Proposed Solution for "Slave Labour" in Bangladesh Garments

The death toll has reached more than 1000 (last count is 1033 at the time of this writing) and still more decomposed bodies to come. It has already become one of the worst industrial disasters in the world. Unlike unsustainable and more devastating ideas like boycotting garments from Bangladesh, Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus proposed seemingly sensible approaches to solve the dire garments labour crisis in Bangladesh. In his article, first published on The Daily Star last night and just now on The Huffington Post , this Banker to the Poor rightfully stresses that boycotting Bangladeshi garments would hurt the very poor of this developing nation, causing sufferings to many more millions of Bangladeshi women and men. 

However, the international community cannot just stay mute in the face of the soaring body count from the collapsed building at Savar, Bangladesh. Right pressure points are already in action for which the response from the Bangladeshi government looks like to be going to the positive direction as it has started to shut down the unsafe garments factories. Talks of having better labour rights are in traction as well. These are all positive outcomes after more than a thousand people crushed to death under the shattered concrete and steel. 

Dr. Yunus' two proposals are the following: 

1. "...foreign buyers will jointly fix a minimum international wage level. For example, if the minimum wage is now 25 cents per hour in Bangladesh, then they will standardize minimum wage for garment industry as 50 cents per hour. No buyer will give any salary below this rate, and no industry owners will fix salary below this limit. It would be an integral part of compliance.
2. The second proposal is given in an example: "Bangladesh garment factory produces and sells a piece of garment for $5 which is attractively packed and shipped to New York port. This $5 not only includes the production, packaging, shipment, profit and management but also indirectly covers the share that went to the cotton producing farmers, yarn mills for producing the yarn, cost of dying, and weaving as input cost. When an American customer buys this item from a shop for U.S. $35, he feels happy that he got a good bargain. The point to notice is that everyone who was involved in production collectively received U.S. $5. Another U.S. $30 was added within the U.S. for reaching the product to the final consumer. I am asking the question whether a consumer in a shopping mall would feel upset if he is asked to pay U.S. $35.50 instead of U.S. $35 for the item of clothing. My answer is: no, he'll not even notice this little change. If we could create a "Grameen (or BRAC) Garment Workers Welfare Trust" in Bangladesh with that additional 50 cents, then we could resolve most of the problems faced by the workers -- their physical safety, social safety, individual safety, work environment, pensions, healthcare, housing, their children's health, education, childcare, retirement, old age, travel could all be taken care of through this Trust. Bangladesh annually now exports garments worth U.S. $18 billion. If all the garment buyers accept this proposal, then U.S. $1.8 billion would be received by the Trust each year. This would mean that an amount of $500 would be deposited in the Trust for each of the 3.6 million workers. If this amount of fund can be collected, the situation of the workers can be vastly improved. All we have to do is to sell the item of clothing for $35.50 instead of $35. Small unnoticeable addition to the price can do workers."

Yes, there will be challenges to accomplish these two proposals, but I believe it is plausible. Because of 50 cents price hike for a shirt that initially cost $35 (an example), perhaps there will be a few disgruntled discount loving buyers who may shy away from buying that shirt, but as Dr. Yunus proposed that adding a special tag in each shirt stating that it was created by the "happy workers of Bangladesh", may attract more buyers in the end. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated in this blooming light of the information age. If serious efforts are made where a trusted institution looks after the workers' well beings, and Bangladesh government continues to take the necessary actions ensuring the safe and reliable workplace, there is no reason why international buyers would look to other places instead. 

Savar disaster is indeed the result of the dysfunctional politics in Bangladesh. Perhaps the citizenry will indeed come to their senses, at last, as Dr. Yunus and many millions near and far plead, and take the united actions to resolve this atrocious dysfunctionality arising from the vengeful and corrupted politics. 

Tears in Garments from Bangladesh

The heartbreaking image above is from The Daily Star. A sister crying over the photo of her brother who is trapped in that collapsed building at the Rana Plaza in Savar, Bangladesh. This is the day five after that collapse, killing hundreds of workers and injuring many. The total number of casualties is still unknown as many more are feared to be trapped underneath the piles of concretes of the collapsed building. 

Every day the hopes for finding more survivors are diminishing. Miracles do happen, and some are still getting rescued because of some heroic and tireless rescue efforts. The relatives, standing near, holding their loved one's photos in outstretched hands, looking toward the rubble, a live tomb, where many garments workers died for the sole reason of complete indifference toward workers' basic human rights for a safe work environment. Was it too much to ask for? 

Garments workers in Bangladesh get one of the lowest wages in the entire world. This unfortunate fact is also one of the reasons Bangladesh is competitive, and is now one of the largest manufacturers of garments in the world. But the disparity between what the workers get in Bangladesh, and the other nations is striking. 

Per a table showing in Wikipedia all the minimum wages by country, the workers' minimum wage in Bangladesh is 11 cents an hour, that is $220 per year. Even a discount store if one visits, like the other day I observed at Walmart that one of the marked down prices of a shirt made in Bangladesh was $10.00. I do not have the data on how long a skilled garments worker take to manufacture a shirt, but the difference between ten dollars and eleven cents seemed to me simply mind blowing. For a discounted shirt of $10.00, for example, if an average worker takes about 3 hours to make a shirt (a generous number of hours it seems), then the worker gets mere 33 cents for her or his 3 hours long efforts. Subtracting 33 cents from ten dollar still leaves $9.70 per discounted shirt. Applying simple statistics in this crude example, a garment worker earns 3% from a $10.00 shirt, and the garments owners and the sellers combined make 97% of the revenue earned. 

Of course there are cost involved in any business. Even applying all kinds of business costs, it does not seem 3% earning is fair for an average garments worker in Bangladesh for this hypothetical example where the price of a shirt was $10.00. In many cases, the price of a shirt is way more than $10.00. The price range can be anywhere between $15 to $100 or more. In those cases, for store like GAP, Sears, Bay and many other similar ones, the ratio of a garments worker's earning to the price of a shirt will be much lower than a heavily discounted shirt. 

