CHENNAI THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 PERSPECTIVE | 11 WORLD VIEW Towards an ambitious and fair deal Prelude to the next Why must resist the attempt by developed countries to dilute the concept of big conflict? differentiated responsibilities SUJATHA BYRAVAN from that of the U.S., Europe or even Chi- KARABEKIR AKKOYUNLU na. The world would likely benefit from Just as the Conference of lessons that India would have to share Will the downing of the Russian fighter jet by the Turkish the Parties (COP) of the from this experiment. armed forces over Turkey’s war-torn border with Syria on No- United Nations Framework Finance is also needed for adaptation, vember 24 go down in history as the ‘Franz Ferdinand moment’ Convention on Climate which is especially crucial for developing of our century? Could it trigger a chain of events culminating Change (UNFCCC) gets countries. According to a recent report in the next big confrontation between great powers? The short under way in Paris, a grow- by Adaptation Watch called ‘Toward mu- answer is no: despite the severity of the crisis (this is the first ing campaign by policy influencers and tual accountability: The 2015 adaptation time a NATO member has shot down a Russian war plane in over fifty opinion-makers in parts of Europe and finance transparency gap’, there are nu- years), none of the actors involved have an interest in escalating military the U.S. is putting pressure on India to di- merous characteristics that adaptation fi- tensions. lute or abandon Article 3 of the Conven- nance must fulfil. There are 10 recom- Yet those tensions do not seem to be going away either. Russian President tion, which refers to common but differ- mendations that include clear guidelines, Vladimir Putin has already stepped up the political war by calling Turkey’s entiated responsibilities (CBDR). Along transparency, improved governance Islamist government “an accomplice of terrorists”, accusing it of supporting with other developing countries, India structures and valid flows necessary to jihadist groups in Syria, buying oil from the Islamic State (IS) and driving has historically given voice to the philos- build trust among countries and streng- Turkey towards the path of radical Islam. He has also turned down Turkish ophy of CBDR, which states that Parties then the global negotiation process. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request to meet in Paris, where world should “protect the climate system for heads of state have gathered for the United Nations Climate Change the benefit of present and future genera- Maintain UNFCCC boundaries Conference. tions of humankind, on the basis of equity The Organisation for Economic Coop- Russian officials have announced they are suspending military coopera- and in accordance with their common but eration and Development (OECD) re- tion with Ankara and cancelling visa-free travel for Turkish citizens. Mos- differentiated responsibilities and re- cently published a report stating that $62 cow has advised its own citizens — millions of whom visit Turkey’s Medi- spective capabilities. Accordingly, the de- billion had been mobilised in 2014 from terranean coast every year — to stay away from the country, raided a veloped country Parties should take the “By asking all countries to develop bottom-up commitments to reduce their private and public sources, up from the number of Turkish firms and sent back imports, hinted at halting joint ener- lead in combating climate change and the emissions, any differentiation among countries has been diminished significantly.” $52 billion in 2013. India and other coun- gy and infrastructure projects, and even adverse effects thereof.” Picture shows French President Francois Hollande posing with participants at COP21 tries expressed their annoyance with submitted a draft law to the Duma that Two macho men in Le Bourget, France. — PHOTO: AFP these estimates, arguing that funding would criminalise the denial of the 1915 gen- Obligations of developed countries meant for development aid to various ocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Em- with oversized egos, By asking all countries to develop bot- India has maintained that aptation. The Green Climate Fund countries has also been included in these pire, a charge that Turkey officially rejects. Erdogan and Putin tom-up commitments to reduce their (GCF), which is supposed to amount to numbers. Climate funds are expected to Meanwhile, President Erdoðan has ruled emissions, any differentiation among funds for climate finance $100 billion annually by 2020, is widely be new and additional to development out any apology for what his government in- see themselves as countries, whether rich or poor, has been should be recognised as the understood as an obligation of rich coun- aid because they relate to the historical sists was a legitimate reaction to the alleged the heirs to the diminished significantly. This is because obligations of tries and part of the process through obligations of rich countries for having violation of its airspace by a foreign war- the current global climate regime oper- which they would pay for and support de- captured ecological space. India has plane. This is the official Turkish justifica- defunct Ottoman ates as if all countries are uniformly re- developed countries veloping countries to reduce their emis- maintained that funds for climate finance tion for its role in the crisis. The underlying sponsible for the accumulation of green- sions and adapt to climate change. The should be new, predictable, scalable, and motive, however, is Ankara’s frustration and Russian house gases in the atmosphere and that through rising prosperity. These