[Reader-list] Fwd: reader-list Digest, Vol 69, Issue 146 (on Kafka and the 'horrible')

[atreyee majumder]

Dear Taha,

Thank you for a series of interesting posts. On the intrusion of the
'horrible' into everyday life, I wonder if there is room to think of the
wide range of 'horrible's that have repeatedly made inroads into life on the
socio-political margins, that have variously been ingeniously domesticated
and made into push-buttons for accessing power and resource, in bits and
starts. I understand that the biometric card would fit into the perfect
mould of regime-artefacts that configure and map and track 'population' as a
a primary mode of administering power. But, it seems such regime-artefacts
(much like the Green Card, or the MNC-employee card) are accepted and used
by people in a conscious moment of acquiescence with power, recognising
benefits of wearing its cloak.

 The all-encompassing import of power that creates docile units of
membership, stamped and marked through these cards, probably gets deflected
in unpredictable directions in ways that the logic of the card cannot
imagine at the outset. I am thinking of the various stories surrounding the
clamour for the passport, which indeed is a typical regime-artefact that
maps and marks, but its use  (especially when one is speaking from some form
of margin) yields tiny windows for the struggle for resource that may turn
its 'horrible'ness into a certain domesticated-ness through stretegic use.

So the asylum-certificate, the passport, the employee-card, the biometric
ICICI card at various points lead to situations of respite from maybe a
brutal search and interrogation, a harangue at a checkpost, detention at an
airport. It would be diluting the craftsmanship of the shrewd exercise of
politico-economic membership oportunities on the part of jhoppadpatti
citizen to render a picture of the card that paints it only as a violent
intrusion, and not also a window to dig into repertories of resource and
power.

Atreyee





On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 1:24 AM, <reader-list-request at sarai.net> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. On Kafka and 'unintended benefits' of smart cards. (Taha Mehmood)
>   2. Re: On Kafka and 'unintended benefits' of smart cards.
>      (Rakesh Iyer)
>   3. Fwd: WHAT SHOULD THE LGBT MOVEMENT FIGHT FOR? (Sherry     Wolf)
>      (Venugopalan K M)
>   4. Fwd: Dehumanising the Muslim Woman By A. Faizur   Rahman (fwded
>      by Yogi Sikand) (Venugopalan K M)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:49:25 +0100
> From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] On Kafka and 'unintended benefits' of smart
>        cards.
> To: Sarai Reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <65be9bf40904251649x3600ee05r2af0f86f6e3dedaa at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> Dear All,
>
> In his essay on Kafka, Adam Kirsch explains the term“Kafkaesque” as
> thus: 'the nonchalant intrusion of the bizarre and horrible into
> everyday life, the subjection of ordinary people to an inscrutable
> fate'. While reading all sorts of literature about the national
> identity card, smart card, surveillance technologies  etc I have often
> thought about the effect of these technologies on our lives and quite
> unlike the doomsdasque  'horrible' as Kirsch mentions, for me it
> appears, as if, like everything else some Indians are going to
> celebrate the coming of this new technology in their own way, while
> others are going to be paranoid about it , others still will not care
> about it at all or in a uniquely Indian fashion, will 'adjust' with it
> somehow.
>
> Otherwise how else could one explain that a product made mostly of
> strontium titanate, silicon, some circuits compressed between two
> strips of plastic could be regarded as token of 'respect', 'glamor'
> and 'dignity'. I wonder if Kafka had been around, how he would have
> thought of this rather 'nonchalant intrusion of the 'bizarre' into the
> everyday live of the Indians.
>
> The blog post below is about how 'poor people' living in 'slums' of
> Dharavi are buying a Rs200 ICICI smart biometric bank card, not only
> because they want to deposit money, but also because, as according to
> one Mr. Amitabh Saxena-
>
> 'But what about the customers who carried no balance? Their revealing
> response: the smart card, complete with their name, thumbprint, and
> photo, acted as a identify card, and when combined with the adored
> ICICI logo, one that commanded respect. India does not have a national
> ID card. The smart card, in effect, provided them with an identity. We
> received comments like, “I just like to show that I have an account,
> it doesn’t matter if I have a balance or not” and “If you are going at
> night and you clash the police then you can show them this also.”
>
> Of course!!
>
> However what I find interesting in an argument mentioned above are two
> underlying assumptions- first that, 'poor people' living in 'slums'
> DO NOT have any other form of VALID identification with which they can
> pacify the police and second, even IF their identification is VALID
> then our law abiding, gentle, humane, efficient, honorable police
> force will let them go, without any harassment.
