11/11/11

I hope I will look back at this day sometime in the future:

Related:

* 11ElevenProject
* 11Eleven Facebook Page
* Event in Dhaka on 11/11/11

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South Asia: Celebrating the 7 Billionth Child

On the 31 October, 2011, the earth welcomed a newborn child named Oishi. Her birth in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka carried a special message - she is the 7 billionth child of the world.

The Editor.net reports:

The 7 billionth child of the world is here in Dhaka. The lucky parents of the child are Mohsin Hossain and Tonni Hossain. They had hoped for a boy child as their third child. And this 3rd child is the 7 billionth child (symbolic) of the world.

The beautiful girl child was born on 12:01 AM at the early hours in Azimpur Maternity and Child Care Hospital.

It is difficult to identify exactly which child is the 7 billionth one, so a symbolic celebration is happening around the world. UNFPA selected Oishi to carry the honor in Bangladesh.

The website adds:

This birth was celebrated publicly - with cake and candles. The hospital was crowded with people who gathered to catch a glimpse of the child. Sponsored by the 7 billion action program, this program was a publicity event.

Posha Pakhi at group blog Somewhereinblog.net carried the news with a post titled "The 7 billionth child was born in Dhaka". The post attracted many comments:

Journo opined [bn]:

Welcome the the 7 billionth child from Bangladesh. Hope she will live as an enlightened person.

Mithapur wished the child and questioned the justification of selecting her and mentioned jokingly [bn]:

One question: How did they calculate that she is the 7 billionth

If the line would read -

The world's 7 billion (instead of billionth) children born in Dhaka

It can happen one day, isn't it?

Atiq cannot tell the difference between 7 billion and 7 billion plus one:

I don't understand all the fuss between 7 billion and 7 billion plus one numbers. Why so much discussion on this? Everybody is born with a number everyday.

My prayers for every one of them.

Although the world cheers at Oishi's birth, it did not cheer her parents much. Because Oishi is a girl child. Her parents wanted a boy this time [bn] (the first two are girls).

Sri lankan mother Danushika Perera cuddling her newly born baby. Image by Rohan Karunarathne. Copyright Demotix (31/10/2011)

Not only in Bangladesh, similar celebrations took place in many countries of the world. In Sri Lanka UNFPA celebrated the birth of Muthumani, the girl child of Ishara Madushanka and Danushika Dilani Perera.

Similarly in India Plan International celebrated the birth of Nargis as the 7 billionth child of the world.

LiveIndia.Com reports [Hi]:

In Lucknow, the capital of Uttarpradesh state in India, a baby girl named Nargis was the symbolic seven billionth child to be born during the early ours of Monday. She was named as Nargis.

Although the growing number of world population has been seen as a wake up call for the world, Muthumani, Oishi and Nargis give us the message that the girl-children should not be neglected in the future.

Translated from Bangla. Original post by Bijoy at Global Voices Bangla.

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#OccupyDhaka: Joining The Global Movement Against The 1%

Occupy Wall Street, the peaceful protest against financial corruption and capitalism that started last month in the New York City's financial capital, has already spread in many countries of the world. People have joined under the motto: “We are the 99% who will not tolerate the greed and corruption of the remaining 1%.” And the statement is also being resonated in some streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

In a photo essay in Demotix Safin Ahmed reports about a protest in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street Movement in Dhaka on October 19, 2011 :

The People Solidarity Movement from Bangladesh gives solidarity to the global occupy Wall Street movement by holding a protest.

