Truth and diplomacy surrounding the Mothijheel Massacre, as the wheels come off the cover-op

Suppression of the news of the Bangladesh government's brutal action against religious protesters on May 6th is slowly fading, but the rearguard action is well underway.

This Dhaka grave digger had no hearing or speech, but still told the truth about the bodies he buried that night.
Lord protect him and inspire us with his morality.

With a welcome, surprisingly balanced but late Al Jazeera news piece on Tuesday (14th May), the government-leaning human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) finally made a statement today (16th May), ten days after the killings. By contrast, the pro-opposition Odhikar made its first statement on 7th May. The ASK  statement pasted below concentrates of entrenching government propaganda and red herrings, here it is below.

Statement on the website of ASK a prominent human rights organisation and gatekeeper.
The date of the web page is 16th May, though the Bengali version carries a date of 13th.

Just a single line out of a twenty line alludes to any wrongdoing on the government's behalf. Mark Regev would be proud of this one.  For context, this organisation is headed by award winning human rights activist Sultana Kamal (satirised here),  an expert witness in the discredited War Crimes Tribunals, and former advisor to the Caretaker Government that assumed power after the 2007 military coup.

Come, visit Bangladesh, where covering, covering up and recovering injustice is perhaps the biggest industry.

Who's Human Rights?

It should be noted that despite the rhetoric and funding, human rights are not for all in Bangladesh, but usually a for strategic and unchallenging few as well as the cameras. Although the 6th May Motijheel Massacre bears witness to many ills in Bangladeshi society, the most striking is of a donor-fattened corporate NGO class that is self-serving and incapable of seeing common humanity through its narrow ideological worldview. Such selective humanitarianism it important to call out loudly and internationally, as its sub-national and transnational politics is often glossed over and erased by its privileged native informants.

Framing the dead, diplomatically

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni is on a damage control

On the government front, there is a big external public relations push by the establishment, with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni holding the brief of presenting the Government's point of view. In her contribution to the recent Al Jazeera news piece she accuses injured and petrified demonstrators of pretending to be dead and getting up when poked by security forces.

Dr Moni, the international mouthpiece of this callous regime, is busy in the USA of late, addressing the party faithful (in Bangla) among the New York Bangladeshi diaspora, on Monday and scheduled in Washington DC to meet Secretary of State John Kerry tomorrow (17th). As 'US Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes' Stephen Rapp has been in Bangladesh over the past few days talking to people, it is difficult to know whether this meeting will be to receive further instructions or a scolding.

One can anticipate the Awami League government doing what it does best, accusing its opposition of what it is accused of by them, and playing the bulwark against fundamentalism.  I cannot stand this injustice, can you?

[New Word] Dumbographic

Race-to-the-bottom market-thinking targets these, as do folks technocratically preoccupied with 'grass roots'.

As we see the rise of the neoliberal muslim NGO in WarOnTerrorTimes, you must work on your self not to fall into somebody's target dumbographic.

Cultural commod(d)ity?

Audience under retardation?

Have-a-go NGO?

Spook?

Consumer?

What has that got to do with the price of Aubergines?

There are some breeds of people that i adore in particular in Bangladesh, to sit at their feet (well the murrabi ones at least!) and listen and question is always a beneficial experience. They are namely my hero engineers and the brighter secretaries, DCs and first class officers. Hard working products of the finest national institutions armed with the values of the people. They are a laugh and a half if you are fortunate enough to cross their path on a good day.

If a wasnt such an incompetant greedy nan i would take the BCS exams at the next opportunity. GO is way truer than NGO, less airconditioning though.

khedmottontro, daiytopalongtontro, jonno shortho whatever we want to call it. They are not appreciated enough. Here is my own pathetic appreciation of..

