| Dipu Moni claims due share received
The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, on Friday claimed Bangladesh got its due share of the Ganges water at the Farakka Barrage point in 2009 although Joint River Commission records say it was deprived of at least 18,583 cusecs of water of its due share.
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By IANS,
New Delhi : Legendary sarod exponent Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, one of the greatest Indian classical musicians of modern times, was in personal life a man of great compassion, innocence and humility.
He felt that life's greatest lessons were either taught by children who knew nothing, or by stalwarts - because the mediocre always found faults.
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who took Indian classical music to the world stage, passed away in California Friday after a prolonged kidney aliment. He was 87.
Citing an instance of his sharp memory, humility and compassion, noted Indian classical vocalist Rita Ganguly of the Dhrupad gharana told IANS from Mumbai, "Once as a three-and-a-half year old, I attended a concert in Lucknow by the Maihar band conducted by Baba Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan's father, the founder of the Senia-Maihar gharana. I just walked up on to the centre-stage and started dancing on my own till the band played. No one could stop me.
"Several decades later in 1982, at a concert in Udaipur, Ustad Ali Abkar Khan, who was also part of the band in Lucknow, reminded me of the incident and narrated it in detail because it had slipped from my memory. He said he learnt from me - a toddler who knew nothing about music - a vital lesson because of the gay abandon with which I danced."
The Maihar band was a group of established musicians assembled by Ustad Allauddin Khan in the 1950s.
That fateful night in Lucknow was the beginning of Ganguly's career and the "reminder of the incident by none other than the maestro himself" intensified her life-long love affair with the music of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
"He is the greatest musician India has ever produced and his death is nothing short of tragedy in the world of Indian music. He tops the list of three trend-setters in Indian music that includes Begum Akhtar and Ustad Amir Khan," Ganguly said.
Born on April 14, 1922, in Comilla in present day Bangladesh, maestro Ali Akbar Khan traces his ancestry to Mian Tansen, the 16th century musical genius and court musician of Emperor Akbar. His sister, Annapurna Devi, was married to sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar.
The sarod maestro is survived by 11 children, including the great sarod player Ustad Ashish Khan.
Ali Akbar was one the early band of Indian classical musicians who took Indian traditional music to the world - especially to the US and helped it carve a niche for itself.
He is the creator of several famous ragas, including Gauri Manjari, Lajwanti, Madhavi and Madhu Malati.
He gave his first public performance at the age of 13. In his early 20s, the sarod exponent cut his first HMV label and subsequently became the court musician of the Maharaja of Jodhpur for seven years. He learnt music from his father Ustad Allauddin Khan as well as uncle Fakir Aftabuddin. He was also part of the Uday Shankar's music and dance ensemble.
His upbringing was austere and he practised music for 18 hours a day.
He founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Kolkata in 1956 and relocated to US in 1965 to teach Indian music to American youth. He set up the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music in San Rafael near San Francisco and Switzerland. He has millions of fans across the globe.
Musician-writer Peter Lavezzoli, in his book 'Bhairavi' says Ali Akbar Khan was the first Indian classical musician to appear on US television. At the request of violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Ali Akbar visited the US in 1955 and performed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He also cut an LP - the first recording of Indian classical music - in the US.
"I recorded a half an hour interview-based programme with him on Doordarshan 15 years ago. He was playing at Maihar near Jabalpur, the hub of his gharana of music. I think Ali Akbar Khan was a purist and one of the greatest sarod players of the century," veteran Doordarshan presenter and music writer Sharad Dutt told IANS.
Recalling his contribution to Hindi cinema music, Dutt said Bollywood musician Jaidev was one of Ali Akbar's disciples.
"That is why Jaidev's compositions are full of sarod," Dutt said.
Ali Akbar Khan composed the songs and background score for the 1953 movie "Aandhiyan", a Navketan production directed by Chetan Anand, starring Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik. "The music was widely acclaimed," Dutt said.
His list of awards is long. In 1960, he was conferred the Best Musician of the Year Award for his work in the movie "Hungry Stones" directed by Tapan Sinha and in 1963 he was honoured with the President of India Award. He was also given the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibushan by the government.
Besides, he won several prestigious awards in US and Britain.
"But for the Indian classical music fraternity - which is tightly knit - he was always the affectionate big brother. We bonded over the soirees and the radio programmes in Delhi and Lucknow in the 1940s and 1950s. He stayed in a house near the Bengali Market when he was in Delhi," reminisced Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj.
