brad brace

10/13/2006

Dr. Mohammed Yunus awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Filed under: bangladesh,General,global islands — admin @ 10:28 am

“We believe that poverty does not belong to a civilized human society. It belongs to museums.”

“All human beings have an innate skill – survival skill. The fact that poor are still alive is a proof of their ability to survive. We do not need to teach them how to survive. They know this already. ” This firm faith in basic human ability drove the man, named Mohammad Yunus, to turn a dream called ‘Grameen Bank’ into a $2.5 billion (US) reality.

 Dr. Mohammad Yunus was born to a well-to-do family in Chittagong, a business center in Bangladesh, in 1940. His father was a successful goldsmith who always encouraged his sons to seek higher education. But his biggest influence was his mother, Sofia Khatun, who always helped any poor that knocked on their door. This inspired him to commit himself to eradication of poverty.

Dr. Yunus lives modestly in a two-bedroom apartment at Grameen Banks headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh with his physicist wife, Afrozi and their daughter Deena.

Yunus was an outstanding student who won a Fullbright Fellowship to do PhD at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1965. He returned home in 1972 to become the head of the economics department at the Chittagong University. He found the situation in newly independent Bangladesh worsening day by day. The terrible famine of 1974 in Bangladesh changed his life forever. He thought that while people were dying of hunger on the streets, he was teaching elegant theories of economics. He felt the inadequacies of elegant theories of economics and decided to make the poor his teachers. He began to study them and question them on their lives. One day, interviewing a woman who made bamboo stools, he learnt that, because she had no capital of her own, she had to give up more than 93% of her proceeds to the middleman. Dr. Yunus identified the problem as one of structure. Lack of credit to the poor. He thinks that people are poor today because of the failure of the financial institutions to support them in the past. Thus the idea of micro-credit was born. The idea is terribly simple and in the area of development and aid completely revolutionary.

The Grameen Bank (in Bengali, Grameen means rural) which Dr. Yunus has built over the last 22 years, is today the largest rural bank in Bangladesh. It has over 2 million borrowers and works in 35000 villages in a country of 68000 villages. 94 % of its borrowers are women. The bank is based on simple, sensible rules, meticulous organization, imagination and peer pressure among borrowers. The break that Grameen Bank offers is a collateral-free loan, sometimes equivalent to just a few U.S. dollars and rarely more than $100. In rural areas, it makes things happen. 98% of its loans are honored. Thus he has turned into reality a philosophy that the poorest of the poor are the most deserving in the land and that given the opportunity they can lift themselves out of the mire of poverty. His ideas combine capitalism with social responsibility.

Micro-credit concept is now being practiced in 58 countries. In the US, it is a success even with the Shifting poor of Chicago’s toughest districts. The United States alone has over 500 Grameen spin-offs. Bill Clinton said in his election campaign that Yunus deserved a Nobel Peace Prize and cited the Experiment of Dr. Yunus as a model for rebuilding the inner cities of America. Pilot projects are starting in Britain. The methods are adapted to suit local conditions, but the principle of empowering individuals with their own capital is the same.

Professor Yunus has received honorary doctorate from many Universities in the United States, Canada, England and many other countries. The World Bank has made him the head of advisory committee to propagate his vision worldwide. The countless prizes he has been awarded include The World Food Prize, the highest honor of the Rotary International, “Award for World Understanding” and Care Humanitarian Award. Asia Week magazine called him one of the 25 most influential Asians. New York Times hailed him as the star of the UN’s women’s conference.

The Grameen activity has branched into non-banking activities like venture capital, textile industry, Internet and cellular phone service etc.

Dr. Yunus has set his sights on the total eradication of poverty from the world. World’s leaders are starting to take him seriously.

Fire burns 100 factories in Bangladesh

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 5:39 am

 DHAKA, Oct. 12 — Over 100 plastic factories and about 1,000 rooms were burnt down in a devastating fire in central Dhaka district Thursday, local news agency UNB reported Thursday.

    It could not be known what caused the blaze that also left 15 people injured while extinguishing the fire.

    However, a section of people in the affected area said that the fire originated from short circuit in a plastic factory and it soon engulfed other factories and houses at noon.

    On information, eight fire-fighting units rushed in and tried to extinguish the fire. Later, 10 more units of firefighters joined in the drive and brought the blaze under control at 4:40 p.m. (10:40 GMT).

    It could not be known immediately whether anyone died in the incident in the densely populated area where many old shoe and plastic factories are also located.

    Affected people initially put the damages at about 20 million taka (about 300,000 U.S. dollars). Enditem

10/12/2006

Narikel Jingira

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 10:55 am

Narikel Jingira

Rail passengers stranded by strike vandalize stations in eastern Bangladesh

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 5:32 am

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh Angry passengers ransacked train stations and roughed up a station master Wednesday, after a railway workers’ strike left them stranded in eastern Bangladesh, an official and police said.
 
The Bangladesh Railway workers’ union called the strike to protest government plans to make the state-run service a state-funded independently managed corporation.
 
The workers are angry because they think they will lose privileges that government employees currently receive.
 
