail.com Fri Feb 18 17:33:21 2011 From: javedmasoo at gmail.com (Javed) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:33:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Exposing the Unseen: Tracing Lives of Muslims in Gujarat post 2002 Message-ID: ANHAD & CENTRE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE cordially invite you to a Public Hearing Exposing the Unseen: Tracing Lives of Muslims in Gujarat post 2002 on Date: February 21, 2011 Time: 10am to 5pm Venue: Mehdi Nawaz Jung Hall, Paldi, Ahmedabad Jury: Justice RA Mehta (Former Acting Chief Justice, Gujarat High Court, and Former Director, Gujarat Judicial Academy) Annie Raja( General Secretary, National Federation of Indian Women) Gagan Sethi (Social Activist) Githa Hariharan (Author and Editor) Special Observer: Syeda Bilgrami Imam, Member, National Commission for Minorities Organised in collaboration with: AVHRS, AMAN SAMUDAYA, BHARTIYA MUSLIM MAHILA ANDOLAN, JANVIKAS, PRASHANT, PUCL, QUAMI MAHAZ, SAFAR, , SAHRWARU, SANCHETNA From kalakamra at gmail.com Fri Feb 18 18:24:48 2011 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:24:48 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A Season of Footage and Films, Part 9, Four Times Bob. Saturday Feb. 19 at CAMP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear all, CAMP continues our winter season of screenings exploring footage both within and without the usual capsule of "the film" Tomorrow, February 19th, we present: *Four Times Bob* A cut of four films on Bob Dylan, 100 mins. 7:00 pm onwards At CAMP roof 301, Alif Apartments, Chium village, Khar (w) Mumbai- 52 "For individuals to have access to as much different work by one contemporary performer as is available to you and me in the case of Dylan is something new under the sun, suggesting whole new possible realms in the relationship between artist and audience." - The Early Years, by Paul Williams, 1990 In this screening, we traverse through footage from various films created around Bob Dylan, including: 1>* Don't Look Back* ( D.A. Pennebaker, 1967, 96 mins) is a landmark; as a film and as a document of rock history. Directed by D.A.Pennebaker, one of the pioneers of direct cinema, the film starts with one of the first-of-its kind "music videos", and proceeds to document everything, from intimate late-night moments to live performances in Dylan's 1965 tour of England. 2>* Eat The Document* ( Bob Dylan,1972, 54 mins) : In 1966, Pennebaker once again accompanied Dylan on his tour of the UK - this time Dylan had 'gone electric', with The Hawks backing him through the second half of his performance. After this tour, Dylan would not allow Pennebaker to complete the film. Eventually, Dylan and Howard Alk spent some time editing what became "Eat the Document", a widely bootlegged piece of video material. 3> *No Direction Home* ( Martin Scorsese, 2005, 208 mins) : This film is a series of interviews with Dylan himself, Joan Baez and others. The film inter-cuts the interviews with pieces of footage taken from earlier films, piecing together Dylan's life from his arrival in New York City in '61 up until his motorcycle accident in '66. 4>* I'm Not There* ( Todd Haynes, 2007, 135 mins) : The film has six characters enacting different 'ghosts' of Bob Dylan. The movie contains many, sometimes surreal, re-enactments of scenes from archival footage, mostly from the above films. "here lies bob dylan murdered from behind by trembling flesh who after being refused by Lazarus, jumped on him for solitude but was amazed to discover that he was already a streetcar & that was exactly the end of bob dylan he now lies in Mrs. Actually's beauty parlor God rest his soul & his rudeness two brothers & a naked mama's boy who looks like Jesus Christ can now share the remains of his sickness & his phone numbers there is no strength to give away - everybody now can just have it back here lies bob dylan demolished by Vienna politeness- which will now claim to have invented him the cool people can now write Fugues about him & Cupid can now kick over his kerosene lamp boy dylan-killed by a discarded Oedipus who turned around to investigate a ghost & discovered that the ghost too was more than one person." - Bob Dylan, Tarantula, 1965-66 See you there! For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org To unsubscribe, simply send an email with the word "unsubscribe" as the subject to camp-request at lists.mailb.org -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net From chintan.backups at gmail.com Sat Feb 19 10:19:57 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 10:19:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Skipping Rote Memorization in Indian Schools: A New York Times piece Message-ID: From http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/business/global/18teach.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw *Skipping Rote Memorization in Indian Schools* By Vikas Bajaj Published: February 17, 2011PANTNAGAR, India — The Nagla elementary school in this north Indian town looks like many other rundown government schools. Sweater-clad children sit on burlap sheets laid in rows on cold concrete floors. Lunch is prepared out back on a fire of burning twigs and branches. But the classrooms of Nagla are a laboratory for an educational approach unusual for an Indian public school. Rather than being drilled and tested on reproducing passages from textbooks, students write their own stories. And they pursue independent projects — as when fifth-grade students recently interviewed organizers of religious festivals and then made written and oral presentations. That might seem commonplace in American or European schools. But such activities are revolutionary in India, where public school students have long been drilled on memorizing facts and regurgitating them in stressful year-end exams that many children fail. Nagla and 1,500 other schools in this Indian state, Uttarakhand, are part of a five-year-old project to improve Indian primary education that is being paid for by one of the country’s richest men, Azim H. Premji, chairman of the information technology giant Wipro. Education experts at his Azim Premji Foundation are helping to train new teachers and guide current teachers in overhauling the way students are taught and tested at government schools. For Mr. Premji, 65, there can be no higher priority if India is to fulfill its potential as an emerging economic giant. Because the Indian population is so youthful — nearly 500 million people, or 45 percent of the country’s total, are 19 or younger — improving the education system is one of the country’s most pressing challenges. “The bright students rise to the top, which they do anywhere in any system,” Mr. Premji said over lunch at Wipro’s headquarters in Bangalore, 1,300 miles south of Uttarakhand. “The people who are underprivileged are not articulate, less self-confident, they slip further. They slip much further. You compound a problem of people who are handicapped socially.” Outside of India, many may consider the country a wellspring of highly educated professionals, thanks to the many doctors and engineers who have moved to the West. And the legions of bright, English-speaking call-center employees may seem to represent, to many Western consumers, the cheerful voice of modern India. But within India, there is widespread recognition that the country has not invested enough in education, especially at the primary and secondary levels. In the last five years, government spending on education has risen sharply — to $83 billion last year, up from less than half that level before. Schools now offer free lunches, which has helped raise enrollments to more than 90 percent of children. But most Indian schools still perform poorly. Barely half of fifth-grade students can read simple texts in their language of study, according to a survey of 13,000 rural schools by Pratham, a nonprofit education group. And only about one-third of fifth graders can perform simple division problems in arithmetic. Most students drop out before they reach the 10th grade. Those statistics stand in stark contrast to China, where a government focus on education has achieved a literacy rate of 94 percent of the population, compared with 64 percent in India. Mr. Premji said he hoped his foundation would eventually make a difference for tens of millions of children by focusing on critical educational areas like exams, curriculum and teacher training. He said he wanted to reach many more children than he could by opening private schools — the approach taken by many other wealthy Indians. Mr. Premji, whose total wealth Forbes magazine has put at $18 billion, recently gave the foundation $2 billion worth of shares in his company. And he said that he expected to give more in the future. Those newly donated shares are being used to start an education-focused university in Bangalore and to expand and spread programs like the one here in Uttarakhand and a handful of other places to reach 50 of India’s 626 school districts. The effort’s size and scope is unprecedented for a private initiative in India, philanthropy experts say. Even though India’s recent rapid growth has helped dozens of tycoons acquire billions of dollars in wealth, few have pledged such a large sum to a social cause. “This has never been attempted before, either by a foundation or a for-profit group,” said Jayant Sinha, who heads the Indian office of Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm set up by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Although the results in Uttarakhand are promising, they also suggest that progress will be slow. Average test scores in one of the two districts where the foundation operates climbed to 54 percent in 2008, up from 37.4 percent two years earlier. (A passing mark is 33 percent or higher.) Still, only 20 of the 1,500 schools that the foundation works with in Uttarakhand have managed to reach a basic standard of learning as determined by competence tests, enrollment and attendance. Nagla is not one of the 20. “We are working with the kids who were neglected before,” said D. N. Bhatt, a district education coordinator for the Uttarakhand state government. “You won’t see the impact right away.” The Premji Foundation helps schools in states where the government has invited its participation — a choice that some educational experts criticize because it seems to ignore fast-growing private schools that teach about a quarter of the country’s students, including many of India’s poor. Narayana Murthy, a friend of Mr. Premji and chairman of Infosys, a company that competes with Wipro, said he admired the Premji Foundation’s work but worried it would be undermined by the way India administers its schools. “While I salute Azim for what he is doing,” Mr. Murthy said, “in order to reap the dividends of that munificence and good work, we have to improve our governance.” Mr. Premji says his foundation would be willing to work with private schools. But he argues that government schools need help more because they are often the last or only resort for India’s poorest and least educated families. Mr. Premji, whose bright white hair distinguishes him in a crowd, comes from a relatively privileged background. He studied at a Jesuit school, St. Mary’s, in Mumbai and earned an electrical engineering degree at Stanford. At 21, when his father died, Mr. Premji took over his family’s cooking oil business, then known as Western Indian Vegetable Product. He steered the company into information technology and Wipro — whose services include writing software and managing computer systems — now employs more than 100,000 people. He remains Wipro’s largest shareholder. While the foundation has been welcomed by government officials in many places, the schools in Uttarakhand provide a glimpse of the challenges it faces. After visitors left a classroom at Nagla school, an instructor began leading more than 50 fifth-grade students in a purely rote English lesson, instructing the students to repeat simple phrases: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Good night. The children loudly chanted them back in unison. Another teacher later explained that the instructor was one of two “community teachers” — local women hired by a shopkeeper to help the understaffed school. Although under government rules Nagla should have nine trained teachers for its 340 students, it has only four. Underfunding is pervasive in the district. But so are glimmers of the educational benefits that might come through efforts like the Premji Foundation’s. Surjeet Chakrovarty, now a 15-year-old secondary school student, is a graduate of Nagla and still visits his old school regularly. The son of a widower who is a sweeper at a local university, Surjeet aspires to become a poet and songwriter — something he attributes to the encouragement of his former teachers at Nagla. “My teachers here gave me so much motivation to write,” he said. One of those Nagla teachers, Pradeep Pandey, shared credit with the Premji Foundation, and its assistance in developing new written and oral tests. “Before, we had a clear idea of the answers and the child had to repeat exactly what we had in mind,” Mr. Pandey said. “We can’t keep doing what we did in the past, and pass them without letting them learn anything.” From subhachops at gmail.com Sat Feb 19 15:36:43 2011 From: subhachops at gmail.com (Subhash) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 15:36:43 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] 84 killed in Libya protests Message-ID: Rights group estimates 84 killed in Libya protests AP, Feb 19, 2011, 11.47am IST CAIRO: New York-based human rights organization estimates that 84 people have died after three days of anti-government protests in Libya. Libyan security forces have been waging an escalated crackdown on the wave of anti-government protests concentrated in the impoverished east of the country. In a statement late Friday, Human Rights Watch based its estimate on interviews with hospital staff and witnesses. Arbor Networks, a Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based security company, also reported that Internet traffic in the North African country abruptly ended at around midnight GMT Saturday. Protesters are calling for the ouster of Moammar Gaddhafi, the ruler for the last 42 years. Police have responded to the protests with live ammunition, according to witnesses and medical officials. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Rights-group-estimates-84-killed-in-Libya-protests/articleshow/7526857.cms From rohitrellan at aol.in Sat Feb 19 16:18:43 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:48:43 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Swiss Experimental Films in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Mumbai / A Season of Footage and Films, Part 9, Four Times Bob. Saturday Feb. 19 at CAMP In-Reply-To: <8CD9E397D171858-914-213E7@webmail-stg-m02.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CD9E397D171858-914-213E7@webmail-stg-m02.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CD9E39B61E012D-914-213F2@webmail-stg-m02.sysops.aol.com> Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council and Reservoirfilm, Zurich present    Swiss Experimental Films from 1962-1974    a curated package of films belonging to the Swiss experimental films movement that started in the 1960s at    Delhi - AJK Mass Communication Resource Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi  on 21 February 2011 at 11 am       Ahmedabad - National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad   24, 25 and 26 February 2011 at 6:00pm     Kolkata - Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata   28 February, 1 and 2 March 2011 at 6:00 pm        Mumbai - Little Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai  5, 6 and 7 March 2011 at 5:30 pm      Open to All    Swiss Experimental Films from 1962-1974  Swiss Experimental Films is a project which will include the screening of films belonging to the Swiss Experimental film movement that started in the 1960's. The project is in collaboration with Reservoir, a Zurich based, free collective of curators for the art film and experimental cinema. The films illustrate the history of this genre, often referred to as the ‘film wonder’ of the 1960s and 1970s. These films were part of a restoration project taken up by Reservoir in 2005/2006 to preserve the most important yet long-forgotten films of this period in their original 16mm-format.     Screenings  Experimental Landscapes (88 Min.)  C'était un dimanche en automne..., Claude Champion, CH 1971, 35mm, 7 Min.  BER-LIN 99/00, André Lehmann, CH 2000/2003, 21 Min, 16mm  Die Sage vom alten Hirten Xeudi und seinem Freund Reimann, Hans-Jakob Siber, 1973, 60 Min, 16mm    Pazifik and Other Films (83 Min.)  Allah, Renzo Schraner, 1967, 14 Min, 16mm  13 Berner Museen, Georg Radanowicz, 1968, 13 Min, 16mm  Pazifik oder die Zufriedenen, Fredi Murer, 1964, 56 Min, 16mm    Unconventional Narratives  (78 Min.)  Abbilder des Todes, Balz Raz / Bernd Fiedler, CH 1967, 16mm, 20 Min.    Lydia, Reto A. Savoldelli, 1968, 43 Min, 16mm  Wieviel Erde braucht der Mensch, Hannes Bossert, 1971, 15 Min, 16mm    Formal Experimentations (71 Min.)  Status Symbol, Seb. C. Schroeder, 1970, 2 Min, 16mm  I/68 Dinge, Werner von Mutzenbecher, 1968, 8 Min, 16mm, silent  Chicorée, Fredi M. Murer 1966, 27 Min, 16mm  Spiegelei, Isa Hesse-Rabinovitch, 1969, 7 Min, 16mm  Zeil-Film, Urs Breitenstein, CH/D 1980, 6 Min, 16mm  My Grandparents, Dieter Meier, CH 1974, 9 Min, 16mm  Collage No. 1, Seb. C. Schroeder, 1968-70, 6 Min, 16mm  Inclinations, Guido + Eva Haas, 1962-66, 6 Min, 16mm    Curators and film historians  The curated package of films will be accompanied by Dr Fred Truniger and Thomas Schärer of Reservoir Films for discussions.  CVs of curators attached.  ----------------------  The Experimental film movement in Switzerland  In the late 1950s and 1960s, as a new cinema emerged in Europe, Switzerland was also affected by new ideas. The "Neuer Schweizer Film" (New Swiss Cinema) and the names associated to it (Alain Tanner, Michel Soutter, Claude Goretta, Daniel Schmid, Thomas Koerfer, Fredi Murer, Clemens Klopfenstein and others) quickly became internationally known. The Swiss film industry and film promotion refers often to this as "film wonder" of the 1960's and 1970's.    The official Swiss film histories largely discuss those figures and their films, but almost nothing has been written about the undercurrents in the film culture that decisively determined the breakup with the old filmic traditions and made the "wonder" possible in the first place.    As in other countries, also in Switzerland before the "Neue Schweizer Film" launched, a general climate of change had arisen, genre borders had been crossed, experiments in the filmic form and narration conducted, forums for the "progressive film" founded. One of the most important places for discussion was the Film Forum in Zurich. Under the direction of film maker Hans-Jakob Siber it regularly showcased works from the New American Cinema, triggered discussions about new filmic forms and encouraged local film makers to bring in their own work for projection. The idea spread quickly and soon the Ciné Circus was founded, a cinema on wheels based at the Film Forum in Zurich. The Ciné Circus consisted of a car, a 16mm-filmprojector and a changing set of one or two people who knew how to handle either one of them. The Circus gave regular guest performances in Lucerne, Basel and Berne and these evenings quickly developed into rallies, where the young Swiss film makers assembled and maintained their discussions between the annual film meeting in Solothurn (Solothurner Filmtage).    Just a few years later, the brief moment of storm and stress in the film scene was over. The film funding system had eventually developed, success and failure had decided on careers, the fiction film had taken the lead again and many of the former cinema tinkerer, who had been developing their own film language in small and experimental forms, tried to establish an economic life and a career for their own in the cinema (Fredi Murer, Clemens Klopfenstein, Alexander Seiler, Hans-Ulrich Schlumpf) or started working for Swiss television and the commercials (Louis Jent, Robert Schär).    Most of those who had worked for years in the grey area between the "big picture" and the artistic expression in small, easy to control projects put their cameras aside and deposited their films in their cellars and cupboards at home (Hans-Jakob Siber, Reto Andrea Savoldelli, Guido Haas, Kurt Kühn, Sebastian C. Schroeder, Georg Radanowicz, HHK Schoenherr, Hannes Bossert and finally also Louis Jent and Robert Schär). Very rarely they were heard of in later days. Only very few artists continued to work with small forms, some even up to this date (Isa Hesse-Rabionwicz, Werner von Mutzenbecher, Dieter Meier). Hardly any of the films have been deposited in film archives, where their outlast would have been guaranteed. After around 1974 a long period of oblivion started for most of those films.    In 2005/2006 reservoirfilm, a Zurich based, free collective of curators for the art film and experimental cinema started to dig into the history of the Swiss experimental film movements. They had to go from person to person, phone call to phone call and email to email to find the people, who had made experimental films in the 1960's and 1970's and what they found was both miraculous and alarming: Beautiful Films, hand scratched or directly painted on the materials, films with eccentric narrations, witty ideas, beautifully framed poetic images – films of an artistic quality that competes with the international avant-garde movements – but long forgotten and in the most part for decades never showed in public, film prints degraded over time. The remains were sometimes only one copy of a film, worn to threads by former use.    