End of Peccavistan

While the aftermath of Ms Bhutto’s assassination is still playing out in Pakistan, a brother predicts this: they will burn a lot of shops , raze a lot of buildings, perhaps no election for now, but no revolution either, life will go on smoothly, as always — Pakistanis are not the revolutionary type.  Perhaps that’s just as well.  Revolution is not what is needed in Pakistan.  But an election is — an election that is preceded by the withdrawal of military from politics and followed by national reconciliation and responsible government by the people’s representatives.  This election won’t cure Pakistan’s manifest problems.  But if the elected representatives are left to govern a few full terms without military interventions, many of its wounds will heal.  And this is just as true for Bangladesh as it is for Pakistan.

Our food, or their fuel?

It is perhaps an understatement to say that 2007 has been the most eventful year for Bangladesh since at least 1975. Even in such a year, rising food prices stand out as a problem that, if left unresolved, could derail all political calculations and spell disaster for the country in 2008. In this post, I point to a global cause behind rising food prices that needs co-ordinated attention of activists and policymakers.

(More at UV)

West Bangladesh and East Peccavistan

A magical realist masterpiece, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children has weird and improbable events and people juxtaposed against the history of the 20th century South Asia up to the late 1970s.  One such improbable, and yet true, event was that at the time of writing, and thus the story’s culmination, military rulers of the erstwhile two wings of Pakistan had the same first name.  This is not the only parallel between the political history of Bangladesh and post-1971 Pakistan (here is a polite and self-censored narrative).  And unfortunately, instead of Pakistan becoming more like Bangladesh, it seems to be that Bangladesh is adopting the Pakistani ways that it fought to break free from 36 years ago this month.

UBS Under Scrutiny For Phulbari Coal Mine

Zurich, Utrecht, Dec 17 2007 - UBS, a financial heavyweight from Switzerland, is facing scrutiny by civil society organisations for investing in a proposed [Phulbari] coal mine in Bangladesh.

Heroes, villains and ideas

Bangladesh is marking its liberation from Pakistani occupation this weekend.  And a few weeks from now, Indians will celebrate the founding of their republic.  During these weeks, TV channels in that part of the world play patriotic tunes.  This post is about two such songs — both about the land and gold — and how they display a betrayal of a fundamental tenet of each nation’s foundation.

Amar Shonar Bangla

A trip to London isn’t complete without a visit to the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park.  About a year ago, when Bangladesh was sleepwalking towards 1/11, I happened to be in London.  One Sunday, after a tour of the Hyde Park, I met up with some family friends at a Deshi eatery in the Banglatown.  One of them asked if I had spoken at the Corner.  I said no.  She said she sang there when she first visited London.  When I enquired what she sang, she replied: Keno?  Amar Shonar Bangla!

Of course she’d sing that, what else would it be, what else would I have sang (no, make that recited, I can’t sing) if I did anything at the Speaker’s Corner?  Those of us born in free Bangladesh tend to identify instinctively with Amar Shonar Bangla — along with the green-and-red flag and shapla — irrespective of differences in religion, class or political opinion.  And yet, there is no clear articulation of why we should.  While we tend to feel our Bangladeshi identity, seldom do we think what it means to be a Bangladeshi, and there is little clear articulation of what kind of a state our People’s Republic should be.    

Sidr Victims’ Compensation Fund

As most of the readers would know, Bangladesh was struck by a massive cyclone in mid-November.  The death toll stands in thousands, communities have been shattered, damage to crops, livestock and property is expected to run into billions of US dollars, and over 7 million Bangladeshis are suffering from the immediate aftermath of Sidr.  Most ominously, the country faces a grave shortage of food, and a real possibility of famine.  This post continues from some recent on what we can do.