>
> In this regard let's imagine a scenario which, I am sure,  is going to
> be a typical case, in the beautiful world of 'smart cards' .
>
> It is long past midnight. The streets of Bombay are deserted. Ramu and
> his brother Lalu, who are from Narkatiya district of Bihar, but who
> have been living in Bombay for the past ten years are coming back
> home. They meet Pandu havaldar. Pandu's beat is Dharavi. Pandu is
> driving a motorbike. Pandu's colleague Shinde is also driving with
> him. Pandu is drunk. Shinde is not. They spot Ramu and Lalu who are
> walking home after a back biting 14 hour shift at a local factory.
> Shnide finds their tired walk 'suspicious'. Pandu senses this
> 'suspicion'. They accost Ramu and his brother.
>
> Pandu: Sir where are you going?
> (remember we are in  'new' world now- post smart card world,
> everything has 'changed')
> Ramu: Home.
> Shinde: What is your name Sir.
> Ramu: This is Lalu and I am his elder brother Ramu.
> Pandu: Can we see some identification papers please.
> Ramu: Identification papers. Nnnno...I I I don't have any at the
> moment but if you could walk with me to the basti which is just five
> kilometers from here then, I promise, I will give it you.
> Pandu: (Forgets for a moment that this is post smart card age) teri maa
> ki...
> Lalu: (frighteningly) Takes out his smart card and gives it to Shinde.
> Shinde: Inserts the card, in a portable reader.
> The reader tells Shinde, about the name, age, address, thumbprints,
> nearest to the kin etc, etc which also mentions Ramu's name.
> Shinde: (Smiles) That is alright Sir. Thank you. Sorry for the
> trouble. You have a shubha ratri.
> Ramu and Lalu: No worries!!!
> Ramu to Lalu: Thank GOD for this ICICI  smart card, now even the
> police is helpless. With the new found, 'respect'. They laugh and walk
> back home.
>
> Please read below to learn more about the 'unintended benefits of
> ICICI smart cards', perhaps it gives us a clearer picture of the
> 'intended benefits' of MNIC.
>
> Regards
>
> Taha
>
> PS: Meanwhile a  RNCOS reports suggests that the, 'The global shipment
> of smart card surpassed an estimated 5 Billion units in 2008 and this
> figure is projected to surge at CAGR of nearly 11% through 2012,
> according to "Smart Card Market Forecast to 2012”, a recent market
> research report by RNCOS.'
> (
> http://www.emailwire.com/release/20565-RNCOS-Releases-a-New-Report-Smart-Card-Market-Forecast-to-2012.html
> )
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
>
> http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/some-unintended-benefits-of-improving-financial-inclusion/
>
> Some Unintended Benefits of Improving Financial Inclusion
>
> March 31, 2009 in Center for Financial Inclusion | Tags: Financial
> Inclusion
>
> > Posted by Amitabh Saxena
>
>
> The Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire is a fictional account of
> one teenager’s tough life in the slums of Mumbai to eventually winning
> the jackpot of a TV game show.   But would young Jamal spend all those
> rupees or open a savings account to keep them safe?
>
>
>
> Through ACCION’s support of its microfinance partner Swadhaar
> FinAccess on Alternative Channels, I have had the opportunity a few
> times to walk around some of Mumbai’s slums – Kurla, Malad, and
> Dharavi (Asia’s largest) – and observe first-hand conditions there and
> poor people’s savings patterns.  As an NGO, Swadhaar FinAccess is not
> regulated to offer savings accounts but wanted to offer the “service”
> to its poor clientele.  So in January 2008 it struck a
> banking-correspondent agreement with ICICI, India’s largest private
> bank, where it would set up, staff, and manage small “kiosks” (see
> picture at right) in the poorer neighborhoods of Mumbai. Through these
> kiosks, clients can open ICICI savings accounts and make basic
> transactions, such as balance inquiries, deposits, and withdrawals.
> While these special savings accounts designed by ICICI have fewer
> options than regular savings accounts, apart from a 200 rupee ($4 USD)
> smart-card purchase to open the account, they charge nothing for
> transactions and come with few restrictions (e.g., no minimum balance,
> less documentation to open an account).   In return, Swadhaar receives
> a commission from ICICI for the number of new accounts opened, total
> average balance, and transaction volume.