The scientist who nurtured his institution from a tin shed with little complaint and total commitment for an entire professional career.
The engineer who oversaw the most incredible hydraulic project to be executed on bangladeshi soil, with deshi manpower, expertise, funding and willpower.
The engineer who brought roads to the people, with balls of steel, who i am scared off.
The engineering professor that doesnt cheapen himself and jump onto superficial cashcow foreign grants, but directs his mind to address national problems and occasionally advice the anxious student about the rules of salatul istikhara.
The workshop engineers who could pretty much make enything you ask them to.
The scientist that sticks to his discipline and nurtures and shares his expertise without a second thought of running away to canada or putting on that Climate Change frock.
The joint secretary with a razorlike humour worthy of place in a hall of fame somewhere.
The secretaries near retirement age (baby 57 year olds) who have seen so many different times from within the government engine that I want to squeeze their brains dry.
The geographer that took his chances in the police force.
The maproom lady who knows about every item of stock under her charge.
The librarian that goes over and beyond the call of his duty to explain the legacy of that organisation that started from a tinshed.
The DG unashamed to point out the extent to which the research in said field is bogus and misleading.
The TNO who set up a school on his own steam in his assigned thana during the 80s, used to lecture there when he got time and even sent his kids there.
The UNO doing a phd on drug adiction, who after getting a new assignment (like pretty much everybody following the ascendance of the CTG mark II) really got stuck into dischargin his duties.
The UNO that has to travel arduosly in an upazila full of little islands, whose life resembles that of a london medic on call pretty much all the time.
The AUEO.... assistant upazila education officer (smug fug) whose school cluster is spread along many little islands and who need to ensure that his teachers and students are turning up on time and doing their duties.
The DC who's proaction will hasten the day when multistory resettlement will benefit the really helpless.
The DC enduring some ngowallahs enthiusiastic but sadly misplaced missionary zeal enthused proposal for advertising his agencies #positive social message# on billboards in prime locations throughout the city.
The young lecturer who would actually be in his office for prolongued periods of time.
The ED whose guile enables his institution to survive and thrive in uncertain times by using his employees abilites to serve the national interest.
The personal secretary to a high powered chairman, who politely endures the arrogant antics of a bombastic shomakal journalist squeezing him for insider information, not letting him get any work done and not minding his own overfed business for an entire morning.
The cadet college educated policywallah bhai who blew me away with his attention to detail, clarity of thought and frankness of expression.

oh people of function, Allah shower you with better functionality and good works!

The original point of this post was appreciation of a new development in the foodstuffs pricing debate as summarised in the news clipping pasted below.

A secretary is quoted as recommending that behavioural change can help us, and a bunch of people are suggesting Jamuna Bridge toll exemption. I hope all the best options are weighed with due consideration.

Although the Jamuna Bridge is not a losing government concern, i really do wonder if dropping the charge will have much of an effect and whether it will affect the quality of bridge maintenace. A profitmaking son might not be able to ween a heroin addicted son by giving him free syringes. Is the road connecting Rajshahi division to Dhaka so critical to the equation? what does the equation look like when differentiated with respect to commodity, time, space and consumer?

Also, whst constitutes 'essential goods' and what is the role of crossborder smuggling controls. I have heard that there are elaborate pump systems aperating between 'entrepreneurs' on either side of the border.

The NewAge article below (clumsily) refers to the PPRC report on the prices of essentials i was being curious about a few nights ago. At least we are saved from the torture of being told about every single minor personality and their poodle being present, probably because they are fasting from jail.

No Jamuna Bridge toll advised
on transport of essential goods
Staff Correspondent
A high-level committee to monitor market prices has recommended that vehicles carrying essential goods on the Jamuna Bridge should not be charged any tolls to reduce transport costs of commodities.
The committee at a meeting on Wednesday also observed that a meeting between the government and the businessmen scheduled for September 25 in Chittagong would help to further business confidence in increasing the flow of goods to market.
The committee of the officials of different ministries and important government agencies decided to write a letter to the communications ministry seeking waiver of toll to support the government efforts to keep the prices of essentials at a reasonable level.
‘The government is trying to keep prices affordable for the poor. We are confident that the series of steps taken this time would yield positive results,’ said the committee chief, additional commerce secretary Golam Mustakim.
He said four committees would continue to monitor markets at least twice a week to have a clear picture of market prices so that the government can take necessary measures.
The meeting reviewed the market intervention measures such as sales outlets run by the Bangladesh Rifles, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and the Department of Fisheries to sell goods at reasonable prices to the low and fixed income groups of people.
The committee chief said the rates of price increase during this Ramadan were not higher than what they were in the past Ramadan. He cited the example of aubergine, which marked up to Tk 80 a kilogram in the past year compared with Tk 50 a kilogram this year.
As for high price of onion, Mustakim said it was a perishable item and its production in neighbouring India and Myanmar fell significantly this year.
The meeting asked the officials of the ministries concerned to present updated statistics at the next committee meeting on the production of and demand for various essential goods.
A recent survey report prepared by economist Hossain Zillur Rahman-led Power and Participation Research Centre, however, said Bangladesh produces 213.75 lakh tonnes of food-grains against the demand for 235.83 lakh tonnes, 52.77 lakh tonnes potatoes against the demand for 25.56 lakh tonnes, 1.31 lakh tonnes of lentil against the demand for 6.17 lakh tonnes, 16.96 lakh tonnes spices against the demand for 25.73 lakh tonnes, 9 lakh tonnes of onions against the demand for 13.49 lakh tonnes and 93.06 lakh tonnes of vegetables against the demand for 134.78 lakh tonnes.
Mustakim said a change in food habit could also help to reduce the prices of some items. ‘If the people follow the message of the Hadith to fill one-third of the stomach with solid food and one-third with water and keep the other third empty, the prices of food items would come down to two-thirds.’