It is true that many millions of impoverished Bangladeshi women and men were and are given new hopes and better livelihood through these jobs in garments sector. About 80% of exports earnings of Bangladesh is from its garments industries that has huge impact on its GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Then a question may arise naturally as to why such a vital industry's workers are not given their basic rights to have a safe work place? Garments workers are getting the lowest comparative wages and from time to time are getting burnt or crushed to death. It is indeed a rotten deal at the best. 

In my previous writing on this very subject a few days ago I asked a few questions. Mainly, why would the government of Bangladesh not take the necessary steps to protect its garments and other workers who are the vital source of its economy's longevity? Why is it that the owner of this particular collapsed building Rana Plaza is a member of the ruling party, and only a few days ago, even after the building collapse was boastfully travelling in a car with his hoodlum cadres? Is it possible for a grade 8 failed student amassing such wealth and power without the direct complicity of the ruling party? Where are the real culprits, the large gigantic sharks, who repeatedly use Rana and other muscle-man thugs like cadres to preserve the lucrative power? Not only the ruling Awami League, the opposition BNP too depend on these goons and criminals to survive and thrive in polluted political environment of Bangladesh. 

Who will come forward to demand the workers' rights? The glimpse of hopefulness that Shahbag's protest movement had shown in February, seems to be fizzled out in the end by not being more inclusive, and for only demanding punishment for crimes committed in the brutal war of 1971. One laughable quotation I can still remember from that movement was something like this: "when there is geography exam, we will study for geography, when there is  math exam, we will study for math", meaning the movement would focus only on one demand, that is the justice of the war criminals. Such a lonesome demand devoid of any practical connections of greater crimes being committed in present days literally in broad day light can hardly be sustainable. Anyone can call himself or herself a progressive, or a movement to be progressive without the slightest bit of notion what progressivism really means. Progressives do not live in an island where only a single injustice can be focused on, as injustice is rarely alone, it has its roots, sprouted branches and leaves, like the giant trees and expanding forests, where one injustice festers another, interlinking many more in seemingly an overwhelming dominating force to reckon with. The collapsed building in Bangladesh, the sheer indifference of the building and the garments owners is only a small puzzle piece in the reckless adventures of riotous life wreckers. 

Tearful agony of this sister crying over her buried brother's photo near the collapsed building is heartfelt and her and other like hers pain have touched hearts of many, near and far. Murmurs of discontents on the shabby political system of Bangladesh that most possibly has direct or indirect links for the causes of so many innocent life lost in this tragic collapse can be heard in office corridors or the cafeteria in the western nations. This will create pressure points, and quite possibly the right pressure points, that may fasten the most needed collapse of the rotten political system in Bangladesh, and from this rubble, from the tears and agonies of dead and the livings, perhaps the very needed political reformation steps will at last materialize, truncating the sprouted branches and leaves of corruptions, and preserving the core human rights of the trampled workers.

Tragedies in Bangladesh - a Forewarning

This tragedy in Bangladesh is incomprehensible to me. Collapsed building. Possibly many hundreds poor workers died. Women, children and men. There was clear warning. Even a bank's branch in the same building told their employees not to go to work in that fateful day. But for the garments workers, the warning didn't matter, the owner of the building looked like colluded with the owners of the garments factories and forced their impoverished employees to come to work in that cracked building, that collapsed and killed and injured many. 

Why this type of tragedy gets repeated in Bangladesh? Only a few months ago, another devastating incident happened, when another garments factory burnt down, and more than a hundred of their employees perished, some of their bodies charred to beyond recognition. 

Is it only the faults of the garments owners? Does the government of Bangladesh share any responsibility? Why wouldn't there be strict enforcement of already existing regulations on safety and hazards in industrial settings? How do the garments owners keep making the same costly mistakes without fearing any consequences? 

Garments in Bangladesh is important for its economic growth. It is true that a large segment of the impoverished population gets lifted out of the dire poverty to a better life and livelihood. The lower cost of the manufactured products that Bangladesh can provide gives it the competitive advantages than its eager competitors in the region and beyond. But this momentary competitive advantages may not remain advantageous for long if the big corporations from the wealthy nations start taking this type of human tragedy and its implicit cost into their ledger equations that surely they should do on the humanitarian ground. This is only a matter of time. There are already political pressures in the West on respective corporations to rethink sending garments orders to Bangladesh. Supply and demand will play its part, but these extraneous pressures will nudge the equilibrium point to somewhere else in the end, that will slow down the economic growth in Bangladesh, affecting millions of poor workers whose livelihood depends on these garments factories. 

A truly effective leadership is needed in Bangladesh that is not engaged in an endless squabbles (family feuds?) with its equally quarrelsome oppositions. Ruling and the opposition parties are for the people, but how much do they really do for solving the real problems of vast majority of people? A nation cannot function in any proper way if the governance becomes a hobbled shamble in the midst of the repeated vengeance among the political elites and their hired goons. A sincere truce is an urgent necessity. It's good to see that the economically counterproductive strikes were withdrawn by the opposition parties in the face of this tragic collapse of a building and deaths of people that could have been easily prevented only if the saner decisions were made not to send the workers to that death trap. This whole painful situation wound't be arising if the government of Bangladesh took the proactive actions making sure that the building codes, safety and hazards regulations were enforced in time. 

In the hindsight, many things can be said, many conjectures can be made. But the truth of the matter is that this incomprehensible tragedies should be a forewarning for all the decision makers in Bangladesh. Time is indeed running out for preserving the competitive edges. For each heartbreaking agony, dusty face and the ornamented limb of the dead bring shame, as it should, and it can also potentially bring more disastrous consequences for millions many losing their livelihood if garments factories start collapsing in the economic front too.

Coffee Houser Sei Addata – a Nostalgic Song of Manna Dey – Transient Moments

A very old song from Manna Dey, the legendary Bengali singer, “Coffee Houser Sei Addata Aaj ar Nei” – meaning, “That hangout in the coffee house is no more” – is such a melancholic and nostalgic song that the listeners, the lovers of this timeless song can easily get completely immersed with the vivid images that the lyrics describe, the life of old friends, the successful ones, and the ones whose poems never get published, and the one whom the life has not forgiven, who is dying from cancer, and the editor of a newspaper, and his critiques, the debates of poets and their poetry, the artist who used to draw for an advertising firm, and his silent admirer, these are all lyrically sung by Manna Dey, a singer who is undoubtedly remain in the highest respectable place in listeners’ hearts.

