Workers' agitation

It's a grave concern that at this critical juncture, the knitwear workers' agitation in Narayangonj has turned into an unprecedented violence. Because of the incidence, in addition to the call for a general strike and the mass vandalisation of factories, which compelled to close down more than 250 export oriented factory units, one fact becomes crystal clear: regardless of who is to blame for the incidence, should this agitation is allowed to continue, Bangladeshi knitwear exports would collapse, as foreign buyers would cancel pending orders.

In other words, unless a matured and responsible solution is offered to the problem compounded by the monthly decline in export of Tk 300 crores worth of Ready-made Garments to the US market alone, not only this agitation would bring the downfall of Bangladeshi garment exports for good, given the negative reputation of Bangladeshi work ethics

abroad, the future inflow of foreign investment also is likely to come to a halt.

In a changing pace of globalisation and persistent economic recession, the question is, whether Bangladesh can afford to loose its only source of foreign earnings? I hope that irrespective of political affiliation, in the light of long view of national interest, instead of pointing fingers to others and fanning the fuel, the incumbent government, opposition political parties, civic bodies, business and chamber organisations, and trade unions would attempt to solve the problem.

Shibly Azad

Columbia University

NYC, USA

When teachers go wrong!

It drives me crazy when I see people praising criminals. For example, to stress the importance of discipline for the benefit of a child, can a teacher

make reference to Adolph Hitler or Gen Yahya Khan and say that they were very disciplined people and everybody should try his best to be so disciplined? What message would you then give your students if you were teaching in a school? Thanks to Mrs Dilruba Zaman of the Education Ministry, who scrutinised such a practice advocated by Rev Mrs Angela Robinson.

Rev Mrs Angela Robinson, in a letter recently published in these columns, expressed her admiration for Israel saying, "Within a generation, they (the Israelis) were among the finest soldiers in the world. They began sending agricultural advisers all over the world to poorer countries..." and goes on to indicate that this piece of reality can be used to teach children to think. Wow! Her teaching techniques in her British School in Dhaka must be one of the latest ones! I would like to know what else children learn in this school.

Child-psychology tells us that children learn by association. If you tell a child that 'X' in 'Y' is good, then the child will associate the two (i.e. X and Y) and will think Y must be good too. In Rev Mrs Angela Robinson's example, if she tells the children in her school that having a superb agriculture is excellent and Israel has it, then the children will end up concluding that Israel is also good, which, through an inevitable extension of that association will also mean if Israel is not liked by some people, they are jealous or bad.

I am sure Rev Mrs Angela Robinson doesn't want her students to come to those conclusions. The cruel, wicked state of Israel needs to be portrayed in a like manner so that the children, who will lead our nation one day, are not deprived of the truth.

Kamrul Ahsan

University of Cambridge, UK

Dictatorial democracy Both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia had enough chances to develop

Bangladesh. It is now clear that none of them has any intention of doing anything for the people who vote for them, pay their honorarium and sometimes even die for them. Therefore, the obvious thing to do for Bengali people is to get rid of them.

Sadly, we have gone beyond this point. Bengalis are no longer able to decide who rules their country. It doesn't matters who they vote for. Leaders in Bangladesh don't win by votes any longer; they win by force. Saddam's Iraq, Milosovich's Yugoslavia, Mugabe's Zimbabwe, Pol Pot's Cambodia and our Bangladesh have one thing in common; they are/were ruled by one party, one dictatorial leader. The only thing different about Bangladesh is that, currently it is ruled by not one, but two parties and two dictatorial leaders.

However, despite having more than one political party, Bangladesh is just one step behind some of the nastiest one-man dictatorial regimes in the world. But rest assured, both

AL and BNP are doing their best to make our country a full-time dictatorial regime. They both want to wipe out the other. That way they can have the whole country for themselves as long as they want and they wouldn't have to face any election. The good news for Bengalis is that we still have two parties. The bad news is that both of these parties are exactly the same. So in essence, we have a one party-two-leader-dictatorial democracy!

For AL and BNP, there is a very simple rule: if you are in the opposition, try your best to undermine the country and the government. That way the public will blame the ruling party. And if you are the ruling party, then do your best to wipe out the opposition. It is obvious that neither of these leaders will step down willingly and they can't be pulled down from their chairs by any court ruling or law since these people are above the law. But this is where the people's power comes in. It is not

something totally unknown. People in other countries have risen against brutal leaders and they have successfully brought them to justice. Sadly, with the current rate of literacy in our country, we have a long way to go before our people see the difference in political system of Bangladesh and other countries.

Looks like both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina have at least another 15 years to settle their scores and to decorate their families.

Azad Miah

Oldham, UK

The media and negative writing (!)

According to The Daily Star report (Monday, October 20) Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has condemned the so called media's negative reporting over her coalition government's success. It's fashionable indeed and in this regard I would say that it's the media which put her four party alliance in power.

During the last Awami League period, media had played a vital role in publishing the wrong-doings of government and their stooges. People were mostly influenced by the fair media reports, not by the rhetorical speeches of the alliance leaders.

Print media like The Daily Star plays a pioneering role in exposing both the good and bad side of the society. It's the duty and obligation of media to express the real situation of the society whatever may be its scenario. Though it's not exceptional that some media don't follow the same path.

But, accusing the media of negative reporting cannot be the solution. In practice, it will make the problem more complex and provoke the partymen to do whatever they like.

Besides, democracy is unworkable without criticism.

Salam

3rd year, Department of law Chittagong University