Remembering Musical Giant Ali Akbar Khan
India Currents, News Feature,
Sandip Roy, Posted: Jun 19, 2009
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c036d4d208115d20067ffac892389469
Editor's Note: Ali Akbar Khan, the legendary Indian musician, whom Yehudi Menuhin once called "the greatest musician in the world" passed away in the Bay Area this week at the age of 88. This is a profile of the sarode maestro when he was about to turn 80 and still busy performing. His first performance was at the age of 13. He was the first to cut a long play record of Indian classical music in the US and to give a sarod recital on American TV. Khan was also the first Indian musician to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991 and was nominated for Grammy Awards five time between 1970 to 1998.
"Sing like handwriting," admonishes Ali Akbar Khan. "You are singing like a typewriter." It's evening and class is in full swing at the Ali Akbar College of Music. Khansahib has not been keeping too well. But he is at class and 25-30 students are gathered around him on the bright green carpet. They have all touched his feet before they sat down. But reverence does not count for excuses in a lesson with Ali Akbar Khan. "If you can't sing in tune," he tells a hapless student, "no one can help you. Out of tune is out of tune. It's like a color. You can't change my color."
About to turn 80, Ali Akbar Khan is still particular as ever when it comes to tune. "You start by singing, it's like a language," he says remembering his first lessons when he was boy of three. His father, Baba Alauddin Khan, started training him by teaching him to sing. "I was very small. I didn't know anything. Any music you have to teach, start by singing, not by instrument. I just tried to follow the way he sang. If the note is not in the proper place he might say 'It's too low, come to the right pitch.'" Then without missing a beat, with no trace of false modesty he says matter-of-factly, "But for me he never needed to say this. Low pitch or high pitch, I could always match it. Wherever his voice was."
Ali Akbar Khan grew up in the central Indian princely state of Maihar where his father was the court musician. But his family actually came from what is now Bangladesh. Even more surprising, they were actually East Bengali Brahmins. His great great grandfather married a Muslim woman. "He was a pandit in seven languages," recalls Khansahib. "He established a Kali temple in Hiltepara called Saatail Parbat." In fact, it was a family that was mixed up in the turbulent history of Bengal—"they were like Robin Hoods—saving the poor from bad zamindars. They were friends of people like Bhabani Pathak and Debi Chowdhurani (all folk heroes and bandits)."
Ali Akbar Khan obviously has a little bit of that blood coursing through his veins. In his youth he loved to drive from Bombay to Calcutta and just adored his motorcycle. Legend goes he even could pick up handkerchief with his teeth while driving his motorcycle. "Well, I tried to," says the master with a grin. But that promising stunt career was cut short by his father, Baba Alauddin Khan who threatened to burn his motorcycle if he did not stop. So Khansahib's patron, the Maharaja of Jodhpur (who himself died in a plane crash), got him a car instead.
Burning a motorcycle might be a little extreme but Baba Alauddin Khan loomed larger than life in his son's world. Baba left home at the age of 8 to pursue music and was learning till he died at 110. There are legendary stories of what a taskmaster he was. One story has his other young favorite student Ravi Shankar leaving him because he had raised his voice with him. Apparently a young Ali Akbar Khan brought the upset Shankar home by telling him, "You are the only person he has never laid a hand on. We are all amazed by it. Do you know what he has done to me? He used to tie me to a tree everyday for a week and beat me and even refused me food. And you run away because he scolds you!"
But tonight Ali Akbar Khan is not dwelling on his father, the disciplinarian. He sums him up in one sentence "Music was next to God to him, and to me."
One thing Baba Alauddin Khan tried to do, which Ali Akbar Khan also does, is to pass his legacy on by teaching. Not just to his own children but to a wider audience so he could disseminate his music out to the world. There was a plague once in Maihar, remembers Ali Akbar Khan. Many children were orphaned and were abandoned on the streets. Baba took them in and fashioned the Maihar band with them. There were some 50 children in the band and in time, Baba got the king of Maihar who was also his student, to pay them a regular salary. The Maihar band is long gone—only one member is still alive. The house in Maihar still stands with Baba's room as well as the rooms of Ali Akbar Khan and his sister Annapurna. Ali Akbar Khan built a tomb there for his parents.
Baba was a musical wizard who could play 200 instruments. However he told his son to concentrate on one and chose the sarod. "At that time no one knew of the sarod," remembers Ali Akbar Khan. "I would go to play in places like Bombay and all they seemed to know was the sarangi." But he felt, "if you want to learn 100 instruments for 100 different qualities you will get it all in one—the sarod. Then why do you need to go to a 100 places?"