Already for the series of film screenings in May 2006 they had the possibility to transfer some of the most endangered films to Video. Those film programmes have been shown with an astonishing echo in Zurich, Basel and Geneva and eventually also in Paris. After the presentations, they worked out a restoration project ("Schweizer Filmexperimente 1950-1988") to preserve the most important films of the period and to ensure that also in the future they can be presented in their original 16mm-format.    For more information visit:  Reservoir Film: www.reservoirfilm.ch  ---------------------------------------  Partners -  Reservoirfilm, Zurich  AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi   National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad   Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata    Mohile Parikh Centre, Mumbai    -------------------------------  A Season of Footage and Films, Part 9, Four Times Bob. Saturday Feb. 19 at CAMP    Dear all,    This Saturday, February 19th, we present: Four Times Bob    A cut of four films on Bob Dylan, 100 mins.  7:00 pm onwards  At  CAMP roof  301, Alif Apartments,  Chium village, Khar (w)  Mumbai- 52    "For individuals to have access to as much different work by one contemporary performer as is available to you and me in the case of Dylan is something new under the sun, suggesting whole new possible realms in the relationship between artist and audience."    - The Early Years, by Paul Williams, 1990    In this screening, we traverse through footage from various films created around Bob Dylan, including:    1> Don't Look Back ( D.A. Pennebaker, 1967, 96 mins) is a landmark; as a film and as a document of rock history. Directed by D.A.Pennebaker, one of the pioneers of direct cinema, the film starts with one of the first-of-its kind "music videos", and proceeds to document everything, from intimate late-night moments to live performances in Dylan's 1965 tour of England.    2> Eat The Document ( Bob Dylan,1972, 54 mins) : In 1966, Pennebaker once again accompanied Dylan on his tour of the UK - this time Dylan had 'gone electric', with The Hawks backing him through the second half of his performance. After this tour, Dylan would not allow Pennebaker to complete the film. Eventually, Dylan and Howard Alk spent some time editing what became "Eat the Document", a widely bootlegged piece of video material.    3> No Direction Home ( Martin Scorsese, 2005, 208 mins) : This film is a series of interviews with Dylan himself, Joan Baez and others. The film inter-cuts the interviews with pieces of footage taken from earlier films, piecing together Dylan's life from his arrival in New York City in '61 up until his motorcycle accident in '66.    4> I'm Not There ( Todd Haynes, 2007, 135 mins) : The film has six characters enacting different 'ghosts' of Bob Dylan. The movie contains many, sometimes surreal, re-enactments of scenes from archival footage, mostly from the above films.    "here lies bob dylan  murdered  from behind  by trembling flesh  who after being refused by Lazarus,  jumped on him  for solitude  but was amazed to discover  that he was already  a streetcar &  that was exactly the end  of bob dylan    he now lies in Mrs. Actually's  beauty parlor  God rest his soul  & his rudeness    two brothers  & a naked mama's boy  who looks like Jesus Christ  can now share the remains  of his sickness  & his phone numbers    there is no strength  to give away -  everybody now  can just have it back    here lies bob dylan  demolished by Vienna politeness-  which will now claim to have invented him  the cool people can  now write Fugues about him  & Cupid can now kick over his kerosene lamp  boy dylan-killed by a discarded Oedipus  who turned  around  to investigate a ghost  & discovered that  the ghost too  was more than one person."    - Bob Dylan, Tarantula, 1965-66  See you there!    For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org    From chintan.backups at gmail.com Sat Feb 19 21:17:14 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:17:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?An_Adult_Returns_to_=91Sleeping_Be?= =?windows-1252?q?auty=92?= Message-ID: From http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/02/08/an-adult-returns-to-%E2%80%98sleeping-beauty%E2%80%99/ *An Adult Returns to ‘Sleeping Beauty’* February 8, 2011 | by Rana Dasgupta Recently, while visiting my parents, I came across my childhood edition of Sleeping Beauty. As I opened the book again, the decades collapsed: the old illustrations recalled how dire that sleeping palace had appeared to me as a child, how thick its rooms had seemed with dark, ungraspable truths. The story had seemed entirely indecent, and that was precisely why it was so magnetic. Sleeping Beauty is laced throughout with inchoate threat, which is why it feels so bottomless. Most obviously, there is an outrageous fact that the story passes over and that most children do not consciously note: Beauty is a century older than the prince who kisses her and ends her sleep. When he enters her dusty room she is one hundred and fifteen years old. As the reader bends with him over her inert form, adoration is tinged with something else entirely—the apprehension of death. Earlier versions of the story, such as Charles Perrault’s (1697), make this explicit: the prince, seeing the newly awoken princess, “took care not to mention that she was dressed like his grandmother.” Later versions—the Grimm brothers’, for example—got rid of such details so as to make the ending more youthfully nuptial. But the fact of Beauty’s age still lurked in the background as a kind of unfamiliar smell; even a child reader has the sense that this apparently straightforward love affair is stalked by impossibility and decay. There is another kind of corruption buried in this story. I can’t be the only child who bristled with excitement at the idea of walking into a palace full of insensible adults. What an irresistible opportunity for transgression! The situation is so ripe for exploitation that the prince’s chaste behavior seems disingenuous—which, in historical terms, it is. In one of the earliest written versions of this story—Giambattista Basile’s Italian version of 1634—it is no presexual prince who finds the sleeping princess but a fully virile king with his own wife and family. He is out hunting when his falcon flies into the silent palace, and he follows it into the princess’s room: Thinking she was asleep he called out to her but she did not reply, so he tried to wake the beautiful maiden, thinking that she had fallen sick, but without success. Finally, inflamed by her beauty, he took her in his arms and laid her on the bed, kissed her and gave her all his love. Then leaving her laid out there he returned to his palace and for a good amount of time he did not think again of what had happened. In this altered world, far from judgment or consequence, the king realizes our worst fears of predatory manhood. He is a powerfully menacing figure, and it is obvious why he had to be defanged in the later version for children. But his shadow remains, clouding the story with the threat of another kind of death—moral collapse Sleeping Beauty is often cited these days as the ultimate antifeminist tale: a princess waits a hundred years for prince to rescue her, and then marries him in helpless gratitude. This is partly because of the Disney version (1959), which tries to recast the tale as a celebration of romance and marriage. Here the fairy says nothing about a hundred years; it is romantic love, not time, that will defeat the spell: Not in death, but just in sleep The fateful promise you will keep And from this slumber you shall wake When true love’s kiss the spell shall break. The word love did not appear in the Grimms’ tale. Though the overt lust of earlier versions was removed, what remained was still unmistakeably erotic. To ensure their story is entirely hormone-free, however, Disney established love at the beginning: the two are sweethearts before Beauty ever pricks her finger. She thus cannot sleep for a hundred years, so the whole point is a little lost. She goes to sleep, and then he wakes her up. The enigma of a century passing without effect on a young woman is gone, as is the mystery of a young man wandering alone through a dormant palace and finding a beautiful object of desire. In the Disney film, he’s gone in precisely to find her and get her out of there. He delivers his kiss like a well-aimed grenade, then stands back and smiles with self-satisfaction. The whole thing is a parody of itself: “off he rides on his noble steed,” it says in fairytalese, “to wake his love with love’s first kiss and prove that true love conquers all.” The film climaxes with a great thwack-out between the prince and the wicked witch, a battle that is won with the prick of a tiny sword so that you realize, in the end, there never was any true danger to begin with. The Disney impulse to produce a world without shadows results in a story that is not only uninteresting but also, even to a child, completely lacking in authentic feeling. In the Grimm story, it is as though happiness was won improbably and even in the final celebrations there remained a surplus of perennial terror. That's why it drew us back again and again. The amazing attraction that fairy tales exert on us derives from this: that the feelings they produce have nothing “fairy tale” about them. These days I read a lot of contemporary children’s books to my three-year-old daughter, and I’m disappointed how sanitized they are. They restate obsessively the truth of the nuclear family. They teach kids how to be responsible members of society, how to cure their own negative impulses, and how to shun others who persist in negativity. It’s boring to read this stuff as an adult, but for a kid? I don’t want my daughter shut in by endless domesticity; I want her to think about the big world. I want her awe-struck. Rana Dasgupta is the author of the novel Solo. From a.mani.cms at gmail.com Sun Feb 20 08:46:44 2011 From: a.mani.cms at gmail.com (A. Mani) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:46:44 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Change in Iraq Message-ID: http://www.brussellstribunal.org/ http://www.brussellstribunal.org/education160211.htm Best A. Mani -- A. Mani ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS http://www.logicamani.co.cc From whysabih at gmail.com Sun Feb 20 10:51:37 2011 From: whysabih at gmail.com (Sabih .) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:51:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Asia Art Archive: Symposium on The Subject of Archives Message-ID: Event Details Venue: School of Arts and Aesthetics Auditorium, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India Date: Saturday 26 February 2011 Time: 10am – 6pm Language: English Presented by: Asia Art Archive Hosted by: School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) http://www.aaa.org.hk/newsletter_detail.aspx?newsletter_id=972 Seats limited, first come first served You are cordially invited to 'The Subject of Archives', a one-day symposium hosted by the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on 26 February 2011 at the School of Arts and Aesthetics Auditorium, JNU, New Delhi. This symposium is occasioned by the launch of 'Another Life: The Digitised Personal Archive of Geeta Kapur and Vivan Sundaram', the newly digitised personal archive of art critic and curator Geeta Kapur and contemporary art practitioner Vivan Sundaram. The first art archive in India to be digitised by AAA, the project brings to the public the broad range of material collected by Kapur and Sundaram since the 1950s. Originally established as a personal archive, the collection not only documents the artwork and writings produced and published thus far during Kapur and Sundaram’s prolific careers, but also documents events in India’s art community over the last 50 years, and includes exhibition catalogues, newspaper clippings, and artists' slides, some of which are entering the public domain for the first time. The symposium will reflect on a growing interest in the subject of archives around the world, coupled with an escalating anxiety about the custodianship of memory. Through presentations by internationally and regionally respected scholars and opportunities for open dialogue, The Subject of Archives will create a platform for the ongoing discussions that surround issues of archiving today, particularly with regard to India. Speakers include Sabih Ahmad (Research for India, Asia Art Archive), Jeebesh Bagchi( Artist, Raqs Media Collective), Parvez Kabir (Lecturer, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan),Geeta Kapur (Art Critic/Curator), Ashish Rajadhyaksha (Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore), Prof. Kumkum Sangari (William F. Vilas Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Ashok Sukumaran (Artist, CAMP and Pad.ma),Professor Sven Spieker (Professor, Comparative Literature Program, University of California, Santa Barbara) and Vivan Sundaram (Artist). Special thanks to the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Anupam Poddar and Lekha Poddar, Devi Art Foundation. From patrice at xs4all.nl Sun Feb 20 16:28:45 2011 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 11:58:45 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Edward Glaeser on Bombay/Mumbai (no) high-rises (The Atlantic) Message-ID: <18e1538cc362d58667e5d9b17026c8b4.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> NB: This is probably more something specifically for Bombayites/Mumbaikars among you... from: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/how-skyscrapers-can-save-the-city/8387/ How Skyscrapers Can Save the City by Edward Glaeser The Atlantic Monthly, Feb 20, 2011 Besides making cities more affordable and architecturally interesting, tall buildings are greener than sprawl, and they foster social capital and creativity. Yet some urban planners and preservationists seem to have a misplaced fear of heights that yields damaging restrictions on how tall a building can be. From New York to Paris to Mumbai, there’s a powerful case for building up, not out. The Bombay/Mumbai part: (...) Nowhere have limits on development done more harm than in the Indian mega-city of Mumbai. It’s a pity that so few ordinary people can afford to live in central Paris or Manhattan, but France and the U.S. will survive. The problems caused by arbitrarily restricting height in the developing world are far more serious, because they handicap the metropolises that help turn desperately poor nations into middle-income countries. The rules that keep India’s cities too short and too expensive mean that too few Indians can connect, with each other and with the outside world, in the urban places that are making that poor country richer. Since poverty often means death in the developing world, and since restricting city growth ensures more poverty, it is not hyperbole to say that land-use planning in India can be a matter of life and death. Mumbai is a city of astonishing human energy and entrepreneurship, from the high reaches of finance and film to the jam-packed spaces of the Dharavi slum. All of this private talent deserves a public sector that performs the core tasks of city government—like providing sewers and safe water—without overreaching and overregulating. One curse of the developing world is that governments take on too much and fail at their main responsibilities. A country that cannot provide clean water for its citizens should not be in the business of regulating film dialogue. The public failures in Mumbai are as obvious as the private successes. Western tourists can avoid the open-air defecation in Mumbai’s slums, but they can’t avoid the city’s failed transportation network. Driving the 15 miles from the airport to the city’s old downtown, with its landmark Gateway of India arch, can easily take 90 minutes. There is a train that could speed your trip, but few Westerners have the courage to brave its crowds during rush hour. In 2008, more than three people each working day were pushed out of that train to their death. Average commute times in Mumbai are roughly 50 minutes each way, which is about double the average American commute. The most cost-effective means of opening up overcrowded city streets would be to follow Singapore and charge more for their use. If you give something away free, people will use too much of it. Mumbai’s roads are just too valuable to be clogged up by ox carts at rush hour, and the easiest way to get flexible drivers off the road is to charge them for their use of public space. Congestion charges aren’t just for rich cities; they are appropriate anywhere traffic comes to a standstill. After all, Singapore was not wealthy in 1975, when it started charging drivers for using downtown streets. Like Singapore, Mumbai could just require people to buy paper day licenses to drive downtown, and require them to show those licenses in their windows. Politics, however, and not technology, would make this strategy difficult. Mumbai’s traffic problems reflect not just poor transportation policy, but a deeper and more fundamental failure of urban planning. In 1991, Mumbai fixed a maximum floor-to-area ratio of 1.33 in most of the city, meaning that it restricted the height of the average building to 1.33 stories: if you have an acre of land, you can construct a two-story building on two-thirds of an acre, or a three-story building on four-ninths of an acre, provided you leave the rest of the property empty. In those years, India still had a lingering enthusiasm for regulation, and limiting building heights seemed to offer a way to limit urban growth. But Mumbai’s height restrictions meant that, in one of the most densely populated places on Earth, buildings could have an average height of only one and a third stories. People still came; Mumbai’s economic energy drew them in, even when living conditions were awful. Limiting heights didn’t stop urban growth, it just ensured that more and more migrants would squeeze into squalid, illegal slums rather than occupying legal apartment buildings. Singapore doesn’t prevent the construction of tall buildings, and its downtown functions well because it’s tall and connected. Businesspeople work close to one another and can easily trot to a meeting. Hong Kong is even more vertical and even friendlier to pedestrians, who can walk in air-conditioned skywalks from skyscraper to skyscraper. It takes only a few minutes to get around Wall Street or Midtown Manhattan. Even vast Tokyo can be traversed largely on foot. These great cities function because their height enables a huge number of people to work, and sometimes live, on a tiny sliver of land. But Mumbai is short, so everyone sits in traffic and pays dearly for space. A city of 20 million people occupying a tiny landmass could be housed in corridors of skyscrapers. An abundance of close and connected vertical real estate would decrease the pressure on roads, ease the connections that are the lifeblood of a 21st-century city, and reduce Mumbai’s extraordinarily high cost of space. Yet instead of encouraging compact development, Mumbai is pushing people out. Only six buildings in Mumbai rise above 490 feet, and three of them were built last year, with more on the way as some of the height restrictions have been slightly eased, especially outside the traditional downtown. But the continuing power of these requirements explains why many of the new skyscrapers are surrounded by substantial green space. This traps tall buildings in splendid isolation, so that cars, rather than feet, are still needed to get around. If Mumbai wants to promote affordability and ease congestion, it should make developers use their land area to the fullest, requiring any new downtown building to have at least 40 stories. By requiring developers to create more, not less, floor space, the government would encourage more housing, less sprawl, and lower prices. Historically, Mumbai’s residents couldn’t afford such height, but many can today, and they would live in taller buildings if those buildings were abundant and affordable. Concrete canyons, such as those along New York’s Fifth Avenue, aren’t an urban problem—they are a perfectly reasonable way to fit a large number of people and businesses on a small amount of land. Only bad policy prevents a long row of 50-story buildings from lining Mumbai’s seafront, much as high-rises adorn Chicago’s lakefront. The magic of cities comes from their people, but those people must be well served by the bricks and mortar that surround them. Cities need roads and buildings that enable people to live well and to connect easily with one another. Tall towers, like Henry Ford II’s Renaissance Center in Detroit, make little sense in places with abundant space and slack demand. But in the most desirable cities, whether they’re on the Hudson River or the Arabian Sea, height is the best way to keep prices affordable and living standards high. (...) From the-network at koeln.de Mon Feb 21 16:57:15 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (artNET) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:27:15 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?Call=3A_CologneOFF_2011_-_videoart_i?