>
>
>
> When I started analyzing the actual performance behavior of the
> accounts last summer, Swadhaar FinAccess was operating four kiosks
> through which the client growth had been rather respectable at nearly
> 3,000 customers. What surprised me, though, was that we found anywhere
> from 75% to 93% of the accounts were not carrying any balance, and
> roughly 63% of customers had never made a single transaction.  When
> asked, ICICI said those figures were around the average for the
> 120,000 savings customers acquired through its banking correspondent
> network of 40 NGOs.  That got us thinking: why would so many poor
> people spend a hard-earned 200 rupees for the smart card to open the
> account, only to rarely or never use it?
>
>
>
> Why, indeed. Through focus groups of Swadhaar FinAccess savings
> customers, we uncovered a number of reasons for this behavior.  Among
> those who carried a balance, their decisions to open an account
> stemmed from their impression of the ICICI brand, and its association
> with “glamour” and the “middle-class.”  For this group, the ICICI name
> also provided a sense of security – one of the most important features
> in promoting savings – specifically using the metaphor of the bank
> being a father-figure that “would help if his children [the customers]
> ever got in trouble.”
>
>
>
> But what about the customers who carried no balance? Their revealing
> response: the smart card, complete with their name, thumbprint, and
> photo, acted as a identify card, and when combined with the adored
> ICICI logo, one that commanded respect. India does not have a national
> ID card. The smart card, in effect, provided them with an identity. We
> received comments like, “I just like to show that I have an account,
> it doesn’t matter if I have a balance or not” and “If you are going at
> night and you clash the police then you can show them this also.”
>
>
>
> These comments reveal that a sense of dignity and self-respect were
> the unintended benefit of the bank cards, and therefore, well worth
> the 200 rupees for many clients.  This finding underlines the
> importance of treating clients ethically and helping them understand
> their rights and responsibilities with financial institutions, an idea
> currently being promoted through the Center’s Campaign for Client
> Protection.  Swadhaar FinAccess is interested in the role of consumer
> protection in its operations and is working with the Center to learn
> more about the 6 principles of client protection and how to enhance
> their role in current operations.
>
>
>
> Using these findings, Swadhaar FinAccess, with ACCION’s support, is
> undertaking several marketing activities to increase overall usage of
> the savings account, as well as implementing client education programs
> courtesy of the Dell Foundation.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks when
> I will write more broadly about product usage in alternative channels
> (banking agents, mobile banking, debit cards) and how this affects
> both the social and financial bottom-line of MFIs.
>
>
>
> Amitabh Saxena is the Director of Alternative Channels at ACCION
> International.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 07:04:23 +0530
> From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] On Kafka and 'unintended benefits' of smart
>        cards.
> To: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> Cc: Sarai Reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <fd97a98d0904251834h2fecfd40jd8acc7f02865c5a5 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Dear all
>
> Having heard ourselves in many cases regarding the functioning of the
> Indian
> police in various cases, and having had the personal experience in one
> simple case with them myself, I believe that the Indian police will still
> go
> on arresting people irrespective of their cards being there or not.
>
> What I can't understand are the following:
>
>
> 1) The government is talking about MNIC or an identity card. What does an
> Indian identity mean? Can somebody define that at least for discussion here
> in this forum?
>
>
> 2) The article probably does not understand the major issues of slums.
> These
> include power being stolen (though major power theft is thanks to
> politicians, their kith/kin/acquaintances/friends/etc. and the industries),
> sanitation and even livelihood issues. Most importantly, the issue is of
> life with dignity, which is missing.
>
>
> 3) The government has not in the least (neither the UPA or the NDA or the
> Third Front or the Fourth Front nor Others), have talked about the major
> problems confronting people (except through manifestos, which we know how
> important are). There are issues of livelihood (roti, kapda and makaan; all
> that is there are populist schems : free power (which can only be used by
> middle and rich farmers, and especially the rich must be made to pay), no
> agricultural tax (most of the rich farmers should be taxed), and sometimes
> these BPL schemes (when what is required is a proper PDS system coupled
> with
> employment schemes like NREGS in the village, or even in urban areas,
> especially for slum people).
>
>
> Equally, neither of the fronts has talked about police reforms (those which
> can improve the functioning of the police), the electoral reforms (as
> suggested by the EC itself, regarding improvement of the electoral system),
> the judicial reforms (to ensure the judiciary is also accountable to the
> public like the legislature and the executive are), as well as governance
> reforms (including the Sarkaria Commission report).
>
>
> There is no understanding as to how any of the fronts wishes to tackle the
> global economic crisis, at least its' effects in India. The BJP criticizes
> the UPA for the fiscal deficit, and then says it will spend heavily from
> the
> budget for India's growth. What is this crap? And both are competing on the
> rates at which food will be provided to the poor. (Never mind that delivery
> systems are also important and food quality must be good as well).
