Open Letter: We Condemn International Oil Companies in Bangladesh and State Violence against Bangladeshi Activists

On September 2, 2009, the members of a nationwide alliance in Bangladesh—the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Ports—were brutalized by the state police in Dhaka. More than fifty members were injured. The national committee was conducting a peaceful demonstration and march as part of an announced program to protest the Bangladesh government’s offshore gas and oil exploration deals with international oil companies. Such anti-people deals, according to the protesters, would enable those companies to explore, extract, and eventually own the country’s gas resources without the people’s consent. Indeed, those deals reveal how the ruling classes in Bangladesh operate in close class cahoots with corporations and imperialism.

The immediate reason for the protest in question was the Bangladesh government’s recent decision to award gas and oil exploration rights in the Bay of Bengal to international oil companies. The national committee announced the program in protest against the government’s decision to award three blocks to two international oil companies—the US-based company called ConocoPhillips and the UK-based company Tullow Oil plc—with a provision allowing them to export up to 80 per cent of gas. The protesters feared such a move would threaten the energy security of Bangladesh, and, by extension, the very sovereignty of the country. In fact, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Ports has long argued that the government’s drive for plundering its own people’s resources comes at a high price, and lacks forethought about how these resources might benefit the people of Bangladesh instead of multinational companies.

As the protesters were marching peacefully in Dhaka, the police charged on them, threw many of them to the ground, while brutally beating them with batons and kicking them with heavy boots. Over fifty protesters were injured, and a number of them even suffered serious injuries. Certain key members of the committee were clearly targeted. Among the seriously injured was the member-secretary of the National Committee—Professor Anu Muhammad. His legs were badly fractured by police batons. Anu Muhammad is not only chair of the Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University and the leading political economist in Bangladesh—whose work has proven immensely influential among the youth—but he is also internationally known for his committed political activism for democracy and justice, and against capitalism, imperialism, racism, patriarchy, and many other forms and forces of oppression—local and global. We see the brutal attack on Anu Muhammad and his co-activists as an attack on democracy and progressive politics. Others injured included Saiful Haque, the general secretary of Biplobi Communist Party in Bangladesh and Biplob Mondol, the Chhatra Front leader, along with such activists as Mushrefa Mishu, Jannatul Marium Tania, Montu Biswas, Srikant Samaddar, Gazi Shafiullah and Sumi Akhtar.

As teachers, students, writers, artists, and activists—who also consider ourselves citizens of the world believing in peace, justice, and democracy—we declare the following:

a) We condemn the police brutality against the members of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Ports in Bangladesh.

b) We condemn the international oil companies involved in exploiting the natural resources of Bangladesh. We think they should back out of any deals they have or wish to have with Bangladesh.

c) We demand that the Bangladesh government ensure the most appropriate and effective medical treatment of all who were wrongfully injured by the police.

d) We demand that the action plan and demands of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Ports be taken seriously rather than silenced through any form of brutality.

We express our deep solidarity with the people of Bangladesh who are struggling to protect their own national and natural resources from foreign companies. And we support the Bangladeshi people’s right to self-determination under any circumstances.

Sincerely,

Concerned Teachers, Students, Writers, Artists, and Activists Around the World:

1. Dr. Azfar Hussain, Convener of the International Campaign against Oil Companies in Bangladesh, and Visiting Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, USA

2. Rumana Hashem, Researcher and Lecturer, University of East London, UK

3. Melissa Hussain, DeVry University, Allendale, Michigan, USA

4. Nurul Kabir, editor, (daily) New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh

5. Dr. Joel Wendland, Editor, Political Affairs Magazine, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

6. Dr. E. San Juan, Jr., writer and activist, Philippines Cultural Center, Connecticut, USA

7. Dr. Bertell Ollman, Professor, Department of Politics, New York University, USA

8. Dr. Vijay Prasad, the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut, US

9. Dr Gopal Balakrishnan, Associate Professor, History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, and member, Editorial Board, New Left Review

