From rana at ranadasgupta.com Fri Dec 1 10:23:55 2006 From: rana at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:23:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Latest US prison figures - every time they're published they're "record level" Message-ID: <456FB563.9050707@ranadasgupta.com> always so difficult to determine what america "really" is. but it's clear that incarceration is entirely necessary to the structure. R Prison population reaches record level A record 7 million people - one in every 32 American adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the US justice department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison, an increase of 2.7% on the previous year, 4.1 million on probation and 784,208 on parole. Men still far outnumber women in US jails - although the female population is growing faster - while racial disparities persist. In the 25-29 age group, 8.1% of black men - about one in 13 - are incarcerated, compared with 2.6% of Hispanic men and 1.1% of white men. -- Rana Dasgupta www.ranadasgupta.com From abhishek.hazra at gmail.com Fri Dec 1 17:21:51 2006 From: abhishek.hazra at gmail.com (Abhishek Hazra) Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:21:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] artists enter eBay, this FRIDAY In-Reply-To: <5AD17011-7792-4946-BAB8-DA86E16898BA@umich.edu> References: <5AD17011-7792-4946-BAB8-DA86E16898BA@umich.edu> Message-ID: <6deae8300612010351q1cacf66fk52de610adcbe29d6@mail.gmail.com> Browse through eBay between Friday, December 1st and 31st, 2006 and you may stumble upon one of twenty-five artists' auctions. All exist under the umbrella of ebayaday, a serial exhibition (one auction debuts each day) of artworks in the form of auctions. Each listing was created for the online marketplace and uses the entire listing -- item for sale, online identities, desriptive text and imagery, as well as the nomenclature of eBay's categories -- as elements in the work. The FIRST ebayaday auction DEBUTS THIS FRIDAY, December 1st, 9am, PST. (around 8:30 PM Indian Time) Search through the thousands of auctions to find it OR link through the ebayaday website: http://www.ebayaday.com ebayaday artists: Conrad Bakker Matthew Bryant Carl Diehl Karen Eliot Charles Fairbanks Marc Ganzglass Josh Greene Abhishek Hazra Ellen Harvey Christine Hill / Volksboutique Nancy Hwang Institute for Infinitely Small Things Robin Kahn Osman Khan Sheryl Oring William Pope L. Dan Price REBAR John Roos Davy Rothbart Yashas Shetty Slop Mountain College faculty, Adriane Herman & Brian Reeves Nick Tobier Annie Varnot For additional information, contact Rebekah Modrak, rmodrak at umich.edu or Zack Denfeld, zcd at umich.edu From yasir.media at gmail.com Sat Dec 2 11:18:51 2006 From: yasir.media at gmail.com (yasir ~) Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 10:48:51 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] One global security lapse Message-ID: <5af37bb0612012148g4f09f821g3c2ee3d488c79e4b@mail.gmail.com> One global security lapse the mush-shrub syndrome? Court raps Pakistan over missing http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6199754.stm Mistaken terrorism victim to be paid $2M by US http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/44955/ From yasir.media at gmail.com Sat Dec 2 13:11:44 2006 From: yasir.media at gmail.com (yasir ~) Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 12:41:44 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Coffee 2 Message-ID: <5af37bb0612012341g7b2d718bjbbf5cc7c34a22869@mail.gmail.com> The hard sell Wild Bean Cafe Mark Hooper Saturday December 2, 2006 The Guardian As anyone who's ever studied GCSE-level Shakespeare or the lyrics of Kelis will tell you, subtext is everything. Great artists rarely say what they mean. Hence the boys in the yard aren't actually after milkshakes, just as the world isn't really a big stage. I only mention this because, having studied the Wild Bean Cafe advert at painstaking length, I can only conclude that it works on metaphorical levels so subtle and deep it's beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. Taking the script entirely literally, what happens is this: man drives date home. Date asks him in for coffee. Man looks appalled and abandons her in favour of an instant coffee from a machine in a service station. We all know that asking someone in "for a coffee" is a euphemism for rumpo-pumpo, but that's far too literal an interpretation of what's going on. The more you consider the evidence, the less it adds up. If he's genuinely only interested in the coffee, why does he turn her down point-blank without even tasting it? Clearly, the Wild Bean Cafe ad must be one of the greatest social critiques of our age. Think about it: Wild Bean Cafe is owned by BP Connect. BP also deal in another liquid even more highly desired than coffee - and it's not Kelis' shakes. Now, the man turns down the offer of "coffee" from his companion and instead opts to cruise the laybys, looking to pay for it from strangers. The free market economy itself is being subverted by metaphor. A major multinational company is being portrayed as a pimp. And all the men and women are merely players. From yasir.media at gmail.com Sat Dec 2 13:17:48 2006 From: yasir.media at gmail.com (yasir ~) Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 12:47:48 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Coffee 1 Message-ID: <5af37bb0612012347w69b893efxae24938b3d959b57@mail.gmail.com> Orhan Pamuk Neighbourhoods http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-10-13-pamuk-en.html In international relations, I do find neighbourhood an important concept. I value it. I think Turkey should get along with its neighbours. But those of us who live in big cities should be glad, in contrast to small-town dwellers, that we are rid of our neighbours. Of course, from time to time we knock on our neighbour's door when we run out of coffee and ask to borrow some. As pleasant as this might be, it also means opening our door to the control mechanisms of society. From geert at xs4all.nl Fri Dec 1 23:19:23 2006 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 18:49:23 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] India-China: Hype & Reality Message-ID: <68af8dd6895a0f60256070633539b5f7@xs4all.nl> > From: "T.Matthew Ciolek" > Date: 1 December 2006 6:36:01 AM > To: asia-www-monitor at coombs.anu.edu.au > Subject: [***] India-China: Hype & Reality > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > To UNSUBSCRIBE from this e-journal send email > to: majordomo at coombs.anu.edu.au > message: unsubscribe asia-www-monitor > -------------------------------------------------------------- > The Asian Studies WWW Monitor: Dec 2006, Vol. 13, No. 14 (257) > -------------------------------------------------------------- > 01 Dec 2006 > > India-China: Hype & Reality > > Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, India > > Supplied note: "The latest paper of the Institute For Topical Studies, > A-2/3, Bharathi Dasan Colony, K.K.Nagar, Chennai---600078, India, on > the above subject is now available at the web site of the South Asia > Analysis Group (SAAG), New Delhi, at [the URL below] - br." > > Extract: > "The hopefully positive outcome of the visit of President Hu Jintao to > India from November 20 to 23, 2006, was the indication, which started > coming in even before his visit, of a seeming change in China's > attitude to India's quest for civilian nuclear energy technology and > equipment in order to meet the growing energy demands of its > fast-growing economy. [...] If China unconditionally supports the > follow-up action on the Indo-US nuclear deal without linking it to its > proposal to supply nuclear power stations to Pakistan, that would > indicate another positive and significant step forward in the > Sino-Indian bilateral relations. [these notes and commentaries are] To > be concluded." - b.raman > > [This is a part 2 of an assessment of the visit of President Hu Jintao > to India from November 20 to 23, 2006. The first part was published on > 27 Nov 2006 at http://www.saag.org/papers21/paper2038.html address. > The author of both papers, Mr B. Raman, is Additional Secretary > (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India. - ed.] > > URL http://www.saag.org/papers21/paper2042.html > > Internet Archive (www.archive.org) - the paper was not archived at the > time of this abstract. However, in a few weeks time it will be > available at web.archive.org/web/*/www.saag.org - ed. > > Link reported by: B. Raman (corde--at--vsnl.com) > > * Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online > guide]: > Study > * Publisher [academic - business - government - library - NGO - other]: > NGO > * Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - > marginal]: > Useful > * External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under > 1,000 > - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30 > -------------------------------------------------------------- > Src: The Asian Studies WWW Monitor ISSN 1329-9778 > URL http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html > The e-journal [est. Apr 1994] provides free weekly abstracts > and reviews of new/updated online resources of significance to > research, teaching and communications dealing with the Asian Studies. > The most valuable resources identified by the Monitor are also > grouped in http://asia-www-monitor.blogspot.com/ > The AS WWW Monitor does not necessarily endorse contents, > or policies of the Internet resources it abstracts. > The email edition of this Journal has now over 5,790 subscribers. > > - regards - > > Dr T. Matthew Ciolek tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au > Head, Internet Publications Bureau, RSPAS, > ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, > The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia > ph +61 (02) 61250110 fax: +61 (02) 62571893 skype: tmciolek > also, Asia Pacific Research Online at www.ciolek.com > > [You may freely forward this information, but on condition that you > send the text as an integral whole along with complete information > about its author, date, and source.] > - > To subscribe to Asian Studies WWW Monitor email edition > send email to: majordomo at coombs.anu.edu.au > message: subscribe asia-www-monitor > > International students: ANU (http://studyat.anu.edu.au) CRICOS > Provider Number is 00120C > - > From clifton at altlawforum.org Sat Dec 2 19:57:39 2006 From: clifton at altlawforum.org (Clifton) Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:57:39 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony activists arrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister Message-ID: <45718D5B.4050306@altlawforum.org> Friends, Most of you are aware of the Sangh Parivar’s attempts to destroy the secular fabric in Karnataka by targeting the Baba-Datta shrine on Bababudangiri near Chikmagalur, a shrine that is an example of syncretic traditions in the state, attracting people of different faiths. You are also aware of the role of this present coalition government in supporting and promoting these activities of the Sangh Parivar. Now the government has given permission to the Sangh Parivar to conduct the Shobha Yatra and about 300 activists of the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike who reached Chikmagalur to protest this have been arrested today (02.12.2006). The Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, which is a coalition of over 200 organizations working since 2002 to establish communal harmony and to fight against the agenda of communalism in Karnataka, has through the years exposed the Sangh Parivar’s farcical claims about the shrine, thwarted their intentions and successfully countered their agenda through its ideology of aggressive secularism. The Sangh Parivar has been targeting the shrine on Bababudangiri with the sole intention of destroying this tradition in the name of 'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order to achieve their narrow sectarian goal, they have been creating unwanted disputes, putting up historically untenable and legally unsubstantial arguments. Further, they have introduced previously non-existent religious practices like Datta-Mala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Datta Jayanthi celebrations every year in the months of October, November and December. It is obvious that their main purpose is neither religion nor faith but to target the Muslim community as ‘outsiders’ who are bent on destroying the ‘Hindu’ tradition and culture. This year, the BJP has aligned with the Janata Dal (S) to form a coalition government which has thus far supported the communal agenda of the Sangh Parivar. Clear evidence of this was visible in the first week of October during the communal violence in and around Mangalore and in Bababudangiri at the time of the Datta Mala Abhiyan. In Bababudangiri, the local BJP MLA, C.T. Ravi led the Sangh Parivar activists in performing rites in the shrine – in clear violation of the High Court's order. By contrast activists of the Komu Souharda Vedike were arrested and prevented from peacefully protesting and exposing the communal designs of the present Government. This action of the present governement is reprehensible and reaffirms the communal credentials of the so – called secular JD(S). We are particularly concerned that this particular action of arresting secular activists and preventing peaceful protests bodes ill for the future of democracy in Karnataka /We request you to write / phone / fax / email the Chief Minister and the Home Minister demanding the immediate release of the arrested activists. We also hope that you would state in most certain terms your unacceptance of such a communal agenda of this government especially with regard to Bababudangiri and the recent Mangalore riots. / /Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy/ /Ph: 2225 3414 / /22253424/ cm at kar.nic.in / /Home Minister M.P. Prakash Ph: 22251798 Internal Ph: 2092489 e-mail: homemin at vsb.kar.nic.in / From ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de Sat Dec 2 21:36:24 2006 From: ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de (Britta Ohm) Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:06:24 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony activists arrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister In-Reply-To: <45718D5B.4050306@altlawforum.org> References: <45718D5B.4050306@altlawforum.org> Message-ID: Dear Clifton, no irony here but sincere interest (as I'm not so aware): do you mean the Kanataka-coalition government only, or does "the role of this present coalition government in supporting and promoting these activities of the Sangh Parivar" also refer to the UPA? And if so, are there examples for this support you could name? Britta Am 02.12.2006 um 15:27 schrieb Clifton: > Friends, > > Most of you are aware of the Sangh Parivar’s attempts to destroy the > secular fabric in Karnataka by targeting the Baba-Datta shrine on > Bababudangiri near Chikmagalur, a shrine that is an example of > syncretic > traditions in the state, attracting people of different faiths. You are > also aware of the role of this present coalition government in > supporting and promoting these activities of the Sangh Parivar. Now the > government has given permission to the Sangh Parivar to conduct the > Shobha Yatra and about 300 activists of the Karnataka Komu Souharda > Vedike who reached Chikmagalur to protest this have been arrested today > (02.12.2006). > > The Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, which is a coalition of over 200 > organizations working since 2002 to establish communal harmony and to > fight against the agenda of communalism in Karnataka, has through the > years exposed the Sangh Parivar’s farcical claims about the shrine, > thwarted their intentions and successfully countered their agenda > through its ideology of aggressive secularism. > > The Sangh Parivar has been targeting the shrine on Bababudangiri with > the sole intention of destroying this tradition in the name of > 'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order to achieve their narrow > sectarian goal, they have been creating unwanted disputes, putting up > historically untenable and legally unsubstantial arguments. Further, > they have introduced previously non-existent religious practices like > Datta-Mala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Datta Jayanthi celebrations every > year in the months of October, November and December. It is obvious > that > their main purpose is neither religion nor faith but to target the > Muslim community as ‘outsiders’ who are bent on destroying the ‘Hindu’ > tradition and culture. > > This year, the BJP has aligned with the Janata Dal (S) to form a > coalition government which has thus far supported the communal agenda > of > the Sangh Parivar. Clear evidence of this was visible in the first week > of October during the communal violence in and around Mangalore and in > Bababudangiri at the time of the Datta Mala Abhiyan. In Bababudangiri, > the local BJP MLA, C.T. Ravi led the Sangh Parivar activists in > performing rites in the shrine – in clear violation of the High Court's > order. > > By contrast activists of the Komu Souharda Vedike were arrested and > prevented from peacefully protesting and exposing the communal designs > of the present Government. This action of the present governement is > reprehensible and reaffirms the communal credentials of the so – called > secular JD(S). We are particularly concerned that this particular > action > of arresting secular activists and preventing peaceful protests bodes > ill for the future of democracy in Karnataka > > /We request you to write / phone / fax / email the Chief Minister and > the Home Minister demanding the immediate release of the arrested > activists. We also hope that you would state in most certain terms your > unacceptance of such a communal agenda of this government especially > with regard to Bababudangiri and the recent Mangalore riots. / > > /Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy/ > /Ph: 2225 3414 / /22253424/ > cm at kar.nic.in / > > /Home Minister M.P. Prakash > Ph: 22251798 > Internal Ph: 2092489 > e-mail: homemin at vsb.kar.nic.in / > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> ----------------- Britta Ohm Solmsstr. 36 10961 Berlin Germany +49/30/69507155 From office at humanrightskerala.com Sun Dec 3 02:59:26 2006 From: office at humanrightskerala.com (office at humanrightskerala.com) Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 05:29:26 +0800 Subject: [Reader-list] Campaign for inquiry in to the custodial death of theater person from Kerala Message-ID: <18158190.1165094966283.JavaMail.websites@opensubscriber> Dear Humanists and Activists, Please support the Campaign for Inquiry in to the Custodial Death of Varkala Vijayan, a Political activist and theater personality, during the State of Emergency in India (1975-77) For more on the news item, visit http://www.humanrightskerala.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4994&Itemid=3 To endorse the Petition Online to Government of Kerala, India http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?VVijayan&1 Respectfully submitted, Dr.Abdul Salam, Secretary General, Confederation of Human Rights Organizations [CHRO] Kerala, India. -- This message was sent on behalf of office at humanrightskerala.com at openSubscriber.com http://www.opensubscriber.com/messages/reader-list at sarai.net/topic.html From vrjogi at hotmail.com Mon Dec 4 08:03:55 2006 From: vrjogi at hotmail.com (Vedavati Jogi) Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 02:33:55 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister In-Reply-To: Message-ID: in india, if you have to prove your secular credentials, you have to curse rss/bjp/vhp, you have to talk about gujrat carnage(?) again & again....and most importantly you have to remain tightlipped as far as muslim terrorism is concerned! >From: Britta Ohm >To: Clifton >CC: reader-list at sarai.net >Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony >activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister >Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:06:24 +0100 > >Dear Clifton, >no irony here but sincere interest (as I'm not so aware): do you mean >the Kanataka-coalition government only, or does "the role of this >present coalition government in supporting and promoting these >activities of the Sangh Parivar" also refer to the UPA? And if so, are >there examples for this support you could name? > >Britta > >Am 02.12.2006 um 15:27 schrieb Clifton: > > > Friends, > > > > Most of you are aware of the Sangh Parivar’s attempts to destroy the > > secular fabric in Karnataka by targeting the Baba-Datta shrine on > > Bababudangiri near Chikmagalur, a shrine that is an example of > > syncretic > > traditions in the state, attracting people of different faiths. You are > > also aware of the role of this present coalition government in > > supporting and promoting these activities of the Sangh Parivar. Now the > > government has given permission to the Sangh Parivar to conduct the > > Shobha Yatra and about 300 activists of the Karnataka Komu Souharda > > Vedike who reached Chikmagalur to protest this have been arrested today > > (02.12.2006). > > > > The Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, which is a coalition of over 200 > > organizations working since 2002 to establish communal harmony and to > > fight against the agenda of communalism in Karnataka, has through the > > years exposed the Sangh Parivar’s farcical claims about the shrine, > > thwarted their intentions and successfully countered their agenda > > through its ideology of aggressive secularism. > > > > The Sangh Parivar has been targeting the shrine on Bababudangiri with > > the sole intention of destroying this tradition in the name of > > 'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order to achieve their narrow > > sectarian goal, they have been creating unwanted disputes, putting up > > historically untenable and legally unsubstantial arguments. Further, > > they have introduced previously non-existent religious practices like > > Datta-Mala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Datta Jayanthi celebrations every > > year in the months of October, November and December. It is obvious > > that > > their main purpose is neither religion nor faith but to target the > > Muslim community as ‘outsiders’ who are bent on destroying the >‘Hindu’ > > tradition and culture. > > > > This year, the BJP has aligned with the Janata Dal (S) to form a > > coalition government which has thus far supported the communal agenda > > of > > the Sangh Parivar. Clear evidence of this was visible in the first week > > of October during the communal violence in and around Mangalore and in > > Bababudangiri at the time of the Datta Mala Abhiyan. In Bababudangiri, > > the local BJP MLA, C.T. Ravi led the Sangh Parivar activists in > > performing rites in the shrine – in clear violation of the High >Court's > > order. > > > > By contrast activists of the Komu Souharda Vedike were arrested and > > prevented from peacefully protesting and exposing the communal designs > > of the present Government. This action of the present governement is > > reprehensible and reaffirms the communal credentials of the so – >called > > secular JD(S). We are particularly concerned that this particular > > action > > of arresting secular activists and preventing peaceful protests bodes > > ill for the future of democracy in Karnataka > > > > /We request you to write / phone / fax / email the Chief Minister and > > the Home Minister demanding the immediate release of the arrested > > activists. We also hope that you would state in most certain terms your > > unacceptance of such a communal agenda of this government especially > > with regard to Bababudangiri and the recent Mangalore riots. / > > > > /Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy/ > > /Ph: 2225 3414 / /22253424/ > > cm at kar.nic.in / > > > > /Home Minister M.P. Prakash > > Ph: 22251798 > > Internal Ph: 2092489 > > e-mail: homemin at vsb.kar.nic.in / > > _________________________________________ > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > > Critiques & Collaborations > > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > > subscribe in the subject header. > > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > >----------------- >Britta Ohm >Solmsstr. 36 >10961 Berlin >Germany >+49/30/69507155 > >_________________________________________ >reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. >Critiques & Collaborations >To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe >in the subject header. >To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> _________________________________________________________________ Spice up your IM conversations. New, colorful and animated emoticons. Get chatting! http://server1.msn.co.in/SP05/emoticons/ From kalakamra at gmail.com Mon Dec 4 12:01:47 2006 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 12:01:47 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Ashok Sukumaran Talk at KHOJ Message-ID: <33eee40c0612032231y7e8ee174k26885d8ca7f0127f@mail.gmail.com> *KHOJ **Studios ** * invite you to a presentation by Ashok Sukumaran *On **the 4th of December 2006 *** at *5pm * at the *Khoj studios* * * *Ashok Sukumaran's talk presents a critique of the new-media buzzword *"locative media"* . He discusses a broader history of location: recent approaches to site-specificity in art, the site in architectural modernism, cinema pre-history and its disruption of site, as well as his own projects, such as Glow Positioning System (2005), City of **Glass** (2006), Park View Hotel (2006), and a number of ongoing experiments with urban electricity.* * * We look forward to seeing you! Khoj Studios S-17 . Khirki Extension. (Near Sai Baba Temple ) New Delhi-17 Call:91-11-55655874\73 www.khojworkshop.org * * -- Khoj Studios S-17 . Khirki Extension. (Near Sai Baba Temple) New Delhi-17 Call:91-11-55655874\73 www.khojworkshop.org -- shaina chitrakarkhana.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20061204/8bdab37a/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From info at kitabmahal.org Mon Dec 4 12:37:03 2006 From: info at kitabmahal.org (Kitabmahal, The Fourth Floor) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 08:07:03 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] The Big question by Sanjeev Khandekar Message-ID: <89aac6f894f91ba693e217a6cd2196dc@montana.ymlpnet.com> The Big question by Sanjeev Khandekar Sanjeev Khandekar is now known for his shocking, bold and what he terms them as�short circuiting� images. He likes to approach his questions head-on. This time his new exhibition titled as �What do I love when I love you, my god?� opening on 5th Dec.2006, at Kitab Mahal, Mumbai, viewers will be encountered once again with the mixture of the sacred and profane, ancient and (post) modern, coded and explicit, opulent and debased, ornate and horrific, veiled and overt, blasphemous and pious, felonious and moral, images constructed in the L shaped space of the gallery. It is yet interesting to note that his new works are programmed to get uncovered just after a week from the famous symposium of world class biologists that was aimed to discuss �Beyond Belief: Science, religion, and survival� at La Jolla, California. The seminar mainly focused upon �what, and how in place of God?� and if the answer is Science? Among many questions, Sanjeev khandekar is more vocal on what Kierkegaard mentions in his �fears and trembling� that there should be a "teleological suspension of the ethical category" in favor of the religious. He refers to the mythology of Abraham and Issac, where God asks to suspend the ethical in order to kill his son Isaac. Mythologies are full of such stories, The great God Shiva asked Shriyal and Changuna to kill and cook their son Chelaya to meet the requairments of Dharma, or Anasuya was asked to take away her cloths and serve naked to the �Tridevs� to satisfy their right of prelibation under religious power that they enjoyed. Sanjeev Khandekar says that one can find some link in these stories and the faith based politics and science that we are witnessing today. He points out to the statements of General Boykin during recent Iraq invasion by US, or statements of Bin Laden provoking innocents for Jihad, or statements of our domestic leaders who really trigger off the communal hatred. He says further, that even communists find cover under such arguments, who use this paradigm to argue that Leninists had the right to suspend the ethical in order to put their religious fervor to the test by slaughtering liberal Mensheviks, and millions of others, after theOctober revolution. The installation of Sanjeev Khandekar, uses several real antique objects of Indian Gods, Antique Islamic manuscript, Old objects from church and other religious places. The market driven life of new man is his favorite theme that is running through his series of Installations and paintings, poems and writings. This time he has used the logo of ebay, the super large cyber mall of the world and a black and white portrait of Pierre Omidyar, the founder of �ebay�. Sanjeev Khandekar refers Freud�s �Future of Illusion� and says that suppressing the unconscious of male type, the human civilization grew over the years. God and religion, both had been the supports for the suppression, however the late capitalism is designed to survive only by a process where unleashing of unconscious becomes must. �I am trying to find connection between shopping bulimia and religious fundamentalism,� He added. The exhibition will be open for public viewing from 5th Dec to 16th December 2006, excluding Sundays. _____________________________ Change address / Leave mailing list: http://ymlp.com/u.php?fourthfloor+announcements at sarai.net Hosting by YourMailingListProvider -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20061204/d40aeedf/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From ixa10 at psu.edu Sun Dec 3 21:28:18 2006 From: ixa10 at psu.edu (Irina Aristarkhova) Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 10:58:18 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] more on 'Litvinenko case' Message-ID: From Irina Aristarkhova: Here is a new development in the death investigation of Sasha Litvinenko, a former KGB agent. Julia Svetlichnaja, a PhD candidate at Westminster University, claims she had known Litvinenko for months before his death, and he always behaved in a strange 'movie-like' way. It is interesting that Svetlichnaja, as her university web-page says (http://www.wmin.ac.uk/sshl/page-1203-smhp=1), is writing a PhD on the impact of Deleuze on art, under the supervision of Chantal Mouffe, within the Centre for the Study of Democracy, and her thesis title for now is 'Art of Empire?'