From rkamath.research at gmail.com Tue Dec 2 09:45:33 2008 From: rkamath.research at gmail.com (Ranjan Kamath) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:45:33 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Statistics on Civic Spaces Message-ID: <24b9c2a0812012015m2d740b46gf24e6596bcd01023@mail.gmail.com> Dear Members I would appreciate your assistance in finding statistics pertaining to the following to accompany a feature story: 1) Percentage of civic spaces in leading cities of the world in comparison to Bangalore 2) Parks and playgrounds in Bangalore ceded by the corporation to commercial spaces like malls, atria etc 3) Appropriate percentage of civic space per thousand of population 4) Any other data you might consider relevant and worth sharing Please email it to : rkamath.research at gmail.com thanks in anticipation Ranjan Kamath Roving Editor, DNA -- 75, 17e main Vi Block Koramangala Bangalore 560095 Land: 9180 25631847 Cell: + 91 9341 944490 (Bangalore) Cell +91 98203 22988 ( Mumbai) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081202/062d7b78/attachment.html From swathi.shivanand at gmail.com Fri Dec 5 18:39:02 2008 From: swathi.shivanand at gmail.com (swathi shivanand) Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 18:39:02 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Invitation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: We, the students of M.A. in Development Studies, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, are organising *Manzar*, our annual academic and cultural festival on the *10th and 11th of December *this year*, *being held at the *Convention Centre*, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The festival is a forum wherein fundamental dimensions of the discourses and practices surrounding the idea of development are discussed. The theme that will string the various deliberations within the festival together is *'Policy and People – Practices and Discourses*.' The primary objective will be to trace, analyse and understand the role of policy within paradigms of development as they have unfolded in India. As a part of the festival, two public lectures are being organised. These lectures will seek to capture the manner in which the trajectory of development is influenced by processes of social, political and cultural transformation. *Dr John Harriss*, Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, will deliver the keynote address on "*Understanding Development: Challenges in the New Era*". A pioneer in the development of an interdisciplinary approach to social science research, he established and directed the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr Harriss is a social anthropologist by training and vocation and has long standing interests in the political economy of development, and in politics and society in South Asia. Date: 10th December 2008 Time: 09.00 am - 10.45 am Further, Professor *Mushirul Hasan*, historian and Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia University at New Delhi, will deliver a public lecture on "*The Challenges to Secularism in Contemporary India*".* *Dr.Hasan has edited numerous volumes on partition and is a widely read commentator on social and political developments in India. Date: 10th December 2008 Time: 6:30 pm- 8:30 pm we invite you to attend the public lectures in Manzar and contribute to the deliberations therein. Contact:9920772870 9867772175 Venue: Convention Center Tata Institute of Social Sciences Deonar,Mumbai. Thanking You, Yours faithfully, Students of M.A. in Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081205/88c23101/attachment.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Sat Dec 6 04:10:32 2008 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 14:40:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] nettime discussion on cities and terrorism Message-ID: <279472.54758.qm@web57402.mail.re1.yahoo.com> hi all: discussion on nettime might be of interest, on a saskia sassen piece on cities and terrorism. -curt original posting of sassen piece: http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0812/msg00004.html see responses in archive: http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0812/threads.html From anilaemmanuel at gmail.com Fri Dec 5 10:01:30 2008 From: anilaemmanuel at gmail.com (anila emmanuel) Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 10:01:30 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: Fw: Letter from an IPS friend In-Reply-To: References: <591009.80352.qm@web94706.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <59ead66c0812042031j4840399byd70f5ea3344c4d85@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- A forward received from a friend . Letter from an IPS friend Here's a letter of an IPS officer to his classmates whose friend Kamte died in action on Wednesday. Friends, As I write to my batchmates of school, I grieve the death of my batchmate of IPS – Ashok Kamte in the terror attack in Mumbai. Kamte was a very bold, professional, sincere cop who was also a National level weightlifter – very brave and handsome. I grieve his death. But the reason I write to all of you is this - Another Terror attack in Mumbai and I expect the same stereotype stands from the political parties, same response from the media and the same anguish and feeling of helplessness from the public. Rightly so, they ask, what is the Government doing about it? The opposition parties will exploit the situation to say that the Government has been soft on terror, should invoke POTA like legislation to curb terror, should hang Afzal Guru, etc. If legislations stop terror attacks then Maharashtra should have been safe – it has MCOCA in place (MCOCA has all the ingredients of POTA). Even Delhi has DCOCA, but the terror strikes happened here too. If deterrent strong action of hanging terrorists is an answer, then Punjab terrorism should have being put to an end after hanging the assassins of Indira Gandhi. But it did not. While legislations and awarding deterrent punishments are very essential in our fight against terror, then are by no means sufficient to put an end to terror. The public at large rightfully ask – if US could stop terror attacks after 9/11, why can't our security system do the same here? Friends, we will continue to have such attacks till we as a nation and as a society do not decide to invest in the police of the country. We expect a first-world police reaction from a third-world police. You will be surprised to know that even today many of our police stations do not have vehicles. As for connectivity amongst police stations, while police stations (PS) have radio communication sets (RT sets), in some States the PS do not have an extra battery to keep the sets working – this means that they switch open their RT sets every two hours to check if there is any event of any consequence! !! This is when even the poor in our country can afford mobile sets!!! We still have weapons that are outdated. We have no centralized database to check on identity of person detained. This implies that if I detain a suspicious person in Delhi and he says that he belongs to some village Begumangalam in district Nalgonda in AP, I have no way to immediately verify his identity - unlike the US where a centralized databank will let you check his antecedents in a matter of few seconds. While there is about 1 policeman for every 300 people in US, in India we have one policeman for every 1000 people – and mind you the cop of US is supported with technology, communication and cyber connectivity and vehicles, which increases his capabilities manifolds. Cases take decades to get conviction, unlike the US where it is disposed off in months time. What will a criminal be afraid of, if he is not punished? Police leaders are hardly kept in their places of postings for a significant time so that they can improve situations – I, for example, have been transferred 27 times in 9 years of active policing in UP!!! Political insulation from professional work does not exist. We always talk of Intelligence failure – but what infrastructure we have there is a matter of concern. There are many more issues of manpower, equipment, infrastructure and the like.. But we as a society are not bothered – or is it that human life, and more so a life of a policeman, is too cheap? Or is it that we are not aware of the deficiencies in our security systems? Each political party will make use of another terror attack as an oppurtunity to malign the other and claim that it will improve security situation when it comes back to power. As if POTA or hanging Afzal Guru will! The reaction of the Government is also on the same lines – will legislate a strong anti-terror law, will create a federal agency, will bring in police reforms, etc. Haven't we heard the Governments in power repeat the same after each terror attack, but still nothing happens. All political parties, whether in power or outside, are the same. They misuse the police system to meet their selfish ends. Unfortunately these terror attacks are only 'action events' for the media to keep people hooked on to the TVs. But hardly we have informed and consistent discussions in media to improve the security situation. Friends, the reason I write this mail is because I feel that you all need to make yourself aware of the realities of the police. Police is hated, to say the least. But because it is hated, you don't keep yourself away from the malaise and refuse to raise a voice to improve it. Police impacts you on a day-to-day basis – your sense of security and dignity depends upon that. But why do we, educated people, not raise enough hue and cry so that the political parties are forced to change the policing system and hence improve your security? Friends, please become aware of the realities of policing and beware of rhetoric of political parties – the solutions they offer are superficial and will not improve security situation. You can't build an edifice of security organisation with a weak and hollow foundation. Excuse me for my outburst and discontinuous thoughts – I kept writing what ever came to my mind. But please make yourself aware and let others know where the lacunae lie and build public opinion so that security systems improve. Else please be prepared for mindless killings and falling policemen (by the way, did you know that the number of policemen who have died in the line of duty over the last 10 years is more than the total Army personnel who were killed in all the wars together since 1947? We lose almost 3 policemen per day!!). Gives us another insight into the problem isnt it? I think as a nation we can expect more such carnage to happen in the days to come and all of us hav to be prepared for it. Its going to take a while to get a grip on this and overcome it but surely we will eventually. Remember the days of Bhindranwale and how that menace got snuffed out. Be brave - --- . - ------------------------------ Get an email ID as yourname at ymail.com or yourname at rocketmail.com. Click here. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081205/4db0890d/attachment-0001.html From sutapa_majumdar at yahoo.com Sat Dec 6 16:31:43 2008 From: sutapa_majumdar at yahoo.com (sutapa majumdar) Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 03:01:43 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] SANGRAM VAMP Play:MY MOTHER, THE GHARWALI, HER MAALAK, HIS WIFE Message-ID: <20007.96926.qm@web52612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Dear all,   Please circulate this widely and  we look forward to see you all on the 9th at the Kamani Auditorium for the play.SANGRAM is a NGO working at the grassroot in Sangli district of Maharashtra for the past 16 years on issues of HIV/AIDS, focussing on sex work and MSM issues.   In solidarity,  Sutapa www.sangram.org       Point of View and SANGRAM in association with Naz Foundation (India) Trust present   MY MOTHER   THE GHARWALI   HER MAALAK   HIS WIFE   Directed by Sushama Deshpande   Performed by VAMP   Devised by Divya Bhatia   Leena is a woman in prostitution. Leena is also a woman in love with her rickshaw-driver prince, who is suddenly talking about riding off into the sunset - alone. 'My Mother, The Gharwali, Her Maalak, His Wife'  looks at 24 hours in the lives of the people who live in or pass through the galli (street) in which Leena lives. What happens here in these 24 hours, happens in their galli everyday. My Mother, The Gharwali, Her Maalak, His Wife is performed by VAMP, a collective of women in prostitution based in Sangli. Hear them speak their own stories, talk their own tales and re-imagine their own realities.   Tuesday 9 December 2008 6.30 pm   At Kamani Auditorium 1 Copernicus Marg, New Delhi Tel: 011-23388084 www.kamaniauditorium.org   Hindi ( 70 mins ) Followed by discussion with cast   ENTRY FREE; NO TICKETS NEEDED   For more information contact Sanjana at 9873274455 or email pointofviewmumbai at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081206/27f04b6c/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: My Mother The Gharwali Her Maalak His Wife.gif Type: image/gif Size: 34431 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081206/27f04b6c/attachment-0001.gif From debsinha at gmail.com Sat Dec 6 20:14:02 2008 From: debsinha at gmail.com (Deb Ranjan Sinha (Gmail)) Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 09:44:02 -0500 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Announcing Commutiny 2009 youth fellowship References: <20007.96926.qm@web52612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amrita Patwardhan" Commutiny 2009 fellowship for youth has been annouced. The fellowship offers suppor to young persons to pursue a social change ideas. The fellowship is meant for: YOUNG PERSONS between ages 22-29 - Who are already making a difference in their/other communities - Who have ideas of change initiatives that address diverse areas of social transformation in any specific community and include issues of particular concern to the young OR - Who have change ideas addressing and/or working through the print, electronic or new media; formulated within, or moving beyond the classifications of mainstream or alternative media. *Demonstrated experience in issue based media campaigns and /or community based media projects shall make you a preferred candidate.* Applications are being invited and all details including application form is available on http://www.commutiny.in/ccc.html#howtoapply Do encourage young persons you know, to apply for the same. From alexanderaugust at gmail.com Wed Dec 10 11:39:47 2008 From: alexanderaugust at gmail.com (Alexander Keefe) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:39:47 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] blogging public art in Delhi: 48c Message-ID: Hi all, I just wanted to make a quick announcement that the official blogfor Khoj's 48c public.art.ecology project in Delhi is up and running. It will only run until the festival ends on December 21, but during that time I'm striving mightily to keep it interesting: look for posts on the sites being used around the city, on the artists involved, on the shifting nature of what constitutes the "public," on urban theory, and on the limitations and potentials for artistic intervention in the ecological crises that face Delhi these days. Stop by and have a look if you have the time, but better yet contribute! Comments are always welcome, but if anyone is interested in contributing a guest posting, drop me a line. With best regards, Alex -- jugaadoo.blogspot.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081210/733d06a8/attachment.html From debsinha at gmail.com Wed Dec 10 23:13:23 2008 From: debsinha at gmail.com (Deb Ranjan Sinha (Gmail)) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:43:23 -0500 Subject: [Urbanstudy] City Of Flyovers : outlookindia.com Message-ID: <1EBDC9BCC8DD43FCB62BA42ABB29EE5A@PAGOL> http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20081209&fname=debarshi&sid=1 From elkamath at yahoo.com Sat Dec 13 09:14:52 2008 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:44:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: Google.org Launches Gram Panchayat Puraskar in India Message-ID: <114992.18608.qm@web53606.mail.re2.yahoo.com> FYI Google.org's Inform and Empower Initiative is proud to announce the launch of the Gram Panchayat Puraskar to reward the best innovations in local governance by Gram Panchayats in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, India. This initiative is the first of its kind by Google.org and gives the opportunity for local governments in India to showcase the innovative work in their villages, and emerge as the star innovators of their respective states. Entries for the competition will be evaluated on the basis of criterion such as empowerment, innovation and scale. The innovation needs to be in the context of one of the following six areas - education, health and nutrition, water supply, rural infrastructure, rural electrification, resource mobilization - going above and beyond the call of duty. The Gram Panchayat will have to demonstrate the following: * Inclusion of all social and income groups in village decision-making or planning. * Sharing information with villagers such as Gram Sabha dates, proceedings and action items; record maintenance; Gram Panchayat plan * Community tracking and monitoring of the budgets and quality of the programs * Working with other programs to reach development objectives The competition spans 27,942 villages in 49 districts across the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Google.org will be accepting applications from December 12, 2008 through January 25, 2009 and will announce finalists and winners in March/April of 2009. Winning Gram Panchayats will receive INR 500,000 (approximately $10,000) to continue to do good in their communities. The launch of the Gram Panchayat Puraskar gives us the opportunity to thank you, our friends and partners, for your continued support. Together, we hope that we can continue to showcase the successes of "informed and empowered" communities across the world. Please forward this email widely and help us encourage participation in this competition. Please visit our website at www.google.org/ggpp.html for more information. Thank you, The Google.org Inform and Empower team -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081212/9f2f683b/attachment.