experts GCF secretariat’s functions and recognised as the obligations of with Russia’s recent military operations in empires, driven by a every effort is equally significant. Thus, say we live in a world that is different activities are guided by and re- developed countries. These con- Syria, officially against IS, but in fact target- the United States, which is accountable from 1992 and that many developing main accountable to the siderations would disappear with- ing a wide range of groups fighting the re- sense of mission to for roughly one quarter of the rise in aver- countries today also have capabilities and UNFCCC. The GCF, if it works out differentiation. gime of Bashar al-Assad, including those restore their nations’ age temperature of atmosphere since pre- responsibilities. Nevertheless, the conse- well, could become the largest There was the impression that supported by Turkey and the U.S. industrial times, and continues as the quence of disappearing CBDR would rip- fund dedicated to climate change, the OECD report was announced Nationalist sentiments have been swell- past imperial glory world’s second largest annual emitter af- ple through duties that rich countries but there are also others that are merely to give a fillip to the Paris ing among Turks on the back of pro-govern- ter China, has made the smallest commit- have towards developing nations in three part of the overall climate finance COP while conducting estimates ment media reporting of alleged Russian atrocities against the Turkmen ments of any industrialised country. In main areas seen to be obligations by the architecture such as the Global In- outside the legal framework of the community of northwest Syria, which has ethnic and historical ties to Tur- contrast, Brazil and South Africa have rich: the right to provide development vestment Fund and the Global En- UNFCCC. Another effort to deter- key. (Moscow claims it is targeting jihadists fighting alongside IS or the al- more ambitious targets than the U.S., space for poor countries; financial sup- vironment Facility for specific cli- mine the contours of the negotia- Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front; Ankara argues that these are civilians de- even though they are responsible for less port; and technology transfer for capacity mate-related projects. The GCF’s exact tion pre-Paris was made at the recent fending themselves against the Syrian regime.) It was in this mountainous than 2 per cent of global anthropogenic development. Since, in a previous co- role, source of funds, and the windows meeting of the 20 major economies, the area that the Russian plane was shot down. As costly as his action might carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Simi- lumn, I covered the issue of development through which it would operate G-20 meet in Turkey. Differentiation, cli- prove, by standing up to Mr. Putin, Mr. Erdogan has already reinforced his larly, India’s renewable energy and ener- space to provide energy services and to post-2020 are still getting clarified and mate finance, and targets for Paris came cult status among his religious-nationalist supporters. gy efficiency goals represent some of the deliver the benefits of economic prosper- should ideally be sharper after COP-21. up at this meeting, which is outside the Some of this might be posturing, but the Turkish and Russian leaders’ ex- most challenging system-wide changes ity (“Plan for Paris: Looking beyond emis- Some countries, including India, have bounds of the UNFCCC. The climate jus- cessive pride and hubris stand in the way of containing the damage to bilat- any country has ever yet undertaken. sion cuts”, August 20), I will concentrate made funding a requirement for actions tice principles of the UNFCCC need to be eral ties, which have been flourishing in recent years. Two macho men with The phrase dynamic differentiation, here on financial obligations and discuss within their nationally determined con- maintained to build trust and work to- oversized egos, Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Putin see themselves as the heirs to the predicated on periodic review, is now be- technology transfer in a future piece. tributions. India has asked for a funding gether as a global community addressing defunct Ottoman and Russian empires, driven by a sense of mission to re- ing used by some experts in the U.S. and window for technology transfer in the a shared challenge. While the Paris-COP store their nations’ past imperial glory. in the European Union as a reinterpreta- Green climate fund GCF for loans and financing. Finance is may not satisfy everyone, it should, with Throughout their troubled history, those empires saw periods of peace tion of CBDR. However, this is a dilution At the Climate Change Conference of needed for making new upfront capital any luck, be a worthy step forward in broken by frequent wars. Between the 18th and the early 20th centuries, long of the importance of historical obliga- the Parties (COP-16) meeting in Cancun, investments in expensive renewable building such a global community. and often unsuccessful defensive campaigns against Russia drained the Ot- tions of rich countries which have con- Mexico, a financial mechanism was set technologies that are necessary to make a (Sujatha Byravan is Principal toman resources and precipitated its collapse. The only major Turkish vic- tributed to more than half of the current up whose aim was to support developing transition to a low-carbon path. Such a Research Scientist at the Center for tory came in the Crimean War of 1853-1856, when Britain and France formed greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and countries on projects