Author: ba156590

Brandon Alexander

Bangladesh’s textile and garment industry is by far the country’s largest and most profitable sector. Textile exports are the nation’s primary source of trade earnings with other countries- the US topping off the list as the largest export market. According to Business Insider, in recent years the biggest brands that have merchandise produced in Bangladesh are: H&M, Wal-Mart, J.C. Penny, Benetton, GAP, and Zara. However, the rapid, large-scale manufacturing of textiles in Bangladesh has, for many years, had a direct correlation with dreadfully subpar worker rights, working conditions, and frequent industrial disasters.

Following the years after the April 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building complex in Dhaka, which made international headlines and featured the deaths of over 1,000 workers and over 2,000 injured, several protests urging increased wages and safer working conditions have occurred. However, while some improvements to factory workers’ safety and building structures have been made since the Rana Plaza disaster and the protests that followed, the rights and working conditions factory employees are subjected to still faces much controversy- many workers feeling much more improvements are needed.

24-year old Momotaz Zora is among the many workers who feel this need for more change. Zora is currently a worker in a garment factory in her home district of Mirpur, located in the capital city of Dhaka. She’s been a seamstress and garment worker at this shop since she was 18, but many of her aunts and cousins who also work in the textile business started working at a much younger age. In all, Zora states that she hopes to not be working in the textile business for much longer.

“It’s not just because of the distance from [my aunt’s] home to work every morning and night, but the way the bosses treat us is what’s the hardest thing,” Zora says. “I’ve been sick only for a few days since I started working [at the factory] but I have never taken a day off. I have seen other women get yelled at and some were even threatened with being fired when they asked for time off due to their sickness. I don’t want to stand out by asking them for anything.”

Verbal and even physical abuse is said to be a common sight in the workplace of many Bangladesh garment factories. Three months after the Rana Plaza disaster, CBS conducted an investigative piece where reporters went undercover into factories within Dhaka and documented subpar conditions that workers faced.

In the report, it was found that the minimum wage in Bangladesh “is currently about $38 per month and the legal age for someone to hold a full-time job is 18, but some part-time work is allowed from the age of 14” (Redman). It was also found that factory employees were often pressured into working far more hours than they were being paid for and would be subjected to both verbal and physical abuse in the event that they brought the problem up to management. This kind of treatment is something Zora has also seen firsthand.

“My work-friend, Fatema once tried talking to a supervisor about getting some time off. A lot of us worked four hours over our normal time for almost a month and she developed a fever. When she told the manager on our floor she had a fever and needed to take some time off he yelled at her in front of everyone. He gave her the next working day off and told her she would be fired if she didn’t come back,” Zora said. “Fatema did come back after taking a day but she was still feeling ill. It took her almost three weeks to feel better.”

According to 2016 reports by the NY Times and The Guardian, many textile factories, especially those that were in areas close to the Rana Plaza site, have since implemented improved structural features such as emergency stairways along the sides of buildings as well as regular safety and maintenance inspections.

Additionally, new “fire safety measures”, such as an increase in the number of fire exits and sprinklers in factory buildings have been added to several garment locations. But while some improvements to the factory buildings have been made, Zora- among other workers who are on the inside of these buildings- still experience a below average standard in the workplace.

Zora’s younger brother, Mihir, now an incoming freshman at Hunter College, remembers the first few years when his sister started work at the garment factory. Mihir lived with Momotaz and their aunt in Mirpur before moving to the US with their mother in 2009. He stated there was a clear negative effect working in the factory had on his sister.

“I stopped seeing her as much when she started working there. She left the house early and came home late in the night. She was always tired from work and I felt bad because we used to always be together. One of [our aunt’s] friends was the one who helped get her the job there, but I wish she found something else,” Mihir said.

Currently, Zora plans to reunite with both her brother and mother within the next five years. She hopes to continue saving money, with little hope that Bangladesh’s textile industry will undergo the radical changes so desperately needed within that time frame. She said that she feels much of the changes that must be made to the way workers are treated are in conflict with the amount of merchandise that must be produced in a given time, and that this is a primary reason for the harsh conditions employees have to face inside the factories.