10. Dr. Michael Lupro, North Carolina A&T, Greensboro North Carolina, USA

11. Aimee Nolte, Pomona, California, USA

12. Robin Witt, California State University Northridge, Los Angeles, California, USA

13. Faisal Rahman, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

14. Matthew Trease, University Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

15. Kenneth Tennyson, Northern Virginia, USA

16. Karin Barbee, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA

17. Dr. Maria J. Estrada, Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois, USA

18. Dr. Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA

19. Dr. Carlos Adams, Green River Community College, Auburn, Washington, USA

20. Mahbub Sumon, Narayanganj, Dhaka, Bangladesh

21. Nasrin Siraj Annie, MA student, VU, Amsterdam, Netherlands

22. Zahirul Islam Kochi, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

23. Abdullah AL Mehdi , North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

24. Zakir Kibria, Director, BanglaPraxis, Dhaka, Bangladesh

25. Arup Rahee, poet and singer, Dhaka, Bangladesh

26. Nusrat S Chowdhury, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA

27. Fatina Sarwar, Lecturer, English Department, Bangladesh University of Business and Technolgy (BUBT), Dhaka, Bangladesh

28. Rehnuma Sazzad, Nottingham Trent University, UK

29. Dr. Matthew Mace Barbee, Defiance College, Defiance, OH, USA

30. Dr. José Anazagasty Rodríguez, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

31. William J. Emerson III, Siena Heights University, Detroit, USA

32. Maheen Sultan, Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh

33. Anna Keenan, Youth Climate Advocate, Gordon Park, Australia

34. Dipankar Chakrabarti, Editor, Aneek, Kolkata, India

35. Chowdhury Golam Kibria (Jibon), Associate Professor and Ex-Chairman, Department of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

36. Elizabeth Siler, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA

37. Dr. Lamia Karim, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Oregon-Eugene, USA

38. Renato Redentor Constantino, Manila, Philippines

39. Dr. Meghna Guhathakurta, Research Initiatives, Dhaka, Bangladesh

40. Ratan Bhandari, Water and Energy Users’ Federation, Nepal

41. Anuj Sitoula, Himalayan and Peninsular Hydro-Ecological Network, Nepal

42. Rabin Subedi, Nepali Policy Institute, Nepal

43. Rana Raihan, Samhati Publications, Dhaka, Bangladesh

44. Raihan Sharif, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

45. Faruk Wasif, journalist, writer and activist, Dhaka, Bangladesh

46. Hana Shams Ahmed, Journalist and Human Rights Activist Coordinator, CHT Commission, Bangladesh Secretariat, Bangladesh

