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

Thu Nov 9 19:41:01 IST 2006

Dear Zainab,

I wish I had easy answers to these questions. The subaltern wisdom in 
Delhi is that the current demolitions have been instigated by mall 
owners, the strength of this belief testifies to a change in the way 
people are beginning to see mall development in urban areas.

I am not sure the current demolitions mark the beginning of the 
decline of small  shops in Delhi (or any city), the reasons for their 
existence are too deeply embedded to be wished away by courts or 
violence. Nor will informal ways of changing money go away to develop 
small spaces in the city. Nor will malls necessarily decline, they 
are too tied in to the heady economy of desire and speculation that 
we see before us. I suspect many will crash, reinvent themselves as 
office spaces - who knows?

What the current developments signify is a hostility to forms of life 
in the city that have emerged in the last 30 years in Delhi : working 
class settlements on the riverbank, small shops, household workshops 
etc, all of which do not fall within the language of liberal rights 
based languages of understanding the city. The riverbank settlements 
were the first to go, and now the 'traders'. The latter is much more 
that just traders, it includes workers in shops, the supply economy 
etc etc. And the roots of commerce in Delhi go back to the Moghul 
empire. In this sense the court decisions express this hostility to 
urban forms that have emerged in the last few decades, but as always, 
the decisions have disrupted the lives of all,.Even some of the first 
middle-class supporters of the court decisions are now squirming.

I am more amazed by the relative paralysis of politicians in 
understanding the implications of what the court decisions mean for 
the future of the city; I can forsee some turbulent months/years 
ahead for the city.

The local councillors may have more guts than the central 
leadership,  see this story:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/218200611091532.htm

Ravi

At 06:52 PM 09-11-06, you wrote:

>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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> >>
> >>
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>
>
>
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>
>
>Zainab Bawa
>Bombay
>www.xanga.com/CityBytes
>http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html
>
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