Striking workers barricaded rail tracks with logs and stones, forcing at least six express trains heading either to or from the port city of Chittagong to halt before they completed their journeys, said Bangladesh Railway spokesman Shafiqul Alam Khan.
 
Angry passengers climbed off the overnight express from Dhaka at Kumira station near Chittagong and beat up station master Abdus Salam who had stopped the train to prevent it from crashing into barricades further along the track, Khan said.
 
Salam was being treated at a railway hospital, he said.
 
Passengers also vandalized stations and trains at Fauzdarghat and Bhatiari after their trains had to stop before they reached their destinations, officers at the Railway Police control room said on condition of anonymity according to official policy.
 
Police arrested at least two people for vandalism in Bhatiari.
 
Khan said authorities were negotiating with the union.
 
The strike disrupted railway traffic on another 21 routes in the eastern zone, which is headquartered in Chittagong. Railway police have been deployed at stations to prevent any more trouble, Khan said.
 
Hundreds of passengers in Chittagong, some carrying children and luggage, were seen walking to nearby highways to look for alternative transport.

10/10/2006

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 10:06 am

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 10:05 am

radha+krishna

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 10:02 am

Sundarbans

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 7:15 am

In our legends it is said that the goddess Ganga’s descent from the heavens would have split the earth had Lord Shiva not tamed her torrent by tying it into his ash-smeared locks. To hear this story is to see the river in a certain way: as a heavenly braid, for instance, an immense rope of water, unfurling through a wide and thirsty plain. That there is a further twist to the tale becomes apparent only in the final stages of the river’s journey–and this part of the story always comes as a surprise, because it is never told and thus never imagined. It is this: there is a point at which the braid comes undone; where Lord Shiva’s matted hair is washed apart into a vast, knotted tangle. Once past that point the river throws of its bindings and separates into hundred, maybe thousands of tangled strands.

Until you behold it for yourself, it is almost impossible to believe that here, interposed between the sea and the plains of Bengal, lies an immense archipelago of islands. But that is what it is: an archipelago, stretching for almost two hundred miles, from the Hooghy River in West Bengal to the shores of the Meghna in Bangladesh.

The islands are the trailing threads of India’s fabric, the ragged fringe of her sari, the achol that follows her, half wetted by the sea. They number in the thousands, these islands. Some are immense and some no larger than sandbars; some have lasted through recorded history while others were washed into being just a year or two ago. These islands are the rivers’ restitution, the offerings through which they return to the earth what they have taken from it, but in such a form as to assert their permanent dominion over their gift. The rivers’ channels are spread across the land like a fine-mesh net, creating a terrain where the boundaries between land and water are always mutating, always unpredictable. Some of these channels are mighty waterways, so wide across that one shore is invisible from the other; others are no more than two or three miles long and only a thousand feet across. Yet each of these channels is a river in its own right, each possessed of its own strangely evocative name. When these channels meet, it is often in clusters of four, five or even six: at these confluences, the water stretches to the far edges of the landscape and the forest dwindles into a distant rumor of land, echoing back from the horizon. In the language of the place, such a confluence is spoken of as a mohona–an oddly seductive word, wrapped in many layers of beguilement.

There are no borders here to divide fresh water from salt, river from sea. The tides reach as far as two hundred miles inland and every day thousands of ares of forest disappear underwater, only to reemerge hours later. The currents are so powerful as to reshape the islands almost daily–some days the water tears away entire promontories and peninsulas; at other times it throws up new shelves and sand-banks where there were none before.

When the tides create new land, overnight mangroves begin to gestate, and if the conditions are right they can spread so fast as to cover a new island within a few short years. A mangrove forest is a universe unto itself, utterly unlike other woodlands or jungles. There are no towering, vine-looped trees, no ferns, no wildflowers, no chattering monkeys or cockatoos. Mangrove leaves are tough and leathery, the branches gnarled and the foliage often impassably dense. Visibility is short and the air still and fetid. At no moment can human beings have any doubt of the terrain’s hostility to their presence, of its cunning and resourcefulness, of its determination to destroy or expel them. Every year, dozens of people perish in the embrace of that dense foliage, killed by tigers, snakes and crocodiles.

There is no prettiness here to invite the stranger in: yet to the world at large this archipelago is known as the Sundarbans, which means “the beautiful forest.”

Bangladesh, India workers seek tough rules

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands,india — admin @ 6:48 am

Indian and Bangladeshi shipbreaking workers called on the industry’s chiefs meeting in London Monday to bolster regulation to cut deaths and injuries.

“Shipbreaking workers in India and other parts of the world need work, but they need safe work,” said Vidyadhar V. Rane, secretary of the Mumbai Port Trust Dock and General Employees’ Union.

“I am appealing to the developed countries who send their ships to Asia to take some responsibility and save lives,” he added in a statement.

Rane is part of a delegation in London to tell the International Maritime Organisation’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) about conditions in the shipbreaking industry. Recycling of ships is on the agenda of the MEPC, meeting here until October 13.

According to the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), which acts on behalf of 25 million metalworkers across the globe, shipbreaking is one of the world’s most dangerous industries.

Thousands of workers, many of whom are migrants, die, are injured or fall ill when recycling ships. They have little or no legal rights, protective equipment or medical aid and earn only about one dollar a day.