Soon Ali Akbar Khan ended up at the court of the Maharaja of Jodhpur. However that, too, was at his father's behest. "At that time I was working for Indian radio in Lucknow as music director. My father was in Jodhpur and the King of Jodhpur wanted him to stay. My father called me to Jodhpur and I don't know what happened between them but he told me to leave my job in Lucknow." It was at Jodhpur that this twenty-something year-old youth was anointed Ustad. "In those days you could not just call yourself Ustad," says Khansahib. "In those days they had to call a big meeting of nine members who decide whether this person can be called ustad or not. Then they made an announcement all over the state." The accolade was a great honor but an almost greater embarrassment. He remembers when his father heard it he just laughed. "I remember my father would sometimes come to music conferences in Calcutta. I would go to meet him and he would tell his followers 'Look, look the Ustad of Jodhpur is coming. Stand up, stand up.' It was very embarrassing."
But what was also happening was the young Ustad of Jodhpur was coming out of the shadow of his giant of a father and trying to leave his own footprints behind. One of the ways in which he gently rebelled was to try his hand at composing film music. His score for Kshudito Pashan (Hungry Stones) based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore won him great acclaim. But there were several others like Satyajit Ray's Devi, Chetan Anand's Aandhiyan and Merchant Ivory's Householder. His father did not approve of the "atmosphere" of the film world and told him that line was not a good one for him. But Ali Akbar Khan says, "I have done movies only for poor and middle class people like taxi drivers, rickshaw-wallas who never paid attention to music conferences. They always say 'Oh my God—all that is pukka gaana. (rarefied music)' But they went to films. That way at least people will go to see the movie and due to that to that they can get this chance to hear classical music and get over their fear of pukka gaana. Nowadays taxi drivers, porters, buy tickets and attend music conferences."
Meanwhile Indian classical music was slowly coming to the attention of the West. Yehudi Menhuin heard both Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar and was enthralled. He invited Khan to America in 1955 and he played at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and appeared on Alistair Cooke's Omnibus program. Soon he had made the first Western LP of Indian classical music as well. However when it came to settling down in America, he looked not to New York, the cultural capital, but to the West Coast. He remembers that he did originally think about New York but felt, "it was too big for me. It was a city where people were busy all the time, where I would not have a home life."
Back on the West Coast, a couple named Sam and Louise Scripps had opened the Asia Society for Eastern Arts and asked him through legendary bharata natyam danseuse Balasaraswati to teach a session there. One session led to another and finally when Ali Akbar Khan thought he had taught enough, he found he had had 100 students who were willing to go to India to learn from him. "I had no idea how I could manage 100 students at that time on my own, I had no job. So I thought I should just go to them in California." In 1967 he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music. Soon he opened a branch in Basel, Switzerland as well which he visits every year.
It was not necessarily an easy change—California in the 1960s had still not seen the influx of Indians that flooded the Silicon Valley in the 80s and 90s. There was plenty that was missing in his new world. Not just the ilish fish or rasamalai though his face lights up with impish glee at their mention. In fact his wife attests to the fact that he is a wonderful cook of chicken and fish and lamb though Khansahib, who once described himself as a housewife, claims a simple dal and rice is his forte. But the food is just part of the displacement that immigration brings with it. It was about trying to translate an entire sense of being, a culture. He searches for a metaphor and says, "Now everyone appreciates it but at that time no one had any idea. Its like the difference between Ma and Mummy—its almost the same but not quite. Like you can translate Rabindranath into English but however good you are you miss something—a feeling."
His career is studded with awards like the National Heritage Fellowship, Padma Vibhushan, Grammy nominations and friendships and collaborations with people like Yehudi Menhuin and Duke Ellington—"all gone now," he says sadly. He has created his own raagas like Chandrannandan and Hem-Hindol though he explains that they are more about "combination" than creation. "I am happy with the old ragas," he says. "One life is not enough to finish learning those."
But the passage of time has only highlighted the importance of the treasure trove of music he presides over. The Ali Akbar Khan College is in the middle of a capital campaign to help expand the current building and purchase another one that would house a library and a store. The current building is bursting at the seams and Khan Sahib's vast collection of music, concert tapes, his father's handwritten notes which are being scanned and translated, 35 years of his classes preserved on audio tape and notated all need a permanent home. "Imagine, people can then hear him teach the same raga over 25 years, they can hear him play it in different concerts. There is this incredible unique amount of material—I am not going to let it slip by," says his wife Mary Khan who says this project is her baby. Her other baby is son Alam who at 20 is now following in his father's footsteps. He started attending classes when he was 7 and around 12 became fascinated by the music. That appeal stayed with him through hours of practice, 6 classes a week and even survived his own rock band. Now Khansahib presents "From Father to Son" featuring Alam Khan on sarode playing ragini Puriya Dhanasri with Ali Akbar Khan.
But right now, its just business as usual as Khansahib gives his class his full attention.
