Killing intellectuals in Dhaka & the Jamaat

The Liberation War of 1971 ended on December 16th when the Pakistani Army surrendered.
A few days before, the Pakistan occupation forces and their local collaborators/paramilitaries — Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams — abducted leading intellectuals and professionals, mostly on December 14, 1971 and killed them to cripple the nation intellectually.
The Jamaat e Islami Party still has prominent leaders in its ranks, responsible for taking part in these particular massacres and for other atrocities during the 9 month long war.
Instead of being banned or ostracised, they are courted and treated as ‘normal’ democratic politicians.
They only recently added the word Bangladesh to their name, to give a veneer of respectability. It is common knowledge that they never accepted and still do not believe in the independent state of Bangladesh – their whole raison d’etre is to recreate a link with Pakistan and oppose India.
Tellingly, despite their rhetoric, they have close relations with the US and it didn’t escape notice that during Bangladesh’s almost two years of military rule (2007-8), the Jamaat escaped lightly while other parties saw their leaders and activists jailed.

On December 14th, 1971, academics, literateurs, physicians, engineers, journalists and other eminent personalities were among the people dragged blindfolded out of their houses in Dhaka and massacred at Rayer Bazar and in other killing fields in the city.

Instead of trying tens of thousands of collaborators for massacres throughout the war, and thus drawing a line under the sordid episode, the first Awami League government in independent Dhaka released them.
They slowly returned to the centre of Dhaka’s politics in the 1980s, under the protection of the dictator, HM Ershad.
The Jamaat joined a coalition government in 2001 to 2006 – an era marked by the rise of Islamic paramilitaries, bombings and executions.

Farid Bakht

Killers on the loose in Bangladesh

Yesterday was World Human Rights Day.
Not for all.
In Bangladesh, an organised group of killers have been executing people since 2004.
The name is innocuous enough – Rapid Action Battalion or RAB.
They like dressing in black combat uniforms and top it off with black bandanas and sunglasses.
You get the picture.

It could be a film.
It could be a caricature.
It is anything but.

This year their execution score is 141 – there are still a couple of weeks to go before the end of the year.
Over five years they have killed 1,462 people.
It does not matter which political party is in office – they both let RAB get on with it…… and apologies for their crimes.
Why?
Because RAB is a death squad – which many followers of eighties style Latin American politics would be familiar with.
The executions regularly appear in the newspapers.
The story line is always the same.
While escorting a criminal, RAB opened fire in self defence as friends of the detainee tried to rescue their colleague. In the ‘Crossfire’, the criminal was shot. …
‘Crossfire’ has entered the language of Bangla.

Who are these criminals?
Mostly, left wing guerrillas in rural Bangladesh.
A law and order problem?
That’s a convenient way of looking at it.
Thankfully, Bangladesh returned to democracy last December but how can democrats from both parties just stand by? And even justify this.
If the guerrillas are only outlaws (as the authorities claim) then the least they deserve is a fair trial and then prison, if found guilty.
When a soldier can just pull the trigger, he not only takes a life, he destroys the legitimacy of a callous elite, indifferent to the real problems of their people.
And what are the embassies and Aid Agecies saying?
Yes, you guessed it. Nothing. They wouldn’t want to interfere in the activities of another nation – especially when it is Pro-Western and a loyal voter in the UN.

Farid Bakht
International Coordinator
Green Party of England & Wales

Climate change roundtable discussion on Bangladesh

The European Action Group on Climate Change in Bangladesh will be having a discussion this Thursday at the Whitechapel Gallery at 6PM.
It will be led by filmmakers & photographers – Hazuan Hashim and Phil Maxwell.
The convenor is Ansar Ahmad Ullah

Bangladesh to lose out on gas

You will hear Bangladesh mentioned constantly before & after Copenhagen.
Western governments will neglect to mention how they pressure the government to allow their energy companies to impose unfair deals to extract gas (and even export it), leaving little for the people.
How can Bangladesh adapt to climate change if it cannot build its economy?
How can Western governments encourage export of gas, when the majority of the people still have no access to electricity?
Even though the country has returned to democracy, have a read of how the state deals with protestors.
BTW, Britain has extensive gas interests in the country……..