Ninety-five percent of old ships are broken up and recycled on the beaches of India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey but its poorly-paid employees have to run the gauntlet of life-threatening hazards on a daily basis.

These include fire, explosions, falls from heights and exposure to asbestos, heavy metals and PVCs.

Discussions are under way at the IMO to develop internationally-agreed regulations on the recycling of ships but they are unlikely to be adopted until 2009 and not implemented until 2015, the IMF said.

The shipbreaking workers are being represented by the Geneva-based IMF with support from the International Transport Workers’ Federation in London and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in Brussels.

MAN SHOT IN BELIZE CITY

Filed under: belize,global islands — admin @ 6:23 am

Another Belize City man is hanging on to life this afternoon after he was the target of a shooting this morning. 26 year old Mark Gardner was reportedly riding a bicycle on Water Lane near the junction with West Canal when someone, also on another bike, rode up to him and shot him once to the back of the head.   Lindon Gill, who works for Marva’s Restaurant which is right at the junction, told reporters that he was cleaning up the back of the restaurant yard when he heard the gunshot around 9:40 this morning.

Lindon Gill

“I was taking my time walking because you know I had a lot papers and things, breeze blowing and I was going back to empty out the garbage that I have picked up. I hear one shot, hard one. I didn’t know where that came from. When I came to the front I saw a man lying on the ground. Someone said get him to the hospital quick. Two other men try to do him something but this man really needed help. This man couldn’t do anything for him self. We heard that the shooter stood over the guy.”  

Marion Ali: Love FM

“Did you see that?”  

Lindon Gill:

“No I was in the back yard cleaning up behind the restaurant.”  

We met Gardner’s father, Robert Griffith Gardner at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital this morning.   He told us that he left Gardner in bed at their Racecourse Street home and went to his security job at Augusto Quan Store.

Robert Griffith Gardner:

“I left him in his bed this morning. In bed I left him this morning when I went to work. That’s all I could tell you.”  

Marion Ali: Love FM

“Has he been in trouble with anyone recently?”  

Robert Griffith Gardner:

“Well he shot a boy. About four of them were beating him up. This thing came from way back.”

Marion Ali: Love FM

“That was the incident at MCC right?”  

Robert Griffith Gardner:

“Yeah from that incident, the boy’s name is Batty. When the ambulance pass I said they shot somebody. But I didn’t know who because I was in the store. Meanwhile I said they shot somebody, someone came there and said it’s the one that shot Batty. Then I asked; then they told me Batty is the boy that he shot. I said oh lord that’s my son. So I told my boss that I’m going to the hospital. This is the forth time they shot him.”  

Gardner expresses disgust at the system.

Robert Griffith Gardner:

“I have nothing to say to these people because if you say, they will just target you. They will not target me because the Police won’t give you a gun for you to carry around to protect your self. If you don’t have gun to protect your self, how will you protect your self? Anybody could come and shoot you.”

Doctors at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital have conducted a CAT scan examination to determine the severity of the injury. No details of what kind of medical treatment that will follow is available at this time.   Meanwhile, Love News understands that Police are looking for one suspect, whose name has not yet been released.

10/9/2006

Corruption still rife in global business – report

Filed under: General — admin @ 6:49 am

LONDON – Corruption is rife and rising in business dealings across the world despite changing laws and greater resistance from companies to demands for bribes, a survey said on Monday.

The annual global corruption survey by international consultancy Control Risks and law firm Simmons & Simmons found that nearly half of businesses contacted said they had lost a deal because a competitor had paid a bribe.

The worst affected country was Hong Kong, where 76 percent of companies said they had lost a deal for that reason in the past five years. One in three French companies said they had lost out through bribery in the past year alone.

“Our survey shows that corruption continues to be a huge international issue and honest companies are still losing out to dishonest competitors on a large scale,” Control Risks consultant John Bray said.

And while laws were changing and companies were beginning to fight back, more of the 350 business leaders in seven countries that took part in the survey said they thought corruption would get worse rather than better for the rest of the decade.

The worst affected sectors were oil, gas and construction, where project values were often very high and where relatively minor officials on low pay and possibly susceptible to bribery were in positions of considerable power, the survey said.

“Companies across the globe are starting to fight back against corrupt practices,” Bray said. “But it is clear there is still a long way to go before corruption becomes a thing of the past.”

10/8/2006

Dengue outbreak in Ramnad district

Filed under: global islands,india — admin @ 6:42 am

RAMANATHAPURAM: In the wake of an outbreak of dengue fever in the district, the administration has issued orders to the Health department to conduct special medical camps at tourist spots, including Rameswaram, to screen people immediately on arrival to the coastal region.

Already, a team of doctors had identified nine patients for dengue in Paramakudi block and 13 patients in Ramanathapuram.

All of them are undergoing treatment in government and private hospitals.

Sources in the Deputy Director’s (Health) office in Ramanathapuram revealed that there were no sufficient medical kits and drugs in hospitals to tackle the fever.

Shortage of staff in the Health department was also cited as a reason for not taking the needed care to treat the patients. However, adequate steps were being taken to contain the highly contagious fever, the sources added.