“They want so much,” Zora said. “We aren’t machines, but they work us like we are. I do not see myself doing this for much longer. I know there are better things out there for me.”

Momotaz Zora, 24

 

Mehir Zora, 18

 

Recent conflicts with providing aid to those in need in Yemen

Brandon Alexander

The recent conflicts and war in between government and rebel forces in Yemen marks even more disastrous situations for the civilians caught in the crossfire. Specifically, civilians in Yemen are unable to receive much needed medical and resource-based aid. Since March 2015, there have been well over 7,000 reported deaths and approximately 40,000 injuries following conflict between the government and the Houthi rebellion forces.

According to BBC last Tuesday, a large percentage of the death and injury count comes largely from air strikes by a “…Saudi-led multinational coalition that backs the president,” (BBC). Many of the areas airstrikes and fighting have occurred at or near medical centers and have either completely destroyed or rendered the buildings dangerous and non-functional. According to the World Health Organization; “Only 45% of current health facilities are fully functional and accessible, 38% are partially functional, and 17% are completely non-functional.” In conjunction with the medical centers, issues circulating around Yemen’s Hodeidah port in the city of Al Hudaydah present even more hardships in the distribution of resources and aid to those in need.

In a Reuters article yesterday, March 31^st, the Hodeidah port was reported as being Yemen’s largest port that received “more than 70% of humanitarian aid and food imports”. However, due to the present of armed Houthi forces in the area, it’s become increasingly difficult to distribute the aid and materials to civilians. In the UN Press Briefing on Friday, March 31^st, Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq responded to a question regarding the progress of the access of food and aid. He stated: “We want civilians to be able to receive humanitarian assistance as efficiently and effectively as possible. One of the things we’re strongly urging is that all ports should remain open to receive commercial and humanitarian inputs into Yemen.”

This harkens back to a March 20^th Newsweek op-ed by Yemen’s ambassador to the US, Ahmed Awad Binmubarak. There, Ambassador Binmubarak  stated: “Our government recognizes the significance of Hodeidah’s port for aid delivery and therefore rooting out the Houthis will eliminate their destructive meddling in aid distribution.” Whether or not the UN plans to engage the Houthi forces at the Hodeidah port is yet to be seen, though it seems unlikely as UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed stated at a panel on November 7^th, 2016 that the UN would advocate that “no military operations should be undertaken in Hodeidah,” (Reuters).

Bangladesh is one of the US’ most important South Asian allies. But in recent times, the Bangladesh government has experienced turbulence since acquiring independence from Pakistan, nearly 50 years ago. Following several militant coups since the early 70s, Bangladesh’s current government is officially a parliamentary republic headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. However, despite boasts of the country making social and economic improvements, there is an apparent corruption in the government’s relation with the press and labor rights.

MD Kashem, 59, was born in the capital city of Dhaka in 1958. He was 13 years old when the Liberation War occurred in 1971. Unlike his older brother Debesh, who was 20 at the time and in the army, Kashem was too young to take up arms. However, he had an active role in the war by helping bring weapons and food between camps.

The war ended in under a year and Kashem joined the military when he was 18. There, he got his bachelors in mechanical engineering and worked for the country’s air force. His wife, Shahida Begum, was a school teacher during this time and the two married in 1989. Six years later, they had a son, Rifat, and a decade later they immigrated after winning an annual lottery program which granted them a diversity visa to the US.

In all, Kashem and Shahida have lived most of their lives in BD and have seen firsthand how the country’s news media operates. Kashem, who now works in a uniform store in Jamaica, Queens said that: “The main news channels say only good things about the government- especially the [free channels] on TV. You rarely hear about bad things and the government in the reports.” He also noted that while all news channels weren’t actually all pro-government, almost all channels demonstrate clear biases by promoting certain political groups while antagonizing others.

