Unheard Voices

Photograph for TIME by Helen Kudrich

Time throws off its pretense and ignores Fakhruddin alltogether in its new feature on Bangladesh and goes to the real decision maker. The quote speaks for itself below and gives you a context of some of the very policy of crash and burn that has so backfired until now.

The government has made no promises about when it will lift the emergency. Shying away from democratic commitments, Moeen is far more eager to talk about building effective leadership in Bangladesh and educating its vast, illiterate masses — as he himself puts it — “so that they don’t keep on cutting off their own feet.” Such a tone is fitting for a man who styles himself the redeemer of his country. “You can judge the people of a nation by the type of leaders they select,” he concludes. Most Bangladeshis are wondering when they’ll really get that chance.

Read the complete piece here

In the meantime, if you want to meet one of these “vast”, “illiterate”, “docile”, self destructive, too kind for their own good and dumb voters, meet Nazima Akter profiled in Washington Post.

Famous documentary filmmaker from the left John Pilger writes on Moudud Ahmed.

“There are striking similarities between Moudud’s case and that of the Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, who this week all but overturned the old, autocratic regime. Both were framed in order to silence them. The difference is that Anwar Ibrahim’s case became an international cause celebre, whereas there is only silence for Moudud Ahmed, locked in his cell, ill, without charge or trial.”

That the charges against Moudud about possessing alcohol is ridiculous, no doubt. Surely he deserves due process and proper court verdict. But the way Pilger has portrayed him in this piece as a national hero is quite laughable.

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry after reading this write up. Cry because i had such high respect for Pilger and how he let me down and laugh because when you think of defenders of democracy or people power in Bangladeshi context, Moudud is the last person that comes to mind. Of course, let the man give his due rights and process, but please don’t tell me he is the champion of democracy in Bangladesh. Rather he is the symbol of what has been wrong with Bangladeshi politics — immoral, “nitihin rajneeti”. Moudud Ahmed, is one singular politician who has the distinguished record of serving under all governments under different parties. Translation: he is a shameless political chameleon who has not winked one bit in changing parties and supporting dictators and autocrats under different times to get political benefit. I wish John Pilger did his own due dilligence first rather than just depending on Moudud Ahmed’s wife’s testimonial about him.
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In light of the recent discussion, the recent mostly positive economist report, perhaps, will break a few hearts for one paragraph in it. That one paragraph, perhaps, will prevent it from reaching past Bangladeshi customs. Even though, the more scary part of the article is the one which describes the current state of Bangladesh economy.

For the regime, the anti-graft drive has had some useful side-effects. The intelligence services are systematically acquiring shares in private media companies, by offering the release from detention of their owners in return. Mr Zoellick called for a transparent battle against corruption, consistent with the rule of law. That will be a long, hard struggle in Bangladesh

Can anyone share more on this serious allegation by Economist of “intelligence services systematically acquiring shares in private media companies”. CSB TV channel, if you remember, still has not got the chance to win back his broadcasting rights. What’s the cost?

AFP, along the same line, reports on the release of the two business tycoons. I wonder what was the cost there as well.

Abdul Awal Mintoo, a two-time president of Bangladesh’s top trade body, was released on bail on Thursday night, deputy inspector general of prisons major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui said.

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The Washington Post ran an article on Bangladesh last Wednesday. Most of it reads like a first-year undergraduate’s research paper, which is fine given that this is for public consumption. However, the story gets it wrong on one very important front: inflation.

The article says:

The transition from a system in which corruption rules to one in which institutions do has indeed been difficult. Prices for daily essentials such as rice and fish, staples of the Bangladeshi diet, have increased. The reason, according to some analysts, is that businesses are finally paying taxes levied on their products and passing on the costs.

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The foreign press is offering their own analysis to the recent development. First one from CBS.

Zia was elected in 1991, Hasina in 1996, and Zia again in 2001. And after each election, a well-worn pattern emerged: the winner distributed plum jobs and lucrative contracts to supporters; the loser did their best to make the country ungovernable through strikes and protests.

….

Only the most die-hard Zia and Hasina supporters are sorry to see those days go.

But with the initial euphoria that accompanied the imposition of emergency rule wearing off, concerns are growing about what the generals plan to put in the place of the political elite that it’s working so hard to discredit.