With a large number of tourists from the northern parts of India thronging Rameswaram island, the possibility of dengue spreading fast in the district was there, said some doctors.

Meanwhile, a mysterious fever visited some rural areas of the district, including Pogalur, Rameswaram, Thondi and Sayalkudi.

District Collector K S Muthuswamy told this website’s newspaper that around 22 persons, affected by dengue, had been screened in the district. Breeding of mosquitoes causing dengue was found in fresh and stagnant water and people had been asked to take precautionary measures, he added.

Muthuswamy further said that a team of doctors had been asked to conduct camps in Rameswaram and other tourist spots. Tourists could go in for screening tests if they carried symptoms of dengue, the Collector said.

10/7/2006

Marla Hill Wins $2,500 Shopping Spree

Filed under: belize,global islands — admin @ 8:23 am

No matter how good you got it, 2,500 in free groceries goes a long, long way. And that’s what two Radio Krem listeners got a chance at this morning at Bottom Dalla Supermarket in downtown Belize City. Marla Hill and Rico Alvarado were the winners of the top prize in Krem’s 25th independence anniversary celebration. This morning our camera was in Bottom Dalla as they made their rush at the grocery bonanza, and here’s how that went.

Contestant Marla Hill got ready for the biggest shopping day of her life with some morning stretches outside the Bottom Dalla Supermarket. And she would need it.

A few minutes later she and competitor Rico Alvarado were off racing through the aisles. They had 10 minutes to fill as many carts as they could with any product they wished. The only rule: they had to keep the total under $2,500. Play by play man Orson Picart dashed after them as they kept a torrid pace through the aisles.

At the end of a 10 minute shelf-clearing binge, Alvarado was winded and you could see why, looking at the bumper to bumper procession of choc filled carts. And if it looked like too much, that’s also how it tallied when they added it up, he had gone one thousand dollars over the limit. Marla Hill came in at $2,200 which meant victory for her. Her family waited outside and she was exuberant about her win.

Marla Hill, Winner
“As you notice I have my sisters out there, my family, everybody just told me to try and get the most expensive things like Tide, Febreze and things like that. I have a list, Mike has my list and everything on that is for everybody but I made sure I got the Lighthouse for me. So it was the big things first and then some things to make up on the end.”

Jules Vasquez,
So while doing it did you calculate in your head, did you add up in your head? How did you know to keep it under the limit?

Marla Hill,
“Well I wasn’t really…I do a bit of shopping so I know the Tide kind of has a certain price and then Febreze; I already know more or less the price of what that cost. So I wasn’t doing any calculation. The main important thing was to keep away from breaking anything and getting what I wanted.”

Rico Alvarado, Contestant
“It looks like the items I picked were a little bit too expensive. I should have cut it down a little bit.”

Jules Vasquez,
Your eyes were too big.

Rico Alvarado,
“Noh man. I just wanted to fill the carts too quick and I filled too much. The time ended up being quite long. I thought time would have run up on me.”

Jules Vasquez,
Yeah because you had extra time. I know you as a precise man. What happened? You didn’t do your market analysis and research?

Rico Alvarado,
“Something went wrong but the young lady was better than me, that is all.”

Jules Vasquez,
Or it might have been that you weren’t factoring in GST.

Rico Alvarado,
“Well that knocked me off $200.”

And now this family woman says these groceries will go a long way.

Jules Vasquez,
How far will these groceries go?

Marla Hill,
“Ooh a long long way man. I told you see the family came down from Maxboro and all of that; ma, sister, niece, everybody. It will go a long way. We have to save up for Christmas. We have to save up for Christmas so the wines I get will be saved up for Christmas so you can come around Christmas, we will drink up.”

As a consolation Alvarado got to take home $250 in cash.

10/4/2006

Sri Lankan war refugees live in appalling conditions in southern India

Filed under: global islands,india — admin @ 6:53 am

Fleeing death and destruction in Sri Lanka, around 15,000 people have escaped to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu since January, amid an escalating war on the island between the security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Most of the refugees are poor farmers, laborers and fishermen. They had to scrape together several thousand rupees to pay for their boat fares. In many cases, this was their life savings—some sold their belongings to meet the cost. They packed essential items into polythene-covered suitcases and bags for the 40-kilometre voyage.

Dozens of people had died making the risky journey in improvised boats. The Sri Lankan navy, which patrols the straits between the two countries, has arrested hundreds of refugees this year and handed them over to the police.

Refugees who make it to Tamil Nadu have to register at the Mandapam camp, 15 kilometres from Rameswaram on the eastern coast. Later, they are shifted to one of the 103 camps administered by the Tamil Nadu government. These hold 62,969 people, with more than 100,000 refugees living outside the camps. Most of the residents have been there since the 1990s.

Indian police screen all refugees for suspected LTTE members. An intelligence bureau official said: “They are checked for war-time scars. If we suspect that any of them were or are LTTE cadres, they are sent to special camps for militants in Chenglepet or Vellore.”

The situation inside the camps is pathetic. The 287-acre camp at Mandapam has high walls with electric barbed-wire fencing. On the other side is the sea, patrolled by Indian coastal guards. The refugees live in a dilapidated row of houses.

