Reality-based community

Ok, I normally hate people who just read something and then blog about it because they assume the whole world is interested.

But on occasion I just can’t help it. This sort of thing drives me nuts. Sorry.

There’s this article on BBC News online at the moment about the Pentagon creating a new ‘media war unit’ to get in to the Blogosphere and counter all the apparent lies and untruths that keep on being talked up hurting people’s perceptions of the war of terror.

Any effort to disseminate the truth can only be a good thing. But from the Pentagon? It’s like they’ve got cross because they were so succesful in spinning lies through the main-stream media (MSM) pre-Iraq, and now they’re cross that they can’t do it through New Media, because it’s far more transparent and accountable. So what do you do? Tell the truth? Or just launch a New Media propaganda unit?

Undoubtedly opinions fly across the internet that can too rapidly become fact, and this does no good, whether it’s about Iraq or Paris Hilton.

But I can’t help but read this and immediately think of an article that came out in October 2004, by Ron Suskind, where he quoted a Bush-administration official as complaining about the Liberal Media because they were the ‘reality-based community’. It’s amazing. Read it here. But the killer paragraph is:
“The aide said that guys like me were ”in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” [my emphasis]
So what’s going on now? Are the Pentagon trying to attack the reality-based Blogosphere community? Even when they talk about real events, such as US Army abuses in Iraq, we find out about ‘repetitive administration of legitimate force‘, which in reality means being beaten to death. I’ll never forget sitting up late one night doing some background research on abuses at Abu Ghraib for HRW, reading USDD reports, and the shock of working out what ‘butt-kissed’ meant.

Crisis in Bangladesh

It’s been a strange last couple of days. Bangladesh has descended in to violent protests, the two main political parties mobilising their supporters and activists, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets all over the country. These people don’t mess about, and are armed with sticks, and either sort of oar-like planks, or sickles, depending on which political side they’re on. It almost makes one think of something out of Asterix.

The irony is that we are possibly the people with the least awareness of what’s happening in Dhaka; as although we’re smack in the middle of town, we’re strongly advised not to leave our flat, and have no internet, no English-language radio, and no TV.

The only way you can tell that something is awry is that it’s quiet. The streets are practically empty, there are very few cars on the road, the very occasional baby-taxi, and just lots of passenger-less, meandering rickshaws. There are people walking around, talking on the streets, but nearly all the shops are closed so there’s virtually nothing to do but hang around on the street and talk to someone. Compared to a normal working day in Dhaka, which is full of a teeming mass of noise, pace, rush, energy, frustration and pollution, it’s very unsettling, as if everyone’s left town and you don’t know why.

However, there are various forms of police and security forces all over the place, camped out on every major street corner. They vary from oldish looking little guys in crappy uniforms with sticks, who look like they’ve seen better days, to riot police with flak jackets and bigger sticks, to the Rapid Action Battalion, who wear all black uniforms and sunglasses, occasionally a bandana, and look seriously hardcore, with guns to match. And then there are army people. So even though it’s earily quiet, there’s very much a calm before the storm sense around the place.

Actually, Dhaka without the daily chaos is very nice, but you look out the window at the tranquillity down below, with the knowledge that about four miles away in the centre of town all hell is breaking loose.

Because we’ve been stuck without much info, and it’s all been happening so quickly anyway, I can’t really surmise easily what’s been going on.

But the strange, stupid, and frustrating thing about it is that everyone has known this could or would happen for years, and in the last month it’s been pretty much a racing cert. And yet it’s been allowed to happen.

You can get a good timeline of Bangledeshi’s recent political history off the BBC here.

My 60 second nutshell is this: The two party leaders, Khalida Zia of the ruling Bangladesh National Party and Sheikh Hasina of the opposition Awami League hate each other. From 1996 the Constitution was changed to allow a Caretaker Government to take power for 90 days at the end of the normal electoral term, and oversee the new elections. In May 2004 the BNP amended this, so that they could get their man in as the head of the CTG – allegedly. The opposition Awami League have said this was wrong and have been going nuts ever since.

Constitutionally the government had to be dissolved last Friday, and the head of the CTG sworn in. The AL said they would kick off big time, and dialogue on this over the last month has failed. On Thursday there was a major defection of about 100 senior members of the BNP, forming a new party, the Liberal Democratic Party. On Friday, the BNP handed over power. The AL kicked off big time. The swearing-in ceremony was switched to Saturday. The proposed head of the CTG, under intense pressure, said he was ill and pulled out at the last minute.

More riots. No-one there to take over power. Shahidul Alam took some amazing photos of the chaos.

