What will the US say now?

Ajoy Dasgupta
Published : 10 June 2020, 01:52 AM
Updated : 10 June 2020, 01:52 AM

The globally acclaimed daily The Guardian printed an article, jointly penned by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and the CEO of Global Center on Adaptation Patrick V Verkooijen last week reflecting on how the challenge posed by the raging monster Cyclone Amphan having torn through Bangladesh and some states of India was handled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

There is an adage in Bangla that disasters move about in a gang. The outbreak has swept through the entire developed world, knocking countries like the US, Britain, Germany, France, Brazil, and Italy off the perch. As the invisible killer came out of the blue, neither Bangladesh nor any other country on this planet had the faintest inkling of how to get it handled. How could more than 100,000 people succumb to the virus in the US, a country seemingly unbeatable in terms of military and economic powers?

The virus is burying its fangs in all the corners of Bangladesh – cities and villages. Never before did we observe a disease with such an astronomical rate of infection where getting close to an infected may put your life in jeopardy. There has been an alarming number of deaths of physicians. Scrawling down the list of people infected with the virus, you will observe people of the entire spectrum of the society – from members of parliament to police to intellectuals. Nearly all branches of the economy are in grave danger while tens of millions of people are waiting for relief. Just imagine how Bangladesh despite reeling from this epidemic evacuated 2.4 million men, women, and children and evacuated them to a safe shelter and provided them with soap, sanitiser, and food. The Guardian was poised to present some insights to the countries which are undergoing the same crisis or may have to face it in the future.

The entire evacuation of the 2.4 million people, greater than the individual population of at least 180 countries in the world, had to be squeezed within a day or a little more perhaps in a gigantic effort laid out by the government led by Hasina to mitigate the impact of the storm. But, did our media keep this news at the same level on the priority ladder as The Guardian did? The Guardian carried it forward as an example to be followed by other countries and that our media could do as well. At the beginning of May, Earl Miller, the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Robert Dickson, the British high commissioner in Bangladesh, and a few other ambassadors simultaneously tweeted about the freedom of expression and the freedom of media in Bangladesh. This does not fall under the purview of diplomatic etiquette, as observed by the Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.

There was a time when the US ambassador appointed to Bangladesh and representatives from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund had the last say about what policy our country would adopt or what course of action Bangladesh would take. Our finance and planning ministers used to fly to Paris before announcing the national budget. There 'experts' from 'donor countries and countries' used to promise about funding, regarded as the pillar of our national development plans. After Hasina assumed the role of prime minister in 1996, she made the Paris Consortium call it a day. Then the consortium was hosted in Dhaka and that too was bidden a farewell to.

Now the situation has undergone a further change. When the World Bank backtracked on their decision to fund a crucial project such as Padma Bridge construction, it tagged the country with a baseless allegation. Rewind the clock further back and you would see that the former US president Richard Nixon and his famous foreign minister Henry Kissinger listed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Father of the Nation of Bangladesh, as their enemy. The barbaric occupation army of Pakistan who committed one of the worst genocides of world history in Bangladesh was blessed with the most advanced American weapons that they employed to root out the liberation struggle of Bangladesh.

Following independence, they also created pressure on Bangabandhu to refrain from trying Pakistani officers and soldiers who were directly involved in genocide, rape, and plundering. Kissinger didn't even stop there. He dubbed Bangladesh a 'Bottomless Basket', which didn't deserve any donation or funding. Their conspiracy behind the killing of the Father of the Nation is now known to all.

Their retreat from funding on Jun 29, 2012, was part of a deep conspiracy. We can remember the statement of the then World Bank representative Ellen Goldstein, who said the World Bank would rethink on funding the Padma Bank project when Hasina took their opinion into account while making any decisions. Even they were demanding a promise on which method the next parliamentary election would take place. But, Hasina, daughter of Bangabandhu, didn't buckle under pressure. Rather, she took the landmark decision to carry forward the project even without the finance of the World Bank. A remarkable portion of the bridge is already visible with spans over a length of four and a half kilometres – constructed on the heart of surging Padma. Hasina must be credited for giving birth to the 'Padma Bridge Spirit'.

Getting back to the recent issue of the tweets of several country representatives on the freedom of media in Bangladesh, one will surely find it as a clear audacity and negligence. Unfortunate as it may sound, some of the media outlets of our country covered it so ornately that it seemed like blowing out of proportion.

Instead of taking all their opinions for granted, we should recognise that their misinformation of coronavirus or the storm Amphan, the instigation to create instability in the readymade garment sector are unacceptable since these can push the country towards grave danger.

What is turning out in the US? Even within the country, there have been complaints that President Donald Trump is in a war against the media. The same is in the UK where Prime Minister Boris Johnson promulgated an order to refrain from issuing any public statement on healthcare in Britain.

We all know what happened to George Floyd who was strangled to death by police officers in the US and the entire country is raging with protests against such a blatant disregard to humanity. This murder testifies to the racism the fangs of which have not been uprooted yet. This killing of a black man has sparked protests from all quarters including white men and women who took to the street defying curfew and government orders.

Trump tried to douse the fire of protest through force. The BBC reported that many journalists became victims of police brutality while covering the movement. Their eyes burned because of teargas and pepper spray. Rubber bullets targeting protesters pierced the skins and fleshes of journalists as well. They are not spared from police brutality even after introducing themselves as the people from the press. Press Freedom Tracker reported at least 90 incidents of attacks on journalists by security agencies.

Minnesota police arrested CNN journalists and crew during live television coverage. There is no answer to why they were arrested. The entire world is watching that journalists are handcuffed and taken to police custody. Miller, the US ambassador to Bangladesh, must have seen this incident.

He cannot even think in his wildest dream that he can speak up against the wrongdoings going on in his country under the direction of his country's president. To do that, he has to resign first, which he didn't. But, back in 1971, when the Pakistani occupation army launched genocide in Bangladesh, many Bengali diplomats left Pakistan to swear allegiance to the government formed by Bangabandhu. Will Miller do the same? That cannot be expected because he is vocal about the press freedom of Bangladesh. He came up with tweets even without bothering about diplomatic etiquette. Sajeeb Ahmed Wajed, the ICT adviser to the prime minister of Bangladesh, requested the journalists of Bangladesh to question the US embassy about the freedom of media in the US. Can we have the faintest hope that those who are measuring the freedom of media in Bangladesh with amazing precision will be equally concerned about the repression of journalists in their own country as well?