"Yes," he exhales and a smile creases his face as someone hits a note perfectly. "Yes, catch that note," he says nodding approvingly. Outside the traffic to downtown San Rafael whizzes by. The Shell station advertises gas—regular, premium, and super. Right next door, the orange tree is laden with fruit. It's suburban life—in some ways it could be so many other towns in the Bay Area. Except this little corner is unique—for it has in a house with a stained glass Saraswati window, Ali Akbar Khansahib still catching his notes.
Plight of the General General Moeen's appearance at the helm of affairs after 1/11 had set off speculations to no end, and now his retirement seems to have generated an equal amount of interest A PROBE report General Moeen U Ahmed has retired. In his wake he has left a trail of controversy, criticism and unanswered questions. During his tenure as Army Chief, particularly during the two years of the last caretaker government, he received bouquets and brickbats from beneficiaries and victims respectively. And now he is undergoing a media postmortem sans mercy. In retrospect, there could have been two reasons behind the January 11, 2007 change in political scenario and the advent of the caretaker government. One was to put an immediate stop in the political bloodshed that had erupted and then to go for an election within three or four months under an interim caretaker government. The other was to stamp out the rampant corruption that had overtaken the nation over the years. Both the reasons behind 1/11 instilled a lot of expectations in the public mind. And with Gen. Moeen visibly in the driver's seat, the expectations were vested in him too. The expectations were not built up in a day. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) had already built up the grounds for people to rally against corruption and the corrupt as this was tarnishing the image of the nation globally. Political unrest had spiralled out of hand, the Awami League rally of lathi and boitha (sticks and poles) being the last straw. So when Moeen U Ahmed came as a knight in shining armour, he was seen by many as the saviour of the nation. The Fakhruddin government was to all appearances, a façade before this military man. Of course, there was a large degree of trepidation too, both within political circles and without. There were the democracy-lovers who would never court a military rule. And there were those who were skeptical of the outcome of such a government. The latter can now be heard singing out "we told you so!" in unison. If things were going wrong for the nation, General Moeen appeared on the scene as Mr. Fix-It. Unfortunately, things fell apart. Neither was the election held within three or four months as expected, nor was there a sustainable cure for corruption. Two years of caretaker machinations and it's back to Square One. There was a big hullabaloo about Minus Two during the caretaker regime. Analysts say that the caretakers could have held the election within about six months without the Minus Two exercise, something they couldn't even carry out to completion anyway. A lot of the blame for that is now being placed on Gen. Moeen's shoulders. It is being said that it was his political and personal ambitions that instigated the two-year stay at the helm. The two years of the army-backed caretaker government saw a lot of political experimenta-tion. Parties were broken and new parties emerged on the scene. When Moeen, at an important seminar in the city, gave broad "hints" that he would be joining politics, people rushed in a frenzy to join the bandwagon. The King's Party attracted politicians from all parties like moths to a flame. However, contrary to people's beliefs, Gen. Moeen did not join any political party nor did he make any direct inroad into politics. The party purported to be the King's Party turned out to be a damp squib and the new political parties proved their futility in the election results. The problem is that the 'reformists' were aided and abetted by Gen. Moeen to rebel against their parties and take up a political cleansing of kinds. But then he left them high and dry. The objective of 1/11 never materialised and these 'reformists' now find themselves castigated and ostracised in political circles. They have met their political death. Yet these were the relatively honest politicians, one's with integrity, who had hoped for a dawning of new politics. They are now out of the scene, with the old hands once again in the fray. This is a serious damage done to the political arena, something contrary to what 1/11 was supposed to be all about. Another damage that was brought about was in the people-army equation. The people of Bangladesh have always had tremendous respect for the army, deep-rooted confidence in the armed forces. In times of distress, man-made or otherwise, the armed forces have always stood by the people's side. This time too, when the country had turned into a cauldron of political unrest, the caretaker government was welcomed with open arms particularly because it was openly backed by the army. But have lingered on a mite too long, the people grew weary of the non-democratic rule. Had it delivered the goods, perhaps the two years would not have taken so long to pass. But as it turns out, the goods were not delivered, political reforms have not taken place and the country has not seen the much-hoped-for change in direction. And so people to a great degree have lost that confidence in the army. "As an institution," says a defence analyst, "the army has survived because of its second line of generals who are extraordinarily brilliant. The caretaker stint had dented its image badly and things only got worse with the BDR incident. But a handful of senior offices have managed to keep the institution's head above water." The question which is being asked now, particularly now that General Moeen has retired, is that if the General had been so keen on a new brand of democracy (Jago Bangladesh, et al), then why did he drop it all and let things slide back to where they had originally been? Was it lack of courage and conviction? Or what was it? Defence analysts feel that Moeen's error was not to take others on board. Normally in such situations, other generals are on the team, but in this instance, the caretaker government was run by a handful of army officers in the intelligence