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Lot of theories and counter-theories are flying by regarding the last week’s incidents. We have some news stories that have been shared by the commenters in the blog which points to a conspiracy by the students and teachers led by political parties. While there may certainly be meat to the allegation of conspiracy, we, however, have not seen any news report that did its own investigation and presented evidence to support the theories. Rather, we detect a trend of having a trial by media of the accused people. None of these reporters actually care to interview both the sides in the incident and do their own investigation and in stead quote unnamed sources and allegations without any references or evidence. Also some reports tend to quote goyenda (investigator) sources which are itself a party at the incident. Alarmingly several newspapers are publishing news stories which are exactly identical in nature. At this time of news censorship in Bangladesh, we understand the difficulty in publishing objective news. Without discounting the conspiracy theories put forward by these various reports, we hope we get a balanced picture and a thorough investigative report done by their own reporter by credible print media and at the same time we hope due process is followed in treating the accused. We await an objective report by the enquiry commission of what happened. In the mean time, foreign news reporters are covering this issue. One such report today came out in BBC which interviews all the sides and presents a good overview on the outcry that followed the publication of the much talked about picture.

-By Karishma Huda

I call Bangladesh a woman. Media perceptions, which often shape our own perceptions and realities, call Bangladesh a tragic woman. As a child she was violently raped by colonization, and as an adult brutally battered through war. She was able to secure her own independence and freedom, only to be subjected to one violent relationship after another - one with hunger, one with famine, one with natural disasters, one with political corruptness, and the list goes on and on. One might even consider her to be a bit of a whore. As a result, she has millions of children living in poverty. Bangladesh needs to be rescued. Like a child, she needs to be cuddled, fed, clothed, have her hair stroked. She is too feeble to stand on her own two feet, and if the West does not save her, she will most definitely be left to die.

But there is a fundamental problem with the way Western media perceive, and therefore depict, Bangladesh. I mean, really, which woman is this one-dimensional and can be defined so simplistically? Have Western newspapers, magazines, documentaries, television, etc. only gotten to know one side of Bangladesh’s personality? Perhaps, or maybe this is the only side of her that they wish to portray. Perhaps this is the image of Bangladesh that they consciously would like to paint in the minds of their audience. Why? If Bangladesh is a basket case that is in dire need of help, this opens up doors of opportunities for Western countries to exploit.
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ABC TV reports of UN accusations against Bangladesh government of human rights abuse. The death of Chalesh Richil keeps haunting the government. This again goes to show in this age of communication, there is no alternative to transparency.

A lot of you will be very angry seeing this report and some of you may feel vindicated. But to its credit, the reporter interviews all sides in the story. However, it ties in the increase of foreign aid to Bangladesh with this report to show that the increase is unjustified given the human rights record which is quite unfair given that it did not highlight any of the positives of the last 5 months and also it fails to mention anything about the background under which the CTG took over power. Neither it mentions the human rights record of the previous governments.

You can watch the full video here.

Fair coverage, Unfair coverage? Your thoughts? Either way, along with giving your comment here, also let ABC know your comments via this page
If you have slow internet connection, you can read the transcript below. (Hat Tip bdfact)

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Where prescription by World Bank, ADB, WHO fails, the simple grassroot, local solutions work wonders.

BETGARI, Bangladesh — In the golden haze of dawn, Mohammed Salim Sheikh walked slowly through the paddies, so frail and thin that the lungi wrapped around his waist looked like a clown’s oversize trousers.

Carrying a treatment chart in one hand and a stainless steel water glass in the other, he crossed the threshold of a house. The housewife inside, Zahida Khatun Jharna, rose from her cooking fire, fetched his medication and filled his water glass. Then she ticked off his chart for the day and sent him home.

The routine plays out in countless villages across this country every morning, and it represents a remarkably simple but apparently effective effort to tackle a stubborn and deadly epidemic: tuberculosis, a scourge that kills 1.6 million people worldwide each year.