= =?iso-8859-1?q?n_a_global_context?= Message-ID: <20110221122715.F7EDEF95.B3DF05EE@192.168.0.4> Call for entries extended deadline: 1 May 2011 -------------------------------------------- CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context - - a world wide unique festival project by - Cologne International Videoart Festival - started its virtual tour on 1 January 2011 and the physical tour around the globe on 26 January 2011 in the framework of Rotterdam International Film Festival, followed by venues in Finland and India in February and the Ukraine and Romania in March. It's goal is to show during one year at many venues around the globe the diversity of the creative potential of "art and moving images" transported via the global medium of "video" The videos can be submitted only online. Selected works will be featured on CologneOFF individually online and will become later in 2011 the 7th edition of CologneOFF - Cologne International Videoart Festival to be screened in physical space, as well. CologneOFF 2011 is inviting creators in the field of "art and moving images" - this may be experimental forms of film and video art - to submit up to 3 works--> Please find the entry details and form on http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2729 -------------------------------------------- CologneOFF - Cologne International Videoart Festival http://coff.newmediafest.org is powered by artvideoKOELN the curatorial initiative "art & moving images" http://video.mediaartcologne.org 2011 (at) coff.newmediafest.org -------------------------------------------- From chintan.backups at gmail.com Tue Feb 22 11:46:19 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:46:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Faiz Art Prize, 2011: In Memory of Faiz Ahmad Faiz Message-ID: >From http://www.nuktaartmag.com/Nukta/GeneralContent/View/171 Background As part of the legendary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s centenary celebrations in 2011, being held around the globe, NuktaArt magazine is pleased to announce the *Faiz Art Prize, 2011*. This coveted prize is organized by NuktaArt magazine under the umbrella of the Progressive Writers’ Association, in collaboration with the Geo Television network and its Aman ki Aasha project (Pak-Indo peace project). Aim This project aims to bring the collective expression of about 2000 artists in an exhibition at a public venue in Karachi. “Artists’ Messages to Faiz” will provide a visual and creative dimension to the poetry of Faiz, as artists from both Pakistan and India come together, the great poet’s message of peace for the world will be carried forth. Entries will be auctioned on the exhibition day, for which a high media profile will be arranged through Geo TV, partner of the project. All remaining entries will also be sold, and the funds collected from the sales of all the Pakistani as well as Indian artists’ works will be used towards rehabilitating a Potters’ village in southern Punjab, in which the traditional potters have lost their homes and belongings. Geo TV will provide coverage of the reconstruction process and highlight the potters’ craft of this area. Who can apply? Practicing artists in South Asia can apply, and also those of the same origins worldwide. Art students from the two countries are also eligible to participate. There is a limitation of one postcard per person. Guidelines for artwork Artists will be able to collect postcards (A4 size) especially designed for this Prize by the NuktaArt magazine. Artists are asked to work with the title *“Aap ka Paighaam, Faiz kay Naam.”* The postcard is designed so that ¾ space is allocated to the image and the rest can be used for a text message. However, this is a rough guideline, and artists should feel free to use the space according to their artistic sensibilities, to invert or redistribute the text/image ratio. Due to the nature of the Prize whose primary context is borne from texts, artists are asked to write a message for Faiz. The interpretation can be just words or any other relationship the artists would like to address. The jury will be asked to give priority to art work that is innovative and out of the box in its approach. Only the postcards that are distributed by the organizers of this project will be considered for the Prize, exhibition, catalogue and publicity. Any other works will be unacceptable. The organizers do not take responsibility for entries that are not accepted due to wear and tear during transportation from the artists to the organizers, or for returning entries back to the artist or institution. Deadline for entry All artwork must reach the assigned delivery points in your area no later then: Tuesday 6th June 2011 (No entries will be accepted after this date.) Venues for entry pick and drop *Karachi:* VM Art Gallery, Rangoonwala Centre, Dhoraji Colony / Chawkandi Art, Schon Circle, Clifton. *Lahore:* BNU University / NCA, Mall Road / Rohtas 2 Gallery / Al-Hamra Art Gallery *Rawalpindi / Islamabad:* National Art Gallery / KhaasArt / NCA Rawalpindi Campus *Peshawar:* Chairperson, Dept of Fine Arts, University of Peshawar, Peshawar *Quetta:* Chairperson, Dept of Fine Arts, University of Balochistan, Quetta All other entries to be sent directly to: NuktaArt (c/o Rumana Husain) 76/2, 12th Street, off Khayaban-e-Badar, Phase 6, DHA, Karachi – 75500. Phone: (92-21) 35843257, 35843462 All packages to be marked *FAIZ ART PRIZE* (postage charges to be prepaid by the artist) Prize Categories *Practicing artists:* The three outstanding entries by practicing artists, selected by a team of jurors, will be presented with the *Faiz Art Prize, 2011*. This is an exceptional prize in terms of its value because it is the original art work of a well known artist of Pakistan. The identity of the artist will be revealed at the time of the prize. *Art college students: *One most outstanding entry will receive a sum of Rs 50,000 and four other entries by art college students, from South Asia, will receive prizes of Pak Rs. 25,000 each. All entries that are received on time and exhibited will be documented in a catalogue. *Download the Entry Form (PDF, 36 KB)* For more, check http://www.nuktaartmag.com/Nukta/GeneralContent/View/171 From yasir.media at gmail.com Tue Feb 22 12:35:30 2011 From: yasir.media at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?B?IHlhc2lyIH7ZitinINiz2LE=?=) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:05:30 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] CIA contractor kills 2, now in PK jail Message-ID: the case is now in court*. *foreign minister gets fired* US gives fresh details of CIA agent who killed two men in Pakistan shootout* US reveals that CIA agent Raymond Davis worked for private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/raymond-davis-pakistan-cia-blackwater *Pakistan defiant in face of US pressure to free CIA agent* Raymond Davis's immunity to be decided next month as PM asserts Pakistani sovereignty and dignity over murder case http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/raymond-davis-cia-agent-pakistan *CIA operative in Lahore shooting - an interactive guide* The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/feb/21/raymond-davis-pakistan-cia-interactive From chintan.backups at gmail.com Tue Feb 22 15:20:09 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:20:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Frankfurt Book Fair Fellowship Message-ID: Details here: http://blog.prathambooks.org/2011/02/frankfurt-book-fair-fellowship-2011.html From ravikant at sarai.net Tue Feb 22 17:25:20 2011 From: ravikant at sarai.net (ravikant) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:25:20 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?=93Prophecies=94=3A_talk_by_Prof_C?= =?windows-1252?q?M_Naim?= Message-ID: <4D63A428.1010308@sarai.net> The Department of History is very pleased to invite you to a talk by Prof CM Naim on the 23rd of February. The talk is entitled " “Prophecies” in South Asian Muslim Political Discourse: The Poems of Shah Ni’matullah Wali". *Time*: 2:30PM *Venue*: Seminar room, ground floor, Social Sciences building *Abstract*: Since at least 1850, the so-called “prophetic” poems of Shah Nimatullah Wali of Kerman (d. 1431) have been a fascinating element in the popular political discourse of South Asian Muslims. Originally only one, by the end of the 19^th century there were three. Likewise, individual poems have gained verses as time has passed. These poems seem to appear every time there is a major crisis in the what I call the psychic world of South Asian Muslims. Their first known appearance in print followed the abject failure of the “Jihad” movement of Syed Ahmad and Shah Isma’il, followed by appearances after the failure of the 1857 Rebellion, the dissolution of the Ottoman Caliphate and failure of the Khilafat and Hijrat movements, the 1947 partition, and the Indo-Pak war of 1972 and the end of ‘East Pakistan.” They have appeared again in 2010 in Pakistan, and have found wide circulation on the Internet. My paper traces the evolution of these poems and offers some explanation for their effectiveness and popularity. From ravikant at sarai.net Tue Feb 22 17:29:06 2011 From: ravikant at sarai.net (ravikant) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:29:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] FW: Invite - Our Pasts, Our Words - February 23 - 24 Message-ID: <4D63A50A.8020301@sarai.net> Dear Friends, Greetings from all of us at AMAN ! We invite you to a two day festival / "Our Pasts, Our Words"/ . The festival is being organized in collaboration with History Society, Ramjas College, Delhi University on 23 - 24 February 2011 at Ramjas College. Below is the schedule of the programme. Details can also be found on our website www.amanpanchayat.org. Please forward this to your friends and colleagues or those who might be interested. /*History Society Ramjas in collaboration with AMAN Trust, New Delhi */ /**//*presents*//* */ /*- Our Pasts,Our Words*/ - _*February 23, 2011*_ /*Time*/ /*Programme*/ /*Speakers / Guests*/ /*Venue*/ 9.30 am -- 12 noon The Ayodhya Verdict: Towards a Historical, Legal and Political Critique Sohail Hashmi, Gauhar Raza , Professors Kumkum Roy, Supriya , Varma and Najaf Haider (CHS, JNU) Ramjas College Seminar Room 12.15 pm -- 2.30 pm Anupam Gupta (Sr. Advocate) and Dilip Simeon (Historian and Novelist) 4.30 pm Onwards Majaaz and Faiz: A Lyrical Prelude Sumangala Damodaran and Shanney Naqvi Ramjas College Eco Lawns _*February 24, 2011*_ /*Time*/ /*Programme*/ /*Speakers / Guests*/ /*Venue*/ 9.30 -- 1.15 pm Asrar-ul-Haq Majaaz (1911-55) Aur Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-84) ki Yaad Mein : - Conversations, Lives and Poetry of Faiz and Majaaz Akhlaque Ahan, SR Kidwai, Sudhanwa Deshpande, Noor Zaheer, Ali Javed and Zarina Bhatty of the Progressive Writers, IPTA Ramjas College Canteen Building 2.00 pm -- 5.30 pm Majaaz: Readings, Recitations and Reminiscences Akhilesh Mithal, Shahid Mahdi, Najma Rehmani, SM Mehdi, Sohail Akbar, Jawed Naqvi, Aditya Nigam, Shanney Naqvi, Anwaar Khan, Ali Khusro, Sohail Hashmi, Gauhar Raza 5.30 pm Zikr-e-Faiz Danish Hussain and Mahmood Farooqui 6.45 pm A musical tribute to Majaaz and Faiz: Shanney Naqvi Ramjas College Eco Lawns Thank You Warm Regards Rahul From a.mani.cms at gmail.com Tue Feb 22 19:51:36 2011 From: a.mani.cms at gmail.com (A. Mani) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:51:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Soviet History Message-ID: A detailed study in the light of available documents: http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/ http://clogic.eserver.org http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/Furr.pdf Best A. Mani -- A. Mani ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS http://www.logicamani.co.cc From rohitrellan at aol.in Wed Feb 23 09:10:15 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:40:15 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] SUMMER COURSE IN FILM APPRECIATION 16th May, 2011 to 11th June, 2011/ Notice Inviting Bids For Transfer Work Of Films On Video Formats And Vice Versa. Message-ID: <8CDA122849FD5A2-1C2C-15BE@webmail-stg-m02.sysops.aol.com> A four-week full-time course in FILM APPRECIATION will be held at Pune from 16th May to 11th June, 2011 under the joint auspices of National Film Archive of India and Film & Television Institute of India. The course is primarily designed to meet the needs of teachers interested in introducing film study activities in educational institutions, film society organisers, film critics, journalists, film researchers, Govt. officials handling films and others interested in films. The curriculum includes theoretical and practical study of the art and history of film and the development of cinema as a medium of art and communication. Film classics both Indian and International will be used for critical analysis and study. 1. The medium of instruction would be English. 2. The applicant should have completed 21 years of age as on 01.04.2011 3. The course fee of Rs.7,500/- should be remitted by Demand Draft in favour of "Accounts Officer, Film & Television Institute of India, Pune" only after the confirmation of selection. Fees once paid will not be refunded. 4. This is a non-Residential Course. However, participants will be assisted in availing of boarding facilities in nearby hotels or lodges at concessional rates. Advance copy of the duly filled in application in the prescribed format can be submitted through e-mail to nfaipune at gmail.com. Hard copy of the application alongwith administrative fee of Rs.200/- (Rupees two hundred only) by Crossed Demand Draft payable to Accounts Officer, FTII, Pune should reach the following address on or before 04.04.2011 : The Director, National Film Archive of India, Law College Road, Pune - 411 004. N.B. - The application will be considered only on receipt of Administrative fee. DOWNLOAD FORMS: FORMAT OF APPLICATION: http://www.ftiindia.com/forms/FORMATFAC2011.pdf ------------------------------------------------------------------ Notice Inviting Bids For Transfer Work Of Films On Video Formats And Vice Versa. No.R-11014/1/2008-RS&P Dated 04-10-2011 Notice Inviting Bids For Transfer Work Of Films On Video Formats And Vice Versa. Sir, Director General , Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, 24-Dr.G.Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai-400 026, on behalf of the President of India invites sealed bids for various types of transfer work from Celluloid format films to Video and vice-versa from the established companies/firms who are having all the required technical facilities under one roof within the city of Mumbai. As the work involves movement handling of old Archival material from Films Division vaults, only those firms/companies who have an established facilities in Mumbai viz. equipment infrastructure and technical expertise (man-power) under one roof and in a position to undertake the transfer work of Films to Video format and vice-versa may submit their bids : The Bid is not transferable. The Bid is to be submitted in two parts i.e. Technical Bid & Financial Bid. The Bidder should indicate details of all the required equipment available with them on which transfer work would be carried out. These equipment are likely to be inspected by the team of Technical Officers of Films Division. The bidder preferably should have following equipment with technical staff. Spirit 2/4 k Telecine with date of manufacturing/purchased and installed. Da vinci 2k Plus ------- " -------- Thomson's Bones ------- " -------- Truelight's Northlight scanner ------- " -------- Autodesk's Smoke 2009 Da Vinci's Resolve Autodesk's Lustre ARRI 4-k laser recorder BASE LIGHT Bio-data of all technical staff with prot. Qualification. The time required for carrying out the transfer work should be specified. However, some times in emergency the transfer work is required to be carried out immediately. The bidder should be in a position to carry out the transfer work as per F.D.'s time frame during emergency. The checking of cassettes by Films Division's technicians will be done on the facilities provided by the firm at their site. Only after acceptance of the quality by F.D. technicians, cassettes will be delivered to Films Division. In case of bulk order placed by Films Division at a time, the filmic material will be collected by the firm itself and the delivery of filmic material along with cassettes duly transferred and checked, will be made by the firm at their cost. However, for any emergency work , the filmic material will be delivered and will be collected by Films Division. A firm will be selected on the basis of rates quoted by them, the quality of work done by them in the past, the availability of technical infrastructure with them and also the availability of Tele Cine machine etc. at one roof. The bid should be accompanied by bid security of an amount of 50,000/-(Rupees Fifty thousand only) in the form of DEPOSIT AT CALL RECEIPT/FIXED DEPOSIT of commercial Bank drawn in the favour of "Accounts Officer, Films Division, Mumbai" which may be submitted along with Technical Bid. The bid received without bid security will not be considered. The successful Bidder is required to deposit as 1,00,000/- only as Performance Security Deposit in the form of Demand Draft/Pay Order/FDR or Bank Guarantee of Commercial Bank drawn in favour of "Accounts Officer, Films Division Mumbai" within fifteen days from the receipt of letter of assignment. The Performance Security Deposit will remain with Films Division, Mumbai till the contract period is expired. It should be valid for period of 60 days beyond the date of completion of all contractual obligations of the firm. The payment for transfer work will be made simultaneously against firms pre-receipted Bill each time after the work is carried out and acceptable to Films Division in all respects. TDS will be recovered from the bill as per Income Tax rules. The successful bidder should have their Registration Certificate such as bearing VAT number, PAN No. & Service Tax No. etc. The rate will be valid for a period of one year from the date of signing of agreement. The interested firm may send its bid indicating Technical Bid and Financial Bid in Separate cover duly sealed. Financial Bid will be open only of those bidders who have been declared technically qualified for the above work. The bid should be on LETTER HEAD of the bidder in SEALED COVER/Waxing Seal etc.) in double cover and marked "TENDER FOR TRANSFER WORK OF FILMS DIVISION's FILMS TO VIDEO FORMAT" DUE ON__________ The bids should addressed to the Director General, Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India, Mumbi-400 026 will be received up to 1.00 P.M. on ______________ and will be opened at 3.00 P.M. on same day in presence of bidders or their representatives who may be present. The bids received after due date and time will not be considered at any cost. All the firms interested in participating shall submit their bids on or before due date and time to General-II Section, 3rd floor, Films Division, Phase-I Bldg., 24-Dr. G. Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai-400 026. The bid is also available at Films Division's Website : www films division.org. The Director General, Films Division, Mumbai reserve the right to accept/cancel/split/reject any of the bid or all the bids without assigning any reason. Yours faithfully, (P.S.Bodas) Asstt. Administrative Officer For Director General Copy for information and necessary action: Nodal Officer (IT) with a request to upload the tender inquiry on Films Division's website. A pen drive is sent herewith. Laboratory Section. LIST OF ITEMS FOR TRANSFER OF FILMS ON VIDEO FORMAT OR VICE-VERSA (RATES MAY BE QUOTED PER MINUTE WITH MINIMUM/MAXIMUM CHARGES) RATE MAY BE QUOTED WITH dvnr AND WITHOUT dvnr WHENEVER IT REQUIRE Sr.No. Particulars Format on which to be transferred Rate per Minute 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. Transfer of films stock shots from 35mm, 16mm Pic. Negative along with optical Sound Negative or Magnetic tape through telecine machine with Films Division's Monogram. i. With Key Code and burning time. ii. Without Key Code. Different Duration/ Minute wise i)MASTER Digi Beta Cam / DVC PRO125/50/DVCAM/DPX/; LTO ii)HD MASTER 16:9/4:3 Blue Ray, 25 GB (SINGLE LAYER) iii)50GB (Dud layer) (16:9/4:3)/DVD / BETA SP (ALL CODE) 1 B Transfer of films stock shots from 35mm, 16mm Pic. Negative along with optical Sound Negative or Magnetic tape through rank Cintel Ursa Gold telecine with colour correction whenever necessary without key code (with Films Division's monogram) Different Duration/ Minute wise -As above- 2. i. Transfer of films from 35mm/16mm Married Silent Print through Telecine with colour correction. ii. Transfer of Films from 35mm/16mm Married Silent Print through telecine.Different Duration/ Minute wise -As above- 3. i. Transfer of films stock shots from 35mm/16mm Prints through Telecine machine using optical sound negative / Magnetic tape. ii. Transfer of Films stock shots from 35mm/16mm Prints through telecine machine using optical Sound Negative/ Magnetic tape. Different duration Monitor -As above- 4. Transfer of Sound on Pre-recorded tape formats from optical sound Negative / Magnetic Tape on Second Sound Channel MASTER Digi Beta cam / DVD. 5. International Sound track through Telecine Machine MASTER DVD DVC Pro/Digi Beta 6. Transfer of films from any Video format to any video format like HD, DG, SP Beta, DVC PRO 25/50, Blue rar , DV cam/ DVD/VCD/VHS- High Band (With or without FD's Monogram) Minute wise Different duration TO HD, DG, SP Beta, DVC PRO 25/50, Blue ray , DV cam/ DVD/VCD/VHS- High Band i) NTSC VHS ii) Beta cam to NTSC VHS iii) NTSC VHS to Betacam iv)DG Beta/DVC PRO/25/50/HD/DV/DVCAM & Blue Ray etc. 6.a. From Master HD,Master DG Master DVC DVC Pro 25/50 Master Beta cam & Tip & Trag File With Digital Grading (DI) to film. Minute wise Different duration TO print 35mm/wide screen/16mm/Cinema Scope 7. VHS transfer from Picture Negative along with Magnetic Tape/ Optical Sound with colour correction whenever necessary i) MASTER Digi Beta Cam / DVC PRO125/50/DVCAM/DPX/; LTO ii)HD MASTER 16:9/4:3 iii) Blue Ray, 25 GB (SINGLE LAYER) 50GB (Dud layer) (16:9/4:3)/DVD / BETA SP(ALL CODE) 8. VHS transfer from 35mm/16mm Married Prints for Censor only VHS transfer from 35mm/16mm Married Prints/ silent Prints. -As above- 9. From 35mm/16mm Married Prints for Censor only VHS/VCD transfer from 35mm/16mm Married Prints/ silent Prints. -As above- 10. Print to VCD Master with Films Division Monogram. -As above- 11. Negative -As above- 12. Transfer of films Film Print / Negative of Film to Digibeta with colour correction whenever necessary. i) MASTER Digi Beta Cam / DVC PRO125/50/DVCAM/ DPX/; LTO ii)HD MASTER 16:9/4:3 iii) Blue Ray, 25 GB (SINGLE LAYER) 50GB (Dud layer) (16:9/4:3)/DVD / BETA SP (ALL CODE) 13. Rate of Master Copies for Minimum charges upto 10 minutes duration i) VHS to DVD/VCD ii) Digi Beta to DVD/VCD-Blue Ray iii) Beta to DVD/VCD-Blue Ray iv)HD to DVD/VCD-Blue Ray 14. Rate may be quoted separately for Black/White & Colour for output work at the rate per minute .i) Telecine transfer from film to video through Spirit telecine machine in respect of 35mm/16mm Picture Negative with Magnetic Tape/Optical Sound Negative/ Married Print/ Silent Print with colour correction shot to shot. ii) Telecine transfer sound pre-recorded (sound channel on Digi Beta) iii) Transfer from Video (Digi Beta, SP Beta to DVD) i) MASTER Digi Beta Cam /DVC PRO125/50/DVCAM/ DPX/; LTO ii)HD MASTER 16:9/4:3 iii) Blue Ray, 25 GB (SINGLE LAYER) 50GB (Dud layer) (16:9/4:3)/DVD / BETA SP (ALL CODE) Note : For Telecine Transfer to any format like VCD, DVD, VHS or Beta SP with or without Films Division Monogram in that case you have to do the Telecine Transfer of the films from Negative/Print to Digi Beta before transferring of the film to above mentioned format as and when required by Films Division. Film Transfer- (1) From Blue Ray to DG, Beta SP, DVC PR 25/50, HD, DVD etc. From iram at sarai.net Wed Feb 23 13:38:43 2011 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:08:43 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] @Khoj Studios :: CITY & SOUND :: Message-ID: <4D64C08B.503@sarai.net> Delhi Listening Group invites you to: :: CITY & SOUND :: @ Khoj studios, Khirkee & surrounds, next Thursday 24th Feb 4-8pm Discussion about sound in the city frequently returns us to the question of noise, without giving us space to explore the ways in which this term is slippery to define, and intimately connected to personal experience and our relationship to our surroundings. Beyond the technocratic definition of noise, according to the measurement of decibels, perhaps noise is what we hear when we refuse listening. a full-stop of sonic experience. Listening is a process of composing and ordering the ways we attend to what we hear, perhaps noise is what we edit out of this meaning making, that which violates a specific order of listening. We invite you to join us for a Listening Tour of Khirkhee and surrounds, to invite a wider world of sound into your attention, and perhaps discover new perspectives on the city we live in. The walk will be followed by an open discussion in the Khoj courtyard through which we hope to arrive at better questions about the city and sound... topics may include, but are not limited to: :: listening :: sound :: noise control :: bio-acoustics :: sound in public space :: shared listening :: sonic art :: acoustic ecology :: Before, during and after the walk and discussion there will be an installation of current work by Delhi Listening Group in the Khoj courtyard and studios. * 4pm Refreshments commence and display of current work by Delhi Listening Group * 5pm Listening Tour * 6pm An open discussion on noise, sound, shared listening and sonic space in Delhi. discussion will be streamed live from 1800 (UTC+5.30): at http://radio.upho.net/dlg (open this link in VLC, iTunes or player of your choice) Hope you can join us, at Khoj or online. Delhi Listening Group is an initiative of Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education & Phonebox Productions. We are group of practitioners working together to explore listening practices as modes of creative and pedagogical enquiry into the city around us. http://phonebox.org/dlg http://ankureducation.net From lalitambardar at hotmail.com Wed Feb 23 18:16:50 2011 From: lalitambardar at hotmail.com (Lalit Ambardar) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:46:50 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?=91saffron_revolution=92_in_Kashmi?= =?windows-1252?q?r_the_offing=2E=2E=3F=3F=3F?= In-Reply-To: <8CDA122849FD5A2-1C2C-15BE@webmail-stg-m02.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CDA122849FD5A2-1C2C-15BE@webmail-stg-m02.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: Dear all, Fall of Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime in Bucharest in 1989 winter saw religious frenzy driven mass mobilization by proponents of ‘azadi- bara-e- Islam’ in Kashmir. Kashmiri never bloomed again. What began with the systematic ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindu Pandits then, it has been only ‘death & destruction’ for common Kashmiris ever since. Is long expected ‘saffron revolution’ in the offing? Junaid Azim Mattu makes an interesting opinion in GK. Those in race for ‘Emir’ of ‘Kashmir Emirate’ as well as their of / on ground supporters; their sympathisers in/ outside the valley ; propagandists/’seminarists’ in India/ abroad & the agent provocateurs in general who gloat over the misery of Kashmiris may well take note of the brewing sentiment in the valley……….. Sinecures & Benefactors of Conflict CONCERN IT’S ULTIMATELY A POOR COMMON MAN’S SON WHO SUFFERS TO FEED AN UGLY POLITICS, WRITES JUNAID AZIM MATTU/ Greater Kashmir/Feb 23,2011. The obduracy of the conflict in Kashmir is all too visible. Albeit the sinecures that sustain and prolong it, are often less visible – merging and dovetailing into the rhetorical séances of a status-quo-ist discourse. Our radical-by-convenience leaders tell us that an amicable, acceptable and pragmatic resolution means a ‘sell-out’. Nothing short of a plebiscite ‘come what may’ are the charming proclamations that resound from safe houses and pulpits of righteousness. They speak of morals and integrity as they unabashedly bask in an accountability-free atmosphere of sensationalism and polemics, feeling little or no need to answer questions – where are we headed and how? Desperate cries for realism are subdued by invoking the imagery of blood and gore, belittling our numerous sacrifices by reducing them into bargaining chips and discounting equations. If there are no holy-cows in conventional politics, there can’t be any in conflict politics either. No single leader is above scrutiny and introspection, lest he declares himself to be God-sent. Brushing aside geo-political realities in living rooms, wrapped in the warmth of ideologically reinforced delusions is hunky dory. However, the teenagers in our graves, the splattered blood on our pavements – the voluntarily self-imposed economic sanctions – that’s the other side – a side seen by a different demographic, a demographic that is voiceless, jobless and without hope. A demographic that experiences the conflict as opposed to those who talk about the conflict, issues calendars in the summers and vacations in Delhi in the winters. The poor man’s demographic. The same poor man whose bullet-riddled young son is our martyr and the same poor man who becomes our ‘collaborator’ and ‘traitor’ the moment he goes out to cast his vote. The inherent contradictions between what the ‘sailors’ of the Kashmir movement preach in seminars and what they selectively experience and endure is, if nothing else, contemptuous to the very concept of Kashmir’s collective national dignity. As we present our children as gun-fodder for their political longetivity and notoriety, our own aspirations become dangerously malleable in their hands. We waddle around in the mundane gloom of a conflict-zone life, to be ordered to trot here one day and shutter our shops the other day – all in the blind faith that kicking our own bosoms and sacrificing our kids for the self anointed right honorable dictators of this movement will give us deliverance from oppression. And in this whole circle of blind faith begetting a vision-blind leadership, we have ceased to ponder – how do the sinecures and benefactors of conflict juice us like fructuous pulp, our miseries their sweet succor? And it’s not the separatist leadership alone that is guilty of benefiting from this conflict. Mainstream politics in Kashmir has enjoyed an atmosphere of mass impunity and lack of accountability primarily due to this conflict. Delhi continues to treat Kashmir as a business vertical outsourced to a select few to ‘heal’ our wounds. Ironically the same faces that have inflicted some of the deepest darkest wounds on the face of Kashmir’s scarred history have, with Delhi’s occasional blessings, ordained themselves to be the faces of reconciliation and redemption. Delhi has consistently stifled and ‘managed’ democracy in Kashmir due to this self-imposed paranoia, an erroneous belief in the indispensability of some at the cost of others. Most past elections in Kashmir were strategically rigged so that the control panel stayed in Delhi, not entirely with the people of Kashmir – all in the name of ‘national interest’. Election boycotts in Kashmir have voluntarily disempowered the people, benefiting power brokers and traders of religious vote-banks – benefactors of conflict in their own right. There are religious institutions that vote en-block to claim their pound of flesh in Kashmir’s power politics. Then there is this enormously disempowering, exploitative existence of religious constituencies in some of our most impoverished and backward areas. Religious constituencies that breed on conflict and the deafening invective of a people’s indifference in their own governance. Vote-banks in Kashmir, unlike most states in India, aren’t as much based on caste politics as they are on this marriage of profit between religious constituencies and conflict politics – and all the opportunism and chicanery that comes with it. What happened last summer was most unfortunate, barbaric and suppressive and I personally spoke and wrote unequivocally against the atrocities and killings by the State and the security apparatus. But does our commitment to our nation have to stop at mere condemnations, annual chest thumping and slogans? A quick, superficial analysis of the summer fatalities discloses a bitter fact – most people who died in Kashmir were young children and teenagers from modest backgrounds and most often than not, with very grim career prospects. Since it’s fashionable to compare even egg hatchings with the uprising in Egypt – let us draw a fair comparison there as well. In Egypt, those who lost their lives included Doctoral Fellows, Researchers, Teachers, Business Executives and individuals from sound professional and economic backgrounds. Back here in Kashmir, our educated lot chooses to sit wrapped in shawls and quilts to watch the revolution on TV – analyzing it to threads and knots, claiming it with shrill living-room and seminar patriotism. Their own children are not allowed to so much so look at a stone with the intention of hurling it – but the poor man’s son is a glorified soldier of resistance and dissent – his death a mere statistic for their post-dinner darbars. Then there are conflict benefactors spread across the globe – perhaps one of the biggest chain of retail stores and sinecures in the world – selling the sentiment and sacrifices on glossy brochures of statistics and sonnets. The number of expatriate ‘think-tanks’ and four-men ‘councils’ in Western lands ironically far exceeds the number of political parties and groups within Kashmir. I have lived in the West for enough years to notice the absolutely comical nature of clueless interactions – both actual and perceived – that take place between these self-anointed ambassadors of our movement. The role played by diaspora and expatriate communities in the Cuban movement, the Kosovar movement or for that matter my interactions with French-Algerian Muslims is absolutely inspiring. So my grouse is not with those who choose a better life for their families and still have an urge to support a political movement back home. My grouse is with those individuals who pontificate from afar, assume the right to judge, demean and disparage those in Kashmir they disagree with and morbidly draw argumentative succor out of gruesome miseries in Kashmir – miseries that they can read about on weekends and weeknights – miseries their own children are safely protected from. Flipside - Any leader in Kashmir who feels the need to seek suggestions from across oceans and continents from a motley crew of understandably disconnected gentlemen should relinquish the privilege to lead even a Mohalla, not to speak of a nation in quest of dignity. There is a joke that goes around in Kashmir – that Pakistan will fight till the last Kashmiri. Our misplaced and misinformed romanticism of a socio-religious affinity with Pakistan – a nation perpetually struggling to be a State - has given wanton freedom to conflict benefactors who sell their souls at the drop of a dime, issue statements of Azadi in Kashmir and statements of merger with Pakistan while in Islamabad – or while talking to Pakistani publications. Our ignorance and malleability as a people has made us vulnerable to be juiced and minced for personal political gains and agendas. Our Conflict Economy has burgeoned into a black-money sector without any parallels in recent global history. Business Empires have sprung up from nowhere – irrigated by an apparently never-drying stream of conflict-remunerations. More journalists find employment in Kashmir than any other State in India as new newspapers and magazines hit the stands every other week. Police suppliers revel and prosper in conflict. Tax evasion continues unabated and unrestricted. On the graves and miseries of our people, we have built our lives – dreamt of safe and prosperous futures for our own children. Our conflict benefactors are in plain sight – exploiting every drop of warm blood in our veins – feeding on our emotions and sensitivities. If there are Hosni Mubaraks, Ben Alis and Gaddafis in Kashmir – it is them, it is them, it is them. (Feedback at junaid.msu at gmail.com) …… http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Feb/23/sinecures-benefactors-of-conflict-30.asp Rgds all LA From rohitrellan at aol.in Thu Feb 24 13:45:35 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:15:35 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Travelling Film South Asia Festival at NGMA Bengaluru. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <8CDA212256BC5F6-1340-9CDD@webmail-stg-d15.sysops.aol.com> National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru in collaboration with Maraa and Vikalp Bengaluru Presents Travelling Film South Asia Festival February 26 – April 10, 2011 (All films will have English subtitles)   Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru Manikyavelu Mansion # 49, Palace Road, Bangalore-560 052 Contact: 080 22342338   All are welcome       26 February 2011, Saturday, 3 pm AFGHAN GIRLS CAN KICK, Afghanistan, 50 minutes Director: Bahareh Hosseini An intimate fly-on-the-wall portrait of teenage girls breaking the stereotypical mould set for them by a conservative society. They become players in Afghanistan’s first ever women’s national football team. Afghan Girls Can Kick follows the team during preparations for its first competitive international matches. Concentrating on a few of the players, the film captures the journey from their youth under the harsh Taliban regime to life in today’s Afghanistan. Many members of the team speak of how football helps them envision the future in a country beset by insecurity and marked by suicide bombings.   27 February 2011, Sunday, 11.30 am THE PROMISED LAND (Swapnabhumi), Bangladesh, 1 hour 30 minutes Director: Tanvir Mokammel A tale of statelessness spanning six decades and three countries, The Promised Land is about the 160,000 strong Urdu-speaking community of Bangladesh, living isolated lives in 116 camps across the country. The terms ‘Urdu-speakers‘, ‘Non-Bengalis’ and ‘Biharis’ are used interchangeably to refer to the Muslim people, who originally emigrated from India to the newly created East Pakistan in 1947 and afterwards. Many of them originated from the state of Bihar and were fleeing large-scale communal massacres. Three decades later, during the struggle for independence in Bangladesh in 1971, this community became embroiled in conflict. Branded as collaborators against Bangladesh’s independence, this moment was a defining one for the Urdu-speakers, one that has left a devastating legacy.   27 February 2011, Sunday, 1.15 pm THE LAST RITES, Bangladesh, 17 minutes Director: Yasmine Kabir A silent film depicting the ship-breaking yards of Chittagong, Bangladesh, a final destination for ships too old to ply the oceans. Every year, hundreds of ships are sent to these yards. And every year, thousands of people come to these yards in search of jobs. Risking their lives to save themselves from hunger, they breathe in asbestos dust and toxic waste. The ship has to die and man has to help it die, as if man and vessel were united in common bondage. The Last Rites bears testament to the resilience of the human spirit.       5 March 2011, Saturday, 3 pm COME TO MY COUNTRY: JOURNEYS WITH KABIR AND FRIENDS India, 98 minutes Director: Shabnam Virmani A journey in search of the des or country invoked in the writings of Kabir, the 15th century mystic poet of north India, this film interweaves the stories of two people from two very different backgrounds – Indian folk singer Prahlad Tippanya and North American scholar Linda Hess. Where is Kabir’s country? The answer is elusive in the journey through song and poem into these two lives, brought together in an unlikely friendship by the cross-cultural resonance of Kabir.   6 March 2011, Sunday, 11.30 am SAAMAM (The Music), India, 42 minutes Director: Ramachandran K An attempt to condense the huge body of memories about a Carnatic musical colossus, the late M D Ramanathan, Saaman (The Music) is a humble tribute to an unparallel musical genius.   6 March 2011, Sunday, 12.30 pm THE SALT STORIES, India, 84 minutes Director: Lalit Vachani In 1930, a group of Indians led by a frail, elderly man marched 241 miles. They marched for salt. Mahatma Gandhi was able to craft an anti-colonial, nationalist movement around a basic issue of livelihood: the right of Indians to make and consume their own salt. Almost eight decades later, the film retraces Gandhi’s steps, following the famous Dandi salt march trail in a film that focuses on the issues of livelihood in modern, globalising India.   13 March 2011, Sunday, 11.30 am MAYOMI , Sri Lanka, 50 minutes Director: Carol Salter An exploration of a young Sri Lankan woman’s unconditional love of and obligation to her family, the film is an intimate portrait of the protagonist Mayomi’s struggle to gain independence, while holding her troublesome family together in post-tsunami Sri Lanka. Having lost her soldier husband to the Tamil Tigers and her mother and home to the 2004 tsunami, Mayomi is the only female member left in her family. She single-handedly cares for her disabled father, her alcoholic brother and his abandoned six-year old son. Still homeless, she knows that this is unlikely to change in a country crippled by an inefficient bureaucracy and corruption. As Mayomi struggles to overcome these obstacles, her optimism and courage drive her forward in this moving and tender film.   13 March 2011, Sunday, 12.35 pm THE WAY OF THE ROAD, Nepal, 60 minutes Directors: Ben Campbell, Cosmo Campbell In 2012, a road through Nepal’s Rasuwa District will reconnect an ancient Himalayan trade route with global traffic. The film looks through Tamang villagers’ eyes at the cultural and economic flows through this border land, including a dramatic re-enactment of Tibetan and Nepali armies in conflict. But what do the villagers whose lives it is intended to benefit think about where the road will run?   9 April 2011, Saturday, 3 pm IN SEARCH OF THE RIYAL, Nepal, 1 hour 28 minutes Director: Kesang Tseten They are Nepal’s oil—one million Nepalis that work in the Gulf, earning only USD 5-7 a day, to keep their families back home alive. The film explores the Nepali migrant world: young Nepalis from disadvantaged communities who undergo minimal skills training to prepare for the Gulf. The disillusioning, sad, but at times empowering, experience of Nepalis in Qatar, rarely captured due to the Gulf’s sensitivity to scrutiny of their labour practices. In Search of the Riyal explores the recurring lure of going abroad that often captivates the returnee, and, finally, the enormity of the journey.   