[Reader-list] [Urbanstudy] traders protest in Delhi and where sociolgical definations fail

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

Dear Anant, Dr. Benjamin, Ravi and others,

A question which I am interested in is this: the attempt is to bring
liquid, floating cash into institutionalized structures. So you have the
SC saying no more commercial shops running in houses - shut shop! Now what
is this attempt at bringing in cash/moeny from 'informal sector' doing to
subjectivity?

Secondly, what role is the court playing in this age of urban politics?
Are courts now beyond classic rights?



> Dear Anant, Ravi, and friends
> One of the ways in which the classic sociologogical
> definations fails, is that it assumes that  property
> (and hense 'traders')are on a trajectory towards
> greater homogenizing and 'consolidation'. Both the
> 'right' and the 'left' meet up in land, as someone
> noted -- one from the point of capital and the other
> on to common conciousness. These binaries shifting the
> political to the esoteric rather than the day to day,
> miss out on the actual material basis of how property
> gets 'encroached' via multiple land tenures. In doing
> so, breaks these clean trajectories, and the binary
> between capital and labour, or then as the current
> thinking on "entrepreneurship" vs those who cannot be
> (some Charles Booth from Victorian times here!).
>
> In the Delhi case, as well as elsewhere, rather than a
> definate trajectory, there is a perhaps a turbelent
> transformation at play that implicates a variety of
> groups: 14 and 16 year olds working in a factory, who
> invest in 'chit funds-committees' (drawing surpluses
> from local real estate markets), rather than being
> 'docile labour' on their way to class conciousness.
> and some 2300 km away in Bangalore's central Shivaji
> nager, experiences the St Mary's feast -- the month
> long celebratory event of Christians hindus and
> Muslims. One of the last times, I also saw the Infant
> Jesus perched up on a replica of the Delhi Bahai
> temple! oops is this 'culture' or then??   A closer
> look shows the parallel occoupation of space that is
> systemized into conventions over the decades -- the
> 'rath' yatras by all three religions, and the funding
> of hawkers across religious groups, and the floating
> street vendors selling the latest made in china toys
> sourced from a factory perhaps in East Delhi. The
> messiness, and the complexity of propeorty shifting
> into non-property, of culture and economy and into
> politics of claiming space over that month is
> something no die hard police commissioner  intending
> to clean Bangalore of its cyclist, or the BATF with
> their Singaporean agendas could do much aganist. and
> this is certainly not traditional. look at the more
> contemporary occoupations and encroachments of
> categories in other parts of Bangalore -- Austin towns
> wonderful streetlit festivities or then another 2000
> km away, the particular puja celebrations in
> Chandonenagore in the Kolkata metro area with their
> snazzy electrified lighting floats -- where complex
> bamboo and strip metal contacts shape lighting
> sequencing to pick up the latest theme that imagines
> their future. Ooops,, is there IPR here... and what
> about designating celebratory zones as some urban
> designers might like to 'Theme' these into.
>
> I think for sure, if you see the real estate websites,
> the current evictions and re-zoning do benefit as
> Anant points out, the malls and multiplexes, just as
> Micro credit funders and promoters view that 14 year
> old 'investing / gambeling' in the 'evil money
> leder's' chit fund/ committee. I suspect that one of
> the reasons why the progressive left have missed this
> 'constituency' untill after the fact, is an
> attatchment to older categories of social structure
> and one that hardly captures power on the ground.
> There is of course another and perhaps deeper
> question: did these categories ever have any
> reflection? Francis Baudel's The Wheels of Commerse',
> Steadman Jones' Outcast London', and Mayhews' london
> might be useful to come back to.. but thats a
> 'research' question, or is it???
> cheers
> Solly
>
>
> --- Ravi Sundaram <ravis at sarai.net> wrote:
>
>> Dear Anant,
>>
>> my sense is that the 'trader lobby' is a shorthand
>> for a large number
>> of social groups in the city: small and large shop
>> owners, workers
>> etc etc. Perhaps a new social form not explainable
>> by classic urban sociology?
>>
>> We have to see about that....Sure the mall owners
>> will be happy, but
>> most of the smaller traders cannot afford the retail
>> rentals in the malls.
>>
>> Ravi
>>
>> At 21:42 07/11/2006, you wrote:
>>
>> >Folks,
>> >
>> >The traders protests in Delhi is an important
>> >development. (see
>>
>>http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/07/stories/2006110718860300.htm
>> >I am familiar with Delhi but can someone tell me in
>> >some detail what is the composition of this trading
>> >community. Jat ? Marwari?  This particular decision
>> by
>> >the Supreme Court is just another nail in the
>> coffin.
>> >But it also has serious consequences for urban
>> >politics in India - imagine small traders becoming
>> >militant ? (true traders in Delhi have always been
>> >much more visible in urban politics than elsewhere
>> but
>> >still...)
>> >
>> >It makes room for mega malls which are necessary
>> for
>> >both subsidizing huge projects like metro rails and
>> >also for mopping up the loose cash from household
>> >consumption for big investors like reliance etc.,
>> who
>> >are going in for big time retailing.
>> >anyways here is the story in Hindu
>>
>>http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/07/stories/2006110718860300.htm
>> >
>> >anant
>> >
>> >Send instant messages to your online friends
>> http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
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>>
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>
>
>
>
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Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes
http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html