The vision — pondered long So ptauslbte becomes

That 1 esteem the fiction — real The Real — /IctUlous seems

— Emily Dicklnaoi

THERE was an Inscription hanging on the wall of Victor Hugo's room when he died in Partsin 1885. It said. "I represent a party which does not yet exiat: the party of revoiutation. civllisatfon. This party will make the twentieth century. There will Issue from It first the United State of Europe, then the United States of the World.* The new world envlasged by Hugo is democratic, not monarchic, free not feudal; /evolutionary, not traditional. It proclaims liberation from religious cultural and class oppression and for that matter, any kind of discrimination. be it race, colour, creed or gender. "Here the free spirit of mankind at tength/throws its last fetters off. Cultural, linguistic and ethnic identities are all there Cultures differ from each other in the same way. aspeopte construe the world differently, determining by their imagination how they dress, cook, draw and what they believe. The dress of a woman in Lhassa/ln Its place/ls an invisible element of that place/made visible.' But human spirit, when freed and unfettered moves easily between diverse cultures and different landscapes. Then the rich diversity melds into the embroidered quilt of the universe and all our times — past, present or future — merge into the spirit's hour. It is this dialectic that provides a mutual modification between the part and the whole, the identity and the world.

Metaphysical musings aside, what Hugo contemplated in the late nineteenth century is becoming a reality as the countdown lor the new millennium begins. The Berlin Wall has fallen down and the nation-states of Europe are virtually borderless. Geographical boundaries of various countrieq are no doubt there. But people and Ideas travel freely, so also the polyglot voices and visions of European art and culture. As freedom of transactions between and among the nationstates expand, a common European market takes shape.

The world, no doubt, remains divided. There are strifes and conflicts, aggression and resistance. But the complex web of information superhighway is spinning rapidly Its linkages. The world today Is distanceless and Information of what is happening anywhere on the

Ria net is almost instantaneous, o mediation by wise leaders or for that matter, any intermediary is required. As for the Soba! production process and le economy, any state, big or small must either be a competent stake-holder or left behind. Monopolistic greed is there, so also the danger of liegemony by the ii< li and Ilie powerful Hut eiiligliirned corporate Interest requires that the entrants In the world marketplace continue to expand. Even more powerful la the countervailing awareness of public interest and social responsibility — a civic consensus all over the world about equal opportunity and fair exchange.

In the context of this global ambiance, there has been a qualitative transformation of the concepts of democratic governance in a civil society. The essence of democracy Is in participation by the broad spectrum of citizenry. A centralised structure of governance, more often than not. Is baaed on the edicts of the few belonging to the magic circle of oligarchy. Democracy. as practiced by the ancient Greeks in their city states on the other hand, provide both space to and immediacy for broad-based participation. Hence communitarian governance which is both responsive and accountable to the needs and aspirations of a community, ia more relevant for weaving a cohesive social fabric rather than pious sermons from the hill-top of a distant centre.

Performance of a local representative institution can be more easily judged rather than comfortably vague broad fen eraliaations which by definition cannot always capture the diverse nuances of different groups and social formations within a nation.

Further, leadership tested through the fire of local governance moves up to the national stage, cleansed and purified as it were. The task of the national leadership is essentially aggre-CUon and articulation of pub-

Interest on the basis ofnormative consensus among diverse groups. Provision offocal public goods is increasingly the responsibility of the community governance, while the central government's role is to husband frontier knowledge and technology and pass those onto the local communities for adoption, adaptation, improvisation. or rejection.

In a similar vein. Ihe government provides an enabling umbrella for free and fair economic transactions without unnecessary control or stultifying regulations Market, a much maligned word, does have Imperfections. and tatssesfare is no panacea for correcting the imperfections. But imperfect as it is the market provides a better mechanism for information processing and response to the discrete pieces of data thus produced. rather than a huge central organisation which moves in its own ponderous pace. Further, political boundaries of a state and the boundary of a market may not coincide. A market may go beyond the boundaries of a state and connect regions in several states. If consumer welfare is the motto, complementarity and competitiveness go hand-in-hand. Any

regulation, If required, is for reducing distortions and bringing the economy closer to such normative structure.

Is this an idealised scenario? A play of fantasy? Perhaps yea, But no social transformation has as yet taken place without an element of Utopia. And In the global context. this flight of imagination could be the birthing ground for a more meaningful reality The final poem*. Wallace Stevens writes. *WH1 be the poem of fact in the language of fact. But It will be the poem of fact not re-ahsed before."

So. how will Bangladesh look like thirty years from today?

First, in spite of the dark episode of more than a decade and a half of authoritarian repression. the march of democracy continues unabated. But the rituals of election alone, is not democracy. There must be a total overhaul of the mindset that smacks of semifeudal authoritarianism. Rent-seeking and euphemism for bribery and corruption, has been and unfortunately continues to be an instrument to win and retain obeaciance of support-groups.

