Tue 31 Oct 2006
I am sure there is nothing called a minimum age for someone to become a political activist in BD.
There was a comment by Andrew in a separate thread few days ago about children protesters [comment #10].
The trend is very alarming!
Not only the under aged these days have become a part of the labor force (becoming a fatality when the employer throw them off sixth floor balcony) and now their latest profession has become ‘dangabajee’ in the name of political activism.
Look at the picture below (from Daily Star). Amazing, isn’t it?? The report said he ran right after setting fire to the tires. Does this boy even understand what he’s protesting?
[Note: The name of the photographer to be credited for the above photo could not be found. The photo appeared in the online version of the Daily Star.]
What motivated him to set fires to tires in the middle of hartal these days, especially when one of the parties staging the chaos carries fire arms in broad daylight, and the other party beats the gunman to death in everyone’s view .
How much was this lad paid to do that? Where are his parents/guardians? Does he go to a school? Does he have a dream to grow up and not do a tiring low paid job?
We need to raise our voice in this regard – STOP SENDING THE CHILDREN IN HARM’S WAY!!! Let them grow first! Please.
October 31st, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Very good and logical questions.
Childwelfare organaizations should be very concerned with this issue; pressurize leaders and new laws should be enacted if necessary to esure child satey and prevent these poor naive kids from being victims of dirty self-seeking inhuman activities of political parties.
Thanks.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:52 am
Kids have since long been used to run handguns in suburbs in tiffin careers or tucked under the shirt or somehow. I have seen a boy waiting in a downtown tehari shop to coax some mastan guy to let him touch the Firearm he usually carries with him. And the mastan said, smiling admiringly, that he was still a kid and need to grow some moustache before he starts touching these things, but if the situation permits, he might let him carry these things from one place to another. That was back in 2003.
November 1st, 2006 at 4:03 am
The people who really need to take notice of this are the glorified self-righteous politicians of the country, who are privileged enough to send their own kids abroad during riots. Someone please show these pictures to the Noors, Hudas and Selina Rahmans who talk with polish about rights and culture. Ask them how their conscience permits them to allow such atrocities. They read the same papers as we do. They are well aware of this situation.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:49 am
You absolutely right about them (those so called politician’s) read same papers as we do, they do see these every day. They just don’t care; they are too busy making their way into the power and money. Thinking about these kids will not give them any fame or popularity. Politician’s attitude is who cases about these “toki” they are born on street and they will die on the street. Meanwhile their beloved children’s are sent to spending spree in schools abroad.
Child welfare organizations, Susil Shomaj, politicians, countries business communities and citizen on all level should do more to make sure using children on any political activity and sending them on to harms way should be absolutely prohibited.
November 1st, 2006 at 10:33 am
***What should be the minimum age of an activist?
= XX yrs.
Substitute any integer between 2 and 7 or what ever your maid thinks is the right age to start leaving the kid at home so she can go back to work!
Excuse my sarcasm but c’mon folks! Do you really think putting an age barrier is going to stop these ‘kids’ from running amuck during hartals/strikes? It sounds familiar to penalizing businesses for hiring illegal immigrants here in the US. Do you think that would keep a poor mexican farmer from hopping the fence in hopes of a better life/future.
There are millions of ‘kids’ like the one portrayed in the photograph who don’t have access to schools, homes and most importantly adult supervision. It seems to me that ’simply going back home and turning on Nickelodeon while munching on a granola’ is the last thing on his mind.
As long as you are going to have these unfortunate souls roaming around the streets of Dhaka/BD with out any options, Thugs/AL/BNP … will have options aplenty to use them.
November 1st, 2006 at 11:19 am
The effects are significantly far reaching than mentioned. It’s not a child issue anymore.
In 60s, 70s and even 80s, Bangladesh underworlds were controlled by relatively educated student mastans, starting with Pachpattu, Khoka of NSF, then Aorongo, Liakat, hannan, Prodhan, followed by Niru, Bablu, Ovi, chunnu, etc.
All these time street children have been used for every reason starting from hartal enforcement, hiding ammunitions, carrying guns, spying, messenger, buying cigerette/tea etc.
Starting from 90s, those street kids, now grown up, adequately trained in and exposed to mastani business, slowly started to take over the underworld.
Now a days, majority of the top terror ( e.g. Pichci Hannan, Tokai Shagor, Kala Zahangir, Shahadat etc.) are ex street kids.
The result, 1. Crime world has become more ruthless and rampant, uncontrollable 2. Contract killers are easily available and very cheap ( Running rate is as low as 5000 taka). 3. They have no address ( they were street kids, no village, no root), so very difficult to apprehend. 4. They corrupted student politics ( Ideology has long gone, now it’s all about making money) and many more.
November 1st, 2006 at 11:33 am
Garuda, your sarcasm is much more welcome than the nonchalant attitude or even worse the attitude of some of my diaspora snooty friends who think it’s their fate – as you put it, born on street, will die on street.
If you go back a few posts in DP blog you’ll see how strongly DP feels against using children even as household help (which sound like a much better option than using them as picketer or carriers of drugs for mastans).