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Mon Dec 15 02:30:08 2008 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:00:08 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] street culture article Message-ID: <575395.50629.qm@web57407.mail.re1.yahoo.com> apologies for the cross posting. i thought this article would be of interest to everyone. an appadurai piece on the culture of the street, written back in the 80's. interesting to note what feels like a very contemporary anxiety about the space of the street being registered 20 years back. biblio: from "The India Magazine of Her people and Culture." Vol. 8 Pages 2-23, December 1987. enjoy. curt -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: appadurai_street_culture_red.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 3968275 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081214/92556c73/attachment-0001.pdf From sudhir at openlx.com Tue Dec 16 20:28:20 2008 From: sudhir at openlx.com (Sudhir Gandotra) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:28:20 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Pledge for peace - let's do it ! Message-ID: <1229439500.3837.376.camel@laptop.censusindia.net> Dear Fellow Indian Citizen, The terror act in Mumbai (& the earlier bomb blasts across India) have exposed the world of Violence and its relation to the world of Corruption. After the Mumbai incident, lakhs of people, from all walks of life have shown their anger with the way things are. They have shown their opposition to Violence; They have shown their deep and clear interest in Non-violence as the only way out; They have demanded Peace through Nonviolence; People are very clear that Terrorism arises due to Corruption and Violence in the system. Violence has many expressions. External violence manifests as : Physical Violence (Mumbai like incidents, physical violation of a victim, war, killings etc.); Economic Violence (Poverty, Unemployment, Exploitation etc.) Religious Violence (when people are divided and discriminated as per their religious beliefs and incited to fight and kill each other) Racial Violence ((when people are divided and discriminated as per their caste/race and incited to fight and kill each other) Gender Violence (Violence and discrimination against women) Psychological Violence (spreading fear, negative values and controlling people through that) Moral Violence (Those who do nothing against the violence become an accomplice) Internal Violence manifests as :Our fears, hatred, frustrations, insecurity, enmity, resentments, etc. negative feelings. A person having Internal Violence is likely to committ external violence; External violence causes Internal violence in the victim. Internal & External violence are connected with each other. Both need to be overcome simultaneously and as a process that keeps going on over a period of time. The time has come for the common citizens to say "Enough is Enough" and take charge of the society. Criminalisation of the Politics by Corrupt people has vitiated the atmosphere and the result is ever-increasing violence for common people. There is no safety-security of life. there is no education, no jobs, no health, no transportation,not even toilet facility for more than 80% of the population, Inspite of so much talk of so much work being done for last 60 years. Humanists believe that Human being has stopped evolving as Human. Most of the people are after money either as their ever-increasing-hunger or to secure the next meal which is not certain in today's conditions for most people. Free Education for all, that is the aim of our Constitution is not met; Jobs for all is not possible today; Free Health facilities for all are not on the horizon; Housing for all is not even a distant dream. What is going on ? Where is the India that was dreamt by Gandhi, Bose, Bhagat and thousands of others who laid their lives for the positive future of Millions of Indiana ? What are we ding for it ? What do we need to do about it ? Its time, we pause, think and take the next step. Humanists believe that if Honest, common citizens come to power, things can change. If Politics can be raised to the level of the best social work, things can change. For this, the Humanists have taken the mission to cleanse politics and provide a Government consisting of ordinary citizens who are honest, who are not criminals, who are not industrialists' controlled persons, who are not belonging to any particular family, religion or caste, but people who are just plain simple Indians and Human beings. The Humanist Party of India, formed in 1984 by such Humanists has been working at grass-roots, organising and clarifying people on the Humanist possibilities of India is now organising itself to field candidates across India and invites common people to come together and work to manage the country by themselves. Humanists believe that we can have the following aims (some of the points of Humanist Manifesto) met within a period of 5 years, by diverting less than 15% of the armament budget : 1. Free and Uniform Education for all, atleast upto Class XII; 2. Free Health facility for all through AIIMS like hospitals built in every district, linked to a functioning primary health centre everywhere; 3. Housing for all; 4. Job for all and a reasonable unemployment pay to those who cannot be given jobs immediately; 5. Profit to all Farmers on their produce and Comprehensive Crop-insurance; 6. Transportation and Communication to be given to 100% of population with comfort and on affordable rates on no-profit basis by the Government. 7. Upper age-limit for all Elected Political posts (President, Prime Minister, Minister, Chief Minister, etc.) to be maximum 70 years. 8. No one can occupy an elected political post (President, Prime Minister, Minister, Chief Minister, etc.) more than twice. 9. Referendum by people on every major policy before a final decision can be taken. 10. Every Elected member will be re-confirmed by the voters every 6 months. 11. Voters will have right to recall their elected representative at any time. (Technology to conduct such quick votes exists at very cheap rates today and will be used for this purpose, thus bringing in Direct & Real Democracy in practice.) 12. Unbiased discussion with all arms-using group and separatists tendencies to ensure that all citizens of India will get dignified life immediately, thus bringing them all to mainstream of life and socio-political activity. 13. Respect for all cultures and religions without making them the point of differences and discrimination. 14. Comprehensive Peace agreements with all neighbouring countries and proportionate disarmament of conventional as well as nuclear arms with a time-frame target. This way, we are building the Humanist Manifesto for the country with wide consultation of people. Such a manifesto, becoming the basis of next Government will end the menace of Cast-religion differences, highlighted further by reservations. Reservations will become null & void if education, health and jobs are secured for all, ensuring quality of life and giving them equal opportunities of growth. The most important thing is for common-honest citizens to come forward to run and manage their own country, treating it as their own family affair, giving it the utmost priority. It is time we take the next step. We invite you to begin a new life, not just for yourself but also for the whole nation. Take the pledge for Nonviolence and begin contributing in the noble task of nation-building as an active participant of the mission. Let's get in touch and begin working together. Visit our website and you will see the next steps to be taken, starting with the pledge and then after 21 Dec and you can choose the action that you wish to participate in. We look forward to working together for our country, our world and build the new Universal Human Nation for all. Humanist principal of giving the highest value to Human being is expressed as : "Nothing above the Human Being, No Human below another" Our contact information : website : www.nonviolence.org.in Email: info at nonviolence.org.in Please bring the following text of the pledge with you : ============================ Bapu, Today, on 21 Dec 2008, I pledge to begin recognising violence within me and around me. I pledge to begin working to overcome this violence from within me and helping others to do the same, thereby reducing and finally overcoming violence form society. I assure you my sincere efforts to work to build the India of your dreams, the India of my dreams, the Nonviolent India that will become the beacon for the world, to build the new Universal Human Nation. ============================= With best wishes for a wonderful India for all of us! Sudhir Gandotra www.sudhirgandotra.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081216/4eb345a3/attachment.html From sudhir at openlx.com Tue Dec 16 20:28:34 2008 From: sudhir at openlx.com (Sudhir Gandotra) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:28:34 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Pledge for peace - let's do it ! Message-ID: <1229439514.3837.378.camel@laptop.censusindia.net> Dear Fellow Indian Citizen, The terror act in Mumbai (& the earlier bomb blasts across India) have exposed the world of Violence and its relation to the world of Corruption. After the Mumbai incident, lakhs of people, from all walks of life have shown their anger with the way things are. They have shown their opposition to Violence; They have shown their deep and clear interest in Non-violence as the only way out; They have demanded Peace through Nonviolence; People are very clear that Terrorism arises due to Corruption and Violence in the system. Violence has many expressions. External violence manifests as : Physical Violence (Mumbai like incidents, physical violation of a victim, war, killings etc.); Economic Violence (Poverty, Unemployment, Exploitation etc.) Religious Violence (when people are divided and discriminated as per their religious beliefs and incited to fight and kill each other) Racial Violence ((when people are divided and discriminated as per their caste/race and incited to fight and kill each other) Gender Violence (Violence and discrimination against women) Psychological Violence (spreading fear, negative values and controlling people through that) Moral Violence (Those who do nothing against the violence become an accomplice) Internal Violence manifests as :Our fears, hatred, frustrations, insecurity, enmity, resentments, etc. negative feelings. A person having Internal Violence is likely to committ external violence; External violence causes Internal violence in the victim. Internal & External violence are connected with each other. Both need to be overcome simultaneously and as a process that keeps going on over a period of time. The time has come for the common citizens to say "Enough is Enough" and take charge of the society. Criminalisation of the Politics by Corrupt people has vitiated the atmosphere and the result is ever-increasing violence for common people. There is no safety-security of life. there is no education, no jobs, no health, no transportation,not even toilet facility for more than 80% of the population, Inspite of so much talk of so much work being done for last 60 years. Humanists believe that Human being has stopped evolving as Human. Most of the people are after money either as their ever-increasing-hunger or to secure the next meal which is not certain in today's conditions for most people. Free Education for all, that is the aim of our Constitution is not met; Jobs for all is not possible today; Free Health facilities for all are not on the horizon; Housing for all is not even a distant dream. What is going on ? Where is the India that was dreamt by Gandhi, Bose, Bhagat and thousands of others who laid their lives for the positive future of Millions of Indiana ? What are we ding for it ? What do we need to do about it ? Its time, we pause, think and take the next step. Humanists believe that if Honest, common citizens come to power, things can change. If Politics can be raised to the level of the best social work, things can change. For this, the Humanists have taken the mission to cleanse politics and provide a Government consisting of ordinary citizens who are honest, who are not criminals, who are not industrialists' controlled persons, who are not belonging to any particular family, religion or caste, but people who are just plain simple Indians and Human beings. The Humanist Party of India, formed in 1984 by such Humanists has been working at grass-roots, organising and clarifying people on the Humanist possibilities of India is now organising itself to field candidates across India and invites common people to come together and work to manage the country by themselves. Humanists believe that we can have the following aims (some of the points of Humanist Manifesto) met within a period of 5 years, by diverting less than 15% of the armament budget : 1. Free and Uniform Education for all, atleast upto Class XII; 2. Free Health facility for all through AIIMS like hospitals built in every district, linked to a functioning primary health centre everywhere; 3. Housing for all; 4. Job for all and a reasonable unemployment pay to those who cannot be given jobs immediately; 5. Profit to all Farmers on their produce and Comprehensive Crop-insurance; 6. Transportation and Communication to be given to 100% of population with comfort and on affordable rates on no-profit basis by the Government. 7. Upper age-limit for all Elected Political posts (President, Prime Minister, Minister, Chief Minister, etc.) to be maximum 70 years. 8. No one can occupy an elected political post (President, Prime Minister, Minister, Chief Minister, etc.) more than twice. 9. Referendum by people on every major policy before a final decision can be taken. 10. Every Elected member will be re-confirmed by the voters every 6 months. 11. Voters will have right to recall their elected representative at any time. (Technology to conduct such quick votes exists at very cheap rates today and will be used for this purpose, thus bringing in Direct & Real Democracy in practice.) 12. Unbiased discussion with all arms-using group and separatists tendencies to ensure that all citizens of India will get dignified life immediately, thus bringing them all to mainstream of life and socio-political activity. 13. Respect for all cultures and religions without making them the point of differences and discrimination. 14. Comprehensive Peace agreements with all neighbouring countries and proportionate disarmament of conventional as well as nuclear arms with a time-frame target. This way, we are building the Humanist Manifesto for the country with wide consultation of people. Such a manifesto, becoming the basis of next Government will end the menace of Cast-religion differences, highlighted further by reservations. Reservations will become null & void if education, health and jobs are secured for all, ensuring quality of life and giving them equal opportunities of growth. The most important thing is for common-honest citizens to come forward to run and manage their own country, treating it as their own family affair, giving it the utmost priority. It is time we take the next step. We invite you to begin a new life, not just for yourself but also for the whole nation. Take the pledge for Nonviolence and begin contributing in the noble task of nation-building as an active participant of the mission. Let's get in touch and begin working together. Visit our website and you will see the next steps to be taken, starting with the pledge and then after 21 Dec and you can choose the action that you wish to participate in. We look forward to working together for our country, our world and build the new Universal Human Nation for all. Humanist principal of giving the highest value to Human being is expressed as : "Nothing above the Human Being, No Human below another" Our contact information : website : www.nonviolence.org.in Email: info at nonviolence.org.in Please bring the following text of the pledge with you : ============================ Bapu, Today, on 21 Dec 2008, I pledge to begin recognising violence within me and around me. I pledge to begin working to overcome this violence from within me and helping others to do the same, thereby reducing and finally overcoming violence form society. I assure you my sincere efforts to work to build the India of your dreams, the India of my dreams, the Nonviolent India that will become the beacon for the world, to build the new Universal Human Nation. ============================= With best wishes for a wonderful India for all of us! Sudhir Gandotra www.sudhirgandotra.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081216/9fe10bea/attachment-0001.html From nikhilanand at yahoo.com Tue Dec 16 14:26:44 2008 From: nikhilanand at yahoo.com (nikhil anand) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:26:44 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Film Screenings, 'Ek Dozen Paani' References: Message-ID: <128922DD-36FE-4FA2-BB19-9FCBAE38F19B@yahoo.com> Screenings of Ek Dozen Paani at 6pm on Wednesday 17th December 2008 at Room No. V, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Govandi at 6pm on Friday 19th December 2008 at Jnanpravaha, Queens Mansion, AK Nayak Marg, Fort at 6pm on Saturday 20th December 2008 at Swami Vivekanand School, opposite IT Colony, Meghwadi, Jogeshwari E About the Films In Mumbai we witness the passage of water from rain to sea via lakes, watersheds, pipes, pumps, pots, human and animal bodies, drains and sewers. These hidden passages describe a unique social, chemical and political structure, a map of ourselves in the modern world. More than many of us, residents in the bastis of Jogeshwari spend time arranging this substance, its leaks and sources. As part of an investigation into the social life of water in these areas, Ek Dozen Paani is a collaborative project between youth of two community organizations- Aakansha Sewa Sangh and Agaaz, Arts Collective CAMP and anthropologist Nikhil Anand. Working together since March 2008, we have been thinking through questions of citizenship and distribution by looking at how residents form relationships with water and its infrastructures: including official water supply, the rains, alternative plumbing, ground water, nallas, and so on. As the name of the film suggests, water has several narrative flows. The films have been made with the youth groups shooting on their own, bringing their footage into a collective pool, and writing over images in analytical, diarisitic or essay styles. These twelve stories speak of water’s time and place, of leaky systems and subterranean flows, of struggle and/over imagination. A discussion with the filmmakers will follow the screening -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081216/758eb763/attachment-0004.