SAJAforum

TURF: The Bangladeshis want a piece of Koreatown

I get a lil thrill out of stories like this: the Koreans of Koreatown have become fairly comfortable with their chunk of land in downtown LA, a good 6 square miles of banks and bulgogi vendors. All was well and good, until...

"...an application was filed with the city clerk’s office in October to name dozens of square blocks in what they consider the heart of the neighborhood. The name sought was Little Bangladesh."

Hey!

The article, in the NYT, is a nice little window into inter-ethnic rivalries of a sort, and the perceived value of naming rights. Not once is The Man implicated, not even in a subtle divide-and-rule sort of way. Given that the Koreans have been in the 'hood longer - they started showing up in the 70s - they seem to have first dibs. There's also the small matter of population: the Koreans officially outnumber the Bangladeshis by far, about 50,000 to 1,700. But the Bangladeshis insist their numbers are much bigger than the last census indicates--no surprise there--and that it's really no big deal: "It's just symbolic."

But the Koreans aren't really in a Benetton mood right now.

“It’s nice to embrace other communities,” said Brad Lee, a member of the Koreatown neighborhood council’s board, “as long as it’s not in our backyard. Or in our front yard.”

Although I said The Man isn't really implicated, he's certainly being roped in.

Either designation requires a majority vote of the City Council, and prospects for an official Koreatown appear brighter than those for Little Bangladesh, which is opposed by Councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents much of the area.

“Koreatown has been around for so long that it predates any regulation,” Mr. LaBonge said in an interview. “It’s just as formal, and justified. It is Koreatown.”

PRESS FREEDOM: CPJ on South Asian reporters at risk

A guest post by Rumee Singh...

Journalists in South Asia are at 'severe risk' according to a new report released by the Committee of Protected Journalists. CPJ, a New York-based media watchdog compiles and analyzes deaths of journalists.  Its recent report lists 14 countries with unresolved cases of murders of journalists. Iraq, Sierra Leone and Somalia topped the impunity index list, but six out of the 14 are South Asian nations: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. [see last year's report]
 
Sri Lanka falls fourth on the list with 9 unsolved cases, while Pakistan ranks tenth with 10 unsolved cases. Rankings are based on the CPJ impunity index, which is calculated as a percentage of a country's population and covers the years 1999 through 2008. [more on their methodology]
 
From the CPJ report: Getting Away With Murder

South Asian journalists face particularly severe risks. The already murderous conditions for the press in Sri Lanka and Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year. “We’re distressed to see justice worsen in places such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Our findings indicate that the failure to solve journalist murders perpetuates further violence against the press,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. “Countries can get off this list of shame only by committing themselves to seeking justice.”

Here's a quick breakdown by countries:

Sri Lanka: Rank 4 
The CPJ reported nine unsolved cases and an increase in attacks against reporters including the fatal killing of Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor of a newspaper strongly critical of the government and its military campaign against the Tamil Tigers. See our earlier coverage of his death. 

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.

BANGLADESH: Secular coalition wins election in a landslide

Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her secular Awami League coalition won yesterday's election overwhelmingly, defeating an Islamist-right coalition led by another former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, with her Bangladesh National Party. The election, seen by many as a milestone in the country's history, ends two years of military-backed rule by a caretaker government. Human rights activist and SAJAforum contributor Asif Saleh gave us a preview of the election yesterday--here he looks back on the results for The Guardian:

Two miracles happened in Bangladesh yesterday. Firstly, 80% of the Bangladeshi electorate – a record number – voted in one of the most peaceful elections in the country's history. Secondly, they voted for a party that believes in secularism and by a majority big enough for it to control 85% of the parliamentary seats.

It's a resounding endorsement of democracy and an emphatic victory for pluralism in the world's second-largest Muslim majority country.

In this CNN interview, Asif said much of the Awami League's success lay in its ability to turn out the youth vote, with promises of jobs and a longterm vision called Vision 2021 (more about that here).

Meanwhile, Mahfuz Anam exults in The Daily Star of Bangladesh:

What however is not explainable by the anti-incumbency factor nor simply by people's desire for a change is the massiveness of the rejection of the BNP. The near rout of this once mighty party, who just the last time got two-third's majority, is the clearest sign that people are sending the strongest possible message of their disgust for what happened from 2001 to 2006 and are punishing BNP and its allies for the way they run the country.

