I will be blogging some stuff on labour issues re tea plantations in Bangladesh…at some point…but here is a promotional video (shot in HD). This is the Youtube version below. And folks please note - I am not promoting the vid. I have nothing to do with it. I am simply bringing it to your notice! And note the flowery words about humanity. lol.

Following on from my post yesterday concerning the Bangladeshi workers camping out near the airport without food etc., here is another little  vignette of life from lovely Malaysia. In a land where only 2 or 3 years ago a husband could divorce by SMS ( now I think you need prior approval of Shariah court to send that sms), there comes this news from Kota Bahru in Kelantan.  City officials have sent out a circular directing women not to wear heavy make-up, lipstick and high-heeled shoes “that gave a tapping sound.”

All these are seen as frightfully arousing and could result in sexual assault or, heaven forbid, illicit sex.

“We’ve already run out of food, water and money: if nobody comes for our rescue, we’ll not survive in the depot as we don’t have money to buy food”

Words of a Bangladeshi migrant worker stuck in a camp near KL International Airport in Malaysia, thanks to Shika Trade International, a bangladeshi labour recruiting company. And this:

How about this for a selective application of Zakat?

Odd-job worker Ishak Salleh and his family have been staying in a canvas tent since their rented houses were demolished by a relative last Wednesday. They have received assistance in the form of food supply and cash aid from the Seberang Prai Utara district office and the Penang zakat management centre. Ishak was “touched by the amount of aid he received. ” New Straits Times

The Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies has given the Best Documentary 2006 award to Bostrobalikara - Tanvir Mokammel’s film on the garment workers of Bangladesh.

Get the full list of awardees in Prothom Alo, 18 June, page 14, Column 7.

Thanks chaps!

Historic Document this.

Sadakat Khan

You make a lot of acquaintances when you start a blog. There are some inspirational characters out there. Among them I would mention House Negro’s blog. There are some nutters too. Yes bengali ones. But Mr Lodhi is in a category of his own. His comments on posts are always entertaining and filled with multi-layered meaning, sarcasm and irony. He sometimes loses it though and THIS POST HERE, where he takes Drishtipat to task, is the text version of the angry german kid video! It all started “innocently” with his habit of signing himself as Md[pbum].

The news is relentlessly bad from Bangladesh. And so I have taken refuge in food. Above prepared by my good self  (Chief Bhortha Chef Shafiur).

From left to right:

Chingri vorta, Aloo bhortha, Potol bhorta.

( yes the aloo bhortha contains mustard )

War Criminal George W Bush is visiting the UK on June 15th. Disgusting or what?

2008 Turner prize: BBC profile of the nominees

In conversation with Tine Fischer. “I really admire Godard’s ability to take two fundamental notions like ‘truth and fiction’, distinct as genres, and interchange them with ease.”

“a young, dark-skinned, dark-eyed Bangladeshi British woman” by Janet Owen

White Cube: “Runa Islam makes film and video installations that use overlapping layers of narrative to explore notions of truth and fiction, subjectivity and authorship. Islam installs her films in architectural configurations, frequently presenting them across two or three screens as a framing device. Her work aims to blur the distinctions between film and sculpture, art and cinema, and encourages a range of interpretations from viewers.”

2006 Review of “Conditional Probability” Some stills from the film

More stills and links from SiouxWire

Notions that Scandos have progressive and enlightened labour policies are continuing to take a battering. Following on from my earlier post where I described Tom Heinemann’s documentary about working conditions for Bangladeshi workers doing contract work for Telenor and Grameen, there seems to be more bad news for the parent company:

Telenor’s Labour Scandal Deepens

Two more workers’ deaths linked to Telenor

It is World Refugee Day on 20th June 2008. According to the UNHCR there are 33 million refugees and internally displaced people. The 3rd Annual Tokyo Refugee Film Festival will be raising awareness of this by screening

“A select array of films from across the globe (giving voice) to seldom-heard stories of hope, despair and resilience.”

I am happy to note that our film Swapnabhumi - The Promised Land will be part of the film festival.

This is indeed bizarre.Take a look at this story. It has not hit the mainstream press. I guess the only thing that happened here is that the good principal got an extra bath on that day. This sort of thing is mild - unbelievably. Bring back Taslima Nasreen…then you will get your headlines.

Shamokal News (pdf)

and

Shamokal News item 2 (pdf)

A rough summary in English would be:

Fatwabajis ( Mullahs who engage in issuing Fatwas) have forced a college principal of Syedpur, Sylhet to undergo a “cleansing” and “re-induction” process into islam for his alleged statements against the prophet and islam. Relatives of Syed Abul Ahmed were pressurised by the mullahs to take him to the mosque and give him a bath to purify him. He was then made to recite the necessary passages to re-introduce him to the faith.

The principal’s problems began when he was discussing the constraints on cultural and social functions imposed by the local religious leaders. He was doing so in a private capacity in a shop with some other people. He spoke in favour of Cable TV and he criticised the mullahs for their intolerance and terrorism. That very evening, upon hearing the principal’s commentary, the Taharikul ulema decided to act. They also decided to take to task the suppliers of cable TV in the locality. The mullahs view them as purveyors of all things “haraam” or forbidden. They have called cable businesses to assemble at the mosque in order to renounce their activities. They have also been instructed to wrap up their cable businesses.

The High Court has declared that urdu-speakers or stranded pakistanis or biharis are indeed citizens of Bangladesh. At the last minute, the Attorney General tried to muddy the waters by raising a question about “allegiance” but was rebuked by the court which then went on to affirm what is natural, moral and correct - that members of this community are citizens of Bangladesh! And that they should be included in the voter list. A proud day for Bangladesh.

Jon Fredrik Baksaas of Telenor in a grinning competition with Mohammed Yunus.

A minority of regular readers of this blog will be fed up with my …er…concern about Professor Yunus in past posts. ( Just search Yunus in the search box..!!) If you are one such reader, then I request you to close your browser or surf to the Disney site because the story below is as nasty as it gets:

A Danish documentary will tonight reveal “miserable working conditions and environmental violations at companies in Bangladesh that act as suppliers to GrameenPhone ….co-owned by Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor and firms founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.”

The documentary was made by made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann and is to be aired on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) tonight.

The documentary shows:

* Employees working with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals virtually without protection.
* that workers were as young as 13 years, a clear violation of child labour laws. The firms were caught allowing polluted wastewater to spill into nearby rice fields.
* the death of a worker killed when he fell into an unsecured pool of acid.

The report in this Norwegian publication says :

Telenor officials claim they were shaken by the documentary’s findings, and admit they failed to adequately monitor the operations of GrameenPhone’s suppliers

See a trailer of the film here.

Tom Heinemann is an established journalist with a formidable track-record. In 2005/6 he made a documentary about the harsh working conditions of Indian workers producing for the Scandinavian market. The film is called “A Killer Bargain.” Heinemann’s primary concern is to reveal the stark realities of globalisation  in the developing world.

You will find more about Telenor in the comments section of this post of mine on Professor Yunus.