related to climate development strategy has not been at- Study of Science, Technology and an alliance with the so-called ‘Sick Man of Europe’ to halt Russia’s imperial- ignores the capabilities they developed change, primarily for mitigation and ad- tempted before and is a different model Policy, Bengaluru.) ist expansion under Tsar Nicholas I. In a similar vein, Mr. Erdogan appealed to Turkey’s western allies after the shooting of the Russian jet. Yet, despite official statements of solidarity, NA- TO countries appear confused and divided. While some in Washington and London may have quietly grinned at watching Mr. Putin finally get his nose bloodied, no one is eager to see the Syrian war do what the Cold War , the ultimate jugaad city couldn’t: start a direct conflict between NATO and Russia. In continental Europe, there is growing support for Mr. Putin’s Syria policy in the wake of the Paris attacks, and little trust or sympathy for the ruling Islamists in An- music scene, the innovative stand-up kara — even though the same Europeans are also courting Mr. Erdoðan’s in- How it continues to comedy circuit, and the efforts of cre- creasingly autocratic government to stem the flow of refugees into the be the coolest ative producers such as Vijay Nair and continent. his OML team, to catalyse both of these, Meanwhile, there is no new sign of restraint in Russia’s military oper- creative, cultural but I think you get the point by now. ations in Syria. Having recently secured support from French President What excites me further is that the François Hollande, Mr. Putin’s fist can now fall harder upon the enemies of experiment in the city’s cultural scene is not just moving Bashar al-Assad, including the Turkmens. Meanwhile his benevolent hand outward, but it is also moving towards is likely to reach out to the Kurds who are locked in a three-decade conflict world — and why greater inter-sectionality. Elite high- with the Turkish state, while carving out an autonomous region in northern culture institutions, with rules, regula- Syria and fighting IS with the support of the U.S. How far Mr. Erdoðan dares those laments about tions, procedures, and strict codes of to challenge Mr. Putin and what course of action the U.S. takes in response who gets in and not are ceding ground (if any) remain an enigma. the lost ‘spirit of to jugaadu collaborations between All these new knots and twists bode ill for the future of the world’s already companies, individuals, not-for-profit most violent and contagious conflict, which has reached a new level of com- Mumbai’ are so organisations, online communities, and plexity with the Russo-Turkish crisis. This side of the world may yet be far other stakeholders in society. This kind away from a conflagration like the one that engulfed it a century ago, but the misplaced of inter-sectionality democratises cul- direction it is steadily moving is far from reassuring. PARMESH SHAHANI ture and creates a fertile ground for cre- (Karabekir Akkoyunlu is an assistant professor of Modern Turkey at the ativity to flourish. Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, Austria. I tend to get rather impa- Email: [email protected]) tient with those who la- Not enough funding ment the loss of the ‘spirit Now, I’m not trying to paint an overtly of Mumbai’, or bemoan rosy picture for you. Culture is severely that something has underfunded in this city. Unlike other changed in the city. Some- great cities, Mumbai doesn’t have sig- FROM THE ARCHIVES thing always changes, everywhere and nificant civic budgets for art and cul- every time, darlings: c’est la vie. As for ture, and the authorities seem to try the city’s spirit, I think we too often mis- their best to create roadblocks instead takenly equate it with resilience (Mum- of bridges. So everything that happens (dated December 2, 1965) bai recovers so fast after floods, terror- in the city happens despite severe con- Food shortfall may be foreign exchange position. A ism, communal violence, and so on, straints. Cultural practitioners have dif- 7 million tonnes distressing fact which he revealed because either it is “like this only” or be- ferent sustenance models, and survival during the speech was that near- cause it has no choice) whereas what it is not easy, or guaranteed. This is why, Mr. C. Subramaniam, Food famine conditions existed in some should really be celebrating is its clever more than ever, I feel we need to cele- Minister, told the Lok Sabha of the States like Maharashtra, jugaadu nature. brate all those who exhibit chutzpah in to-day [December 1, New Delhi] Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Jugaad is often used to stand for the this city. that the country was facing an capability of producing cheap, inferior- Sponsors are either found (with the No change in quality alternatives. But I prefer to think “Sponsors are either found or not; permissions are sought, and often got at the Mahindra Blues or Jio MAMI, for in- unprecedented drought in this last moment; and all kinds of drama-baazi takes place, but things happen in century. He said that the shortfall working hours of the word in terms of the potentiality stance) or not (with the Control+ALT- it contains — the ability to do a lot more Mumbai.” File photo shows an art installation celebrating 100 years of Indian +Delete music festival, which has made in kharif crop would be seven to A change in the working hours cinema at the annual Arts Festival in Mumbai. — PHOTO: AFP eight million tonnes and if the of Central Government offices with less, and the immense creative en- an art form out of crowdfunding); per- present conditions were to from 9-45 to 5-15 p.m. will be ergy that gets released when one has