. One wonders what it had to do with Litvinenko? She wanted (through him) to meet with Akhmed Zakayev, a Chechen government leader in exile, who lives in London. Below is her article from the Observer, which also published three new photos of Litvinenko. In another article she claims that Litvinenko wanted to blackmail other spies and rich Russians for money: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1962759,00.html. You can imagine that this story is particularly loved in Russia, and not very well picked up in the West. Strange stroll around Hyde Park that went nowhere Julia Svetlichnaja recalls Litvinenko's eccentric behaviour Sunday December 3, 2006 The Observer At http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1962762,00.html We first met beside the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus. Wearing dark glasses and leather jacket, Alexander Litvinenko appeared unexpectedly behind my back, saying: 'I was watching you from around the corner. You are not a spy, are you?' I suggested coffee in the nearby Caffe Nero, the first of our often chaotic, erratic conversations we would share from last April until his death. I asked various questions about the Chechen people in Moscow during the Eighties and Nineties. Litvinenko, though, leapt from one exotic story to another - secret operations in Afghanistan, a plot against Boris Yeltsin, the assassination of former Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev; all these memories still seemed dear to his heart. In the end I made my excuses and left. 'Try him, but filter what he says; the man rambles too much,' the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky had earlier warned me. Litvinenko was the contact who, I had hoped, would introduce me to Akhmed Zakayev, a member of the officially unrecognised Chechen government in exile. Ultimately, however, I almost regretted giving my email to Litvinenko. From our first meeting he started to feed me information with such gusto that in the weeks before his death I had started deleting most of his messages without opening them. The next time we met, in the summer, we ended up walking around Hyde Park for hours. I started to wonder whether meeting Litvinenko was a waste of time. He told me shamelessly of his blackmailing plans aimed at Russian oligarchs. 'They have got enough, why not to share? I will do it officially,' he said. After two hours of traipsing around the park, I suggested we sit down somewhere. 'Professionals never sit and talk, they walk and walk around so nobody can overhear their conversation,' he muttered darkly. So we carried on walking, Litvinenko regaling me with more stories about his war against the Kremlin. 'Every time I publish something on the Chechen press website, I piss them off. One day they will understand who I am!' he said. Some of his emails were confidential documents from the FSB, the successor to the KGB; others were his own writings for the Chechen press. Many of his 'political' texts were too obviously rants to take seriously: one of his wildest claims was that Putin was a paedophile. The photographs he sent were equally contradictory - one showed him with Zakayev and Anna Politkovskaya. Next he sent me a striking picture of himself in front of a large Union flag, holding a Chechen sword and wearing FSB gauntlets - Litvinenko said this proclaimed his pride in his new British citizenship. The next meeting, in May, was arranged to take place at Litvinenko's home in Muswell Hill, north London, where we were supposed to be joined by Zakayev, but he did not turn up. Litvinenko proudly told me how well his son was adapting to England and its language while he could barely string a few sentences together. Marina, his wife, served us dinner and tea with traditional Russian sweets. Afterwards, we moved to the garden and eventually to Litvinenko's study, where he showed me his stash of secret files and photographs. It was very late when he drove me to the station. He stopped at the traffic lights and, indicating right, suddenly turned left into a dark alley. We drove round and round the crescent before stopping. 'Demonstration. I was famous for getting rid of the "tail". All you have to do is to indicate and then turn the other way,' he explained. We sat in his car for another hour talking about life in the FSB. I felt sorry for him. People around him seemed either deranged or were using him for their advantage. Despite his whistleblower past, Litvinenko was confident he was safe. Unlike Zakayev, he willingly gave out his mobile phone number and home address. He did not have any security. Although, in October 2004, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into Zakayev and Litvinenko's neighbouring homes in Muswell Hill, he never contemplated moving house. May was the last time I saw him. Later I heard he had been poisoned and I am ashamed to say I thought it might have been another trick to get attention. After that I watched and read the details of his slow death drip into the media as the polonium 210 rotted him from within. Would Litvinenko be pleased with the paradox that since his death he has been taken very seriously? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20061203/82589c58/attachment.html From stalal at sympatico.ca Sat Dec 2 21:54:32 2006 From: stalal at sympatico.ca (Sohaib Talal) Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 11:24:32 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] One global security lapse In-Reply-To: <5af37bb0612012148g4f09f821g3c2ee3d488c79e4b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <000001c7162e$5be72490$6900a8c0@PC154472964116> Why do we have to do things that america does? Americans do it (disappearnces) to others charging them of terrorism while we do it to our own people. Why our leaders put the nation in such a low esteem? When our inferiority complex goin to go away? Can anyone answer these questions? Before I revert to gay shairee please reply... -----Original Message----- From: O-habibians-86 at googlegroups.com [mailto:O-habibians-86 at googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of yasir ~ Sent: December 2, 2006 12:49 AM To: reader-list at sarai.net Subject: One global security lapse One global security lapse the mush-shrub syndrome? Court raps Pakistan over missing http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6199754.stm Mistaken terrorism victim to be paid $2M by US http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/44955/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "O-Habibians-86" group. To post to this group, send email to O-habibians-86 at googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to O-habibians-86-unsubscribe at googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/O-habibians-86?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.3/562 - Release Date: 01/12/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.4/563 - Release Date: 02/12/2006 From padmalatha.ravi at gmail.com Mon Dec 4 09:56:25 2006 From: padmalatha.ravi at gmail.com (Padmalatha Ravi) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 09:56:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Certainly on this occassion Gujarat issue was not raised and people like you don't seem to forget it even after years. To say that one remains tightlipped about muslim terrorism is one thing but why is it that there is no answer to the questions raised on this particular issue? Is it because it is easier to sound fundamentalist than secular? On 12/4/06, Vedavati Jogi wrote: > > in india, if you have to prove your secular credentials, you have to curse > rss/bjp/vhp, you have to talk about gujrat carnage(?) again & again....and > most importantly you have to remain tightlipped as far as muslim terrorism > is concerned! > > > >From: Britta Ohm > >To: Clifton > >CC: reader-list at sarai.net > >Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony > >activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister > >Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:06:24 +0100 > > > >Dear Clifton, > >no irony here but sincere interest (as I'm not so aware): do you mean > >the Kanataka-coalition government only, or does "the role of this > >present coalition government in supporting and promoting these > >activities of the Sangh Parivar" also refer to the UPA? And if so, are > >there examples for this support you could name? > > > >Britta > > > >Am 02.12.2006 um 15:27 schrieb Clifton: > > > > > Friends, > > > > > > Most of you are aware of the Sangh Parivar's attempts to destroy the > > > secular fabric in Karnataka by targeting the Baba-Datta shrine on > > > Bababudangiri near Chikmagalur, a shrine that is an example of > > > syncretic > > > traditions in the state, attracting people of different faiths. You > are > > > also aware of the role of this present coalition government in > > > supporting and promoting these activities of the Sangh Parivar. Now > the > > > government has given permission to the Sangh Parivar to conduct the > > > Shobha Yatra and about 300 activists of the Karnataka Komu Souharda > > > Vedike who reached Chikmagalur to protest this have been arrested > today > > > (02.12.2006). > > > > > > The Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, which is a coalition of over 200 > > > organizations working since 2002 to establish communal harmony and to > > > fight against the agenda of communalism in Karnataka, has through the > > > years exposed the Sangh Parivar's farcical claims about the shrine, > > > thwarted their intentions and successfully countered their agenda > > > through its ideology of aggressive secularism. > > > > > > The Sangh Parivar has been targeting the shrine on Bababudangiri with > > > the sole intention of destroying this tradition in the name of > > > 'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order to achieve their narrow > > > sectarian goal, they have been creating unwanted disputes, putting up > > > historically untenable and legally unsubstantial arguments. Further, > > > they have introduced previously non-existent religious practices like > > > Datta-Mala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Datta Jayanthi celebrations every > > > year in the months of October, November and December. It is obvious > > > that > > > their main purpose is neither religion nor faith but to target the > > > Muslim community as 'outsiders' who are bent on destroying the > >'Hindu' > > > tradition and culture. > > > > > > This year, the BJP has aligned with the Janata Dal (S) to form a > > > coalition government which has thus far supported the communal agenda > > > of > > > the Sangh Parivar. Clear evidence of this was visible in the first > week > > > of October during the communal violence in and around Mangalore and in > > > Bababudangiri at the time of the Datta Mala Abhiyan. In Bababudangiri, > > > the local BJP MLA, C.T. Ravi led the Sangh Parivar activists in > > > performing rites in the shrine – in clear violation of the High > >Court's > > > order. > > > > > > By contrast activists of the Komu Souharda Vedike were arrested and > > > prevented from peacefully protesting and exposing the communal designs > > > of the present Government. This action of the present governement is > > > reprehensible and reaffirms the communal credentials of the so – > >called > > > secular JD(S). We are particularly concerned that this particular > > > action > > > of arresting secular activists and preventing peaceful protests bodes > > > ill for the future of democracy in Karnataka > > > > > > /We request you to write / phone / fax / email the Chief Minister and > > > the Home Minister demanding the immediate release of the arrested > > > activists. We also hope that you would state in most certain terms > your > > > unacceptance of such a communal agenda of this government especially > > > with regard to Bababudangiri and the recent Mangalore riots. / > > > > > > /Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy/ > > > /Ph: 2225 3414 / /22253424/ > > > cm at kar.nic.in / > > > > > > /Home Minister M.P. Prakash > > > Ph: 22251798 > > > Internal Ph: 2092489 > > > e-mail: homemin at vsb.kar.nic.in / > > > _________________________________________ > > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > > > Critiques & Collaborations > > > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > > > subscribe in the subject header. > > > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > > List archive: > > > >----------------- > >Britta Ohm > >Solmsstr. 36 > >10961 Berlin > >Germany > >+49/30/69507155 > > > >_________________________________________ > >reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > >Critiques & Collaborations > >To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe > >in the subject header. > >To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > >List archive: > > _________________________________________________________________ > Spice up your IM conversations. New, colorful and animated emoticons. Get > chatting! http://server1.msn.co.in/SP05/emoticons/ > > > > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: > -- Cheers Padma -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20061204/6e40b81e/attachment.html From hpp at vsnl.com Mon Dec 4 16:08:10 2006 From: hpp at vsnl.com (hpp at vsnl.com) Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 10:38:10 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Connecting with educators in India on the Palestinian question Message-ID: My name is Howard Davidson. I am Associate Professor, Extended Education, at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. I plan to be in Kolkata during January 3 - 19, 2007 and want to use this opportunity to expand an international network of educators concerned with the Palestinian question. I have been visiting the West Bank and Israel since 2003 to work with Palestinian and Israeli educators on various projects. In November 2006, a group met in Biet Jalla (West Bank) to form a network of educators who will pursue an internationalist approach to creating educational practices that support liberation from occupation. When I mentioned that I planned to visit Kolkata this January, participants at the Beit Jalla meeting encouraged me to make connect with progressive Indian educators. There is a need for Indian perspectives to be better known among Palestinian and international intellectuals working to end the occupation. A brief introduction: Following my initial trip to the West Bank, I co-organize a Summer Institute on Education and Democracy in a Global Context at the University of Manitoba (July 2004). The Institute brought together 60 Canadian and 7 Palestinian educators to discuss the formidable challenges of teaching for genuine democracy in the midst of conflict. Dr. Sami Adwan at Bethlehem University led the Palestinian group. Later, Dr. Adwan and I co-organize an Educators' Forum on Education and Conflict at Bethlehem University (July 2005). 