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: govindi 430.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 44728 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081216/758eb763/attachment-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081216/758eb763/attachment-0005.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081216/758eb763/attachment-0007.html From yanivbin at gmail.com Wed Dec 17 11:42:45 2008 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:42:45 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Important consultation on parastatals and task forces In-Reply-To: <4E04FB444E373F4987265E3D89875CD74E4074@exchange-aai.aaindia.local> References: <4E04FB444E373F4987265E3D89875CD74E4074@exchange-aai.aaindia.local> Message-ID: <86b8a7050812162212ud2265d5i39021f38b99de825@mail.gmail.com> *Dear Friends,* This is the concept note of the one day consultation on the politics of semi-public departments and task forces in Karnataka. The consultation is unique as it is the first time that a public meet is being organized to understand the impact of such agencies on the governance of the state. Laws, programs and policies of all the sectors are being impacted in this process of 'reforms'. Elected representatives, Community based organisations, Mass leaders, Civil Society members, representatives of the industry and academic researchers will all be participating in the program. Please contribute with suggestions is any. Thanks Kshithij *Para** statal agencies and task forces in Karnataka* A One day public consultation on their constitutionality, programs, influence and impact on Democracy 20 December 2008. 9.30 AM to 5 PM Legislator's Home, Vidhana Soudha. Bangalore *Background* Karnataka is in the forefront of the reforms process. Most of the reforms adopted by the state are mandatory conditions to loans provided by International Financial Institutions (IFIs). One such condition from early 1990s was to build what the World Bank called 'good' institutions. The logic was simple. 'Good' governance requires 'good' institutions. While people of most developing countries understood this as an attempt to make government departments genuinely oriented and responsive to the needs of its people, what the IFIs actually meant was to create 'new' semi-public institutions different from existing government departments. These new institutions also called para-statal agencies with a large private interest are typically headed by senior IAS officers who have significant project experience with the World Bank or its allied bodies. With an extended logic of keeping bureaucracy away from development work, the primary responsibility of this IAS officer is to handover critical public service related projects of the state to private consultants from around the world. Exorbitant amounts of public money are paid to these private consultants. The Para-statal agencies also draft public policies on behalf of the people of the state and get a token approval from the cabinet without any public knowledge or debate. So these institutions have the powers of the state but not the public accountability of an elected government. The very design of these para-statal agencies make them vulnerable to external influences by foreign governments, private companies and global banks. Recently there has been an upswing of such unaccountable institutions in Karnataka. The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation or KUIDFC is one such powerful institution. KUIDFC is responsible for the implementation of many state level projects worth tens of thousands of crore rupees. All these projects are traditionally meant to be implemented by departments of a democratically elected state government. In exchange of loans from Foreign Banks, KUIDFC gets the state government to sign up to associated conditionalities including amendments to state laws and policies that protect corporate interests at the cost of the larger social security of the people of the state. The vulnerability of such para-statal agencies to external influences including foreign governments directly affects sovereignty of our state and the independent rights of our people to decide what is in their good. The dismaying upturn of such undemocratic Para-statal agencies contradicts the Constitutional mandate for Self Governance in India. On the other hand, the post '90s loans like the Karnataka Economic Reforms Loan (KERN) and the others have contributed to a process of changing the role of government to a mere regulator. In the name of decentralization or in spite of it (74th Constitutional Amendment), there has been a growth in the dominating role of para-statal agencies in getting private companies perform the functions of the Local Self Governments. Elected governments and elected representatives are being sidelined by the reforms process that is highly dominated by this present centralized control. Another trend in the state is the emergence of task forces. Though they are being set up at the drop of a hat they are neither insignificant nor ineffective in meeting their intended objectives. This is a new way in trying to establish corporate governance in the state. The usual suspects – a few corporate icons are empowered as task force members to encroach upon and co-opt democratic spaces and make decisions on behalf of people at large. With chief ministers to support them, they function with executive powers to promote and execute grandiose plans that over ride local knowledge and contradict people's opinion and aspirations. Like all such initiatives task forces too function under the guise of community participation. It is not surprising that the heightened rhetoric of community participation was to coincide with a set of reform programs that has left the citizens clueless. It is also not surprising that those who get to be the members of these task forces are the same (kind of) people who also lead the reform programs. It is incestuous. - All these raise some crucial questions: - Are these para-statal agencies and task forces constitutional? - Who are they and what do they represent? - Who's agenda do they carry? - Is the culture of governance they promote appropriate for a democratic and diverse country like India? - What inherent rights do they have to bypass democratic procedures and to have a sense of trusteeship to decide on behalf of people? - If they are a threat to people's mandate, how can they be challenged? It is time we discuss these questions and let the public judge and opine their views and action on the issue. The proposed workshop on the 20th of December will look at the evolution of institutions in the urban development, the direction and the impacts of such processes on the citizens, specifically the poor, the minorities and people from the lower caste. The workshop also explores ways and means through with the issue of these institutions can be addressed in the state. *Program Schedule* Venue: Auditorium, Legislators Home, Next to Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore Date: 20th December 2008 Time: 9.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. *Introduction to the Issue*: Dr. Kshithij. Urs, Action Aid Karnataka *Session I: Origin and Constitutionality* *Speakers : * - Mr. Clifton d'Rozario, Advocate and member of the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore. - Dr Lalitha Kamath, Independent Urban Researcher, Bangalore - Mr. Venkatswamy, Samatha Sainika Dala *Session II : Programmes, Government and People's Participation* *Speakers:* Mr. Gururaja Budhya, Urban Research Centre, Bangalore Mr.Vinay Baindur, Independent Urban Researcher, Bangalore Mr. Narendra Babu, MLA, GoK (to be confirmed) *Session III: Contesting and Challenging Parastatal Governance* *Speakers: * Mr. Vinod Vyasulu, Centre for Budget and Policy studies, Bangalore Mr. Suresh Shetty, Ex- Corporator, Mangalore City Corporation Mr. Shivsundar, Noted Journalist, Bangalore *Responses from Civil society and Industry* Slum Jagathu – Mr. Issac Arul Selva Representative of BCIC or CII Citizen's Action Forum – Mr. Mathew Thomas Represntative of the Raichur Nagarikara Sangharsha Samithi Representative of the Bidar Nagarikara Sangharsha Samithi *Summing up of days sessions: *Y J Rajendra, Senior Academic faculty, St. Joseph's college, Bangalore. ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081217/e48603c1/attachment-0001.html From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu Dec 18 12:47:31 2008 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:47:31 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] 19dec:: Terrorism and Communalism in the Present Context, Talk by Dr. Ram Puniyani In-Reply-To: <285529.7763.qm@web54502.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <285529.7763.qm@web54502.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <86b8a7050812172317g386d42a6p65dad8c81708f97@mail.gmail.com> FWD: FYI Dear friends, The recent events of violence in India have generated much concern to activists all over. The Mumbai attacks and violence on Christians in different parts of the country have opened up a new chapter of communal sentiments. Some of us feel the need to discuss the issues, so that effective action can take place in future with a proper framework. We are happy to inform you that Dr. Ram Puniyani has agreed to initiate a discussion on this. We therefore invite you to attend a talk by Ram Puniyani on the subject of `Terrorism and Communalism in the Present Context' on December 19, 2008 at SCM House, Mission Road, Bangalore at 5.30 pm. Please feel free to invite your friends who share similar concerns. In Solidarity, SICHREM, New Socialist International, Visual Search & SCM Contact: Jagish: 9448394365 Mathew: 9845001338 Ullash Kumar.R.K Freelance Journalist, Wildlifer, Naturalist, ullaashkumar at yahoo.co.uk , rkullash_ooty at yahoo.com , ullaashkumar at gmail.com 94493-50275 Life is just like a beach..We are moving without end...Nothing stay with us. what remains with us is the memories of some special people who touched us as Wave...ullas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081218/f7f410a2/attachment.html From rkamath.research at gmail.com Fri Dec 19 10:16:26 2008 From: rkamath.research at gmail.com (Ranjan Kamath) Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:16:26 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief In-Reply-To: References: <1229219718030.6eb66bdc-da00-4ec6-8108-a4dea813ccbf@google.com> Message-ID: <24b9c2a0812182046s5f34808bg631434b21c7406e5@mail.gmail.com> Published in Sunday DNA, Bangalore dtd 14/12/2008 In the feature film Syriana - illustrating the machinations of U.S. based energy corporations and the U.S. government to secure control over the world's remaining fossil fuel reserves – Wasim a Pakistani oilfield-worker in the middle-east assures his son "Someday we'll get a real house and get your mother here". Wasim is soon one of hundreds laid off. Thereafter, his son is ripe for recruitment for Jihad and by the end of the film, he is ramming an explosive laden speed boat into an oil tanker. This Pakistani boy is treated anonymously, as one among millions, prey to larger forces. We never get inside what drives boys of his culture and class to make this decision. 26/11 has provided the invaluable opportunity to address the shortcomings of reel-life characterization, with insights into the real Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab. The baby-faced gunman was captured at Mumbai's CST station, where he and an accomplice killed 58 people in a barrage of bullets and grenades. His is the story is of deprivation and rootless drifting that turned the third of five children of a 'pani-puri chaat wala' from Faridkot, an uneducated labourer struggling for survival into a petty criminal and then into a terrorist. Faridkot, in Punjab province is an economically stagnant area where most people have little education and live in poverty that has been long known for producing Jihadis. Graffiti is found on sides of buildings which say, in Urdu, "Go for jihad! Go for jihad! - Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad." Influenced by films on India's "atrocities" in Kashmir and by impassioned speeches of preachers, including Lashkar chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Ajmal started believing it might be worth sacrificing his life for the glory of Islam. He then started envisioning jihad as the purpose of his life and a means to gain respectability in his society. Ajmal told investigators that Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi promised that his family would be financially rewarded for his sacrifice. "Spread terror and your family will be looked after," but he now fears that his family members will be killed because he was ordered not to be taken alive. Violence has always had the power to transform the mundane "nobody" into a heroic warrior. The former Guantanamo detainee and Al-Qaida training camp recruit, Mourad Benchellali, a young Frenchman from Lyon was lured to Afghanistan by, as he puts it, "a misguided and mistimed sense of adventure". The same narrative replicates itself ad infinitum with Hezbollah's 42,000 Mahdi Scouts aged between 8 and 16, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Shri Rama Sena or the Maoist Child Liberation Army ensconced in the forests of Giridih. Now that adolescent terrorism has arrived at the Gateway of India we are finally paying attention! Ajmal Kasabs are everywhere. They are most likely to be teenagers without access to stable family ties seeking support and belonging through tribal allegiances. With no recourse to adult role models, violent role models fill the void - and popular culture delivers glorified violence in abundance. An abnormally large number of 15-29 year olds are supersaturating the job market and coming up empty. While they are capable of fuelling growth, revitalising economies and social structures under the right conditions, the violence in the Middle East, parts of Asia, Europe and Africa is largely due to tensions and resentments within societies that have a large youth demographic, - creating the perfect storm. The presentation and mobilisation of violence is an attractive solution to disempowered youth. Do we seek retribution by the expeditious prosecution and delivery of death sentence for petty thief turned terrorist Ajmal Ali Kasab or, do we exploit him as a travelling ambassador propagating anti-terrorism? Through his death we would have removed a symptom, created a martyr and rewarded him with heaven and give cause for a hundred more youngsters to avenge him in the name of Jihad. Furthermore, we would dubiously inspire another hundred to 'save India' against Islamic terror. In the land of Mahatma Gandhi let us spare Ajmal Kasab; deny him martyrdom, prosecute him with community service for life, indoctrinate him in the ways of democratic dissent and exploit him as a poster boy exposing the folly of terror. Instead, let us 'bomb' Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow. -- Posted By Ranjan Kamath to All My Views (Un)Fit To Printon 12/14/2008 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081219/a9ffaf5f/attachment.html From rkamath.research at gmail.com Sun Dec 21 17:01:02 2008 From: rkamath.research at gmail.com (Ranjan Kamath) Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:01:02 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Respect The Rule Of Law In-Reply-To: References: <1229824825287.92cc6574-0e95-4fd6-b170-58b0f1fd07ad@google.com> Message-ID: <24b9c2a0812210331r6ec52ac5n77764371046c5fec@mail.gmail.com> Over a month ago, four new traffic signals appeared on the route I take my children to school every morning. The traffic lights have transformed the hitherto 'free for all" into a 'frequent violation' zone. Some citizens feel 'more equal' than others, granting themselves the divine right to drive past the red signal at their pleasure. Such citizens include BPO cabbies, auto rickshaws, motor cyclists, SUV's BMTC and State Police buses as well as number plates with High Court of Karnataka and Govt. of Karnataka emblazoned. This scene probably replicates itself elsewhere in the country. Citizens in a hurry terrorise fellow citizens, with supreme disregard for their right to cross a road in safety. From amongst such citizens can be counted the 60% plus equally in a hurry to deny Ajmal Ali Kasab the constitutional right to a legal defence. Unfortunately, within this percentage, the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrates' Courts Bar Association enjoys bigoted cohabitation with Shiv Sainik lumpen fuelling the tyranny of the majority. Their ignorance of the rule of law begins with the rules of the road but does not end there. No lawyer can refuse to defend an accused on the ground that the person is a terrorist as this would amount to misconduct under the Advocates Act, 1961. Refusal would render the lawyer liable for action under the Bar Council of India rules. Meanwhile, the self-same Shiv Sena that couldn't summon even a growl when Ajmal Kasab was decimating Mumbaikars, now bares its fangs at lawyers offering to defend Kasab in compliance with the rule of law. It is frightening when a motley pride of tiger cubs decides whether we