An Institutional transformation is in order both in the polity and in its techno-bureau era tic arm. The seeds of change arc already in the wind.

A beginning has been made in devolving power to the communities through local representative institutions. Yes. the character of local power-structure has not changed, but a continuous process of accountability does and will lead to transformation. Hopefully, the future leadership at the national level will come up through this screening process. And a national consensus will emerge regarding a responsible civil society based on letting a hundred flower bloom with equality of opportunity for all. Tnere is no harm if the process of elections to various tiers of local bodies and to national government is a contlnuos one. That.

perhaps, is more cost-effective than constant work-stoppages in the scramble for self-aggrandizing power. Taken to the extreme. a national election every two years can be visualized, so that public interest Is not sacrificed at the altar of vested interest. That Is how Professor Yunus feels, and I agree.

That brings me to the rote of the government and governance vis-a-vis the economy. That I believe, will be. essentially of a facilitator of private enterprise and an arbiter between private interests on the one hand and Kublic Interest on the other, tate-operated enterprises will be divested to the private entrepreneurs except in nationally agreed upon strategic sectors. Financial intermediation will be transparent and if I may plagiarise from my friend Muhith. default culture will be severely dealt with. That culture. I am afraid, is more the result ol a collusion between politico-bureaucratic institutions and the privileged few, rather than of the proverbial avarice of the corporate sector. Only thus, through freedom of transactions. Import and export. and of course, a facilitat-

ing legal framework, the country will be incorporated into the globalized production process.

Again, the future industrial society tn Bangladesh is a leap forward into the future. It will be a knowledge intensive production and service complex of skilled people working in small units and linked in an integrated production process. The dynamics of the outward looking technologies will be in etec-bernets and informatkxJbanL In this effort, as Dr. Iqbal Mahmud points out:

"Government institutions and private enterprises have to join hands in technology search, assessment, negotiation and design. The political leadership must realize what the future portends for us in the next century without development of human capital. Higher technological literacy, not to speak of general literacy, is a sine qua non for a developed society capable of exploring the frontiers of science and technology. If the human capital building institutions remain in a state of total disarray no amount of technology import will help us in reaping the benefit from the great leap forward in human

Nobel laureate Professor Abdus Salam says that "Science and technology are cyclical. They are a shared heritage of all mankind." But we can have a share in the dividend only if appropriate investments are made by us. The revolution In information Is already on rapid development and proliferation of computers Is evident everywhere. For bridging the information gap CD/ROM technologies are drastically cutting the need for large Investment in libraries and documentation centers.

By the year 2020. the country will be led to establish global links In a wide range of manufactured products In a more open trade regime. The immediate task therefore is to strengthen technological linkages and to develop appropriate technological institutions that foster the absorption, adaptation and diffusion of technology. Externalities In the assessment, selection, absorption and diffusion of technology in all modern sectors Justify government intervention. In the form of public investments in our technological capabilities."

Having aaid that. I come

back to my earlier proposition of transcending the borders, if not for an European Common Market, or its like, but for our own interest. Again, I quote an erudite friend of mine. Dr. Kamal Hossain: The prospects for Bangladesh need to be visual-Izedixil in isolation but in the < ontexi of widening options and expanding opportunities within a framework of regional and sub-regional cooperation

Geographical realities, resource endowments and manifest complementarities point to significant benefits which could result for all the partners from a sub-regional framework of cooperation in the northeastern sub-region of South Asia comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan. Nepal and north eastern areas of India. A multimodal transport system built around the deep water ports could be developed in Bangladesh for the benefit of all. A coordinated approach to the harnessing of renewable and non-renewabie sources of energy — hydro-electric potential of Bhutan and Nepal, the natural gas of Bangladesh, the coal in north-eastern India — points to the need for cooperation water resources of the major river basins in the sub-re-gton call for shared use which is ecologically sound and optimises benefits for the people. A shared commitment to sustainable development for the peoples of the sub-region — children women and men would stimulate innovative strategies for development of human resources and new technologies and patterns of trade."

In the end I would say. a liberal and pluralistic social order is on the cards. Politically it means a system characterized St what German philosopher abermas calls 'communicative rationality", or creating public fora for dtscuseions. contestation. debate and consensus. A liberal social order Is to my mind the prerequisite for brosd-based participation in such debates. That and only that will lead the civil society to self-organisation and thus self-realization.

Perhaps, it is a dream, but that is a poetic license:

7 reckon — when I count U all— First poets — then the Sun — Then Summer — Then the Heavens qf God—

And then — the list is done -But looking back — First so seems

To comprehend the Whole — The others look a needless show-

Sol write— poets All —

(Emily Dickinson).