70 Palestinian and 10 international educators participated in the Forum. These two web sites describe that event. http://youth.zajel.org/Study_visits/studyvisits7.htm http://www.bethlehem.edu/archives/2005/2005_056.shtml These activites led to forming the educators' network I mentioned above. Currently, I am writing about these educational projects. I am also a founding editor of the Journal of Prisoners on Prison http://www.jpp.org/, which has been publishing articles by prisoners and former prisoners on the politics of crime and punishment since 1988. I am editing a book on politcal prisoners and their political education. I look forward to hearing from people. Perhaps we can meet during this trip; if not, I do hope we can open communication on this issue. Howard Davidson, Ed.D Associate Professor Extended Education University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 (Canada) Ph. 1-204-982-4895 Fax 1-204-982-6290 howardsdavidson at yahoo.com From ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de Mon Dec 4 16:23:28 2006 From: ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de (Britta Ohm) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 11:53:28 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Well, I know this line of generalised 'argument' very well, thank you, and I cannot remember to have mentioned Gujarat (even though I do think there is a lot to mention there). What I was asking for was not a demonstration of ideological battle lines but concrete examples (provided I have understood the reference to the UPA correctly). Thank you for your help. Britta Am 04.12.2006 um 03:33 schrieb Vedavati Jogi: > in india, if you have to prove your secular credentials, you have to > curse rss/bjp/vhp, you have to talk about gujrat carnage(?) again & > again....and most importantly you have to remain tightlipped as far as > muslim terrorism is concerned! > > >> From: Britta Ohm >> To: Clifton >> CC: reader-list at sarai.net >> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony >> activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister >> Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:06:24 +0100 >> >> Dear Clifton, >> no irony here but sincere interest (as I'm not so aware): do you mean >> the Kanataka-coalition government only, or does "the role of this >> present coalition government in supporting and promoting these >> activities of the Sangh Parivar" also refer to the UPA? And if so, are >> there examples for this support you could name? >> >> Britta >> >> Am 02.12.2006 um 15:27 schrieb Clifton: >> >> > Friends, >> > >> > Most of you are aware of the Sangh Parivar’s attempts to destroy >> the >> > secular fabric in Karnataka by targeting the Baba-Datta shrine on >> > Bababudangiri near Chikmagalur, a shrine that is an example of >> > syncretic >> > traditions in the state, attracting people of different faiths. You >> are >> > also aware of the role of this present coalition government in >> > supporting and promoting these activities of the Sangh Parivar. Now >> the >> > government has given permission to the Sangh Parivar to conduct the >> > Shobha Yatra and about 300 activists of the Karnataka Komu Souharda >> > Vedike who reached Chikmagalur to protest this have been arrested >> today >> > (02.12.2006). >> > >> > The Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, which is a coalition of over 200 >> > organizations working since 2002 to establish communal harmony and >> to >> > fight against the agenda of communalism in Karnataka, has through >> the >> > years exposed the Sangh Parivar’s farcical claims about the >> shrine, >> > thwarted their intentions and successfully countered their agenda >> > through its ideology of aggressive secularism. >> > >> > The Sangh Parivar has been targeting the shrine on Bababudangiri >> with >> > the sole intention of destroying this tradition in the name of >> > 'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order to achieve their >> narrow >> > sectarian goal, they have been creating unwanted disputes, putting >> up >> > historically untenable and legally unsubstantial arguments. Further, >> > they have introduced previously non-existent religious practices >> like >> > Datta-Mala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Datta Jayanthi celebrations >> every >> > year in the months of October, November and December. It is obvious >> > that >> > their main purpose is neither religion nor faith but to target the >> > Muslim community as ‘outsiders’ who are bent on destroying the >> ‘Hindu’ >> > tradition and culture. >> > >> > This year, the BJP has aligned with the Janata Dal (S) to form a >> > coalition government which has thus far supported the communal >> agenda >> > of >> > the Sangh Parivar. Clear evidence of this was visible in the first >> week >> > of October during the communal violence in and around Mangalore and >> in >> > Bababudangiri at the time of the Datta Mala Abhiyan. In >> Bababudangiri, >> > the local BJP MLA, C.T. Ravi led the Sangh Parivar activists in >> > performing rites in the shrine – in clear violation of the High >> Court's >> > order. >> > >> > By contrast activists of the Komu Souharda Vedike were arrested and >> > prevented from peacefully protesting and exposing the communal >> designs >> > of the present Government. This action of the present governement is >> > reprehensible and reaffirms the communal credentials of the so – >> called >> > secular JD(S). We are particularly concerned that this particular >> > action >> > of arresting secular activists and preventing peaceful protests >> bodes >> > ill for the future of democracy in Karnataka >> > >> > /We request you to write / phone / fax / email the Chief Minister >> and >> > the Home Minister demanding the immediate release of the arrested >> > activists. We also hope that you would state in most certain terms >> your >> > unacceptance of such a communal agenda of this government especially >> > with regard to Bababudangiri and the recent Mangalore riots. / >> > >> > /Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy/ >> > /Ph: 2225 3414 / /22253424/ >> > cm at kar.nic.in / >> > >> > /Home Minister M.P. Prakash >> > Ph: 22251798 >> > Internal Ph: 2092489 >> > e-mail: homemin at vsb.kar.nic.in / >> > _________________________________________ >> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. >> > Critiques & Collaborations >> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with >> > subscribe in the subject header. >> > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >> > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> >> >> ----------------- >> Britta Ohm >> Solmsstr. 36 >> 10961 Berlin >> Germany >> +49/30/69507155 >> >> _________________________________________ >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. >> Critiques & Collaborations >> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with >> subscribe in the subject header. >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > > _________________________________________________________________ > Spice up your IM conversations. New, colorful and animated emoticons. > Get chatting! http://server1.msn.co.in/SP05/emoticons/ > > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> ----------------- Britta Ohm Solmsstr. 36 10961 Berlin Germany +49/30/69507155 From patwardhan_gauri at yahoo.com Mon Dec 4 22:34:58 2006 From: patwardhan_gauri at yahoo.com (gouri) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 09:04:58 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Karachi ki Kahani Message-ID: <20061204170458.4874.qmail@web32406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear friends, Go to page 8, Sunday edition of DNA, Bombay, to read Ajmal's article on Karachi. (And please ignore the lousy heading given by the newspaper). http://digital.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?queryed=20&eddate=12/3/2006 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now. From vrjogi at hotmail.com Mon Dec 4 22:39:03 2006 From: vrjogi at hotmail.com (Vedavati Jogi) Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:09:03 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister In-Reply-To: <912433.29921.qm@web60612.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: one should not equate hindu & muslim terrorism because, 1) most of the times hindu terrorism is the 'reaction'- to muslim t. 2) moreover hindu terrorist will not 'partition' this country. (i hope every body remembers 1947) >From: gowhar fazli >To: Vedavati Jogi >Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal harmony >activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the chief Minister >Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:59:30 -0800 (PST) > >Dear Vedavati Jogi I think the problem is precisely >that the two kinds of terrorism are not spoken about >equally in the same breath. Both Hindu and Muslim >fundamentalism are similar except that the >majoritarian fundamentalism gets mistaken as >nationalism at times and can even come to power while >Muslim fundamentalism is terrorism beyond doubt. > > >--- Vedavati Jogi wrote: > > > in india, if you have to prove your secular > > credentials, you have to curse > > rss/bjp/vhp, you have to talk about gujrat > > carnage(?) again & again....and > > most importantly you have to remain tightlipped as > > far as muslim terrorism > > is concerned! > > > > > > >From: Britta Ohm > > >To: Clifton > > >CC: reader-list at sarai.net > > >Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Action Alert - Communal > > harmony > > >activistsarrested in Karnataka - Write in the the > > chief Minister > > >Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:06:24 +0100 > > > > > >Dear Clifton, > > >no irony here but sincere interest (as I'm not so > > aware): do you mean > > >the Kanataka-coalition government only, or does > > "the role of this > > >present coalition government in supporting and > > promoting these > > >activities of the Sangh Parivar" also refer to the > > UPA? And if so, are > > >there examples for this support you could name? > > > > > >Britta > > > > > >Am 02.12.2006 um 15:27 schrieb Clifton: > > > > > > > Friends, > > > > > > > > Most of you are aware of the Sangh Parivar’s > > attempts to destroy the > > > > secular fabric in Karnataka by targeting the > > Baba-Datta shrine on > > > > Bababudangiri near Chikmagalur, a shrine that is > > an example of > > > > syncretic > > > > traditions in the state, attracting people of > > different faiths. You are > > > > also aware of the role of this present coalition > > government in > > > > supporting and promoting these activities of the > > Sangh Parivar. Now the > > > > government has given permission to the Sangh > > Parivar to conduct the > > > > Shobha Yatra and about 300 activists of the > > Karnataka Komu Souharda > > > > Vedike who reached Chikmagalur to protest this > > have been arrested today > > > > (02.12.2006). > > > > > > > > The Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, which is a > > coalition of over 200 > > > > organizations working since 2002 to establish > > communal harmony and to > > > > fight against the agenda of communalism in > > Karnataka, has through the > > > > years exposed the Sangh Parivar’s farcical > > claims about the shrine, > > > > thwarted their intentions and successfully > > countered their agenda > > > > through its ideology of aggressive secularism. > > > > > > > > The Sangh Parivar has been targeting the shrine > > on Bababudangiri with > > > > the sole intention of destroying this tradition > > in the name of > > > > 'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order > > to achieve their narrow > > > > sectarian goal, they have been creating unwanted > > disputes, putting up > > > > historically untenable and legally unsubstantial > > arguments. Further, > > > > they have introduced previously non-existent > > religious practices like > > > > Datta-Mala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Datta > > Jayanthi celebrations every > > > > year in the months of October, November and > > December. It is obvious > > > > that > > > > their main purpose is neither religion nor faith > > but to target the > > > > Muslim community as ‘outsiders’ who are bent > > on destroying the > > >‘Hindu’ > > > > tradition and culture. > > > > > > > > This year, the BJP has aligned with the Janata > > Dal (S) to form a > > > > coalition government which has thus far > > supported the communal agenda > > > > of > > > > the Sangh Parivar. Clear evidence of this was > > visible in the first week > > > > of October during the communal violence in and > > around Mangalore and in > > > > Bababudangiri at the time of the Datta Mala > > Abhiyan. In Bababudangiri, > > > > the local BJP MLA, C.T. Ravi led the Sangh > > Parivar activists in > > > > performing rites in the shrine – in clear > > violation of the High > > >Court's > > > > order. > > > > > > > > By contrast activists of the Komu Souharda > > Vedike were arrested and > > > > prevented from peacefully protesting and > > exposing the communal designs > > > > of the present Government. This action of the > > present governement is > > > > reprehensible and reaffirms the communal > > credentials of the so – > > >called > > > > secular JD(S). We are particularly concerned > > that this particular > > > > action > > > > of arresting secular activists and preventing > > peaceful protests bodes > > > > ill for the future of democracy in Karnataka > > > > > > > > /We request you to write / phone / fax / email > > the Chief Minister and > > > > the Home Minister demanding the immediate > > release of the arrested > > > > activists. We also hope that you would state in > > most certain terms your > > > > unacceptance of such a communal agenda of this > > government especially > > > > with regard to Bababudangiri and the recent > > Mangalore riots. / > > > > > > > > /Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy/ > > > > /Ph: 2225 3414 / /22253424/ > > > > cm at kar.nic.in / > > > > > > > > /Home Minister M.P. Prakash > > > > Ph: 22251798 > > > > Internal Ph: 2092489 > > > > e-mail: homemin at vsb.kar.nic.in > > / > > > > _________________________________________ > > > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media > > and the city. > > > > Critiques & Collaborations > > > > To subscribe: send an email to > > reader-list-request at sarai.net with > > > > subscribe in the subject header. > > > > To unsubscribe: > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > > > List archive: > > <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > > > > > >----------------- > > >Britta Ohm > > >Solmsstr. 36 > > >10961 Berlin > > >Germany > > >+49/30/69507155 > > > > > >_________________________________________ > > >reader-list: an open discussion list on media and > > the city. > > >Critiques & Collaborations > > >To subscribe: send an email to > > reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe > > >in the subject header. > > >To unsubscribe: > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > >List archive: > > <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ > > Spice up your IM conversations. New, colorful and > > animated emoticons. Get > > chatting! http://server1.msn.co.in/SP05/emoticons/ > > > > > _________________________________________ > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and > > the city. > > Critiques & Collaborations > > To subscribe: send an email to > > reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the > > subject header. > > To unsubscribe: > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > List archive: ><https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> > > >Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of >dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares. > >Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. > >Peter Ustinov > > > >____________________________________________________________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. >http://new.mail.