Minutes turn to Months

My new guilty pleasure is Ke$ha's acoustic song, Goodbye. I think I've added about half the hits on the play count in the last few days... kind of embarrassing, but it's amazing and actually shows her talent compared to the dirty girl act she's got going on in all her other stuff.. although it does make for a good show! That is, it WOULD make for a good show if the venue had liquor and the crowd wasn't 90% made up of preteens and their unhappy parent chaperones. BUT, it was still a great night out with my bestie Ayla last summer, and Drangonette opened for her which was awesome!

Iiiin other news, I thought I would update everyone on my situation. I have finally booked a flight home, and will (hopefully... fingers crossed and wood-knocking etc!!) get back to Ottawa on April 8th at 6:30 pm. I'm hoping my boyfriend won't be in an exam, because I really want him to be at the airport when I get there. I am excited to get back to my life, but I hope that doesn't get in the way of making the best of my last three and a half weeks in the Desh.

You might remember that about a month ago I was supposed to go to the Sundarbans, which is where all the Bengal tigers live. It's actually in the running for the new Seven Wonders of the World, so if it's awesome I will make sure to let you know so you can vote to put Bangladesh on the tourist map! I am going with two American girls and a German girl, so a little smaller group but still a fun gang so it should be a great, relaxing weekend on a boat ("I'm on a boat," anyone? Anyone?).

Aside from that I am still busily working on my Grameen Trust report, which to date is a whopping 30 pages and growing quickly. I'm learning more in writing it than I did collecting all the information for it, so it's kind of an exciting process. Today I applied for a job at Canada Post's call center (I know, I know, but it pays over $20 an hour!) and I sent Ayla my cover letter for her to look over, and she said, "Did I ever tell you that you have a very pleasant writing style?" A great complement, and I hope the same is true for my report! I was to make it engaging and interesting, so hopefully my writing style allows me to do that. I'm realizing that I'm running out of time, so my productivity has to take of exponentially in the next week and a bit so I can get a draft in, and make changes before I fly the heck outta here!

It's been a great experience, I don't want to downplay that I've learned a lot and that it's been a phenomenal learning opportunity, but three months in a small hotel room in an overcrowded developing country is a long time. I hope that I will look back on this semester with nostalgia and happiness, but right now I'm ready to be home, back in my apartment with my kitten and in the same city as my social life. Speaking of which, I have created a Facebook event for a big homecoming party on April 9th, and I am very excited about the number of people who have already responded! It's awesome to know that I have so much support back home and lots of people to share my adventures with. I love you all!

A disgusting time to be in Bangladesh

I don't know how many of you have heard of the recent events at Grameen Bank, but regardless I will spell them out here.

In November 2010 a Norwegian documentary accused Yunus of redirecting aid funds to a few other Grameen companies.  Since then, the government of Bangladesh has been giving 100% effort to continue the defamation campaign started by this documentary, which has since been disproved.  Since my time here, Yunus has appeared in court for a defamation case filed against him in 2007 which accused him of adversely impacting minority opposition politicians from his comment that politics in Bangladesh are about the power to make money. The case hasn't progressed since 2007, but he was summoned in early 2011. 

The government has also taken up a case of adulteration of Grameen Danone through a food inspector, charging Yunus and the director of Danone among others. There is also a case against a business Yunus' family owns saying they benefited from their contracts with Grameen Bank, but in fact they are a provider of printed materials and none of Yunus' family have received dividends or profits. 

The most recent events are the most deplorable.  On March 2nd, Prof. Yunus received a letter from the Bangladesh Bank (which owns 3.7% of Grameen Bank) that he had been relieved of his position as Managing Director of Grameen Bank. They say that since he is over the retirement age of 60, he has to go.  He is 70... why ten years late? They also say that the central bank never approved his election as MD... in 1983 and again in 1990. According to a statement by the Finance Minister, the Board of Directors approved waiving the retirement age for Yunus; the BOD includes three members of the government, one who acts as Chairperson.

At this point, his lawyers are arguing that the ordinance contradicts at least three articles outlining his rights in the Constitution of Bangladesh. Prof. Yunus published a letter saying that he will go, but just wants time to set the affairs of the Bank in order and avoid the highly likely chaos his sudden departure would cause.  He wants an interim position for a specified period of time and then he will leave. 

The government has gone too far on this one. Obama and other American politicians, as well as the majority of the international community, stand behind Yunus. He has done amazing things for Bangladesh- which is said to be one of the reasons the Prime Minister hates him so.  He can get meetings with people she cannot; she lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize, which he won. He is critical of Bangladeshi politics, and shuns the Bangladesh elite whereas the politicians cater to them.  Regardless of the personal politics involved in what has become known as Hasina vs. Yunus, he has made incredible steps in the alleviation of poverty the world over, and his ideas will have a lasting legacy in Bangladesh and around the globe.  Being so unceremoniously removed from the company he built is a slap in the face to the honorable Prof. Yunus, but also to the Grameen Bank and the microfinance industry. Many much more valid critiques of his work should be recognized, considered, and utilized to improve the pursuit of poverty alleviation, but he himself has dedicated his life to microfinance.  He is a deserving Nobel Laureate, a contributing scholar to fields as diverse as economics, development, and human rights, and he deserves better than the reproach he is receiving in being kicked out of Grameen Bank. His request is not to operate indefinitely as Managing Director, it is now to be accorded a small shred of dignity in organizing an honorable departure from his life's work.

The verdict should come soon, I will amend this post accordingly when it is delivered.  What a sad time to be here, witnessing the disembowelment of such an amazing family of organizations. Not above reproach, but surely deserving of some level of respect.

EDIT------

So, it's happened. The court upheld the termination of Muhammad Yunus, supporting its grounds that the Central Bank never approved his 1999 unanimous appointment as Managing Director and that he is ten years over the retirement age. In a complete breach of judge neutrality the justice made comments supporting the position of the government, clearly confirming the obviousness of the political motivations of the attack.

Yesterday (Tuesday, March 8th) when the decision came I was working from the hotel, but I learned this morning that Grameen staff formed a human chain in front of Grameen Bank on Mirpur Ave in protest. I participated in the second human chain today. We all stood on the edge of the sidewalk, holding signs and banners in support of Yunus and opposing the actions against him. We stood quietly and peacefully for a half hour beginning at 1 pm, with armed soldiers facing us in the middle of the street. Apparently the government fears violent protests, but against whom in the street in the middle of the afternoon I am not quite sure.

The fear is that the government will now encourage borrowers not to pay back their loans. This, combined with the likelihood that non-borrowing depositors will withdraw their savings, has created fear of major economic crisis for the Bank which could eventually lead to its destruction. There is also the possibility that staff will quit in protest, but I hope that doesn't happen as it will harm no one but the Grameen institutions.

This is a country with a socially and politically conscious population; I have seen it firsthand in protests against the government such as the hartal a previous blog post described, and I am now experiencing it through Grameen activism and support of their leader.

It is going to be a very complex and challenging transition for Grameen, and I will keep you posted on major events and issues as they arise.