Valueless Lives - The Rana Plaza Story

BitterAIR

It has happened yet again. It is being proved over and over again, that in Bangladesh, people’s lives have no value. Especially if they are poor. Unless you’re a politician, or a big businessman, or SOMEONE important, you are no one. And if you ARE any of the above, or their siblings or family, nobody else exists for you in the first place. I guess it works out fine for you then. Your food comes automatically, your elaborate, comfortable bed has materialized out of nowhere, your branded clothes, bags, shoes are bought with money that no one worked for and the building/house/mansion, whatever you are living in has either always been there or has materialized out of thin air. Good for you. You can stop reading here.

For the rest of the people who care, who actually value people’s lives, here is the scoop. Today, on April 24, 2013, at 9 A.M. in the morning, an 8 story building called Rana Plaza collapsed in Savar, near the local Savar Bazaar bus stand. That building housed a Brac Bank branch, numerous shops and offices and 6 garments factories. The building was under construction and had shown cracks and signs of collapse for the past few days. The owners of the building were aware of this, the owners of the garments factories were aware of this. The local authorities were aware of this and had “apparently” warned everyone to stay away from the building pending investigation from BUET officials and experts.

The plaza was owned by Awami League youth front Juba League’s Senior Joint Convenor, Md Sohel Rana. He had apparently said the cracks were nothing serious.

The owners of the garments factories also dismissed the cracks and ordered – even threatened – the workers to join work at 8 A.M. in the morning. The workers stood outside the building and were forcibly pulled into the building in order to start the day. Within an hour there was a loud sound and the building collapsed.

Until writing of this report, 83 people have been reported dead and almost 800 people have been reported injured. This is an estimated figure – the real number is feared to be massive. According to the figures at BGMEA there were 6 garments factories in this building with a total 2,638 employees. There were roughly 300-500 workers on each floor. These are just the official figures - the real numbers can only be accounted for by the owners. 

Will anyone take responsibility for this massacre? Will the owners and authorities ever be punished? Will the victims and their families ever receive justice? Isn't it time for us to wake up and look around?

May Allah have mercy on those who are still stuck inside the Savar building, and help the rescuers safely pull them out of danger without the building collapsing further. Our prayers are with the victims and their families. We hope that the people responsible for this massacre will be caught and duly punished.

Police and other officials are busy rescuing those under the building. Lack of adequate machinery is not helping the condition too. If you are near Savar, then please go and give a hand. Also the hospital desperately needs blood - PLEASE donate at a near blood bank and have it sent to Enam Medical http://www.emcbd.com/contact/.

There is an urgent need of negative blood types ( A-, B-, AB-, O-) 

Phone: +88-02-7743778-82

Mobile: +8801718846107

Fax: +88-02-7743778

Email: emc_savar@yahoo.com

Website: www.emcbd.com

**Relief Information**

If you want to help out but cannot donate blood, please send the following items:

1. Oxygen Masks
2. Oxygen ( Available at Lazz Pharma for Tk 1000 but they will reduce the price to Tk. 830 if you mention Savar) 
3. Oxygen spray ( Available at Lazz Pharma for Tk. 200)
4. Goggles or Sunglasses
5. Air Freshener
6. Dry food (Cakes, Biscuits, Chips, Puffed rice, etc.)
7. Oral Saline
8. Juice
9. 7 inch medical gloves
10. Bottled water
11. Torch with batteries
12. Charge light with batteries
13. Drilling machine
14. Cutting equipment. 

Please send the items to the following address:

Asiatic Center

House 63, 

Road 7B,

Block H,

Banani

Contact: 01779012817

Obhizatrik Foundation

Obhizatrik Foundation has arranged another huge campaign to collect blood on Friday the 26th for " Rana Plaza" 

accident victim. 

Location: Free School

.Address: House: 01, Road: 02, Pallabi (Beside Setara 

Convention Center), Mirpur, Dhaka-1216

Time: 3 pm

Anybody who would like to donate blood for the victims from the accident can join us. There are over thousand of victims and people are dying. We already lost many life but we don't want any more. Come forward and join our hand and help them survive. Save as many life as possible. They are counting on you.

