Today is our last day in Dhaka and tomorrow we go to Kathmandu and then on to Bhutan, a trip we are very much looking forward to. In the meantime I guess I should be reviewing my stay here and try and record my overall impressions.
First, on a personal level we continue to find the hospitality and friendliness of Bangladeshis overwhelming and in a way quite humbling. We certainly don't treat visitors to Australia with the same degree of commitment. These personal relationships, with students, ex-students, colleagues, friends we have made and just people we meet in the street make our visits to Dhaka memorable. Our social life is pretty good to!
The university goes from strength to strength. In five years the numbers have built up from around 200 to nearly 2000 and the reputation is very sound. Good young faculty have been appointed and the experienced members continue to add lustre and prestige. It's the first convocation on July 1 and I can't make it, much to everyone's regret, because we will be in Portugal. Everyone is excited! One of the oddities of the private university system in Bangladesh is that the President is the Chancellor of each and every university, some 54 and he has to have a new set of robes for each convocation. I think this is a situation that needs to be reformed and the universities should be able to appoint their own Chancellors from among the great and good of Dhaka.
And now for some worries!
1] The continuing chaos on the roads. Everyone complains and various solutions are suggested but nothing really changes. It seems the police are reluctant to enforce the rules because they don't know who the offenders are. If they charge an 'important figure' they could lose their jobs. So law and order remain an important issue. Until the law can be enforced without fear or favour many of the problems confronting Bangladesh will remain.
2] The thugs who control the BCL are causing havoc in the public universities. The Awami League seem reluctant to reign them in and so they continue to intimidate students and faculty alike on the campuses. The effects on education is incalculable.
3] Poverty!!
4] Corruption!!
5] The absolute need to end dynastic, tribal politics which are in reality a form of feudalism.
More later when I have the time and can be a bit more objective. When I write poverty, corruption and politics the anger begins to rise. ordinary Bangladeshis deserve better than they have.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Things
Well. I've failed to maintain a daily blog. Why? For a start the repetition would drive me mad. I can't bring myself to write a daily list of complaints about the traffic, bureaucratic incompetence, xenophobia, poverty and so on. The more things change the more they stay the same. Although I love the vitality of Dhaka and the sheer goodwill of the people I can't help but depressed much of the time as the poor and disadvantaged are screwed more and more and the kleptomaniacs prosper. Money was allocated to provide generators for the 256 water and sewerage pumps that provide an essential service to the city. None has been purchased for 'technical reasons'. And so it goes.
The traffic does remain a problem. You can never judge how long a trip between Dhanmondi, where I live, and Gulshan, the expatriate and diplomatic area, will take. The other night I though the driver of the car in front was consulting his GPS, mounted on his dashboard. I look more closely and realised that he was watching a DVD player as he drove! Only in Dhaka, as they say.
One of the real pleasures of this trip has been meeting up with past students. They are doing so well out there in the 'real world'. Their decision to study Media Studies and Journalism was considered to be at best brave and at worst foolish. Where are the job prospects their parents asked? Well it seems the gang of 2004 - 2007 are ding very well pulling in salaries way above their BBA counterparts in the burgeoning Dhaka small media and multimedia industries. This is cause for optimism.
Finally today, a return to something that has concerned me for a few years; the slaughter of Bangladeshis by the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF). Thirteen so far this year and 836 since 2000. This is scandalous but how to end?
The traffic does remain a problem. You can never judge how long a trip between Dhanmondi, where I live, and Gulshan, the expatriate and diplomatic area, will take. The other night I though the driver of the car in front was consulting his GPS, mounted on his dashboard. I look more closely and realised that he was watching a DVD player as he drove! Only in Dhaka, as they say.
One of the real pleasures of this trip has been meeting up with past students. They are doing so well out there in the 'real world'. Their decision to study Media Studies and Journalism was considered to be at best brave and at worst foolish. Where are the job prospects their parents asked? Well it seems the gang of 2004 - 2007 are ding very well pulling in salaries way above their BBA counterparts in the burgeoning Dhaka small media and multimedia industries. This is cause for optimism.
Finally today, a return to something that has concerned me for a few years; the slaughter of Bangladeshis by the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF). Thirteen so far this year and 836 since 2000. This is scandalous but how to end?
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Politics
I've been stretched pretty thinly over the past few days what with one thing and another; preparing for a presentation on Digital Bangladesh (see The Independent, 09/04/2010); working on the book and editing another book on Active Learning for ULAB. Now I've started work on another book, this one on the markets of Dhaka. Actually we are building on the work done by Shahjahan Siraj on the 80plus1 project which can be found at www.80plus1.com.