Yesterday the President stepped in and said he would lead the CTG, in the constitutional absence of anyone else. Now we’re waiting.

I have to go back and do another session here at VSO, so will try and write more later on.

But Blog-a-rhythm cinically has suggested that Shiekh Hasina and Khaleda Zia (the leaders of the AL and BNP) be awarded another Nobel Peace Prize, for ‘making a peaceful country in to a holocaust in only 14 hours’.

It’s obviously not that bad, but from an observer’s point of view, that such utter carnage could develop, so quickly, and so expectedly, makes you wonder what politics is all about.

I think the bigger, more interesting story is about the Constitution, how it can be used to govern a country, and how personalities in a democracy can overshadow the conceptual sanctity of a Constitutional Democracy itself. What comes first – the people? The Nation? The Constitution? And who has the power/authority to decide?

Something worth thinking about.

 

Security Briefing Three

And this is the third briefing from the VSO Country Director, which we got today. Things are calming down a little bit, whilst the opposition Awami League observes what the President does.

“Dear all,

With a view to making you aware of the latest political situation and necessary precaution of your movement I would like to inform you that as all the 5^th options for deciding upon the Chief Adviser to next Caretaker Government have failed, according to the Constituent, the President Iajuddin Ahmed has resumed the office of the Chief Adviser in addition to his presidential responsibilities.  The 14 party-alliance has not welcomed him; but at the same time they have not rejected the idea of participating in the next General Election in January 2007. They would like to observe the activities and attitudes of the president and then will decide if they will contest the next polls or not. To ensure the fulfillment of their other demands for fair election, they have decided to continue their on going movement including road blockage, port blockage, Dhaka-seize Programme etc.

Prior to the handing over of power to the President last night, terrific violence occurred throughout the country including gunfire and bomb blasts. Eleven people were killed and more than five hundred people were seriously injured. Most violence took place in Muktangan, Paltan, Bangabondhu Avenue, surrounding Baitul Mokarram mosque, Shahabag, Bijoynagar, Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Dhaka University area, Green Road, Mogbazar, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Tangi, Gabtali and Gulisthan.  However, it is hoped that the situation will develop gradually. 

In these circumstances, I think that you can join your office with prior discussion with your employer as situation may vary place to place and they know the best of the latest situation of their respective locality. 
You are strongly advised to be extra vigilant and keep low profile while visiting outside the home for office and any other purpose.  Please avoid all types of political demonstrations and large gatherings as well. Please also remain updated about the general security situation with discussion with your employer, friends and colleagues as well and also be in touch with the newspapers and news from radio and television.

If you come across any issue to address, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. Situation is being closely monitored and time-to-time you will be updated of the latest. 

Thanks for your cooperation as ever. “ 

Security Briefing Two

This is the stuff we got from the VSO Bangladesh Country Director, on Sunday when people thought things were going to deteriorate. And then the next one is from the British High Commission. Nice that they’re thinking of us. Pity they didn’t invite us over for tea and scones. Should have registered with Poland as well, I bet the Poles were all taken in for cabbage. They know how to behave in a crisis.

“Dear all,

With a view to making you aware of the latest political situation that there was a huge violence throughout the country yesterday (28^th October) centering Justice KM Hasan’s assuming the office of the Chief Adviser to next Caretaker Govt. The violence spread everywhere and there were even incidents of firing and bomb blasts. Four people were injured and a good number of people were seriously injured among of them some were passers-by or curious people. It is a good news for all that Justice Hasan himself refused to be the chief of adviser of the govt. through a letter to the president. But the issue has not yet been resolved and the President has called a meeting with all the Secretary Generals of all the parties who have representation in the parliament at 2 pm today to reach a solution. It is expected that a good result will come out form this meeting. But again if it fails, the situation will deteriorate seriously. It is to note that the situation is not worse for only of the foreigners, rather it is common for the entire citizen here as well.

Hence, you are strongly instructed to be in low profile and be vigilant. You are instructed to stay at home and do not go to your office or outside until you have a call or message from me tomorrow. Please keep yourself update about the general security situation with discussion with your friends and colleagues as well and also be in touch with the newspapers and news from radio and television.

If you come across any issue to address, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. Situation is being closely monitored and time-to-time you will be updated of the latest. “

“ Dear Wardens, Community, Businesses and Schools,
Since 27 October 2006, there has been widespread civil unrest across Bangladesh particularly in Dhaka City which resulted in up to 14 deaths and some 2000 injured. This was in response to the dissolution of Parliament and proposed handover of power to an interim administration for the period leading upto the forthcoming National Elections.