47. Dr Rahul Mukherjee, Consultant Physician, Milton Keynes, UK

48. Salil Biswas, Retired Lecturer in English/Translator and Writer, Kolkata, India

49. Hasan Mehedi, Environmental and Human Rights Activist, Chief Executive, Humanitywatch, Khulna, Bangladesh

50. Dr. Sezan Mahmud, Associate Professor of Public Health, Florida State University, USA

51. Fardeen Ferdous, Freelance Journalist, Writer and Researcher, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

52. Nikhil Neel, Shah Jalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

53. M Sohieb Murtuza, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

54. Meherun Minu, Lecturer in political science, Jatir Pita Bangabandhu College, Kaliakair, Gazipur, Bangladesh

55. M Yasin Bazli, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

56. Anisur Rahman, scholar and writer, Sweden

57. Tara MacKay, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

58. Izlal Moin Husain, North South University Alumni. Dhaka, Bangladesh

59. Soumitra Chakraborty, Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

60. Adrita Mulk, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

61. Khan Asif Imran, Department of Economics, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

62. Nasrin Khandoker, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

63. Dr. Michele Ren, Assistant Professor of English & Women’s Studies, Radford University, Radford, Virginia, USA

64. Santanu Chacraverti, Secretary, Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action, Kolkata, India

65. Dr. Partha Joarder, Scientist, Bose Institute, Kolkata, India

66. Moshahida Sultana, Lecturer, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

67. Dr. Susan W. McDowall, Central Community College, Hastings, NE, USA

68. Rabindranath Chakraborty, President, Hindu Muslim Friendship Association, Bangladesh

69. Dr. Jessica Maucione, Assistant Professor of English, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, USA

70. Dr. Rosemary Briseno, Lecturer in English, The University of California-Merced, Merced, California, USA

71. Sufia Jamal Khan, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

72. Dr. Matthew Mace Barbee, Defiance College, Defiance, OH, USA

73. Maksudur Rahman, Dept. of Economics, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

74. Syed Jashim Uddin, Assistant Professor, Dept of English, Premier University, Chittagong, Bangladesh

75. Tarek Chowdhury, Dhaka, Bangladesh

76. Murad Khan, Birmingham, UK

77. Dr. Kelvin Monroe, Assistant Professor of Ethnic & Religious Studies, Metropolitan State University, Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA

78. Imran Saadat, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

79. Rifat Islam Esha, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

80. Nabeel Hassan, Macquarie University Alumni, Sydney, Australia

81. Rifat ara Shova, BUBT, Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

82. Parvin Sultana, Melbourne, Australia

83. Shehroon Ifteker, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

84. Sky Wilson,Washington State University, Vancouver, Washington, USA

85. Dr. Lisa R. Williams, Creswell, Oregon, USA

86. Ayse Asim, Kent, England

87. Sarah Bostock, Harcum College, Bryn Athyn, PA, USA

88. Rafiq Uddin, Dhaka, Bangladesh

89. Md. Manzoorul Kibria, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh

90. Abe Tarango, Golden West College, Huntington Beach, California, USA

91. Rubaiyat Aumi, development worker, Dhaka, Bangladesh

92. Abu Saeed Md Galib, South East University, Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

93. Dr. Taufiq Rahman, Cambridge University, UK

94. Rahman Siddique, cultural activist, Dhaboman Literary movement, Narayanganj, Bangladesh

95. Saif Ahmed, Ottawa, Canada

96. Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Dhaka, Bangladesh

97. Musharrat Sharmee Hossain, Department of English, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

98. Sabera Ekram, University of East London, UK

99. Nishat Khan, UK

100. Hasan Tarique Chowdhury, Dhaka, Bangladesh

101. Melissa Baker-Boosamara, Affiliate Professor of Liberal Studies, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, USA

102. Shantanu Majumder, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Dhaka University, Bangladesh

103. Soma Dey, AIT, Thailand

104. Paul V. Dudman,University of East London, UK

105. Jennifer Kalafut, Co-Director, International Accountability Project

106. Mehedi Hassan, political activist, Dhaka, Bangladesh

107. Callie Palmer, Instructor, Linn Benton Community College, Albany, Oregon, USA

108. Tomas A. Madrigal, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

109. Saydia Gulrukh, Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

110. Dr. Tony Zaragoza, Associate Professor of Political Economy, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, USA

111. Dr. John Streamas, Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, Washington State University, Washington, USA

Further Resource:

Phulbari Resistance

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The Virtues of Deglobalization

Walden Bello*, Foreign Policy in Focus, 3 September 2009

The current global downturn, the worst since the Great Depression 70 years ago, pounded the last nail into the coffin of globalization. Already beleaguered by evidence that showed global poverty and inequality increasing, even as most poor countries experienced little or no economic growth, globalization has been terminally discredited in the last two years. As the much-heralded process of financial and trade interdependence went into reverse, it became the transmission belt not of prosperity but of economic crisis and collapse.