This is a song of life and its transient moments of happiness, fleeting and temporary, seems too short of a life, the forgotten and the faded faces of long lost friends, scattered around, some lost in the depth of oblivion, some lost in the whirlwind of chaos, but that Coffee House still remains intact, where new laughter emerge from the new faces, new gossips, new ages, drinking coffee, as did the singer before in his time with his beloved friends who are all long gone, far away.

Enjoy your drink, and reminisce, and of course cherish every blessings of this life, evanescent and never permanent. 

Deja Vu

[This is my Toastmasters speech that I delivered earlier today, April 18, 2013 at my local club]

Do you have that eerie déjà vu feeling sometime? Like, don’t I know this or that person from somewhere, but in reality you have met for the first time. Or, you went to a beautiful vacation spot where you have never been before, and you look at the crushing blue waves, its bubbly whitish froths and the rising sun peaking from the glowing horizon, and suddenly you remember being in that very spot, standing on the soft sands, but actually this was the first time you have visited this particular sea beach.

I find these déjà vu feeling fascinating. What is the reason of it? Is it some kind of trick that our curious mind plays on us? Is it the manifestation of brain’s synaptic circuitry’s random spike? Or is there a deeper reason behind it? Is it a glimpse of a past life, and possibly this reincarnated life has a flash from that forgotten memory?

I was watching the first season episode from a TV series called Fringe last night. In this particular episode, the FBI agent Olivia Dunham, jumps between two realities, one is her current one, and the other one is the alternative reality. The superbly genius scientist explained that in our life every action that we take it has other possibilities. An action we take, and an alternative action we could have taken creates branches in our universe, that is in some other realities, I am delivering a different speech, or even I might not have this very existence.

I found this notion quite captivating. It made sense to me. Think about the major world religions that talk about human being having the free will. We decide on every moment of our life which path to take, and which to discard without hesitation. Do I partake in the killing of animals and fish, eating their fleshes? Or do I select a different, more peaceful and sensible path? Do I voice my opinions and protest in the face of injustice, or do I act like a hopeless coward with heartless indifference? Do I work ethically and responsibly with compassion, or do I become an unethical and ruthless maniac? The choice is entirely my, but the consequences are deep and felt throughout the ages, cultures and generations.

Could the alternate realities and the déjà vu be someway related? Freudian or the Non-Freudian psychologists may have their never ending debates analyzing the root causes of these perplexing phenomena, but a simple and perhaps naive person like me, it is a good feeling realizing that perhaps other parallel realities exist, just beyond our wakeful consciousness, where different possibilities have a more democratic and just world where poverty is indeed kept in the museum, and war mongers and violence seekers’ depravity can only be read in dusty history books.

If you have that déjà vu feelings sometime, as I do in some random occasions, may be you will see things and the world a bit differently now, pondering what could have been, and what you, I and all of us still could do and achieve in our existence filled with infinite possibilities. What a wonderfully mysterious universe we all are part of! 

Long live Déjà vu!

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Sleep

[This is a Toastmasters speech that I delivered last month, March 2013 at my local club]

I woke up this morning feeling groggy. Slight weakness I felt while dragging my sleepy feet doing my morning chores getting prepared to come to work like any other days. Maybe you have gone through one of these sleepy head morning yourself dear Toastmasters when your body would like to go back to bed in the warm comfort of a comforter and snuggled to your loved one, but your alarmed mind would snap back at you for that foolish desire to take the extra nap in the morning of a busy weekday. Wishful thinking, huh!

The main reason that a person can feel sleepy in the morning is not having enough sleep the previous night because of being immersed in a donkey party or staying awake watching late night comedy show in TV. The current scientific research from respected scholars suggests that a healthy human being needs between 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. A baby sleeps much more than that, and when you reach a certain age like 60s or 70s or more, the number of hours a person can sleep generally decreases, but I understand there can be exceptions to this rule.

What happens when quality sleep is missing from a person’s life? Some of the effects can be quite obvious. For example, you may forget to turn on your right turn signal at a busy road crossing like the driver just before me this morning did, causing me to press hard on brake and stopping the car a few inches away from the suspected sleepy head. Or like about 15 minutes later the same morning, when I proved to be the sleepy bony head too, and almost hit a car by failing to interpret the oncoming car’s truest intention taking a left turn. I felt lucky both time. I or the other driver did not become one of the statistics in accident registers saved somewhere in Police or traffic division.

Almost every morning on my drive to work or returning to home, I see multiple accidents, some of them severe, on Deerfoot Trail, flashing cops car, emergency vehicles surrounding one or two or even more cars that collided, their bonnets shriveled like a mere tin can, glass windows shattered on the road, and frantic and blaring alarm sound of rushing ambulance to help the drivers or the passengers of the damaged vehicles are disturbing imageries. Scary scenes indeed, while these accidents create the very ordinary looking long lines of furious cars on a busy roadway, taking away valuable time from people’s lives spending in traffic jam as if there is nothing better to do.

Car accidents are not the only devastating impacts that lack of sleep can have on human beings. It can negatively affect a person’s concentration span. Yes, caffeine loaded coffee or black tea can surely help temporarily, but the caffeine has its own problem that is better to left for another discussion, but it is suffice to say that any temporary measure to remove the sleepy head has negative health consequences in the long run.

One alarming news came to my attention recently through BBC online that states that having less amount of sleep than the prescribed 7 to 8 hours per night affect human heart as the heart does not get to its resting pace that needs, and in the long run it weakens the hurt muscles and contribute into heart disease and other ailments.