This coincides with a February 2016 article by BBC profiling Bangladesh’s media. In the article, it was reported that the two largest news broadcasters, Radio Bangladesh (BB) and Bangladesh TV (BTV) were “state-owned and government-friendly”. Additionally, in 2014 and 2015, the government reportedly took direct action against the press after several radio and TV stations broadcasted programming deemed “harmful to the image of law enforcement agencies, which impeded state security.” Following this, a nationwide ban on all broadcasted material fitting this criteria was issued in 2014.

“It’s not like how it is [in the US], when you see Trump arguing with [the news media],” Kashem said. “In BD the government and the news never fight because they are the same thing.”

Kashem’s son, Rifat agreed with his father and added that, “Other than extreme cases and disasters, you won’t get a lot of coverage about the problems happening inside- especially if the government might be involved.” Referencing the disastrous collapse of a textile factory in April of 2013, he commented on how news of the incident was portrayed differently in Bangladesh vs. other countries. Two of Rifat’s aunts and several of his cousins lived in the same district of the collapse. They were a safe distance away from collapse, but in the weeks following the disaster, coverage of the incident appeared to be portrayed differently in the BD news media.

“Right after it happened I remember speaking to my aunt about it and her telling me that the news was calling it a ‘terrible accident’ and that no one expected it to happen. Then I read about it online and saw that apparently the building had cracks in it and the [factory owner] was arrested for forcing people to go in to work.”

In recent years there have been several other disastrous events that occurred in Bangladesh’s large textile industry. The pattern calls to issue another facet where the government is suspected to play a part; the rights of workers. Following the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, The BBC published several articles examining the ties politics has on Bangladesh’s massive textile industry and consequently, the conditions and treatment workers are forced to endure.

Hi Emily,

I’m a student in your International Reporting class. I would like to do a story on the corruption surrounding and within Bangladesh’s government, which specifically impacts the country’s press freedoms as well as labor rights. I think the issue featured in this story is very important and the local angle of what Bengali immigrants think of BD’s government ought to be covered.

According to Transparency International’s corruption percentage index of 2016, Bangladesh was ranked 145 of 176 of countries in terms of their corruption index (176 being the most corrupt country, Somalia). Additionally, also on Transparency International was Bangladesh’s territory score- which was 26 out of 100. Territory score on the site is indicative of “the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean)” (Transparency.org)

But why does this matter? For starters, Bangladesh is one of the US’ greatest allies in South Asia. According to the US Trades Representative site, extensive trade occurs between America and Bangladesh in the exports of textile goods, agricultural products, and iron and steel. Additionally, the US is Bangladesh’s largest export market and both countries actively take on roles of combatting extremism.

However, despite their good trade relations and the economic support the US gives to Bangladesh, the country still faces “infrastructure shortcomings, weak governance structures, and a need for greater investment in human capital,” according to the US Dept. of State website. Bangladesh also struggles with its high population density and internal violence from extremist forces.

While creating my first beat memo for Bangladesh, I came across a BBC article describing Bangladesh’s media as “highly polarized”. As it turns out, many of the country’s news agencies align themselves with the different major political groups and reflect their reporting accordingly. I also found that NGO; Freedom House updated the status of Bangladesh’s press freedom status from “Partly Free” to “Not Free” in 2016. According to the webpage, the change was made “due to the murders of four bloggers and a publisher by Islamist militants, threats and nonfatal attacks against other writers, continued legal harassment of media outlets and press freedom advocates and government sanctioned economic pressures on outlet to censor social media.”

I believe that the current condition of BD’s press freedom ties into corruption in its government and aim to get the opinions of local residents on this subject.

Also, in 2014 the Bangladesh government issued a national policy where all TV and radio shows that broadcasted any material deemed harmful to the images of law enforcement and armed forces were banned. This was an interesting find, because this information corresponds to the information I got out of an interview with a Bengali immigrant, regarding the country’s government.

So far, I had an interview with 21 year old Rifat Hasnat, who was born in the capital and largest city in Bangladesh, Dhaka. There, he spent his childhood and most of his adolescent life until he and his family immigrated to New York when he was 13.

