The Smart City project in Kerala is yet another example of the way in which unjust economic development is being pushed as part of globalisation. We are particularly concerned that a Left government elected to power in Kerala on a mandate of questioning the infirmities of globalisation is now firmly on the same path – be it the approval for Smart City or the acceptance of ADB loans with all the attendant conditionalities. The Left is particularly open to criticism because it is exploiting the provisions of the anti-people SEZ Act (2006) to push neo-liberal reforms in places like Kerala while opposing land acquisition via the SEZ Act in every other state. We specifically oppose the Smart City project on the following grounds, and appeal to the Kerala Government to reconsider its decision to grant approval to this project.
1. By granting approval to the Smart City project – an IT/ITES-based SEZ near Kochi, the Government is deliberately making development a vertical process - by focusing and investing on a sector that by itself is the wealthiest. This is a deviation from a socialist ideology, whereby development is conceived to be a horizontal process, through which all sections of society can benefit.
2. Citizens in Kerala have been kept in the dark about the fact that Smart City is an SEZ. Besides not being transparent, the government has also allowed itself to be anti-democratic by:
(a) not allowing a debate to be raised on the issue where citizens finally get to know the pros and cons and
(b) not allowing the citizens to decide on the issue - which has far reaching consequences for all the citizens in the state.
3. The state in this case has acted on behalf of private capital against the general good of all people. This goes against its constitutional obligation to safeguard interests of all citizens.
4. Wealth creation in the information technology sector is not merely accumulation of labour. Its also based on exploiting international draconian legal framework of patents and intellectual property rights - whereby revenue is generated multiple times from a single labour. There is no case for such activity to receive public financial subsidies. We see no reason why the Smart City SEZ in Kerala has been granted sops of a 10 year tax-holiday and concessions in other forms of tax.
5. Smart City SEZ in Kerala is labelled an IT infrastructure project - a sector which cannot just grow with provision of exclusive space, because of its strong inter-linkages and connections with other sectors of economy. This will lead to unevenness in development of infrastructure and economic growth. In a society that is already witnessing the ill-effects of uneven development – with the highest reported suicide rate in the country – such projects that create enclaves of “prosperity” are against public interest.
6. The Government claim of “new opportunities” in the context is hollow as the project claims to create only 9000 new jobs per year for ten years. In a state that produces nearly 9 lakhs youth every year with training in software seeking jobs in the sector, such a paltry job creator does not deserve the support and hype that the Government has been offering.
7. The creation of Smart City as an SEZ is against the interest of the working class in Kerala. The rights of workers won over years of struggle – to unionise; for an 8-hour day; for tenured employment; for democracy at the workplace – all stand to be denied within the borders of the SEZ as these rights can be suspended by government fiat. In the long run this weakening of workers’ rights will not remain confined to the borders of the SEZ.
In the context, we, the undersigned, resolve to oppose the Smart City, a ITES SEZ project and demand that the Kerala Government immediately repeal the permission given to the project.