are patriotic or anti-national. History repeats itself in the irony of injustice. Twenty odd years ago Ram Jethmalani was despised as "anti-national" when he defended the alleged killers of Indira Gandhi. In Madhya Pradesh, Noor Muhammed, a district court lawyer, was assaulted by suspected Bajrang Dal activists before TV cameras for defending alleged terrorists. Most recently, Kamini Jaiswal braved derision to defend suspects in the Red Fort and Parliament attacks. If Dara Singh in the Graham Staines case, Lt Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya in the Malegaon blasts and Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Nalini, could all be provided legal aid, why not Ajmal Kasab? Nazi war criminals enjoyed the right to defence during the Nuremberg trials. Even the accused in the 9/11 attacks and July 7, 2007, London bombings enjoyed legal aid. If people think that Ajmal Kasab is not entitled to a defence, their opinion runs contrary to the Constitution of India and counter to the express rules framed by the Bar Council of India. However horrifying an alleged crime might be, India's liberal constitutional democracy unequivocally allows the accused the right of a fair trial. This right to self-defence, it is universally acknowledged, is considered to be the very pivot of our democracy. "Populations usually don't know the Constitution, the legal rules and the foundation of the judicial system of a country," said Ram Jethmalani in a recent TV programme. "The public needs to be educated on the fact that a defence of Ajmal Kasab means the defence of the rules of India" Such emotions are damaging to the tenet of India's rule of law and the country's reputation of being committed to jurisprudence. Such dialogue provides an opportunity for the international community to cast the aspersion that Indians have no belief in their own Constitution. More than 200 years ago a similar situation arose in the United States after the Boston Massacre with a public enraged by an act of brutality by their British occupiers. Because of the virulent anti-British sentiment in Boston, no lawyers in the city would agree to defend the soldiers, believing it would be the end of their legal careers. But John Adams, an outspoken critic of the British occupation, recognized the importance of a fair trial for the accused and agreed to represent them risking infamy and even death. In his diary Adam's describes the experience as "one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country." In keeping with John Adams' tradition, US civilian lawyers volunteered to join the state-appointed military counsel defending the 9/11 suspects. US Navy Reserves Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, defence lawyer for Ramzi bin al Shibh, alleged driver and bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, said the 9/11 case presented "the ultimate challenge for a criminal defence attorney when a defendant is facing so much hatred from the general public and political backlash, to say the least". Within the ranks of American leading law schools, law firms and legal centres, it would be hard to find a cause more popular than the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. Every lawyer wants his own detainee or detainee group. The result is that dozens of the world's most dangerous men now have their own legal Dream Teams ensuring that the rule of law is upheld in letter and spirit. Presently, Ajmal Kasab is another 'pedestrian' attempting to cross the roads of our legal system. While he denied 58 people the fundamental right to live he is assured legal aid by the same traffic light of Article 21 that guarantees all the right to life even when crossing a road. While Kasab might be considered guilty based on his alleged confession, a defence lawyer must necessarily raise the question whether the alleged terrorist deserves the gallows or a life term. The mathematician-turned-lawyer who has offered to defend Kasab offers two clear reasons for his decision to bring Kasab to justice; "in order to serve all of India, and to ensure that all humans receive a fair trial." "What people don't realise is that it could happen to them tomorrow." forewarns a leading constitutional lawyer. The last word unequivocally belongs to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who in his recent address to the International Conference of Jurists on Terrorism, Rule of Law And Human Rights, in New Delhi stressed its supremacy saying "The Rule of Law is a continual process. Every day, every moment, in every place, a free people expect to see the Rule of Law prevail through the transparent and proper functioning of democratic institutions. There is no better insurance against the forces of extremism, intolerance and terrorism than the efficient and fair functioning of the institutions of democratic governance" -- Posted By Ranjan Kamath to All My Views (Un)Fit To Printon 12/21/2008 -- 75, 17e main Vi Block Koramangala Bangalore 560095 Land: 9180 25631847 Cell: + 91 9341 944490 (Bangalore) Cell +91 98203 22988 ( Mumbai) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081221/1894c050/attachment-0001.html From subirpaul47 at yahoo.com Sun Dec 21 17:58:41 2008 From: subirpaul47 at yahoo.com (subir paul) Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:58:41 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief In-Reply-To: <24b9c2a0812182046s5f34808bg631434b21c7406e5@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <158987.71173.qm@web94715.mail.in2.yahoo.com> dear all i do appreciate the creative analysis but certainly can not and can not agree with the last line "Instead, let us 'bomb' Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow". it is possible that he now understands that instead of financial reward safety and survival of his family is at stake but a critical assessment that whether or not a systematically brainwashed person who has been trained to be a mass killer has been realized by him and he is really repentive - such assessment can only be made through close contact of an expert team. a wrong assessment shall risk either a repeat kandahar (with jaswant singh emphtically stating repeat of kandahar release) or playing a double role (a ploy) get a release - one can be sure that he may become of a hero/supreme leader of an existing or new or mutated terror out fit.   how can one take such a risk when so much double speak is on from the otherside ? and one does not know who controls ? are'nt control under invisible hands ?subir paul  --- On Fri, 19/12/08, Ranjan Kamath wrote: From: Ranjan Kamath Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Date: Friday, 19 December, 2008, 10:16 AM Published in Sunday DNA, Bangalore dtd 14/12/2008 In the feature film Syriana - illustrating the machinations of U.S. based energy corporations and the U.S. government to secure control over the world's remaining fossil fuel reserves – Wasim a Pakistani oilfield-worker in the middle-east assures his son "Someday we'll get a real house and get your mother here". Wasim is soon one of hundreds laid off. Thereafter, his son is ripe for recruitment for Jihad and by the end of the film, he is ramming an explosive laden speed boat into an oil tanker. This Pakistani boy is treated anonymously, as one among millions, prey to larger forces. We never get inside what drives boys of his culture and class to make this decision. 26/11 has provided the invaluable opportunity to address the shortcomings of reel-life characterization, with insights into the real Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab. The baby-faced gunman was captured at Mumbai's CST station, where he and an accomplice killed 58 people in a barrage of bullets and grenades. His is the story is of deprivation and rootless drifting that turned the third of five children of a 'pani-puri chaat wala' from Faridkot, an uneducated labourer struggling for survival into a petty criminal and then into a terrorist. Faridkot, in Punjab province is an economically stagnant area where most people have little education and live in poverty that has been long known for producing Jihadis. Graffiti is found on sides of buildings which say, in Urdu, "Go for jihad! Go for jihad! - Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad." Influenced by films on India's "atrocities" in Kashmir and by impassioned speeches of preachers, including Lashkar chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Ajmal started believing it might be worth sacrificing his life for the glory of Islam. He then started envisioning jihad as the purpose of his life and a means to gain respectability in his society. Ajmal told investigators that Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi promised that his family would be financially rewarded for his sacrifice. "Spread terror and your family will be looked after," but he now fears that his family members will be killed because he was ordered not to be taken alive. Violence has always had the power to transform the mundane "nobody" into a heroic warrior. The former Guantanamo detainee and Al-Qaida training camp recruit, Mourad Benchellali, a young Frenchman from Lyon was lured to Afghanistan by, as he puts it, "a misguided and mistimed sense of adventure". The same narrative replicates itself ad infinitum with Hezbollah's 42,000 Mahdi Scouts aged between 8 and 16, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Shri Rama Sena or the Maoist Child Liberation Army ensconced in the forests of Giridih. Now that adolescent terrorism has arrived at the Gateway of India we are finally paying attention! Ajmal Kasabs are everywhere. They are most likely to be teenagers without access to stable family ties seeking support and belonging through tribal allegiances. With no recourse to adult role models, violent role models fill the void - and popular culture delivers glorified violence in abundance. An abnormally large number of 15-29 year olds are supersaturating the job market and coming up empty. While they are capable of fuelling growth, revitalising economies and social structures under the right conditions, the violence in the Middle East, parts of Asia, Europe and Africa is largely due to tensions and resentments within societies that have a large youth demographic, - creating the perfect storm. The presentation and mobilisation of violence is an attractive solution to disempowered youth. Do we seek retribution by the expeditious prosecution and delivery of death sentence for petty thief turned terrorist Ajmal Ali Kasab or, do we exploit him as a travelling ambassador propagating anti-terrorism? Through his death we would have removed a symptom, created a martyr and rewarded him with heaven and give cause for a hundred more youngsters to avenge him in the name of Jihad. Furthermore, we would dubiously inspire another hundred to 'save India' against Islamic terror. In the land of Mahatma Gandhi let us spare Ajmal Kasab; deny him martyrdom, prosecute him with community service for life, indoctrinate him in the ways of democratic dissent and exploit him as a poster boy exposing the folly of terror. Instead, let us 'bomb' Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow. -- Posted By Ranjan Kamath to All My Views (Un)Fit To Print on 12/14/2008 _______________________________________________ Urbanstudygroup mailing list Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Grab now http://in.promos.yahoo.com/address -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081221/54e20bb5/attachment.html From rkamath.research at gmail.com Sun Dec 21 18:28:51 2008 From: rkamath.research at gmail.com (Ranjan Kamath) Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:28:51 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief In-Reply-To: <24b9c2a0812210455j5d96b94bh43e934ec828a2030@mail.gmail.com> References: <24b9c2a0812182046s5f34808bg631434b21c7406e5@mail.gmail.com> <158987.71173.qm@web94715.mail.in2.yahoo.com> <24b9c2a0812210454p5eb57c49xa547374cfa3426a0@mail.gmail.com> <24b9c2a0812210455j5d96b94bh43e934ec828a2030@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <24b9c2a0812210458r6b065327sb9b43a0655646b49@mail.gmail.com> It took one man to do it, 'one school at a time" Please check this link http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ > 2008/12/21 subir paul >> >> dear all >>> >>> i do appreciate the creative analysis but certainly can not and can not >>> agree with the last line >>> >>> "Instead, let us 'bomb' Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its >>> poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that >>> manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow". >>> >>> it is possible that he now understands that instead of financial reward >>> safety and survival of his family is at stake but a critical assessment that >>> whether or not a systematically brainwashed person who has been trained to >>> be a mass killer has been realized by him and he is really repentive - such >>> assessment can only be made through close contact of an expert team. a wrong >>> assessment shall risk either a repeat kandahar (with jaswant singh >>> emphtically stating repeat of kandahar release) or playing a double role (a >>> ploy) get a release - one can be sure that he may become of a hero/supreme >>> leader of an existing or new or mutated terror out fit. >>> >>> how can one take such a risk when so much double speak is on from the >>> otherside ? and one does not know who controls ? are'nt control under >>> invisible hands ? >>> >>> subir paul >>> >>> -- 75, 17e main Vi Block Koramangala Bangalore 560095 Land: 9180 25631847 Cell: + 91 9341 944490 (Bangalore) Cell +91 98203 22988 ( Mumbai) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081221/05f61756/attachment.html From rkamath.research at gmail.com Wed Dec 24 07:28:22 2008 From: rkamath.research at gmail.com (Ranjan Kamath) Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:28:22 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Talking To The Terrorist In-Reply-To: References: <1230037539814.19ad34b4-69bd-4d58-9ba4-a411182df877@google.com> Message-ID: <24b9c2a0812231758g3fca1caaq7413cff9fa00d071@mail.gmail.com> "I can hear you and the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" proclaimed President George W Bush standing on the ashes of Ground Zero on September 14, 2001 - addressing rescue workers shouting 'USA! USA! USA! The United States is still in pursuit of the people responsible for having "knocked these buildings down" with the determination to eradicate and kill those leaders and followers that perpetuate terrorism. Unfortunately recent reports raise concern that the 'War on Terror' is close to a dead end. On November 27th after completion of sanitising operations by the NSG at Nariman House in Mumbai, crowds screaming "Bharat Mata Ki Jai …Pakistan Murdabad" had to be dispersed by water cannon. With the country seething in anger, in the aftermath of 26/11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was measured in his response saying that the people of India "feel a sense of hurt and anger as never seen before." Amongst those goading the government into a war on terror is former union minister Arun Shourie exhorting "No more talk of 'minimum force'. Its time to overwhelmingly crush the terrorist forces and repeatedly; It should be both eyes for an eye and a jaw for a tooth" It is thus far and no further, agrees B. Raman, Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, advocating "a divided Pakistan, a bleeding Pakistan, a Pakistan ever on the verge of collapse without actually collapsing-that should be our objective till it stops using terrorism against India" Devarchit Varma, a student of broadcast journalism in Bangalore thinks "Terrorism has now reached a point where it has to be dealt with mercilessly. There can be no space for any negotiation" There is a strong and mounting demand for firm and decisive action exacerbated "by the warmongering and hysteria of the media and middle class in metros" a trend condemned by John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council. Amidst the tom-tomming of jingoism and the fog of manufacturing consent clouding judgement ex-soldier, Srinath Raghavan presently a security analyst at the National Institute of Advanced Studies provides clarity saying "There are serious limits to India's capacity to impose substantial costs on Pakistan. A limited strike would thus amount to little more than scratching the wound: it may make us feel momentarily better but will not address the underlying problem*. *To suggest that India can hold the initiative and can gradually turn the screw on Pakistan is either naïve or disingenuous" Partho Datta, a strategy consultant from Bangalore reminds us "a military response is not on. A confrontation between two nuclear capable nations is too awful to contemplate" "With the war on terror on one side and the proliferation of violent extremism on the other nothing is heard nor understood just like in an incessant shouting match" observes Dr. Noa Zanolli, an international conflict resolution expert. Expressing his anguish on condition of anonymity an IPS batch mate of Ashok Kamte killed in the Mumbai operations says "I expect the same stereotype stand from the political parties, same response from the media and the same anguish and feeling of helplessness from the public. The opposition parties will exploit the situation to say that the Government has been soft on terror, should invoke POTA, should hang Afzal Guru, etc. While legislations and awarding deterrent punishments are very essential in our fight against terror, then are by no means sufficient to put an end to terror" Searching for simple explanations - and simple solutions- is an immediate repercussion of anger and fear. We ought not to forfeit our best weapon against terrorism, which is the ability to understand the seemingly incomprehensible. Instead of seeking immediate answers, we need to frame the appropriate questions. Why did more than a dozen potential terrorists find each other in the first place? Why did they prepare elaborately to take the lives of hundreds as well as their own lives?" Why is the youth easy prey for recruiters who know how to manipulate them into