Western bleeding hearts Misplaced concern for Yunus

Tarana Halim: 
 
Forty leaders in the West including former US secretary of state Hilary Clinton have expressed “deep concern” for the well being of Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus in an open letter for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina , putting it up as a paid advertisement in the Washington Post, which did not find enough news value in the letter to be turned into a news story.
 
 The advertisement cost the dollar equivalent of more than 7.8 million (78 :Lakhs) BD Taka, by all account a considerable sum that other Nobel Laureates may have liked to spend on poverty alleviation at a time the world is facing severe recession owing to high energy costs due to the unending Ukraine War. But Dr Yunus , who claims to be pioneer of micro-credit , chose to get his Western admirers to pressurize the Bangladesh government by an high-cost insertion in the Washington Post.
 
That the Post did not think it fit to run the letter as a news item but that was carried as news in Bangladesh media and elsewhere in South Asia fits into the US plans to hassle the Awami League government on behalf of Yunus , who was chosen by them to helm the country during the military-backed unelected caretaker regime – something that Yunus readily agreed.
 
It is all in public domain that Yunus sought a 9-year term in government through this backdoor undemocratic arrangement instead of the six years promised to him . So much for the American love for democracy and their long history of backing undemocratic dispensations abroad to fulfil Washington’s strategic purposes.
 
But first let’s focus on another hypocrisy concerning Yunus, whose Western admirers conveniently forget the major government initiatives like reduction of interest rates, ease of lending measures and establishment of “Polli Unnayan Bank” and “Polli Sonchoy” schemes in bringing down Bangladesh’s poverty rates
From 41 % at the end of the last century to 20 percent at the end of the last decade. The drop has continued in the last three years.  Yunus’ s Western cheerleaders tend to give the whole credit for this sharp drop in Bangladesh poverty to his Grameen Bank micro-credit schemes which is a travesty of truth. No single NGO can alone change the fundamentals of an weak economy such as that of war-ravaged and over-populated Bangladesh – at the most, they can only serve as catalyst . Economic wisdom suggests it is the government that has to put in place major initiatives that can alter the macro-economic environment so critical for large scale poverty alleviation or rural economic transformation. Anyone in disagreement should read the basic texts of development theory.
 
But let me remind my Western friends that Grameen’s lending regime was at times so oppressive that scores of rural poor had to flee their hearth and home to evade repayment pressure. Let me recall the two poor villager who received  their loans from Hilary Clinton ( as Yunus’ guest) in a ceremonial event In Jessore who ran away from their place of residence to evade Grameen’s bouncers. One was later rescued from Nilphamari in northern Bangladesh , another from Khagracherri in the remote Chittagong Hill Tracts by the Awami League government. Unless rescued, they may found their names in some Western list of Enforced Disappearances in Bangladesh and HPM Hasina would face charges of “gross human rights violations”.   
 
I am sure signatories like actress Sharon Stone , who signed up as “a mother” for Yunus’ well-being, are unaware of such realities and have been carried away by the US deep state , of which Hilary remains an important member, in pitching for Dr Yunus. I hope Sharon will join me when I launch a signature campaign demanding UN recognition for 1971 East Pakistan genocide to seek justice for quarter of a million Bengali women who were dishonoured by the Pakistani soldiers and their local cohorts.
 
Let me also remind my American friends that , like your Constitution, our Constitution also enshrines “equality before law” and “equal protection of law”. Dr Yunus made us proud by winning the Nobel Peace Prize ( not one for economics, though) like great Bengali economists Amartya Sen and Abhjijit Vinayak Banerjee) though this is usually given to those who have taken some path breaking peace initiatives like ending the Arab-Israel Conflict in Middle East or the Vietnam War . But Dr Yunus is not above the law of the land and though he can expect the protection of law like a normal citizen, he should be ready to accept punishment if proven guilty under the due process of law. 
 
Amartya Sen, when challenged by the Viswa Bharati University in West Bengal over possession of a piece of land the university claimed was its, took to court with considerable documentation to prove his ownership rather than shy away from facing judicial process on grounds he was a Noble Laureate, something that Yunus’ admirers are now seeking for him. If this is not double standard, what is ? Yunus is facing proceedings in a case filed on the basis of complaints by laborers who blame Grameen for defrauding them on their mandatory savings – the government did not file the case but merely took cognizance of a report by concerned officials. If the US can chase Donald Trump, a recent President, for withholding state secrets and force to face FBI investigation, how can the US expect HPM Hasina to intervene and stop judicial process against Dr Yunus. For a country that upholds judicial supremacy and Rule of Law, isn’t it unacceptable? And how are his admirers anticipating that the judicial verdict will go against him ? Or are they are trying to create enough noise to influence the verdict in his favor ? Shame on those who pulled us up over the Rana Plaza accident , who said they wont buy our garments because they had the blood of labor on it ? Now where is their concern for labor rights when it comes to Yunus and his organisation’s alleged flouting of labor laws.
 
The US gave enough evidence of its love for democracy and abhorrence of oppression when it backed the Pakistani genocide against our people in 1971. It covered itself with glory when the CIA planned and executed through some of our disgruntled military officers the bloody 1975 coup that killed nearly the entire family of Founding Father “Bangabandhu” Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman . It went further trying to instal Dr Yunus at the helm of an unelected military-backed caretaker government which flopped because there were no takers for Yunus in Bangladesh. Bengalis prefer leaders who have served the people for a lifetime and done much sacrifice to keep alive the ideals responsible for the birth of their nation-state. Honourable PM Hasina lost her entire family but was brave enough to return to Bangladesh to revive her father’s party and bring it back to power through elections the US certified as fair. Hasina upholds Bangladesh’s strategic autonomy and the US may be upset with her because she is unwilling to surrender it. But to claim itself as the beacon-light of democracy and human rights ( can we overlook the water-boardings and other innovative torture forms in Guantanamo Bay) and lecture Bangladesh and other such countries and then flout the same principles blatantly for their Favourite is going too far on the road of hypocrisy.  It is in public domain that Yunus’ Grameen Foundation is a major donor of the Clinton Foundation , collecting funds for which by using her official position has been a persistent allegation levelled at Hilary Clinton. Brothers and sisters, is it after all just about big money ! 
 
So my dear Western friends, the signatories of the ‘Open Letter” for Yunus, do ponder over what is this all about ? Are you not being used ??

(( Tarana Halim is a leading Bangladesh cultural personality, a former minister and now Central Executive Member of the ruling Awami League)