Ashim Roy, NTUI
Sandeep Pandey, Asha Parivar/NAPM
Hari Sharma, SANSAD
Medha patkar, NAPM/ Sangharsh 2007
Satya Sivaraman, journalist
Faizal Khan, Asha Parivar/NAPM
Sumit Choudhary, Kolkotta
Bolan Gangabodhyay, Kolkotta
Manohar Monli Biswas, BDSS
Ashok Debray, Kolkotta
Manoranjan Mahato, Jharkand Mukthi Morcha
Harsh Dobhal, Combat law, HRLN
Deepti D’sosa, HRLN
Meena Menon, Focus on Global South, Mumbai
Nilanjana Biswas, Bangalore
Mdr Nagesh, J.P foundation
Vaskar Nandy PCC-CPI(ML)
Tapon Chakravarty, SJP
Farid Ali, All india Minority forum
Sirish Agarwal, AID maryland
Sukakman Burman, SC, ST, OBC Development Society
Sabyasachi Deb
Diana Katyan
Balu doori Mondal, WB Krishak Sangha
kazi Mohd, Peoples Democratic Conference of India
Surasri Chaudhury, College Lecturer Kolkotta
G.N. Saiba, Revolutionary Democratic Front(RDF)
Rupesh Kumar, Youth for Social Change
Aditi Choudhary
Michele Kelly
Sumit Sinha, Bhumi hecked Prathirodh Samiti- Nandigram
Shyamali Klastgir, artist, Kolkotta
Samar Bagchi, Science & environment Activist, Kolkotta
Chandan Sen Gupta, PCCCPI(ML), Assam
Bipul Hazarika, PCCCPI(ML), Assam
Pradh Sarkar, Nipirita Jatigosth Satmanay Samitee, Barakvalley, Assam
Biswajit Das, CHORUS, SILCHAR, Kolkotta
sandip Bandopodhyay, writer, kolkotta
Willfred D, INSAF
Rachana, Bhopal Group for Information & Actions
Sunita Furman, Danish Books
Jerry Dolly, Youth for Social Change
Lakshmi. P, Youth for Social Change
Meghna Sukumar, Youth for Social Change
Satimath Sarangi, Bhopal Group for Information & Actions
Rabin Chakrobarty, Kolkotta
Tarun Basu, Freelancer
Jishnu das Gupta, Students Consolidation Platform
Dr. Tamonash Bhatacharya, Kolkotta
Sampat kale, NCAS Pune
Shakhyayan Chowdhary, Film Student,
Aishee Sengupta, Student of Law
Samir Sinha, PCCPIML
Anir Bhattacharya, Akineham Patrika
Upal Chakrobarti, Student, Kolkotta
Tarisha Deb, Student, Kolkotta
Soumitra Bose, CPI(ML)
Sanjay Ghosal, Student, Kolkotta
Pintu Roy, Student, Kolkotta
Prosun Chatopadhyay, RDF
V.Sreenivasan, PUCL, Tamilnadu
Benny Kuruvila, Focus on Global South, Mumbai
Anindo Banerjee, Praxis, Patna
D.Leena, independent researcher, Delhi
Pradeep Esteeves, Bangalore
Milap Choraria
Lenin, PVCHR
Sumesh Mangalassery, kabani-The Other Direction, Wayanad
Suklasen, Mumbai
V.Ramaswami, kolkotta
T.T. Sreekumar, Thiruvanathapuram
Aniruddha Dutta, Jadavpur University
I.K.Shukla, Writer/USA
Praveen A, Swathanthra Malayalam Computing, Kerala
Walter Fernandes,North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati
deepa v.n, sahayatrika, Kerala
You Can Endorse the statement by leaving a Comment Below
All SEZ are projects which are planned to exploit the larger public interests.
Eventually SEZs are positioned to enlargen in scope and size - a move that appears to be aimed at destabilising democracy and strengthening emergence of a global neoliberal state - where as citizens we don’t exist anymore, where we become subjects having little voice. Governments will be told about their inefficiency in dealing with financial trade matters with proven examples within SEZs now - before telling them to close shutters. We would well be witnessing withering away of governments and dilution of democratic rights in the coming years.
SmartCity SEZ in Kochi has been projected at sezindia.nic.in to be 404 hectares. Apart from this one, there are other 11 SEZs approved in the state of Kerala. This becomes absurd because not many of us have heard about such a development through mainstream media.
PVCHR is fully supported the demands.
I endorse the statement and support the people’s struggle against this SEZ. SEZ Act must be scrapped immediately. The challenge for the people of this country is to harness the nation’s resources for the upliftment of the lives of the downtrodden.
V Ramaswamy
Kolkata
The Smart City fraud on people, and anti-people malfeasance in favor of fat cats must be resisted and set at naught.
I.K.Shukla
Writer/USA
The phenomenon has come into existence that everything belongs to capital- not just material resources, talents, body organs etc. even the abstractions of space and time have been devoured by the claims of capital.