Contact Info:

Ahmed Imtiaz Jami 

+88 01677040904

A B Siddik Nice 

+88 01672509996

**Update**

I just recieved inside news from BGMEA that the government and BGMEA have made a deal to lower the facts and death tolls. Please be aware of this and take all the figures you receive with a pinch of salt. 

It's absolutely DISGRACEFUL that while thousands of lives are at stake all these selfish bastards can think about is how to prevent this from affecting their business. SHAME. 

The latest death toll as on 7:35 P.M. BST is 223 - no idea if it is the real or edited number. 

 

Rise up!

BitterAIR

Hi! Hope you are well. I am writing to you all today regarding some very grave issues that has been troubling us for as long as we've been able to understand what it is. Something that, even if it happens to someone else, to any girl or woman across the world, reaches inside our heart and makes us feel the pain, humiliation and violation that our poor sister has had to suffer.

EVE TEASING.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. 

ACID ATTACK. 

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT.

RAPE.

The most cruel and brutal forms of violence against women. Over the years we have witnessed and experienced many instances – some of which has happened to us. How many times have you walked down the street and pretended not to hear the man who said something obscene about you? How many times have you witnessed your relatives coming to your grandmother or mother with bruises on their faces and bodies, making excuses because they felt too self-conscious to admit that their husbands are beating them up? How many times have you seen or read reports about acid attacks and rapes and gang rapes?

Isn’t it about time we, as people, as a community, as a society, as HUMANITY, take a step towards preventing these heinous crimes? Isn’t it about time we stop having to suffer from obscene comments and lewd stares as we walk towards our homes and workplaces?

Its time to fight back.

I, for one, refuse to watch as more than 1 BILLION women WORLDWIDE experience violence on an almost daily basis. I have joined up at One Billion Rising (https://www.facebook.com/OneBillionRising) to do my part and help out towards the cause. This is not only for my. This is for all the beautiful women in my life – my mother, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, girlfriends, or whoever it may be. You may be saving a life of someone very dear to you. Are you willing to join me?

If you are in Bangladesh, like me, then please, join us at One Billion Rising Bangladesh (https://www.facebook.com/OneBillionRisingBangladesh).

We need YOU to make this a success. Please. Join us. Tell your friends. Share the cause. Every little bit helps.

**Images collected from the Internet**

The Craziness Among Us

BitterAIR



This happened three years ago, in 2010, when people started rioting prior to Khaleda Zia's eviction from her Cantonment home. This was originally posted on my facebook profile. 

As we heard of things going crazy around us, regarding Khaleda Zia's "eviction", this is what I saw right in front of me. My brother and I were walking around downstairs,looking for a place to eat and enjoying the lack of people and traffic when all of a sudden we saw a burning CNG pass by behind us on the opposite side of the road. The poor driver jumped out and his head was on fire. He ran towards the bazar and disappeared. The CNG turned and banked into the divider. People around us thought that it would blow and started running for their lives. It was like a scene in an action movie, or a war movie. The usually crowded place cleared out within minutes. All the rich boys ran down from their favorite pool place and zoomed off with their expensive cars. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me then and by the time I got back home, got my camera and went up to the roof to take pictures, the fire had burned out and the fire service and police had arrived. Suddenly our traditional 'utshuk jonota' materialized out of nowhere and started chanting "Joy bangla! Joy Bangabandhu" while the fire service rolled out their pipes and started cooling the CNG off. Sigh, Joy Bangla indeed!

Here are the pictures: 

A Moment's Notice

LinX

Life is said to be shaped by events that happens in our lives in a blink of an eye. Some of the more powerful events are essentially violent or tragic. One can say these 2 things are quite common in our world. Every day we open the newspapers & we read about murders, kidnaps, mugging, rape & the more common strikes. Strikes, while a confusing topic for the rest of the world, are quite commonplace here in our country. It’s like a holiday for children who get a day off from school, & at the same time, a hassle for the common working man going to work. Strikes usually involve a lot of violence, clashes & destruction of public property as if it’s a formal method of complaint. We always expect mayhem when we hear about strikes but the thing is we only expect it when there is actually a strike. So what would the common man do when they are caught in the middle of wanton chaos that started from absolutely nowhere? Well I had a taste of this & I can assure you, the feeling is hard to put into words.

