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Building a more just society

Rehman Sobhan
I feel humbled and inadequate to bear the weight of the Swadhinata Puraskar. Those of our generation who were privileged to be associated with the liberation struggle were part of a mighty army where ordinary people rose above themselves to perform deeds which were beyond our expectation.
Peasants became warriors, bureaucrats became commanders, majors became generals, housewives became part of the supply chain for our war effort and some even took up arms. Teachers such as myself became diplomats and advocates arguing the case for Bangladesh before audiences who would never have had reason to even be aware of our existence. We were all elevated in our spirits and by our modest deeds and saw ourselves as part of a historic process which culminated in an independent Bangladesh.
For those of us who participated as footsoldiers in the liberation struggle and survived to become citizens of an independent Bangladesh this was, in itself, a reward beyond price and invested us with a sense of fulfillment. The award which I receive today I, therefore, receive not for myself but for my generation who were singled out by history to participate in a great event.
None of us should feel we did
anything special. In my own case, the award is related to my contribution to research and teaching. Much of my earlier research was focused on the background to the emergence of Bangladesh whilst my subsequent work extended to the policies as well as political economy which subsequently shaped an independent Bangladesh. This work was given some coherence by my unifying belief in the need to build a more just society. The nature of my work as a teacher and researcher ensured that it would be part of a shared enterprise. After all, a teacher can only be singled out through the distinctions earned by his or her students who should thereby be made part of any honour visited on their teachers. My contributions as a researcher were greatly enhanced by the support of my associates, research assistants, professional colleagues and friends whose labours and ideas provided inputs and added value to my own work. My family, who shared the tensions and occasional hazards of my unorthodox life and unconventional views, should also be recognised as contributors to my work. My family, along with my colleagues who were, thus, involved in my research endeavours or worked with me to build the institutions with which I have been associated, the Dhaka University Economics Department, the Bangladesh Planning
Commission, the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies, and my home for the last 13 years, the Centre for Policy Dialogue, should rightfully be recognised as partners in this award I receive today.
This great honour which I choose to share with all those who have contributed to elevating me to this stage today at Osmany Auditorium is also being bestowed today on more heroic figures and organizations than myself who have already been enshrined in our history. Professor Shamsuzzoha was martyred on the streets of Rajshahi bravely confronting the Pakistan army during the first phase of the unfolding struggle for national liberation. My gentle and beloved colleague at Dhaka University, Professor Gobindo Chandra Deb who dedicated his life to non-violence, was gunned down by the Pakistan army on the infamous night of March 25, 1971 during their massacre of students and staff of Jagannath Hall. This heinous crime was one of the first signals of the genocidal nature of the war unleashed on the people of Bangladesh at the orders of Yahya Khan and his cohorts. The warriors of the BDR, in their earlier incarnation as the EPR (East Pakistan Rifles), were one of the first to shed their blood valiantly in Peelkhana and elsewhere across Bangladesh resisting the aggression on our sover-
eignty by the Pakistan army. They continued to play a valiant role as part of the Mukti Bahini, throughout the course of our war of national liberation.
So many other martyrs and heroes, including the unnamed millions who Invested their blood, their sweat and their tears, so that we could live in a free Bangladesh, have left us the living, with unpaid debts which remain outstanding after 37 years of our national existence. Our failure to bring to account those who were responsible for the genocide has exercised a malign Influence over our history. It has cost us the lives of the father of the nation and his family, his closest associates, and eventually some of the heroes of our liberation war. It has distorted our historical memories, deviated us from the founding principles of our state, and has continued to infect and divide our contemporarypolitics.
We not only remain accountable to history but also to the living. Let us not forget that Bangladesh originated in our struggle to build a democratic, just and equitable society where people of all faiths and beliefs could live in harmony with one another. Those of us who first joined this struggle once argued that Pakistan's policymakers needed to recognise the reality of two economies co-existing within a nation state. Having achieved an independent
Bangladesh, with a single national economy, we now find our nation state is inhabited by two societies divided between an elite minority enjoying First World life styles and a deprived majority struggling for survival on the margins of subsistence.
Bangladesh has undoubtedly made significant gains during its life as a nation state. Our small farmers have tripled our food production. Our migrant workers are bringing in close to 7 billion dollars in remittances. Our garment entrepreneurs and workers, mostly poor women, have together contributed to the emergence of a globally competitive export industry. Our micro-credit revolution has established that our resourceless millions can be both creditworthy and productive. We have registered significant advances in our human development indicators. Yet these very gains registered by Bangladesh serve to remind us of how much more we could have achieved and how much more justly we could have distributed the fruits of our independent existence.
Our political history established the prospect of Bangladesh emerging as a model of democracy in Asia, with a stable two party system where extraconstitutional interventions would have become historical memories. The relatively egalitarian social order we inherited could have been used to build a more equitable society through providing a greater stake for our deprived majority in the development process. Our exposure to a genocide committed by abusing the name of religion should have educated us to the importance of building a more inclusive society. I do not need to remind anyone here as to how far we have deviated from the vision of a society which motivated so many to
stake their lives.
Today as we stand on the path towards yet another political transition it is surely important to reaffirm our faith in the beliefs which inspired our liberation struggle. It is, thus, imperative that we restore our democratic process without delay and allay any uncertainty about the road map to this cherished goal We need to ensure that this democratic renewal will be sustained by committing ourselves to attain some of the other neglected, yet no less important, goals of the liberation war which were designed to strengthen the foundations of democracy by providing the ordinary people of Bangladesh with a direct stake in protecting our democratic institutions.
To this end we need to project a credible vision of a Bangladesh freed of the injustice of poverty, where the less privileged majority are invested with a broad range of opportunities which enhance their capacity to participate in the development process and derive a more equitable share in its rewards.
We need to commit ourselves to establish a political order where money and muscle no longer remain the currency of power and ordinary people, our deprived, our women, our minorities, can thereby aspire to be more substantively represented in our various elective bodies.
The people of Bangladesh may once again be inclined to pledge their commitment, as they did in the course of the liberation war, to ensure the sustainability of our democratic system, if they can be motivated to believe that such a system will serve to create a more just and inclusive society.
Prof Rehman Sobhan, an eminent ecorxmst was awarded the Swadhinata Puraskar 2008. The above is his address on the occasion o' the award of the Swadhinata Puraskar2008.