agencies. They played the game and played it close to their chests. Other senior generals within the army had no tangible role to play. Another step taken by General Moeen which is seen as a grave blunder is his authoring a book while still in service. Field Marshal Ayub Khan did this and so did General Pervez Musharraf. And then they both faced the same plight -- a topple from power. These books had strong elements of self-glorification. If pride goes before a fall, here was living proof and General Moeen succumbed to the same. On a more positive note, under Gen. Moeen's army, the National ID card and voter list project was carried out and has been relatively successful. But was this the objective of 1/11? Surely this could have been done as efficiently under army supervision without the radical turn of events that were brought about? Then again, this can be listed under "achievements", if one is to be fair. It was while General Moeen was at the helm of the army, with Awami League installed in power, when the BDR carnage took place. It was a blow to the army, particularly to the morale of the army. It was then they needed a leader to say, "I am with you." They were bold enough to question the authorities and look to their General, saying, "We are with you." But was he there for them? The answer is out there for all to see. When the BDR 'rebels' held a meeting with Hasina, General Moeen wasn't present there either. As this involved the army, his representation was deemed as most necessary, but he did not take the initiative to insist on his presence. This has irked quarters within the army and prompted questions among the public. Many see this as a command failure. The General has retired and people await his fate. Speculations have it that he will opt to go abroad rather than face the risk of retribution back home. One thing is clear, 1/11 may have come and gone as has General Moeen, but this is not the end. The book may have closed, but the story continues... http://probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=5313 |
| Burma: A battleground for India and China | Aman Ullah | | Great Game of the 19th Century was played between empire builders Britain and Russia, using Afghanistan as their football in seeking control of central Asia. Today, there is a new great game under way between two very different competitors - China and India. But this time the ball is Burma.
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Climate catastrophe in Bangladesh: A burning political issue Peter Custers In this brief essay I propose to analyse the danger that Bangladesh in the future will be visited by a climate catastrophe, as also the way in which such a catastrophe can be averted. Let's to start discuss more elaborately why climate change is a political issue, and not a matter of Nature's erratic behavior or spontaneous conduct. Today's climate change, as scientists have argued for long, is primarily the consequence of the choices which Great Britain and other rising European capitalist powers made when staging the 18th century Industrial Revolution. For the Industrial Revolution not only entailed a technological transformation, leading to the factory-based system of industrial production. Technological changes in methods of production were accompanied by a shift from reliance on renewable sources of energy, such as wind and fuel wood, - towards reliance on non-renewable energy sources, i.e. fossil fuels, starting with coal. More than two centuries of industrial production in which coal, oil and gas have been employed as principal energy sources, have resulted in emissions of such large quantities of greenhouse gases in the world's atmosphere, oceans and forests, as to make dramatic changes in the world's climate virtually inevitable. Bangladesh's Vulnerability Bangladesh threatens to be one of the first, and surely will be one of the major victims. For the country is extremely vulnerable to climate change - more so perhaps than most other nations on earth. Visits made by journalists and scientists to Greenland and the Antarctic region - regions located towards the world's far Northern and far Southern poles where massive sheets of ice exist -, in recent years have brought out that processes of the melting of ice here are well underway. Once these processes of melting will take on more massive forms, they inevitably will lead to higher water levels in all the world's oceans. Increase may be five meters Some climate scientists warn that the increase may be five meters or more within the present century! Climate change, if allowed to continue, then will affect many of the world's civilizations, - civilizations which more often than not have been built in coastal zones, in river deltas and along the world's main rivers. Even a relatively 'modest' rise in sea water levels, for instance of two meters, would already threaten to inundate highly populated areas, such as the vast urban conglomerates of Dhaka, Kolkota, Tokyo and Shanghai. However, Bangladesh's vulnerability is more than average. It is larger for instance than that of deltaic regions belonging to the world's global North. This is due amongst others to the fact that Bangladesh's territory includes large rural regions which are both low lying and highly populated, - such as the country's South-Western region. A two meters rise in the level of water in the Bay of Bengal, as reports drafted under the United Nations system have warned, could result in reduction of Bangladesh's land mass by as much as a quarter, necessitating the evacuation of 25 to 30 million people. Moreover, Bangladesh's position is different from that of a Northern deltaic country such as the Netherlands, which too is low lying and very flat. For whereas the Netherlands as central capitalist power has been able to exploit Southern economies ever since colonial times, and in consequence has built up huge capital resources which it can harness towards protection of its own people, - Bangladesh and other deltaic and low lying countries in the global South do not possess the same capital wealth. Lack of proper capital resources is one - though not the only! - factor that makes Bangladesh's position highly vulnerable. Landlessness is a problem Moreover, the issue of climate change, as the geography of poverty in Bangladesh's brings out, is also, partly, a class issue. Landlessness is a problem which, of course, exists throughout Bangladesh. As well know, the percentage of people belonging to the category of (functionally) landless peasants has been growing throughout the country ever since Bangladesh gained formal independence, in 1971. Yet the concentration of landlessness and of rural poverty is specially large in the South Western region. Here, the percentage of those who have to survive on less than $ 1.