Who will lead France for the next five years?



Dr Mahfuz Parvez
Macron and Le Pen Prepare for Showdown

Macron and Le Pen Prepare for Showdown

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France on Saturday (April 23) prepared to choose between centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen to rule the country for the next five years after a bitterly contested and polarising election campaign. By Sunday (April 24) evening, the world will know whether France has elected its first female leader, or the first two-term president since Jacques Chirac.

Considering the election processes, It’s looking like Emmanuel Macron is headed for victory; he holds a ten-point average lead in polls over his challenger, the far-right Marine Le Pen. That she is still within range of Macron, who trounced her by 30 percentage points in 2017, has Western capitals nervous that the French could swap an ardent EU supporter for one closer to Moscow than Brussels.

However, Undecided voters are one concern, with as many as 11 percent still yet to make up their minds. The supporters of the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon are another wildcard. The worry for Macron is not so much that they would go over to Le Pen, but that they simply won’t vote at all. Just under half of his first round voters don’t intend to cast a ballot on Sunday, but two-thirds of those who plan to vote say they’ll back Macron.

Michele Barbero, in a Paris dispatch for Foreign Policy Journal, spoke with one Mélenchon supporter who isn’t sure whether to vote on Sunday. “I feel disillusioned, desperate, and I have less and less confidence in politics to bring about more social justice,” she said.

As the election of Joe Biden in 2020 showed, a victory for a centrist candidate doesn’t magically de-polarize an electorate. So even a loss may not spell the end for Le Pen, who will be just 58 when the 2027 elections come around—and would no longer have to face Macron, who would be barred from serving a third consecutive term.

With Le Pen within arm’s reach of Macron, some world leaders have gotten off the fence. In a rare foray into French politics, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made the case for Macron in a Le Monde op-ed on Thursday. Sharing a byline with his left-leaning counterparts Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, the three men presented a choice between “a democratic candidate, who believes that France grows in a powerful EU. And a far-right candidate, who openly sides with those attacking our freedom and democracy.”

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former Brazilian President has also stated his support for Macron, describing the election as one where “the future of democracy” is at stake.

Although U.S. President Joe Biden has not publicly expressed his preference, his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama still might. The former president would be leaving it late; he already had backed Macron by this time in the 2017 election cycle.

Perhaps doing Le Pen a favor, given the distance she has tried to put between herself and the Russian leader during her campaign, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stayed silent. Her ideological allies in Hungary and Poland have too.

Imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has also stumped for Macron—while skewering his opponent, saying on Twitter that any so-called conservative who is sympathetic to Putin “is actually just a hypocrite with no conscience.”

Barring a too-close-to-call election, exit polls should predict the winner by the time voting ends at 8 p.m. Paris time on Sunday.

Dr. Mahfuz Parvez, Professor, Political Science, University of Chittagong and Associate Editor, barta24.com

   

The burning embers of Safur and the deep 'sleep' of the state



Ashraful Islam, Planning Editor, Barta24.com
photo: Barta24

photo: Barta24

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As the number of accidental deaths in the country is constantly increasing, the proverbial journalist Nirmal Sen's wish for a 'guarantee of natural death' is mocking today! It is difficult to say when we are going to embrace this death of impunity!

The long indifference of the organs of the State, when death by accident begins to march, they are somewhat disturbed. Their forays into media activism sometimes run parallel. They went to sleep again!

Having reached this depressing state, we have to wait every day, what is going to happen! The frequency of accidental deaths in newspaper offices is such that the severity of the incident is judged by numbers alone.

Although it sounds bad, the value of human life has become so worthless today that in the chaos of new events, where today's 'crying roll' disappears after two days, none of us keep track of it. The reality has brought us to such a place that if we call this present society 'lifeless', 'valueless' it would probably be an understatement.

Last Monday (March 25, 2024) afternoon, the death of a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw driver named Safur, who was burnt in the fire of a gas cylinder explosion in the Gachbaria Kalghar area of Chandanish, Chattogram, has shaken even the stony heart! These two days, the image of Safur burnt to embers on the Facebook page has come back and stung us.

According to the incident report of the fire service, in the Gachbaria area of the highway, the police ordered a dump truck carrying sand to stop, but the driver disobeyed the order and continued to drive at a high speed. When the reckless speeding truck rammed the CNG-powered auto-rickshaw, the auto-rickshaw's cylinder exploded and the unfortunate driver met his death sitting on his seat.