Activists chant and wave placards and banners supporting the global movement against the banks, and corruption. Image By Safin Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (19/10/2011)

Blogger Rasel Parvez writes [bn] about the need of such protest and asserts that the movement should be non-violent:

আমাদের জীবনযাপনে রাষ্ট্রের আরও সক্রিয় আন্তরিক অংশগ্রহনের দাবীতে আমাদের একমত হতে হবে। আমরা ৯৯% মানুষ রাষ্ট্রের ক্রমাগত উদাসীনতা, উপেক্ষায় বিক্ষুব্ধ এবং আমাদের ভেতরে এই অভাববোধ বিষয়ে সচেতনতা জন্মেছে এটা নিশ্চিত করতে হবে।

একই সাথে সহিংসতা এড়িয়ে চলতে হবে। অকুপাই ওয়ালস্ট্রীটের অবস্থানে অংশগ্রহনকারীদের সবচেয়ে বড় সম্পদ তাদের শৃঙ্খলাবোধ, গত ১ মাসেও তারা সহিংসতা দেখান নি।

We have to agree on the fact that the government should be more active and earnest in ensuring our livelihoods. We, the 99%, are outraged by the the long negligence and ignorance by the state and we are now building awareness.

We have to avert violence. The greatest asset of the occupy wall street movement is their discipline, they have not resorted to violence in the past month.

Soon more organizations joined the cause and planned a "Occupy Dhaka" [bn] movement on October 22, 2011 at Teacher and Student Center (TSC) square inside Dhaka University Campus which was promulgated using Facebook and Twitter.

The Poster for We Are 99% (Occupy Dhaka)

Renowned teacher, economist and activist Anu Muhammad urged everybody [bn] to join the protests to take back Bangladesh:

Click image to view the leaflet

দেশে দেশে একই শ্লোগান দিয়ে মানুষ উঠে আসছে রাস্তায়। শ্লোগানের মূল কথা দুটো; একটি, নিজের পরিচয় ঘোষণা: ‘আমরা ৯৯%’। আরেকটি, আন্দোলনের লক্ষ্য ঘোষণা: ‘দখল কর….’! কি দখল? দখল ক্ষমতার কেন্দ্র, দখল নিজের দেশ, দখল নিজের জীবন। প্রকৃত অর্থে নিজের জীবন, সম্পদ ও দেশ দখল করেছে শতকরা ১ ভাগ লুটেরা, দখলদার, যুদ্ধবাজ সন্ত্রাসী। লক্ষ্য এসব দখলমুক্ত করা। কেননা দেয়ালে পিঠ ঠেকে গেছে।[..]

ক্ষমতার কেন্দ্র অটুট রেখে সরকারের বদলে কিছুই বদল হবে না। এটা যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের শিক্ষা, এটা বাংলাদেশের শিক্ষা। মানুষ এখন তাই দখল করতে চাচ্ছে ক্ষমতার কেন্দ্র। বাংলাদেশেও মানুষকে বাঁচতে হলে, নতুন ভবিষ্যৎ নির্মাণ করতে হলে, দ্বিজোটীয় বিভাজনের ঘোরে লুটেরা, দখলদার সন্ত্রাসী শতকরা ১ ভাগের যে শৃঙ্খল, তা থেকে মুক্ত হতে গেলে এই মেরুকরণকেই নতুন রাজনীতির কেন্দ্রে আনতে হবে। বাংলাদেশে এই লড়াই নতুন নয়, জনগণের শতভাগ মালিকানায় দেশ ও তার সম্পদ প্রতিষ্ঠার চলমান লড়াইয়ের অন্তর্গত শ্লোগানই হল: আমরা ৯৯%, দখলমুক্ত কর বাংলাদেশ।

A placard. Image by Kowshik Ahmed

In every nation people are coming out in the streets chanting the same words. The slogan has two parts; one, identify ourselves: 'We are 99%'. The other part; set the goal of the movement: 'Occupy..' Occupy what? Occupy the center of power, occupy your own country, occupy your own lives. In reality your lives, natural resources and country are being controlled by 1% looters, acquirers and war mongers. Our goal is to free those because we are pressed back at the wall.

Changing the government keeping the power centers intact will not change anything. This is the learning from the US, This is the learning from Bangladesh, too. So people want to occupy the center of power. If the Bangladeshis want to live, build a new future, get themselves free from the two feuding, corrupt and occupier political alliances then they have to re-polarize the politics. This struggle in Bangladesh is not new, if the citizens want that their country and the resources will be controlled by them then the slogan of the movement is applicable to them: We are the 99%, free Bangladesh from occupation.