- (one Dollar) a day reportedly is the largest in comparative terms. This, of course, does not mean that other sections of the people living in the South Western region will not face added hardship, once water levels in the Bay of Bengal will dramatically rise. Surely, those belonging to society?s middle sections - small peasants, shopkeepers, teachers, health workers, etc. - threaten being uprooted as well. Nevertheless, it is no exaggeration to say that the issue of climate change is a class question, for the poor and extremely poor simply lack the means to protect themselves, or to shift towards safe heavens in the North. Accumulation of CO2 Let's next return once more to the relationship between climate change and imperialist exploitation. Spokespersons of the previous, notorious American government of George W. Bush, against all evidence argued that the very existence of greenhouse gases in the world?s atmosphere is a natural phenomenon for which humans bear no responsibility. It is therefore important to hammer on the point that CO2 and other greenhouse gases under capitalism have turned into a (gaseous) form of waste. Although CO2 has been present in the world's atmosphere since the beginning of planet earth and has mediated the world?s climate for hundreds of millions of years, - it is emissions of CO2 and other greenhouses as ?byproduct? of industrial manufacturing and as side effect of the use of fossil fuels in transports, which is the very cause of modern climate change. Greenhouse gases comprise a whole range of gases besides CO2. For instance: methane, emissions of which are a side effect of modern agriculture; and water vapor, additional quantities of which are released in consequence of climate change itself. All greenhouse gases trap the rays of the sun?s light in the world?s atmosphere, intercepting sunlight and preventing it from being reflected back into outer space. Further, greenhouse gases once deposited in the earth?s atmosphere continue to reside there for a smaller or greater length of time. This results in a process of accumulation, i.e. accumulation of waste in the air as an accompaniment of the accumulation of capital on earth. For instance, carbon dioxide remains present in the atmosphere for a period of more than one hundred years. The time of residence of methane which has a large absorbing capacity, i.e. absorbing 20 times as much heat as does CO2, is relatively shorter. Yet here too accumulation takes place, for methane that is deposited in the world?s atmosphere stays around for as long as a decade. To this must be added the fact that the quantity of green house gas emissions taking place every year, does not remain constant or even. For the process of capitalist accumulation on a world scale itself results in emissions of ever larger quantities of greenhouse gases. Each year more CO2 is added to the quantity of CO2 that was deposited in the atmosphere in the preceding year. Both because of the long residing time of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and in consequence of the exponential growth in the amount of greenhouse gases that is emitted, the dangers they pose for humanity's future are huge. Greenhouse gases The question which may be discussed next, is what quantity of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is maximally permissible, before things do definitely go wrong. Here, truth requires us to admit that climate scientists are not all agreed on one figure. The method by which the size of gaseous depositions are quantified is through carbon dioxide equivalents. Scientists measuring greenhouse gases in the atmosphere further speak of parts in a million, i.e. parts of greenhouse gas in a million of molecules in the air (ppm). With regard to CO2, it is estimated that its presence in the atmosphere has increased by a third since the start of the Industrial Revolution, i.e. from 280 ppm then to 385 ppm by now. However, there is no unanimity of view as to what constitutes a safe limit. According to the IPCC for stance, 450 ppm is a tolerable level. Yet some climate scientists, such as the respected American climate archeologist James Hansen, argue that with 385 ppm we have already transgressed the limit of what?s permissible: if we want to save planet earth from catastrophic climate change, CO2 levels need to be brought down to 350 ppm at most! Surely, from a precautionary point of view it would be foolhardy to take unnecessary risks, and put the upper limit higher than is absolutely safe. Moreover, climate scientists increasingly point at the danger that tipping points suddenly will be reached. The concept of tipping points being referred to in the world?s media refers to the fact that climate change could suddenly be accelerated through what are called ?feedback? effects, i.e. secondary processes of change which follow initial climate change. For climate change does not take place in a linear fashion. Acceleration is for instance implied by the disappearance of the so called albedo, which is the phenomenon whereby icecaps and icebergs reflect sunlight back into outer space. In as much as the melting of ice leads not only to a rise in oceanic water levels, but in the very same go also cancels out the albedo effect, - the warming up of the earth?s atmosphere indeed tends to be speeded up by initial climate change itself. Nobody can predict with certainty when climate change will run out of control. Yet the concept of tipping points brings out the risks of a sudden deluge. Once climate change is accelerated in consequence of worldwide processes of the melting of ice and permafrost, the rise in the oceanic water levels could indeed be exceedingly fast. Cyclones and climate change Perhaps this is the point in my discourse where the question of a potential relationship between climate change and cyclones can best be discussed. Bangladesh and its neighbor Myanmar over the last one and a half year have experienced three major