Bathroom and toilet facilities are virtually non-existent. Most of the 830 toilets are blocked and have no roofs. Similarly, the “bathrooms” have no pipes, just open drains. Residents collect water from four outside wells. Even the streets are unlit. A 20-bed hospital runs without power and has limited medical facilities.

Even by Indian standards, the food rations and dole payments are not enough to live. Each refugee gets five litres of kerosene a month. Adults receive 500 grams of uncooked rice per day and children 400 grams. In addition, adults are expected to survive on monthly stipends of 144 rupees (about $US3) and children on 45 rupees.

Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) government has promised to increase the dole to 400 rupees for family heads, but this is yet to be implemented.

Most refugees want decent jobs or to set up small businesses. However, they have become a source of cheap labour, exploited ruthlessly by local employers. In some instances, women have been forced into prostitution and drug running.

It is hardly surprising that the government wants to cover up the conditions in the camps. When the WSWS team visited the Mandapam refuge camp, the administrative officer prohibited interviews or photos. At the Dhanushkodi camp, after much persuasion, permission was granted to speak to refugees for just 30 minutes.

While exploiting the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils for its own political purposes, the DMK government is deliberately keeping the refugees isolated from the state’s working and poor masses.

In August, almost all the Tamil Nadu parties, including the ruling DMK, condemned the atrocities being carried out by the Sri Lankan military. The opposition Marumalarachi Dravida Munnettra Kazaham (MDMK), the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Dalit Panther Party were particularly vociferous and organised public protests in Madras. None of the parties have spoken out about the plight of the refugees.

Refugees were eager to speak to the World Socialist Web Site.
Raju described the situation in his hometown of Vavuniya, which is controlled by the Sri Lankan military. “Whenever a claymore mine exploded, the army started to shoot indiscriminately, so I decided to come here with my wife and baby. I am a building worker and we cannot get any work there. We sold whatever we had, and came here. We thought we could do any odd job here,” he said.

“I had come here with my parents in 1995. Things improved in Sri Lanka a little when the cease-fire agreement was signed [in 2002]. Because of that we went back in 2002, rather than being a refugee here. In Sri Lanka I had to work every day to survive. If there was work I could earn up to 450 rupees per day. With this hard-earned money I built my own house. But the military was destroying houses and shelling civilians.”

Raju said food prices had risen dramatically in Sri Lanka’s north. “The government is spending millions on the military. As a result, a good country is being ruined. We have sold all our things and come here, because of [Sri Lankan President Mahinda] Rajapakse.”

A young housewife explained that her family had to pay a large amount of money to escape. “For adults, the boats charged 6,000 to 10,000 rupees, and 3,000 rupees for children. We had to sell all our belongings and even our jewellery, all at low prices.”

The boat in which she came had been crammed full with seven people. “In another boat there were ten. It capsized and I think they lost their lives. We never thought we would reach the shore.We want to live in freedom, like people live here in India.”

“The [Sri Lankan] government is responsible for this. They talk about peace in the parliament, but then continue the war. They are abducting innocent people in white vans and also killing Muslims.”

She expressed her disapproval of the LTTE’s role as well. “Nothing good will come out of either side. In a two-hour fight, 50 LTTE and 50 soldiers might die. But 100 ordinary people will also be killed.”

Raji was married just nine months ago, but she fled, leaving her parents behind. In Sri Lanka, she had been hiding from the army. The military had arrested a friend of hers, on suspicion that he was a LTTE member. Later she was detained without charge for 14 days, before the International Committee of the Red Cross intervened. She fled as part of a group of 20 refugees.

“For five days before we left for India, we had no food. There was nothing left in the house. Both the LTTE and the army think we should support them. We are trampled in between. The army is camped in our rural agricultural society building. They are stealing from the abandoned houses, so the family elders are staying there.” She said her entire life had been affected by the war.

Kumar, a building worker in his 30s, said: “I lived in Trincomalee town and I have four children. I came here with my parents in 1990 and later went back. Now after getting married, I have come here again with my wife and my four daughters.

“In the presidential election, the two main parties [United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP)] offered nothing for the Tamil people. Therefore we did not vote for anyone. Neither the UNP nor the SLFP will bring peace.

“In the last general election, we voted for the TNA [Tamil National Alliance, a pro-LTTE group]. They have 22 MPs in the parliament, but no policy for us. In the Trincomalee region, Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims all live together. Now we have come here as refugees.”

Kumar said the problem was not the ordinary Sinhalese, but the leaders. “We were affected by the tsunami [in December 2004]. At that time, Sinhala people helped us a lot. Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people were living well with each other. Only at the top level, the leaders instigate racial hatred. Because of that, the Sinhalese and Muslims living in Trincomalee have left seeking asylum elsewhere… All people must come together to change this.”

Sri Lankan war refugees live in appalling conditions in southern India

Filed under: global islands,india — admin @ 6:53 am

Fleeing death and destruction in Sri Lanka, around 15,000 people have escaped to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu since January, amid an escalating war on the island between the security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Most of the refugees are poor farmers, laborers and fishermen. They had to scrape together several thousand rupees to pay for their boat fares. In many cases, this was their life savings—some sold their belongings to meet the cost. They packed essential items into polythene-covered suitcases and bags for the 40-kilometre voyage.