>
>
> And as for health and education, the major fronts have nothing to say
> except
> allocating money. What is most surprising is that, we all know corruption
> is
> a major problem in the schemes, and yet just allocating money is considered
> enough for the government at the centre. This is crap. The central govt.
> has
> an added responsibility to ensure that the money they allocate is actually
> well spent. The govt does have the CAG and some NGO's undertaking
> ground-level work to look at this, but yet there is pilferage of money
> (some
> on small scale, some on large). Sometimes, projects are not undertaken to
> increase their value and then given to contractors.
>
>
> And yet, all our parties can think of is who should be the PM? Does it
> matter who is the PM, when the govt. (be it of any party) is going to be a
> coalition arrangement, whose core agenda would be 'apni apni dafli, apna
> apna raag', and the only thing they cling on to is power, otherwise there
> are no values, no customs, and everything is accepted as they say 'in love,
> war and elections (and power), everything is fair'.
>
>
> 4) What about chances of corruption in the MNIC? And remember, if
> corruption
> here happens, the so-called Pakistani terrorists (as our state claims) will
> have a field day attacking India's spots without any problems of being
> branded as Pakistani as well. Then?
>
> Hence, we need to have debates on questions like some of these. And as for
> the PM debate, I am sure the Indian public will give a fitting reply to all
> those who wish to become PM, so that none among them becomes the PM.
>
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:48:57 +0530
> From: Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: WHAT SHOULD THE LGBT MOVEMENT FIGHT FOR?
>        (Sherry Wolf)
> To: sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <1f9180970904252218s7b1474a0wa35fb510e2098118 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> "..Without acknowledging the evidence to the contrary--and there is
> quite a bit--they assumed that given the mainstream nature of
> marriage, marriage activists must not care about racism, economic
> injustice or taking on the systemic causes of LGBT oppression.
>
> They are both theoretically and factually mistaken.
>
> First, gay marriage is a reform. Like all reforms under capitalism, it
> leaves the structure of the system intact while alleviating a
> grievance--in this case, the denial of both material benefits and the
> desire to have LGBT relationships acknowledged as equal to those of
> heterosexuals.
>
> Like the demand for unionization, under which the terms of workers'
> exploitation are renegotiated--with workers gaining higher wages and
> benefits, but not eliminating the power of bosses--equal marriage
> would end some discrimination without eliminating oppression
> altogether.
>
> Second, to challenge the demand for same-sex marriage for not
> delivering sexual liberation is a bit like disparaging the civil
> rights sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters in the early 1960s for
> not eliminating racism. It sets up a false expectation for a reformist
> demand, and then assails it for not delivering revolutionary
> transformation.
>
> At the Left Forum meeting, one married gay couple with HIV/AIDS
> hammered home what's really at stake in this struggle.
>
> Vinny Allegrini and Mark de Solla have been living with HIV/AIDS for
> 20 years, and were married 15 years ago in Canada. In many concrete
> and emotionally compelling ways, their daily struggle to keep alive
> and take care of each other--and have medical and state authorities
> respect their health care wishes--is codified by their marriage
> license, which they must carry with them everywhere to prove that they
> are not legal strangers, as they lead lives that are shaped by health
> care crises.
>
> Socialists and other progressives must engage with the genuine
> struggle to try and shape a course that is independent of the
> Democratic Party establishment and inclusive of broader civil rights
> for all LGBT people."
>
>
>
>
> Analysis: Sherry Wolf
>
> WHAT SHOULD THE LGBT MOVEMENT FIGHT FOR?
>
> Different political approaches are emerging inside the LGBT struggle
> over what our aims should be--and how we should fight to achieve them.
>
> http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/21/lgbt-movement
>
>
>
> --
> http://venukm.blogspot.com/
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:53:19 +0530
> From: Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Dehumanising the Muslim Woman By A. Faizur
>        Rahman (fwded by Yogi Sikand)
> To: sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <1f9180970904252223x64772b82o8d0fb2d45d0d0c1 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: yogi sikand <ysikand at yahoo.com>
> To: saldwr at yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:38:09 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Faizur Rahman: Dehumanising the Muslim woman
>
>
> Dehumanising the Muslim woman
>
> By A. Faizur Rahman
>
>  The passage of a law in Afghanistan asking Muslim women to
> unconditionally submit to the sexual whims of their husbands once in
> four days is a shocking piece of legislation that seeks to dehumanise
> women reducing them to mere chattels devoid of human rights. Although
> this law applies only to the Shia minority, it is outrageous that the
> Afghan mullahs thought it Islamic to legislate on a private
> relationship which is confined to the four walls of a bedroom. To add
> insult to injury the 300 women who were bold enough to protest against
> this inhuman law were pelted with stones and called “dogs” and “slaves
> of the Christians.” One fails to understand why motives should be
> attributed to a democratic protest. How can the moderate Muslims who
> have always been part of the larger Muslim society suddenly become
> agents of the West “which is out to destroy Islam?” The truth is that
> it is the bigoted Talibanised Muslims who are destroying Islam through
> their misinterpretations and intolerance for progressive ideas. It is
> they who need to be treated for their fossilized mind-set.