cyclones. First, in November of 2007, cyclone Sidr struck, claiming over 10 thousand lives in Bangladesh?s South West. Within roughly half a year from then, Myanmar experienced an even more devastating cyclone, - one which probably caused over a hundred thousand deaths. Then recently again, the coastal regions of Bangladesh were hit by another cyclone, one which claimed fewer human lives, but which damaged coastal embankments and led to the displacement of half a million people. Cyclones are, of course, now new phenomenon for Bangladesh. They have claimed much larger numbers of victims in the past, in 1970 and 1991, than on recent occasions. Yet the question that needs to be posed is whether the recent succession of cyclones has anything to do with the process of human-induced climate change. Might there perhaps be a connection between the frequency of cyclones and occurrence of climate change, or between the latter and the intensity of cyclones which strike the coastal regions in the Bay of Bengal? Climate scientists don't seem to agree yet on the answer to these crucial questions, and the evidence contained in reports that have been drafted is contradictory. And yet there is much reason to be alert. Research carried out on cyclone Katrina, which hit the US city of New Orleans in 2005, for instance, indicates that this cyclone reached its peak precisely when passing over an area of the Gulf of Mexico that was heated by an infusion of deep warm water hailing from the Caribbean. Scientists have also stated more than once that the very occurrence of cyclones is related to the warming up of the surface water of seas and oceans. Hence, the prevention of the further warming up of the earth and of the surface of the oceans is crucial, if we are to reduce the risk that devastating cyclones in the future will take place. Even if we can?t be hundred percent sure as to the precise ways in which climate change and cyclone events interact, - the risks associated with cyclones come on top of those deriving from a rise in water levels in oceans and seas. Shift to farther north Perhaps the most alarming implication of rises in water levels is that the impact of cyclones which strike from the Bay of Bengal, is shifted farther North. First, a rise in water levels of just 1 or 2 meters will inevitably lead to the loss of low lying coastal areas, of chars and islands which at present are being cultivated, and where millions of poor and landless families eke out a meager living. Secondly, the inundation of vast tracts of low lying land will shift the burden of effects created by cyclones towards the North. Whereas so far, these burdens were carried by people living in occupied chars and mainland areas belonging, for instance, to Patuakhali, Bakerganj and Borguna, - after the inundation of Bangladesh?s Southwestern region the cyclones? power of devastation will fall on Bangladeshi Districts which in the past have been relatively carefree. The question which then needs to be posed is whether the nation can afford to take so many risks relating to climate change. Will the country allow the North to play with Bangladesh?s future generations? Or do we need to agitate nationally and internationally, so as to avert the risk of a climate catastrophe? Adaptation or prevention? Let?s then briefly discuss what perspective we need for policymaking, for social change aimed at stemming climate change now. At the level of Bangladesh?s state bureaucracy a certain awareness exists of the fact that the country in the future threatens to be victimized by climate change. Sections of the country?s national press and media and of nongovernmental organizations these last few years have been quite vocal as well. Yet in line with the country's history of dependence on external financial support, - much, too much energy has so far gone into shopping for money, money aimed at implementation of so called 'adaptation measures'. Of course, coastal embankments and shelters aimed at protecting people living in coastal zones are essential. Yet the question that needs to be posed is: how much can ultimately be achieved via adaptation measures alone? Will such measures suffice? Don't we risk having to rebuild coastal embankments many times over? And what when climate change reaches the tipping points of which I have spoken above? Will adaptation measures still be adequate to cope with accelerated climate change, with rises in sea water levels of 2 meters or more? Is a different course of action, one straightforwardly aimed instead at prevention, at averting climate disaster, ultimately not to be preferred above measures which by themselves can only help to counter a part of the huge damages that threaten to occur? Here is, then, where the responsibility of Bangladesh's progressive forces comes into play. For a policy aimed at prevention can only be instituted at Bangladesh's state level, if a massive effort be made towards mobilizing popular forces from below. Instead of limiting oneself to demanding financial concessions from imperialist governments, - a high target needs to be set towards limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Whereas the world's governments are still haggling over targets such as a 20 or 50 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 or later, - the people of Bangladesh have the right to demand that emissions be brought down speedily and by 90 percent. Only a rapid transition towards a world economy which relies on renewable energy instead of fossil fuel resources will do. Such a transition is not only technically feasible, but is also feasible in an economic sense. Through the institution of keynesian measures of state intervention, such as taxes and public investments privileging renewable energy, the given transition can well be staged. Yet it will not be achieved unless the world?s working class and the peasantry take the lead. Dr. Peter Custers is campaigner and theoretician, Leiden, the Netherlands.www.petercusters.nl. |
[Attachment(s) from Mahfuzur Rahman included below]
Respected friends & families,
AABEA (American Association of Bangladeshi Engineers & Architects) is requesting your presence to enjoy "SCIENCE FAIR & PICNIC" on June 28, 2009 (Sunday) at Black Hill Regional Park, Shelter C, Boyds/Germantown, Maryland. Here you will meet your friends & families residing in Washington DC metro area and out of state.