10 April 2011, Sunday, 11.30 am CHILDREN OF GOD Nepal, 1 hour 29 minutes Director: Yi Seung-jun Where there is life, there is death. At the crematorium at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, there are many whose livelihoods depend on the ritual of death. Among them are the children who live off the food and money drifting in the water after being used as offerings for the funerals. Aryaghat is a holy ground for the Hindus, but for these children it is a playground, a home and also a place where they earn a living. Children of God takes an in-depth look at the children who struggle just to stay alive.        From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com Thu Feb 24 23:37:57 2011 From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:07:57 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Please, sign the online petition on the safeguarding the cultural heritage of Mahasthan, Bangladesh Message-ID: <668132.57639.qm@web130209.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Please, sign the online petition below and raise your voice against the destruction and attack on archaeological sites and archaeologists, against the use of state and political power to abuse cultural heritage and people, and with the demand of punishment of the people involved. http://www.petitiononline.com/ma4h2011/petition.html Sincerely, Swadhin Sen Archaeologist - Assistant Professor Dept.of Archaeology Tel: +88 02 779 10 45-51 Ext. 1326 JahangirnagarUniversity Mobile: +88 0172 019 61 76 Savar,Dhaka. Bangladesh Fax: +88 02 779 10 52 swadhin_sen at yahoo.com; swadhinsen at hotmail.com www.juniv.edu From info at alicesociety.com Wed Feb 23 21:33:52 2011 From: info at alicesociety.com (info) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:03:52 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] THE WEEKLY ALICE - Issue 3:11 Message-ID: <2d190f77c6f7b306868608f42bdf4e6f@smtp.ymlp33.net> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deze e-mail nieuwsbrief werd in grafisch HTML formaat verzonden. Als u deze tekstversie ziet, verkiest uw email programma "gewone tekst" e-mails. U kan de originele nieuwsbrief online bekijken: http://ymlp127.net/zvD6a0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE: 3:11 | A NEWSLETTER FROM THE ALICE AWARDS | NEWS ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 23, 2011 - The Alice Awards—Artistic Landmarks In Contemporary Experience— Online application starts today and runs through July 3, 2011 at the website www.aliceawards.com Awards are those lenses that can create landmark points of reference in the global world of art. www.aliceawards.comThe Alice Awards—Artistic Landmarks In Contemporary Experience—is a worldwide award in contemporary art designed to recognize landmark artistic achievements and changes across the industry as a whole.The Alice Awards has some unusual twists. For one, it has a global and industry-wide dimension with 50+ categories and it is egalitarian: artists, curators, art writers, museums, exhibitions/biennials, publications/art magazines, and private galleries can participate through an open and democratic Internet application process. The reward is also remarkable in terms of being juried by the Global Board of Contemporary Art, which consists of a 100+ Executive Member body of interdisciplinary experts and intellectuals drawn from across the globe, and Associate Members who are former Alice Award Winners, Nominees and other contemporary art professionals.Spurred by the breakdown of traditional categories and the emergence of new strategies and media in the visual arts (visual art performance, installation art, video and multi-media art…) the 1st annual Alice Awards today announces its call for entries with 50+ fields into seven categories: Artists, Curators, Art Writers, Museums, Exhibitions/ Biennials, Publications/Art Magazines, and Private Galleries. Online application starts today and runs through July 3, 2011 at the website www.aliceawards.com/en/enter_nowWinners In each of the 50+ categories, there are two chances to win an Alice Award. The Global Board of Contemporary Art vote will choose a single winner based on review and analysis of the Nominees. These entries will receive an Alice Award and Associate Membership to the Global Board of Contemporary Art. The main goal is to steadily build a global body of expertise and a platform to connect them beyond institutional and national borders. Additionally, the international contemporary art community, through the Public’s Vote section where all participants in the Alice Award program and the public at large will select a winner from the nominees in each category. These entries receive The Public’s Voice Award for the different entry types.Nominees The Associate Members will select the five best entries in each of the 50+ fields in each categories based on review and analysis using specific judging criteria. The five selections are recognized as Alice Award Nominees.The Global Board of Contemporary Art (GBCA) was installed in January 2011, and is developing its foundation as it grows. The Global Board of Contemporary Art is an intellectually diverse organization that includes 100+ members. GBCA members are leading experts and visionaries working to advance contemporary art. A full list of the members of the Global Board of Contemporary Art will be published as of March 2011 at the website of the Global Board of Contemporary Art, www.gb-ca.net.The Alice Awards - Artistic landmarks in contemporary experiencePress Contact:Stefan Huber stefan.huber at alicesociety.com PO 1398 1000 Brussels BelgiumAlice Awards Key Facts GET MORE ALICE AWARDS | EMAIL UPDATES | _____________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://ymlp127.net/u.php?id=gmsmmsjgsgwjhyygw Powered door YourMailingListProvider From chiarapassa at gmail.com Thu Feb 24 14:54:48 2011 From: chiarapassa at gmail.com (Chiara Passa) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:24:48 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] "The virtual Prigione", interactive version Message-ID: Dear friends, is out also the interactive version of the video-sculpture: "The virtual Prigione" at: http://www.chiarapassa.it/virtualprigione.html “The virtual Prigione” is an interactive portrait video-sculpture inspired by the concept of the latest “unfinished” sculptures of Michelangelo, named “Prigioni.” The website that hosts the virtual sculpture becomes dynamic and interactive. The user can sculpt using the mouse as a chisel. "The virtual Prigione" represents various states of being. The spectator can choose to liberate the sculpture from the marble and its dependence material, so the body-statue sublimates and the marble becomes virtual idea. Or the user can also choose to imprison the statue into the marble, bringing it to the primordial state where the mass has a simple geometric figure. http://www.chiarapassa.it/videography.html Sinossi ITA: http://www.chiarapassa.it/videografia.html Images: http://www.chiarapassa.it/virtualprigioneimages.html Video Demo 2’30’', 2010: http://www.chiarapassa.it/virtualprigionedemo.html Best regards, Chiara -- Chiara Passa chiarapassa at gmail.com http://www.chiarapassa.it http://www.ideasonair.net http://twitter.com/jogador Skype: ideasonair From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 25 08:40:20 2011 From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:10:20 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Why I am against Jamia Millia's Moniroty status Message-ID: <771808.54989.qm@web161215.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> Sorry to dampen the celebrations in Jamia. But I cannot be a party to this minority tag. ----------- Why I hate to be called a minority Yousuf Saeed The news about Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia being granted “Minority status” (22nd Feb. 2011) has been celebrated by many, including the daily newspapers, as a kind of happy news that gives the Muslims their “due justice.” Some of Jamia’s teachers and staff members even distributed sweets to mark this announcement, which would basically ensure Jamia to have 50% seats reserved for Muslims. But I, having been born and lived all my life near Jamia Millia and studied here, do not support this minority tag and would like to put across my views, even though I know that the lobby in favour of this special status is far stronger than I can even imagine. I believe that the demand for the minority status only shows the insecurity of the Muslims. If its main aim is to uplift the community from its backwardness, it is only going to push the Muslims into a deeper ghetto since an inclusive growth I believe is only possible with an eclectic diversity of students and staff. Secondly, Jamia already has enough of a “Muslim” character and does not need any extra legal status to ensure it. I present the following arguments to explain my views: 1. Those seeking the minority status argue that Jamia Millia was established in 1920 by leaders like Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Hakim Ajmal Khan as “they wanted the Muslims to keep their education in their own hands entirely free from governmental interference.” Fair enough, but why do we forget that 1920 was the British period and Jamia was established as a reaction to too much British interference on Aligarh’s Mohammaden Anglo-Oriental College started by Sir Sayyad Ahmed Khan? So, they basically wanted Jamia to be entirely free from the British rule. Why should we apply the same to the present democratic government especially if the university gets aid from it? If the government aid comes from tax-payers’ money, why should it be used for the upliftment of Muslims only? 2. The legendary leaders like Jauhar, Ajmal Khan and others which we are invoking today were definitely not against non-Muslims taking part in Jamia’s development. Their secular ideals and actions were far greater than what we can aspire to have today. Gandhi himself was part of the founding of Jamia. So, how can we stress so much on the Muslimness of the institution. There was a time in the history of Jamia when the lack of funds forced the entire staff to go without salary for months – some used to get one piece of bread a day as salary! Can a single staff member or student think of emulating such ideals today? Times have changed so much in the last 90 years, and so have the Muslim community and Jamia Millia. If we invoke the name of Hakeem Ajmal Khan and Jauhar today, we’ll only be “using” them for our selfish gains and nothing else. 3. The example of St. Stephen’s College (Delhi) is used very often for Jamia’s minority character since the former already has the status of a Christian institution. I think Jamia’s case cannot be compared with St. Stephen’s for several reasons. Firstly, both institutions have very different histories and objectives. Jamia should actually boast of having a direct involvement with India’s freedom struggle and great Indian luminaries as its founders, whereas St. Stephen’s was established as a “religious foundation drawing inspiration from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ” by a Christian mission from Westcott House, Cambridge (according to the college’s prospectus). Secondly, the quality of education in both institutions is on very different levels – St. Stephen’s today is considered on the top of Delhi’s colleges whereas Jamia (except for a few exceptional departments) sadly comes somewhere at the bottom of the list in the students’ preference. But St. Stephen’s better quality of education has nothing to do with its minority status. It is a part of a long tradition of quality education that convent/missionary institutions have diligently held up. So, although St. Stephen’s getting a minority status sets precedence for others, it was probably not required to uplift the economic condition of Christians – it is more to preserve their religious and cultural values. 4. Even if the reason for a minority character for Jamia is to preserve its “Muslimness,” there has never been any moment in Jamia’s history when that was compromised. According to the present Vice Chancellor, Jamia already has about 51 percent Muslim students enrolled – hence the implementation of minority status would practically have no effect. In terms of the religious character, Jamia campus and his surroundings have several mosques, Jamia’s staff can take off from work during the prayer hours, can work for lesser hours during the Ramazan, have holidays on special Muslim festivals or occasions, the school students are taught Urdu and Islamic theology, and the girl students and staff can wear a veil, all official functions start with a recitation of verses from the holy Quran, besides several other unique advantages that they would never get in any “mainstream” institution. 5. Jamia has recognized the degrees from several Islamic madrasas (religious seminaries) as qualification for admissions into its mainstream courses like B.A. and M.A., which allows thousands of madrasa students to get secular education and professional training that they won’t be able to get elsewhere. Jamia also has full fledged departments for the research and study of Urdu, Arabic, Persian, and Islamic Studies, besides a library with thousands of books and valuable manuscripts on these subjects. The name of the university itself has a prominent “Islamia” in it – all of this already ensuring the upholding of “Islamic” culture here even without the minority character. I think it is the insecurity of the Muslim community that needs to be addressed here rather than their “need” for reservation. Their fear is that as they are being victimised elsewhere in the country due to communal biases and violence, their institutions will also be slowly filled with non-Muslims usurping the already shrunk spaces available for them. This fear may be true to some extent (although it’s true for all institutions and communities). But will accepting mostly Muslim teachers and students in Jamia not prevent the entry of bright students and teachers of other communities, whose presence may actually help in the creation of a more progressive and competitive atmosphere that is good for the Muslims in the long run? This is the key factor for which I think a minority tag and reservation will harm the Muslims more than benefit. An interaction and exposure with wider diversity of people is good not only for the success of their material careers but also for the reduction of communal biases and sense of victimization. We have already had enough of this Minority tag, and need to grow out of it now. But I know that my views will not only be ignored by the Muslim supporters of this tag but also by the deciding authorities for whom consoling the short-term Muslim anxieties is more important (for their votebanks) than a comprehensive development of the community. --------- An Urdu version of this article appeared in "Jadeed Mail" of 25 Feb.2011 (page 4, editorial). http://www.jadeedmail.com An abridged version of English to appear in Hindustan Times, New Delhi Also see: http://iamnotaminority.blogspot.com From chintan.backups at gmail.com Fri Feb 25 13:53:32 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:53:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Inviting articles for a series on feminism and education Message-ID: From http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/02/16/call-for-writers-feminism-education/ Gender Across Borders and Equality 101 are running a series on Feminism and Education on March 28 & 29, 2011 and are soliciting articles that explore a range of perspectives on the role of feminism in education. For this particular series, types of education include: preschool, elementary, secondary, and higher education in countries all over the world. In addition to soliciting articles regarding feminism in these education settings, we are also calling for articles pertaining to feminism in education policy. Some topics may include: - how implementing feminism into curriculum could influence gender equality - one’s own mini-memoir of feminism and education - how global education could benefit goals of feminism - educational discrepancies between gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, race, religion, ability, and/or age groups - coeducational verses single-sex schooling - comprehensive sex education: its goals and age-appropriateness (ie when is it appropriate to bring up abortion? sex?) - role of Title IX and its effects on girls [and boys] sports in addition to self-esteem and confidence or another topic not listed above. As someone who hopes to teach high school history in the near future, I want to understand how feminism can play a role in education. While I am mostly familiar with education in the U.S., I’m also equally interested in hearing voices, experiences, policies, and curriculum about feminism and education from those living outside of the U.S. (because, well, this is a global feminist blog). Back in 2009, Ashley of Small Strokes wrote in her article, “Why Feminism Should Be Taught in School” that feminism taught in school helps to: 1. ‘Reinvigorate girls’ sense of self-worth and to help pupils think about the gender implications of their language and image,’ making girls re-evaluate their role models 2. Girls should not accept sexual assault as something normal 3. Girls will become more confident about themselves, looking up to women in history who have made a significant change in society and culture as their role models instead of Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus How do you think feminism affects education, and vice versa? Submit your article for this series by Monday, March 14 at 10pm CST! Articles should be between 300-1500 words and should be well-researched, although not necessarily academic (as we are a blog, not an academic journal). To apply, please submit your article along with a resume or short bio to me, Emily, at emily at genderacrossborders.com by *Monday, March 14 at 10pm CST*. If your submission is accepted, please be prepared to have access to the internet between March 18-22 for final edits. No prior experience with blogging or professional writing is necessary. If you have questions about this series, feel free to contact me at emily at genderacrossborders.com. The series will run on both sites, Gender Across Borders and Equality 101, on March 28th and 29th. From rohitrellan at aol.in Fri Feb 25 17:35:45 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:05:45 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Launch film.culture360.org Message-ID: <8CDA2FB77352DEA-23F8-FFDF@webmail-m084.sysops.aol.com> Culture360.org launches a film website dedicated to cinema from Asia and Europe helping film makers, producers and organisations from both regions share expertise and content and find information on funding, networking and distribution opportunities. Film.culture360.org website is part of the culture360.org thematic focus websites, connecting its social media channels and external partners. The website was officially launched during the film screenings for Human Frames, which took place from 17 to 20 February at The Substation, an independent arts centre in Singapore. Website structure The website is an open source platform coordinated by one Editor, Mr. Jeremy Segay, observer of the trends and developments in film, co-production and public cultural policies. One of the objectives of the website is to provide relevant information on different tools, programmes, platforms available for young film makers from Asia and Europe seeking regional or international collaboration; this information is available on the website under the News, http://film.culture360.org/category/news/ Events http://film.culture360.org/category/events/ and Opportunities sections http://film.culture360.org/category/opportunities/ The Magazine section of the websites ( http://film.culture360.org/category/magazine/) provides insights on practical experiences and study cases and aims to give voice to observers and active figures of the film sector in the two regions, in order to understand further the particularities of each country and the synergies between Asia and Europe. The articles for the Magazine section are selected on an periodical open call basis published in the culture360.org Newsletter The magazine section is structured in : In focus: gathering case studies and articles on films, collaborations between filmmakers from different countries and behind the camera experiences Festival guides: short “portraits” of film festivals in Asia and Europe, especially those focusing on independent cinema Interviews: with filmmakers, directors, producers, distribution agencies Postcards: impressions sent to us by our active readers and film passionate covering different film events Zoom: in-depth analysis of one country’s or region’s film policy development The Resource Directory: is a valuable source of information, listing information on film schools, funding agencies, programmes, festivals, film associations and networks. film.culture360.org combines the efforts of SEA-Images website (Synergy Europe-Asia in the field of cinema), that successfully highlighted the Asian film industry and its independent sector and classified the rich information on European cinema, with the community of culture360.org and provides in this way the most extensive interactive platform for film makers and enthusiast from Asia and Europe. We are happy to receive your information, article proposals or postcards to the following address: film at