Dozens of people had died making the risky journey in improvised boats. The Sri Lankan navy, which patrols the straits between the two countries, has arrested hundreds of refugees this year and handed them over to the police.

Refugees who make it to Tamil Nadu have to register at the Mandapam camp, 15 kilometres from Rameswaram on the eastern coast. Later, they are shifted to one of the 103 camps administered by the Tamil Nadu government. These hold 62,969 people, with more than 100,000 refugees living outside the camps. Most of the residents have been there since the 1990s.

Indian police screen all refugees for suspected LTTE members. An intelligence bureau official said: “They are checked for war-time scars. If we suspect that any of them were or are LTTE cadres, they are sent to special camps for militants in Chenglepet or Vellore.”

The situation inside the camps is pathetic. The 287-acre camp at Mandapam has high walls with electric barbed-wire fencing. On the other side is the sea, patrolled by Indian coastal guards. The refugees live in a dilapidated row of houses.

Bathroom and toilet facilities are virtually non-existent. Most of the 830 toilets are blocked and have no roofs. Similarly, the “bathrooms” have no pipes, just open drains. Residents collect water from four outside wells. Even the streets are unlit. A 20-bed hospital runs without power and has limited medical facilities.

Even by Indian standards, the food rations and dole payments are not enough to live. Each refugee gets five litres of kerosene a month. Adults receive 500 grams of uncooked rice per day and children 400 grams. In addition, adults are expected to survive on monthly stipends of 144 rupees (about $US3) and children on 45 rupees.

Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) government has promised to increase the dole to 400 rupees for family heads, but this is yet to be implemented.

Most refugees want decent jobs or to set up small businesses. However, they have become a source of cheap labour, exploited ruthlessly by local employers. In some instances, women have been forced into prostitution and drug running.

It is hardly surprising that the government wants to cover up the conditions in the camps. When the WSWS team visited the Mandapam refuge camp, the administrative officer prohibited interviews or photos. At the Dhanushkodi camp, after much persuasion, permission was granted to speak to refugees for just 30 minutes.

While exploiting the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils for its own political purposes, the DMK government is deliberately keeping the refugees isolated from the state’s working and poor masses.

In August, almost all the Tamil Nadu parties, including the ruling DMK, condemned the atrocities being carried out by the Sri Lankan military. The opposition Marumalarachi Dravida Munnettra Kazaham (MDMK), the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Dalit Panther Party were particularly vociferous and organised public protests in Madras. None of the parties have spoken out about the plight of the refugees.

Refugees were eager to speak to the World Socialist Web Site.
Raju described the situation in his hometown of Vavuniya, which is controlled by the Sri Lankan military. “Whenever a claymore mine exploded, the army started to shoot indiscriminately, so I decided to come here with my wife and baby. I am a building worker and we cannot get any work there. We sold whatever we had, and came here. We thought we could do any odd job here,” he said.

“I had come here with my parents in 1995. Things improved in Sri Lanka a little when the cease-fire agreement was signed [in 2002]. Because of that we went back in 2002, rather than being a refugee here. In Sri Lanka I had to work every day to survive. If there was work I could earn up to 450 rupees per day. With this hard-earned money I built my own house. But the military was destroying houses and shelling civilians.”

Raju said food prices had risen dramatically in Sri Lanka’s north. “The government is spending millions on the military. As a result, a good country is being ruined. We have sold all our things and come here, because of [Sri Lankan President Mahinda] Rajapakse.”

A young housewife explained that her family had to pay a large amount of money to escape. “For adults, the boats charged 6,000 to 10,000 rupees, and 3,000 rupees for children. We had to sell all our belongings and even our jewellery, all at low prices.”

The boat in which she came had been crammed full with seven people. “In another boat there were ten. It capsized and I think they lost their lives. We never thought we would reach the shore.We want to live in freedom, like people live here in India.”

“The [Sri Lankan] government is responsible for this. They talk about peace in the parliament, but then continue the war. They are abducting innocent people in white vans and also killing Muslims.”

She expressed her disapproval of the LTTE’s role as well. “Nothing good will come out of either side. In a two-hour fight, 50 LTTE and 50 soldiers might die. But 100 ordinary people will also be killed.”

Raji was married just nine months ago, but she fled, leaving her parents behind. In Sri Lanka, she had been hiding from the army. The military had arrested a friend of hers, on suspicion that he was a LTTE member. Later she was detained without charge for 14 days, before the International Committee of the Red Cross intervened. She fled as part of a group of 20 refugees.

“For five days before we left for India, we had no food. There was nothing left in the house. Both the LTTE and the army think we should support them. We are trampled in between. The army is camped in our rural agricultural society building. They are stealing from the abandoned houses, so the family elders are staying there.” She said her entire life had been affected by the war.

Kumar, a building worker in his 30s, said: “I lived in Trincomalee town and I have four children. I came here with my parents in 1990 and later went back. Now after getting married, I have come here again with my wife and my four daughters.