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Catch all the cricketing action right here. Live score, match reports, photos et al. http://content.msn.co.in/Sports/Cricket/Default.aspx From mail at shivamvij.com Tue Dec 5 01:35:46 2006 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam Vij) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 01:35:46 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] the community radio policy - at last In-Reply-To: <5479ae440612041158o1d9e19d2n233bba5013d23e9@mail.gmail.com> References: <5479ae440612041158o1d9e19d2n233bba5013d23e9@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <9c06aab30612041205h18e1b98cn3f3395d3a5a8be4e@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: sajan venniyoor Date: Dec 5, 2006 1:28 AM Subject: the community radio policy - at last To: venniyoor at gmail.com Cc: communityradio at writeshop.org India's new community radio policy is now official. The 'detailed policy guidelines' are available on the website of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, at this URL: http://www.mib.nic.in/informationb/CODES/frames.htm. (Scroll down to this link: "Policy Guidelines for Setting up Community Radio Stations in India" (Updated 04/12/2006)). No surprises, really. The policy allows civil society and voluntary organisations to apply for a CR license; there is no license fee; advertisements are permitted (5 minutes per hour). And, yeah, "the Permission Holder shall not broadcast any programmes, which relate to news and current affairs and are otherwise political in nature." (Which begs the question: how about non-political news & current affairs?) It's time to walk the talk, comrades. Sajan From yasir.media at gmail.com Tue Dec 5 03:24:42 2006 From: yasir.media at gmail.com (yasir ~) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 02:54:42 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Karachi ki Kahani In-Reply-To: <20061204170458.4874.qmail@web32406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20061204170458.4874.qmail@web32406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <5af37bb0612041354u71f0b1b4qbad88143f06624e3@mail.gmail.com> thanks for this gouri. its a nice introduction/summary, xcept that DNA has an extremely asinine interface that doesnt even work in firefox, and the lengths dna has gone to protect its easily copyable data results in remarkable unreadabilility bad design, bad usability. given that this is the web that leaves nothing else. all hail ascii people ! On 12/4/06, gouri wrote: > Dear friends, > > Go to page 8, Sunday edition of DNA, Bombay, to read > Ajmal's article on Karachi. (And please ignore the > lousy heading given by the newspaper). > > http://digital.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?queryed=20&eddate=12/3/2006 > > From joasia at kurator.org Tue Dec 5 03:58:14 2006 From: joasia at kurator.org (Joasia) Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 22:28:14 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] 12th International Media Art Biennale WRO 07 Competition Message-ID: 12th International Media Art Biennale WRO 07 Competition 16 – 20 May 2007, Wroclaw, Poland 12th International Media Art Biennale WRO 07© WRO Foundation for Media Art in Wrocław/Poland, announces an international competition open to any work created using electronic media techniques, exploring innovative forms of artistic communication. The competition welcomes creators of artistic projects of diverse forms such as screenings (video art, computer animation), installations, objects, performances, multimedia concerts and network projects from all over the world. The main prize is €5000. The deadline date for entry submission is 15.02.2007. Presentation of shortlisted works and the international jury’s announcement of the competition results will take place during public screening at the WRO 07 Biennale. The competition regulations and entry form are available in downloadable format at http://wro07.wrocenter.pl. Requests to receive the regulations and entry form by post can be made at print at wrocenter.pl. http://wrocenter.pl/index.php?go=en/wro07intro/ _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From mail at shivamvij.com Tue Dec 5 15:53:01 2006 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam Vij) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 15:53:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Karachi ki Kahani In-Reply-To: <5af37bb0612041354u71f0b1b4qbad88143f06624e3@mail.gmail.com> References: <20061204170458.4874.qmail@web32406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <5af37bb0612041354u71f0b1b4qbad88143f06624e3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <9c06aab30612050223i6aad126mb8e0bab412ec19b0@mail.gmail.com> Karachi was a sweet Bombay Ajmal Kamal DNA, Saturday, December 02, 2006 21:17 IST http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1067410 In his inspiring essay, The City and Death, Bogdan Bogdanovic, the renowned architect and teacher from former Yugoslavia, suggests that the only way out of the mess we have turned our cities into is that each citizen — man, woman and child — should be taught the lost art of reading the city all over again. Only then, he says, we can hope to be able to proceed to the next stage in human progress, i.e. the restoration of the art of writing the city, a precious art and human right which we have long lost. Karachi ki Kahani, first published in 1996 as a two-volume, 800-page special issue of the Urdu journal Aaj, was an attempt to 'read' the city of Karachi. It is being reproduced with a few additions and a special section of photographs of Karachi, and would hopefully be followed by its English version in the first quarter of 2007. The fate that befell Karachi in 1947 was not shared by any other city in the subcontinent; almost the entire middle-class intelligentsia, the keepers of the city's memory, the overwhelming majority of them being Hindus, left. The influx of refugees from East Punjab, UP, CP and Bihar added about six hundred thousand souls to the city which was just above 4,00,000 on the eve of partition. The Parsis, Goan Christians and the miniscule number of Sindhi Muslims, who had shared the city's life with the departed Hindus, were lost in the great wave of migration into their city. There was thus a clear break in the history of Karachi which prevented its continuity to be shared by the newcomers. This is a misfortune that cities like Delhi, Lahore and Calcutta did not have to suffer. The new citizens of Karachi hardly had a clue to what had been happening in the city before they came here in hordes. Most of them were unaware of the past of the houses and business premises that the craftier of them occupied and the buildings and open spaces where the helpless majority of them was forced to live in jhuggis to begin the struggle in the capital of the new state. Crisis of communication This ignorance bordering on indifference was to create a wide gulf between the two main linguistic communities of Sindh. In the absence of any common perception about the city's past, it was hardly possible to create the common ground to negotiate and resolve the crisis of today's Karachi and its hinterland, the province of Sindh. This crisis of communication led to a painful era of ethnic strife which took a great toll on the citizens during the entire decade of 1990s. Number of narrators In order to rediscover the city's story, I decided to begin at the beginning of the modern Karachi, that is the eighteenth century when a small group of Hindu traders decided to move to the shores of Karachi after the river port of Kharak Bunder was silted up. This tale has been told by Seth Naomal Hotchand Bhojwani, who later helped the British to invade and occupy Karachi and Sindh, in 1839 and 1843 respectively. The story of Karachi, collected in the two volumes, is told by a number of narrators — how can the entire story of a city be narrated by a single person? — each speaking in his own voice, looking at event and people from his own individual point of view. The next in the line of narrators is John Brunton, Engineer, East India Railway Company, who arrived in the city just after the uprising of 1857 had been put down. Brunton, who describes the revolt of the Native Bengal Regiment in Karachi, built the railway line which linked the city with the rest of Sindh and Punjab and in a few decades turned it into one of the biggest ports exporting wheat and cotton out of the subcontinent. Social Awakening The growth of this commercial city provided space for the expression of the social awakening among the Sindhi Hindus who were directly imbibing the influence of Shantiniketan, Brhamo Samaj and other movements of change in Bengal and other parts of India. The narrator of this part of Karachi's story is KR Malkani, who joined RSS in Karachi and grew into a BJP leader after migrating to India. The Muslims of Sindh, for historical and social reasons, were late to join this journey towards progress, a fact which had long-term consequences for the city, the province and the whole of the subcontinent. Some of these aspects have been highlighted by Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi, who was active in the Sindh Muslim League before and after partition and whose two-volume memoir is considered a masterpiece in Sindhi literature. The story is taken further by an interesting array of narrators, who expressed themselves in English, Sindhi or Urdu — Nagendranath Gupta and Sardar Diwan Singh Maftoon tell the story of one of the greatest citizens of Karachi, Rishi Dayaram Gidumal. Pre-partition Karachi Lokram Dodeja, Sohrab Kavasji Hormuzji Katrak and Anita Ghulam Ali reminisce about the pre-partition Karachi from their unique Hindu, Parsi and Muslim perspectives. Dr Feroz Ahmed traces the history of the African slaves who were the ancestors of the Shidis or Makranis of the Lyari area of today's Karachi. Raffat Khan Haward tells the story of the Goan Catholic community of Karachi who discovered after 1947 that they had become a religious minority. The Sindhi writers, Mohan Kalpana, Shaikh Ayaz and Sobho Gyanchandani, and Urdu writers, Hasan Manzar, Asad Mohammad Khan and Fahmida Riaz, recall the life in the city at its significant moments, shaping the lives of its citizens. Akhtar Hameed Khan, the renowned social worker, thinker and writer describes his work in Comilla, East Bengal, and the huge slum of Orangi in the western district of Karachi. Six residents of Essa Nagri, a katchi abadi inhabited by the Punjabi Christian migrants to the city in 1950s outline the oral history of the settlement, and describe through the story of their lives how the city gradually slid into religious intolerance and ethnic strife. Ajmal Kamal is a writer and publisher based in Karachi On 12/5/06, yasir ~ wrote: > thanks for this gouri. its a nice introduction/summary, > > xcept that DNA has an extremely asinine interface that doesnt even > work in firefox, and the lengths dna has gone to protect its easily > copyable data results in remarkable unreadabilility > > bad design, bad usability. given that this is the web that leaves nothing else. > all hail ascii people ! From sudeep.ks at gmail.com Tue Dec 5 17:50:55 2006 From: sudeep.ks at gmail.com (Sudeep K S) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 17:50:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Action and Reaction [Re: Communal harmony] Message-ID: "Vedavati Jogi" wrote on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:09:03: > one should not equate hindu & muslim terrorism because, > 1) most of the times hindu terrorism is the 'reaction'- to muslim t. Dear Vedavti, Could you please substantiate this claim? I can think of many counter-examples (incidents where this has not been the case)-- Bombay riots (to which the Bombay blasts were a "reaction" if you like it that way) and the Marad incident in Kerala are just two of them. > 2) moreover hindu terrorist will not 'partition' this country. (i hope every > body remembers 1947) Well, this is an even stronger claim. Please try to tell us what makes you think so. Or at least try to think over why you believe so. As far as I understand, we have already suceeded to a great extent in partitioning the country at least in the minds. [I have refered to it a couple of times on my online diary, http://sudeepsdiary.blogspot.com/2006/11/intolerance-and-indigestion.html http://sudeepsdiary.blogspot.com/2006/10/afzal-zinda-hai.html http://sudeepsdiary.blogspot.com/2006/10/happy-deepavali-i-miss-month-of-ramzan.html ] regards sudeep From jumpshark at gmail.com Wed Dec 6 11:45:32 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:45:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Music retailing new twist Message-ID: Cassette to Cd to Dvd to... ? Yash Raj Music unveils DVD-audio format of 'Dhoom:2' Indiantelevision.com Team (27 November 2006 10:25 pm) MUMBAI: Yash Raj Music has unveiled the music of Dhoom:2 in the DVD-audio format. Surround Sound and audiophiles can choose from the audio menu the format they want to hear the songs in. The album makes use of the DVD-Audio format in other ways as well. The lyrics can be viewed on-screen as the music is playing, thus enabling Karaoke sing-along. The theatrical trailer of the movie is also available on the DVD, as well as a credits page that can be viewed optionally. Additionally, four tracks have also been include - Chand Sifarish (Fanaa), Kajra Re (Bunty aur Babli), Salaam Namaste (Salaam Namaste) and Halla Re (Neal 'n' Nikki), the lyrics for which are also available on screen. Rounding up the package is a gallery of pictures from the movies, as an optional feature, states an official release. This disc can be played on both DVD-Video and DVD-Audio Players. All tracks have been re-mastered in 5.1 Surround Sound. This DVD Audio disc features quality sound formats featured below (which can be individually selected from the audio menu options): From jumpshark at gmail.com Wed Dec 6 11:49:15 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:49:15 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] elbow power Message-ID: The winds of change sweeping across Bollywood have not left the music industry untouched. While on the one hand new talent is being encouraged, on the other the old set ways of doing business are giving way to corporatisation. Filmmaker Yash Chopra led the way by parting ways with HMV-Saregama group and setting up his own music label called Yash Raj Music. Chopra is not the only film producer to have ventured into the music industry. Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts too has launched a music label. Sahara One Pictures, a joint venture between advertising company Percept and Sahara Motion Pictures, is also poised to launch a music business soon. So the music industry, which has more than its fair share of problems (audio piracy, no licensing fees from radio stations), is emulating what has been happening in the West where successful artistes worldwide have established their own music labels. For all the music industry's scepticism, Yash Raj Films, Mukta Arts and probably Sahara exude confidence that they'll flourish. More power to their elbow, we say. (copy pasted frm desifans.com) From jumpshark at gmail.com Wed Dec 6 11:55:09 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:55:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Saregama vs T-series Message-ID: Saregama obtains an interim order against T Series 2006-12-05 18:11 Source : Moneycontrol.com The Honorable Kolkata High Court passed an ad-interim order against Super Cassettes Industries Ltd. (T Series) on December 1, 2006, preventing the music label from marketing the version recording of the song 'Babuji' from the (1954) film, Aar Paar, used in the Hindi film, 'Salaam-e-Ishq', following a petition by Saregama India Ltd. ('Saregama') that the latter held the copyright to the song. The producers of the yet-to-be released film, Mad Orion Pictures, sought permission from the copyright holders of the song, Saregama, to use the version of the original song in their upcoming film. Such permission was granted on the condition that while the song could be picturised on and used only in the film itself, it was not to be sold as a recording on any audio cassettes or CD's. However, in violation of the license, the producers gave the music rights to T Series who have released the song. Thus, a case was filed by Saregama in Kolkata High Court and following a hearing late last week, an interim order has been passed to the effect that the music of the film cannot be sold until further orders from the Court. The matter is due to appear for hearing on 10th December 2006. Sourced From: Perfect Relations Limited From turbulence at turbulence.org Tue Dec 5 23:57:40 2006 From: turbulence at turbulence.org (Turbulence) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 13:27:40 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] UPGRADE! BOSTON: Turbulence New England Initiative II Artist Talks Message-ID: <000301c7189b$1d2f8700$6601a8c0@t5x1c0> UPGRADE! BOSTON: Turbulence New England Initiative II Artist Talks: Brooke A. Knight, Mobius and John Snavely http://www.turbulence.org/upgrade/archives/12_14NEII.html WHEN: December 14, 7 pm WHERE: Art Interactive, 130 Bishop Allen Drive, at the corner of Prospect Street, Cambridge. Free parking in the lot on the corner or take the T to Central Square and walk 1 block. < Turbulence New England Initiative II > http://www.turbulence.org/ne2/guidelines.html Turbulence.org's competition for networked, hybrid projects awarded three commissions: "Cell Tagging" by Brooke A. Knight, "Variations VII: FishNet" by Mobius, and "WhoWhatWhenAir" by John Snavely. The projects will be exhibited at Art Interactive from December 8 through January 14. Jurors of the competition were Julian Bleecker, Michelle Thursz, and Helen Thorington. Turbulence NE Initiative II is supported by Art Interactive, the LEF Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. "Cell Tagging" by Brooke A. Knight http://turbulence.org/Works/cell_tagging The mobile phone occupies a space that is both connecting and distancing. Seemingly ubiquitous, it has become an increasingly powerful tool, functioning as a phone, PDA, browser, and camera. With "Cell Tagging" it becomes a remote control that allows users to dial, draw, and speak. Cell phone users "graffiti" the sound-space around them, making every place their own. "Variations VII: FishNet" by Mobius http://turbulence.org/works/FishNet In "Variations VII: FishNet," the primary component is an autonomous networked space in which users "fish" among myriad live audio/visual internet feeds. Sources include air traffic controllers, police and fire departments, horse races, and webcams. The project will also make use of live, distributed input from cell phones. FishNet is inspired by John Cage's Variations VII, a pioneering "art and engineering" performance event from 1966. "WhoWhatWhenAir" by John Snavely An interactive, kinetic sculpture that users can communicate with via a bicycle pump. Next to this direct interaction, a web-based, distant interaction connects the digital with the physical. Coordinated efforts produce unexpected structural choreographies. UP NEXT << Upgrade! Boston: ShiftSpace and OPENSTUDIO >> January 11, 2007; 7 pm. Panel discussion with Mushon Zer-Aviv and Dan Phiffer (ShiftSpace) and members of MIT's OPENSTUDIO project. http://shiftspace.org/ http://openstudio.media.mit.edu/ Upgrade! Boston (http://www.turbulence.org/upgrade/about.html) is curated by Jo-Anne Green for Turbulence.org (http://turbulence.org) in partnership with Art Interactive (http://artinteractive.org). It is one of 22 nodes currently active in Upgrade! International (http://theupgrade.net), an emerging network of autonomous nodes united by art, technology, and a commitment to bridging cultural divides. If you would like to present your work or get involved, please email jo at turbulence.org. If you no longer wish to receive these notices, please reply to this email with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856 Turbulence: http://turbulence.org New American Radio: http://somewhere.org Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From eve at pointephemere.org Tue Dec 5 15:30:26 2006 From: eve at pointephemere.org (Eve Lemesle) Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 11:00:26 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Residency in Paris Message-ID: <3EF8566B-2E74-4FF5-9D64-7A522D307A0D@pointephemere.org> AIR / POINT EPHEMERE VISUAL ART RESIDENCY IN PARIS April-May-June 2007 Point Ephémère, multidisciplinary art centre in Paris, is running in Paris an Artist In Residence program for Indian and French young artists. POINT EPHEMERE ######## In Paris, Indian visual artists, video-makers, painters, sculptors, new media artists are invited to apply, before December 20th, in order to have a 3 months residence at Point Ephémère, starting in April 2007. Point Ephémère's residencies are dedicated to artistic research and creation, in a high level professional context. Artists work in a Point Ephémère studio, along the canal St Martin, in the heart of Paris. They are accommodated at Cité Internationale des Arts, an international foundation that provides more than 300 flats for artists in Paris. The resident artist will benefit from Point Ephémère's logistic support and accompaniment in art works production, along with French artists. This program mainly concerns emerging artists, starting their career. They will be chosen for the artistic quality of their work, by a jury of professionals (around January 15th). RESIDENCY ######## The residence consists in: - a plane ticket (round trip) to Paris and back - a grant of 700 euros per month, - An accommodation at Cité International des Arts in Paris - A private studio in Point Ephémère, with access to technical studios and tools, - Possibility for a show or exhibition at Point Ephémère or private galleries APPLICATION ######## To submit please send a portfolio with : - a curriculum vitae - a selection of images on actual work (cd, dvd, color print : 20 images maximum) - 1 page text on the art's content - documentation on previous works - press reviews and publications - a motivation letter, or if relevant, a brief project in relation with France, Paris. Please send your files UNTIL DECEMBER 20TH 2006 to Eve Lemesle By postmail : Point Ephémère, 200 Quai de Valmy, 75010 Paris Or by email : eve at pointephemere.org CONTACT ######## For any information, please contact Eve Lemesle : eve at pointephemere.org / (+33) 1 40 34 02 48 ........................................................................ ........ Point Ephémère 200 Quai de Valmy 75010 Paris France _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From mohaiemen at yahoo.com Wed Dec 6 19:26:06 2006 From: mohaiemen at yahoo.com (NAEEM MOHAIEMEN) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 05:56:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Mahmud Can't Be A Pilot In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <415765.3668.qm@web50310.mail.yahoo.com> I have an essay in the new anthology <> (Matt Bernstein Sycamore ed.). Matt/Mattilda is the editor of <>; <> and the instigator of , a radical queer activist group that "fights the monster of assimilation". Details below, including an excerpt. Naeem Mohaiemen http://disappearedinamerica.org ########################## Amazon: Nobody Passes http://tinyurl.com/ybl3qq Blog: Nobody Passes, Darling http://nobodypasses.blogspot.com ########################## [Excerpt from "Why Mahmud Can't Be A Pilot"] Halfway through the weekend, I realized the unintended, dual track of the speaker selection. The Muslim speakers were all in the "angry activist" ghetto -- the rapper, the comedian, and the filmmaker were talking about racial profiling, war on terror, civil liberties. The rest of the conference seemed to be on a planet called "Spelling Bee Champion Honors Student Most Likely To Succeed." High-profile speakers included a former White House CFO, bankers, TV reporters, and a physical trainer. This half of the conference stayed on message: We're not just gear-heads in Bangalore call centers. We can do anything. "It's the best time for South Asians in America," one speaker said. A triumphant narrative of a dream life. ....... On the other side of the Atlantic, the underclass positioning of Muslim migrants is even more sharply visible. A 2005 survey found British Indians and West Indians outperforming their white working-class peers in education and jobs. This was especially visible for the "1.5" generation, children of the great wave of post-colonial migration. But in the same survey, two other Asian groups came in at the bottom: Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. For Asian Muslims, there are conjoined problems of spiraling unemployment, societal disenfranchisement, and voluntary self-isolation. The ghettoization is particularly marked for women. Unemployed men still find gathering spaces in local clubs, community centers, mosques, and streets. For the women, however, absence in the workplace is conflated with a larger absence from daily life. The Muslim woman in a western city has lately become an all-purpose signifier. For Muslim men, she needs to be "protected" from a sexually curious and omnivorous society. For western liberals (and lately conservatives), the woman in hijab is the ultimate missionary project. Simultaneously mysterious, exotic, sexual, and repulsive -- they are shrouded figures ("ninja" to some Bengali wags) needing a rescue mission to free them from the clutches of tradition and Muslim men. Pop-Sociologists look to religion for an easy formula to explain the stratified Asian underclass. But these equations obscure more than they clarify. In London, Bengali women are rarely seen working in non-family owned stores. Yet, in New York, they are a familiar presence in the service economy. Differing migration patterns are a bigger influence than religion. The bulk of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi migration to England came from rural and working-class communities in underdeveloped areas (Pakistanis from Mirpur and Kashmir, Bangladeshis from Sylhet).[5] By contrast, the Asian migration to the U.S. went through a restrictive filter of job categories, student visas, or family reunification, resulting in a more educated immigration pool.[6] The Economist recently concluded that, even after 9/11, Muslims have better opportunities in the U.S. than in Europe. In line with its ideological stance, the magazine lays the blame for Europe's "Muslim problem" on the mammaries of the welfare state.[7] The problem, it seems, is the "excessive generosity" of the European state, which "encourages" Muslims to be lazy loafers. Dutch law professor Afshin Ellian posits, Five years ago, my Afghan sister-in-law emigrated to the United States, where she now works, pays taxes and takes part in public life.... In Europe, she would still be undergoing treatment from social workers for her trauma--and she still wouldn't have got a job or won acceptance as a citizen.[8] These formulations fit smoothly with the apocalyptic fears of British journalist Melanie Phillips, who talks about the growing danger from "home-grown Jihadis."[9] More nuanced writers, such as Sukhdev Sandhu, also detect signs of a transcontinental divide in opportunities. Exploring the devastated town of Manningham (scene of 1995 and 2001 race riots with Asian youth fighting police and white gangs), he documents the pervasive sense of dead-end life for Pakistani migrants: Ambitious local kids feel themselves orphaned, doubly anachronistic.... So they flee... In New York last year I found myself in a cab driven by a Bradford Pakistani who had spent the previous four decades working in a factory [in England]. 'Why did I stay so long there?' he cried. 'No opportunity, no future. Pure waste.'[10] Maybe things will be all right for Mahmud, after all? At least he's not in Europe? More of a future on this side? American "dream", land of endless opportunity? Mahmud's would-be profession is one rare time that being a woman could reduce potential friction. In spite of the example of Leila Khaled and other female hijackers, the "terrorist profile" remains the Muslim male. This is not to say women are not checked at airports, but within a different calculation -- an "unknowing" mule or a seduced naif. So a Mahmuda may have a slightly easier time in this profession. But then again, crazy patriarchy and power insecurities will trip up a female pilot in other ways anyway. I'm thinking now of the mysterious Egypt Air crash of a few years ago. Flight 990 suddenly went into a nosedive and then pulled rapidly back up -- so rapidly that the structure ruptured and the plane plunged to destruction. To this date no one knows what happened, but the fact that the pilot was heard saying, "I place myself in the hand of Allah" was taken as evidence of a suicidal impulse. Another way troubles could start for Mahmud. Yes, you may not be a crazy terrorist, but you may just be plain crazy. [End of Excerpt] ########################## Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity Edited by Matt Bernstein Sycamore ########################## Table Of Contents Reaching Too Far: An Introduction, Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore All Mixed Up and No Place to Go: Inhabiting Mixed Consciousness on the Margins, Nico Dacumos Friction Burn: A Nonfiction Admission, Stacey May Fowles Who’s That Wavin’ That Flag?, Jessica Hoffmann Undermining Gender Regulation, Dean Spade Passing Last Summer, Dominika Bednarska Innocent Victims and Brave New Laws: State Protection and the Battered Women’s Movement, Priya Kandaswamy Different Types of Hunger: Finding My Way Through Generations of Okie Migration, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz What I Learned from Being G Minus in the World of Homohop Commerce, Ralowe T. Ampu, DDS No Longer Just American, Stephanie Abraham The End of Genderqueer, Rocko Bulldagger My Kind of Cruising, Liz Rosenfeld Pino’s Father, Tommi Avicolli Mecca Trans-portation, Terre Thaemlitz Melchizedek’s Three Rings, Carole McDonnell Behind These Mascaraed Eyes: Passing Life in Prison, Nikki Lee Diamond Race Haunted, Otherwise, Eric Stanley Why Mahmud Can't Be A Pilot, Naeem Mohaiemen F2Mestizo, Logan Gutierrez-Mock Persephone, Helen Boyd Hat, Tucker Lieberman “And Then You Cut Your Hair:” Genderfucking on the Femme Side of the Spectrum, Amy André and Sandy Chang Surface Tensions, Jen Cross Origins, Kirk Read Lack of Close Friends or Confidants, Jennifer Blowdryer >From Hot Pink to Code Pink: Notes on Passing for Monolingual Folk, Irina Contreras Not Quite Queer, Benjamin Shepard ############################# Stephanie Abraham spends her time making feminist media, teaching elementary school, and dancing salsa. She has just completed her M.A. in Cultural Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, where she specialized in the representation of Arabs in Hollywood film and television, and founded the feminist magazine LOUDmouth. Ralowe T. Ampu, DDS is a white academic living as a black asshole in sunny, progressive San Francisco in a loft space with a view of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. When she’s not working with Gavin Newsom to rid the city of homeless youth or carrying the banner for the pro-life contingent of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration, she shit glitter on mikes with those Divas on Depakote (http://www.divsoffdeps.com). She’s a lonely agoraphobe, so give her a call at (415) 863-3249. Talk to me. Amy André is a 31-year-old femme bisexual African-American Jew. With a master’s degree in sexuality studies from San Francisco State University, Amy is a sexual health educator, researcher, and published author. In addition, she recently directed her first film, On My Skin, a short documentary about a mixed-race transgender man; see www.BlackAndWhiteAllOver.com