>
>  It is strange the puppet regime of Hamid Karzai, which was installed
> by the US and its allies to replace the Taliban, is doing exactly what
> the Taliban would have done if they were in power. If this was what
> was in store for Afghanistan why were the Taliban replaced at all? In
> fact, the entire region seems to be relapsing into medievalism with
> Pakistan signing a deal with the terrorists of the Swat valley to
> implement their version of the shariah which is symbolized by the
> brutal and arbitrary public flogging of an young girl without
> establishing her guilt in a proper court of law, to say nothing about
> the recent refusal of a Saudi judge to annul the marriage of an eight
> year old child to a forty seven year old man.
>
>  A deeper probe into the psyche of most of the narrow-minded
> radicalized jurists would reveal that their interpretations are based
> on traditional tafsirs (commentaries) written by patriarchal males
> representing only the experiences of men with either the total
> exclusion of experiences of women, or their interpretation through the
> coloured vision of men. This has resulted in women being brought under
> the control of men to be exploited at will.  For instance, in
> interesting incident concerning the shariah, The New York Times on
> March 22, 2007 reported that a German Judge turned down citing the
> Quran, a Muslim wife's request for a fast-track divorce on the ground
> that her husband beat her from the beginning of their marriage. The
> Judge justified her ruling by saying that the couple came from a
> Moroccan cultural milieu in which it is common for husbands to beat
> their wives because the Quran sanctions such physical abuse.
>
>  The Judge was obviously quoting one of the most mistranslated verses
> of the Quran (4:34) which supposedly allows wife beating. The
> mistranslated word is wazribuhunna which is derived from the root
> zaraba. Major commentators of the Quran including Ibn Kasir,
> Pickthall, and Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, have
> rendered this word as "beat them" ignoring the fact that the word
> zaraba has various other shades of meaning. Out of the 50 times it
> occurs in the Quran, 31 times it has been used in the meaning of "to
> explain by giving an example." Only 10 times it has used to mean "to
> strike" but mostly in the context of Moses "striking the rock"
> or the
> sea, and angels "striking the faces" of the sinners.
>
> The verse 4:34 actually talks about the various means at the disposal
> of a husband to bring about a reconciliation with his wife and
> obviously beating the wife cannot be an option to sort out
> differences. Thus, the translation "beat them" is clearly not
> justified in this context. But unfortunately even today most Muslim
> societies consider it their Islamic right to beat their wives for
> disobedience. In other words, the passage of the controversial Afghan
> law would allow husbands to beat their wives if they refuse sex or
> step out of the house without their permission. For Islam to be
> exploited in this manner is indeed shocking given the fact that the
> Prophet was one of the greatest promoters of women’s rights.
>
>  The same holds true for the punishment of stoning to death for
> adultery. The primary source of Islamic law, the Quran, does not
> prescribe stoning as a punishment for any crime much less adultery. It
> only authorizes the Muslim state to flog those guilty of adultery or
> fornication but only after the case has been proved by four eye
> witnesses which is a near impossibility. Even here the flogging is not
> meant to hurt the person but only to humiliate him. A report in
> Kitabul Hudud of Bukhari says that when a man was brought before the
> Prophet for habitual drinking he was asked to be flogged. And it was
> done with a lash made out of twisted clothing which could not have
> hurt him. Interestingly, when someone in the group cursed the drunken
> man saying “May Allah disgrace you” he was chided by the Prophet.
> Compare this to the brutality of what is being done in the name of
> Islam today. It is time the ulema worldwide collaborated on a liberal
> interpretation of Islam in the modern context.
>
> (Source: The Hindustan Times, April 18, 2009)
>
>  The author is student of comparative study of religions. He may be
> reached at <faizz at rocketmail.com)
>
>
>
> --
> http://venukm.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
> --
> http://venukm.blogspot.com/
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> End of reader-list Digest, Vol 69, Issue 146
> ********************************************
>