Yesterday (March 26, 2024) we got the news of the death of 5 members of the same family before the grief of Safur's death was over. According to the news, 5 members of the family were electrocuted due to a cut live electricity wire in Juri upazila on Tuesday morning in Juri's East Goalbari village.

Accidents will happen, some will be injured; but it goes without saying that the march of death in perils around is getting longer and longer because of the fragile management of state departments. If we talk about road accidents, then we have to say that the country's roads are like death traps.

Accidents can happen on the road but there is a limit to that too. It is possible to bring this level down to a tolerable level through good use of technology, law abiding tendency of all concerned and strict supervision of the authorities. A large number of our government employees travel abroad for various 'projects' (gaining experience, shopping etc.) with public tax money.

We don't know whether our 'royal servants' have traveled abroad to gain experience from countries that have become role models in the world by preventing road accidents, but they should definitely do so. If you have been on such a trip, we want to know what experience you have gained! To stop this march of death on the road, it is necessary to make a big change in the attitude of those concerned with the implementation of the law and we do not know what the alternative can be to completely change the reality of Bangladesh.

But just one word can be applied. That is, 'radical change'. But the leaders of the ruling party's transport sector or the interested 'royal employees' will allow such a change at all or have given it in the past! The simple answer is 'no'.

In the free discussion of the last two days on social media, the opinions expressed by the citizens only about the transport and communication sector, deserve a wide discussion. However, some comments about the use of cylinder gas as a vehicle fuel and the current reality to what extent puts us at risk, are undoubtedly warranted. Many people think that gas cylinders used in cars are walking bombs.

We do not know how many vehicles are running daily with these moving bombs (expired or unusable) in the country. Just as there is a sudden stop and search to check the validity of the vehicle's documents on the road, there is no such oversight by any authority to check the usefulness of the cylinder.

But how important the matter is, the relevant experts will surely say. But we can understand this from little knowledge, there is a lot of indifference in this area and we also hear that the regulatory authorities have no difficulty in 'managing' the concerned to get the clearance. That means the lack of good governance can be held against every agency concerned with accident prevention.

We don't know if the state will take any drastic measures to stop the death of citizens on the road or if the 'harder' measures will finally work! But it seems that there is no good time in sight, so our sigh may be prolonged.

In the same way, the statistics of fire accident deaths that we have been getting to know in the last decade, there is no way not to be shocked. Unplanned urbanization and industrialization will not go down in history as the loss of countless human lives.

As many lives were lost at the hands of those concerned, the state may be on the side of the powerful by acquitting those responsible. And 'people are the source of all power' type of words, the people of politics will change the bill of power!

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Economic disparity must be reduced to build an egalitarian Bangladesh



Dr. Atiur Rahman
Photo: Barta24.com

Photo: Barta24.com

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The main thought of the life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independent Bangladesh, was the welfare of the common people, the improvement of their quality of life. He started it at the very beginning of his political career. If we see, from the beginning of his student life he worked for the welfare of farmers and common people. Even in his student days, he used to collect fistfuls from people's houses and give the children of common people an opportunity to study.

Later, we have seen that he stood by the side of the common people again and again in various crises. During the 1974 famine, Bangabandhu tried to save the starving people by opening the anchorage to ease their suffering. Similarly, when the migration of people from both sides of the border started during the partition of the country in 1947, he went to Asansol to manage the relief camps to alleviate the sufferings of the people. So the main goal of his life and the main theme of his movement were to remove the suffering of the common people. In that sense, he was greatly moved by the liberation of the economy.

We noticed that in the early phase of his politics in Bangladesh, i.e. when he came to East Bengal from Kolkata and became a law student at Dhaka University, he joined and led the early phase of the language movement. He was associated with the language movement of 1952 from jail and also joined the hunger strike. We also noticed that Bangabandhu said on the first anniversary of the language movement on February 1, 1953 in Dhaka's Armanitola Maidan, "The fight for language is not only for language, this fight is a fight for total liberation." Struggle for political, social and economic liberation.

We saw that struggle in his political life as well. At that time he did a hunger strike. He raised the demand for food for the people. Especially when there was a cyclone or any natural disaster; Then he ran to the side of the criminals. He pressured the central government to give them relief. Immediately after the disastrous cyclone of November 1970, he rushed to the affected areas with an election campaign to serve the distressed people. Similarly, he made strong speeches in various political meetings to look after the interests of the farmers. Especially in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, he raised the question, 'A governor is paid Tk. 6 thousand and how much money does a farmer-labourer of mine get?'