BRAC Loan collector killed in Afghanistan

Though the New Age Newspaper headline was 'Bangladeshi Aid Worker killed in Afghanistan'. Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. Abdul Alim (Lebu) hailed from the district of Tangail. I wonder if he will recieve greater posthumous respect than the construction workers who die in malaysia, the restaurant workers who get stabbed in London and the cleaners who dont get paid in west asia.

I wonder who will support his family and dependants now.

The term 'Aid worker' accords an primordial agency that the Bangladeshi 'modern' third sector does not have. It is unnessesary flattery. BRAC would be the middle man, operating under someone elses incentive network and patronage. 'Hired-hand' is another word for it. We rarely 'give' anything (think sink, not source), our ngo sector is varied but on super cynical inspection fall into two categories, the beggars and the plunderers.

There are 2 ways of supporting ones activities in the absence of decent internal fundraising networks and slow grown organisational technique. The first is to play the Development game and suck up to donors and their policy cycles. The second is to look into raising money from operating as a bank to poorer sections of society.

A brutal truth is that in the anarchy, the circumstance has come about where in a given locality it is possible for a poor person to have taken loans from 4 or 5 different micro banks and be caught in a trap. NGO field workers several years down stream scratch their heads with a humility that their institutions should have had well before over stretching operations into an action scenario that they had no hope in hell of comprehending.

Microfinance Institutions try to make money and increase the horse power of individual people. Contrary to the beleif that is widely spread, microfinance institutions do not really work with the ultra poor, who are never a profitable investment. They work with the less poor, who are needy and agree to the terms and conditions of the loans.

Those who suffer from public revulsion with respect to high interest rates, stupid weekly instalments and bailiff practices are not the policy people sitting in the offices of corporate NGOdom, it is the field workers who are stigmatise and in this case tragically victimised.

I dont trust the Afghanistan police to properly investigate this matter, and wonder whether anybody else will bother.

I hope there is some deep reflection going on in BRAC about its limits and validity. BRACs Health and Education work could have been jeapordised by this. When you work with the poor and desperately submissive and beleive that it is you who are saving them, it is very easy to get deluded and enjoy your God complex.

As an organisation they arent exactly accountable to anybody other than themselves. Smaller NGOs and other developing world NGOs thing of them as hegemons, though that could be envy. I know that Bangladeshi organisations with much more funky capabilities restrained themselves from getting involved in pseudo occupied Afghanistan due to their non pragmatic interpretation of Principles.

Interestingly BRAC have opened office in the UK... should be interesting. I wonder if the 'poor' here will answer back?

USAID consultant in case of kiddyfiddling in Bangladesh

Apparently he was meant to be developing the shrimp industry. This story is disgraceful, but i suspect it wont really chasten the development industry.

One wonders what sorry excuses for literate and ngo employed human beings like Touhid Feroze would make of that. I'm thinking something along the lines of, 'we shouldnt judge as standards always change' perhaps. Or maybe something like 'nothing to get emotional about, none of the protagonists were Bangali'.

On the related theme of NGO regulation, there are some interesting Govt stats available online. Look in the 'NGOs cancelled column' over time no NGOs, foreign or local were cancelled between 1996 and 2001.

I see the NGO Affairs Bureau getting tougher as Bangladeshi self respect and own moral propulsion grows and the economic-ideological desperation of political figures decreases. The site itself looks very old indeed for a governmental web offering.