“In the presidential election, the two main parties [United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP)] offered nothing for the Tamil people. Therefore we did not vote for anyone. Neither the UNP nor the SLFP will bring peace.

“In the last general election, we voted for the TNA [Tamil National Alliance, a pro-LTTE group]. They have 22 MPs in the parliament, but no policy for us. In the Trincomalee region, Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims all live together. Now we have come here as refugees.”

Kumar said the problem was not the ordinary Sinhalese, but the leaders. “We were affected by the tsunami [in December 2004]. At that time, Sinhala people helped us a lot. Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people were living well with each other. Only at the top level, the leaders instigate racial hatred. Because of that, the Sinhalese and Muslims living in Trincomalee have left seeking asylum elsewhere… All people must come together to change this.”

10/3/2006

Bangladesh: Where culture embraces ancient history

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 7:25 am

BANGLADESH was liberated three and a half decades ago on December 16, 1971 after nine months of bloody war with Pakistani occupation forces. The majority of the present generation in Bangladesh was born after this war. Most of them who are not aware about the history of their motherland will be facinated to know that the name of Bangladesh basically originated from the Sultanate Bangala. It was named as Bengala in 1498 by the Portuguese when Vascodagama came in this land. It was named as East Bengal and Assam in 1907. In 1947, it was known as Bengal. It was called East Bengal from 1947 to 1956. It was renamed as East Pakistan in 1956 after the adoption of the constitution of Pakistan and continued as such up to 1971. The name was changed to Bangladesh in 1971 with the declaration of independence.
The area which is now Bangladesh, has a rich historical and cultural past, combining Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Mongol/Mughul, Arab, Persian, Turkic, and west European cultures. Among residents of Bangladesh, about 98 per cent are ethnic Bengali and speak Bangla. Urdu-speaking, non-Bengali Muslims of Indian origin, and various tribal groups, mostly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, comprise the remainder of its population. Most Bangladeshis — about 83 per cent — are Muslims, but Hindus constitute a sizable section — 16 per cent. There also are a small number of Buddhists, Christians, and animists. English is spoken in urban areas and among the educated.
Basically, Bangladesh has three distinct to graphical features — named as Pundra comprising greater Pabna, Rajshahi, Bogra, Rangpur and Dinajpur; Bango comprising greater Dhaka, Faridpur, Momenshahi, Jessore, Khulna, Barisal and Moulovibazar; and Samotot comprising the eastern side of Meghna, i.e. greater Comilla, Noakhali and Chittagong. Neighbouring West Bengal of India is has two topographical features — as Rar comprising area up to north of Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bakura and 24 Porgona, and Gour comprising area from Maldah District up to Sona Masjid of our Chapainababgonj. Bango is basically the land in front of both the tides — Bhagirothi and Padma — of the river Ganges. Modhupur-Bhawal-Boteshwar area is comprised of old land. Barind, Modhupur trap and Lalmai are geologically very old landmarks. But Chalan Bill to Bay of Bengal is comparatively low land.
Bangla language is comprised of 3 languages outside of Bangala, i.e. Mogodh (west inhabitant on the south of Ganga), Mithila (north of Ganga at Bihar beside Nepal) and Oria (Orissa). It is comprised of 90% Aryan and 10% of local Astroloid language. Dialect has originated in Bango and Samatot area dictated by the geographical location, as there was less communication due to flood and inundation, whereas in North Bengal movement across land is possible from Murshidabad to Dinajpur.
As a nation we are basically mixed. According to Anthropologists there is no other ‘melting pot of culture’ anywhere other than the people of Bengal. Few indigenous societies are still alive in this area. Ancient people of Bangladesh belonged to two groups, i.e. Proto-Austroloid/Austric — Saotal, Sri Lankan, South Indian from north to west up to Maori of Australia and New Zealand, and Mongoloid — in eastern side, i.e. Mongolia, China, Tibet, Myanmar, Chittagong Hill Tracts up to Indo China. Aryan — Germans are the oldest pure Aryan as claimed by Hitler was the first foreign influence in Bangladesh. Females were the energy behind the creation as Hindus gives main puja/prayer to Durga amongst all other gods and goddesses. Use of banana tree during ‘Gaye Halud’ festival by Hindu community was originated from indigenous society. ‘Milad’ a religious practice of Muslims is only seen so widely in this area, nowhere else. Human beings are basically accustomed to accept new things but use them as per own requirement, which is also applicable for Bangladesh.
Horshobordhon, Chandragupta Mourja captured seven Sindhus in 1500 B.C., those who fled to South India they are Drabir. Aryan took another 1000 years to reach Bangladesh.
In North India they established new generation by occupying vacant new land, but in Bangladesh they did not rather they mixed up with them. As per Nihar Ranjan Roy, the Aryan put them on in their own body. Again, Goutom Buddha brought Buddhism in opposing Hinduism, which could not grow in North India. Tantrik Buddhism — mixing of Hinduism and Buddhism — originated with their mixing keeping a lot of differences. The English established East India Company here to establish only market and to extract raw materials at cheap prices. Only the Nizams family of Hyderabad opposed Tipu Sultan to favour the English.
Culturally Bengal got due recognition in the third century B.C. In artistic heritage Maslin — originated from Masul of Iraq, a very thin cotton clothing remained very popular up to 16th century. Terracotta plaque of Birbhoom, Bordwan, Bakura of 1500 B.C. and Kantgir Mandir of Dinajpur of the 18th century are few examples of architectural art. Buddha Bihars, as in Mynamati and Paharpur in Bangladesh, enclosed with crucified plan inside, do not exist in anywhere in India but are existing in the region from Myanmar to Indonesia. Hill was the centre of attraction for the Buddhists of this region, South East Asia is the example.
Bengal School of Art of Kolkata became very famous for sculptural art. Quality statues of Bishnu and other gods and goddesses were made by Black Basalt. New Boishnob religion — Chaitanism — was created by Sree Chaitanno when Hinduism was facing a threat due to expansion of Islam. Brammo religion — believing in one creator, was preached by Raja Ram Mohan Roy drawing inspiration from Islam. The Buddhists — Pal dynasty — ruled Bengal for 400 years, followed by Sens. Bollal Sen, son of Lokkhon Sen (1st Sen King) established ‘Koulinn Protha’ in Karnataka by bringing 5 Kulin Brahmins from Kanouj for conducting puja/prayer. He thereby established fundamentalism by driving back the Buddhists from this region. Islam began to spread here when Ikhtiar Uddin Bakhtiar Khilji captured Bengal from the Sen dynasty.
Sufi religious teachers succeeded in converting many Bengalis to Islam, even before the arrival of Muslim armies from the west. About 1200 AD, Muslim invaders established political control over the Bengal region. This political control also encouraged conversion to Islam. Since then, Islam has played a crucial role in the region’s history and politics, with a Muslim majority emerging, particularly in the eastern region of Bengal.
The presence of sea trade existed from ancient time in the culture of Bangladesh. Huge business was conducted with SE Asia from the ports of Bengal, i.e. from ‘Tamrolipti Port’ at Tamluk of Hugli district. The horses of Tibet (Himalayas) used to be exported through Bengal to SE Asia and SE Frontier Province (Central Asia). The graveyards of businessmen of Gour were found in Indonesia; Atish Dipanker of Tibet went also to Indonesia through Bangladesh. The Buddhists of Bengal fled away to Nepal and Tibet, a lot of pandulipis or written manuscripts of Bengal was found there. It was even found in Myanmar. The ninth century onward, Arabs took very prominent role in trading here via water route as they were very good navigators; they used to call Chittagong port as ‘Samander’.The King of China sent a rappoteur/interpretator named Mahuan (means muslim) to Sultan Giasuddin. Horse, salt, black alloy wood, salt pitters (soda), rice, fine cotton were the main exportable items of Bengal.
The ancient history of Bangladesh was basically influenced by mixed experiences. With her very rich culture she could very well attract people from all over the world due to her strategic location, resourcefulness and people’s acceptance.

