Phulbari coalmine, the Good list, Starfruit and mental waste

I came back to Dhaka (to get some naqsha maps i hope) before the strike concerning the Phulbari Coal Mine. It turns out that news has reached the London Stock Exchange and World newspapers. Its a story about a country with a crap decisionmaking and powersharing structure, an opportunistic opposition party, libhely left academics, daft police action... and perhaps a little justice winning out in the end.

Asia Energy (london based, with many australian share holders) wanted to start an open pit coal mine in a northwest district, it was going to displace a lot of tribals and kill many trees. both sides dispute the number. Anyhow, the desh gobht has changed its mind, Asia energy has already inbhested 24 million in the area so id imagine there will be a legal mess arising from this.

Desh does not lack energy resource, just the scaledup techno know how to exploit it in its own interest. for instance on the island of bhola, and in many other parts of the country, people drill for water, and find the added benefit of natural gas. This has been domesticated by and large in Bhola my plumber types (not engineers) , quite safely it would seem. I need to check it out. it need to be mapped and the basic piping and techniques refined to maximise safety and benefit.

BAPEX, the national exploration and eextraction outfit has been steadily immasculated obher the years by bad political decision making and the awarding of tenders to obherseas firms. it is fitting that the experise of such a body should reflect this microscale gas enbhironment as well as the meso and large scales.

Geographic intermission

The Independent, the UK newspaper, published its good list today. It is a bhirtuous play on the Times 'Rich List' and is full of noble people, a lot of them thinkers and doers. I am sure theres a lot more to each of the personalities mentioned and plenty of political critique to be written, but this list does tell us about the more enlightened section of Brit society.


For example Robert Chambers, a debhelopmenty chap whos work at IDS in Sussex has popularise the bluddy obbhious idea of participatory debhelopment.

Another sciencey one is John Houghton, meteorologist extrordinare who has done a lot for pushing the Climate Change science mobhement. He has had some sucess in persuading religious people in the US that Climate change is a clear and present danger. I read his text book when i was younger, studieng atmospherics. Like all disciplines i feel now that it obher emphasised the role of the atmosphere, as a geographer im feeling that natural and social processes on the earths surface and subsurface need emphasis now. How can somebody predict doom and gloom for so much of bangladesh by taking an estimate for sea lebhen rise andcolouring in an elebhation map of the country. Theres so much more going on...

Plenty of religious types on display, Md Abdul Bari from the MCB (politically correct or what?!)Bishop of Oxford, Tariq Ramadan and the young founder of Muslim Youth Helpline.

Its a great list just to communicate the range of actihity going on out there for public consumption and inspiration.

Geographic intermission 2

On a slightly different note, I brought up my star fruit fascination at my uncles house yesterday. It turns out that they grow at my baumuniz bari in Narayanganj. Folks were talking dreamily of juicing the creatures and spicing them up before consumption and ebhen about the fruit's potential with fish (chuto mas). It turns out that its quite cheap and can be found at school children fodder at the right times and places in the city.

Are intellectuals in Muslim societies always subject to humiliation and slander and criminal educational wastage.

Im thinking specifically of the Bengali Muslim Islamic thinkers that were totally shafted by the new 'Bangladesh' system. Their precense is sorely missed and is sought after. Truth doesnt matter to cultural plunderers, the misunderstandability of the public is used to ruin reputations and thereby cut the general people off from sources of enlightenment. Complex historical currents, social undercurrents and spiritual ideals are collapsed onto a single point, declared 'collaboratibhe' and cast out. Meanwhile the unibhersities corrode, with students and later the whole country losing out.

Rebholution of the fools indeed.

Seems to me, well from what ibhe read, that Syed Ahmad khan (founder of aligahr) and Yusuf Ali (famous translator of quran) passed on to the next life in 'non-ideal' circumstances. Choudhury Rehmat Ali too was rejested by the country to coined the name of, and FAzlur Rahman was chased out of Pakistan by cabhemen.

I doubt that this is a Muslim only problem, but one generally of wisdom and politics. The political construction of knowledge and institutions is one of those major flaws and weaknesses in society today. Another, better world is definatly possible, its more than probably, just need to flippin solbhe this knowledge culture issue and bust up the ignocracy first.