Dr. Rashid Askari: Fiction writer, critic, columnist, teacher, and social analyst.

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Dr. Rashid Askari is one of the handful of writers in Bangladesh who write both Bengali and English with equal ease and efficiency. Born on 1st June, 1965 in a sleepy little town of Rangpur in Bangladesh, he took an Honours and a Master's in English from Dhaka University with distinction, and a PhD in Indian English literature from the University of Poona. He is now a professor of English at Kushtia Islamic University.


Rashid Askari has emerged as a writer in the mid-nineties of the last century, and has, by now, written half a dozen books, and quite a large number of research articles, essays, and newspaper columns in Bengali and English published at home and abroad. His two Bengali books: Indo-English Literature and Others (Dhaka-1996) and Postmodern Literary and Critical Theory (Dhaka-2002) and one English book : The Wounded Land deserve special mention. He also writes short fictions in Bengali and English. His first short-story book in Bengali Today's Folktale was published in 1997. Another short-story book in English is awaiting publication. Currently, he is working on an English fiction.


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Monday, May 6, 2013

The biggest industrial disaster in Bangladesh

 – by Dr. Rashid Askari

Published in the African Herald Express, May 5, 2013
 
– The Bengali is a forgetful nation! Our public memory is far more short-lived than that of an aquarium goldfish which completely forgets about the things it sees in the other corner of the aquarium it has just left. We, the Bengali people do the likewise! Every year we are faced with many natural and man-made disasters which we dismiss from our mind much before the wounds are healed.
With the passage of a few years we have witnessed at least half a dozen man-made disasters in Bangladesh—Pilkhana tragedy claiming 74 lives, Neemtoli tragedy 124, Mirsarai tragedy 48, Tazreen Fashion tragedy158, Chittagong Flyover tragedy 25, and the hitherto last Savar tragedy– where the death toll keeps rising (while the piece is being written) and may equal or double the number of all former five or even more! That we are vulnerable to and unprotected from the natural calamities causing heavy casualties due to the adverse effects of the global climatic changes brought about by the industrial emissions can be a pretty acceptable phenomenon. But to fall prey to similar kinds of man-made disasters repeatedly cannot be acceptable by any manner of means. But we are stoically accepting them like the gold fish stranded in the aquarium revolving around the same circle vainly trying to find an exit.
 
If we had not forgotten the Tazreen Fashion tragedy, and had taken preventive measures to avoid identical damage, we could have very likely escaped the Savar tragedy. But it is a big if—the target to escape the tragic fall remains unachievable. The recent Savar incident is the most glaring example of this. Tragedy struck the whole nation and we were too stunned to speak when we saw an eight-storey building was reduced to rubble by a sudden collapse. It was a great shock to the system to see piles of the dead bodies being pulled out from the wreckage. Many people have been crushed to death when the ceiling suddenly caved in on top of them. They were flattened with other furniture and met with violent death. Many bodies were torn apart while many were ground between concrete floors like corn ground between the millstones. Though deaths are always painful, some are more painful than others. The Rana Plaza deaths are far more distressing, far more afflictive. Many died by knocking their heads or chests on or against the beams or walls or floors or roofs,and many died for want of food or drink or oxygen languishing in the collapsed building’s dark holes. Phone calls coming from many undetected concrete cavities asking SOS remained unattended and finally got reduced to a deathly hush. This is called dying by inches! Horrific! And it is the most unscrupulous fact that all, who have died and who have escaped badly hurt, had been put to the situation under duress. This is a sort of killing! A manslaughter! A culpable homicide which our factory workers usually fall victim to!
 
The labour force in Bangladesh has always been in a sorry state. In the last decade alone, as many as 6000 workers have been killed in man-made disasters. Though the economic emancipation was one of the avowed goals of our Independence War, it has been achieved for the chosen few, not for the general public. The 22 pre-independence business families have risen to, let’s say, 2200 families and Mr. Sohel Rana of Rana Plaza must be one of them. They have made a mint on their business mostly by draining the workers of their energy. This is because of their insatiable thirst for wealth and schemes to get rich quick, the labourer’s interests have always been trampled over, whereas the cards are always stacked in the proud owner’s favour. As a result of this prolonged plight, the ill-fated factory workers had to dice with death in order to do their master’s bidding. This is what happened in the case of the Rana Plaza victims. They were forced to enter the ramshackle building risking life and limb. Their poverty led them to death whereas the bank employees who worked in the same building have made good their escape. The very plan to send them for work was the recipe for disaster.