THIS EVENT IS NOT LIMITED TO ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS ONLY. Everyone of you on any profession is requested to attend & enjoy.
Please mark your calendar right now for June 28, 2009 to enjoy AABEA's Science Fair & Picnic. Also, please look at the attached first flyer. The second flyer is our first published quarterly newsletter.
Date: June 28, 2009 (Sunday)
Time: 10:00 am till 6:00 pm
Contribution: $10.00 per person
$8.00 per student of 1st grade to 8th grade
Free for Science Fair participants of all ages
Free for children up to 6 years old
Address: Black Hill Regional Park
Attachment(s) from Mahfuzur Rahman
2 of 2 File(s)
Thousands of unregistered Rohingya refugees from Burma live a life of "outrageous misery" in makeshift camps in Bangladesh, an aid agency says.
In a report released to co-incide with World Refugee Day on Saturday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says that these Rohingyas are "routinely abused". MSF says that they have nowhere to live and are suffering "dire conditions".
The government has not responded to the report. But it says it can only help refugees who are officially recognised.
It says that Rohingyas who do not live in camps run jointly with the UN's High Commission for Refugees are not welcome in the country and should return to Burma immediately.
Thousands of Rohingyas - who are mostly Muslim - first arrived in south-east Bangladesh about 20 years ago to escape what they said was persecution carried out by the country's military government.
Many have remained, despite concerted efforts by Dhaka and Rangoon to repatriate them.
In January the Thai government was accused of mistreating hundreds of Rohingyas who were trying to flee Burma by sea.
'Nowhere to go'
MSF - the only foreign agency that works with refugees in the Kutupalong makeshift camp - says that it is "deeply concerned" over the plight of an estimated 25,000 people who recently have flocked to there from Burma "hoping for recognition and assistance".
"But instead of finding help, they have been told that they cannot live next to the official camp, supported by the Bangladeshi Government and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees," an MSF report says.
"Nor can they legally live on adjacent forestry department land. They have nowhere to go and no way to meet their basic needs."
MSF says that inhabitants of unofficial camps - including women and children - are routinely beaten up. It says a countless number of their homes have been destroyed.
Between 14 to 20,000 Rohingyas live in official camps, the government says.
The aid agency says that it was alerted to the plight of the refugees in unofficial camps in March, when numbers began to rise.
An assessment was conducted and at least 20,000 people were discovered to be living in "dire humanitarian conditions, with global acute malnutrition rates above the emergency threshold".
The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said earlier this month that Burma was to blame for the recent influx of refugees.
"If there is no qualitative change in the place they come from, the influx will be continuing no matter how seriously we try to resolve the crisis," she said.
The demand for trial of Moeen, Masud, Mashud, Matin is increasing day by day. but before their trial moti, mahfuz, deboprio, hafiz, shazahan,kamal, mozzafor should be tried. because these bloody susils portrayed our politicians as enemy of the country,dui natri in politics is the sole problem of Bangladesh. Due to their overwhelming support Moeen gang could become so desperate and had taken the country backwaord.. If these bloody susils remain untried , they in future they will create Moeen gang. So before Punishing Moeen Ganng, Moti mahfuz , Deboprio,hafiz , mozaaffor must be tried so that army don't dare to torutre the poeple of the country, from student , teacher to politicians, No Army chief becomes frankastian,No Moeen is created. Is there any army in the world that can win over 150 Millions people? Should we be afraid of any country?  --- On Thu, 6/18/09, bd_mailer@yahoo.com <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> wrote:
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