Rifat was very outspoken in his opinions when asked about Bangladesh’s government.

“I just feel like pretty much everything in BD works via bribing,” he said. “I’m sure that happens in a lot of other countries, but it’s just so extreme in BD…”

In addition to Rifat, I also plan to speak with both of his parents, where Rifat will fill in as my translator. I will also speak with the familial and friends-references that Rifat and his parents have agreed to provide me.

I want to gather more information on instances of corruption in BD’s government, with regards to press freedom and labor conditions, and get the opinions of local Bengali immigrants on this topic. I plan to compile this into a print story.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

-Brandon A

 

 

Brandon Alexander

Beat Memo– Bangladesh

 

Background info:

CIA Factbook is a good resource for obtaining large amounts of general info for countries. According to the site, the religious breakdown of Bangladesh’s population is: 89.1% Muslim, 10% Hindu, and the remaining 0.9% is composed of Buddhist and Christian. In terms of language, the majority of Bangladeshis speak Bangla/Bengali (a whopping 98.8%), while the rest of the population speak “other” languages, according to the CIA World Factbook.

 

A brief history of BD’s Government:

It was in the 10^th century that people living in what is now Bangladesh had begun settling and converting to Islam. These people were originally said to be Persian traders and preachers. By the 16^th century many trading posts were created in the area and the territory became absorbed into British India. However, as tensions between East and Western Pakistan began growing in 1947, the movement for Bangladesh to acquire its independence became gradually stronger. One of the two major political parties in Bangladesh, the Awami League, led the country’s movement towards independence. With India’s support, Bangladesh’s independence war was won in 1971, though it did not come easily- approximately 300,000 civilians died during the time of the movement.

Not even four years after Bangladesh acquired its independence, the Awami League-led government became overwhelmed with the challenge of running a country and was overthrown by the military in 1975. Several military coups followed this until the government became heavily backed by the military and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party was set in place in 1978.  However, yet again, the BNP was removed via a coup in 1981 and for a decade Bangladesh was governed with military-backed ruling. It wasn’t until 1991 that the country saw democratic elections and after several years of alternating power between the AL and BNP, BD officially turned over to a democracy in 2008 with the election of the AL and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina still holds the position of Prime Minister to this day, due to a landslide victory in Bangladesh’s national election in 2014 against the BNP. In recent times, Bangladesh boasts that with “international developmental assistance”, the country’s poverty rates decreased from what was previously half the entire population to one third. The government claims that it has reached goals in bettering maternal and child health, as well as food security.

 

Info on BD’s News Media:

Some of Bangladesh’s most viewed local news outlets are its newspapers and news websites. Of these, the Bangladesh-English daily newspaper, Prothom Alo is a major source of news in the country that is estimated to be read by 4.3 million people every day. Other prominent news outlets are the daily newspaper: Kaler Kantho, the 24-hour news channel: Ekattor TV, The Daily Star, NewAge.net, Daily Sun, and Betar-Radio Bangladesh. According to an article on BBC.com regarding Bangladesh’s media, the country’s media tends to be highly polarized. News agencies align themselves with the different main political groups and in 2014, the government issued a policy “banning all TV and radio shows from broadcasting material deemed to harm the image of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies impede state security” (BBC). This is an interesting find, because it correlates to the main topic I want to cover in this class, as well as what one of my interviewees has been telling me regarding censorship and corruption in Bangladesh.

 

Some of BD’s current news are clashes the Bangladesh police are having with protesters at an anti-coal protest, as well as the Court of Bangladesh sentencing 26 people (including three senior officers from the country’s elite security force) to death after they were convicted of murdering seven people. Additionally, a top story on several Bangladeshi news sites involves the country’s High Court ordering the government to explain why it “shouldn’t be directed to form an inquiry commission to identify the ‘culprits who made up false stories’ about corruption conspiracies involving the Padma bridge project” (Daily Star).