End of an Era

In their responses to the current economic crisis, governments paid lip service to global coordination but propelled separate stimulus programs meant to rev up national markets. In so doing, governments quietly shelved export-oriented growth, long the driver of many economies, though paid the usual nostrums to advancing trade liberalization as a means of countering the global downturn by completing the Doha Round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization. There is increasing acknowledgment that there will be no returning to a world centrally dependent on free-spending American consumers, since many are bankrupt and nobody has taken their place.

Moreover, whether agreed on internationally or unilaterally set up by national governments, a whole raft of restrictions will almost certainly be imposed on finance capital, the untrammeled mobility of which has been the cutting edge of the current crisis.

Intellectual discourse, however, hasn’t yet shown many signs of this break with orthodoxy. Neoliberalism, with its emphasis on free trade, the primacy of private enterprise, and a minimalist role for the state, continues to be the default language among policymakers. Establishment critics of market fundamentalism, including Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, have become entangled in endless debates over how large stimulus programs should be, and whether or not the state should retain an interventionist presence or, once stabilized, return the companies and banks to the private sector. Moreover some, such as Stiglitz, continue to believe in what they perceive to be the economic benefits of globalization while bemoaning its social costs.

But trends are fast outpacing both ideologues and critics of neoliberal globalization, and developments thought impossible a few years ago are gaining steam. “The integration of the world economy is in retreat on almost every front,” writes the Economist. While the magazine says that corporations continue to believe in the efficiency of global supply chains, “like any chain, these are only as strong as their weakest link. A danger point will come if firms decide that this way of organizing production has had its day.”

“Deglobalization,” a term that the Economist attributes to me, is a development that the magazine, the world’s prime avatar of free market ideology, views as negative. I believe, however, that deglobalization is an opportunity. Indeed, my colleagues and I at Focus on the Global South first forwarded deglobalization as a comprehensive paradigm to replace neoliberal globalization almost a decade ago, when the stresses, strains, and contradictions brought about by the latter had become painfully evident. Elaborated as an alternative mainly for developing countries, the deglobalization paradigm is not without relevance to the central capitalist economies.

11 Pillars of the Alternative

There are 11 key prongs of the deglobalization paradigm:

1. Production for the domestic market must again become the center of gravity of the economy rather than production for export markets.
2. The principle of subsidiarity should be enshrined in economic life by encouraging production of goods at the level of the community and at the national level if this can be done at reasonable cost in order to preserve community.
3. Trade policy — that is, quotas and tariffs — should be used to protect the local economy from destruction by corporate-subsidized commodities with artificially low prices.
4. Industrial policy — including subsidies, tariffs, and trade — should be used to revitalize and strengthen the manufacturing sector.
5. Long-postponed measures of equitable income redistribution and land redistribution (including urban land reform) can create a vibrant internal market that would serve as the anchor of the economy and produce local financial resources for investment.
6. Deemphasizing growth, emphasizing upgrading the quality of life, and maximizing equity will reduce environmental disequilibrium.
7. The development and diffusion of environmentally congenial technology in both agriculture and industry should be encouraged.
8. Strategic economic decisions cannot be left to the market or to technocrats. Instead, the scope of democratic decision-making in the economy should be expanded so that all vital questions — such as which industries to develop or phase out, what proportion of the government budget to devote to agriculture, etc. — become subject to democratic discussion and choice.
9. Civil society must constantly monitor and supervise the private sector and the state, a process that should be institutionalized.
10. The property complex should be transformed into a “mixed economy” that includes community cooperatives, private enterprises, and state enterprises, and excludes transnational corporations.
11. Centralized global institutions like the IMF and the World Bank should be replaced with regional institutions built not on free trade and capital mobility but on principles of cooperation that, to use the words of Hugo Chavez in describing the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), “transcend the logic of capitalism.”