These wholesale losses of lives in Savar will affect not only the people who died or are injured but also their families. And that is not the end of story. The Savar tragedy may directly concern the deaths of a figure in the hundreds, but indirectly it strikes the death knell of the entire apparel industry. This bloody massacre of innocent factory workers will sure hit the RMG (Ready Made Garments) industry, which is the country’s economic mainstay and is worth $20 billion per annum. We may be habitually forgetful of things we are worst affected by, but the world is not like us. The deadlier Bangladesh building collapse has already shaken up the sensitive and caring people in the world. The human rights activists have voiced concern about the safety of the labourers. The US Ambassador Dan Mozena said the Savar incident would make an impact on the US decision of GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) facility for Bangladesh. Influenced by the campaigns conducted by many Western organizations, the buyers may show reluctance to buy clothes from the killer companies. How this global negative attitude would serve the interests of Bangladesh garments industry is readily comprehensible to everybody while it has been going through a sticky patch for quite a long time for different domestic problems.
 
Bangladesh RMG industry had an exciting prospect. Statistics show that the industry that entered the export market in late seventies with only 9 units and earned 0.069 million American dollars, has developed apace in the last three decades. The number of RMG units, at present, is about 5,000 and the export earnings have exceeded about 19 billion US dollars which is expected to double by 2020 marking Bangladesh as a tiger economy. 3.6 million workers are employed in the RMG sector, and 76 per cent of our total export is covered by it. Given this phenomenal growth in the RMG sector, it is easily the highest earning sector in the economy of Bangladesh. If this image of our RMG industry is tarnished by this sort of man-made disaster, our economy would have a steep fall.
 
So to save the economy and thereby to save the country, we must save the RMG industry, and to save the RMG industry, we must save its lifeblood—the labour force. But we have miserably failed to save our workers in the literal sense of the term. The 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for more than two months were hoisted to safety sixty-five days after the mine collapse. But we could not save a great many of our workers for want of necessary equipments and training. We are deplorably short of what we call DMS (Disaster Management Support). The sharp increase in the number of natural and man-made disasters in Bangladesh in recent years underlines the need of more attention to disaster preparedness activities. We should be more aware of the risks we face, and work out how to reduce their vulnerability.
The reduction of human vulnerability can also be done by promoting legal preparedness for disasters. The safety of the environment of the workplace and the efficiency of emergency responders and the success of recovery efforts can be underpinned by effective disaster laws.
 
Savar tragedy is primarily caused by building collapse. But why did the building collapse without any natural calamity? While all the skyscrapers of the world are standing still with their heads erect, a tiny hut in Savar suddenly collapses in a heap! This premature structural damage is indicative of serious damage to the country’s administrations where corruption is rampant and the rule of law has gone into exile. Criminals get off scot-free by virtue of their wealth or power affiliation. So it’s no wonder that the jerry-built buildings would be erected overnight showing a total disregard for so-called building codes and concerned laws.
I think it is time to do away with this culture of nepotism, favoritism and impunity, and it should begin with trying the ones responsible for recent Savar serial killing by building collapse. The organizations like BGMEA (Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association), BGMA (Bangladesh Garments Merchandiser Association), BTMA (Bangladesh Textile Mills Association) and FBCCI( The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries) should not only run for profit, but also focus on the worker’s interest following the basic principle of the ILO( International Labour Organization) that “labour is not a commodity”. They should take on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) to serve the related employees, consumers and communities and all other direct and indirect stakeholders and to ensure the safety of the workplace. Alongside, Bangladesh labour and trade union laws should be modified to suit the labourers down to the ground. It is the labourers who keep the wheels of commerce in motion. If they are put to difficulties, danger and even deaths through neglect all too often, the future of our apparel industry would be bleak.
-Dr. Rashid Askari writes fiction and columns and teaches English literature at Kushtia Islamic University, Bangladesh. Email: rashidaskari65@yahoo.com

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