On September 2, 2009, the members of a nationwide alliance in Bangladesh—the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports— were beaten by the state police in Dhaka, Bangladesh. More than fifty members were injured.
The national committee was conducting a peaceful demonstration and march as part of an announced program to protest the Bangladesh government’s offshore deals with international oil companies.
The national committee announced the program in protest against the government’s decision to award three blocks to two international oil companies with a provision allowing them to export up to 80 per cent of gas.
The committee and protesters feared such a move would threaten the country’s energy security and, by extension, the very sovereignty of the country.
As the protesters were marching peacefully, police charged on the protesters, threw many of them to the ground, and brutally beat them with batons and kicked them with heavy boots.
Certain key members of the committee were clearly targeted. Among the seriously injured was the member-secretary of the National Committee–Professor Anu Muhammad. His legs were broken by police batons.
Anu Muhammad is not only chair of the Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University and the leading political economist in Bangladesh–whose work has proven immensely influential among the youth.

ESOL Rally at Tower Hamlets College

ESOL stands for ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ though it is more common to hear ‘English as a Second Language’.
Whatever the distinction, funding cuts means that 1,000 places for classes will be lost.
Already 2,000 people are waiting for ESOL classes in Tower Hamlets, with many more in Hackney and all over London.

Thirteen people could lose their jobs.
Thousands more will lose the opportunity to learn.
The college also wants to cut youth & enrichment provision, mentorship schemes, learning mentors, administrative & tutorial support workers, health & social care courses, literacy and hair & beauty courses.
The choice is between profit and education.

Come to the rally on Saturday 12th September, from 2pm to 4pm. It will be held at Altab Ali Park, near Aldgate East Station, just south of Brick Lane.

Farid Bakht

Rally for Tower Hamlets College

Please show your support to the lecturers and students of Tower Hamlets College this Saturday, 12th September, 2009.
A rally will be held at Altab Ali Park, near Aldgate East station – at the southern end of Brick Lane/Osborn Street. It will start at 2PM.
This is part of an ongoing campaign to reverse the cuts in ESOL (English as a second language) courses which mean 800+ people will miss out on these vital language courses.
Cuts also mean lecturers losing their jobs.

India dams Bangladesh

Bengalis in the UK, mainly from the district of Sylhet, and growing numbers of the middle class in Bangladesh are becoming seriously concerned about a dam that India has started constructing.
When finished in three years, it will affect 8% of the country’s water supply – a disaster waiting to happen for rice growing farmers.
Bangladesh, a delta nation, is absolutely dependent on adequate and timely supply of water. The majority of the population is reliant on the rural economy.
Indian diplomats have imperiously waved aside media objections, ignoring international treaties which safeguard the right of downstream countries.
For decades, another water obstacle, the Farakka barage, has caused resentment against India.
The environment is a live political issue.
There has been little international notice, as the Dhaka government, has been slow to react. Its elite are keen not to upset the regional superpower, India, and possibly feel it can import some of the 1,500MW of electricity to be produced one kilometre from its border, by the world’s largest rock fall dam.
The opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is making political capital – forgetting its inactivity when the dam was mooted in 2003.
I remember marching against a humongous River-linking project cooked up by India with Soviet style mega dams and canals. Then, none of the political parties wanted to know.
For them, the concerns of farmers and rural labourers are far from their minds.
This is a harbinger of things to come. India (along with the US and Israel) is one of three states constructing a fence to keep out neighbours.
But it is hardly likely to stop Bengalis crossing over if their livelihoods are being destroyed by climate change, poverty and next-door’s environmental vandalism.

Farid Bakht

Banks batter Brick Lane

Today, Lloyds announced that another 2,100 jobs would be slashed. Another source forecasts that the City of London would continue cutting – the financial sector will lose at least 13,000 this quarter. Looks like 70,000 jobs will go this year from financial services.
At street level, the City still looks plush – Bishopsgate/Spitalfields still buzzing or so it seems.
Suited execs still cross Commercial Street and enter Brick Lane, though in ever decreasing numbers. The waiters and owners of Banglatown restaurants have noted the drop in sales over the last eighteen months.
Their faces show no sign of witnessing any ‘green shoots’ providing more covers and customers.
This is how trickle down economics works (or doesn’t). Next door to the two great financial centres on this planet, very little wealth crosses over.
Still, in the good times, some Bengali owners could rent out flats to City workers and others swap curry for money – it’s still happening but getting tougher by the day.
The Bankers (or more precisely the top execs) are cutting jobs and those remaining eating less in Brick Lane.
To top it all, the supposedly nationalised banks are not lending to small businesses.
They are eating up our money but rationing out loans.
Small businesses are suffering from a drought of ‘working capital’.
While the New Labour government, ever so keen on voters, is intent on banks lending to consumers (voters), we hear nothing about banks looking after their small business customers.
Where are the jobs going to come from if local, small businesses are not given a lifeline?
Size does matter…. Big Banks…. Big Auto companies…… Too Big to fail companies….. they get the ear of Lord Mandy and Mr. Darling… small businesses need not apply….