10/2/2006

Filed under: bangladesh,General,global islands — admin @ 7:17 am

10/1/2006

Midnight University

Filed under: global islands,thailand — admin @ 11:28 am

The Midnight University Website, the foremost free and critical
educational and public intellectual website in Thailand with over
freely accessible 1,500 scholarly articles, a lively webboard with
ongoing thought-provoking debates, which receives well over 2.5 visits
per month from viewers around the world, has already been shut down
by the Thai Information & Communications Ministry last night, acting
under the order of the self-styled military Council of Democratic
Reform. This is not only a hugh loss to academic and intellectual
freedom in Thai society, but also a closure of a free forum for the
contention of ideas to find a peaceful alternative to violent conflict
in Thailand.

We are gathering signatures for a campaign to pressure for the
reversion of this unjustifiable violation of the Thai people’s right
to information and free expression by the Thai authorities. So, please
consider adding your and your firiends’ names to the end of this
message and e-mail it back to me so that we could save what little is
left of precious freedom and wisdom in Thai society in these dark and
difficult times.

Sincerely,

Somkiat Tangnamo
< midnightuniv@gmail.com>

Police clash with garment workers in Bangladesh capital; at least a dozen injured

Filed under: bangladesh,global islands — admin @ 10:18 am

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Police used batons to disperse scores of garment workers protesting for better wages in Bangladesh’s capital Saturday, leaving at least a dozen injured, police and witnesses said.

The violence occurred in Dhaka’s Uttara residential district after dozens of workers smashed shops, barricaded a major road and hurled stones at police, local police chief Shafiqul Alam told reporters.

The wage dispute has triggered a series of violent incidents in recent months. A government committee is trying to settle the issue.

The workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 3,000 takas (US$44;), up from the current 930 takas (US$13).

Bangladesh has more than 3,000 garment factories employing about 1.8 million workers, mostly women.

The impoverished country earns more than US$7 billion each year from textile exports, mainly to the United States and Europe, according to Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau.

Saturday’s protest disrupted traffic for hours on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, Alam said.

The protesters took positions in alleys along the highway after they had been dispersed, local reporter Zahedul Islam told The Associated Press by phone from the scene.

Police cordoned off the area, he said.

He said hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the highway, with police diverting them to alternate routes.

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