finding heavenly fulfilment by their sacrifice? Until we understand the answers to these questions, we are in danger of retaliating wildly, like a fighter with a paper bag pulled over his head. Some conflicts – that social scientists term 'ontological' - are highly resistant to the tools of diplomatic or military pressure that cannot entirely "resolve" them. Herbert Kelman, professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University notes: "Conflict is caused and escalated to a considerable degree by unfulfilled psychological needs as security, identity, self-esteem, recognition, autonomy and a sense of justice. The need to protect identities is so important that it will be pursued by individuals and groups regardless of the costs and sacrifices involved" The next series of question we must therefore ask ourselves is: "What is the message of terrorism?" What are terrorists trying to communicate through dastardly deeds? What are the grievances - justified or otherwise – that these voices express? Is mutual mass murder the only viable means of communication? What does it mean when we simplistically interpret acts of terrorism as: "They hate us. They hate our way of life"? Dr. Noa Zanolli urges us to listen to the voice of terrorism by inquiring "Is the violence a language conveying hopelessness of fulfilling one's life dreams, a sense of deprivation, disenfranchisement and utter desperation? The current circumstances of numerous ethnic groups around the world and particularly in India reflect a situation of relative deprivation and deep feelings of vulnerability. Extremists manipulate an alternative identity to find self-serving explanations for the humiliation in real or imaginary but always powerful enemies that unjustly have imposed these circumstances upon them. The sense of humiliation is transformed into anger and a sense of historical injustice, which is very difficult to resist in particular for young members of society. Thus Hafeez Saaed of the LeT, fuels Ajmal Kasab employing vitriolic videos of Narendra Modi and Praveen Togadia decrying Islam while Balasaheb Thackeray exhorts the formation of Hindu suicide squads as a response to Islamic terrorism. Meanwhile, in the forests of Giridih away from police and public eye, the Maoists prepare a 300 strong Child Liberation Army as a terror platform of the future. Isn't terrorism a emotional frustration caused by the unwillingness of those in power to engage in dialogue and correct injustice? "In many cases it is not simple ideological fervour but real material--economic and political--factors that underlie terror. Hence, it cannot be countered simply through a law-and-order approach" explains sociologist Yoginder Sikand. Wing Cmdr (Retd), Rakesh Sharma astronaut agrees "it should be a preferred, strategy because basically, this type of violence stems out of a (real or imagined) perception carried by the attackers, of being persecuted and taken advantage off". Academic and legal luminary Upendra Baxi describes present governance as "a politics of immunity and impunity, a situation where those in power can do as they want without any pull of accountability or tug of constitutionality" Can we do something to halt terrorism without increasing the death toll of innocent victims and recruiting thousands of new terrorists? "Listening to the voice of terrorism and interpreting its language is not to be mistaken for condoning it or, diminishing what democratic governments have to do to protect and police their citizens in accordance with their laws" says Dr Noa Zanolli. There is almost always an opportunity to negotiate with a government who harbour criminals, and it would be unfortunate to squander such opportunities. Srinath Raghavan of NIAS directs us to the case of Libya where "a state has been persuaded to forsake terrorism as an instrument of policy". "The crucial turn came after America and Britain began secret negotiations with Libyan officials. The Anglo-American approach was to build reciprocity into the process: every positive step taken by Libya would be matched by concessions. Between 1999 and 2003 Libya expelled terrorist groups operating on its territory, closed down training camps, and extradited suspects to other West Asian countries" Daniel Korski of the European Council on Foreign Relations urges the world community to read the writing on the wall. In his policy paper "Afghanistan: Europe's Forgotten War" he concludes that "the continuing strength of the insurgency make Western and European defeat in Afghanistan a realistic prospect. The consequences would be disastrous. Afghanistan could once again serve as a base for fundamentalist Islamic terrorism". Korski nudges the EU towards an outreach programme to the Taliban "toengage mid-ranking, "moderate" insurgents, by developing a package of financial and other incentives which could encourage them to support the government rather than the Taliban" Western diplomats consider this may well be the best opportunity to do the unthinkable and talk to the enemy. According to Tony Barber of the Financial Times, Brussels bureau, "In some quarters, the idea is mutating into something much more radical. In recent weeks I have heard at last one government expert pose an almost unthinkable question: "Why not talk with al-Qaeda itself?" In addition, Korski suggests regional co-operation "Any stability achieved in Afghanistan will remain unacceptably fragile as long as neighbours such as Pakistan, India, Russia and Iran refuse to accept that stable governance in Afghanistan is in their own long-term interests" If we are to weaken and eventually eliminate the soil where terror is born it is imperative to remove the source of Bin Laden & Co's justifications and alliances, by participating in strengthening the web of regional relationships. Of immediate importance feels sociologist Yoginder Sikand is that "India should rally international opinion to pressurise Pakistan till it takes effective action against groups like the LeT and rogue elements within the ISI". As a complementary strategy, astronaut Rakesh Sharma is of the opinion that we should garner support from other countries, shamelessly leveraging our biggest strength - our market" While considering options of 'talking to the terrorist" it is also required that we set our own house in order. "We need to rid ourselves of our 'chalta hai' attitude compounded by,' Its-ok-'as-long-as-I-get-what-I-want' approach to life, suggests Rakesh Sharma. Rafiq Siddiqui from Mumbai believes "Violent individuals and groups are a minority. We need to replace that voice and not let the country being torn apart". Supporting this opinion is John Dayal who remains confident "of the inherent wisdom, in the Indian electorate, to denounce efforts to sway public opinion by hyper-nationalist demagoguery". Sonali Mehta believes "we must stop the Raj Thackeray's pitting Maharashtrians against non Maharashtrians, causing riots, getting people killed, and that worst crime: wasting the time of the police!" Ashok Kamte's IPS batchmate warns us that "as a nation we can expect more such carnage to happen in the days to come and all of us have to be prepared for it". To allow a "first world reaction from a third world police force" he pleads that his brethren not be transferred like he has "transferred 27 times in 9 years of active policing!!. In order to effect change his plea is "because Police is hated, you don't keep yourself away from the malaise and refuse to raise a voice to improve it" Across our borders, Srinath Raghavan is of the opinion that we must engage with the Pakistanis. "Unless we remain sensitive to the domestic currents in Pakistan, a breakthrough will be difficult" he adds. He considers the "internal conditions in Pakistan are more suited to a turnaround in established policy than at any time in the recent past. The internal threat posed by radical groups is clear both to the people of Pakistan and a good number of the elected representatives" Within Pakistan, the Mutahidda Ulema Council (MUC), a group of clerics best known for their hard line views on Islam's role in society issued a fatwa rejecting suicide-bombing as 'haram' (forbidden) and 'najaaiz' (illegitimate). The statement further added: "It seems as if the government is covertly backing these attacks so that patriotic citizens may not assemble and launch a mass drive for the defence of the country" (The News [Islamabad], October 14). Sociologist Yoginder Sikand urges "The Indian state and civil society must urgently acknowledge that Islamist and Hindutva terror only feed on each other. Presenting a joint front to work together for peace and security would be a fitting reply to both radical Islamist forces and Hindutva, whose very existence is based on the frighteningly Manichaean notion of perpetual antagonism between Hindus and Muslims" By confronting these questions together, we may find ways to transcend the conditions that recreate terrorism every day, and live together with justice, and without war. As a last resort, if power moves must be made (whether to raise consciousness, deliver punishment, or demonstrate our resolve), the goal should always be getting the other side to the negotiating table, not killing or beating them into submission. -- Posted By Ranjan Kamath to All My Views (Un)Fit To Printon 12/23/2008 75, 17e main Vi Block Koramangala Bangalore 560095 Land: 9180 25631847 Cell: + 91 9341 944490 (Bangalore) Cell +91 98203 22988 ( Mumbai) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081224/0c36adc6/attachment-0001.html From anilaemmanuel at gmail.com Wed Dec 24 10:39:02 2008 From: anilaemmanuel at gmail.com (anila emmanuel) Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:39:02 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: Dear Prime minister , wake up , be a real sardar.. In-Reply-To: <59ead66c0812202354m479b5b81h800eb236abb29d53@mail.gmail.com> References: <59ead66c0812182347n244a7765n4738dc1a9bccc24b@mail.gmail.com> <59ead66c0812202354m479b5b81h800eb236abb29d53@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <59ead66c0812232109m263b38d8h1d399ab2096128da@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: anila emmanuel Date: Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 1:24 PM Subject: Fwd: Dear Prime minister , wake up , be a real sardar.. To: tavleen.singh at expressindia.com *LETTER OF EDITOR OF TIMES OF INDIA TO PRIME MINISTER* ** Dear Mr. Prime minister, *I am a typical mouse from Mumbai**...* In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that. Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bollywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. *Reason is simple;* all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement *'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this* *unfortunate people of India..* ** *Enough is enough**.* As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima. We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug. Today only your home minister resigned. *What took you so long to kick* *out this joker?* *Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family.* *Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent* *people, isn't it?* ** I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. *Believe* *me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar*. Look at all the politicians, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money. *Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief* *ministers I have seen*. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will. Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. *A common person like me* *knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your* *finance minister are not aware of it*. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. *If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything*. If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. *I am everything* Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only *WHAT I AM NOT IS INDIAN. You politicians have raped* *every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.* ** * * Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person. Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. *Just wake up, be a real SARDAR*. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holders. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find the wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambience where we can work honestly and without fear. *LET THERE BE THE RULE OF LAW .* * Everything else will be taken care of.** * Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. *Do you want to be lead by one person or * *you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?* * * Prakash B. Bajaj Editor Mumbai-Times of India Chandralok 'A" Wing, Flat No 104 97 Nepean Sea Road Mumbai 400 036 Phone 98210-71194 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081224/4f05f849/attachment.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Sat Dec 27 04:59:24 2008 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:29:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: on SATURDAY Ek Dozen Paani : Twelve Films on Water Message-ID: <684579.53702.qm@web57411.mail.re1.yahoo.com> ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: shaina anand To: s at pad.ma Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 1:02:35 PM Subject: on SATURDAY Ek Dozen Paani : Twelve Films on Water Dear all, Seasons Greetings! For those who missed this earlier, CAMP cordially invites you to the last screening (for this year) of Ek Dozen Pani, 12 short films on water. Do join us on CAMP's new rooftop for the films followed by a conversation with the young filmmakers. Saturday 27 December 2008 6:30 pm at CAMP's Rooftop 301 Alif Apartments 34-A Chuim Village Khar (W) Mumbai - 52 About: The passage of water from rain to sea via lakes, watersheds, pipes, pumps, pots, human and animal bodies, drains and sewers, describes a unique social, chemical and political structure, a map of ourselves in the modern world. More than many of us, residents in the bastis of Jogeshwari spend time arranging this substance, following it leaks and sources. As part of an investigation into the social life of water in this area, Ek Dozen Pani is a collaborative video project between two community youth organizations- Aakansha Sewa Sangh and Agaaz, with CAMP and anthropologist Nikhil Anand. Working together since March 2008, we have been thinking through questions of citizenship and distribution by looking at how residents form relationships with water and its infrastructures: including official water supply, rainwater, alternative plumbing, ground water, nallas, and so on.The films have been made with the youth groups shooting on their own, bringing their footage into a collective pool, and writing over images in analytical, diarisitic or essay styles. These twelve stories speak of water's time and place, of struggle and/over imagination. http://camputer.org/event.php?this=pani DIRECTIONS to new CAMP studio. 1. If coming from Khar, come from Khar-Danda road. (Chitrakar Dhurandar road). Pass FabIndia etc ant take the left at Hanuman Mandir/ Samudra hotel. Take the first right in a lane with a sign for CHUIM VILLAGE. Ahmed Bakery comes up on your right, stop there. 2. If coming from Ambedkar Road Khar or Bandra, head towards danda and take a left in the lane with a sign for CHUIM VILLAGE. Ahmed Bakery comes up on your right, stop there. 3. If coming from South Bandra take the rigjt at Coffee Day on Carter Road and then take the left at Olive and Out of the Blue. Follow the lane till it comes out near a Mandir. Take the Right. Ahmed Bakery is on your left. Opposite Ahmed Bakery is an empty plot with a bungalow in the back. Follow the walking path on the left of the plot till you come to a crucifix on the left and some stairs. Take the stairs up, there is a building entrance to the right. This is Alif Apartments. Go to the top floor, we are the pink door with the circuit board. Follow these directions and you will be here on time:) call 9819396646 only if lost. -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081226/72ee28e9/attachment-0001.html From jeebesh at sarai.net Sat Dec 27 13:43:06 2008 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh) Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:43:06 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Preface / Ranciere / The Nights of Labour Message-ID: <1FC09EA0-698E-4E15-BA7A-1B7A0E4A8DBD@sarai.net> dear All, Sarai will be launching its social theory translation project this February with the launch of the Hindi language version of Jacques Rancière's "The Nights of Labour: the workers' dream in 19th century France". Abhay Dube has translated the book. Ravikant is the series editor and we will soon be coming out with a series of books. Ranciere will be delivering a public talk on the launch of the Hindi translation on 6th of February at Sarai/CSDS lawns. This will be followed by a workshop on the 7th morning with him at the seminar room in CSDS. Enclosed is the new Preface by Ranciere to the Hindi language version of Nights of Labour. The preface was written in French and Rana Dasgupta has translated it into English. (the French version is also below.) warmly Jeebesh PREFACE The Indian reader who opens this book in 2009 will no doubt think it is a strange thing. How can these stories of nineteenth-century French lockmakers, tailors, cobblers and typesetters be relevant to the information revolution, the reign of immaterial production or the global market? This question, it should be said, was already present for the French reader who opened this book twenty-seven years ago. We did not speak yet of globalisation, nor of the end of the proletariat, of history or of utopia. Quite the contrary: France had recently elected a combined socialist and communist government, which proudly laid claim to the traditions of Marxism and of working class politics. And it is in this context that the book seemed to run counter to its own time, and became difficult to classify. The author was a professional philosopher who had struck his first blows, in the 1960s, by participating in the theoretical enterprise of Louis Althusser, who