Kowshik Ahmed posts pictures of the protests in BDNews24blog and in a Facebook Album. He also posts a video showing the rally.

Bloggers and online activists expressing solidarity at TSC. Image by Kowshik Ahmed. Used with permission

An anonymous blogger at Sachalayatan describes about today's protest in Dhaka:

হাজার হাজার মানুষ ওয়ালস্ট্রিটে অবস্থান নিয়েছে কর্পোরেট তন্ত্রের প্রতিবাদে। আজ শনিবার ঢাকায় টিএসসিতে সেই আন্দোলনের সাথে সংহতি জানিয়ে একত্রিত হয়েছিলেন কয়েকশ উচ্চকন্ঠ মানুষ। [..] আজ বামধারার রাজনীতিকরা এই প্রতিবাদের সামনের সারিতে আছেন। কিন্তু এই জায়গাটা এমনকি তাদেরও না। এই জায়গাটা আমাদের। আমরা যারা বিকল্প ধারার মিডিয়াতে- ব্লগে, ফেসবুকে সচেতন হয়ে উঠছি ক্রমশ, সেই আমাদের। বাম মানুষগুলোর সাথে, তাদের পুরো দৃষ্টিভঙ্গির সাথে সহমত না হবার পরেও, সেই সচেতনতার ছাপ তাদের মধ্যে দেখতে পেয়ে, আজ আমরা 'অকুপাই বাংলাদেশ' এর সাথে সংহতি জানাচ্ছি।

এই প্রতিবাদগুলো, এই স্লোগান আর মিছিল সফল হবে কী হবে না আমার জানা নাই। ফেসবুকের ওয়ালপোস্টে আর ব্লগিঙে গতি পেতে থাকা এই নতুন প্রজন্মের আন্দোলন আগামিকাল বা পরশু সাফল্য নিয়ে আসবে কি না জানা নাই। কিন্তু একটা বিশ্বাস আছে। একদিন, ঘুমিয়ে থাকা মানুষেরা জেগে উঠবে। একদিন সবাই রাস্তায় নেমে আসবে। একদিন ১% মানুষের হাতের পুতুল হবার বদলে, ৯৯% মানুষ নিজেদের মতে চলবে। সেই দিন জেগে উঠে তারা দেখবে, তাদের আগে আমরা ছিলাম। আমাদের উপর দায়িত্ব, তারা জেগে ওঠা পর্যন্ত এই প্রতিবাদ সামনে এগিয়ে নিয়ে যাওয়া।

Thousands of people gathered in Wall Street to protest against Corporatism. Today Saturday a few hundreds of vocal Bangladeshi citizens expressed solidarity with that protest. [..] Today the left leaning politicians are in the fore front of this protest. But this place is not even theirs. This place is ours. This place is for those who are becoming aware by sharing the news and expressing themselves using the alternative media - blogs and Facebook. We do not share the ideology of the left, but we see the awareness in them. So we are with them in solidarity with the "Occupy Bangladesh" movement.

We cannot tell whether these protests, these slogans and rallies will be successful. We do not know whether this movement of the new generation generating Godspeed by posting in Facebook or blogs will bring success in the coming days. But we believe in one thing. One day, the sleeping citizens will be awake. One day everybody will be in the streets. One day, instead of being a puppet of the 1%, the 99% will be on their own. That day they will rise and realize that we were before them. Our responsibility is to carry this movement till they wake up.

First published in Global Voices.

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Beheading of 8 Bangladeshi Workers in Saudi Arabia Sparks Rage

Nothing can justify a capital crime, but capital punishment cannot ensure a cure or deterrent for such crimes. Bangladeshis were shocked to learn that eight Bangladeshi migrant workers were beheaded in public in Saudi Arabia on 7 October, 2011, under Qisas (an eye for an eye) law for being involved in robbing a warehouse and killing a security guard, Hussein Saeed Mohammed Adulkhaleq, an Egyption national. Three other Bangladeshis were sentenced to prison terms and flogging.