Yesterday votes was a total, complete and comprehensive rejection of the BNP and its allies for corruption, political violence, nepotism, Hawa Bhavan, the role of Tarique, Arafat, Falu, Harris, Babar, etc. for obliterating the distinction between the State, government and the party, politicising every branch of administration, for instituting a culture of impunity where party henchmen considered themselves above the law. Finally for turning a blind eye as terrorism and fundamentalism spread its ugly tentacles throughout the country.

More from Jyoti Thottam and Haroon Habib in Time magazine:

A few months ago, Bangladeshis were worried that their fragile democracy was heading the way of Pakistan, where much of the political power resides with the military or the mullahs. By turning out in massive numbers on Dec. 29 to hand a decisive victory to the Awami League, which campaigned on its secular, reformist credentials, Bangladeshis hope they have steered their nation past those twin shoals.

BANGLADESH: Election Day 2008

[Also check a SAJAforum piece by Asif Saleh explaining the election and how the candidates approached it, as well as his earlier backgrounder, from November] 

Today, Dec. 29, 2008, is election day in Bangladesh. Here are some articles and resources for tracking the coverage and results. Please post links, news updates and comments below.

SAJA will be hosting a webcast later this week. Please check back here for details about the webcast.

From a Reuters report by Nizam Ahmed and Jerry Norton:

Bangladeshis voted on Monday in a largely peaceful election many rated more honest and fraud-free
than those in the past, but it remained to be seen if the losers would accept the results.

The vote was a return to democracy for the South Asian country after two years of emergency rule imposed by an army-backed government. It took over in January 2007 amid widespread street violence between supporters of rival parties and canceled a poll due that month.

"The election ended in a very peaceful environment and I never saw such a congenial atmosphere. The turnout was tremendous," Taleya Rehman, executive director of monitoring group Democracywatch, told Reuters.

Unheard Voice ("All Things Bangladesh") is liveblogging the elections - lots of useful info here. Track Google News coverage here.

Reuters has a primer, Why are Bangladesh's elections so important?

Neighbours worry about an increasingly violent Islamist militant minority that could provide support and shelter for radical activists in their own countries.

A government that brings economic growth to Bangladesh will improve the lives and minimise social unrest among the populace, some 45 percent of whom are below the poverty line, and reduce the need for foreign aid.

The country has a thriving textile industry but growth for it and other manufacturers has been limited by energy shortages. Past governments have failed to develop significant natural gas and coal resources.

GlobalVoicesOnline (the biggest network of independent blogs) blogger Rezwan has been writing about the role of technology in these elections. From his piece about cyberactivism:

Bangladesh politics is traditional, rhetoric and propaganda based and there is little scope for interaction with the leaders asking for accountability. The grass root activists and the general people have little to say in the decision making processes. However Jagoree, a non-partisan platform for Bangladeshi youth, is using facebook and blog to to engage in the political and policy making processes by developing themselves as informed and responsible citizens.

From his piece about microblogging:

Somewherein, a software company and the pioneer of the first bangla blog community in the world has introduced a twitter like web based micro blogging community where message can be sent via web and mobile phones (sms) for dissemination of news of the election by the netizens. The messages can also be sent directly to an interactive map where location based information can be found.

Naeem Mohaeiemen, naeem.mohaiemen[at]gmail.com, a former New Yorker who now lives in Bangladesh, wrote about the role of mobile phones in this election:

I'm baffled by the claim that shutting off mobile networks will ensure election rigging doesn't take place. The example given is that political thugs will use mobiles to plan intimidation. This argument removes agency from citizen voters themselves. If one example can be given of the goon squad using mobiles, a hundred counter-examples can be given of citizens recording, reporting and preventing abuse using that same device.

The mobile phone camera, with it's grainy real-time visual aesthetic, has replaced video cameras as the on-the-fly recording mechanism. More than once, we have seen mobile phone video being sent by MMS to TV stations and used for breaking news. "By mobile phone" is the ubiquitous on-screen scroll for election reporting on our major TV networks, whenever it is in a remote area where the camera crew has not arrived.

Please post links, news updates and comments below.