He also said that the system of zamindari should be abolished. Land should be given to the subjects. As a farmer-loving true public leader, he was strongly in favor of eliminating inequality in the society. That is why he participated in the general elections of 1954, went to their homes and heard their grief. Later, when he became the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, he tried his best to remove that sorrow. When he became the Chairman of the Tea Board, he did a lot to look after the interests of the tea workers.

When Bangabandhu again became the Central Minister of Commerce and Industry of Pakistan then the small entrepreneurs of East Pakistan negotiated with the central government on how to help them. He arranged to get a fund from the central government and give it to these entrepreneurs. Besides, what he did as the Central Commerce Minister was that everyone had to go to Karachi to get a commercial license for import or export. He brought that commercial office to East Pakistan.

This is how he worked for the common man, bringing up the issue of two economies. He worked with the economists. Bangabandhu spoke about the economic inequality of the two regions. Bangabandhu insisted on balancing the trade of this region within six steps to remove the economic disparity. It was he who proposed the establishment of a Central bank here to keep jute export money in East Pakistan and various initiatives to bring East Pakistan into West Pakistan's trade with East Pakistan. From all these, it seems that Bangabandhu was completely talking about economic liberation.

Needless to say, his historical six- points stood for economic liberation. Although the six points finally stood at one point, the liberation of Bangladesh. At that time also he wanted to make a six-point constitution after winning the election. There, Professor Nurul Islam, Professor Rehman Sobhan and other economists tried to make a draft constitution. Later, he started the development journey in the independent country, where he gave the most importance to agriculture. He used to say, 'If my farmer lives, the country will live.'

He waived rent for farmers up to 25 bighas, he freed about 10 lakh farmers from certificate cases. After that Bangabandhu emphasized on green revolution. He arranged to bring high-quality seeds, fertilizers and irrigation equipment from abroad. To protect flood affected people he took steps for flood prevention project. On the other hand, he tried to nationalize and manage the abandoned factories left behind by the Pakistanis to protect the interests of the workers. That does not mean that he was against the private sector. In 1975, as we will see, Bangabandhu raised the private sector investment limit from Tk. 25 lakhs to Tk. 3 crores and handed over many confiscated units of Pakistanis in the private sector to the private sector of independent Bangladesh. Gradually, he might have been in favor of creating a welfare approach by combining the public-private sector. In the constitution given by him, the guarantee of survival of the people is promised

That proves his strong stand on the issue of equality and inequality.

However, the reality is that even if Bangabandhu wanted it with all his heart, the state's structural limitations, bureaucracy; especially with the violence of the hoarders (whom we now call syndicates) - he was not coping. Addressing them, he said in a strong voice, "I want to give the last blow to this corrupt social system." Bangabandhu declared war against the profiteers and hoarders. He was adamant about a uniform system, in which the common man would be the most important. That is why he was moving towards cooperatives under the Second Revolution. He announced that the farmer would get one share, the distributor would get one share and the landowner would get one share. The main objective was to empower common people giving them total power. Similarly, Bangabandhu placed the greatest emphasis on food security in the newly independent country. He used to say, 'It is very shameful for the President or Prime Minister of an independent country to beg for food from outside countries. We want to move away from it. We have to produce our own food.

Bangabandhu was very keen on self-sufficiency in food. He also paid equal attention to education and health. He always considered common people as participants in development. He used to say, 'I have land, I have people. Why can't I, surely I can.' In fact, he brought forward a philosophy of development in Swadeshi style. In this development thought of Bangabandhu, people are the main thing, people are the first. That is why he has come a long way in just three and a half years. The economy of the country had advanced a lot. Per capita income increased three and a half times. The size of the economy increased two and a half times.

On January 10, 1972, an emotional Bangabandhu spoke about his deep love for the common people at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan after stepping out of the Pakistani jail into the free country. Bangabandhu said, 'This freedom will not be fulfilled if the people of Bengal do not get enough rice, this freedom will not be fulfilled if the mothers and sisters of Bengal do not get clothes, this freedom will not be fulfilled if the youth of this country do not get jobs. This was Bangabandhu's message of equality in Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu not only effectively transformed a provincial government into a central government, but also strengthened the banking system, giving a lot of power to the central bank. He was taking Bangladesh forward with everyone, where people's liberation will come. This freedom is freedom from poverty. It can be said unequivocally that Bangabandhu's efforts were progressing well. He started with an 80 percent poverty rate. Due to the tragic killing of Bangabandhu and his family in 1975, that progress was set back.