to missions are sought, and often got at the continue, the deficit would be considered only after the be frugal. There are jugaad revolutions So, I’m rather perplexed by the moan- ness regularly. last moment (with the several editions much greater. Emergency is over, Mr. L.N. happening all around us in this metrop- ing and groaning when, in fact, we’re in The entire city is now an experimen- of Kala Ghoda); and all kinds of drama- The Minister was initiating a Mishra, Deputy Home Minister, olis, and it totally turns me on to go to the midst of a cultural renaissance. One tal playground. The trendy biennale for- baazi takes place, but things happen. discussion on the food situation in told the Lok Sabha to-day work each morning and be part of them. way of trying to understand it is to con- mat has been re-imagined in as And when they do, they are world-class, the country. In view of the fact [December 1, New Delhi]. “We sider who it is that is doing the lament- a health-oriented community event. At magical, and give you goose bumps. To that detailed notes were already want to continue this A cultural renaissance ing. Is it the increasing irrelevant SoBo the last edition, residents collaborated me, Mumbai continues to remain as the circulated to Members of arrangement,” he added. Let us consider some of the players in crowd that I like to tease by calling ‘so alongside established artists. It was the coolest creative and cultural experi- Parliament about the factual Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia asked the cultural ecosystem, one of the boring’? This would be understandable most exciting art event I’ve been to in ment in the world — a place where great position in regard to food why the working hours in India worlds I operate in. Parel has two new because they are certainly being mar- Mumbai. In Vikhroli, we gave the art ideas come together to rub up against situation, there was nothing new were less than those in modern cool spaces that have come up recently: ginalised. Most of the action in Mumbai pop-up a local touch by locating our two each other. that the Minister could say in his countries such as Germany and Sitara Studio for performances and jam (business or culture) has shifted to what mammoth Culture Lab events in Godrej Does Mumbai need more money? speech to-day [December 1]. In the United States where sessions, and Matterden, an independ- was the erstwhile periphery, and losing factories. There are constant public art Hell, yeah. We’ll hustle and it’ll come. fact he took out much of the sting Government offices started work ent film showcase at Deepak Talkies. In power does make people cranky. takeovers across the city, such as the Could it do with more time and atten- from the debate that followed by at 8 or 9 in morning. Mr. Mishra nearby Mahalaksmi, architect Anurad- But for the rest of us, the suburbs have mural painted in Bandra of Dadasaheb tion from the authorities or the general himself painting a very gloomy replied that the people in this ha Parikh has launched G5A, a commu- widened the cultural landscape of the Phalke by the Bollywood Art Project. public? Sure. Its jugaadu culture play- picture about the food position. country wanted to reduce the nity and cultural centre inside a repur- city. Helped by infrastructural facilities Sameera Iyengar and Sanjna Kapoor’s ers will take anything that you can give He took the occasion to explain working hours. It had become posed Laxmi Mills warehouse. The like the new Metro that provides east- Junoon, a stage for theatre, shifts loca- it. That’s how we roll. But keep your that food imports were inevitable very difficult to reach an Hive in Bandra’s Chuim village is a bun- west connectivity, the suburbs are no tion between the Bhau Daji Lad Mum- negativity and laments about the death and he expressed the hope that agreement with the workers to galow that houses stand-up comedy, longer margins, or surplus spaces for bai City Museum in Byculla and the So- of this beautiful crazy city we love to some stable arrangement would change the working hours. Dr. theatre, music and film, alongside a co- cultural footnotes. They are finally key maiya School in Vidyavihar, and takes yourselves, please. I’m choosing to be made in regard to the supply of Lohia questioned whether the working space and a café. In Borivali, nodes of activity in their own right. And its community everywhere it goes. stand in the Geeta Dutt corner, singing P.L. 480 wheat from the United working hours were less because artists Shreyas Karle and Hemali Bhuta residents of these suburbs, like those in Mumbai has multiple film festivals — gloriously that, in fact, Ae dil hai aa- States. He also reiterated what he Government servants had to run CONA for art practitioners, stu- the wonderful Vikhroli, aren’t lament- MAMI is the most famous, but to me, saan jeena yahan, suno mister, suno said on other occasions that it spend nearly four to six hours a dents, and their neighbourhood. And in ing. They are, in fact, rejoicing in the equally important are the bandhu yeh hai Bombay meri jaan. would not be possible to import day on transport and ration Vikhroli, our Godrej India Culture Lab ‘spirit of Mumbai’, through the trans- film festival and the Kashish Mumbai (Parmesh Shahani is an author and food from any other country than purchase. Mr. Mishra said it was has been thriving ever since its incep- gender dance performances, feminist International Queer Film Festival. I the head of the Godrej India Culture America because of the difficult not true. tion five years ago. film festivals, and more, that they wit- could go on, describing the vibrant live Lab.)

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