wished to rebuild Marxist theory. Now, instead of offering philosophical theses, he was telling stories about the French working class of the nineteenth century. And he offered nothing by way of Marxism – no analysis of the forms of industrial production, of capitalist exploitation, of social theories or of class struggles or worker movements. His workers, moreover, were not “real” workers; they were artisans from olden times, dreamers who dabbled in poetry and philosophy, who got together in the evening to found ephemeral newspapers, who became intoxicated by socialist and communist utopias but for the most part avoided doing anything about them. And the book seemed to lose itself in the aimless wanderings of these people, following the dreams of one, or the little stories others recounted in their diaries; the letters they wrote about their Sunday walks in the Paris suburbs, or the everyday concerns of those who had left for the United States to try out their dream of fraternal communalism. What on earth were readers to do with these stories in 1980? The question is not, therefore, one of geographical or temporal distance. This book may seem untimely in an era that proclaims the disappearance of the proletariat, but it also seemed so in the previous era, which claimed to represent the class that had been united by the condition of the factory and the science of capitalist production. Let me put it simply: this book is out of place in a postmodern vision for the same reasons that it was already out of place in a classical modernist vision. It runs counter to the belief, shared by modernism and postmodernism alike, in a straight line of history where cracks in the path of time are thought to be the work of time itself – the outcome of a global temporal process that both creates and destroys forms of life, consciousness and action. This book rejects this because, despite its apparent objectivity, such an idea of time always places a hierarchy upon beings and objects. The belief in historical evolution, said Walter Benjamin, legitimises the victors. For me, this belief legitimises the knowledge that decrees what is important and what is not, what makes or does not make history. It is thus that the social sciences have declared that these little stories of workers taking an afternoon walk, or straying far from the solid realities of the factory and the organised struggle, have no historical importance. In doing so they confirm the social order, which has always been built on the simple idea that the vocation of workers is to work – “and to struggle,” good progressive souls add – and that they have no time to lose in wandering, writing or thinking. This book turns this idea of time on its head. In the grand modernist narratives of the development of productive forces and of forms of class consciousness, this book sees a way of diverting the intimate energy of the very struggles they claim to represent, and re- attributing it to the order of time that was struggled against. It sees such narratives as a way of reinforcing the power of those who believe they have a masterful, external perspective on the history in which they declare everyone else to be collectively imprisoned. This idea of imprisonment, and this position of mastery, had found their radical form in the project of Louis Althusser that I had participated in. For this project, the agents of capitalist production were necessarily caught in the ideological traps produced by the system that held them in their place. That is to say that our project itself trapped them in a perfect circle: it explained that the dominated were kept in their place by ignorance of the laws of domination. But it also explained that the place they were in prevented them from knowing the laws of domination. So they were dominated because they did not understand, and they did not understand because they were dominated. This meant that all the efforts they made to struggle against their domination were blind, trapped in the dominant ideology, and only intellectuals, who were capable of perceiving the logic of the circle, could pull them out of their subjection. In the France of 1968 it became abundantly clear that the circle of domination was held in place in fact by this so-called science. It became clear that subjection and revolution had no other cause than themselves and that the science that pretended to explain subjection and inspire revolution was in fact a part of the dominant order. It is with this lesson in mind that I undertook in the 1970s the long period of research in the labour archives that culminated in this book. On the way, many surprises awaited me. I set out to find primitive revolutionary manifestos, but what I found was texts which demanded in refined language that workers be considered as equals and their arguments responded to with proper arguments. I went to consult the archives of a carpenter in order to find out about more about the conditions of labour; I first came upon a correspondence from the 1830s where this worker told a friend about a Sunday in May when he had gone out with two friends to enjoy the sunrise over the village, spend the day discussing metaphysics in an inn, and end it trying to convert the diners at the next table to their humanitarian social vision. Then I read documents in which this same worker described an entire vision of life, an unusual counter-economy which sought ways to reduce the worker’s consumption of everyday goods so that he would be more independent of the market economy, and better able to fight against it. Through these texts, and many others, I realised that workers had never needed others to explain the secrets of domination to them, and that the problem they faced was having to submit themselves, intellectually and materially, to the forms by which it inscribed itself on their bodies, and imposed upon them gestures, modes of perception, attitudes and language. “Be realistic: demand the impossible!” the protestors cried in 1968. But for these workers in 1830, it was not about demanding the impossible but making it happen themselves: of appropriating the time they did not have, either by spying opportunities in the working day or by giving up their own night of rest to discuss or to write, to compose verses or to work out philosophies. These hard-won bonuses of time and liberty were not marginal phenomena, they were not diversions from the building of the worker movement and its great ideals. They were a revolution, discreet but radical nonetheless, and they made those other things possible. They comprised the work by which men and women tore themselves away from an identity forged for them by a system of domination and affirmed themselves as independent inhabitants of a common world, capable of all the refinements and self-denials that previously had been associated only with those classes that were released from the daily concern of work and food. It is the necessity of acknowledging this revolution which gives to this book its unusual form. The book plunges us directly into workers’ words, in all their forms – from personal confidences and everyday anecdotes to fiction composed in diaries to philosophical speculations and programmes for the future. It does not seek to impose any differences in status, any hierarchy between description, fiction or argument. This does not arise from some fetishistic passion for the lived. This is generally the excuse for a division of roles in which the people are made to speak in order to prove that they do indeed speak the language of the people, which allows the poor to have the experience of the real and the flavour of the everyday in order to better reserve for itself the privilege of creative imagination and analytical language. It is precisely this division between the language of the people and literary language, between the real and fiction, between the document and the argument that these “popular” texts call into question. We will never know if their memories of childhood, their descriptions of the working day or their accounts of their encounters with language are authentic. A narrative is never a simple account of facts. It is a way of constructing – or deconstructing – a lived world. The learned philosopher and the child of the people go about it in the same way. In the third book of Plato’s Republic, Socrates asks his interlocutors to accept an unlikely story: if some people are philosophers and legislators while others are workers, it is because the gods mixed gold into the souls of the first group and iron into the souls of the second. This outlandish tale is necessary in order to give consistency to a world in which differences in condition must be accepted as differences in nature. The worker narratives presented here are like counter-myths, narratives that blur these differences in nature. This is why it was so important to me to unravel the mesh of words, in which narrative, dreams, fiction and argument are all part of the same enterprise, in order to upset the order of things that puts individuals, classes and forms of speech in their place. There is no popular intelligence occupied by practical things, nor a learned intelligence devoted to abstract thought. There is not one intelligence devoted to the real and another devoted to fiction. It is always the same intelligence. This is the message proclaimed in the same historical period by Joseph Jacotot, a teacher who broke with all tradition. While his contemporaries wanted to give the people just the instruction that was necessary and sufficient for them to adequately occupy their place in society, he called them to free themselves intellectually in order to demonstrate the equality of all intelligences (1). In the very diversity of their expression, the workers whose stories are told in this book demonstrate precisely this equality. In order to show the subversive power of their work I needed to break with the conventions of the social sciences for which these personal narratives, fictional writings and essays are no more than the confused expression of a social process which only they can know. I needed to remove the conventional labels from these texts – of testimony, or symptoms of a social reality – and to exhibit them as writing and thought that worked towards the construction of an alternative social world. That is why this book renounces the distance of explanation. It attempts instead to weave a sensory fabric of these texts so that their radical energy may resonate again in our own time, and threaten the order which gives categories to times and forms of speech. And this is the reason why our severe theorists and historians decided that this book was literature. The issue for me was to recall that the arguments of philosophers and intellectuals are made of the same common fabric of language and thought as the creations of writers and these proletarian narratives. This is also why I am not afraid that this book will suffer too much from distances of time, place and language. For it does not simply tell the story of the working class of a far-off time and place. It tells a form of experience which is not so far away from our own. Contemporary forms of capitalism, the explosion of the labour market, the new precariousness of labour and the destruction of systems of social solidarity, all create forms of life and experiences of work that are possibly closer to those of these artisans than to the universe of hi-tech workers and the global bourgeoisie given over to the frenetic consumption described by so many contemporary sociologists and philosophers. In our world, just as in theirs, the challenge is to obstruct and subvert the order of time imposed by a system of domination. To oppose the government of capitalist and state elites and their experts with an intelligence that comes from everyone and anyone. It remains for me to offer my warmest thanks to the editors and translators who have made it possible for the voices of these anonymous people, forgotten for so long, to speak in an Indian language, and so to encounter new voices with which they may mix and extend their appeal. Jacques Rancière (1) See Jacques Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, Stanford University Press, 1991 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- French Version Préface Sans doute le lecteur indien qui ouvrira ce livre en 2009 se demandera- t-il quel étrange objet il a entre les mains. En quoi ces histoires de serruriers, tailleurs, cordonniers ou typographes français du dix- neuvième siècle peuvent-ils le concerner à l’époque de la révolution informatique, du règne de la production immatérielle et du marché mondial ? Cette question, à vrai dire, se posait déjà au lecteur français qui ouvrait ce livre il y a vingt-sept ans. Sans doute, à l’époque, ne parlait-on pas encore de globalisation, non plus que de fin du prolétariat, de l’histoire et des utopies. Tout au contraire : la France venait de se doter d’un gouvernement socialiste à participation communiste qui revendiquait bien haut l’héritage du marxisme et de la classe ouvrière. Et c’est par rapport à cet héritage que le livre venait à contretemps et prenait l’allure d’un objet inclassable. L’auteur était philosophe de profession et il avait fait ses premières armes, dans les années 1960, en participant à l’entreprise théorique de Louis Althusser qui voulait refonder la théorie marxiste. Or, au lieu d’argumenter des thèses philosophiques, il racontait des histoires qui concernaient la classe ouvrière française du XIX° siècle. Et, en fait de marxisme, il ne donnait aucune analyse des formes de la production industrielle, de l’exploitation capitaliste, des théories sociales, ni des luttes des partis et syndicats ouvriers. Ses ouvriers d’ailleurs n’étaient pas des « vrais » ouvriers, c’étaient des artisans de l’ancien temps, des rêveurs qui se mêlaient de faire des vers et d’inventer des philosophies, se réunissaient le soir pour créer des journaux éphémères, se prenaient de passion pour les utopies socialistes et communistes mais se dérobaient le plus souvent à leur application. Et le livre se perdait apparemment sur leurs chemins vagabonds, accompagnant les rêveries de l’un, les petites histoires que d’autres racontaient dans leurs journaux, les lettres qu’ils échangeaient pour parler de leurs promenades dominicales dans la banlieue parisienne ou des soucis quotidiens de ceux qui étaient partis aux Etats-Unis pour expérimenter leur rêve de communauté fraternelle. Qu’est-ce que les lecteurs de 1980 pouvaient bien faire de ces histoires ? La question n’est donc pas de distance géographique ni d’éloignement temporel. Si ce livre est à contretemps pour une époque qui proclame la disparition du prolétariat, il l’était déjà pour l’époque qui se réclamait de la consistance de la classe unie par la condition de l’usine et la science de la production capitaliste. Disons-le simplement : il est intempestif pour une vision postmoderne parce qu’il l’était déjà pour une vision moderniste classique. Il prend en effet à rebours la croyance, également partagée par le modernisme et le postmodernisme, en une ligne droite de l’histoire où les ruptures dans le cours du temps sont pensées comme l’œuvre du temps lui-même, l’œuvre d’un processus temporel global engendrant et supprimant tour à tour des formes de vie, de conscience et d’action. Il refuse cette idée du temps, parce qu’elle est toujours , sous son apparente objectivité, une manière de hiérarchiser, de mettre les choses et les êtres à leur place. La croyance à l’évolution historique, disait Walter Benjamin, est la légitimation des vainqueurs. Elle est pour moi la légitimation du savoir qui décrète ce qui est ou non important, ce qui fait ou non histoire. C’est ainsi que les sciences sociales ont déclaré sans importance historique ces petites histoires d’ouvriers en promenade ou en divagation loin des réalités solides de l’usine et de la lutte organisée. Ce faisant elles confirmaient l’ordre social qui s’est toujours construit sur l’idée simple que les travailleurs ont pour vocation de travailler – les bonnes âmes progressistes ajoutent : et de lutter – et qu’ils n’ont pas de temps à perdre pour jouer les flâneurs, les écrivains ou les penseurs. Ce livre prend, de fait, cette idée du temps à revers. Dans les grands récits modernistes du développement des forces productives et des formes de conscience de classe il voit une manière de détourner l’énergie intime des luttes mêmes dont ils se réclament , de l’attribuer à nouveau à ce temps contre lequel elles s’étaient rebellés .Il y voit une manière d’assurer le pouvoir de ceux qui s’arrogent le regard du maître sur le processus historique dans lequel ils déclarent les autres collectivement enfermés. Cette déclaration d’enfermement et cette position de maîtrise avaient trouvé leur forme radicale dans l’entreprise althussérienne à laquelle j’avais participé. Celle-ci décrivait les agents des rapports de production capitalistes comme nécessairement enfermés dans les rets de l’idéologie produite par le système qui les tenait à leur place. C’est-à-dire qu’elle les enfermait elle-même dans un cercle parfait : elle expliquait que les dominés étaient maintenus à leur place par ignorance des lois de la domination. Mais elle expliquait aussi que la place où ils étaient les empêchait de comprendre les lois de la domination : ils étaient dominés parce qu’ils ne comprenaient, et ils ne comprenaient pas parce qu’ils étaient dominés. Cela voulait dire que tous les efforts qu’ils faisaient pour lutter contre la domination étaient eux-mêmes aveugles, piégés par l’idéologie dominante, et que seuls les savants, capables de percevoir la logique du cercle, pouvaient les tirer de leur sujétion. Dans la France de 1968, il apparut avec force que ce cercle de la domination était en fait celui de cette prétendue science. Il apparut que la sujétion et la révolte n’avaient pas d’autre cause qu’elles-mêmes et que la science qui prétendait expliquer la sujétion et instruire la révolte était complice de l’ordre dominant. C’est sous l’effet de cette leçon des faits que j’entrepris dans les années 1970 le long travail de recherche dans les archives ouvrières qui aboutit à ce livre. Sur ce chemin, bien