The local is already gulped global and the present is redesigned to suite the future investments and ‘risk-aversion’ tactics. Those who were unprepared to face the future and those who are familiar only within the regimes of present are gradually being crushed into non-existence. Now we witness a new temporal and spatial colonization: colonization of the present by the gravity and weight of investments in future; a spatial colonization of the global into local. Both these colonization deprives spatial and temporal resources of those who live in the local spatiality and the present temporarily. Now we have ‘time/space haves’ and ‘time/space have nots’ a phenomenon that displaces masses of local and present into irrelevant oblivion.
The state, had it been responsible, would have been with the masses very much displaced spatially and temporally. Alas, the gravity of spatial and temporal colonization is so intense that no state can withstand the marketocratic whirlwind!
Temporal deprivation is deprivation of future and spatial deprivation is spatial displacement. This is dis-empowering masses of their spatial and temporal rights.
SEZ’s are the symptoms that gives us the clue how a large mass of people, including those who may consider enjoying local privileges at present is at the verge of overthrowal! Unfortunately, even victims welcome this development!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikisource/en/f/f1/Nissar-SmartCity-SEZ.ogg
Voice of Dr Nissar Ahamed, Professor in Philosophy, Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit, Kalady. Proceedings of discussions on Smart City and Changing Society in Kerala held at Kochi on 13 May 2007.
The phenomenon has come into existence is that everything belongs to capital- not just material resources, talents, body organs etc.; even the abstractions of space and time have been devoured by the claims of capital.
The local is already gulped by the global and the present is redesigned to suite the future investments and ‘risk-aversion’ tactics.
Those (poorer, and marginalized)who are unprepared to face the future and those who are familiar only within the regimes of present are gradually being crushed into non-existence.
Now we witness a new temporal and spatial colonization: colonization of the present by the gravity and weight of capitalist investments for colonizing the future; we also witness a spatial colonization of the global into local.The globe just get burst into the local; and the future too is burst into present- displacing the locals from their locality and depriving the present of the victims for the future of the investing beneficent. Both these colonizations deprive spatial and temporal resources of those who live in the local spatiality and the present temporarily.
Thus, now we have ‘time/space haves’ and ‘time/space have nots’ a phenomenon that displaces masses of local and present into irrelevant oblivion.
The state, had it been responsible, would have been with the masses very much displaced spatially and temporally. Alas! the gravity of spatial and temporal colonization is so intense that no state can withstand the marketocratic whirlwind!
Temporal deprivation is deprivation of future and spatial deprivation is spatial displacement. This is dis-empowering masses of their spatial and temporal rights.
SEZ’s are the symptoms that gives us the clue how a large mass of people, including those who may consider enjoying local privileges at present is at the verge of overthrowal! Unfortunately, even victims welcome this development!
I support the statement against the proposed SEZ project called ‘Smart City’. All the SEZ projects including Nandigram and Singur should be opposed by the socially committed public because they will be the capital punishment for our democratic rights which we earned through long and painstaking struggles.
we support the protest agnist the smart city, it foccous is not common people plus its gonna make lot of anti eclogical thigs too in the future
i endorse the statement
Neither windows media player nor real player could open Nizar’s speech. Why? Can anyone help?
For Windows Users use
http://www.illiminable.com/ogg/oggcodecs_0.71.0946.exe
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I endorse the statement on smart city.It is nothing but a real estate project. a ploy to capture the most valuable resource of the common people of Kerala, LAND.
Jet audio opens ogg files.
Or use ubuntu instead.
Historically there had always been exclusive zones. Subalterns world over have exclusive zones where discriminatory policing and state violence is normal. Hitler had exclusive concentration camps for torture. Guantanamo Bay is a modern exclusive zone- which is a ‘law-free-zone’ where the privileges of citizens do not have existence.
Similarly, the privileged also have their extra-privileged zones or residence and operation. Aristocrats, members of high caste, members of upper class have privileged zones where no legal punishments enter. These special zones have only privileges.
Smarcity and other SEZs are the modern forms of exclusive zones where the ‘normal’ laws are not applicable. As Agamben pointed out they exist because Nazism or fascism still has very high presence in the seemingly ‘democratic’ world!