Violence took place all over Dhaka city especially in the following areas: Muktangon, Paltan Maidan and area, Bangabandhu Avenue, Baitul Mukarram North gate, Shahbagh, Bijoynagar, Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Dhaka University, Green Road, Moghbazar, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Tongi and Gabtoli, Gulistan….

Further violent demonstrations are expected in Dhaka and other cities. The situation is extremely volatile and British Nationals are advised to restrict their movements until the current violence abates. Please also exercise extreme caution and vigilance when travelling outside the Gulshan & Baridhara areas of Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh as demonstrations are often held at short notice and can be expected to become violent.

We also advise that you monitor the local press / media and be aware of your surroundings at all times. “

Photo page

Ok, I’ve managed to put a few photos up. They’re thumbnails, so if you click on them it should open up to a better quality. Not great quality though, because each one takes ages to load. But I’ll try and add more when I can. It will just be a suprise.

Mohammad Yunus

Since he won the Nobel Peace Prize a few weeks ago the people have been acting as if it’s pretty much the best thing to happen to Bangladesh since their Liberation. A good article about him has just been published in Open Democracy, you can read it here.

Another interesting op/ed appeared in Dar Al Hayat a few weeks ago, contrasting Dr Younis as a shining example of Islam, with Bin Laden. Check it.

Security Briefing

This is what we’ve just been sent from work, ahead of the dissolution of the current Government and hand-over to an extremely contentious caretaker administration on Friday. We’re going to be out of Dhaka up in the Tea Estates – but it certainly sounds like more than your average British protest, don’t want to cause a fuss old bean but do you think you might possibly be able to etc etc…:

“Security update

Dear all,

With a view to making you aware of as well as for taking necessary care of your movements, I would like to inform you that the proposed date for handing over the power for the present government to the Caretaker Government is 27^th or 28^th October for holding the National general election in January 2007. During that period, it is apprehended that the both government and the opposition alliance will arrange huge showdown of their popularity and power in Dhaka and the law and order situation may deteriorate across the country. It is also to note that if the present dialogue is not successful and Justice KM Hasan take over the office of the Chief Adviser to the next Caretaker Govt. The opposition alliance is going to hold Dhaka-seize Programme along with seize programmes in all the Upazillas and district levels. The activates are also instructed to stay in Dhaka with sticks-rowers-paddles. They would also declare continuous shrikes across the country with increased level of agitated movements, meetings, demonstrations and public gatherings. On the other hand, BNP is going to arrange programmes in Dhaka from 27^th to 31^st October to keep their control on streets and in the city. The activates are asked to bring sickles with them. All these give the clues that the political situation is going to deteriorate more than expectorations at the time of power handover and later on if the crisis is not resolved through dialogue.

Hence, you are strongly suggested to be in low profile and be vigilant. Please avoid all types of political demonstrations and large gatherings as well. It will be very much apprehensive if you discuss with your employer and if needed, don’t go to the office during those days with prior discussion with your employer. Please remain updated about the general security situation with discussion with your friends and colleagues as well and also be in touch with the newspapers and news from radio and television.

If you come across any issue to address, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. Situation is being closely monitored and time-to-time you will be updated of the latest.

Thanks for your cooperation as ever. ”

Tuc Tuc

“Saigon… shit; I’m still only in Saigon…” Martin Sheen lies on a bed focussing at the ceiling fan, which becomes the blades of a helicopter, and back again. It’s a brilliant beginning to a brilliant film, and whenever I watch it it’s as if you can sense the heat and fatigue and chaos that’s enveloped him, and will do as soon as he leaves the room.

 

Dhaka in 2006 is obviously nothing like being in Saigon in the 60s, but the other day I found myself lying in bed staring at the ceiling fan through the mosquito net, the whirling blades just visible in the moonlight. Just as Coppola mixes the sound of the fan blades with those of a helicopter, an emblem of the Vietnam war, it struck me that the rhythmic chug of our fan here in Dhaka replicates the ‘tuc tuc tuc’ of the Baby-Taxis and all the other little engines that create the beat of the city. There’s no escaping it, even at the dead of night. And then before I knew it I was woken up by the first call to prayer at five, which shatters the silence and fills the room like a wave. Our flat’s right by a Mosque, so our routine becomes regulated by the guy in the Minaret. I actually quite like the sound, but it’s a constant reminder that what-ever you were dreaming or doing, you’re definitely in Dhaka.