for details. For more on Amy, please visit: www.AmyAndre.com. Dominika Bednarska is a doctoral student in English and Disability Studies at UC Berkeley. She has been published in Ghosting Atoms: Poems and Reflections Sixty Years After the Bomb, Medicinal Purposes: A Literary Review, and What I Want From You: Voices of East Bay Lesbian Poets (forthcoming). She is currently working on her first chapbook and planning to eventually perform her work as a one-woman show. Jennifer Blowdryer’s most recent book is Good Advice for Young Trendy People of All Ages (Manic D Press). She has an MFA from Columbia, has taught Satire at Marymount Manhattan, and in 1988 founded Smut Fests, an early forum for sex workers, burlesque, and spoken word. Her plays White Trash Debutante has been performed at Theater Rhino in SF and the Bowery Poetry Club in NYC. She is a frequent contributor to New York Press, and is currently compiling interviews with people who are chronically ejected from venues. Jenniferblowdryer.com. Ruth Blandón is a graduate student in English literature at USC whose research interests include transamerican modernisms and color-based passing. She is the daughter of immigrants from Nicaragua. Aura Bogado is a Los Angeles–based print and radio journalist .Her April 2006 article critiquing dominant responses to the current immigrant-rights movement, “On the Myth of Sleeping Giants,” has been widely circulated. She is an immigrant from Argentina. Helen Boyd is the author of My Husband Betty, which was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Her blog (en)gender is widely read by people interested in queer, trans, and gender issues. She lives with her partner Betty in Brooklyn, New York, where she is currently working on her next book, She’s Not the Man I Married, which will be published during the winter of 2007. Rocko Bulldagger is a feminist polyamorous sex radical queer living in Brooklyn, NY. She works in education by day and obsesses over politics, philosophy and sexuality by night. “The End of Genderqueer” originally appeared in her zine Bleached Blonde Bimbos. Rocko’s beloved affiliations include Queer As Fuck, The House of Freak, 2000 Queers, The Short Peoples’ Revolution and The Bent Stiletto Social Club. Sandy C. Chang is a queer Chinese American born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. A singer/songwriter and dancer, Sandy also performs as a drag king, going by the name of Charleston Chu. Sandy has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco. Sandy currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with a pug named Theo. Irina Contreras is an artist, writer and all-around misunderstood scorpio living in the hills of Elysian Park in Los Angeles. Atop one fine hill sits the F-Haus, a cinderblock modernist disaster in which she resides with her six roommates and many lizards. Raised close by in the Pacoima area, she was "abducted" by a young age by the older funny colored hair girls who luckily rescued her from the plague of what could have been in the San Fernando Valley to instead go to shows and work on zines. Currently, she is acting as editor-in-chief of the 2006 year of LOUDmouth Magazine, as well as writing, performing and making shit in other capacities. Jen Cross is a writer, writing group facilitator, and co-collaborator in the dyke erotica collective, Dirty Ink. Her stories will soon have appeared (some as Jen Collins) in a dozen anthologies, including Set In Stone, Back to Basics, Best Fetish Erotica, and Glamour Girls and Naughty Spanking Stories A-Z 2. Often read as a midwestern white queer girl incest survivor, she believes in attempting to communicate even when deep interlocution seems inherently futile. Nico Dacumos is a Special Education teacher, performer, and writer. He develops workshops exploring race, queerness, sex, and love, and workshops comparing political movements. Workshops have been presented for Mount Holyoke and Smith College, Sistersong, Georgians for Choice, Body Positive Atlanta, and the CLPP Program at Hampshire College. He has also performed at venues such as Highways Performance Space, TMI Queer Salon, Valley Arts Festival, and for the Community Organizing Campaign (CYOC). Stalk him at http://nicoelrico.blogspot.com. Nikki Lee Diamond spent 26 years in prison, and is very glad to be out. She would like to thank Alex Lee, Nat Smith and the Trans/Gender Variant in Prison Committee (TIP) of California Prison Focus. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a writer, social activist, historian, and university professor. She grew up in rural Oklahoma, daughter of a landless farmer and half-Indian mother. Most recently, she has published a historical memoir trilogy: Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie (1997; 2006) Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960-1975 (2002): Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War (2005). Earlier books include: The Great Sioux Nation: An Oral History of the Sioux Nation and its Struggle for Sovereignty; Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico, 1680-1980 and Indians of the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination. "Different Types of Hunger..." is adapted from Red Dirt, originally published by Verso and recently republished by the University of Oklahoma. Fritz Flohr is a 22 year old faggot of female to male transsexual experience. He does not identify as “Mentally Ill”, but rather as a Survivor of Psychiatric Abuse. Fritz enjoys pigeons and sauerkraut. Read his anti-psychiatry zine at http://www.pigeonpress.org/againstpsychiatry.html He is currently soliciting contributions from fellow psychiatric survivors for a new zine about psychiatric abuse, and is particularly interested in essays exploring the connections between psychiatric and sexual abuse. Fritz can be reached via email at againstpsychiatry at yahoo.com. Stacey May Fowles is a writer based in Toronto. Her exhibited, text-based artwork has asked the world to apologize and helped women have g-spot orgasms, while her writing has appeared in Fireweed, subTERRAIN, Kiss Machine and Hive. Her first novel, broken plate ideology: a collective recollection, is forthcoming with Tightrope Books in Fall 2007, and she is currently working on a collection of short stories. You can find her at www.staceymayfowles.com. Logan Gutierrez-Mock is a biracial (Chicano/white), middle-class, 26-year-old, queer tranny boy. He has an M.A. in Human Sexuality Studies and is a graduate student in Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. He sits on the Board of Directors for Interracial Family Pride (www.ipride.org), an agency serving mixed heritage and transracially adopted youth and their families. His interests include: youth empowerment, comprehensive sex education, queer Latinidad, people of color with white skin privilege, and researching mixed heritage/transracially adopted queer and transgender people. He talks to his mother every day, he wants to own a small, fluffy gay dog and he is a fierce advocate of the color pink. He can be reached at logangutierrezmock at yahoo.com. Jessica Hoffmann is an LA-based writer and editor. She covered the May 1, 2006, immigrants-rights actions in Los Angeles for The NewStandard. Her maternal great-great grandparents immigrated from the same Jewish village in Austria to the Bronx. The paternal story is a little more hazy, with German Protestant antecedents arriving in New Orleans sometime in the mid-nineteenth century and no living descendants seeming to know much of anything about the British folks on Dad’s Mom’s side. Vanessa Huang is a first-generation Chinese-American organizer and writer presently working in Oakland, CA, as the communications director at Justice Now, a human-rights organization that works with people in women’s prisons and local communities to build a safe, compassionate world without prisons. She was a student and organizer in Providence, Rhode Island, during the major immigrants-rights actions of spring 2006. Priya Kandaswamy teaches in the Women’s Studies department at Portland State University. Her work examines the intersections of race, gender, class and sexuality in the U.S. welfare state’s efforts to regulate sexuality, control labor, and police the boundaries of citizenship. Tucker Lieberman studied Philosophy at Brown University and Journalism at Boston University. His reflections on masculinity, body, and spirit received Brown University’s Casey Shearer Creative Nonfiction Award in 2002. A memoir about living outdoors appeared in Fresh Yarn in 2005. He lives indoors with his fiancé, Dan, in Rhode Island. Carole McDonnell’s fiction, devotionals, poetry and essays have appeared in print and online. Her works appear in several religious, female, ethnic and speculative fiction anthologies including So Long Been Dreaming: Post-colonialism in science fiction, Jigsaw Nation: Tales of Secession. She has written a Bible study called The Easy Way to Write and Teach Bible Studies. Her website is: www.geocities.com/scifiwritir/OreoBlues.html She lives with her husband, their two sons, and their ferocious tabby Ralphina. Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a radical working-class Southern Italian queer writer, performer and activist whose work has been published in many anthologies over the past 35 years. He is author of Between Little Rock and a Hard Place and co-editor of Hey Paesan: Writings by Italian Gays and Lesbians. He works by day helping tenants fight gentrification and eviction in San Franciso. His web page is www.avicollimecca.com. Naeem Mohaiemen is a filmmaker and artist. He co-created Visible Collective (disappearedinamerica.org), a series of art interventions on post-9/11 security panic. Project excerpts have shown as installations or lectures, including the 2006 Whitney Biennial (Wrong Gallery). Other projects include Muslims or Heretics: My Camera Can Lie (UK House of Lords), Young Man Was No Longer Terrorist (Dictionary of War, Munich), and Between Devil & Deep Blue (Asia Society). Kirk Read is the author of How I Learned to Snap. He is an HIV counselor at St. James Infirmary, a free clinic for sex workers in San Francisco. He is working on a novel and a collection of essays. He performs frequently and curates evenings of spoken word and performance, including an open mic in the culturally anorexic Castro called Smack Dab. He’s an avid hiker and backpacker. His website is www.kirkread.com. Liz Rosenfeld is a New York based filmmaker and performance artist who secretly fantasizes about staring in a Broadway revival of Hair. Her work deals with lost histories, feminism, and community in relation to queer identity and politics. She has an MFA from The Art Institute of Chicago, and she is currently an MA candidate in the Performance Studies Program at The Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Liz’s work has been screened nationally and internationally. Mariana Ruiz is a union organizer in New York City. Many of the workers she works with are recent immigrants. She is a daughter of immigrants and a member of the progressive Cuban community. She is particularly interested in the impact that recent immigrants have on labor policy in the United States. Clio Reese Sady is a zine-writing, political poster-making, self defense-teaching, college-educated queer from Portland, Oregon. She owes her analysis of Queering Femininity to tireless processing with everyone in the Portland queer feminist revival and especially to Adele, Jordan, Silke, Tuesday, Valentine, Morgan, Michelle, Miel, and Tessa. Additionally, political conversations with Elos and Usnea have supplied me with endless inspiration. Benjamin Shepard, PhD, is the author of White Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic (Cassell, 1997) and co-editor of From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization (Verso, 2002). He got his start with the Bay Area Reporter. Since then, he has played with ACT UP, SexPanic!, Reclaim the Streets, CIRCA, Absurd Response, Housing Works, and Times UP! Send correspondence to: benshepard at mindspring.com. "Not Quite Queer" is dedicated to Eric Rofes, who first encouraged me to write a draft of this essay in 1998, and later read a draft of this updated version in June 2006, just weeks before he died. Dean Spade is an attorney and activist, and the founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a law collective providing free legal services to low-income trans people and trans people of color. His writing has appeared in the Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, the Chicano-Latino Law Review, the Widener Law Review, GLQ, and several anthologies. Dean is also co-editor of the online journal makezine.org. Eric A. Stanley is a high school dropout turned underground academic in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. S/he is currently writing a dissertation on the politics of queer affect and the relationship between violence, sovereignty and State terror by looking at the HIV/AIDS genocide and lynching of queer/ trans people. Eric also works with the radical queer direct-action collective, Gay Shame. Eric can be reached at queeriot at yahoo.com Terre Thaemlitz is an award winning multi-media producer, writer, public speaker, educator, audio remixer, DJ and owner of the Comatonse Recordings record label. Her work critically combines themes of identity politics - including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race - with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production. He has released 14 solo albums, as well as numerous 12-inch singles and video works. Her writings on music and culture have been published internationally in a number of books, academic journals and magazines. As a speaker and educator on issues of non-essentialist transgenderism and queerness, Thaemlitz has participated in panel discussions throughout Europe and Japan. He currently resides in Kawasaki, Japan. “Trans-portation" was adapted from the electroacoustic radio drama "Trans-Sister Radio," a program about transgendered travel and migration, developed for the German broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk (premiere November 14, 2004), and co-issued on CD by the Portuguese labels Grain of Sound and Base Recordings (December 12, 2005) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now. From veryseriousmail at yahoo.ca Thu Dec 7 01:25:30 2006 From: veryseriousmail at yahoo.ca (Sophie Le-Phat Ho) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:55:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] CFP Artivistic07 :: un.occupied spaces Message-ID: <20061206195530.94742.qmail@web52909.mail.yahoo.com> [ please distribute widely / sorry for x-posting ] http://artivistic.omweb.org/modules/wakka/CFP2007 A r t i v i s t i c 2 0 0 7 [ October :: Montreal ] < CALL FOR PARTICIPATION > [ [ [ un.occupied spaces ] ] ] We are infiltrating all levels of society. Artists, activists, academics, architects, bureaucrats, the homeless, anarchists, first nations, immigrants, doctors, geeks, lawyers, teachers, witches, philosophers, clowns. Artivistic does not only provide a platform for political artists and artistic activists, but partakes in the very movements that work for change. In the pursuit of temporary moments of pleasure, we move towards freedom, for resistance is perpetual and oppression, ever-changing. We oppose the progression of monolithic thought and work for the development of new and dynamic forms of knowledge, exchange, representation and practices of everyday life. We aim to stimulate the mind, the imagination, and the body. We seek alternative models, portals unto un.occupied spaces. Artistivic