 

Demographics and Popular Neighborhoods for Bangladeshi Communities in NY:

My neighborhood of Ozone Park, Queens has a healthy amount of Bengali families. Additionally, according to data from the NY Time’s Region map, there has been a growth of Bangladeshi families in the Queens neighborhoods of; Jackson Heights, Woodside, Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Sunset Park, and Bensonhurst. I hope to get interviews from families in these various neighborhoods.

 

Some quotes from interview with Rifat Hasnat, friend from previous college:

“I just feel like pretty much everything in BD works via bribing. I’m sure that happens in a lot of other countries, but it’s just so extreme in BD. You could be the best of the best and at the same time, you could end up getting little to no recognition for it, unless you know someone personally that can give you such a position.”

 

“It’s very hard to escape the class that you’re born in. And it’s common knowledge that the elites do shady things to maintain their position and wealth. But they don’t get in any trouble or face any consequences because of the law- specifically the police. They obey only those who have money, money truly is power over there.”

 

Contact Info:

Rifat Hasnat, 21. (646) 659-4325

I also have permission to interview Rifat’s parents who were born and raised in BD. They don’t speak much English, so Rifat will step in as my translator during their interviews. I also plan to get familial references from Rifat’s parents.

 

Sites used for info gathering:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12650946

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/23/nyregion/20110123-nyc-ethnic-neighborhoods-map.html?_r=1&

http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/hc-probe-find-falsifiers-1361980

One of my former Journalism professors called The Daily Beast a “cheat sheet”, because it provides highlights for all the top news of the day and also links to the full stories on other sites. And while this is true, the Daily Beast is a type of “cheat sheet”, the news outlet does focus on more than just domestic stories. Presented in a clean series of tabs with the largest tab cycling between the current, most buzzing stories, the Daily Beast’s website is user-friendly and direct. The Daily Beast first started publishing back in October of 2008 and has since accumulated much popularity and many readers. John Avion, editor-in-chief of the news outlet stated that audience engagement since 2012 has doubled and viewership now reaches more than 20 million readers every month. According to the “about us” section of their website, the Daily Beast “delivers award-winning original reporting and sharp opinions from big personalities in the arenas of politics , pop-culture, and more.”

Perhaps one of the most useful features on its site is the “World News” tab at main page’s header. This section is updated quite often, as there are currently 6 stories available for reading on February 6th that deal with news from outside of the US, as well as stories about the US’ involvement with other countries. Similar to news organizations such as BBC and CNN, the Daily Beast has been accused of being left-leaning, especially with regards to its recent coverage of President Trump.

A recent international story done by the Daily Beast was the story “Japan Has a Word for ‘Working to Death’”, in which the state of Japan’s working environments and labor conditions were called into question after a woman committed suicide  from overwork. What’s disturbing about this is just as the title explains; the event of suicide from overworking is so common that there is a word for it (karoshi).

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/03/japan-has-a-word-for-working-to-death.html

For this class, I think that I’d like to do my work on Bangladesh, specifically the corruption that is associated with the country’s government. My best-friend is Bengali and he tells me stories of how corrupt the government is, based on his own personal experiences when he was growing up. Rifat emigrated to the US in 2005 along with his family, but spent most of his adolescent life in Dhaka, the largest city and capital of Bangladesh. Along with Rifat and his family members (who speak primarily Bengali with very limited English) I’d like to speak with Bengali families in NYC who lived in and out of capital as well as individuals who are from Bengali families but were born after their families emigrated. I think it would be interesting to find out what all these people think of Bangladesh’s government and the current state of affairs in the country. Rifat also mentioned to me that the only reason his family moved to the US was because they won a lottery allowing them to move during a time when travel to the US wasn’t allowed, so I’m also interested in the stories of just how and why Bangladesh families came to the US. The NY Times Ethnicity by Region Map looks to be a good resource, because it shows that there is a rise in the number of Bengali families in Jackson Heights and Woodside and a very rapid growth of these families in Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Sunset Park, and Bensonhurst. I think these neighborhoods would be good places to go meet and speak directly to Bengali families.