culture360.org From a.mani.cms at gmail.com Fri Feb 25 20:42:31 2011 From: a.mani.cms at gmail.com (A. Mani) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:42:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] International Centre for FOSS in Kerala Message-ID: In his inaugural speech, the CM said, “As per the IT policy of the Government we will support the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in all projects, especially those for governance and education...." http://keralaitnews.com/other-it-news/foss/2109-kerala-icfoss-technopark Kerala launches International Centre for Free and Open Source Software Thursday, 24 February 2011 22:12 Kerala IT News E-mail Tvm: The International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) was inaugurated today by Chief Minister Shri V S Achuthanandan in Thiruvananthapuram. The Technopark based ICFOSS will focus on providing technical assistance for using FOSS to implement various government projects in Kerala in an endeavour to promote open source software. In his inaugural speech, the CM said, “As per the IT policy of the Government we will support the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in all projects, especially those for governance and education. Kerala was one of the first states in the country to adapt to free software. Today, other states are following our footsteps and we should ensure that we maintain the leadership position. ICFOSS is a step in this direction.” He also added that major projects of national importance like Aadhaar should have been developed on FOSS. Ishita Roy IAS, Director, Kerala State IT Mission said, “The opening of the International Centre will go a long way in making Kerala a global FOSS destination. The centre would promote the use of free software in all government projects including e-governance projects and provide technical backup for the state government while developing new FOSS based software”. ICFOSS is being set up by the Kerala State IT Mission. Satish Babu, CEO of InApp, an IT services company in Technopark, has been appointed as the Director of ICFOSS. He is an active proponent of Open Source Technologies and is the Convenor, Special Interest Group of Computer Society of India on Free and Open Source Software. Talking to Kerala IT News, Satish Babu said, “The vision of ICFOSS is to become a leading research organisation in Free and Open Source model of knowledge development thereby contributing towards sustainable development of society and to stimulate economic development in the region. We hope ICFOSS will act as a converging point of experts, students, officials and the public.” Rahul De from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (IIM-B) has prepared the vision document for the International Centre for Free and Open Source. There is no institute of similar nature existing in the country. Kerala has been recognised around the world for its initiatives in FOSS. ICFOSS will act as a consultancy agency for various government organisations in Kerala. Considering the fact that many other states are also looking into the possibility of adopting FOSS, ICFOSS will play an important role in national level also. ______________________________________________________________________ Best A. Mani -- A. Mani ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS http://www.logicamani.co.cc From anoopkheri at gmail.com Sat Feb 26 00:36:51 2011 From: anoopkheri at gmail.com (anoop kumar) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:36:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Regional Dalit and Adivasi students Workshop at Chandigarh, New Delhi and Patna (Announcement) Message-ID: Regional Dalit and Adivasi students Workshop at Chandigarh, New Delhi and Patna (Announcement) Insight Foundation in collaboration with other organisations and various university centres is organising a series of Regional Dalit and Adivasi Students Workshops across the country. In this series, we have already organised a two day workshop *in Chennai on 29-30 January 2011*in collaboration with an organisation *Velicham, Chennai* . 60 Dalit and Adivasi students from 12 universities in Tamilnadu and Pondicherry participated in our Chennai workshop. *Now we are organising similar workshops in three other cities - Chandigarh, Delhi and Patna involving Dalit and Adivasi students and faculties from respective regions. * *1.* *Chandigarh Regional Workshop * * * * * *Date*: 26 -27 February *Venue:* ICSSR Hall, Panjab University *Number of participants:* 60 Dalit and Adivasi students and Faculty members from Punjab and Haryana *This workshop is being organised in collaboration with Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (Panjab University) and Ambedkar students’ Association.* * * * **2. New Delhi Regional Workshop * * * * * *Date:* 5-6 March *Venue: *Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi *Number of participants*: 60 Dalit and Adivasi Students and Faculty members from Delhi, Western UP and north Madhya Pradesh *3. Patna Regional Workshop* *Date: *12-13 March *Venue: *Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Patna Science College, Patna University *Number of participants*: 60 Dalit and Adivasi Students and Faculty members from different part of Bihar *This workshop is being organised in collaboration with Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (Patna University) * Apart from these three workshops, Insight Foundation is working towards organizing similar workshops at - * Nagpur * - * Udaipur * - * Bhubaneswar * - * and Trivendram * in collaboration with local organisations and universities centers. These workshops will be organised in the second half of the month of March and early April, this year. *Objectives of the regional workshops * - To build strategies for networking among our students and faculties so that our students are able to achieve academic excellence through creating various support systems for themselves within and outside University system. - To discuss on the implementation of various government measures and policies within Universities and colleges for the benefit of our students like SC/ST Cells, reservations in admissions and faculty recruitments, scholarship schemes, bank loans, remedial courses etc. - * *To discuss on emerging policy changes in higher education and its impact on Dalit and Adivasi privatization in higher education, higher education bill and self-financing courses. - Documenting individual expediencies of Dalit and Adivasi students. *Work Shop Schedule * *Day I :* * * * * *Ist Session* (9am -1pm) - Sharing by participants about their expereinces at local campuses /colleges / universities *IInd Session* (2pm -6pm) - Discussion on efficacy of Various Government Provisions for the benefit of Dalit and Adivasi students *Day II: * * * * * *Ist Session* (9am -1pm) - Discussion on emerging policy changes in Higher education and its impact on Dalit and Adivasis *IInd Session* (2pm -6pm) - Creating support systems through self-help/ community help and networking among students and faculties *After conducting all 8 regional workshops, Insight Foundation is going to bring out a public report based on the deliberations held, documenting the experiences of Dalit and Adivasi students and faculties in Higher education in India. * *Please Note - * *1. *The students participants coming from different parts of the state will be provided to and fro fare. *2. *The accomodation and food for all the participants will be taken care of by the organising team. *3.* Intrested Dalit and Adivasi students and faculties who want to participate in these three workshops at Chandigarh, New Delhi and Patna, Kindly get in touch with us at 09313432410 (Anoop), 09999599876 (Gurinder) or at our helpline (09999484249) or can mail us at anoop at insightfoundation.in or mail at insightfoundation.in *Jaibheem !* -- "Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run, Obama ran so your children can fly" From rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com Sat Feb 26 10:58:59 2011 From: rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com (Rakesh Iyer) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 07:28:59 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Why I am against Jamia Millia's Moniroty status In-Reply-To: <771808.54989.qm@web161215.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> References: <771808.54989.qm@web161215.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Dear Yousuf I appreciate the views presented in this article, and I would just like to add one more thing to this. P.Sainath, the well known rural-affairs Editor of "The Hindu: had recently given a lecture at IIT Madras, where he said something very important: "Don't let school and college interfere with your education". Education really comes from learning with a diverse pool of people whose interests, backgrounds, cultures, ideas and values are different, for that's when one realizes the importance of humanity itself in a way. It can really open our eyes to a whole set of new ways of life, which would not have been possible if only a particular kind of people were getting education at a particular place. The problems with making Jamia a "minority institution"are not just that those you mentioned. It will lead to a complete ghettoization of a community which has already been systematically targetted for doing so, and has been branded communal because of the same reason. This will not help in such a situation whatsoever. What is required is the ability to open out and reach to other sections of the society, and it's important for the Muslims as much as it's important for the other communities too. In Sainath's words, we should not allow Jamia to interfere with the education of the students there, for this is wrong. And hence, I oppose this decision. Education can never be and should never be in this way. I am for reservation, and I am fine with spreading religious and cultural values in educational institutions, but I am totally against making any institution being a minority institution. If the Indian state so feels, let it have religious teachers teaching culture and religion to all state-led schools and make it a part of Right to Education, with the condition that the idea is not about proselytization but about teaching children what the real meaning of religion is, what culture is and how it can change and why it should. But minority institutions (or for that matter, even those among majority like the Saraswati Shishu Mandir) should be banned, and we should throw away such concepts themselves. Rakesh From ujwalasam at gmail.com Sat Feb 26 12:12:27 2011 From: ujwalasam at gmail.com (Ujwala Samarth) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:12:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Non-racist maths? Message-ID: Here's how 'connected' learning takes place -- while we continue to compartmentalise the way and what our young people learn -- or rather, don't learn. "Anti-Racist" Geometry Lessons Explained Photo: Mark Murrmann *Editors' Note: This education dispatch is part of a new ongoing series reported from Mission High School , where education writer Kristina Rizgais known to students as "Miss K." Click here to see all of MoJo's recent education coverage, or follow *The Miss K Files * on Twitter or with this RSS Feed . * For Mission High Schoolprincipal Eric Guthertz, just walking from the school's parking lot to his office can be a test of conflict mediation skills: last month one such trip took him two hours and involved "an angry student, an upset teacher, and a maintenance person." He's short of breath when he sits down to meet with me in the principal's office on one typically hectic day. "Please keep the door closed!" he yells to his staff. But within five minutes a young woman is already knocking on his door. He takes it all in stride. An educator for 22 years, Guthertz has been at Mission Highfor the past 10—first as an English teacher, then vice principal, and more recently as the school's principal. Test scores in Math and English among African-American and Latino students have shot up significantly since he took over as head of school three years ago, though he attributes these improvements largely to the work of Stanford's Linda Darling-Hammondand the "anti-racist" foundation laid by Mission High's previous principal, Kevin Truitt. This year Mission High showed the largest gainsin test scores among all San Francisco high schools, passing 600 points for the first time (out of a total 1,000). Student college acceptance rates are growing ; student drop out rates declined from 32 percent to 8 in one year. These changes are especially impressive in California, which ranks 47th when it comes to school funding per student. How did this happen? Guthertz took 30 minutes out of a typically hectic day to explain: *Mother Jones: *Which major changes, in your opinion, contributed to significant increases in your students' test scores? *Eric Guthertz:* About seven years ago, we redesigned the entire school into smaller learning communities based on the work of Linda Darling-Hammond out of Stanford . The first notion was "personalization"—that if students are known and cared for, they will be more successful. The second was collaboration. We redesigned the school around teams, so that a group of teachers would work with each other all year long, and have time in their daily schedule to talk about how to support students and to reflect on their pedagogy. The third change is that we also have student advisors. So I may be your English teacher, but I also could be your advisor. And as your advisor I'll see you two days a week, so that kids are really well known. Finally, I think the center of all that we are doing is our work around anti-racist teaching. Darling-Hammond has a list of goals, and one of them is this idea of multicultural and equity education. "Multicultural" and "equity" are fine terms, but we felt that "anti-racist" was more honest, named the issue directly, and signaled something quite powerful to the community at large. *MJ: *So what does "anti-racist" mean in terms of pedagogy? *EG:* [It means] how do you teach? Are you using engagement strategies? Are you valuing oral language as well as the written word? In terms of curriculum, is what you are teaching relevant to kids' lives? This work can be really controversial sometimes. If you are going to be an anti-racist school, there is a flip side of that, which is, 'Well, what does it mean to be racist?' **We have amazing teachers here—really dedicated, thoughtful faculty. But certainly, we had our own internal controversies that we had to deal with. We had to learn how to be reflective and have brave, open conversations with each other. We are now at a level where all teachers desegregate their grades by ethnicity and have conversations about what it means when we have failures of one ethnic group over other. And then actually develop action plans around that. *MJ: *Could you give an example of something specific a teacher changed in the class as a result of this approach? *EG:* Let's say a teacher is looking at the standards of American history and comes across a section around the Monroe doctrine or the Westward expansion. While they will be covering the standards, they will also make sure that the issue is covered from a Latino perspective. So, they make an effort to find readings and writing that are connected culturally to the students. In a geometry class, students are learning to map out their communities and look at how freeways are designed and how certain neighborhoods like Bay View or Western Addition—where many students live—have been reconfigured. In a geometry class, students are learning to map out their communities and look at how freeways are designed and how certain neighborhoods like Bay View or Western Addition—where many students live—have been reconfigured. In a math class, they will look at percentages of demographics and how certain communities are shifting around the city. The idea is it's math, but it's the real world that kids can connect to. *MJ: *How difficult was it to implement these changes? *EG:* Some things were hard. In terms of anti-racist teaching, just the culture of self-reflection wasn't there yet, but it's very strongly here now. I was in the classroom when we started the collaborative model and I think in general, it was welcomed. But people weren't used to working together that closely, and with students. *MJ: *Have you had to fire any teachers? *EG:* We don't fire teachers. I've certainly done a few evaluations where the teacher needed improvement and in some cases, there is a process called, "non-reelection." It means that if you are tenured, the district chooses not to re-hire you. I think you have to be very careful, and thoughtful, and make sure that all of the supports exist before you do that. *MJ: *Some people argue that some teachers are just not born to be teachers. Do you agree with that? *EG:* I think that's ridiculous. And I also think the "Waiting for Superman"thing is kind of ridiculous. Laying the blame on teachers or the unions is ridiculous. It's a smoke screen. *MJ: *If the teachers' unions aren't the main obstacle to quality education, then what is? *EG:* Number one is really adequately funding education... http://motherjones.com/media/2010/12/mission-high-school-principal -- Ujwala Samarth (Programme Coordinator, Open Space) www.openspaceindia.org www.infochangeindia.org http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Space/116557125037041 B-301, Kanchanjunga Building, Kanchan Lane, Off Law College Rd,, Pune 411004 (020-25457371) From ujwalasam at gmail.com Sat Feb 26 12:13:57 2011 From: ujwalasam at gmail.com (Ujwala Samarth) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:13:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Understanding history, not hating history class Message-ID: Textbook Colonialism — By Kristina Rizga | Thu Feb. 24, 2011 10:00 AM PST Photo: Kristina Rizga Mission High School teacher Jenn Bowman has been trying to educate 10th graders about the Scramble for Africa using Belgian King Leopold II's brutal colonization of the Congoas a case study. Too bad the "Modern World History" textbook isn't helping. How can the textbook's "Imperialism" section end with a nearly equal number of both positive and negative consequences of terrible events? "At its core, Imperialism is an act of aggression. Finding positive impact in it is like looking for positive outcomes in a rampage of a serial killer," she says. "If you were writing a letter to our textbook publisher, how would you review their treatment of Colonialism?" Ms. Bowman asks. That's why she got up at 5 a.m. that morning to write a letter to the textbook publisher , Bowman tells her students. She reads her letter aloud, and then uses it to discuss the meaning of "Eurocentric Worldview," a new term for this class. She discusses writing too, asking students to critique the letter's thesis, evidence, and conclusions. "If you were writing a letter to our textbook publisher, how would you review their treatment of Colonialism?" she asks. "How would you organize your arguments? How many sentences do you need in the first paragraph?" "Ms. Bowman, were you writing political letters in your punk-rock days too or just going to a bar and yelling at people?" Pedroasks at one point. "Both," she laughs. "Ms. Bowman is so political!" Rina complains to me softly as she hunches over her desk. Suddenly she sits up straight and asks, "Ms. Bowman, in those protests in Egypt, were high school students on the streets too?" "Absolutely!" Bowman answers. "I wonder what they're doing in Egypt right now," a student at the front of the classroom asks. "I wonder," Bowman says, as she walks toward a student in the back. *Editors' Note: This education dispatch is part of an ongoing seriesreported from Mission High School , where education writer Kristina Rizga is embedded for the year. Read more: Mission High School students talk about education reform and grade the film "Waiting for Superman. Plus: Sign up for the weekly newsletter "In the Mix" to get all of the latest Mission High dispatches.* -- Ujwala Samarth (Programme Coordinator, Open Space) www.openspaceindia.org www.infochangeindia.org http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Space/116557125037041 B-301, Kanchanjunga Building, Kanchan Lane, Off Law College Rd,, Pune 411004 (020-25457371) From iram at sarai.net Sat Feb 26 13:50:52 2011 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:20:52 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] @JNU:: The Global 60s and its Cultural Afterlife Message-ID: <4D68B7E4.5030309@sarai.net> *The Global 60s and its Cultural Afterlife* An Interdisciplinary International Conference School of Arts and Aesthetics Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi 110067 *March 4 and 5, 2011* *Conference Programme* ** *Friday, March 4, 2011* *9.30 - 10.00* - Registration and Tea ** *10.00 - 10.15* - Deans Opening Remarks ** *10.15 -- 10.30* - Conference Convener's Remarks *10.30 -- 1.30* *Panel 1*: *Confronting Modernist Practice in the 1960s* ** Chair/Discussant*: *Shuddhabrata Sengupta 1. Mark Betz: Black and White in Color: The Long Front of Race in Postcolonial European Cinema 2. Nikhil Yadav: Prayer-Protest-Peace: Civil Rights Movement and the Jazz Avant-Garde in 60s America 3. Avinoam Shalem: Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Great Dam of Aswan and the surrealist artist Abdel Hadi al-Gazzar *1.30 -- 2.30: Lunch* *2.30 -- 4.30* *Panel 2*:*Popular Culture and the Traces of History* Chair/Discussant: Ravi Vasudevan 1. Stella Bruzzi: Approximation:/ Mad Men/ and the death of /JFK/ 2. Giti Chandra: Music and War: The Silence of the 60s *4.30 -- 4.45: Tea* *4.45 - 6.45* *Panel 3: Notes from Two Indian Cities* Chair/Discussant: Tapati Guha Thakurta 1. Ranjit Hoskote: "I may yet observe my own birth": Annotating Bombay in the 1960s, the 1960s in Bombay 2. Rajarshi Dasgupta & Mallarika Sinha Roy*:* A Culture of Beheading: The Theatrical Politics of the 60s in Bengal *7.00 -- 8.30* --* The Sound of 60s Music: Played by Five 8 and Friends.