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

[solomon benjamin]

Dear Ravi, Zainab, and all
I think we are in to seeing more explictly forms of
turbalence, and violent at times -- where contest
shifts into violent conflict. Here, in a central way
what is being encroached is property in its material
sense, but also in a conceptual way, the notion of a
homogenized property. and here, perhaps the conceptual
inaction amoung progressive academics, activists, and
elsewhere, is the perpuation of a sort of
de-politisizing binary(ies) that marks the
discussions. And while it dis-empowers more complex
locality based discussions, it certainly empowers the
planners who feel like God, and allows the architect
to play golf with the new globally connected elite. It
might be useful to look at the forms of turbulence not
just as it violently uproots the poor, but are their
forms of occupation of physical and conceptual
territory.

About the politicians, well, I suspect the party
system of politics is at a crises -- but not in the
way that Appadurai points to in Deep democracy, but in
far more hydraish ways. Look at the intent of the Vote
India campanign for instance.

solly

 
--- Ravi Sundaram <ravis at sarai.net> wrote:

> 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
> 
=== message truncated ===



		
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