click picture to see more!

Peculiar graphic design, buxom wenches, explicit action, wanton violence - yes this caretaker government has had an impact on all of these! Dhallywood has been facing some serious restructuring with so-called “obscene” films finding it more and more difficult to surface. But as always there is a peculiar history…..the state’s involvement in both the production of such films in the first place and then their censorship is often overlooked! I will be discussing this more and more this coming year. So here is a little taster from my modest poster collection ( standing at about 500 now….!). I have uploaded a miserly eight for your delectatation and edification. No particular reason behind the choice - they are the first that came to hand. And they are by no means the best..nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Follow the link HERE.

The cartoon says “Save me!” It depicts Bangladesh as a tree shot through with parasites ( corruption). The irony is that the cartoonist who created the above cartoon is in need of saving himself from the corrupt polity that is Bangladesh. Old Arif - he is only 20 - is in jail for insulting the sentiments of a certain very toxic special interest group.

In case you are wondering, I did not tag on the Md. at the beginning of his name. It seems he used to use it in 2005 when he won a prize for this cartoon in a competition organised by Transparency International. Head over to Rezwan’s page to get the low down.

“If it looks like a fraud, sounds like a fraud and quacks like a fraud, it is a fraud.”

That is what Paul Farelly MP had to say about the First Solutions matter in parliament. The story has finally been taken up by the mainstream press. There was a report on Channel 4 News the other day too. Money laundering has a “terror dimension” and so it is surprising it has taken so long for editors to pick up this story.

Justice for Sheika Hasina (sic) and Bangladesh Petition

Not only has the petition got her spelling wrong but there seem to be other odd things about this petition. ipetitions - the online petitions hosting service - is notoriously insecure. It does not check your IP address and prevent you from voting twice. It does not check your email to prevent duplicate voting. It does not seem to use cookies to prevent you voting easily in quick succession. In fact its a vote stuffer’s dream site. The redirection to a donations page and then paypal is indicative of the main thrust of ipetitions - to make as much money as possible out of the genuine and sincere people who go on to the site to register their petition.

Anyway, I was not suprised to find the petition signed by “Fred the vote stuffer” at no 65 ( at 0216 hours British time). That was preceded by Fred and Fred2. Come on AL, lets have a bit of finesse here.

Counterfeiting Luxury report

And how does one give one’s report the best chance of being picked up by the media? Link it to terror, stupid! So law firm Daventport Lyons ( these bloody lawyers….) have studied social attitudes to owning fake goods. And they say they have unearthed “a deeply concerning shift in consumer behaviour” because up to two thirds of people find it acceptable to have fake luxury goods (clothing, watches, bags). The purchase of fake goods apparently could fuel terrorism! Yes folks- bling fuels terror! And the magic word “terror,” I suspect, was enough for BBC online to publish the story So there you are, if you can’t afford the real thing, you must be supporting terrorism.

In Bangladesh, NGOs (non-governmental organisations) can be multi-headed creatures. They can be schools, banks, universities, telecoms companies - you name it, you will find an NGO doing it. It turns out NGOs have been exploiting certain regulatory loop holes to do their stuff. The World Bank has put together a much needed review of the NGO sector in Bangladesh. One aspect of the report deals with the commerical operations of non-governmental organisations and suggests that they should stop exploiting their not-for-profit status to subsidise their commercial operations and also be subjected to taxes for their for-profit business ventures.

They (NGOs) should not be allowed to use subsidised capital to enter or operate businesses, and that they should pay taxes on their for-profit activities at the same rate as other businesses.

The lack of taxes and financial accountability has no doubt helped this sector enormously. I wonder how Grameen and BRAC - the two market leaders - will respond to issues of accountability, taxation and indeed this matter of a level playing field?

Another old issue which has come under attention is the involvement of NGOs in outright political activity as opposed to advocacy. Mr Yunus you have your work cut out.