              

          It happened on Sunday 31^st march, 2013. I was returning from class & heading home when it all went to hell. After getting on a rickshaw from the Notun Bazaar intersection in front of the U.S. Embassy, I was taking out my headphones to drown out the drone of automobiles as I saw stationary cars & busses & thought it was the famous traffic jams of Badda. While I was taking it out, however, I noticed an air of tension in the surrounding & then suddenly, everything happened at once. I saw almost all the people on the road leave everything & running backwards & scurrying to the side streets & shops as the shopkeepers were lowering the shutters. My rickshaw puller followed suit & tried his best to turn the rickshaw the opposite way & make a break for it but due to the road constructions, which I might add, take a million years to complete in our wonderful country, he got stuck & fearing for his own life, he left it & ran with the crowd.

         I tried my best to scan around to see what was happening, but while I was doing that, a tearshell dropped not 3 feet away from me. Remembering my 1^st experience regarding tearshells, I made a break for it & up ahead, I saw what caused everyone to run away. Picketers had thrown a couple of Molotov cocktails on a double decker & it was going down in flames. While I stood on the pavement trying to catch my breath, a passerby running for cover asked me to clear out as the canisters might blow. Hearing that, I moved on & not 2 minutes later, the canisters blew taking out the entire left side of the bus & spreading some bus fragments & shrapnel from the bodywork across the nearest buildings & the pavement where I was standing. If it hadn’t been for that passerby, I would have been hanging around there when it blew & I could have been killed & I owe him a thank you at the very least. After going a few meters ahead, I saw scores of cars that were damaged or destroyed by those picketers.

        I came across a car with all its windscreens & lights broken. I decided to take a picture but then the owner came & saw it, & essentially broke down in tears. I totally understood his sorrow, because if someone had done that to my car, I would react similarly as well & with that in mind, I decided the last thing he needs is a guy with a white cellphone snapping pictures of his car. I moved away from there & walked on ahead & saw up ahead were 4-5 police vans parked. I had hoped that the police had caught some of the picketers & were arresting them. However, what I saw instead were the police harassing any members of the general public that they could lay their eyes on instead of doing their job. I walked on until I reached the Gulshan-Badda link road intersection where I took another rickshaw & came home.

        What would the common man do if this happened out of the blue? This happened even though there was no strike. Commuting has become a dangerous feat for everyone now, regardless of whether that person is a student, office-goer or elderly person. Being passionate is one thing, but being destructive is a whole other story. These people don't consider anything or anyone. There have even been incidents of activists vandalizing ambulances. When this will end is anyone’s guess. All we have to do right now is try and survive. Advice for someone stuck in a riot? Run like hell and go home. And take awesome pictures. Like these: 

 

A Whole New World

BitterAIR

We live in a strange world. Relationships are made and broken in a matter of minutes. Words like friendship, trust, love, integrity have no meaning. It’s all about give and take. Every single acquaintance, friend, whatever, that we have, is because we need something from that person. How many people have you added to your friend list because you want something from them? It’s no wonder people don't have any faith in anything any more  The ones you call your friends talk behind your back and, for the lack of a better word, bitch about you with others. The one person you loved with all your heart leaves you some someone richer, or prettier. All those stories that we heard about unconditional love and friendship are just that – stories.

People today are afraid to speak their minds because they are too worried about who they will offend. Friends – the people who are supposed to be your rock and support, they prefer making opinions about you and discussing them within themselves instead of telling you.  

You never know who your true friends are – and whether the ones you think are your true friends will really stay with you till the end.

Values, morals, love, trust, integrity, honesty – none of these have any place in today’s dictionary. It’s all about success. Power. MONEY.

Who are we?

We are the new generation.

We are a bunch of materialistic, money-hungry, power-hungry and greedy bunch of people who are ready to blindside EVERYTHING for their own self-worth. Nothing means anything to us if we don't get what we want.

So where does this leave the rest of the people? The dreamers, the optimists, the honest people – the REAL people?

In the pages of a storybook I guess.