[Reader-list] Fwd: Open Letter About A Proposed Rock Concert in the Sunderbans District

[Logos Theatre]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arka Mukhopadhyay <arka.mukhopadhyay at gmail.com>
Date: 3 March 2011 11:01
Subject: Open Letter About A Proposed Rock Concert in the Sunderbans
District
To:


Dear Friends,

          My name is Arka Mukhopadhyay and I am a theatre practitioner and
poet. I am writing this open letter, not as a member of any organization or
partisan agendum, but as an individual, to share my grave concerns about a
rock concert called Ujaan which is scheduled to be held in Frazerganj, which
lies in the Sunderbans district in West Bengal from March 10th to 12th. As
per the website (ujaanfestival.org) and their facebook page (
facebook.com/ujaanfestival), they claim that it is a festival for the
Sunderbans. They also talk about some developmental projects that the
concert will directly or indirectly lead on to -
http://www.ujaanfestival.org/projects.html. They even seem to have WWF and
Earth Hour as partners, as per the website. However, I have very grave
concerns about this venture because:


   1. It involves a rock-concert involving some twenty bands and some more
   solo acts, and most of them will be playing electrically amplified music,
   which is likely to be very loud. So I have concerns about noise pollution,
   especially in a place like Frazerganj which is not too far away from the
   Sunderbans proper, and is itself a sensitive and ecologically threatened
   place. From what I gather, at least some part of the concert will be at
   night, which increases the noise-pollution issues, especially because the
   Higher Secondary exams start from the 16th.
   2. This concert will involve the active participation of several hundred
   people, which I fear will be a huge burden on the natural and social fabric
   of Frazerganj, in terms of where so many people will stay, eat, their toilet
   facilities, etc.. The concert itself might cause a lot of environmental
   damage - at the least littering up the place, and I fear it will disturb
   local people. The venue will be on the Frazerganj beach, which will be quite
   catastrophic, and apart from the concert itself, their website talks about
   plans of camping accommodation on the beach, which seems like madness.
   3. The passes for the concert are priced at 2,000/- per head, which puts
   it completely out of reach of the local populace. In fact, as the organizers
   themselves say on their facebook page, it is not meant for the local
   population. So effectively we are talking about a big-ticket event in which
   the community does not have a stake and from they are completely shut off,
   although it is being held in their name. In fact, the concerns become graver
   when we read through some of the proposed developmental projects, because we
   can see that there's nothing concrete their, only a wish-list. There's not
   even a clear plan of how the ticket money will be used - whether it'll be
   donated to some local organization or not. In fact, from what I could gather
   from a conversation with one of the organizers, the concert will pay for
   itself. The concerns become graver when one goes through what the organizers
   have to say on their facebook site (
   http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=1978336135689240):

            Ujaan wishes to attract an audience from all over India and
enable sustainable community development in the Bakkhali-Frazergunj area. *We
do not wish to hold a concert for the locals, but for an urban, educated
audience* *(Italics mine - notice how the locals are necessarily
'uneducated') *who can well afford to pay for passes (thus enabling us to
raise funds for the cause) as well as the hotel rooms, food and other
tourist facilities that hold up the areas economy. This is also the portion
of the population that will be able to influence the changes required at the
very top.

And also this:

Bakkhali is a tourist spot with over 40 hotels, a government tourist lodge
and many government guest houses, with many rooms going vacant most of the
year because of lack of awareness and infrastructure in the area.

*The Bakkhali Hoteliers As**sociation (*www.bakkhalihoteliers.com*) have
been participating in trade and tourist fairs to increase the tourist
inflow.*

*Ujaan is one such platform aiming to promote sustainable development
through eco-tourism. **(Italics mine)*

What cant be ignored is that the area is likely to develop anyway - Ujaan
aims to give this growth a green direction so it can be sustained.

For this we shall be conducting clean up drives and awareness and training
campaigns for waste and plastic management, apart from our other campaign
activities, enabling the locals to deal with tourist-generated waste
themselves.

 I'm afraid that really exposes the concert as nothing but a tourism
promotion exercise, something which the Sunderbans do not need. We do not
need to make local communities dependent on tourism, or make them accept the
'inevitability' of tourist generated waste and then train them on
'waste-management'. I'm sorry, but that's just completely mindless, to say
the least, and actually rather sinister.

If the idea is to do a concert to raise awareness about the Sunderbans and
not for the local community, which in itself is fairly condescending and
misguided, then my question is why do it there? Why descend on the local
community with a huge rock-carnival? Have they asked for this? Do they want
to be 'sustainably developed', whatever definition of that the organizers
have? On the other hand, if the idea is to have a rock concert, why tag it
to the Sunderbans? This looks like a way of legitimizing one's beach party
in the name of a cause, at perhaps a great environmental cost to the local
ecology and community.

A couple of more quotes from the website that substantiates the misguided
and even sinister nature of this effort:

 "....and we hope to demonstrate to the locals the values of sustainable
development and eco-tourism "

And this:

"Well, about Frasergunj. We were scouring Google maps, looking for an ideal
place, and the moment we spotted bakkhali-frasergunj we decided to give it a
go."





My plea to all members of the public:


   1. If you are planning to attend this yourself, please re-consider. Think
   about all the implications. If you know others who are planning to attend -
   please share these concerns with them.
   2. Please contact the organizers to get their side of the story, and if
   you share my concerns, please tell them to call it off, think of shifting
   to Calcutta, or making the concert acoustic and smaller in scale. According
   to their website/ facebook page, you can write to
   tamseel at ujaanfestival.org, or magicwallrush at ujaanfestival.org, or call
    09830770960
   3. Those of you who are in/ have contacts with the print/electronic
   media, kindly forward this. You do not need to mention my name as this is
   not about me seeking publicity. However, I have no problems with my contacts
   being made public either. My ID is arka.mukhopadhyay at gmail.com and my
   number is 9831731422.
   4. If you can highlight this to the ministry of environement, please do
   so.
   5. Lastly, those who are willing to put their names on a PIL to get a
   stay order against this, please let me know. I am speaking with some
   lawyers, and though I am all for dialogue and engagement, given the paucity
   of time and the improbability of the organizers willing to reconsider, I
   think a stay order may be the only option


In solidarity, warmth and peace,
Arka


Warmth and peace,
Arka
-- 
*Stat rosa pristina nomine,
nomina nuda tenemus*



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