Currently, we are moving forward under the leadership of Bangabandhu's daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At this time, it can be said that Bangladesh has achieved extraordinary success in poverty alleviation. We can see that in 1991-92, our poverty rate was about 57 percent, but by 2010, it has become 31.5 percent. 24.3 percent in 2016, 18.6 percent in 2022. Extreme prowess was 41 per cent in 1991-92, down to 5.6 per cent in 2022, meaning we are talking and working on economic liberation.

But what has become the problem, which Bangabandhu disliked so much, is discrimination. Economic disparity has increased. We can see that the 'Gini' index of inequality has now reached point 5. That means we have reached the danger zone. But it was point 39 in 1991. Now I notice, overall inequality has increased a lot. The top 10 percent had 29 percent of the income or wealth in 1991-92. That has now increased to 41 percent. And the bottom 10 percent of the poor, whose disposable income was about 2.5 percent, has dropped to 1.3 percent.

It means that the income of the people at the bottom is going to the top. This is in conflict with Bangabandhu's dream of economic liberation. This is why we need to make our entire taxation system much more direct in this area. The rich will also have to pay much higher wealth taxes. Social protection programs for the poor should be increased. Investment in education and health should be increased for them. Much work remains to be done in these areas. If we really want to build Bangabandhu's egalitarian Bangladesh, his much talked about 'Golden Bangla' then economic inequality must be reduced. In this struggle, the government as well as the private sector and all the members of the society should come forward. Only then will celebrating Independence or Victory Day be worthwhile.

Author: Emeritus Professor, Department of Development Studies; University of Dhaka and former Governor, Bangladesh Bank.

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Bhutto's execution and trial message



Dr. Mahfuz Parvez, Associate Editor, Barta24.com
Bhutto's execution and trial message

Bhutto's execution and trial message

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Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979). To some he is a hero, to others a villain. He is the catalyst of many events and accidents in the politics of Pakistan. As a skillful player in military-civilian politics, he seized power in Pakistan. Again losing in the game of power, he gave his life to the gallows.

He cannot avoid the responsibility of Bangladesh genocide in 1971 in any way. He went to the United Nations for anti-Bangladesh activities. Bhutto did not allow the Awami League under the leadership of Bangabandhu to come to power despite getting a majority in the democratic elections. By conspiring with Pakistan's military leaders, he captured the throne himself. Finally he lost his life in the anger of the military ruler.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Zamindar of Larkana in the Sindh province of Pakistan, entered politics and became a minister in 1958 at the age of 30. In 1963, he got the important responsibility of foreign minister. He developed distance after the signing of Tashkent Pact between Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri hastened by Soviet Union. After leaving Ayub Khan's cabinet, he formed a separate party in 1967 under the style of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

In the 1970 general elections of Pakistan, his party won a majority in West Pakistan. But despite the Awami League of East Pakistan gaining an overall majority, Bhutto objected to the transfer of power to them.

After Pakistan's defeat in the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971, Bhutto succeeded Yahya Khan as the President of Pakistan. In 1973, he assumed the post of Prime Minister of Pakistan by changing the country's constitution. In 1977 he was re-elected as Prime Minister. But within a short time he was deposed in a military coup led by General Ziaul Haque. He was sentenced to death by a military court in 1979 for his involvement in a conspiracy to kill a man.

Bhutto suffered a tragic end in politics despite his rise to conspiracy. A brutal fall and hanging ended his life. No one would have dreamed that this would happen to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, an Oxford student, the scion of a Pakistani Zamindar family. He crossed many dangers in western style of movement. Laundering foppish and vanity have won the game of politics. But in the end he was caught by his confidant General Ziaul Haque.

The incident was in 1977. Even after being re-elected that year, Bhutto could not remain in power. Army chief Ziaul Haque came to power by imposing military rule due to Baloch crisis, multi-faceted sabotage within the state. Bhutto himself gave Ziaul Haque the responsibility of army chief as a trust and confidant. Ziaul Haque, as the successor of Tikka Khan, the butcher of Bengal, had to overtake five people to give him this responsibility.

But history had a different account. And that was a very cruel calculation. Bhutto was not spared from cruelty. His end was tragic. He was not prepared for such a situation. Lt. Colonel Rafiuddin wrote a book on this in Urdu language. The name of the book is 'Bhutto Ka Akheri 323 Din'. Many things have come up in this book.