moves beyond the moment, becoming a process of contamination through interpersonal dialogue that exceeds the event. Building on the 2005 generation, Artivistic in 2007 will continue to ask questions that do not leave us thinking we have resolved the issues. We strongly suggest that you answer one, or all, of our questions with a question of your own. Please submit your proposal for participation related (but not restricted) to the following : < what is indigenous ? > The very use of the term “indigenous” presupposes a claim to the existence of rights. The right to land. The right of return. The right to self-determination. The right to a life with dignity. In what context does indigenous mean something and how is it represented today? What is the relationship between identity based on place, the land and/or territories and the right to resources? What is indigenous in the context of globalisation, migrations and mobility? (Perhaps the question is not what is indigenous but how is indigenous?) < what is a natural space ? > The environment is in a pretty bad shape. Yet, does not typical environmentalism often propose “solutions” which alienate the very people that could make a difference by using a false dichotomy (natural/human-made, natural/artificial, nature/culture) and by perpetuating the myth of a pristine nature? Current strategies often make use of fear and guilt to provoke action, yet will we not be helping our environment in a more efficient way once we let go of our arrogance as humans and start living with and in the world rather than of, and alienated from, the world? < what is (there) to occupy ? > The term “occupation” often inspires images of invasion, enclosure and rape. How are spaces and bodies ruled over? What is public space, ultimately? Why do reserves exist? To ask what is occupation is in fact to ask what is left to occupy for occupation is more pervasive than it first appears. At the same time, occupation echoes resistance when it comes to certain forms of appropriation. So how does one occupy appropriation or how can one appropriate occupation? Your abstract or project description should be no longer than 250 words, your bio 75 words (seriously, we will stop reading after that). Please also include 50 words on how you will stimulate audience participation (sorry, NO paper reading). We welcome proposals for : roundtables, workshops, expeditions & walks, interventions, performance, projections, show-and-tells, broadcasts, games, visual arts, media & technology arts, street arts, informal arts, experimental arts, is-it-art arts, etc. and any combination of the above. We also welcome proposals having to do with personal experience, lessons learned, or future projects that could include other participants of Artivistic (this is a good place to start organising and collaborating). Deadline : 15 February 2007 Please send your proposals to : participation.artivistic at gmail.com > The Autonomous Conference Artivistic also includes an open-source component. Participants will be able to sign up on the day-of to hold an ad-hoc session that is not in the official program but is fully part of the event. You can prepare in advance, but you don’t need to submit anything. > Co-presentations Artivistic cannot fulfil its networking and pluralist agenda without collaborating with existing organisations of overlapping mandates. If you are an organisation interested in mutual aid in the context of event planning, please contact us (considerably in advance) with your idea for an event that you would like to organise and present with us : info.artivistic at gmail.com > Volunteers If you want to help us before, during and/or after the event, that would be really nice of you! We need a lot of extra hands with promotion, billeting, set-up, facilitation, cooking, tech, time-keeping, documenting, wrap-up, etc. Please email us at : volunteers.artivistic at gmail.com > Travel funding Unfortunately, we are unable to provide funding for your travel (we are not even getting paid to do this), but will be happy to offer any assistance with your own steps in finding funding. On the other hand, in-house accommodation and food will be provided to all Artivistic participants. > Press If you want to cover Artivistic, please send us your information by email here : press.artivistic at gmail.com Artivistic [ http://artivistic.omweb.org ] is a transdisciplinary three-day gathering on the interPlay between art, information and activism. Artivistic emerges out of the proposition that not only artists should talk about art, academics about theory, and activists about activism. Founded in 2004, the event aims to promote transdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue on activist art beyond critique, to create and facilitate a human network of diverse peoples, and to inspire, proliferate, activate. General inquiries : info.artivistic at gmail.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? En finir avec le spam? Yahoo! Courriel vous offre la meilleure protection possible contre les messages non nollicités http://mail.yahoo.ca Yahoo! Courriel From rana at ranadasgupta.com Thu Dec 7 09:41:25 2006 From: rana at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:41:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] UN: first ever study of global household assets Message-ID: <4577946D.8080607@ranadasgupta.com> World's richest 1% own 40% of all wealth, UN report discovers http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1964813,00.html - First ever study of global household assets - 50% of world's adults own just 1% of the wealth James Randerson, science correspondent Wednesday December 6, 2006 The Guardian The richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet's wealth, according to the largest study yet of wealth distribution. The report also finds that those in financial services and the internet sectors predominate among the super rich. Europe, the US and some Asia Pacific nations account for most of the extremely wealthy. More than a third live in the US. Japan accounts for 27% of the total, the UK for 6% and France for 5%. The UK is also third in terms of per capita wealth. UK residents are found to have on average $127,000 (£64,000) each in assets, with Japanese and American citizens having, respectively, $181,000 and $144,000. All data relate to the year 2000. The global study - from the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations - is the first to chart wealth distribution in every country as opposed to just income, for which more comprehensive date is available. It included all the most significant components of household wealth, including financial assets and debts, land, buildings and other tangible property. Together these total $125 trillion globally. Anthony Shorrocks, director of the research institute at the United Nations University, in New York, led the study. He affirmed that the existence of a nest egg provided an insurance policy that helped people cope with unforeseen events such as ill health or a lost job. Capital allowed people to drag themselves out of poverty, he added. "In some ways, wealth is more important to people in poorer countries than in richer countries." It was more difficult in developing countries to set up a business because it was harder to borrow start-up funds, he said. His team used detailed data from 38 countries, but had to rely on incomplete information from the rest. The report found the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total of global assets. Half the world's adult population, however, owned barely 1% of global wealth. Near the bottom of the list were India, with per capita wealth of $1,100, and Indonesia with assets per head of $1,400. Many African nations as well as North Korea and the poorer Asia Pacific nations were places where the worst off lived. "These levels of inequality are grotesque," said Duncan Green, head of research at Oxfam. "It is impossible to justify such vast wealth when 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. The good news is that redistribution would only have to be relatively small. Such are the vast assets of the rich that giving up a small part of their wealth could transform the lives of millions." Madsen Pirie, director of the Adam Smith Institute, a free-market thinktank, disagreed that distribution of global wealth was unfair. He said: "The implicit assumption behind this is that there is a supply of wealth in the world and some people have too much of that supply. In fact wealth is a dynamic, it is constantly created. We should not be asking who in the past has created wealth and how can we get it off them." He said that instead the question should be how more and more people could create wealth. Ruth Lea, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, a thinkthank set up by Margaret Thatcher, said that although she supported the goal of making poverty history she did not think increasing aid to poorer countries was the answer. "It's no use throwing lots of aid at countries that are basically dysfunctional," she said. The UN report was issued as the Swiss magazine Bilan released a list of the richest Swiss residents. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, topped the list with an estimated fortune of $21bn. -- Rana Dasgupta www.ranadasgupta.com From quraishy at sarai.net Thu Dec 7 11:49:11 2006 From: quraishy at sarai.net (Moslem Ali Quraishy) Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 07:19:11 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Softwepia Message-ID: <24ad8b05387fd0640f41747e881e3fba@sarai.net> Respected All Please have a look at this site ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREE SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS http://www.softpedia.com/ Waiting for your feedback Salaam Moslem Quraishy From mohaiemen at yahoo.com Thu Dec 7 12:11:46 2006 From: mohaiemen at yahoo.com (NAEEM MOHAIEMEN) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 22:41:46 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Nobody Passes, Darling In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <909292.24235.qm@web50311.mail.yahoo.com> The syntax I used caused some of the text from last post to disappear (how appropos!) so here it is again. ###### I have an essay "Why Mahmud Can't Be A Pilot" in the new anthology "Nobody Passes" (Matt Bernstein Sycamore ed.). Matt/Mattilda is the editor of "That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation"; "Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving" and the instigator of "Gay Shame: A Virus in the System", a radical queer activist group that "fights the monster of assimilation". Details below, including an excerpt. Naeem Mohaiemen http://disappearedinamerica.org ########################## Amazon: Nobody Passes http://tinyurl.com/ybl3qq Blog: Nobody Passes, Darling http://nobodypasses.blogspot.com ########################## [Excerpt from "Why Mahmud Can't Be A Pilot"] Halfway through the weekend, I realized the unintended, dual track of the speaker selection. The Muslim speakers were all in the "angry activist" ghetto -- the rapper, the comedian, and the filmmaker were talking about racial profiling, war on terror, civil liberties. The rest of the conference seemed to be on a planet called "Spelling Bee Champion Honors Student Most Likely To Succeed." High-profile speakers included a former White House CFO, bankers, TV reporters, and a physical trainer. This half of the conference stayed on message: We're not just gear-heads in Bangalore call centers. We can do anything. "It's the best time for South Asians in America," one speaker said. A triumphant narrative of a dream life. ....... On the other side of the Atlantic, the underclass positioning of Muslim migrants is even more sharply visible. A 2005 survey found British Indians and West Indians outperforming their white working-class peers in education and jobs. This was especially visible for the "1.5" generation, children of the great wave of post-colonial migration. But in the same survey, two other Asian groups came in at the bottom: Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. For Asian Muslims, there are conjoined problems of spiraling unemployment, societal disenfranchisement, and voluntary self-isolation. The ghettoization is particularly marked for women. Unemployed men still find gathering spaces in local clubs, community centers, mosques, and streets. For the women, however, absence in the workplace is conflated with a larger absence from daily life. The Muslim woman in a western city has lately become an all-purpose signifier. For Muslim men, she needs to be "protected" from a sexually curious and omnivorous society. For western liberals (and lately conservatives), the woman in hijab is the ultimate missionary project. Simultaneously mysterious, exotic, sexual, and repulsive -- they are shrouded figures ("ninja" to some Bengali wags) needing a rescue mission to free them from the clutches of tradition and Muslim men. Pop-Sociologists look to religion for an easy formula to explain the stratified Asian underclass. But these equations obscure more than they clarify. In London, Bengali women are rarely seen working in non-family owned stores. Yet, in New York, they are a familiar presence in the service economy. Differing migration patterns are a bigger influence than religion. The bulk of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi migration to England came from rural and working-class communities in underdeveloped areas (Pakistanis from Mirpur and Kashmir, Bangladeshis from Sylhet).[5] By contrast, the Asian migration to the U.S. went through a restrictive filter of job categories, student visas, or family reunification, resulting in a more educated immigration pool.[6] The Economist recently concluded that, even after 9/11, Muslims have better opportunities in the U.S. than in Europe. In line with its ideological stance, the magazine lays the blame for Europe's "Muslim problem" on the mammaries of the welfare state.[7] The problem, it seems, is the "excessive generosity" of the European state, which "encourages" Muslims to be lazy loafers. Dutch law professor Afshin Ellian posits, Five years ago, my Afghan sister-in-law emigrated to the United States, where she now works, pays taxes and takes part in public life.... In Europe, she would still be undergoing treatment from social workers for her trauma--and she still wouldn't have got a job or won acceptance as a citizen.[8] These formulations fit smoothly with the apocalyptic fears of British journalist Melanie Phillips, who talks about the growing danger from "home-grown Jihadis."[9] More nuanced writers, such as Sukhdev Sandhu, also detect signs of a transcontinental divide in opportunities. Exploring the devastated town of Manningham (scene of 1995 and 2001 race riots with Asian youth fighting police and white gangs), he documents the pervasive sense of dead-end life for Pakistani migrants: Ambitious local kids feel themselves orphaned, doubly anachronistic.... So they flee... In New York last year I found myself in a cab driven by a Bradford Pakistani who had spent the previous four decades working in a factory [in England]. 'Why did I stay so long there?' he cried. 'No opportunity, no future. Pure waste.'[10] Maybe things will be all right for Mahmud, after all? At least he's not in Europe? More of a future on this side? American "dream", land of endless opportunity? Mahmud's would-be profession is one rare time that being a woman could reduce potential friction. In spite of the example of Leila Khaled and other female hijackers, the "terrorist profile" remains the Muslim male. This is not to say women are not checked