* *Saturday, March 5, 2011* ** *10.00 -- 10.30 - Tea* ** *10.30 -- 1.30* *Panel 4: Critical Encounters* Chair/Discussant: Gayatri Sinha 1. Geeta Kapur: Vagabondage: artandlife in the sixties 2. May Joseph: Between the Hudson River and the Yamuna: Harmattan Theatre and Riverscapes 3. Amlan Dasgupta: North Indian Classical Music and "World" Music" in the 1960s *1.30 -- 2.30: Lunch* *2.30 - 5.30* *Panel 5: The Circuits of Cultural Exchange* Chair/Discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta 1. Irit Rogoff: Conceptual Art in the 1960s 2. Richard Allen: Hitchcock and the Sixties: Sexuality and Film Style 3. Greg Booth: The Hindi Film Song in a Global 1960s *5.30: Closing and Vote of Thanks* *5.45: High Tea* From chintan.backups at gmail.com Sat Feb 26 15:59:11 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:59:11 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Manu Joseph's piece 'India Faces a Linguistic Truth' Message-ID: From http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/asia/17iht-letter17.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Manu+Joseph&st=cse * India Faces a Linguistic Truth: English Spoken Here* By Manu Joseph Published: February 16, 2011 NEW DELHI — In a recent Hindi film, the actress Katrina Kaif holds a thin white bed sheet against her bare body and sings, in English: “I know you want it, but you’re never gonna get it.” That what has become one of the country’s popular Hindi songs opens with an English sentence is unremarkable for Indians. So is the truth that Hindi films are now written in English — the instructions in the screenplays are in English, and even the Hindi dialogue is transcribed in the Latin alphabet. Mumbai’s film stars, like most educated Indians, find it easier to read Hindi if it is written this way. Almost all advertising billboards in Indiaare in English. There is not a single well-paying job in the country that does not require a good understanding of the language. Higher education here is conducted entirely in English. When Hindustan Pencils makes cheap pencils, which its sells to rural children for a rupee apiece (about 2 cents), the company prints the brand name, “Jobber,” in English. “A villager has more respect for a brand that is written in English,” said Dhruman Sanghvi, a company director. English is the de facto national language of India. It is a bitter truth. Many Indians would say that India’s national language is Hindi. They would say it with pride if they are from the north and with a good-natured grouse if they are from the south. But this is a misconception. The fact is that, according to the Indian Constitution, the country does not have a national language. In the years that followed the nation’s independence from the British in 1947, there were efforts to hoist Hindi as the national language, but regional linguistic sentiments were high. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, men immolated themselves to protest what they thought was the colonizing power of Hindi. As a compromise, Hindi was downgraded to one of the two official languages in which the government would conduct its business. The other official language was English, which has long been considered a default language, a foreign language. But this is no longer true. Since independence, the influence and reach of English have grown immensely. It is impossible to arrive at a credible figure for the number of Indians who understand English (a lot), who can read it (many) or who can write it (very few). But what is indisputable is that in India today, English has the force and quality of a national language. Alarmed at the power of English, India’s cultural elite and politicians have tried, through public policy and sometimes violence, to promote Indian languages. In Mumbai, for instance, every shop is required to announce its name in Marathi even though most of the people in the city can read English but not Marathi. In the recent past, thugs have beaten up shopkeepers who did not comply with the requirement. Accepting that English is the national language would have benefits that far outweigh soothing the emotions of Indian nationalism. It is to emphasize this point that Chandra Bhan Prasad has built a temple to the Goddess English in an impoverished village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. People like Mr. Prasad, who want to liberate the poorest segment of the population, the Dalits, through the extraordinary power of English, view Indian culture and all related sentiments with suspicion. It was that same culture that had once deemed the Dalits “untouchable,” relegating them to the lowest of the low in the caste hierarchy. In Mr. Prasad’s temple, there is an idol in robes, wearing a wide-brimmed hat. Very soon, Mr. Prasad said, he would encourage young Dalit couples to include a ritual in their wedding ceremony in which they would sign the letters A, B, C and D on a piece of a paper. “That would be a promise they make that they will teach their children English,” he said. He also plans to adopt an Islamic tradition and fix a loudspeaker in the temple from which a recorded voice would chant the English alphabet, from A to Z , every day at 5 a.m. All these are just symbolic gestures, he said, and the best he can do in the absence of genuine political support for making English the national language. The chief beneficiaries if English attained this status would be the children who attend the free schools run by the central and the state governments. An overwhelming majority of such schools are not taught in English. Indian politicians, whose own children attend private English-language schools in India and abroad, want their constituents to marinate in their mother tongues. Sanjay Tiwari, the son of an illiterate security guard, was a victim of this attitude. Until the age of 16, he studied in Hindi and Marathi-language schools. Then, he taught himself English, “and escaped.” He is now a marketing executive who makes a reasonable living in Mumbai, “only because I can speak in English.” Low-income Christians, who have easy access to English-language schools run by churches and convents because they are granted tuition-waivers and discounts, have benefited immensely over the years. It is not surprising that Christians are disproportionately represented in Bangalore’s call centers. Raj Thackeray, a pugnacious politician in Mumbai, is enraged by the diminished status of Marathi and the predominance of English in the city. His supporters have been known to beat up people who they believed disrespected the Marathi language. He wants everybody in Mumbai to learn Marathi. Mr. Thackeray derives his political clout from other Maratha men like himself who hope to push Marathi as the most important aspect of life in their state. When asked why his own son goes to one of the best English-language schools in Mumbai and not to a Marathi-language school, he replied that the question was not important and was politically motivated. His followers would no doubt follow his example if they could. For all their laments about the siege of the Marathi language, they would probably put their children in English-language schools, too, the moment they could afford to do so. From kalakamra at gmail.com Sat Feb 26 23:33:22 2011 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:33:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] A Season of Footage and Films, Part 10, Women at Work. Tomorrow Feb. 27 at CAMP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear all, Apologies for cross-posting. CAMP continues our winter season of screenings exploring footage both within and without the usual capsule of "the film". This Sunday we present: * Women at Work. * Footage from the Dharavi Documentation project. 170 mins. Sunday February 27 7:00 pm. At CAMP roof 301, Alif Apartments, Chium village, Khar (w) Mumbai- 52 Film-maker, Richa Hushing, and camerapersons, Tapan Vyas and Rrivu Laha, take us through Koliwada and Kumbharwada in Dharavi. The footage visits a kiln, a congested road, a fish market and a number of workshops. It looks at women, who make a formidable percentage of the total workforce in Dharavi, and the object and spaces they interact with while they work (leather belts, fish, pots, terraces). The material was shot in 2008 around when the Dharavi Re-development Project was put on hold and is sourced from the Dharavi Documentation Project in pad.ma and is part of the digital image archive, Godaam (Majlis). See you there! For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org To unsubscribe, simply send an email with the word "unsubscribe" as the subject to camp-request at lists.mailb.org -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net From chintan.backups at gmail.com Sun Feb 27 07:46:28 2011 From: chintan.backups at gmail.com (Chintan Girish Modi) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 07:46:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Village school on the outskirts of Pune needs teachers and supporters Message-ID: Mail Ranjana at dranjana12 at gmail.com if you're interested. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Chandni Parekh Date: Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 10:35 PM Subject: Opportunities to Support an Alternative School in Pune To: From: Ranjana Baji Date: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 Dear friends, 1. We have started a school in a small village about 30 kms away from kothrud area of pune. This is a waldrof inspired school. The principles of waldrof education of wholistic development of children are considered as a base to the system.. at the same time we see that it is blended with the rural culture to which the children and their families belong. 2. we need some good persons as teachers who are truly interested in interacting with children. The learning process should be enjoyable for both children and teachers. 3. The teachers will be paid. It is not necessary that they should have degrees like B.Ed., D. Ed etc. 4. By June 2011 there will be residential facilities too. So if somebody wants to stay there on week days and be back to pune on weekends that will be possible, too. 5. Also I would like to have a group of like minded people who can be there as a support group. They may not be required to come to the school on regular basis. But they would be around when we need some guidance or help. 6. The parents of our school are the first generation parents whose children are going to ENGLISH school. They send their children to English school because for them it’s a *tool to get good jobs* in future. As we discussed in person ‘ learning, getting wisdom and wholistic development of children ‘are not on their priority list at this moment. So we have to balance between these two extreme view points while dealing with the children. It’s learning of children, parents and, more importantly, of us. 7. In no way we as teachers should behave that the children feel disassociated from their families and culture. The rural culture is very rich. We should not deprive them of that and make them ‘ Trishankus’.. neither here nor there.. 8. We will arrange visit of people who would be interested to see the school. It *will not be binding* that those who visit us have to be part of the school in one way or other. thanks for the time and consideration, warm regards, Ranjana. mobile-- 09850589088 From rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com Sun Feb 27 12:23:23 2011 From: rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com (Rakesh Iyer) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 08:53:23 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Reg: Daily digest of news on various issues Message-ID: Hi I guess it has been a long time I have posted something on Sarai. Having been busy, it has not been possible for me to do so. However, I have felt that many a times, there has been very little discussion on a large set of issues, which I feel are of critical importance, but sadly not much has been known about these. I have mentioned a few earlier. But I feel we have to go deep down to learn about more and more of such issues. Hence, there would be a daily digest from my side, on earlier lines, but now on a wide variety of issues, taken from various sites. I think these would be of great importance in the context of understanding of various issues. And each daily digest would be based on a particular sector, so that we can understand the issues in greater detail in this regard. Hope you find this interesting, and important, even as we read about many things across the globe. Rakesh From rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com Sun Feb 27 12:56:30 2011 From: rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com (Rakesh Iyer) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 09:26:30 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Reg: Set-1 on Laws of India Message-ID: Link: http://indiatogether.org/2010/apr/fah-afspa.htm Article: INTERNAL CONFLICTS *AFSPA: Between battle lines * Despite two high-level recommendations to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the law remains in place. The Army is right to insist on its view, but there are things that can be done to improve matters, writes Firdaus Ahmed. *29 April 2010* - The new Army Chief has spoken his mind on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives the military special powers of arrest and operation in certain 'disturbed' parts of the country. "Any dilution of the Act will impinge adversely on the manner in which the armed forces operate," he said recently, adding that "in constrained and trying circumstances, the armed forces need requisite legal protection". He knows what he's talking about - his immediate past experience was in command of the Field Army deployed in countering insurgency in the North East, and he has been an infantry officer with counter insurgency experience at the grassroots and at the operational level. The chief's view explains the Army's reservations on the draft of an amended version of the AFSPA that the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent around for concurrence. The changes were intended to make the Act more 'humane', stemming from the promise of the prime minister during his visit to Manipur in the wake of agitations over the alleged killing of Manorama in mid 2004. The Army had then stalled appearing before the Upendra enquiry into the episode, citing that under the Act special permission would be needed for any such probe. That further fueled the attacks against the Army by human rights groups and other NGOs, who rightly demanded more accountability for the Army's actions. The BP Jeevan Reddy committee, appointed after the PM's visit, recommended outright repeal of the Special Powers Act. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by K Veerappa Moily in its report on Public Order seconded Reddy's opinion. But for the moment, the Act remains well and truly in place, and continues to be a point of major contention between rights organisations and the State. *Key revisions* The proposed amendment to the AFSPA was specifically intended to have a list of Do's and Donts incorporated within it. The Supreme Court judgment on the constitutional validity of the AFSPA had directed that the Army, "shall strictly follow the instructions contained in the list of 'Do's and Don'ts" issued by the army authorities which are binding and any disregard to the said instructions would entail suitable action under the Army Act, 1950." It had required that "the instructions contained in the list of 'Do's and Don'ts" shall be suitably amended so as to bring them in conformity with the guidelines contained in the decisions of this Court and to incorporate the safeguards ..." A second, but more important change, was needed in respect of Section 4(a) of the Act, which reads: 'if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary, fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area ...' This clause has been considered draconian. But the Army has not proved agreeable to half a decade of exertions in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Law Ministry on this point. Why? Because the Army prefers to see itself as the force of last resort in internal security situation. The role is itself seen as a secondary one to its primary role of fighting and winning the nation's wars. Therefore, if the situation is bad enough, it feels it requires the powers necessary to cope with it including legal cover for its soldiers. This is especially so given the information war that surrounds insurgency, in which allegations of human rights violations are a weapon. This perspective itself is not problematic. Extraordinary situations require extraordinary powers to cope, lest the republic unravel. What is problematic instead is the Army's insistence that it would deploy only under the legal cover of the Act in areas declared 'disturbed' under Section 3 of the Act. Thus even where the situation is not bad enough to warrant Army deployment with such powers, the Act is invoked to enable the Army's deployment. The Army may have its own logic for such insistence - namely, by insisting that the law be invoked protects it from being used as a default option in internal security, as yet another paramilitary. The challenge, therefore, is to identify situations that warrant Army deployment under the Act and how to cope with those situations that are less critical. Understanding, if not agreeing with the Army's position has led to the government's position on a consensus, with the Army on board, before any further move is made. In the interim however much can be done. *Set exit conditions, strengthen prosecutions* Firstly, in areas where the Army's efforts, among other reasons, have brought down the insurgency to manageable levels, a review must be carried out to determine whether continued Army deployment is necessary. The J&K government has been asking for this for better part of the last decade. The political dividend of this would be more useful in making balance of the insurgency recede than anything the Army is currently doing by remaining deployed. Even if this may not be readily possible in the Valley, an experiment can be done with withdrawing both the AFSPA and Army deployment in districts south of Pirpanjal. Similarly, there is a strong case to be made for vacating the Army from its deployment in Assam also, in particular lower Assam and the autonomous councils. Here, the state government has continued with Army deployment even where not required. Therefore a proportion of the blame must go to elected representatives in state legislatures, rather than the Army. Secondly, the Center need not be as protective as it has been over granting permissions for the Army to be investigated where it is remiss. The Army in any case follows up on allegations and takes pride in delivering justice where warranted. However, as the Manorama case indicates, institutional interest may at times override higher considerations. The Supreme Court has required the government to be strict, stating, "A complaint containing an allegation about misuse or abuse of the powers conferred under the Central Act shall be thoroughly inquired into and, if on enquiry it is found that the allegations are correct, the victim should be suitably compensated and the necessary sanction for institution of prosecution and/or suit or other proceeding should be granted under Section 6 of the Central Act." For instance, the J&K state government made 38 requests to prosecute soldiers, but no permission was granted by the Centre. Defence Minister A K Antony told the Rajya Sabha that 133 complaints were made against the Army between 2004 and 2009. The AFSPA is perhaps necessary to deal with extreme situations. Such situations are a rarity. This must first be recognised, and wherever the situation start becoming normal, the Act needs to be withdrawn. However, in case the Army is still needed in such cases, then it can be deployed under cover of the relevant Code of Criminal Procedure sections, rather than the AFSPA. This may deprive of its extensive powers, but since these would not be necessary in less critical situations, it can afford to forego them. *⊕* *Firdaus Ahmed* 29 Apr 2010 *Firdaus Ahmed is a freelance writer on security issues and a regular contributor to India Together. * From rohitrellan at aol.in Sun Feb 27 13:49:06 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:19:06 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Sixties Conference note & Schedule In-Reply-To: <8CDA46D95471C78-E10-264B7@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CDA46D95471C78-E10-264B7@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CDA46E21BEF751-E10-264DB@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> Revisiting the Global 1960s and its CulturalAfterlife  An Interdisciplinary InternationalConference  March 4th and 5th, 2011     School of Arts and Aesthetics  Jawaharlal Nehru University  New Delhi, India        Widelyrecognized not just as a decade but as a cluster of experiences that stretchedover a period of time, the sixties as we now know it drew into its fold,radical politics, Black power, sexual liberation, youthful rebellion, feminismand more. Intellectual currents flowered all across the world alongside apowerful critique of cultural and political authority. The fourteen day strikeby students and workers in Paris in the summer of 1968 acquired a mythicalafterlife. The American war in Vietnam triggered a force field of protest andanger all over the world. The spirit of counterculture led to a critique of thefamily, the creation of alternative lifestyles and drug culture. Latin Americanexperiences of revolutions, military terror and violence; colonialism,anti-colonialism and racial oppression in Africa; the resonance of the CulturalRevolution in China – these reverberated locally and globally. A series ofpolitical assassinations rocked the decade. All theories of civilization, race,history, politics, culture and identity were put to test.     