des surprises m’attendaient. J’étais parti à la recherche des manifestes sauvages de la révolte ; or je tombais sur des textes d’une écriture bien polie demandant qu’on considère les ouvriers comme des égaux et qu’on réponde à leurs raisons par des raisons. J’étais allé consulter les archives d’un ouvrier menuisier , pour y trouver des renseignements sur les conditions du travail : je tombais d’abord sur une correspondance des années 1830 où cet ouvrier racontait à un ami un dimanche de mai où il était parti avec deux compagnons jouir du lever de soleil sur le fleuve, discuter de métaphysique dans une auberge et employer la fin de la journée à convertir à leur foi humanitaire et sociale les dîneurs de la table voisine. Je lus ensuite les textes où ce même ouvrier décrivait tout un plan de vie, une contre-économie paradoxale où chaque article du budget quotidien de l’ouvrier était l’objet d’une attention destinée à consommer encore moins pour accroître son indépendance et sa capacité de lutte contre l’économie marchande. A travers ces textes et bien d’autres, il apparaissait que les ouvriers n’avaient jamais eu besoin qu’on leur explique les secrets de la domination, que leur problème était de se soustraire, intellectuellement et matériellement, aux formes par lesquelles celle-ci s’imprimait sur leur corps, leur imposait des gestes, des modes de perception, des attitudes et un langage. « Soyez réalistes, demandez l’impossible », proclamaient les manifestants de mai 1968. Pour ces ouvriers de1830 , la question n’était pas de demander l’impossible, mais de le réaliser par eux-mêmes, de s’approprier ce temps qui leur était refusé en apprenant au regard et à la pensée à se libérer dans l’exercice même du travail quotidien, ou en gagnant sur la nuit du repos le temps de discuter, d’écrire , de composer des vers ou d’élaborer des philosophies. Ces gains de temps et de liberté n’étaient pas des phénomènes marginaux ou des diversions par rapport à la constitution du mouvement ouvrier et de ses grands objectifs. Ils étaient la révolution à la fois discrète et radicale qui les rendait possibles , le travail par lequel des hommes et des femmes s’arrachaient à une identité forgée par la domination et s’affirmaient comme des habitants à part entière d’un monde commun, capables de tous les raffinements ou de toutes les ascèses jusque là réservées aux classes délivrées du souci quotidien du travail et du pain . C’est la nécessité de rendre compte de cette révolution qui donne à ce livre sa structure singulière. Il nous introduit directement dans la parole de ces ouvriers, sous toutes ses formes, de la confidence personnelle ou du récit de l’expérience quotidienne aux spéculations philosophiques et aux programmes d’avenir, en passant par les histoires fictives que racontent leurs journaux. Il n’introduit aucune différence de statut, aucune hiérarchie entre la description, la fiction ou l’argumentation. Ce n’est pas au nom d’une passion fétichiste du vécu. Celle-ci est généralement l’alibi d’un partage des rôles qui donne la parole au peuple pour vérifier qu’il parle bien la langue du peuple, qui accorde aux pauvres l’expérience du réel et la saveur du quotidien pour mieux se réserver le privilège de l’imagination créatrice et de la parole explicatrice. Or c’est justement ce partage des rôles entre la langue du peuple et la langue littéraire , le réel et la fiction, le document et l’argument que ces textes « populaires » contestent. Nous ne saurons jamais si leurs souvenirs d’enfance, leurs descriptions de la journée au travail ou leurs récits de la rencontre avec l’écriture sont authentiques. Un récit n’est pas une simple relation des faits, c’est une manière de construire – ou de déconstruire- un monde vécu . Le philosophe savant et l’enfant du peuple y procèdent également. Au livre III de la République de Platon, Socrate demande à ses interlocuteurs d’admettre une histoire invraisemblable : si les uns sont philosophes et législateurs tandis que d’autres sont ouvriers, c’est parce que la divinité a mêlé de l’or dans l’âme des premiers et du fer dans l’âme des seconds. Cette histoire invraisemblable est nécessaire pour donner consistance à un monde où la différence des conditions doit être acceptée comme différence des natures. Les récits ouvriers ici présentés sont comme des contre-mythes, des récits qui brouillent cette différence des natures. C’est pourquoi il m’importait de dérouler ce tissu de paroles où le récit, la rêverie, la fiction et l’argumentation font partie d’un même travail pour renverser l’ordre des choses qui met les individus, les classes et les discours à leur place. Il n’y a pas une intelligence populaire occupée aux choses pratiques et une intelligence savante vouée à la pensée abstraite. Il n’y a pas une intelligence vouée au réel, une autre vouée à la fiction. C’est toujours la même intelligence qui est à l’œuvre. Telle est la thèse que proclamait à la même époque un pédagogue en rupture avec toute la tradition, Joseph Jacotot. Alors que ses contemporains voulaient donner aux gens du peuple l’instruction nécessaire et suffisante pour qu’ils occupent adéquatement leur place dans la société, il les appelait à s’émanciper intellectuellement pour vérifier l’égalité des intelligences[1]. C’est bien à cette vérification de l’égalité que les ouvriers émancipés dont ce livre raconte l’histoire s’appliquent dans la diversité même de leurs expressions. Pour rendre compte de la puissance subversive de ce travail il me fallait rompre avec les habitudes de la science sociale pour qui ces récits personnels, ces fictions ou ces discours ne sont que des expressions confuses d’un processus social qu’elle est seule à connaître. Il fallait soustraire ces paroles à leur statut de témoignages ou de symptômes d’une réalité sociale pour les montrer comme une écriture et une pensée à l’œuvre dans la construction d’un autre monde social. C’est pourquoi ce livre a renoncé à la distance qui explique. Il s’est employé à créer le tissu sensible propre à faire résonner dans notre présent ce bouleversement de l’ordre qui met les temps et les discours à leur place. C’est pourquoi les théoriciens et historiens sévères ont jugé que c’était là de la littérature. Il s’agissait de fait pour moi de rappeler que les raisons du philosophe et du savant sont taillées dans le même tissu commun du langage et de la pensée que les inventions des écrivains et que ces récits prolétaires. C’est aussi pourquoi je ne crains pas trop pour ce livre les effets de la distance des temps, des lieux et des langues. Car il ne raconte pas simplement l’histoire d’une classe ouvrière d’un autre âge en un lieu éloigné. Il raconte une forme d’expérience qui n’est pas si loin de la nôtre. Les formes actuelles du capitalisme , l’éclatement du marché du travail, la précarisation des emplois et la destruction des systèmes de solidarité sociale créent des expériences du travail et des formes de vie peut-être plus proches de celles de ces artisans que de l’ univers de travailleurs high-tech et de petite bourgeoisie mondiale livrée à une consommation frénétique décrit par tant de sociologues et de philosophes aujourd’hui. Dans ce monde aussi la question est d’interrompre et de subvertir l’ordre du temps qu’impose la domination. Elle est d’opposer au gouvernement des élites capitalistes et étatiques et de leurs experts une intelligence qui est celle de tous et de n’importe qui. Il me reste à remercier bien chaleureusement les éditeurs et traducteurs qui ont permis à ces voix des anonymes longtemps oubliées de résonner en langue indienne et de rencontrer dans cette langue nouvelle d’autres voix pour se mêler aux leurs et prolonger leur appel. Jacques Rancière -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081227/0c4b907f/attachment-0001.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Sat Dec 27 23:12:45 2008 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:42:45 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Preface / Ranciere / The Nights of Labour References: <1FC09EA0-698E-4E15-BA7A-1B7A0E4A8DBD@sarai.net> Message-ID: <21825.99557.qm@web57413.mail.re1.yahoo.com> Another text that may be of interest here is Beatriz Sarlo's "The Technical Imagination" (2008), about early 20th century Argentina (mostly Buenos Aires). An account of the culture of amateur technicians, scientists and so called quacks (none of whom could be considered part of the engineering or intellectual class) who experimented with and innovated technologies such as radio , TV etc. Great to see this being translated. -Curt ________________________________ From: Jeebesh To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 2:13:06 AM Subject: [Urbanstudy] Preface / Ranciere / The Nights of Labour dear All, Sarai will be launching its social theory translation project this February with the launch of the Hindi language version of Jacques Rancière's "The Nights of Labour: the workers' dream in 19th century France". Abhay Dube has translated the book. Ravikant is the series editor and we will soon be coming out with a series of books. Ranciere will be delivering a public talk on the launch of the Hindi translation on 6th of February at Sarai/CSDS lawns. This will be followed by a workshop on the 7th morning with him at the seminar room in CSDS. Enclosed is the new Preface by Ranciere to the Hindi language version of Nights of Labour. The preface was written in French and Rana Dasgupta has translated it into English. (the French version is also below.) warmly Jeebesh PREFACE The Indian reader who opens this book in 2009 will no doubt think it is a strange thing. How can these stories of nineteenth-century French lockmakers, tailors, cobblers and typesetters be relevant to the information revolution, the reign of immaterial production or the global market? This question, it should be said, was already present for the French reader who opened this book twenty-seven years ago. We did not speak yet of globalisation, nor of the end of the proletariat, of history or of utopia. Quite the contrary: France had recently elected a combined socialist and communist government, which proudly laid claim to the traditions of Marxism and of working class politics. And it is in this context that the book seemed to run counter to its own time, and became difficult to classify. The author was a professional philosopher who had struck his first blows, in the 1960s, by participating in the theoretical enterprise of Louis Althusser, who wished to rebuild Marxist theory. Now, instead of offering philosophical theses, he was telling stories about the French working class of the nineteenth century. And he offered nothing by way of Marxism – no analysis of the forms of industrial production, of capitalist exploitation, of social theories or of class struggles or worker movements. His workers, moreover, were not “real” workers; they were artisans from olden times, dreamers who dabbled in poetry and philosophy, who got together in the evening to found ephemeral newspapers, who became intoxicated by socialist and communist utopias but for the most part avoided doing anything about them. And the book seemed to lose itself in the aimless wanderings of these people, following the dreams of one, or the little stories others recounted in their diaries; the letters they wrote about their Sunday walks in the Paris suburbs, or the everyday concerns of those who had left for the United States to try out their dream of fraternal communalism. What on earth were readers to do with these stories in 1980? The question is not, therefore, one of geographical or temporal distance. This book may seem untimely in an era that proclaims the disappearance of the proletariat, but it also seemed so in the previous era, which claimed to represent the class that had been united by the condition of the factory and the science of capitalist production. Let me put it simply: this book is out of place in a postmodern vision for the same reasons that it was already out of place in a classical modernist vision. It runs counter to the belief, shared by modernism and postmodernism alike, in a straight line of history where cracks in the path of time are thought to be the work of time itself – the outcome of a global temporal process that both creates and destroys forms of life, consciousness and action. This book rejects this because, despite its apparent objectivity, such an idea of time always places a hierarchy upon beings and objects. The belief in historical evolution, said Walter Benjamin, legitimises the victors. For me, this belief legitimises the knowledge that decrees what is important and what is not, what makes or does not make history. It is thus that the social sciences have declared that these little stories of workers taking an afternoon walk, or straying far from the solid realities of the factory and the organised struggle, have no historical importance. In doing so they confirm the social order, which has always been built on the simple idea that the vocation of workers is to work – “and to struggle,” good progressive souls add – and that they have no time to lose in wandering, writing or thinking. This book turns this idea of time on its head. In the grand modernist narratives of the development of productive forces and of forms of class consciousness, this book sees a way of diverting the intimate energy of the very struggles they claim to represent, and re-attributing it to the order of time that was struggled against. It sees such narratives as a way of reinforcing the power of those who believe they have a masterful, external perspective on the history in which they declare everyone else to be collectively imprisoned. This idea of imprisonment, and this position of mastery, had found their radical form in the project of Louis Althusser that I had participated in. For this project, the agents of capitalist production were necessarily caught in the ideological traps produced by the system that held them in their place. That is to say that our project itself trapped them in a perfect circle: it explained that the dominated were kept in their place by ignorance of the laws of domination. But it also explained that the place they were in prevented them from knowing the laws of domination. So they were dominated because they did not understand, and they did not understand because they were dominated. This meant that all the efforts they made to struggle against their domination were blind, trapped in the dominant ideology, and only intellectuals, who were capable of perceiving the logic of the circle, could pull them out of their subjection. In the France of 1968 it became abundantly clear that the circle of domination was held in place in fact by this so-called science. It became clear that subjection and revolution had no other cause than themselves and that the science that pretended to explain subjection and inspire revolution was in fact a part of the dominant order. It is with this lesson in mind that I undertook in the 1970s the long period of research in the labour archives that culminated in this book. On the way, many surprises awaited me. I set out to find primitive revolutionary manifestos, but what I found was texts which demanded in refined language that workers be considered as equals and their arguments responded to with proper arguments. I went to consult the archives of a carpenter in order to find out about more about the conditions of labour; I first came upon a correspondence from the 1830s where this worker told a friend about a Sunday in May when he had gone out with two friends to enjoy the sunrise over the village, spend the day discussing metaphysics in an inn, and end it trying to convert the diners at the next table to their humanitarian social vision. Then I read documents in which this same worker described an entire vision of life, an unusual counter-economy which sought ways to reduce the worker’s consumption of everyday goods so that he would be more independent of the market economy, and better able to fight against it. Through these texts, and many others, I realised that workers had never needed others to explain the secrets of domination to them, and that the problem they faced was having to submit themselves, intellectually and materially, to the forms by which it inscribed itself on their bodies, and imposed upon them gestures, modes of perception, attitudes and language. “Be realistic: demand the impossible!” the protestors cried in 1968. But for these workers in 1830, it was not about demanding the impossible but making it happen themselves: of appropriating the time they did not have, either by spying opportunities in the working day or by giving up their own night of rest to discuss or to write, to compose verses or to work out philosophies. These hard-won bonuses of time and liberty were not marginal phenomena, they were not diversions from the building of the worker movement and its great ideals. They were a revolution, discreet but radical nonetheless, and they made those other things possible. They comprised the work by which men and women tore themselves away from an identity forged for them by a system of domination and affirmed themselves as independent inhabitants of a common world, capable of all the refinements and self-denials that previously had been associated only with those classes that were released from the daily concern of work and food. It is the necessity of acknowledging this revolution which gives to this book its unusual form. The book plunges us directly into workers’ words, in all their forms – from personal confidences and everyday anecdotes to fiction composed in diaries to philosophical speculations and programmes for the future. It does not seek to impose any differences in status, any hierarchy between description, fiction or argument. This does not arise from some fetishistic passion for the lived. This is generally the excuse for a division of roles in which the people are made to speak in order to prove that they do indeed speak the language of the people, which allows the poor to have the experience of the real and the flavour of the everyday in order to better reserve for itself the privilege of creative imagination and analytical language. It is precisely