From the Cult of Efficiency to Effective Economics

The aim of the deglobalization paradigm is to move beyond the economics of narrow efficiency, in which the key criterion is the reduction of unit cost, never mind the social and ecological destabilization this process brings about. It is to move beyond a system of economic calculation that, in the words of John Maynard Keynes, made “the whole conduct of life…into a paradox of an accountant’s nightmare.” An effective economics, rather, strengthens social solidarity by subordinating the operations of the market to the values of equity, justice, and community by enlarging the sphere of democratic decision making. To use the language of the great Hungarian thinker Karl Polanyi in his book The Great Transformation, deglobalization is about “re-embedding” the economy in society, instead of having society driven by the economy.

The deglobalization paradigm also asserts that a “one size fits all” model like neoliberalism or centralized bureaucratic socialism is dysfunctional and destabilizing. Instead, diversity should be expected and encouraged, as it is in nature. Shared principles of alternative economics do exist, and they have already substantially emerged in the struggle against and critical reflection over the failure of centralized socialism and capitalism. However, how these principles — the most important of which have been sketched out above — are concretely articulated will depend on the values, rhythms, and strategic choices of each society.

Deglobalization’s Pedigree

Though it may sound radical, deglobalization isn’t really new. Its pedigree includes the writings of the towering British economist Keynes who, at the height of the Depression, bluntly stated: “We do not wish…to be at the mercy of world forces working out, or trying to work out, some uniform equilibrium, according to the principles of laissez faire capitalism.”

Indeed, he continued, over “an increasingly wide range of industrial products, and perhaps agricultural products also, I become doubtful whether the economic cost of self-sufficiency is great enough to outweigh the other advantages of gradually bringing the producer and the consumer within the ambit of the same national, economic and financial organization. Experience accumulates to prove that most modern mass-production processes can be performed in most countries and climates with almost equal efficiency.”

And with words that have a very contemporary ring, Keynes concluded, “I sympathize…with those who would minimize rather than with those who would maximize economic entanglement between nations. Ideas, knowledge, art, hospitality, travel — these are the things which should of their nature be international. But let goods be homespun whenever it is reasonably and conveniently possible; and, above all, let finance be primarily national.”

*Foreign Policy in Focus columnist Walden Bello is a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and senior analyst at the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South.

Prosecuting Israel for war crimes

The Real News, 4 September 2009

Deputy Prosecutor of Int’l Criminal Court discusses the Palestinian Authority appeal to join the court.

Inside the Revolution: A Journey into the Heart of Venezuela

Alborada Films

February 2009 marked 10 years since Hugo Chavez took office, following a landslide election victory, and launched his revolution to bring radical change to Venezuela. While wildly popular with many in the country, Chavez’s policies and his outspoken criticisms of the U.S. government have made him powerful enemies, both at home and abroad, especially in the media.

Filmed in Caracas in November 2008, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Chavez’s controversial presidency, this feature-length documentary takes a journey into the heart of Venezuela’s revolution to listen to the voices of the people driving the process forward.

“This is a rare film about Venezuela, a country in extraordinary transition. Watch this film because it is honest and fair and respectful of those who want to be told the truth about an epic attempt, flaws and all, to claim back the humanity of ordinary people.”
- JOHN PILGER (Journalist, author and documentary filmmaker)

Released by Alborada Films. Directed by Pablo Navarrete

More info:

Alborada Film

PROTEST AGAINST OFFSHORE BLOCK DEAL: 50 injured as police charge into demo

Countrywide protests today, march towards PMO Sept 10

NewAge, 3 September, 2009

More than 50 people, including the member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, Anu Muhammad, were injured when police charged into marchers heading for Petrobangla headquarters in the capital midday Wednesday in protest against the government’s decision to award three offshore blocks to international oil companies.

About 1,000 leaders and activists of the committee gathered at Muktangan where they held a rally in the morning before marching towards the Petrobangla office at Karwan Bazar where the protesters were to lay siege.