 

When you step out in to the street you can’t help but get swept up by the heat and dust, and feel the fatigue and teeter on the edge of the chaos. Dhaka’s hard, if not impossible to love, but I do kind of like it. If you wanted to personify a city, then New York could be Frank Sinatra – all glitz and glamour and wealth and fun but with a sinister, not-mentioned undertone. I think Dhaka would probably be… Pat Butcher – overweight, ugly, poor, but has come through the shit, is hard working, well-meaning, and with great character. As I’ve said, exactly because it’s such a bastard of a city the fact that the people who live here (that I’ve encountered) are so friendly, polite, energetic, proud of their country, keen for it to improve and manage to put up with such difficult conditions makes me feel incredibly pathetic and enviable of their spirit and patience and vitality.

 

Given that the Bengali’s have withstood genocide to establish their country, poverty and poor planning gets put in to perspective. Most people do seem to recognise what’s wrong, and have an opinion on how it might be put right, which is critical, and the forthcoming general election in January is dominating the media. There are a lot of strikes at the moment and on Oct 27^th the current Government is being dissolved with a contentious caretaker one being installed, and with an extra 5000 police/troops apparently being drafted in to the city, everyone’s advised to stay at home. Personally I feel that it’s no bad thing that people are taking to the streets to protest their views. They’ve got some damn good reasons to protest. French trade-unionists would consider this place nirvana.

 

Some things inspire me to take to streets and stage a one-man demonstration myself though. I’d consider myself a fairly laid-back, patient person, but three things in life I can’t stand are wasting time, being ripped off, and unnecessary noise. And almost as if the Gods are deliberately winding me up, this is what happens every day in Dhaka.

 

Whoever designed the Dhaka road plan probably wasn’t the most qualified person for the role. In fact, I would let him near a Scalectrix. If you want to go from the north to south or vice versa, almost all the traffic gets sucked in to one big intersection in about the middle of Dhaka, and this can cause tailbacks for miles. There are very few lane markings except on main streets, and traffic lights only on main junctions, but these seem to be suggestive rather than proscriptive. You also get a mix of everything from herds of goats, horse-drawn carts (admittedly these two aren’t common) to bikes, 300,000 rickshaws, motorbikes, three-wheeled baby taxis, cars, busses and lorries. Most public transport vehicles look like they’ve been reformed out of a crusher at least three times. There’s absolutely no sense of any rules of the road. Every square foot of space is battled over, so on busy roads the traffic can be bumper to bumper whether you’re at a standstill or 20mph.

 

So we waste huge amounts of time stuck in traffic. Then there’s the noise. I have no problem with things like pneumatic drilling, because that’s being done for a reason so there’s no point stressing about it. But in Dhaka, to use your brake brings down upon you the level of shame, indignity and humiliation that can only be comparable to owning a Simply Red album. To counter this, the driver will slam down his (I’ve never seen a female driver) horn to make everyone else aware that it wasn’t his fault and he only stopped accelerating to avoid certain death to everyone.

 

Drivers also seem to have this Moses complex, this unwavering belief that even if there’s total gridlock for a mile in front, if they just use their horn for long enough all the traffic will suddenly miraculously part in front of them and they can then drive along happily. To adjust/stop for pedestrians seems to imply that you’ve just impregnated your neighbour’s Jack Russell, so it never happens, and yesterday one guy actually drove in to Georgia, shunting her in to a puddle, rather than wait till she got out of the way or swerve to avoid her. Then he drove off.

 

So it’s constantly noisy and drives me mental. The worst is that you can walk down a little street right on the edge of the road, and drivers will still insist, even though they’ve got ample room, to honk their horn a couple of times just to let you know they’re there. It’s as they’re saying: “Toot toot! Look at me, I’ve got a shit car and I don’t know how to drive it! Toot toot, I’m so excited about how shit my car is I think I’m going to accelerate and drive straight in to a dog/rickshaw/sewer/wall! Look at meee! Toot toot tooooooooot!”

 

Lastly we still get ripped off left right and centre. I don’t have an objection to people living in extreme poverty seeing westerners and having a go. If I was on holiday here, earning a western salary, I wouldn’t even mind paying through the nose because it’s still comparatively cheap and you might as well be generous. But as we’re on a standard lower-middle class Bengali salary ourselves, we can’t afford to pay western prices. And when taxi-drivers refuse to haggle down from a price triple the actual fare, and just scowl and drive off, it can become extremely frustrating.

 

Consequently we ran out of our month’s salary after about two and a half weeks, precisely because we’re paying around 70% more for everything. We have a taxi-driver who’s spotted our routine and takes us to our language class every day and back, and he now makes in a morning more than we make in a day. Expect to see him teeing off at Stoke Park next summer.