As videos of similar Saudi beheadings [Warning: Graphic content] were widely circulated in social networks, netizens were enraged about this horrific punishment questioning about the process of the trial and the role of the Bangladesh Government in ensuring these poor migrant workers' rights.

Zahid Masudul Abedin writes [bn]:

কিছু ব্যতিক্রম বাদ দিলে প্রায় সব দেশেই হত্যার শাস্তি মৃত্যুদণ্ড। আমাদের দেশেও তাই। কিন্তু এই মৃত্যুদণ্ডটাও যে কত ভয়ঙ্কর ভাবে কার্যকর করা যায় তারই যেন একটা উদাহরণ জনসমক্ষে শিরশ্ছেদ। বুঝলাম আইনের সঠিক প্রয়োগ করা উচিত কিন্তু এই মধ্যযুগীয় বর্বরতা কি এই যুগে ত্যাগ করা যায় না?

Almost every nation in the world exercises capital punishment. Our country also belongs to the group. But how brutallly the execution of punishment can be is evident from this type of public beheading. I understand that the law must be properly implemented, but can't we refrain from this kind of beastliness from the middle ages?

Mosaddik Uzzal questions [bn]:

ফাঁসি রহিত করা হোক এমন আইন আমরা চাইনা। কেননা এই মৃত্যু দণ্ড ব্যবস্থা না থাকলে সমাজে অপরাধের সংখ্যা বেড়ে যাবে। তাই বলে ১ জন কে হত্যার জন্য ৮ জন কেন জীবন দিল? এই কেমন আইন?

We are not against capital punishment, because this may increase the rate of crime in the community. But why eight people had to die for one person's death? What kind of law is this?

Niaz Murshed Chowdhury [bn] has some points to ponder:

এ দৃশ্য সৌদি আরবে এতটাই হরহামেশা ঘটে থাকে যে এটা তাদের কাছে কোন প্রতিক্রিয়া সৃষ্টি করে না। বরং সৌদি নীতি নির্ধারকরা যুক্তি দেখায় এভাবে প্রকাশ্যে শিরশ্ছেদ তথা “আল্লাহর আইন” বাস্তবায়ন মানুষকে সাবধানী করে। এটা সমাজে অপরাধ প্রবণতা কমায়। এই একই যুক্তি গত চব্বিশ ঘণ্টায় ইন্টারনেটে দেয়া মতামতের কল্যাণে বহু মানুষের কাছ থেকে জানতে পারলাম। অনেকেই এটাকে বর্বরতা নয় বরং সমাজ থেকে অপরাধ কমানোর কার্যকরী একটা উপায় বলে মনে করেন। সব কথাই শুনলাম, সব কথাই বুঝলাম। কিন্তু এটা বুঝলাম না, ১৪শ বছর আগে করা এই “আল্লাহর আইন” কেন এখনও সৌদি সমাজ থেকে হত্যার মত অপরাধ বিলুপ্ত করতে পারলো না? কেন ২০০৭ সনে ১৫৮ জন এবং ২০০৮ সনে ১০৮ জনকে শিরশ্ছেদ করতে হলো? ১৪শ বছর কি “আল্লাহর আইন”-এর জন্যে যথেষ্ট ছিল না সমাজ থেকে এ ধরনের অপরাধ বিলুপ্ত করতে?

These (horrific) scenes are so ubiquitous in Saudi Arabia that they do not create any reactions among the Saudis. Rather the policy makers vouch for this punishment saying that implementing “God's Law” warns people, makes them careful. It reduces crime in the society. I have read the same kind of logic in many internet postings. Many believe that this is not barbarism, rather an effective tool to reduce crime in the society. I have read and understood all this, but could not fathom why the “Gods Law” initiated 1,400 years ago could not eradicate capital crimes like killing from the Saudi communities? Why they had to behead 158 persons in 2007 and 108 people in 2008? Was not 1400 years enough for the “Gods Law” to eradicate these kinds of crimes?

