The difficult equation

Take the case of youth, radarless body-mass, occasionally raising voices within campus without comprehensible goals or objectives. Only active youth left are the unemployed and the misdirected ones (but a few), who are most talked about for their mischievous acts. Yet, they have earned blemished image as every one is threatened and recounts their evil performances.

Take the case of religious leaders (the ones visible and heard), they are mostly dedicated in their efforts to revive Islam through rituals dictated by borrowed ideas from renegades, who prefer to rekindle the glories of Islam through paths abhorred by sane mind. They are more concerned with practices superficially engaged to protect the dignity of believing women through a piece of cloth either covering around their forehead or faces. Whether a child is malnourished or not is hardly their concern.

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Take the case of teachers, lawyers, business elite, who are glorified by their identities as members of the Civil Society, without properly defining its connotation. These days, they are using the courtyard of Press Club and High Court, to ventilate their protestations. Result is that both the places are gradually losing their effectiveness. Of course without hesitation some among them are making their cases felt and praised by the people.

Now take the case of bureaucrats. The dynamic machine that fuels the running of the country is hostage to all the forces described above and also to the politicians. In the absence of noble directions to steer to, except in papers (like implementing PRSP), they are demonstrating that they are the best tools for whosoever wishes to use them in whatsoever way.

Next in the lines are the NGO leaders, not the workers. The latter have been rendered ineffective by their status of becoming paid employees (fixed pay not elastic to their quality and quantity of performances). NGO workers are the bureaucrats without clouts. NGO leaders for long had been depending too much on the donations and grants and the sources of these mostly dominate their psyche.

Last but not the least, the Politicians (the powerful ones, not all), no longer demagogues but demigods, at least a few are in the latter category, who are behaving that the country is their serfdom and the people are their serfs. A typical mediaeval mindset. Even feudalism had some laws and accountability, but for the powerful politicians of Bangladesh hardly anything is acceptable as norm or value. Each one of them is creating their own standards of practice and behaviour. Even historians will be at a loss to analyse such practices as there is no standard to compare the same. Here one needs to put forward some logic to establish and prove what has been said above. The powerful politicians in position or in opposition deny to interact with each other.

The only way they interact is through remote control mechanism of using the forces of power: be it organised state force or the forces of the street (hartals and gehraos).

One would fail, if one does not acknowledge the contributions of the journalists (both print and electronic media --TV), who are frequently effective in blessing the people with messages of 'Social Justice'. However, social justice is recognised, but not established yet. Some of them have achieved crescendo of glories through sacrifices (even with lives) not really deserved by us (the people), who lack courage and fortitude to duly pay back their sacrifices caused due to their strong imprinted words of justice and inspirations for achieving goals of noble life!

What should the people expect in this situation of grave national misfortune and disasters? How should one attempt to solve this difficult equation of complex and excruciating circumstances that the people are locked in? Common intelligence fails to grasp a solution. But one is reminded that the common people not totally lost and despaired. Supporting evidence is that despite frequent social and natural disasters (particularly floods), the farmers are feeding the people, the workers in the industries are earning bread for the nation, the expatriate workers are sending their contributions regularly. These are beacons of hope, only what the nation needs is possibly a Mandela, who would be ready to sacrifice everything both during the times of being vanquished (in prison) and victorious(when winning state power). Most of our national leaders have failed to demonstrate sacrifices during their winning times -- a magnanimity which takes an individual from mediocrity to greatness and also to noble heights. There are a few genuinely concerned national leaders -- from among the journalists, lawyers and NGO leaders; but they are failing to be persistent and consistent in their sacrifices. Possibly they think that the uprising of the people will reward them soon, even though they are not connecting with the people (masses). Their messages reach those who understand them (the intellectuals). Can they come out from their trap (communications with the blessed few only) and reach the people? Almost all of them are captives of their institutions (law, journalism, NGO), which have made them famous, but unless they reach and relate with people with commitment and continuity, people will not reach them. And when people relate with them, only then the difficult equation will be solved. People need to get right messages; mere messages of oust government may be misleading. Instead people would prefer a message concerning their lives free of corruption in a terror free society.

Syed Jahangeer Haider PhD is MD, Research Evaluation Associates for Development (READ).