> > > http://www.punemirror.in/article/143/2013061420130614101133528a29e2d7e/Those-subversive-open-spaces.html > > > > Those subversive open spaces > Public spaces in cities are about more than places to relax or unwind > > Gautam Patel > > Posted On Friday, June 14, 2013 at 10:11:18 AM > > Of the many images from Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the one most arresting is, > of all things, of a pop-up library set up by protesters. Cinder blocks are > arranged to make shelves and there are people browsing among these. > > Three elements come together in this one image: a public space, books and the > voice of the people raised in protest. Public spaces in cities are about more > than places to relax or unwind. > > > Cops guard the monument of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey in > a protestor-free Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey > > In the democratic or republic cities of ancient Rome and Greece these were > centres of debate and discussion, areas where dissents collided, spaces for > political deliberation. These spaces were as closely tied to civic issues of > governance as they were to cultural matters. > > The experiences of the last two hundred years, perhaps more than any other > period in history, show us the value of these spaces in forcing political > change. > > We remember Jallianwala Bagh as the ‘site’ of a massacre, and it was that; > but it was, first, a public space at which people gathered to voice their > anger, their protest, to demand changes, to make their voices heard. > > Mumbai's Gowalia Tank — what we now call August Kranti Maidan — was just > that, too, a public space that served as the physical hub from which Mahatma > Gandhi launched the Quit India movement. > > Again, an open space from that fostered a popular uprising and forced > political change. The political volatility inherent in public spaces makes > them dangerous to governments everywhere. Indeed, there is a straight line > that connects open spaces and regimes seeking to stifle dissent, from > Tiananmen in 1989 to Tahrir in 2011 and Taksim in 2013. > > Rolling out armed forces and riot police, tanks, water cannons and tear gas > are the means by which governments seek not only to disperse crowds > protesting for change and to stifle dissent but also to ‘capture’ and gain > control over public spaces. A public space to which entry can be restricted > is more amenable to controlling protests and agitations. > > Our modern models of urban design tend to marginalize the social and > political value of open spaces by limiting their utility to recreation, > sport, relaxation and ecology. > > This is a model that plays right into the hands of governments that make no > room for opposing voices, and it justifies, therefore, the privatisation of > public spaces (on the ground that as long as it is open and unbuilt it serves > its purpose) and where privatisation is not possible, the fencing or > enclosing of public spaces. > > The latter is frequently justified by calling it a protective measure against > encroachments and slums. But slums arise not because there are open spaces to > be had but because our planning models make no room for affordable housing, > and fencing in public spaces to prevent slums is like slicing off your feet > because the sidewalks are broken. > > Enclosing public spaces in compound walls and chain link fences has many > subtexts. It is a means of exclusion, usually of the homeless or the very > poor, especially so when accompanied by gates and restricted hours of entry. > > Fences around private spaces grabbed from what should have been public > spaces—Mumbai's mill lands, for instance —are also a means of segregation, > keeping the privileged cocooned within their perimeter walls but also, and > perhaps more crucially, keeping out all the undesirables and the unwashed. > > Exclusivity is the inevitable consequence and tied to this is the sense of > ownership and control. The protests in Delhi in December and January were > dramatic precisely because they took place in large open spaces to which > entry could not be regulated. > > Those protests demonstrated public anger and government ineptitude far more > effectively and efficiently than they might have had they happened in > regulated confines. When crowds gather in public spaces there is a process of > political reclamation at play. When this happens, governments listen. > > They are forced to. Consider this, from a recent report in the New York > Times, in reference to the Turkish government's offer of a referendum: “The > referendum was also seen as an attempt by the government to confine the > antigovernment protests to the debate about the park, when the park > controversy was in fact the catalyst for a broader outburst of civil unrest > against what many Turks see as the increasing authoritarianism of Mr. Erdogan > and his governing Justice and Development Party.” > > “A referendum would be a step forward, and I think we could win,” said > another protester, Zeynep Pinto, 28, an interior designer. “But we want more > than the park now. We want change.” An open public space is therefore > subversive, perhaps just as much as are books. > > Demotic regimes feel the need to control public spaces as much as they do to > censor books, and this is no accident. It is no wonder that demagogues > (Savonarola being a great example) choose public spaces in which to burn > books. > > Libraries — those ultimate public spaces of subversion with their vast > collections of books — are therefore the most dangerous. A library, even a > makeshift one, in a public space is the ultimate challenge to repression and > authoritarianism. > > >
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