Itwould not be incorrect to suggest that cultural creativity was never quite thesame after the sixties. Music, fashion, design, art, architecture, cinema,theatre and performance bear the marks and the traces of this turbulent periodof global upheaval. If Minimalism in art practice emerged as a challenge to PopArt then Conceptual Art posed a critique of formalism. Modernism and theAvant-garde faced a crisis with the rise of Postmodernism while in India, thedominance of the Progressives began to be challenged by an alternativemodernism that had a polemical take on indigenism; one aspect of this developedinto neo-Tantric abstraction. This decade also saw the first explorations ofkitsch and popular culture that later provided the point of rupture with modernismitself. Politicaltheatre acquired a powerful force and Brecht emerged as a new icon for both theWest and the post colonial world. Beatlemania and the events of Woodstocktransformed the future of rock music as technology reinvented the aesthetics ofperformance and reception. All Institutions of art faced political criticism evenas cinephilia energized a renewed global art cinema movement. MichelangeloAntonioni captured the world of swinging London in Blow-Up, Jean Luc Godard playfully moved the camera to mount hiscritique of Hollywood, and the release of the first James Bond film gave riseto a new territorial and technological imagination. Latin America gave birth tothe Third Cinema Movement and a politically charged Aesthetics of Hunger whilein Indiathe New Wave presented a challenge to mainstream film forms and practices.     Thestudy of the sixties is not new and has produced a vast amount of academic,journalistic and popular writing. Numerous conferences and commemorations havebeen held in different parts of the world. This conference does not wish torepeat the fairly exhaustive assessments already in existence. Nor does it wishto undertake a nostalgic journey into the past. Rather we wish to bringtogether academics to reflect on and assess the transformative force of the1960s specifically on art, cinema, theatre, music and cultural theory. Thethree streams of Visual Studies, Theatre and Performance Studies and CinemaStudies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics in JNU are uniquely placed to hostthis interdisciplinary conference in a country where the 1960s remains an understudiedarea despite two wars, the crisis of Nehruvian nationalism and modernizationprogrammes, the genocide and traumatic birth of a new nation (Bangladesh) andrevolutionary upsurges. While the focus of the conference remains global wehope it will also play a role in generating a renewed discussion on the subcontinent’srelationship to the global sixties.     Conference Committee:     RanjaniMazumdar (Convenor), Kavita Singh, Ira Bhaskar, Parul Dave Mukherji andBishnupriya Dutt      Conference Programme     Friday, March 4, 2011     9.30 - 10.00 - Registration and Tea     10.00 - 10.15 - Deans Opening Remarks     10.15 – 10.30 - Conference Convener’s Remarks     10.30 – 1.30  Panel 1: Confronting Modernist Practice in the 1960s     Chair/Discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta     1. Mark Betz: Black and White in Color: The Long Front of Race in Postcolonial European Cinema  2. Nikhil Yadav: Prayer-Protest-Peace: Civil Rights Movement and the Jazz Avant-Garde in 60s America  3. Avinoam Shalem: Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Great Dam of Aswan and the surrealist artist Abdel Hadi al-Gazzar     1.30 – 2.30: Lunch     2.30 – 4.30  Panel 2:  Popular Culture and the Traces of History     Chair/Discussant: Ravi Vasudevan     1. Stella Bruzzi: Approximation: Mad Men and the death of JFK  2. Giti Chandra: Music and War: The Silence of the 60s     4.30 – 4.45: Tea     4.45 - 6.45  Panel 3: Notes from Two Indian Cities     Chair/Discussant: Tapati Guha Thakurta     1. Ranjit Hoskote: “I may yet observe my own birth”: Annotating Bombay in the 1960s, the 1960s in Bombay  2. Rajarshi Dasgupta & Mallarika Sinha Roy: A Culture of Beheading: The Theatrical Politics of the 60s in Bengal     7.00 – 8.30 – The Sound of 60s Music: Played by Five 8 and Friends.    Saturday, March 5, 2011     10.00 – 10.30 - Tea     10.30 – 1.30    Panel 4: Critical Encounters                 Chair/Discussant: Gayatri Sinha     1. Geeta Kapur: Vagabondage: artandlife in the sixties  2. May Joseph: Between the Hudson River and the Yamuna: Harmattan Theatre and Riverscapes  3. Amlan Dasgupta: North Indian Classical Music and “World” Music” in the 1960s     1.30 – 2.30: Lunch     2.30 - 5.30  Panel 5: The Circuits of Cultural Exchange     Chair/Discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta     1. Irit Rogoff: Conceptual Art in the 1960s  2. Richard Allen: Hitchcock and the Sixties: Sexuality and Film Style  3. Greg Booth: The Hindi Film Song in a Global 1960s  5.30:   Closing and Vote of Thanks  5.45: High Tea    --  Ranjani Mazumdar  Associate Professor  Cinema Studies  School of Arts and Aesthetics  Jawaharlal Nehru University  New Delhi 110067        From rohitrellan at aol.in Sun Feb 27 14:14:57 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:44:57 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation for Media Seminar In-Reply-To: <8CDA4719BF6C5AB-E10-265F6@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CDA4719BF6C5AB-E10-265F6@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CDA471BEC48EEA-E10-26614@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> Dear Sir/madam    The Sunday Indian and Department of Web Journalism & Sports Economicsand marketing, SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University are organising aMedia Seminar on the subject “New Media-Youth Media:Challenges andScope”.    Date: Friday, 4th of March, 2011  Venue: SGTB Khalsa College Auditorium, North Campus, University of Delhi  Time: 11.00 AM  Subject: “New Media-Youth Media:Challenges and Scope”    The following guest speakers have confirmed their presence:    Sh Manish Tiwari, Spokesperson ,MP,Indian congress  Sh Anurag Thakur, MP And President, BJYM & President, HP Cricket Association  Shri Ajit Anjum Editorial Director, New 24 Group  Prof Sudhish Pachauri, Eminent Media Critic & Dean of Colleges, Delhi University  Ms Salma Zaidi, Editor BBC Online  Shri Ravish Kumar, Blogger & Executive Editor, NDTv India  Shri Abhishar Sharma, Prime-time Anchor & Deputy Editor, Aaj Tak  Ms Sheetal Rajput, Prime-time Anchor & Input Editor, UP Zee News  Sh Aditya Raj Kaul, Internet Activist and Editor (India), The India, Sydney    Thanking You,  Dr Smita Mishra  Course Director    From rohitrellan at aol.in Sun Feb 27 14:23:56 2011 From: rohitrellan at aol.in (rohitrellan at aol.in) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:53:56 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] A Season of Footage and Films, Part 10, Women at Work. Tomorrow Feb. 27 at CAMP, Mumbai In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8CDA473005575A1-E10-26697@Webmail-m122.sysops.aol.com> CAMP continues our winter season of screenings exploring footage both within and without the usual capsule of "the film".  This Sunday we present: Women at Work. Footage from the Dharavi Documentation project. 170 mins. Sunday February 27 7:00 pm. At CAMP roof 301, Alif Apartments, Chium village, Khar (w) Mumbai- 52 Film-maker, Richa Hushing, and camerapersons, Tapan Vyas and Rrivu Laha, take us through Koliwada and Kumbharwada in Dharavi. The footage visits a kiln, a congested road, a fish market and a number of workshops. It looks at women, who make a formidable percentage of the total workforce in Dharavi, and the object and spaces they interact with while they work (leather belts, fish, pots, terraces). The material was shot in 2008 around when the Dharavi Re-development Project was put on hold and is sourced from the Dharavi Documentation Project in pad.ma and is part of the digital image archive, Godaam (Majlis). See you there! For questions and responses email info(@)camputer.org camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net From phadkeshilpa at gmail.com Mon Feb 28 10:21:18 2011 From: phadkeshilpa at gmail.com (Shilpa Phadke) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:21:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Book Launch Invite: 'Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets' - 4 March 2011 Message-ID: *PUKAR, Studio X Mumbai & Penguin Books India invite you to the launch of * ** *'Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets'* ** *a book by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan & Shilpa Ranade * *on women, public space and the city* ** *on Friday, March 4, 2011* *at 6.30 pm * ** *at* ** *STUDIO X MUMBAI* Kitab Mahal 4th Floor 192 D.N.Road Fort, Mumbai 400001 *Do join us for tea and refreshments at 6 pm* For more information on the book please see: http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/category/Non_Fiction/Why_Loiter__9780143415954.aspx AND http://www.facebook.com/pages/Why-Loiter/193556873988115?ref=ts From shohini.ghosh at gmail.com Mon Feb 28 11:57:49 2011 From: shohini.ghosh at gmail.com (shohini ghosh) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:57:49 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Book Launch Invite: 'Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets' - 4 March 2011 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Congratulations Shilpa and team! Please let me now how I can but a copy. Much love Shohini On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 10:21 AM, Shilpa Phadke wrote: > *PUKAR, Studio X Mumbai & Penguin Books India invite you to the launch of > * > ** > *'Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets'* > ** > *a book by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan & Shilpa Ranade * > *on women, public space and the city* > ** > *on Friday, March 4, 2011* > > *at 6.30 pm * > ** > *at* > ** > *STUDIO X MUMBAI* > Kitab Mahal > 4th Floor > 192 D.N.Road > Fort, Mumbai 400001 > > > *Do join us for tea and refreshments at 6 pm* > > For more information on the book please see: > > http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/category/Non_Fiction/Why_Loiter__9780143415954.aspx > > AND > > http://www.facebook.com/pages/Why-Loiter/193556873988115?ref=ts > _________________________________________ > 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. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> From the-network at koeln.de Mon Feb 28 13:32:08 2011 From: the-network at koeln.de (netEX) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:02:08 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?netEX=3A_calls_=26_deadlines_--=3E_M?= =?iso-8859-1?q?arch_2011?= Message-ID: <20110228090208.777366C3.2C5E11D4@192.168.0.4> netEX: calls & deadlines --> March 2011 ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- newsletter contents *news *calls & deadlines --> 01 Call: 2011 deadlines internal 20 Calls: March 2011 deadlines external 11 Calls: ongoing external/internal ------------------------------------------------ News CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context nomadic festival project 1 January - 31 December 2011 launched on 1 January 2011, countinues its global tour in March 2011 to Ukraine where CologneoFF 2011 Ukraine 14-20 March - Kiev & Kharkiv is taking place - a collaboration with Goethe Institute Ukraine, Center for Contemporary Art Kiev, Media art Lab Kiev, City Art Gallery Kharkiv & Nuremberg House Kharkiv. More info on http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=924 http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=185 http://downloads.nmartproject.net/CologneOFF2011_UKRAINE.pdf >From the Ukraine, CologneOFF 2011 is jumping at the end of March to Romania, where CologneOFF 2011 ARA is scheduled 31 March - 2 April - Arad Art Museum All details on CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context http://coff.newmediafest.org http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/ ------------------------------------------------ Calls & deadlines ---> ------------------------------------------------ Deadlines internal ------------------------------------------------ Call for 2011 CologneOFF 2011 - videoart in a global context artists are invited to submit experimental film and videoart extended deadline: 1 May 2011 http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2729 ------------------------------------------------ March 2011 deadlines: external ------------------------------------------------ 31 March Fonlöad '07 - Digital Art Festival - Coimbra/PT http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3099 31 March Artistic projects related to water http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2989 31 March 19th Contravision Int. Film Festival Berlin http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3061 31 March Sardinia Film Festival - Sassari/IT http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3075 21 March Visualizar 2011: Understanding Infrastructures - Workshop Madrid/Spain http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3095 21 March Arteles Residencies in Finland http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3046 20 March Low Lives 3 http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3089 18 March Facing the artwork - the viewer in moving images - festival Halle/Germany http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2853 15 March Emergeandsee Media Arts Festival Berlin http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2967 15 March Project survey on -Repetition- for a book http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3016 10 March 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2511 10 March Videoart Festival Miden Kalamata/Greece http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2956 7 March Temporary art Show 3 - Wakefield/UK http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2997 4 March Docville Festival - Leuven/Belgium http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3093 4 March Facade Media Art Seattle/USA http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2914 1 March Images contre nature - experimental film festival Marseille/F http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=2880 1 March FILE Sao Paulo/Brazil http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3057 1 March Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna - proposals http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3018 1 March FILE Symposion Sao Paulo/Brazil http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3059 1 March Tabor Film Festival http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=3083 ----------------------------------------------- Ongoing calls: external/internal ----------------------------------------------- ---> SFC - Shoah Film Collection by VideoChannel & A Virtual Memorial Foundation ---> Selfshadows 2.= - net based project by Javier Bedrina -->Videos for Bivouac Projects Sumter/USA -->OUTCASTING - web based screenings -->Films and video screenings Sioux City (USA) -->Laisle screenings Rio de Janeiro/Brazil -->Videos for Helsinki based video gallery - 00130 Gallery -->Web based works for 00130 Gallery Helsinki/Finland -->Project: Repetition as a Model for Progression by Marianne Holm Hansen -->US webjournal Atomic Unicorn seeks netart and video art for coming editions -->TAGallery and more deadlines on http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?page_id=4 ----------------------------------------------- NetEX - networked experience http://netex.nmartproject.net # calls in the external section--> http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?cat=3 # calls in the internal section--> http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?cat=1 ----------------------------------------------- # This newsletter is also released on http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?cat=9 # netEX - networked experiences is a free information service powered by [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne http://www.nmartproject.net - the experimental platform for art and new media from Cologne/Germany # info & contact: info (at) nmartproject.net From daisyhasan at yahoo.co.uk Mon Feb 28 23:57:52 2011 From: daisyhasan at yahoo.co.uk (Daisy Hasan) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:27:52 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] CFP: 'What's New?' Conference 8th-9th July 2011 Message-ID: <164293.37899.qm@web25408.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> With apologies for cross posting The India Media Centre, University of Westminster, in association with the London Indian Film Festival, presents  AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE What’s New? The Changing Face of Indian Cinema: Contemporary and Historical Contexts Friday 8th and Saturday 9th July  Cayley Theatre, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1. Invited speakers include Anurag Kashyap and Rituparno Ghosh, Rachel Dwyer (School of Oriental and African Studies, London),   Shohini Ghosh (Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi)   Lalitha Gopalan (University of Texas at Austin). CALL FOR PAPERS Is mainstream Indian cinema moving into a ‘post-Bollywood’ era?  In recent years a growing number of popular (and not so popular) films made for commercial release have been challenging the conventions of the mainstream multi-genre, song and dance extravaganzas. These films are being made - both within and outside the prevailing studio system - in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and elsewhere. From Dev D to Just Another Love Story, Udaan or Peepli Live, cinematic language is being explored, songs are disappearing or being used in different ways, and strong alternative storylines are presenting a new face of modern Indian society.  These films’ hybrid sensibilities are increasingly appealing to the global aspirations of India’s urban ‘multiplex’ generation.   The London Indian Film Festival was set up in July 2010 to showcase this trend, bringing cutting edge Indian films and filmmakers to London audiences. Alongside this summer’s festival, the India Media Centre at the University of Westminster, in association with the London Indian Film Festival, is hosting a conference that will bring together filmmakers, industry professionals and academics to explore this new phenomenon within both a contemporary and an historical context. What are these films and why are they emerging now? Are they simply the latest in a long line of such moments in Indian cinema – from the first song-less Hindi film in 1937, to the Bengali art house movements of the 1950s and 1960s or the so-called parallel and middle cinemas of the 1970s and 1980s, and much besides?   What lessons can this history teach us? What, if anything, do these films mean for the future of Indian cinema? Papers are invited that explore any aspect of the current and historical challenges to the mainstream form of Indian cinema and its hegemony over the popular cinematic imagination of India and the South Asian diaspora.  Papers may deal with film-making in any language and of any era or region, and can include – but are not restricted to – the textual, industrial, commercial and reception contexts of films that subvert the mainstream, and/or the critical contexts within which they have been debated. Conference team: Rosie Thomas, Daisy Hasan, Radha Dayal, Helen Cohen. General enquiries: please contact Daisy Hasan: D.Hasan at westminster.ac.uk Abstracts:  please e-mail your 200-word abstract to Helen Cohen: indiamediaconferences at westminster.ac.uk All submissions should include the title of the conference (What’s New?), the title of the paper, an abstract and should list the author’s full name, with contact information and affiliation. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31st March 2011 and those whose abstracts are accepted will be notified by 15th April 2011. The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW. _______________________________________________ This message came to you by way of the SAC-cinema mailing list: SAC-cinema at groups.sas.upenn.edu To manage your subscription, visit this web page: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/sac-cinema -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ This message came to you by way of the SAC-cinema mailing list: SAC-cinema at groups.sas.upenn.edu To manage your subscription, visit this web page: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/sac-cinema