Basically the idea is to record the markets of Dhaka, especially the older, traditional markets before they disappear. It seems to us that photographers are actively encouraged to photograph the 'eternal' Bangladesh of lush paddy fields, palm trees and setting suns rather than the dynamic, dirty and challenging urban scenes like the market spaces. Alternatively, photograph the disasters!
The political situation is becoming very interesting. Clearly the power, water, gas situation has the government worried. At the hottest time of the year people in the slums can't get any potable water and the middle classes have to do without their AC. A very dangerous convergence of interests is occurring.
The BNP is an ineffective rump that huffs and puffs but can achieve nothing and its wracked by internal dissension, probably between the young new guard and the old guard who cling the memory of Zia embodied in his widow, Khaleda. Given this situation you would think the Awami league would be triumphant, confident and secure in its political actions. I suspect it's not. If I'm reading the signs correctly then the AL is destroying itself internally as the external forces count for little.
The Bangladesh Chhartra league (BCL or AL student wing)) is basically out of control in some areas intimidating its opponents as well factionalising along splits based on personalities. It is also competing with the the Jumma League (the AL youth wing) for influence but also the control of markets and land. Pitched battles are fought on university grounds around the country and in the streets and people are clearly not impressed. The view is that the BCL and JL have been captured by thugs and petty criminals who use their control of the organisations and their institutional links as the basis for criminal behaviour. If the party can't control its own how can it be expected to govern the country. Moreover, local AL functionaries are using their positions to engage in criminal behaviour. Maybe the observation that the BNP can do nothing, just wait and let the AL implode in order to regain power is pretty astute.
I met a Canadian Human Rights lawyer, working for an American union based organistion, the other night. He focuses on three areas; the economic free zones, the shrimp industry and the retail garments manufacturing industry. Some success in the first two but not the latter, which seems to be a law unto itself. Last month twenty-two young women died as a result of a factory fire. They were locked in the top floor of the factory and died of smoke inhalation. Will the owners be punished? Unlikely!
I watched a TED program on slavery the other day. At the heart of the argument was the need for the rule of law. When the law can be applied without fear or favour then human rights violations can be prosecuted and criminals punished. Although Bangladesh has an elaborate legal system inherited from the British with a Supreme Court and a High Court supported by an extensive apparatus of lawyers and pleaders, it's questionable as to how effective the rule of law is in Bangladesh. The police are reluctant to stop and prosecute the drivers of the Pajeros and Lexuses because they may (almost certainly do) belong to someone with political links who will invoke them and have the policeman dismissed. So the police persecute the rickshaw wallahs and ignore the offending car drivers. People are reluctant to challenge the BCL and JL thugs because of their political links. The law is seen as partial, supporting the political power of the moment and its cronies and hangers on. Until the law is perceived to be impartial then the problems multiply. (I'm so naive as to think the law is perfect in the west. It's not - but you have a better chance of impartiality there than a rick shaw wallah does in Bangladesh).
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to a blog by a young Australian journalist, Jessica Muddit working on The Independent and newspaper here in Dhaka. Top stuff!
Basically the idea is to record the markets of Dhaka, especially the older, traditional markets before they disappear. It seems to us that photographers are actively encouraged to photograph the 'eternal' Bangladesh of lush paddy fields, palm trees and setting suns rather than the dynamic, dirty and challenging urban scenes like the market spaces. Alternatively, photograph the disasters!
The political situation is becoming very interesting. Clearly the power, water, gas situation has the government worried. At the hottest time of the year people in the slums can't get any potable water and the middle classes have to do without their AC. A very dangerous convergence of interests is occurring.
The BNP is an ineffective rump that huffs and puffs but can achieve nothing and its wracked by internal dissension, probably between the young new guard and the old guard who cling the memory of Zia embodied in his widow, Khaleda. Given this situation you would think the Awami league would be triumphant, confident and secure in its political actions. I suspect it's not. If I'm reading the signs correctly then the AL is destroying itself internally as the external forces count for little.
The Bangladesh Chhartra league (BCL or AL student wing)) is basically out of control in some areas intimidating its opponents as well factionalising along splits based on personalities. It is also competing with the the Jumma League (the AL youth wing) for influence but also the control of markets and land. Pitched battles are fought on university grounds around the country and in the streets and people are clearly not impressed. The view is that the BCL and JL have been captured by thugs and petty criminals who use their control of the organisations and their institutional links as the basis for criminal behaviour. If the party can't control its own how can it be expected to govern the country. Moreover, local AL functionaries are using their positions to engage in criminal behaviour. Maybe the observation that the BNP can do nothing, just wait and let the AL implode in order to regain power is pretty astute.
