[-empyre-] Passport Privilege, India vs Bangladesh

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

Simon's reference to India reminded me of a short piece I had written for
FORUM about India's "illegal" Bangla migrants.

Cloud of Silence in Bangla Town
http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2007/august/bangla.htm

Read it alongside this companion piece by Udayan Chattopadhyay (he and I
have been dialoguing about the two Bengals for many years)

Epaar Opaar (This Side, That Side)
http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2007/august/epaar.htm

I think it will highlight that issues of passport/citizenship are not
limited only to North-South crossings, but also South-South. India talks
about the "Bangladesi illegal menace".  Bangladesh in turn screams about
Burmese refugees (Rohingyas) that have been crossing "our" border for last
20 years.

I was flabbergasted to hear of large number of foreign students coming to
Bangladesh medical schools (my father left the country to study), until I
discovered that a number of them were Palestinian.

Everywhere in the world, there is always another country whose passport is
worth still less than yours.
On Jan 16, 2008 4:58 AM, Simon Biggs <s.biggs at eca.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> A recent trip to southern India highlighted the issue. This is an area
> that
> is supposedly "booming" but in reality is coming apart at the seams as its
> social, technical and political infrastructures collapse under the
> pressures
> of rapid change. The embedded class structures, amplified by passport
> apartheid, feeds a corrupt system where there is little respect for human
> life. The benefits of globalisation thus only accrue to those with the
> right
> passports. Others are left to die in the mud. In this context perhaps the
> only sensible response to hopelessness is anger?
>
> Regards
>
> Simon
>
>
> On 16/1/08 01:01, Christina McPhee wrote:
>
> > To add salt to the wounds on this  issue of passport privilege and
> > site/non-site, I just want to say, that at this moment our mailman
> > software at COFA is apparently censoring Naeem's  email so that his
> > posts must be reposted through the moderator, or else they completely
> > disappear.  In the past years (in late 2006) I recall that the filters
> > were censoring in re Arabic/Islamic nomenclature, does anyone recall
> > this?  it was in connection with the month that Ana Valdes moderated
> > on Palestinian issues.   I am chagrined beyond belief that the list
> > moderating interface doesnt pemit us any way to address this situation
> > and that I must appeal to the College of Fine Arts In Sydney
> > adminstrator whom I do not know. Apparently someone at the COFA has
> > set up filters for their lists and -empyre- is adversely affected.
>
>
>
> Simon Biggs
> simon at littlepig.org.uk
> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
> AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>
> Research Professor in Art, Edinburgh College of Art
> s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
> http://www.eca.ac.uk/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
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