BANGLADESH: An election, at last

[An election update by Asif Saleh, the founder of the human rights group Drishtipat. For a solid backgrounder on the events leading up to this much-delayed election, read Asif's earlier post]

After much uncertainty, the election in Bangladesh finally took place today. Upon the lifting of the state of emergency by the two-year old caretaker government, the last two weeks saw frantic campaigning by two of the main alliances: the secular one run by the Awami League and the Islamic-right coalition of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP). In a stunning setback for the government, the High Court allowed some of the politicians convicted during the emergency rule to contest the election, overruling the Election Commission. However, the Election commission did manage to keep some reforms intact, making it possible to conduct a much cleaner election. 

Many observers agreed that until two weeks ago, it was the Awami League alliance's election to lose (the alliance comprises 14 parties). But Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister and current BNP head, ran a tireless campaign, darting around country almost 'round the clock and managing to close in.  In terms of message, though, BNP ran a much more negative campaign based on fear mongering.  Their key selling points were that Islam and the country's independence will be in danger if the Awami League is voted to power. 

On the other hand, another former prime minister, Awami League's Sheikh Hasina, focused on the young voters--a huge number of whom are voting for the first time--and talked about a vision for 2021. In the absence of good pre-election polling, no one is sure which message is connecting more with average voters. But Khaleda Zia seemed to have brought back home a lot of the formerly-disgruntled BNP supporters, turned off by her son, by apologizing to the public right before the election and articulately telling the narrative of the sufferings on her family in the past one year under emergency. 

BANGLADESH: Building a Bangla version of India's Taj Mahal

Given all the attention to Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel during the November terrorist attacks, it would be fair to say that for the first time in its existence, the actual Taj Mahal was overshadowed by one of its many namesakes (in this case, for all the wrong reasons, of course). 

In addition to those namesakes (see the Wikipedia disambiguation), there's now a replica of the Agra wonder being built in Bangladesh.

Ahsanullah Moni, a Bangladeshi filmmaker, is the man behind the $58 million project to construct a Taj-like structure 18 miles northeast of capital, Dhaka. This project, which started in 2003, is built using marble and granite from Italy and diamonds from Belgium.

According to the Guardian, Moni said he is building the replica for the people of Bangladesh who cannot afford to travel to see the monument. The United Nations Human Development Report 2007/08 ranks Bangladesh as 140th out of 177 countries in its Human Development Index.

"I am doing this only for the poor. They cannot travel. They cannot see this historical wonder," said Moni. "I also hope the landmark construction can attract more tourists from home and abroad."

While the Bangladeshi director seems happy with his project, neighboring India has voiced its concerns.

According to the AFP, the Indian Embassy in Bangladesh has said it would investigate to see if any copyright laws have been breached.

"You can't just go and copy historical monuments," fumed a spokesman at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

"Someone will go out there and have a look. The reports we are reading say it is an exact replica. This is a protected site we are talking about so we need to find out if it really is the exact size," he told AFP.

Moni isn't the only one in the Taj replica business. Lego has its own Taj replica product:

Build the breathtaking Taj Mahal!
The famous Taj Mahal jewel of India is known all over the globe for its incredible beauty and elegance. Now you can recreate this modern wonder of the world for yourself! Designed for experienced builders, the LEGO Taj Mahal model features advanced building techniques, rare elements and colors, and realistic details of architecture. With over 5,900 pieces, the Taj Mahal makes an awesome addition to any LEGO collection!

Earlier on SAJAforum:

• Taj Mahal makes list of "7 New Wonders of the World"
• American Dollars "No Good" at the Taj Mahal

What do YOU think? Post your comments below.

BANGLADESH: Election now in jeopardy

[A guest post by Asif Saleh, the founder of the human rights group Drishtipat and a frequent contributor to the group's blog]

Although, the long awaited election is exactly a month away from today, the threat of a boycott by former Prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia has put it under serious jeopardy.  The wheels have turned full cycle.  Only two years ago the very same leader while in power said elections had to happen on time under any means to continue constitutional obligation, while Shaikh Hasina, the Awami League head, demonstrated for a deferred election until the electoral playing field was levelled.  At that time, the boycotting party, Awami League and its demand for a new electoral register and a new election commission was supported by the civil society and independent observers. But this time, BNP's often inconsistent stands are hardly winning them friends.  In January 2007, amid sweeping controversy over President Iajuddin Ahmed's partisan handling of election related matters and a suffocating political deadlock between the leading two parties, the military intervention, backed by the Western power block, which later got termed as the 'coup that dare not speak its name',  brought in a new caretaker government under a state of emergency declaration.