So, what are the steps we can take to assure a restful sleep? A few of them I find useful are:

• Do regular cardio vascular exercise, like running, jogging or walking
• Don’t exercise at least two hours before sleep
• Don’t overeat during dinner
• Turning off all digital devices when nap time approaches
• Keeping a regular sleeping pattern, like setting a time at night for going to bed

These are my personal findings but these steps can help you too. I know all of these rules by heart, but hey, I am a human being full of frailty and contradictions like most mortals. So, in many nights I forget my own rules, and stay awake for the silliest reason you can imagine, like last night, watching old episodes of Star Trek Enterprise at Netflix, not one, but two full episodes, the battles between 22^nd century’s human space explorers and exotic aliens like Xindi or Kleon from faraway planets, time travelling, Vulcan’s desperate attempts to humor kept my mind occupied well past my set bed time, and even when I went to bed, I could not fall in sleep right away, and did not have a quality sleep I needed. And that was the reason I was groggy early this morning with slightly dizzying head, sleepy eyes, and driving a car in wintry condition among many more like me sleepy heads on a chilly road. Not a good idea, but that’s what life is, full of stupidity that we can easily choose to avoid like a responsible citizenry should do.

Buzz

[Text from my Toastmasters Speech - Delivered two months ago]

The day before yesterday, I started hearing a buzz noise in my head. Please don’t laugh! This is not a joke. The first time I noticed it, I thought this was an ambient sound in my house. It was late at night. I was about to sleep. I was hearing a slight light pitched humming sound, as if hundreds of bees were swarming and buzzing not too far from me. I switched on my bedside lamp and looked around, really! And there were no bees. I did feel stressed a bit, thinking what was happening to me? What was that noise around or in my head? It took sometime for me to calm down and fall into sleep that night.

When I woke up in another wintry and dark morning, I could still hear the buzzing noise. Before going out to my drive to work through morning rush, I checked the net and searched for the causes of having this condition and found that there are many possibilities. Some of these possibilities are very scary, like brain tumor, neurological disorder, etc., to mild ones, like wax build up in ears or ear infections. Oh my God! That was what exactly I said to myself. There I was, in my prime, planning for all kinds of career moves ahead of time, devising software development and stocks investing strategies using various underlying technologies, wanting to relearn piano and keyboard, yearning to visit the beautiful Kawai, the second Hawaii island I could not visit in last year’s Mawii vacation, and planning for extending my family.

Somewhere I heard once that man dreams and God laughs. All my meticulous planning, scheduling, budgeting, devising looked meaningless at that point in the morning as I was driving through the regular heavy traffic in Deerfoot Trail South. All the political and the entertainment news flashing through my iPhone apps seemed like pointless. I thought, this is it then. I never thought I was immortal, but never accepted that the end can be so early and so horridly possible.

Dear Toastmasters. You may think that I am overreacting. I say, yes I am. I am overreacting to the remotest possibility of dying. I am overreacting to an unpleasant outcome, and unknown afterwards. Will there be a heaven or a hell? Will there be a benevolent and all loving God, waiting for me after the spiraling and the lightened tunnel or will there be an incomprehensible non existence? What will happen to my loved ones? Will the insurance and banks give hard time to them after I am gone? How would my loving family feel? These and many other questions ran through my mind in that otherwise monotonous drive to work that morning.

I made an appointment to see my very busy doctor in later part of today, and hope to know what is the cause of this buzzing sound. Maybe, it will be nothing serious. Or, perhaps it will be something drastic and heartbreaking. I don’t know yet. But this is what I know, these invisible bees, the buzzing have changed something in me that is making me look at my known world in a different light already. It has raised the questions of what is important in life, and what is not. It has started making these precious moments that I take for so granted, as real precious, and not so infinite.

[Note: Later it was found that the stubborn wax in ears was acting as the sound of "bees".]

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We Are One Species

1.

Iain Banks’s writing is not familiar to me. A few days ago, from a BBC news article I came to know about his terminal cancer. So sad that news was! Only 59 years old. The Times mentioned him in their 2008 list “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”. Per Wiki he wrote 26 novels and is apparently to publish his last novel this year.

I have read a second article today in The Guardian, and the writer is Iain Banks. This article was extracted from an earlier essay the writer wrote as “Our People” in 2010 in a book titled “Generation Palestine: Voices from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement”.

I find that it is not easy to write anything about the mess both Palestinians and Israelis are in for many decades. I’d written some articles before, denouncing both the bloody terrorism and disproportionate responses and meaningless provocations from both sides. These days I am hesitant to write anything more on this painful subject, as so many essays, books and fine analysis written about this problem, by so many brilliant and thoughtful writers around the world, including humanists from Israel and Palestine, one more writing seems to me would not change the wrecking course of this runaway disaster.

This morning, Iain Banks’ writing in The Guardian has helped me changing my mind. Why would I not write? Is it only for not adding another article in the vast expanse of expanding Internet that perhaps not many people read anyways? Or is it for outright fear? The fear of getting maligned or worse, for expressing thoughts in support of millions of vulnerable people in a faraway land? Iain Banks did not fear to write for what he believed to be the truth. Nor did countless many during and after the Second World War, describing inhumanity of The Holocaust, the agonies, buried tears of millions of tortured and gassed human beings only because of their ethnicity or religion.

Some say and wag their naysaying fingers for not to meddle with the painful subjects of history. But, I say, how do human beings can progress to greater, matured and peaceful enlightenment unless taking the lessons from history, refreshing the forgetting memories, so that the similar genocides will not repeat? The answer I believe is self-evident. Human beings’ progression to a greater civilization where wars, violence and naked or subtle hatred will only be described in books of history or museums is possible, but not without our collective and individual struggles.

Here is an extract from Iain Banks’ article that summarizes everything that need to be known about injustice:

“The solution to the dispossession and persecution of one people can never be to dispossess and persecute another. When we do this, or participate in this, or even just allow this to happen without criticism or resistance, we only help ensure further injustice, oppression, intolerance, cruelty and violence in the future.

We may see ourselves as many tribes, but we are one species, and in failing to speak out against injustices inflicted on some of our number and doing what we can to combat those without piling further wrongs on earlier ones, we are effectively collectively punishing ourselves.”

Voluminous texts are written in the field of human psychology or social anthropology, however, why injustices are still rampant in this supposedly more progressive 21^st century? It is still shameful, oh yes, I am also involved in this shameful cowardice and uncaring attitude,  and indeed it is utterly appalling for us the so called master of our “free wills”, taking our eyes and ears away from the tears, screamed agonies of our fellow beings.

If you read Iain Bank’s words carefully, you will see his loud emphasis on the following: “we are one species, and in failing to speak out against injustices inflicted on some of our number and doing what we can to combat those without piling further wrongs on earlier ones, we are effectively collectively punishing ourselves.”