Policemen charge at economist Professor Anu Muhammd with truncheons as he fell on the road during a police attack on a peaceful procession of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and port which was marching to lay siege to the Petrobangla head office in Dhaka on Wednesday. — New Age photo

The national committee announced the programme in protest at the government’s decision to award three blocks to two IOCs with a provision allowing them to export up to 80 per cent of gas. The committee feared such a move would threaten the country’s energy security.

Police swooped on the protesters and clubbed them indiscriminately after they broke through the barricades set up by the lawmen at Paltan crossing at around noon and tried to march towards the Petrobangla office.

Angry protesters fought pitched battles with police at Bijoynagar for about half an hour before dispersing. They attacked vehicles during the clash forcing traffic to make a detour.

Both legs of Anu Muhammad, also a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, were badly fractured in the police attack while a number of other left-leaning political leaders and activists, including Saiful Huq, Mushrefa Mishu, Jannatul Marium Tania, Montu Biswas, Srikant Samaddar, Biplab Mandal, Gazi Shafiullah and Sumi Akhtar sustained injuries.

Anu Muhammad interview from hospital. Interview by Shahidul Alam, Drik

The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and most of them were released after first aid. Professor Anu Muhammad was shifted to Square Hospital from DMCH.

Journalists trying to visit Anu Muhammad at Square Hospital were refused permission to see him. When contacted, the hospital management said it might have been done at the advice of the attending doctors.

Condemning the police action Anu Muhammad told reporters that their campaigns were aimed at protecting the natural resources of the country. ‘We are not against the government; we are against the move to export our natural resources. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and property of the citizens. I don’t understand why the police pounced on us,’ he said.

Later, the committee held a meeting at the office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh at Paltan.

The committee convener Sheikh Mohammad Shaheedullah at a press conference said that the police had charged baton on their peaceful demonstration because the government was desperate to protect the interest of international oil companies instead of national interest.

‘We strongly condemn the unprovoked attack. This has exposed the fascist attitude of the government,’ he said demanding immediate action against the police officers involved in the attack.

Shaheedullah warned that the government would not be able to foil their movement by resorting to repression. He vowed to continue the movement until the decision to allow gas export was scrapped.

The committee announced fresh programmes protesting at Wednesday’s police action. The programmes include countrywide demonstrations and a protest rally at Muktangan in the capital this afternoon. The committee will march towards the Prime Minister’s Office from Muktangan at 11:00am on September 10. Besides, it will hold rallies and processions in different thanas of Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country.

The committee will announce further action programmes, including hartal and siege, if the government does not refrain from leasing the offshore gas blocks, he said.

Shaheedullah, justice Golam Rabbani, Syed Abul Maksud, CPB general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, Workers Party general secretary Bimal Biswas, Workers Party (reconstituted) convener, Haider Akber Khan Rano, Gana Front leader Tipu Biswas, CPB leaders Ruhin Hossain Prince and AN Rasheda, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal leader Bazlur Rashid Firoz and professors MM Akash, Shamsul Alam, Mesbah Kamal, Pias Karim, ethnic minority leader Rabindranath Soren and former state minister for power and energy Anwarul Kabir Talukder attended the Muktangan rally.

The speakers said that the prime minister’s approval of offshore oil and gas exploration deals in the Bay of Bengal with two international companies, ConocoPhillips and Tullow Oil plc, ran counter to her poll campaign pledges.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs, headed by the finance minister, on August 24 approved offshore oil and gas exploration deals with the two companies in three sea blocks in the resource-rich Bay, on condition that they would not operate in the disputed areas in the blocks.

At the rally, Shaheedullah said they demanded cancellation of the Model Production Sharing Contract 2008, approved by the last interim government, saying pressure from ‘colonialists’ had been behind it.

Anu Muhammad said the present government was not working as the true representatives of the people. ‘The energy ministry and Petrobangla are working for multinational companies,’ he said. ‘Till now three of 28 blocks have been allocated to international companies and gradually the rest will be given to them,’ he said.