Under the constitutional cover of the state of emergency, the military controlled government subsequently gave itself two years to take sweeping anti corruption measures and promised electoral reforms.   The measures, initially cheered by the majority of the civil society, soon were criticized for being mismanaged by the military and were accused of being a tool of political witch hunting to weaken the political entities in order to establish a long term hold by the military government.  The rising unpopularity of the government, triggered by the double digit inflation, soon brought it to the negotiating table with the same political leaders that it once treated like untouchables.   The Western governments, faced with a long prospect another long standing and unpopular military government in the mould of Musharraf in Bangladesh, called an end to its experiments and signalled the army for a political solution.

The wheels of election started to turn with the release of the political prisoners including the two former prime ministers.  Both the leaders, after their release, made promises to participate in the election.   However, as the day of the nomination filing started getting closer, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami , two coalition partners, started adding more and more pre-conditions for its participation.  They now want a full lifting of the state of emergency before election, even though its powers have drastically been curtailed.  Among the least of their demands are: a postponement of the election by a few weeks at the least and a complete reversal of the electoral reforms put in by this government.   Awami League is, however, more accommodating in it stand, perhaps sensing a better organizational strength and sniffing a chance of victory in the coming election after its recent clean sweep at the local polls.  Its coalition partners are demanding the election to happen on the announced date with or without BNP's participation.   

While haggling over these demands continues, the fear is that this uncertainty will only make a stronger case for those who want a rule by selection and not election.  There are now three scenarios that are possible happen in the coming days.

1.       Election happens on December  18^th without BNP – an unlikely scenario given that its not going to be meaningful.

2.       Government gives BNP a face saving exit by agreeing to a postponement by only a few weeks without budging on its other demands  -- a win win situation for all but BNP may need more than a few weeks to organize its house and will likely reject  this gesture.

3.       Election does not happen for indefinite period and something drastically new like a new form of the caretaker government or a referendum is called – a worst case scenario for any democrat.

Most observers agree that without BNP's participation, the election is unlikely to be meaningful.   However, by asking for a complete roll back of the electoral reform law passed by the government recently, BNP may also be leaving no room for negotiation.  

Bangladesh faces massive problems in the field of reenergizing its economy amid high inflation and a horrendous global financial environment.  Its strategy to adapt to climate change is also coming to the forefront of global discussion.  Still, the political parties have yet to come out with a manifesto or a plan on how they are going to tackle these or any other socio-political issues.  With only a month left and hardly any election related activities noticeable at the grassroots, amid the haggling with dates gloom is descending among the electorate fearing the worst.

--Asif Saleh

BOOKS: Muhammed Yunus and his five favorite books

The photo on the right is a screengrab from Forbes.com's opinion section (which is edited by  SAJAer Tunku Varadarajan). It shows Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who was selected byfellow
laureate Muhammed Yunus of Bangladesh as one of his five favorite novelists. An excerpt from the introduction to Yunus:

A former banker and economics professor, he is the author of several books, including Banker to the Poor and, most recently, Creating a World Without Poverty. Yunus described his five favorite novelists--three of whom wrote in Bengali--for Forbes.com.

See the full list, in a slideshow, here. This unusual op-ed/slideshow was edited by Hana R. Alberts. Post your comments, please.

BREAKING NEWS: Detroit Police need Bengali translator to help finding missing girl

From SAJA member Andrew Humphrey in Detroit (if you can help, contact the police, not :

Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 05:45:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Andrew Humphrey <andrewhumphrey1[at]yahoo.com>
Subject: URGENT: Police Need Bengali Translator, Missing Girl

Detroit Free Press:

Detroit Police searching for a missing 2-year-old girl are also desperately
searching for someone who speaks Bengali, the main language of Bangladesh.

An Amber Alert has been issued for Tangena Hussain, who was last seen at the
Marathon gas station at Greenfield and 8 Mile roads at 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Detroit Police Department Phone Number:  (313) 596-1240

Full Article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/NEWS01/81003016