We are punishing ourselves, and condemning our future generations to do the same, and contributing in the degradation of human progression back toward shadowy ages I believe no modern human beings would like to turn back to.

2.

Palestinians’ and Israelis’ painful saga is one mere example. In addition to other wrongful wrecks that are ongoing, like in brutal civil war in Syria, never ending violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, theocratic Iran, puzzling North Korea and its starving population where a despot ruler threatens the world with nuclear toys, Pakistan’s dubious killings, the heartless drones, extra judicial killings of innocent children, women and men, not only in the troubled regions we all know about, but also in relatively stable places like Bangladesh, Burma, India, Philippines, etc., do not bode well toward a peaceful world.

One example I will elaborate is Bangladesh where the entire nation seems to be slowly moving toward more violence, pitting opposing factions against each other by possibly clever political ploys. Iain Banks’ warning can easily be applied to Bangladesh. The recent arrests of bloggers is a troubling sign. Why would a democratic government arrest anyone for simply expressing their opinions? Should a democratic nation discard its sacred promise to protect humanity and preserve equality for all to please the fanatical demands of any factions? What the heck a blasphemy law means anyway? One man’s religious belief or lack of belief may not align with another, but does that mean he or she needs to be subjugated by the thumb down majority rule?

The problem in Bangladesh is that both the ruling and the opposition parties have lost people’s trust in them because of their past utter dishonesty, corruption and for using violence and deception to achieve political goals. This has created a dangerous vacuum, where the two diametrically opposing elements, the religionists supported by the reactionary parties like Jamaat and BNP, and the so called progressive and the liberal left initially pampered by the ruling party Awami League are at each other’s throat, like two ferocious warriors fighting over their precious claim on the mismanaged nation. Without solving the core of the problem that the writer Iain Banks so eloquently written for injustices occurring in another place this will remain unresolved. Only by stopping our collective punishment, by not piling one wrong over another in the name of camouflaged revenge and counter revenge, this odorous nastiness in Bangladesh can be solved and people’s trust on their elected government and opposition can be re-established.

3.

Jim Holt, the writer of “Why Does the World Exist”, presented some inquisitive questions in his pleasantly readable book. What stuck to my mind reading it, is that the feeling that possibly other human beings and maybe other species grasp from time to time, and it is that eureka moment, when one understands how lucky one is to be alive at all, in this probabilistically random world, in a solar system residing in a lonely corner of a vast galaxy containing 200 to 400 billion stars, that is itself part of an expanding universe with possibly more than 100 billion galaxies of various sizes, and perhaps, this incomprehensibly gigantic universe is part of a more intricate complex systems of multi verses, for which the origin and the end is still widely debated.

Our existence in this world, how miniscule it may seem in the overall scheme of the universe and beyond, does not have to be meaningless. We are one species, human or non-human, in this timeline, inherited the past history of triumphs and failures from our buried predecessors. The finiteness of our brief existence in this universal randomness or perhaps pre-ordained fate, is linked with each one of us. The same is true for our actions, inactions, caring and uncaring in front of struggles to achieving fairness for all.

Here is a poem of Allen Ginsberg “Gone Gone Gone” who understood life and its meaning like Iain Banks:

“Gone Gone Gone”

“The wan moon is sinking under the white wave and time is sinking with me, O!”

–Robert Burns

yes it’s gone gone gone

gone gone away

yes it’s gone gone gone

gone gone away

yes it’s gone gone gone

gone gone away

yes it’s gone gone gone

it’s all gone away

gone gone gone

won’t be back today

gone gone gone

just like yesterday

gone gone gone

isn’t any more

gone to the other shore

gone gone gone

it wasn’t here to stay

yes it’s gone gone gone

all gone out to play

yes it’s gone gone gone

until another day

no one here to pray

gone gone gone

yak your life away

no promise to betray

gone gone gone

somebody else will pay

the national debt no way

gone gone gone

your furniture layaway

plan gone astray

gone gone gone

made hay

gone gone gone

Sunk in Baiae’s Bay

yes it’s gone gone gone

wallet and all you say

gone gone gone

so you can waive your pay

yes it’s gone gone gone

tomorrow’s another day

gone last Saturday

yes it’s gone gone gone

gone gone gone

turned old and gray

yes it’s gone gone gone

bald & old & gay

gone gone gone

whitebeard & cold

yes it’s gone gone gone

cashmere scarf & gold

yes it’s gone gone gone

warp & woof & wold

yes it’s gone gone gone

gone far far away

to the home of the brave

down into the grave

yes it’s gone gone gone

moon beneath the wave

yes it’s gone gone gone

so I end this song

yes this song is gone

gone to kick the gong

yes it’s gone gone gone

No more right & wrong

yes it’s gone gone gone

gone gone away

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Faith of the Heart

Originally performed by Rod Stewart and written by Diane Warren for a great film Patch Adams, I came to listen to this song again in Star Trek: Enterprise episodes performed by Russell Watson, and found it to have a catchy tune and memorable lyrics.

Shahbag Protests - Observations

The photos from Shahbag are stunning. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in this square, as if waves of people in a tumult ocean, singing, protesting, united in one common cause, asking for the capital punishment for all war criminals. The passion of people, many of them born many years after the 1971 war, their yearning for justice that were long been snubbed in these past 4 decades after the liberation war in Bangladesh, look refreshing, and feel rejuvenating.

The demand for fairness and a democratic system free from any religion and violence based politics are long standing. The history of Jamaat and its past and current alliances are well documented, though perhaps can be fading in memory.

There are precedence in history when the war criminals are put into trial many years after the war ended. Many Nazi members after the Second World War’s inhumane brutality are the prime examples. The majority of Bangladeshi’s demand is to see justice been done on these criminals whose crime in 1971 of murders, genocides, rapes went unpunished, and sometimes seemed rewarded by being promoted to various high level government posts in successive military and civilian governments after the liberation war.

I am all for justice and fairness. I believe that anyone committed crimes against humanity, who that may be, should put on trial and be accountable for. This absolutely includes the accused Jamaati and BNP leaders, but also the unmentionable ones, who are not affiliated with Jamaat or BNP, but residing in alliance with the ruling party Awami League or perhaps with other unnamed entities. Also, we need to ask one question: what does war crime really mean? Wikipedia has good definition of it and here is the link: War Crime.