Mujahidul Islam Selim said that Sheikh Hasina during her first stint as prime minister had told the then US president Bill Clinton in 2000 that Bangladesh would not export gas without ensuring a 50-year domestic supply. ‘After such a promise, this latest agreement is extremely treacherous,’ he said.

Different left-leaning political parties and organisations, meanwhile, condemned the police attack on the ‘peaceful’ march of the national committee.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh president Manzurul Ahsan Khan and general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim in a press statement termed the police attack fascist and contrary to democracy and basic rights of the people.

Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon and general secretary Bimal Biswas, condemned the police attack and called on the government to drop the plan to lease out the three offshore gas blocks to international companies.

Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal convener Khalequzzaman, Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Afzal, general secretary Nurur Rahman Selim, Democratic Revolutionary Party president Nirmal Sen, general secretary Mushrefa Mishu, Revolutionary Workers Party president Khandaker Ali Abbas, general secretary Saiful Huq, Workers Party (reconstituted) convener Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Ganasanghati coordinator Zonayed Saki, Jatiya Mukti Council president Badruddin Umar and secretary Foizul Hakim, Garments Workers Unity Forum, Anti-imperialist Students Unity, Nayaganatantrik Gana Morcha, Chhatra Oikya Forum, Bangladesh Khetmajur Samiti, Green Voice and Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan leaders also condemned the police attack.

Phulbari Day Today

Staff Correspondent, NewAge, August 26, 2009

Photo: Zakir Kibria

Different socio-political organisations will observe Phulbari Day today in remembrance of the demonstrations against Asia Energy’s planned open-pit mining at Phulbari in Dinajpur on August 26, 2006.

Three people were killed and many were injured when lawmen into protests against at the Phulbari coal field in August 2006.

Four days after the demonstrations, the then BNP-led government on August 30 signed a six-point agreement with protesters, spearheaded by the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and port to expel Asia Energy from Bangladesh and ban open-pit mining.

The committee, however, expressed its dismay at the non-implementation of the agreement as Asia Energy is still active in the country. The national committee and different left-leaning political organisations have chalked up programmes to mark August 26 as Phulbari Day.

The committee will place flowers at Shaheed Smritistambha at Phulbari and hold a rally there. The committee will also place flowers at the Central Shaheed Minar and observe the day in other places.

Jatiya Gana Front will hold a rally and bring out a procession in Muktangon to mark the day. The organisation in a statement said any move for open-pit mining in Bangladesh would be stopped. Samajtantrik Chhatra Front will also bring out a procession on the Dhaka University campus on the occasion demanding expulsion of Asia Energy from Bangladesh.

Further information:

Phulbari Resistance

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Asian Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice

Focus on the Global South

Day of Action
9 am to 12 noon, October 5 2009
Bangkok, Thailand

The Asian Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice was formed to prepare the civil society program in parallel with the United Nations climatetalks, 28 September to 9 October 2009, Bangkok.

In addition to a dynamic and extensive schedule of events, we invite you to participate in peaceful  and public demonstration of our collective demand for climate justice. We demand immediate cuts: cut the carbon, cut the foreign debt, cut the false solutions, cut the World Bank and the corporations out! We demand recognition and full respect for peoples’ rights, reparation for climate debts and peoples sovereignty NOW!

Join with us in the streets of Bangkok with your banners and flags to create a colourful, vibrant, energetic peoples march for climate justice. There will be a program of events at the conclusion of the march including speakers from across civil society and music.

Support the Asian Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice!

Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’

‘CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY’ – In Theaters October 2nd

“It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it’s also a love story. Only it’s about an abusive relationship.

“It’s not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.

“It’s a comedy.” — Michael Moore

Protest against Iranian governments repressive measures

SolidarityNews

Protest demonstration and rally against Iranian governments repressive measures. June 24, 2009 Outside National Museum gate, Shahbag, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Part # 1

Part # 2

Slavoj Žižek – What does it mean to be a revolutionary today?