Here’s a piece by Ahmede on street kids. Read this and tell me how it makes you feel. I went through phases of emotion in 1 minute – from profound sadness to outrage.
But let me tell you this – people ARE doing something about it, and YOU can too.
I know a couple – very good family friends – who have started this thing called “Helping Hands USA” (will write about it after I visit the Dhaka based shelter this Dec) to help the destitute mothers and Children. This couple themselves adopted two boys and is now raising them as their own in USA. Currently there are 26 children in the age range 2-6 that the Helping-Hands-USA org is taking care of.
I think there should many more like this org.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:29 pm
The solution to these problem are us. We need to create more
1 Full time technical schools
2 Small Child labour friendly industry
3 Full time counselling
4 Business oriented financing for work
5 Education Educatio and Education
None of these are possible unless the Politicians gives us political and social stability. Fariha you are right those politicians are the same people who bring all these atrocities to us and we the common people
suffer. The goal of the elites of Bangladesh (one I said 2000 elites business family running the country) is to keep the greater mass uneducated uninformed unexposed to their rights so they can manipulate them for their own needs.
Have you seen the kids of Garment owner.
********* ********** [deleted]
The Politicians ruining the country under the banner of Politics and ideology of Mujib and Zia and the greedy Business man ruining under the banner of creating job and give them not enought to eat or live in good manner so they just become slave to the work.
Rumi bhai good to know some old name in new ways yes the under world Mafias and Politicians have a greater nexus after the Ershad Regime. I still blame Ershad for this because during his time all the young Street kids and middle class kids join hands in murder and rampange.
Lotun Jhotun the two brothers from Jagannat Hall were scary under the influnce of Jatiyo Party. Harris, Shentu, Joynal and later famous Joseph become the terro of Dhaka and Bangladesh.We all know which MP and Ministors backed them up and use them to get so many political benefits reaped off.
I am telling you guys Revolution is very much needed.It will happen today or tomorrow but we need it and we will bring it to Bangladesh.
thanks
Kawser Jamal
http://www.changeBangladesh.com
The minimum age of an activitist in Bangladesh is 0 months and 10 days old. Because this is the country where politics are done with the inborns and for the one about to be born.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Political intoxication has become so lethal for our nation that, it’s causing enormous harm to our national integrity. It will be a monumental job to find a nation next to us, who posses so much obsession for domestic politics. In the process we’re derailing our normal lifestyle and helping to produce more and more harmful element to our society. We’re confusing a child by systematically changing our history, endangering normal growth of a teenager by creating an environment where rest of the world is insignificant other than narrow politics. By the age of 15 or 16, a youth develops a fulltime ideology of politics, thanks to the adults around him. There is a big world out there; science, technology, books, fantasy, dream, girls, love….nothing seems attractive to a growing Bangladeshi teenager. By stepping through the door of college, he embraces a life which is full of danger, uncertainty and way beyond a normal life, enjoyed by other teenagers throughout the world. Does it mean we’re ahead of our neighbors in understanding the complexity of our life? We don’t have to go beyond our own family to find the answer of this question. I believe an overhauling of our education system may be the beginning of a long journey of our nation toward civilization.
November 1st, 2006 at 4:47 pm
I agree that the youngsters living in BD are having a toxic dose of politics on a daily basis. I wish they were growing up under a normal had a normal governmental system to grow their own political ideology.
I didn’t have a political ideology or view when I was growing up BD. My family or teachers never encouraged me to be ‘political’ (in fact we were groomed to have no political stand). Here in U.S. kids at a very early age are encouraged to have a stand on issues - be it ’save the whales’ movement or ‘change the cafeteria menu’ or campaigning to be ’school officer’. But none of this involves any violence what so ever. Being politically conscious means to know what the constitution holds, what the laws are, and if the law needs to be changed then amend to the constitution and just follow the laws.
My 8 yr old kid knows who we are going to vote for as the next senator, and more importantly WHY we are choosing him. Their third grade class had a visit from the local mayor few weeks ago, as a part of their social studies class. I was so impressed; I thought that’s how we should teach the kids how a government works! Before the mayor’s visit – for a whole week they built a model of a town that contained schools, shops, city halls, fire stations…all the necessary elements. And the teacher described how each public entity is there to serve the people.
As middle school student I remember how I thought the most boring subject was “social studies , and now I know why, the contents and the style of teaching was to blame.
At least back then hartals and gheraos weren’t so common.
November 4th, 2006 at 11:29 am
“Child activists” are also used for other unsavory activities, particularly dangerous among them is bombmaking. Back in the day, the device of choice used to be a Molotov cocktail. Kids would routinely have their hands blown up in the process of putting together these weapons of street activism. Then it would be off to DMCH, where well-meaning but ill-prepared interns would be asked to stitch together what remained.
In the late 80s, early 90s, the going rate for each bomb made used to be Taka 10. Add inflation to calculate this part of the child activists minimum wage.
November 14th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Here is another one….