Here is a relevant extract of examples of war crime: “murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps, the murder or ill-treatment of prisoner of war, the killing of prisoners, the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity”.

After the past BNP government’s slowing down of the war crime tribunal process, Awami League restarted the process from 2010 after coming to power in 2009, and this is a welcome sign for many. At last, the suppressed cries and agonies of millions of victims from 1971 war are getting heard. Though four decades have passed, the indelible memories of pain and sufferings from 1971 in collective consciousness of many Bangladeshis have overwhelmingly embraced this trial.

This trial also received positive receptions from international community, including US, UK, European Union, and many others. However, concerns raised regarding the transparency and fairness of the tribunal process that must be addressed in order to ensure that the accused, however brutal their alleged crimes maybe, do get treated impartially in the court of law. Court should not be interfered or pressured by the Awami League government to get a quick verdict without going through an exhaustive and transparent legal process.

One may contend that these war criminals should not be shown any leniency, and also the roars from Shahbag Square demand the hanging of the criminals in expediting time frame. These all are full of emotions, how noble it can be seen in the light of victims’ haunted memories, but a cautious and level headed actions are needed, that are not governed by blind hatred toward opposing views or usurpation of party affiliations.

Like the Jamaat and their cohorts’ war crimes, there were also war crimes committed by victorious freedom fighters, hooligans and party affiliates. The extra judicial killings of Biharis and the so called “collaborators” in broad daylight without going through any fair judicial process are also fall into the same category of crimes against humanity. The law is blind, and there are good reasons that it should be. The law should not prefer or subdue one crime over another. Like the alleged war criminal Abul Kalam Azad, Abdul Quader Mollah, Saka Choudhuri, etc.,  shouldn’t the similar criminal charges be laid against Kader Siddique, hailed as the Hero of Bengal for his fearless contributions in 1971 war as a freedom fighter? No doubt he was indeed a respected freedom fighter, but for his direct involvement in the massacres of prisoners of war in 1971, shouldn’t he and possible others like him be tried in the same war crime tribunal court?

In a free, fair, transparent and impartial court of law indeed all war criminals would be tried without any prejudices.

I can see the colorful flag, young and old’s hands pointed up in unison, and I can hear the beating of tabla, singing, and chanted slogans: “Tui Rajakar…You are Rajakar”….over and over again, and the demand for the war criminals’ capital punishment, whereas in all the modern and advanced nations of our world with surprised possible exception in the United States, capital punishment is banned for good reasons, as it is considered the “ultimate denial of human rights”. Why is it necessary to kill any human being for their past crimes? Doesn’t it stoop into the eye for an eye type of medieval vengeance? To me, and many others, a life time jail sentence for a criminal should be the ultimate price to be paid, whereas, capital punishment, cruelest as it is, also can be quick for the criminals, but a lifetime prison sentence can serve the right justice, as it will deny the criminals the outside coveted world in all their incarcerated lives.

It is not through the polarized division that peace can be brought (unless going through another bloody and unpredictable civil war), and not through the repeated tormenting slogans the deeply reopened wounds can be healed. The refreshing and rejuvenating Shahbag can be a starting point for the redirection of Bangladesh toward a just and more democratic nation, but with caution, and not by devaluing itself being the mouthpiece of the same old and corrupted political elites, whose goals have always been diversion and division. 

Wake up Shahbag! Seize the moment! Demand for a free and fair justice of all war criminals, barring none.

Khaleda Zia's Article in The Washington Times - Observation

The contents in Khaleda Zia's article in The Wasington Times have some merits. Who would in right mind want a democracy to be turned into a kleptocracy, where erosion of people's democratic rights in favor of a family dynasty and supporting cohorts based system that can bring only more miseries for vast majority of Bangladeshis?

Historically speaking, Bangladesh Awami League is widely considered as the left leaning progressive political party, whereas Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is considered as slightly right leaning centrist party. Their respective founding leaders, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, first Prime Minister of Bangladesh after the brutal 1971 war who is revered in the nation by many as its founding father, and Ziaur Rahman, once a popular president of Bangladesh, was respected by many as a freedom fighter. Both of their violent deaths in the hands of disgruntled military men, in 1975 for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and in 1981 for Ziaur Rahman, are still remembered as two of the most dark and tragic episodes in the history of Bangladesh. Even there are skeptics who point toward a darker conspiracy in the deaths of these two men within a short decade after the independence.

The current Prime Minister of Bangladesh is Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. And the current opposition leader and former Prime Minister of Bangladesh is Khaleda Zia who has written this article in The Washington Times, is the widow of late President Ziaur Rahman. For Bangladeshis, these are well known facts, but many in other parts of the world may not have the slightest clue of the complexity in elitist political strata in Bangladesh.

After the 1971 war, in the last 42 years, Bangladesh has many governments, including the elected ones, and the small and long dictatorship by military strongmen. From my childhood, I still have distinct memories, seeing processions after processions of many thousands of people in the crowded streets of Dhaka, demanding real democracy, urging for justice and fairness in the political and wider society. Many had lost their lives or limbs, imprisoned, tortured, and at last forgotten.

Most of the Bangladeshi elections, except a possible few exceptions in recent times, especially after the collapse of last military dictatorship of Hussain Muhammad Ershad, are marred with widespread fraud and predetermined results. That was the reason that both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia were united together when they were struggling against the military ruler of 1980s. They both supported the idea of an independent caretaker government that can neutrally oversee the electoral process so that the people of Bangladesh can peacefully cast their votes and their votes do get counted. Backing away from this system would be a political blunder.

Some may counter argue that in US, Great Britain, India and many other nations, this type of independent caretaker government does not exist. True. But we need to understand that all these nations have a longer and stabler history of democracy than in Bangladesh. This is not the right time to abandon the independent caretaker government system.

No nation in the world is devoid of corruptions. This is a fact of human life, and perhaps is part of human frailty. Bangladesh is no exception. The recent alarming news of corruptions, like Padma Bridge construction related briberies, giant company like SNC Lavalin's involvements, World Bank's denial of loan to Bangladesh, etc. are not unique in history. Like the corruptions in current Awami League government run by Sheikh Hasina, the previous government run by Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party were full of deceitful corruptions as well. None of them were flowery saints and each of them have scary skeletons to hide in the closets!

