WEBCAST: Bangladesh Elections and What they Mean

As you know, Bangladesh had a historic election on Dec. 29, 2008 (see links below). The world's third-largest Muslim-majority nation had a peaceful democratic election (with a sharp rejection of the Islamist parties) and the western media paid little attention.

A distinguished panel of experts and journalists will analyze the results of the Bangladesh elections and what they mean for Bangladesh, the region and Bangladesh-US relations. Please post your questions in the comments section below or e-mail saja[at]columbia.edu (subject=webcast)

Monday, Jan. 5, 2009
noon-1 pm NY time, 11-midnight Dhaka time

Listen live via BlogTalkRadio to a recording:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/saja/2009/01/05/Bangladesh-Elections-and-What-they-Mean
(you can go and set an e-mail reminder for yourself)
or listen live via your phone by dialing this NYC number +1-347-324-5991

Speakers:

• Syeed Ahamed, senior research associate, Center for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh; currently on sabbatical, he is working at the University of Melbourne, Australia (calling from Dhaka).
• Steve Herman, South Asia bureau chief, VOA, who covered the elections (calling from Guam)
  
• Sara Hossain, a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, practicing in the areas of public interest and human rights law; board member of ASK, a national human rights organization
• Sheridan Prasso, Asia Society associate fellow - just returned from Bangladesh (calling from Dhaka)
• Prof. Ali Riaz, chair in the Department of Government & Politics at Illinois State University (calling from Dhaka)
  
• Asif Saleh, recently retired from his post as vice president at Goldman Sachs in London to be the full-time executive director of Drishtipat, a Bangladesh human rights organization he founded in
  2001 (calling from London)
• MODERATOR: Prof. Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia Journalism School and SAJA co-founder

SAJAforum coverage of the Bangladesh elections:

• Secular coalition wins election in a landslide
• Election Day 2008
• An election, at last - by Asif Saleh
• Election now in jeopardy - by Asif Saleh
  

Please post your comments below.