Farid Bakht

Labour shows its true colours over Heathrow

Before the credit crunch, Labour quickly donned a green suit. Now, they are giving up the pretence and going back to grey.

Of course,  they are vainly putting a green gloss over the inexcusable decision to allow a third runway. By diverting us on the pledge for a high speed hub around Heathrow, they are only fooling themselves.

This, after BAA embarassingly admitted that passenger numbers are 1.4% down as the recession (and sterling’s collapse) bites.

Even the Conservatives are against the third runway, though they spoil it by looking for increases in other airports (which shows flexible Cameron is an opportunist green and sees this as helpful to soften the harsher edges of an unreconstructed right wing party).

From a local perspective, there is more than enough runway capacity for the residents of Tower Hamlets to fly to Sylhet, in case you wondered. That’s not the point.

It’s short haul flights to Spain and the other tourist destinations that’s the critical problem.

Rather than wasting billions on a third runway, the Labour government should have used that money to invest in a publicly owned railway network – modern, cheaper and lower in carbon emissions.

Look at Europe to see how high speed travel can be in government hands and still be modern, punctual and cheap.

They used to say Labour was beholden to the Unions. New Labour is beholden to the lobbies of Big Business.

Incidently, by running roughshod over local residents, New Labour will ensure that some of its brighter, more honest MPs such as John McDonnell, lose their seats.

As for some of the Unions, comments made about exaggerated numbers of jobs and how ‘vital’ it is for the busiest airport in Europe to become even more of a monster, reveal that some Trade Union leaders see their function as cheerleaders of ‘their’ government.

Farid Bakht

The World Bank wants a slice of the Climate Change pie

A few yards from the Albert Hall, Douglas Alexander was grandly offering Bangladesh £15 million a year to protect itself against climate change. The same day, a jury effectively said direct action causing minor damage was justified to prevent the greater damage caused by climate change. On the one hand, Ministers make eloquent speeches about how we need to do something for countries like Bangladesh, innocent victims of two hundred years of Western industrialisation, while the rest of his colleagues continue to promote a whole new generation of coal-fired power stations. It is not clear what Mr. Alexander’s position is on power generation or whether he believes Kingsworth suggests that Britain is on its way to become a low carbon economy.

Money for nothing

Just to put it in perspective, people of Bangladeshi origin in Britain send twenty times the amount offered every year. These ‘remittances’ support their poor families already suffering from the ravages of floods, drought and cyclones. But we should not paint this as merely the British government being the villain. The current Bangladeshi regime sent a delegation to sign an agreement with the UK this week. It was justifiably proud to inform us that it would put £25 million of the country’s own money on the line. Unfortunately, two senior functionaries strongly hinted that they wanted the World Bank to run any subsequent ‘Trust Fund’. One may wonder how any one can trust the World Bank to manage a climate change fund, after the way it has championed the cause of market led, carbon-intensive non-development for over six decades. If there ever is going to be a villain in the piece, it has to be the Bank that has been pressuring Bangladesh since the early nineties to sell off its gas and coal cheaply to Western energy multinationals.  

The kowtowing to the World Bank is typical of subservient regimes in Bangladesh where the elite are only too happy to play to the tune of an Aid donor, in return for a seat at the high table. While Bangladeshis abroad in dozens of countries send several billion dollars more every year than any donor aid pledge, they are continually sidelined. Paradoxically, money stands for nothing in the pecking order. With a drop in corruption and a radical change in policy, Bangladesh could buy in consultants at half the price and finance its own development.  

With the very future of that state in doubt in the medium term, what is required is new nationalist thinking that breaks out of the dependency culture. Without that sense of purpose and vision, any rescue mission will fail. How else can it succeed against the rising sea levels or the devastating impact of the melting of the Himalayan glaciers (with its impact on the gigantic rivers such as the Ganges & Brahmaputra)?

In this environmental war, the key will be organisation, mobilisation and leadership. We saw this year the contrast between the inhumane response of the Burmese authorities after its cyclone in the Irrawaddy delta and the efficiency of the Chinese after their earthquake.

A violation of human rights

There is a mood to turn this into a human rights issue. This suggests compensation, rather than aid. The rich countries have already accepted their collective guilt at least up to 1990. If there is going to be a penalty, surely it has to be money & resources without strings. A grant, not a loan. In any issue of reparations, it is not the place for one that has committed (however unwittingly) an environmental injustice to decide how, where and when the victim spends those resources. Well, not unless you belong to the ‘foreign aid’ bubble.

 

Farid Bakht