Literate population in Bangladesh is vast. There are many intelligent people who can run this nation wisely and better if given chance through a free and fair election. Being a part of a decorated family is no excuse to bar anyone from the political process as that would be violation of their human rights, however, getting fatter, literally and metaphorically, both the politicians and their joyful relatives while remaining in the power's pulpits, may only prevent Bangladesh and millions of Bangladeshis achieving their full potentials through their democratic rights.

2013 - a New Year

1.

2013. A new year. A new me! I have made my resolutions too. On New Year’s Eve when the giant apple about to fall, I silently made the mental note what I would like to accomplish in the coming year. The cheers, fireworks, music with wintry gusto make every new year’s eve feels special, though know it well that in cosmic timeline, our skimpy existence and boisterous celebrations may not surmount to anything, but for the mortals billions, these moments spur the longing of a commonality where our aspirations, existential anxiety, love for the beloveds and the daily humdrum of our lives fuse into collective roars that can be heard across the globe, through cyber net, cable media or the simple presence in a stampede free firework show.

The bygone 2012 was memorable. It was the year when dictators fell from their long held power, democracy returned to nations where it was absent for many years, global economy seemed to be turning back from the plunge of dismal recession (though a struggling path is ahead), and technology made more bold advances occupying further aspects of human lives. It was the year the pragmatic progressive Obama won the election over confusing Romney, and it seemed terrorism’s ceaseless bloodshed is cornered like a despotic king isolated in a strategic chess game. These are all the good points to remember from 2012. These are the uplifting stories and events that shaped many of our consciousness and thoughts, opened the horizon’s visibility a bit more, lilting our conscience pleasantly buoying toward the new possibility.

Then there are bitter memories. The repeated wars between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza and Israel where hundreds of innocent children, women and men died for incomprehensible rationales, the brutality in Syria where more than 60,000 dead in a prolonged war between a ruthless dictator and his democratic but vengeful oppositions, the senseless murders of children in Sandy Hook Elementary School just 11 days before Christmas, Aurora shooting in the summer where mere movie spectators were gunned down during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, a 23 year old unnamed Indian woman was brutally gang raped in a bus in Delhi, beaten and thrown out of the moving bus, her fight to survive ended tragically over heartfelt candle light vigils and prayers from around the world, the burnt bodies of 117 poor garments workers in Bangladesh, and 315 garment workers in Pakistan, a business man named Bishwajit Das hacked to death in broad daylight on the street of Dhaka while his gruesome murder was captured by sidelined media, these are the few samples of decadence that perhaps illuminate the world’s collective failures in the realm of humanity.

2.

2012 was the year we lost some great human beings like any other years. A few of them listed below; whose works I was familiar with through their lives’ contributions:

·        Ravi Shankar (musician and composer)

o   A tribute with links to music videos

·        Mehdi Hassan (singer)

o   A music video of Mehdi Hassan singing Zindagi Mein Tu Sabhi

o   Rafta Rafta – a nostalgic song performed by Mehdi Hassan

o   Duniya Kisi Kay Pyar Mein Janat

o   Mehdi Hassan performing at London Albert Hall

o   Mehdi Hassan performing live at London, 1990

o   Mehdi Hassan Live in India

o   Mehdi Hassan singing a Bangla song “Tumi Je Amar Bhalobasha” written by my father Bangladeshi lyricist Masud Karim and the music was composed by Pakistani music director Hamid. Another link with better sound quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj1S2mBnt3A

·        Sunil Gangopadhyay/Ganguly (writer/poet)

o   A poem by Sunil Ganguly “Keu Kotha Rakheni” recited by Shimul Mustafa

o   “Mon Bhalo nei” – a Bangla poem recitation by Sunil Ganguly

o   “Jodi Nirbasan Dao” – the poet reciting his poem in 2009

o   “Pahar Churai” – Shimul Mustafa reciting Sunil Ganguly’s poem

o   “Ami Ki Rokom Bhabe” – Shimul Mustapha reciting Sunil Ganguly’s poem

o   “Kobir Mrityu” – Shimul Mustapha reciting Sunil Ganguly’s poem

o   “Jodi Nirbashon Dao” – Recited by Shubir Lawrence

·        Humayun Ahmed (writer)

o   A tribute

o   “Anondo Bedonar Kabboy” – a recitation by Humayun Ahmed

o   Humayun Ahmed’s Exclusive Video

·        George McGovern (US Senator, World War 2 veteran, civil rights champion, anti-war proponent)

o   A tribute

o   George McGovern Acceptance Speech at the 1972 Democratic Convention

o   McGovern’s Concession Speech

o   OETA Newsmaker Interview with George McGovern (2009)

·        Arlen Specter (US Senator)

o   Congressman Brady’s Tribute to Senator Arlen Specter

o   President Obama Pays Tribute to ‘Fighter’ Arlen Specter

·        Michael Clarke Duncan (progressed from being a ditch-digger to becoming a famous actor and later in life became an activist for vegans/vegetarians)

o   Michael Clarke Duncan Tribute Video

o   Michael Clarke Duncan’s Exclusive Interview with PETA

·        Neil Armstrong (first man who walked on the moon)

o   First Moon Landing 1969

o   Neil Armstrong Interview, BBC 1970

o   NASA: Neil Armstrong Remarks from Congressional Gold Medal, July 21, 2009

·        Gore Vidal (a fearless writer)

o   A tribute

o   One on One – Gore Vidal

o   BBC Hardtalk – Gore Vidal

o   William Buckley Vs Gore Vidal

o   Vidal vs Buckley: Battle Begins

o   Gore Vidal – ‘South Bank Show’ (2008)