I met a Canadian Human Rights lawyer, working for an American union based organistion, the other night. He focuses on three areas; the economic free zones, the shrimp industry and the retail garments manufacturing industry. Some success in the first two but not the latter, which seems to be a law unto itself. Last month twenty-two young women died as a result of a factory fire. They were locked in the top floor of the factory and died of smoke inhalation. Will the owners be punished? Unlikely!
I watched a TED program on slavery the other day. At the heart of the argument was the need for the rule of law. When the law can be applied without fear or favour then human rights violations can be prosecuted and criminals punished. Although Bangladesh has an elaborate legal system inherited from the British with a Supreme Court and a High Court supported by an extensive apparatus of lawyers and pleaders, it's questionable as to how effective the rule of law is in Bangladesh. The police are reluctant to stop and prosecute the drivers of the Pajeros and Lexuses because they may (almost certainly do) belong to someone with political links who will invoke them and have the policeman dismissed. So the police persecute the rickshaw wallahs and ignore the offending car drivers. People are reluctant to challenge the BCL and JL thugs because of their political links. The law is seen as partial, supporting the political power of the moment and its cronies and hangers on. Until the law is perceived to be impartial then the problems multiply. (I'm so naive as to think the law is perfect in the west. It's not - but you have a better chance of impartiality there than a rick shaw wallah does in Bangladesh).
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to a blog by a young Australian journalist, Jessica Muddit working on The Independent and newspaper here in Dhaka. Top stuff!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Iconography
I think I may have mentioned this before but there have been some changes in political iconography since I was last in Dhaka. This is especially true of the Awami League, who are definitely moving towards a cult of the personality with posters redolent of China and Mao in the 1970s, although a little less severe in their portrayal.
History again!
Firstly, it's happened, I've worked out, with a little bit of help, how to upload photographs. This one was taken by a Czech friend on one of our walkabouts and captures something of the nightlife in the area of Elephant Road.
I keep referring to van Schelden but his book is really very good. He never resiles from criticisms and lists the problems quite clearly - corruption, aid dependency, greed of the middle classes, incompetence of the bureaucrats and so o - but he manages to remain optimistic and is clearly very fond of both Bangladesh and its people. He says quite unequivocally that Bangladesh is not a failed state. In fact it has transformed itself since 1971 - it's just hard to know how much when you're on the streets of Dhaka in the heat.
Yesterday I has a small reunion with the first batches of students I taught at ULAB in 2006. They have graduated and gone on to great things. It was a great pleasure to meet and talk with them.
Friday, April 2, 2010
History
I notice in today's New Age (I haven't got to the Daily Star yet) says the PM has told bureaucrats and AL politicians to forget development projects. In other words she or her advisers have seen the problems in the earliest call for bid. I'm reading Yunis' autobiography at the moment, which is interesting in many respects although a bit too much puffery for Grameem, but what he has to say about the pitfalls of development remain true, or it seems to me. Its fundamentally a trap.
I'm also reading van Schendel.s History of Bangladesh, which continues to impress me. His take on development is much the same as Yunus although he places it in an historical context.
Yesterday I attended briefly a reading of a story about the Biharis by Mahmud Rahman from his book Killing the Water, the second recent book published by Penguin India by a Bangladeshi author writing in English. Interestingly another diaspora writer for whom Bangla is a challenge. Nice story but it contained an unusual use of language. A triadic relationship exists between the barbarians, us and the indeterminate. The us is the Bengalis, the uncommitted are the Biharis and the barbarians are the Westerners. My immediate reaction was, how are we involved? what have we done wrong this time? and then I realised the westerners referred to the Pakistanis. Interesting, guilt ridden reaction on my part but also an interesting warning about assumptions, context ad language.
I'm also reading van Schendel.s History of Bangladesh, which continues to impress me. His take on development is much the same as Yunus although he places it in an historical context.
Yesterday I attended briefly a reading of a story about the Biharis by Mahmud Rahman from his book Killing the Water, the second recent book published by Penguin India by a Bangladeshi author writing in English. Interestingly another diaspora writer for whom Bangla is a challenge. Nice story but it contained an unusual use of language. A triadic relationship exists between the barbarians, us and the indeterminate. The us is the Bengalis, the uncommitted are the Biharis and the barbarians are the Westerners. My immediate reaction was, how are we involved? what have we done wrong this time? and then I realised the westerners referred to the Pakistanis. Interesting, guilt ridden reaction on my part but also an interesting warning about assumptions, context ad language.
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