Other than that trinity of stress things are pretty sweet though. You get used to the power cuts every night. When the water’s off its frustrating, but only 10% of Dhaka has internal plumbing anyway, so you can’t complain. My body’s mostly adjusted to being a walking European buffet for mosquitos, and the repellent (which I prefer to call Lynx Bangladesh) stings more than the bites itch so you just manage. And it’s still made worthwhile by the view of palms every morning. For half an hour, before going out and taking Dhaka on the chin, you can sit and breath in the heat and stare at the palms and listen to the crescendo of this part of Asia awakening. And that’s so exciting, so much better than London, that for half an hour at least everything is just bloody wonderful.

The Niger delta: how to lift the oil curse

I just found out today that an article I wrote in the summer on the crisis in the Niger Delta (which I used to work on), has been published, after a bit of a delay. I wrote it when I was working for Remember Saro-Wiwa. On November 10th it will be the 11th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa’s execution, and we will be launching Sokari Douglas-Camp’s Living Memorial in London amongst other things. November’s hot ticket.

In a shameless bit of self-promotion, and also a test to see if blogs really can drive traffic, if you like you can read my article here

Clash of Extremes

Had a ridiculous day today, money wise, and witnessed first-hand some of the polarity of Bangladesh. Had to go to the bank to change some money in to Taka, only fifty quid’s worth, but a lot in Bangladesh, equivalent to a month’s wages for nearly half the population. Felt quite rich, like a Bideshi (foreigner) walking around with it in my pocket.

The little area (about half a square mile) where VSO are based, Lalmatia, is a rectangular shape surrounded by big roads and two of the sides are minted with foreign investment – so I went in to a branch of South Asia bank [I should point out that I hate, loathe, can’t stand, queuing in banks] and enjoyed the full Banking experience – queued for 15 minutes with lots of people pushing in front of me to be told I had to go upstairs. There was no-one upstairs so I left in a huff and went next door to the HSBC. Queued for another 15 minutes to get a piece of paper that I had to fill in and take to another queue – by this point I was already steaming. And then the third queue wasn’t taking too long, until the guy in front of me, who looked like a normal middle-class Bengali, polo shirt and trousers, went to the counter and withdrew Five Thousand Pounds – English sterling – right in front of me, more money than I have in the world to my name. He wanted it all counted properly so it took ages, and then finally, when I was going apoplectic with boredom and frustration and jealousy, he took out a hold-all and Mafia style just started taking bundles of Bengali notes, all brand new and in big inch-high stacks in to the hold-all. Must have been literally half a million Taka in their, which is close to forty grand sterling.

I then had to go to the teller and exchange my fifty quid, feeling like Oliver bloody Twist. Whole process took nearly an hour as well.

Then later on the afternoon I went with Tom to the post office to get some stamps. In contrast to shiny bright air-conditioned ‘World’s Local Bank’ HSBC, the post office is old, peeling, shabby, smells of piss, is lit by solitary candles and had one assistant behind the long row of desks, with another five people sitting in the back seemingly doing nothing (typical in Bangladesh), although one had a massive rifle.

We bought the stamps but got our change back minus 20 Taka, about 13p. It was sort of complicated maths (14 stamps of one denomination, plus 17 stamps of another), and there was no calculator, so we tried various ways of expressing the equation and showing that she’d got her sums wrong – I know it sounds pathetic but we were in a bad mood after being fleeced by the Rickshaw driver and we’re generally fed up of being over-charged everywhere in this country – so we tried to make a point this time and insist on getting our correct change.

But she kept on getting this extra 20 from nowhere. After a few minutes though she related and gave me the correct amount back, 252, and then indicated that she wanted to keep the 2. It was only then that we realised that in fact the 20 Taka that she was trying to keep might have been a commission/tip/little-bit-extra for her personally. And then obviously we felt really bad.

It’s very difficult to second-guess what’s cultural practice and what’s not, and this time we probably got it totally wrong – so I hope my post-cards didn’t go in the bin after we left. But writing about it now, having been stuck behind more cash than I’ve ever seen in my life today, and then also stuck haggling over 13p in some concrete hulk of a post-office – both places no more than 5 mins walk from each other – you can’t help but gasp at the extremes.

The poor of Bangladesh got their own back though, almost instantly – after leaving the post office we bought some oranges and I’ve just worked out we totally got our pants pulled down over the price…I’ll never be a millionaire – but that might be no bad thing.