·        Sherman Hemsley (“The Jeffersons” actor)

o   The Jeffersons – George’s Dream

o   Math – Bunker Style

·        Dr. Stephen R. Covey (motivational speaker and writers of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)

o   The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

o   Convocation 2008 – Steven Covey Speaks at MSU

o   Stephen Covey explaining what is a paradigm and a paradigm shift

o   8^th Habit

·        Norman Schwarzkopf (Stormin’ Norm)

o   World Remembers “Stormin Norm’s Military Legacy

·        Larry Hagman (known as J.R. Ewing in TV show “Dallas”)

o   Remembering Larry Hagman - CNN

·        Andy Griffith (television icon)

o   The Andy Griffith Show – Barney and The Cave Rescue

·        Ray Bradbury (science fiction writer)

o   A Conversation with Ray Bradbury

·        Eugene Polley (inventor of wireless TV remote control)

o   Eugene Polley-Inventor-TV remote control

·        Robin Gibb (Bee Gees singer)

o   Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive

·        Donna Summer (singer)

o   Hot Stuff

o   Last Dance

o   I Feel Love

o   She Works Hard for The Money

·        Chuck Brown (singer)

o   Chuck Brown Performs ‘Wind Me Up!’

o   The Party Roll

o   Bustin Loose

o   People Make the World Go Round

o   It Don’t Mean a Thing

·        Carlos Fuentes (writer)

o   Carlos Fuentes on Mexico’s Drug War

o   Carlos Fuentes on his book Destiny and Desire and the future of Mexico

·        Vidal Sassoon (hairstylist)

o   Five Minutes with Vidal Sassoon

o   TEDxOxford – Vidal Sassoon – Ted Talk

·        Dick Clark (TV host)

o   Dick Clark: Farewell to a TV Legend

·        Mike Wallace (“60 Minutes”)

o   A Look Back at Mike Wallace’s Tough Interviews

·        F. Sherwood Rowland (discovered the linkage between by-product of aerosol sprays, deodorants and other consumer products that have negative impact on earth’s atmosphere)

o   F. Sherwood Rowland on Origin and Uses of Chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs

·        Whitney Houston (singer)

o   I Wanna Dance with Somebody

o   I will Always Love You

o   I Have Nothing

o   It’s Not Right But It’s Okay

o   I Believe In You and Me

·        Etta James (singer)

o   Seven Day Fool

o   I’d Rather Go Blind

o   At Last

o   Let’s Roll

o   Life, Love & The Blues

o   Got My Mojo Working

o   The Sky is Crying

o   Try a Little Tenderness

o   Tell Mama

o   Something’s Got a Hold of Me

o   Etta James & Chuck Berry – Rock n’ Roll Music

·        Dr. William House (promoter of implantable ear device)

·        Dr. Joseph Murray (successfully performed first kidney transplant)

·        Andy Williams (singer)

o   Moon River

o   Merry Christmas – O Holy Night

o   Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

·        Nora Ephron (author and screenwriter)

o   Nora Ephron – Conversations at KCTS 9

o   Nora Ephron on her mother and journalism

·        William S. Knowles (Nobel Prize-winning chemist, helped developing drug for treating Parkinson’s disease among other of his scientific accomplishments)

o   Obituary in The Washington Post

·        Elizabeth Catlett (artist)

o   My Childhood

o   Sculpting the Truth

·        Adrienne Rich (poet and essayist)

o   A tribute

o   What Kind of Times Are These – a poem recitation by Adrienne Rich

o   The Life of the Legendary Poet & Activist – Democracy Now

o   Hearing – a poem recitation by Adrienne Rich

·        William Hamilton (theologian)

o   Obituary in Los Angeles Times

·        Marie Colvin (fearless war correspondent)

o   Obituary in The Guardian

·        Anthony Shadid (journalist)

o   Award winning work at The Washington Post

o   Anthony Shadid Remembered – PBS News Hour

·        Wislawa Szymborska (poet)

o   Biography at  Nobelprize.org

o   “A Few Words on the Soul” – a translated poem

o   “Nothing Twice” – a poem with background music

o   “Tortures” – poem recited by Karin

o   ”Metaphysics”

o   “Statistics” – poem recited by Martha Briggs

o   “Hatred” – Videography by Shadi/Greg

o   Some of her poems can be found here: http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/web/arts_culture/literature/poetry/szymborska/poems/link.shtml

·        Lakshmi Sehgal (freedom fighter and social activist)

o   Who is Lakshmi Sehgal?

o   Obituary - The Telegraph

·        Rajesh Khanna (actor)

o   Ye Shaam Mastani – a song from Rajesh Khanna’s acted movie “Kati Patang”.

o   Zindagi Ek Safar

o   Haathi Mere Saathi

o   Mere Sapno Ki Rani

o   Achcha To Hum Chalte Hain

o   Chanda Hai Tu

·        Yash Chopra Humayun Faridi (actor)

o   Conversation with Yash Chopra

·        Humayun Faridi (actor)

o   A remembrance

Links to other notable deaths in 2012:

o   http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-2012notables-gallery,0,1269713.photogallery

o   http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/celebrity/sns-2012-deaths-pictures,0,1525006.photogallery

o   http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/notable-deaths-of-2012/2012/01/12/gIQAiKoWUU_gallery.html

3.

Everything seemed slowed down in last ten days of December. Winter started officially. Where I live, snow had covered every inch of the earth, and temperature dived below -20 degree centigrade. It was the time to reflect on life, and perhaps mortality too.

As I have read the passing away of many great men and women of our time belonging to different nations and professions, one commonality that was found in everyone was their continuous struggles and belief in human endeavours, their ceaseless contributions throughout their life in this progressive journey of humanity. Through their writing, singing, acting, scientific discovery or inventions, theological/philosophical/metaphysical/political curiosities and fearless journalism, pursuance toward artistic truth or fighting for justice, equality or a sustainable environment, there seemed to be one universal constant nudging these great men and women, and that was their undying love for humanity, though how lost sometimes it felt in the face of flashing violence and painful apathy.

The ridiculous premonition of Mayan collapsible globe is already literally hanged in the past, and the vilified number “13” is upon us as a mere numeric of this year 2013. Who knows, maybe the over clichéd “unlucky 13” may prove to be the luckiest year for human beings and other species of our world when dictators, bigotry, devious greed, violence and endless wars will be sidelined by humanity’s common yearning toward love and peace. We cannot change a bone chilling winter into a summery breeze outside instantly in this decade of 21^st century, but there is no barring from dreaming. Is there?