Full Article

Slideshow

Two reports that are openly talking about army’s exit strategy and rumours of internal conflict inside army. CTG seems to have little say on things any more. Every one who is commenting for CTG or against CTG in this blog — basically you all want the same thing - good governence and real functioning democracy. Good people of CTG want the same as well, perhaps. But the real question is how much say they have any more on things? Economist says:

..the good intentions of his overstretched interim government matter less than a power struggle in the army
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An incredible new piece on climate change linking it directly to river erosions in Bangladesh. Drishtipat London is going to work on the issue of climate change this year to raise awareness on west’s responsibility on this and the danger it brings towards the future of Bangladesh. Also another goal is connect people working outside Bangladesh on this issue with the folks in Bangladesh who are working at the grass root level. If you are interested to volunteer to this cause, please write to info AT london DOT drishtipat dot org

The once lush island of Aralia is disappearing under rising waters as flooding becomes more frequent, temperatures increase and disease kills four people a month

It is hard to gauge the exact extent of the local devastation caused by climate change because severe flooding and catastrophic river erosion are part of every day life in rural Bangladesh. But the island of Aralia, in the Haor flood plain of north-east Bangladesh has, in the past 50 years, diminished to a fifth of its size, according to its older residents Ask anyone over 40 about the island of their childhoods and they describe fertile fields, green trees and animals, an island of plenty, where children grew up healthy and went to school. Today, Shamola’s misfortunes are becoming the norm as flooding and river erosion become ever more common. Non-government agencies working with Bangladesh’s poor, as well as scientists throughout the world, are convinced that climate change is to blame for the dramatic increase in this flooding.

With a population of 150 million, Bangladesh is the world’s most densely populated country. A series of straddling deltas of some of the world’s biggest rivers, Bangladesh is at risk not only from rising sea levels, but the increased flow of water caused by more rain and glacial melt from the Himalayas. At this rate of flooding and erosion, 20 per cent of Bangladesh could be under water by 2100. All this despite the average Bangladeshi using just one tenth of the carbon emissions of any European, and one 25th of the average citizen of the United States.

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BANGLADESHI SPEAK OF DEMOCRACY IN 2 YEARS
By COLIN CAMPBELL, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: March 28, 1982
The army general who Wednesday imposed martial law in Bangladesh said tonight that he hoped democracy could be restored within two years and that political activity might be permitted again in six months.

This country’s new chief martial law administrator, Lieut. Gen. H.M. Ershad, said also that the US had changed its stand since Wednesday, when the State Department said it regretted the coup. ”They changed their attitude later on,” General Ershad said without elaborating. At a news conference tonight for foreign reporters he again said the coup had been in response to insufferable political corruption, bickering, lawlessness and ”confusion in the minds of the people.” He said the mostly Western aid donors that have helped keep Bangladesh afloat since the famine of the mid-1970’s ”will understand the situtation” and continue the aid.
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Foreign Press is covering Bangladesh non stop. Economist chimes in.

A further concern is that the current crackdown is likely, at some stage, to lead to a backlash against the interim government as some of those who have been detained—many of whom are politically influential—are released. This may take the shape simply of efforts to reverse the policies of the current administration, but there is also a strong chance that it could result in an increase in violence. Despite the interim administration’s claims that its objectives are honourable, the draconian measures it has taken in the name of improving stability could, like those of most such regimes, have just the opposite effect.

Full article

Powerful editorial in New York Times today that sums up the short sightedness of this whole “solution”.

photo: Farjana K Godhuly/AFP

Editorial
Bangladesh in the Generals’ Grip
Promoting democracy, especially in Islamic countries, is supposed to be a major goal of President Bush’s foreign policy. But his administration has raised little protest as Bangladesh — until January the world’s fifth most populous democracy — has been transformed into its second most populous military dictatorship.

Washington is being dangerously shortsighted. Democracy can be messy, and in Bangladesh it was extraordinarily so. But military rule offers no answers to the grievances that fuel Islamic radicalism, as can be seen from nearby Pakistan (the world’s most populous military dictatorship). By stifling authentically popular mainstream parties and their leaders, military regimes often magnify the political influence of religious extremists.

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COMMENT: Back from the brink or in the drink? —William B Milam

The fundamental question is the attitude of the Bangladesh military. Will this intervention resemble those of Turkey — quickly in to set things right and quickly out with civilians back in charge? Or will the temptations of power and the difficult reform agenda lead it to resemble those of its former partner, Pakistan?
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