this division between the language of the people and literary language, between the real and fiction, between the document and the argument that these “popular” texts call into question. We will never know if their memories of childhood, their descriptions of the working day or their accounts of their encounters with language are authentic. A narrative is never a simple account of facts. It is a way of constructing – or deconstructing – a lived world. The learned philosopher and the child of the people go about it in the same way. In the third book of Plato’s Republic, Socrates asks his interlocutors to accept an unlikely story: if some people are philosophers and legislators while others are workers, it is because the gods mixed gold into the souls of the first group and iron into the souls of the second. This outlandish tale is necessary in order to give consistency to a world in which differences in condition must be accepted as differences in nature. The worker narratives presented here are like counter-myths, narratives that blur these differences in nature. This is why it was so important to me to unravel the mesh of words, in which narrative, dreams, fiction and argument are all part of the same enterprise, in order to upset the order of things that puts individuals, classes and forms of speech in their place. There is no popular intelligence occupied by practical things, nor a learned intelligence devoted to abstract thought. There is not one intelligence devoted to the real and another devoted to fiction. It is always the same intelligence. This is the message proclaimed in the same historical period by Joseph Jacotot, a teacher who broke with all tradition. While his contemporaries wanted to give the people just the instruction that was necessary and sufficient for them to adequately occupy their place in society, he called them to free themselves intellectually in order to demonstrate the equality of all intelligences (1). In the very diversity of their expression, the workers whose stories are told in this book demonstrate precisely this equality. In order to show the subversive power of their work I needed to break with the conventions of the social sciences for which these personal narratives, fictional writings and essays are no more than the confused expression of a social process which only they can know. I needed to remove the conventional labels from these texts – of testimony, or symptoms of a social reality – and to exhibit them as writing and thought that worked towards the construction of an alternative social world. That is why this book renounces the distance of explanation. It attempts instead to weave a sensory fabric of these texts so that their radical energy may resonate again in our own time, and threaten the order which gives categories to times and forms of speech. And this is the reason why our severe theorists and historians decided that this book was literature. The issue for me was to recall that the arguments of philosophers and intellectuals are made of the same common fabric of language and thought as the creations of writers and these proletarian narratives. This is also why I am not afraid that this book will suffer too much from distances of time, place and language. For it does not simply tell the story of the working class of a far-off time and place. It tells a form of experience which is not so far away from our own. Contemporary forms of capitalism, the explosion of the labour market, the new precariousness of labour and the destruction of systems of social solidarity, all create forms of life and experiences of work that are possibly closer to those of these artisans than to the universe of hi-tech workers and the global bourgeoisie given over to the frenetic consumption described by so many contemporary sociologists and philosophers. In our world, just as in theirs, the challenge is to obstruct and subvert the order of time imposed by a system of domination. To oppose the government of capitalist and state elites and their experts with an intelligence that comes from everyone and anyone. It remains for me to offer my warmest thanks to the editors and translators who have made it possible for the voices of these anonymous people, forgotten for so long, to speak in an Indian language, and so to encounter new voices with which they may mix and extend their appeal. Jacques Rancière (1) See Jacques Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, Stanford University Press, 1991 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- French Version Préface Sans doute le lecteur indien qui ouvrira ce livre en 2009 se demandera-t-il quel étrange objet il a entre les mains. En quoi ces histoires de serruriers, tailleurs, cordonniers ou typographes français du dix-neuvième siècle peuvent-ils le concerner à l’époque de la révolution informatique, du règne de la production immatérielle et du marché mondial ? Cette question, à vrai dire, se posait déjà au lecteur français qui ouvrait ce livre il y a vingt-sept ans. Sans doute, à l’époque, ne parlait-on pas encore de globalisation, non plus que de fin du prolétariat, de l’histoire et des utopies. Tout au contraire : la France venait de se doter d’un gouvernement socialiste à participation communiste qui revendiquait bien haut l’héritage du marxisme et de la classe ouvrière. Et c’est par rapport à cet héritage que le livre venait à contretemps et prenait l’allure d’un objet inclassable. L’auteur était philosophe de profession et il avait fait ses premières armes, dans les années 1960, en participant à l’entreprise théorique de Louis Althusser qui voulait refonder la théorie marxiste. Or, au lieu d’argumenter des thèses philosophiques, il racontait des histoires qui concernaient la classe ouvrière française du XIX° siècle. Et, en fait de marxisme, il ne donnait aucune analyse des formes de la production industrielle, de l’exploitation capitaliste, des théories sociales, ni des luttes des partis et syndicats ouvriers. Ses ouvriers d’ailleurs n’étaient pas des « vrais » ouvriers, c’étaient des artisans de l’ancien temps, des rêveurs qui se mêlaient de faire des vers et d’inventer des philosophies, se réunissaient le soir pour créer des journaux éphémères, se prenaient de passion pour les utopies socialistes et communistes mais se dérobaient le plus souvent à leur application. Et le livre se perdait apparemment sur leurs chemins vagabonds, accompagnant les rêveries de l’un, les petites histoires que d’autres racontaient dans leurs journaux, les lettres qu’ils échangeaient pour parler de leurs promenades dominicales dans la banlieue parisienne ou des soucis quotidiens de ceux qui étaient partis aux Etats-Unis pour expérimenter leur rêve de communauté fraternelle. Qu’est-ce que les lecteurs de 1980 pouvaient bien faire de ces histoires ? La question n’est donc pas de distance géographique ni d’éloignement temporel. Si ce livre est à contretemps pour une époque qui proclame la disparition du prolétariat, il l’était déjà pour l’époque qui se réclamait de la consistance de la classe unie par la condition de l’usine et la science de la production capitaliste.. Disons-le simplement : il est intempestif pour une vision postmoderne parce qu’il l’était déjà pour une vision moderniste classique. Il prend en effet à rebours la croyance, également partagée par le modernisme et le postmodernisme, en une ligne droite de l’histoire où les ruptures dans le cours du temps sont pensées comme l’œuvre du temps lui-même, l’œuvre d’un processus temporel global engendrant et supprimant tour à tour des formes de vie, de conscience et d’action. Il refuse cette idée du temps, parce qu’elle est toujours , sous son apparente objectivité, une manière de hiérarchiser, de mettre les choses et les êtres à leur place. La croyance à l’évolution historique, disait Walter Benjamin, est la légitimation des vainqueurs. Elle est pour moi la légitimation du savoir qui décrète ce qui est ou non important, ce qui fait ou non histoire. C’est ainsi que les sciences sociales ont déclaré sans importance historique ces petites histoires d’ouvriers en promenade ou en divagation loin des réalités solides de l’usine et de la lutte organisée. Ce faisant elles confirmaient l’ordre social qui s’est toujours construit sur l’idée simple que les travailleurs ont pour vocation de travailler – les bonnes âmes progressistes ajoutent : et de lutter – et qu’ils n’ont pas de temps à perdre pour jouer les flâneurs, les écrivains ou les penseurs. Ce livre prend, de fait, cette idée du temps à revers. Dans les grands récits modernistes du développement des forces productives et des formes de conscience de classe il voit une manière de détourner l’énergie intime des luttes mêmes dont ils se réclament , de l’attribuer à nouveau à ce temps contre lequel elles s’étaient rebellés .Il y voit une manière d’assurer le pouvoir de ceux qui s’arrogent le regard du maître sur le processus historique dans lequel ils déclarent les autres collectivement enfermés. Cette déclaration d’enfermement et cette position de maîtrise avaient trouvé leur forme radicale dans l’entreprise althussérienne à laquelle j’avais participé. Celle-ci décrivait les agents des rapports de production capitalistes comme nécessairement enfermés dans les rets de l’idéologie produite par le système qui les tenait à leur place. C’est-à-dire qu’elle les enfermait elle-même dans un cercle parfait : elle expliquait que les dominés étaient maintenus à leur place par ignorance des lois de la domination. Mais elle expliquait aussi que la place où ils étaient les empêchait de comprendre les lois de la domination : ils étaient dominés parce qu’ils ne comprenaient, et ils ne comprenaient pas parce qu’ils étaient dominés. Cela voulait dire que tous les efforts qu’ils faisaient pour lutter contre la domination étaient eux-mêmes aveugles, piégés par l’idéologie dominante, et que seuls les savants, capables de percevoir la logique du cercle, pouvaient les tirer de leur sujétion. Dans la France de 1968, il apparut avec force que ce cercle de la domination était en fait celui de cette prétendue science. Il apparut que la sujétion et la révolte n’avaient pas d’autre cause qu’elles-mêmes et que la science qui prétendait expliquer la sujétion et instruire la révolte était complice de l’ordre dominant. C’est sous l’effet de cette leçon des faits que j’entrepris dans les années 1970 le long travail de recherche dans les archives ouvrières qui aboutit à ce livre. Sur ce chemin, bien des surprises m’attendaient. J’étais parti à la recherche des manifestes sauvages de la révolte ; or je tombais sur des textes d’une écriture bien polie demandant qu’on considère les ouvriers comme des égaux et qu’on réponde à leurs raisons par des raisons. J’étais allé consulter les archives d’un ouvrier menuisier , pour y trouver des renseignements sur les conditions du travail : je tombais d’abord sur une correspondance des années 1830 où cet ouvrier racontait à un ami un dimanche de mai où il était parti avec deux compagnons jouir du lever de soleil sur le fleuve, discuter de métaphysique dans une auberge et employer la fin de la journée à convertir à leur foi humanitaire et sociale les dîneurs de la table voisine. Je lus ensuite les textes où ce même ouvrier décrivait tout un plan de vie, une contre-économie paradoxale où chaque article du budget quotidien de l’ouvrier était l’objet d’une attention destinée à consommer encore moins pour accroître son indépendance et sa capacité de lutte contre l’économie marchande. A travers ces textes et bien d’autres, il apparaissait que les ouvriers n’avaient jamais eu besoin qu’on leur explique les secrets de la domination, que leur problème était de se soustraire, intellectuellement et matériellement, aux formes par lesquelles celle-ci s’imprimait sur leur corps, leur imposait des gestes, des modes de perception, des attitudes et un langage. « Soyez réalistes, demandez l’impossible », proclamaient les manifestants de mai 1968. Pour ces ouvriers de1830 , la question n’était pas de demander l’impossible, mais de le réaliser par eux-mêmes, de s’approprier ce temps qui leur était refusé en apprenant au regard et à la pensée à se libérer dans l’exercice même du travail quotidien, ou en gagnant sur la nuit du repos le temps de discuter, d’écrire , de composer des vers ou d’élaborer des philosophies. Ces gains de temps et de liberté n’étaient pas des phénomènes marginaux ou des diversions par rapport à la constitution du mouvement ouvrier et de ses grands objectifs. Ils étaient la révolution à la fois discrète et radicale qui les rendait possibles , le travail par lequel des hommes et des femmes s’arrachaient à une identité forgée par la domination et s’affirmaient comme des habitants à part entière d’un monde commun, capables de tous les raffinements ou de toutes les ascèses jusque là réservées aux classes délivrées du souci quotidien du travail et du pain . C’est la nécessité de rendre compte de cette révolution qui donne à ce livre sa structure singulière. Il nous introduit directement dans la parole de ces ouvriers, sous toutes ses formes, de la confidence personnelle ou du récit de l’expérience quotidienne aux spéculations philosophiques et aux programmes d’avenir, en passant par les histoires fictives que racontent leurs journaux. Il n’introduit aucune différence de statut, aucune hiérarchie entre la description, la fiction ou l’argumentation. Ce n’est pas au nom d’une passion fétichiste du vécu. Celle-ci est généralement l’alibi d’un partage des rôles qui donne la parole au peuple pour vérifier qu’il parle bien la langue du peuple, qui accorde aux pauvres l’expérience du réel et la saveur du quotidien pour mieux se réserver le privilège de l’imagination créatrice et de la parole explicatrice. Or c’est justement ce partage des rôles entre la langue du peuple et la langue littéraire , le réel et la fiction, le document et l’argument que ces textes « populaires » contestent. Nous ne saurons jamais si leurs souvenirs d’enfance, leurs descriptions de la journée au travail ou leurs récits de la rencontre avec l’écriture sont authentiques. Un récit n’est pas une simple relation des faits, c’est une manière de construire – ou de déconstruire- un monde vécu . Le philosophe savant et l’enfant du peuple y procèdent également. Au livre III de la République de Platon, Socrate demande à ses interlocuteurs d’admettre une histoire invraisemblable : si les uns sont philosophes et législateurs tandis que d’autres sont ouvriers, c’est parce que la divinité a mêlé de l’or dans l’âme des premiers et du fer dans l’âme des seconds. Cette histoire invraisemblable est nécessaire pour donner consistance à un monde où la différence des conditions doit être acceptée comme différence des natures. Les récits ouvriers ici présentés sont comme des contre-mythes, des récits qui brouillent cette différence des natures. C’est pourquoi il m’importait de dérouler ce tissu de paroles où le récit, la rêverie, la fiction et l’argumentation font partie d’un même travail pour renverser l’ordre des choses qui met les individus, les classes et les discours à leur place. Il n’y a pas une intelligence populaire occupée aux choses pratiques et une intelligence savante vouée à la pensée abstraite. Il n’y a pas une intelligence vouée au réel, une autre vouée à la fiction. C’est toujours la même intelligence qui est à l’œuvre. Telle est la thèse que proclamait à la même époque un pédagogue en rupture avec toute la tradition, Joseph Jacotot. Alors que ses contemporains voulaient donner aux gens du peuple l’instruction nécessaire et suffisante pour qu’ils occupent adéquatement leur place dans la société, il les appelait à s’émanciper intellectuellement pour vérifier l’égalité des intelligences[1]. C’est bien à cette vérification de l’égalité que les ouvriers émancipés dont ce livre raconte l’histoire s’appliquent dans la diversité même de leurs expressions. Pour rendre compte de la puissance subversive de ce travail il me fallait rompre avec les habitudes de la science sociale pour qui ces récits personnels, ces fictions ou ces discours ne sont que des expressions confuses d’un processus social qu’elle est seule à connaître. Il fallait soustraire ces paroles à leur statut de témoignages ou de symptômes d’une réalité sociale pour les montrer comme une écriture et une pensée à l’œuvre dans la construction d’un autre monde social. C’est pourquoi ce livre a renoncé à la distance qui explique. Il s’est employé à créer le tissu sensible propre à faire résonner dans notre présent ce bouleversement de l’ordre qui met les temps et les discours à leur place. C’est pourquoi les théoriciens et historiens sévères ont jugé que c’était là de la littérature. Il s’agissait de fait pour moi de rappeler que les raisons du philosophe et du savant sont taillées dans le même tissu commun du langage et de la pensée que les inventions des écrivains et que ces récits prolétaires. C’est aussi pourquoi je ne crains pas trop pour ce livre les effets de la distance des temps, des lieux et des langues. Car il ne raconte pas simplement l’histoire d’une classe ouvrière d’un autre âge en un lieu éloigné. Il raconte une forme d’expérience qui n’est pas si loin de la nôtre. Les formes actuelles du capitalisme , l’éclatement du marché du travail, la précarisation des emplois et la destruction des systèmes de solidarité sociale créent des expériences du travail et des formes de vie peut-être plus proches de celles de ces artisans que de l’ univers de travailleurs high-tech et de petite bourgeoisie mondiale livrée à une consommation frénétique décrit par tant de sociologues et de philosophes aujourd’hui. Dans ce monde aussi la question est d’interrompre et de subvertir l’ordre du temps qu’impose la domination. Elle est d’opposer au gouvernement des élites capitalistes et étatiques et de leurs experts une intelligence qui est celle de tous et de n’importe qui. Il me reste à remercier bien chaleureusement les éditeurs et traducteurs qui ont permis à ces voix des anonymes longtemps oubliées de résonner en langue indienne et de rencontrer dans cette langue nouvelle d’autres voix pour se mêler aux leurs et prolonger leur appel. Jacques Rancière -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20081227/6c77cf48/attachment-0001.html