You’re being watched!
Students in Jadhvapur University in WB have locked University administrative authorities for over 50 hours now. Reason- University decision to install CCTVs in campus following EC guidelines. I-cards have been made compulsory as well. Students look at this decision as undemocratic and unnecessary. They do not want to be monitored all the time. University authority justified the move as necessary in order to watch for notorious persons entering the campus.
I stand largely by the students. Why do we need CCTVs in a site of learning? Who do they want to monitor? Which notorious persons enter University? in such an event, are there not alternative security arrangements? Flashing ID cards while entering seems reasonable though. Nothing more please. All of us have enough experience of how college administration wants to control students all the time. This mentality of constant vigilance is typical to Indian society. I am out with my beau and i fear of being watched by ‘someone’ (our pathetic neighbour, distant aunts and all god forsaken persons!!). so no holding hands, getting cozy..it appears indecent to ‘society’ ( I can write on that too sometime)
My gym has CCTVs. So every time I am doing crunches, big brother watches me! This incognito big brother causes me discomfort. Makes me want to replace racer top with a burqa! Oh yes elevator has camera too.
We’re ‘frisked’ in malls, cinema halls (nothing worse than at PVR- no logic can justify my PVR experience) and where not. Mind you this frisking is so frivolous; I can pass in carrying a pistol. Post 26/11 my University, Pune University was enthusiastic about security. For about week after the attacks, we were subjected to stringent checking- ID cards, uncovering scarves, informing where and why one is entering University. After this pomp and show, lethargy prevailed. The bottom line is that we are subjected to vigilance in some or the other way all our lives.
All such actions are justified as prevention of terrorist activities. Sure, terrorist make instant plans as they are strolling and hit randomly. Tackling terror (that is not what I want to get into at the moment) requires fool proof intelligence input and necessary systems in place. Occasional widespread alert and eventual frisking activities based on possibility of threat should seem reasonable. (Anyway 24/7 alert has room for lethargy and it is not feasible either.)
But now we are made to feel as if we are in a state of perpetual threat. We are not in Israel for God’s sake!! And this is not Orwellian 1984 either.
Coming back to Jadhavpur University, the budget towards CCTV installation is 16 lakhs!! Students instead demand better campus facilities and medical provisions. Appeals were sent in to principal (who is still locked in as I type) which were refused. A peaceful protest followed. Nothing worked. So students resorted to lockout. Most of those who gave TV byte criticised the decision as infringement of their privacy. An EX student of the University expressed this as a usual attempt at suppression whenever there arise democratic aspirations.
Such moves undermine human dignity. Undue restrictions on human beings must be resisted. Let us be free. And let us be free.
Your words in brackets and mine with out brackets.
ReplyDelete(Why do we need CCTVs in a site of learning?)
Obviously for better security.There can't be any other reason.No one is decidedly interested in watching you. You know very well how easy it is to do what you want in Fergusson College after 8, especially if you enter from the hillside.Although I am not entirely for CCTV (you must also check costs,use other security measures etc),if YOU were a college authority and you had significant security problems,what would you do?Think from the other side as well.
(Mind you this frisking is so frivolous)
If the authorities are promising consistency and efficiency in frisking,then in the times that we live in,it would be very naive to think of frisking as frivolous.I wish we didn't need frisking - that is always a good sign - but I can only wish.
(All of us have enough experience of how college administration wants to control students all the time.)
We also have experiences of people making out and boozing on campus;why do this in a "site of learning"?If bad experience in relation to college administration makes us take action,can't the college administration take action if they have bad experience in relation to us?
(We are not in Israel for God’s sake)
Do you want be an Israel before you realize that there's fire lit under your ass?It is perhaps this attitude that let 26/11 happen.The same attitude that paves the way for even uneducated twits like Kasab and Afzal Guru to assfuck us without us realising.How did the terrorists get into Taj/Trident/Oberoi,with the kind and amount of ammunition that they did,without being noticed?Maybe there weren't enough CCTV's.Remember again that this particular technology is designed only for strategic(not just the defence meaning) purposes also and not just to authorise control.If the latter was the case,why put any cameras anywhere?Why do you have any authority?Why have parenting?Why have teachers?Why have traffic rules?Why have traffic signals?Why must I book a ticket to see a film?Why can't I just enter a hall and sit on the floor and watch a movie?
(Undue restrictions on human beings must be resisted)
This I agree with.Gym,cybercafe CCTV's can be a headache,especially for girls.Do away with them.
I can understand that unnecessary vigilance makes us paranoid as we have seen in USA.But places where it is necessary,it IS necessary.No one wants to watch you while you do your crunches;but they do want to keep an eye on the gym-swindlers(stealing from gym lockers is very very very common).
If you have accepted the authority of the authority,then you have accepted it because you trust it.You can be against security/vigilance measures only if your saying that you don't believe in a governor-governee situation.And in that case you are an idealist.
If you want the government to tell you there's a bomb planted under your table whether in M-22(FC) or Vaishali or CCD or Inox or anywhere,then you MUST let the security measures do their job.