According to news reports [bn] the Bangladesh government had tried through diplomatic channel since 2007 to seek pardon for the eight Bangladeshis. Even the president of Bangladesh wrote a letter to the Saudi King asking for forgiveness. The Saudi foreign office replied that only the victim's family can forgive the perpetrators. The Bangladesh government did seek forgiveness from the victim's family in Egypt but they refused.

Swadesh Roy writes in the Times Of Assam:

The persons who were beheaded, their trial were basically far from international standard. All proceedings were in Arabic. Accused persons could not understand it. The court did not arrange any system to help the accused understand it. Besides, most defendants had no defense lawyer. Eventually, for the language barrier and lack of any help from the lawyer, they could not defend themselves. So, it is not a trial of any international standard, it is actually a mock trial.

Niaz mentions that confession through tortures and framed cases are regular affairs in such mock trials. He also quotes from the Amnesty report:

The Egyptian man was killed during a clash between the Bangladeshi workers and a group of men who allegedly were stealing electric cable from a building complex where the Bangladeshis worked.

He asks why the media is ignoring these “group of men” and why they had been absent in the trial process?

And of course there are some people who are more equal than others. Niaz mentions the hypocrisy existing in the Saudi Law presenting the case of William Sampson, who survived such capital punishment because he was a British national. Sampson wrote in the Guardian:

Finally released in August 2003, after 964 days of solitary confinement, torture and dehumanising terror, I harbour no illusions about what saved me: my passport. …Meanwhile, of course, Saudi's poor migrant workers from Somalia, Bangladesh, the Philippines or Pakistan are virtually doomed if they face a capital charge.

Manob O Manobota [bn] has this to say to the King of Saudi Arabia:

আপনি কি জানেন, এ অভিযুক্তরা সবাই তাদের মনের কথা আপনার বিচারকদের কাছে জানাতে পেরেছিল নাকি রায়টি একতরফা হয়েছিল?
Do you know whether these convicted did have the liberty and means to tell the truth to your judges or the verdict was made without due process?

Pushpita [bn] questions the Bangladeshi government:

কিছু কি করা যেতোনা. এই অসহায় শ্রমিকদের জন্য? কারো কি কোন দায়িত্ব ছিলনা?

Couldn't anything be done for them? Did not anybody have any responsibility?

It may be noted here that Indonesia has banned the sending of maids to Saudi Arabia after a migrant worker from West Java was beheaded in that country for killing her employer, who abused her.

Unheard Voice points out that there are many more Bangladeshis waiting to be beheaded:

These men didn’t have any power, money, influence. They hold green colored passports that have very little international leverage and they work and live under conditions just above slaves. When they die, they are easily replaced and forgotten. 16 more are waiting in line to take the 8’s place.

Rubana Haque is in grief seeing the silence of the world:

Strangely, the world seems unsure and divided on the concept of peace. On one hand, three outstanding women have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their contribution to the non-violent movement in their countries: Liberia and Yemen, and on the other hand, eight of us have just been beheaded in the most violent manner in Saudi Arabia.
While Saudi Arabia seeks to secure justice through capital punishment in its soil, the Nobel committee has commended these three women for strategically voicing out their protest. Point is, when will the world wake up to shun the violent governments and when shall we all stand united on the idea of peace, the chimera of our modern times?

First published in Global Voices Online

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South Asia's 2nd tallest Buddha statue at Panchari Shantipur Aranya Kutir in khagrachari

Built in 2004 costing 14 million Taka - this is claimed to be the 2nd tallest Buddha statue in South Asia.

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Parjatan Motel in Khagrachari not well maintained..

The toilets in the Parjatan motel are not well maintained... You can hardly tell from the well painted outside walls. Sad state of tourism in the country..

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Good morning Kaptai..

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