Rafi was the security battalion commander of Rawalpindi Jail. After retirement, Bhutto responded by writing a book on the chapter. Bhutto himself wrote parts of his memoirs in prison before his death. He claimed that he would be hanged in conspiracy trial. Bhutto's followers have always called his execution a planned murder. And 45 years after Bhutto's execution, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled: 'There was no fair trial'.

Bhutto was ousted in 1977 by General Ziaul Haque, Pakistan's army chief, in a coup. Within a few days, he was arrested and hanged by the military government of Pakistan. Now, in a formal judgment, Bhutto's trial has not been followed by a 'clear and proper legal procedure', the country's Supreme Court bench says. The Supreme Court said this in a unanimous verdict in the first week of March. Bhutto was ousted in a military coup and was hanged in 1979 after being found guilty in a case. He was accused of murdering a political rival. Bhutto, the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was convicted in that case. But from the beginning, his family and party had accused the Zia government of "political conspiracy".

A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isha of the Supreme Court of Pakistan re-evaluated that judgment four and a half decades ago. The trial was broadcast on TV. Announcing the unanimous verdict, Chief Justice Faiz said, "There was no trial that day following a transparent and proper legal process." We will publish the detailed judgment in this case later.'' Incidentally, Bhutto's daughter Benazir later became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Benazir's son Bilal is currently one of the leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition.

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Give women their due: They will turn society into heaven



Pradip Kumar Dutta
Photo: Collected

Photo: Collected

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The whole world is going to observe International Women's Day on 8 March. The history of how it came into being is long. But it could enter the UN calendar only in 1977.

It’s a triumph of the legendary ladies who were ahead of their time and fought for the emancipation of Women's rights in all spheres of life: right to vote, equal wages as their male counterparts, eight hours working day and above all dignity in life. It’s just about a hundred and fifty years ago that these demands started surfacing.

Even in USA, considered as the most advanced country in the world, White women got voting rights only in 1920,Black's even much later. In 1857 the garments workers, mostly ladies, came out to the streets of Chicago for establishing equal wages, reasonable working hours and humane treatment.

The industrial revolution taught Europe many things. Amongst those we have democracy, social justice and freedom from capitalist exploitation. The movements grew in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, England and other parts of Europe. Germans were of course spearheading the workers and peasants movements. By 1848 great German Economist, Philosopher and Political Scientists Karl Marx and Frederich Engels have published their epoch making Manifesto of the Communist Party.

In the manifesto they urged the working class of the world to rise against all oppressive measures of the capitalist owners and revolt. The publication ends with the revolutionary quote," The proletariat of the world has nothing to lose but their shackles whereas they have the whole world to conquer." This electrifying statement energised the working class and they started gaining ground by getting organised in groups. Trade Unions were yet to be formed en masse.

Two prominent German ladies Clara Zeitkin and Rosa Luxembourg came up fighting together with some other brave comrades of theirs to fight shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. They specially put forward the plight of the lady workers in different fields. In America too the voices grew stronger and in 1909 for the first time a day was observed on 28 February to put forward the just demands of the womenfolk. It was a striking success.

And in 1910 in a preparatory meeting of the Second International (to be held in Copenhagen in 1911) a proposal was put forward by Clara Zeitkin to observe an International Women’s day every year to press forward the demands of the women working class. It was passed unanimously and every year it started to be celebrated in different countries but on different dates. It is needless to mention that world socialist movement which was growing by the day in that era was the driving force behind the celebration.

After the establishment of USSR the momentum grew. The day was fixed as 8 March in memory of the Chicago garments workers movement. The whole socialist block and their like minded parties used to observe the day since then in due solemnity. In the Socialist block countries it was a public holiday and a day of celebration, as all demands of equality were fulfilled in those countries.

Persistent follow up by those countries, empowerment of women in other countries and the success of women in every field of life as their male counterparts convinced the world body finally. As mentioned earlier since 1977 UN is observing this day as International Women’s Day and dedicated the day towards recognising the achievements of half of the mankind. The decision was taken in UN General Assembly in 1975.

This year's theme of the day is Invest in Women: Accelerate progress. Let's all acclaim our ladies for their contribution in shaping the world. Long live Clara Zeitkin, the proponent of the day.

Pradip Kumar Dutta: Columnist, Essayist and Traveller

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