Bangladesh: 'State of Emergency' powers extended and tightened - strikes & demonstrations banned, media gagged

New powers ban various activities, including street protests, rallies and strikes, and impose heavy restrictions on all media. Penalties for breaking the rules are between 2 and 5 years of 'rigourous imprisonment' with offenders being dealt with by special 'speedy trial tribunals'.

Bangladeshi newspapers report;

The government can also restrict any publication or transmission of any anti-government news, editorial, post editorial, article, feature, cartoon, talk show or discussion in print or electronic media and any mass media, including the internet.

Wall writing has also been banned as long as the state of emergency will remain in force.

The government will be able to proscribe any newspaper, book, document, printing press or equipment of electronic media if any news or information is published or propagated violating the government order or restrictions.

The rules also detailed some guidelines for the media restricting news reports, articles, editorials, cartoons or talk shows on provocative statements, activities, protests, public meetings in newspapers or electronic media or internet or any other mass media.

'Provocative' activities, including meeting, gathering, procession, rally, hartal, exhibition, blockade, strike, lockouts, trade unions, clubs or associations, have been suspended until further order or until the state of emergency, proclaimed on January 11 across the country, is withdrawn, the rules said.

Under the rules, the law-enforcing agencies, including the armed forces and the intelligence agencies, will use "force" to enforce the rules and apply the tough Special Powers Act of 1974 to detain any person beforehand if it appears for believable reasons that he could violate the rules.

The murky world of corruption and backstabbing that is day-to-day Bangladeshi politics is becoming harder, from this distance, to decipher. But we will speculate; the present caretaker government, established to negotiate the preparations for the postponed General Election (see previous report here ) is led by the the president and leader of the previously ruling Bangladeshi National Party. Since the state of emergency was declared the military have made full use of their new powers and have raided and arrested many political functionaries of both the ruling BNP and the main opposition Awami League parties. Most of this is officially concerned with anti-crime/corruption purges and particularly a clamp down on gun running - all the main parties are involved in the illegal arms trade and so are quite tooled up with weaponry. In fact the BNP, still in effect the ruling party, has suffered the most casualties from these raids; "Many of its leaders from the top echelons to the grassroots level have gone underground as the law enforcement agencies and the armed forces continue raiding their houses."

We can only speculate on the motives of the Army;
perhaps they are more favourable towards the Awami League than the BNP, having not been treated well enough under BNP rule.
Or they may be gradually establishing themselves as an autonomous power with some ambitions towards a military coup?
Or maybe the Army are negotiating favours from both parties by taking out of circulation troublesome party members and internal party rivals.
Or a mixture of all these speculations may be at work.

Of all the parties, the Awami League has so far expressed most enthusiasm for the new powers. A further conspiratorial speculation is that the League's long term strategy of de-stabilising the BNP governement is progressing well - the caretaker government was introduced largely as a concession to months of AL violent protests and blockades over demands for changes to voting procedures for the Election - and the intended next step may be for the Army to hand over power to the Awami League.

Alternatively, the military and political sectors of the ruling class may actually be agreed that a General Election is necessary but the rival factions simply cannot agree on the details of its implementation.
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Meanwhile, for the poor, the conditions of life continue to deteriorate. Last week it was reported that a health officer's survey found that the majority of 'fresh' produce in food markets in Dhaka, the capital, was contaminated with a carcinogenic chemical, formalin (formaldehyde) - which is used as an injectable preservative. The chemical can cause brain cancer, liver and kidney diseases. The formalin is used in hospitals and laboratories as an anti-de­composition agent for human bodies and birds and insects which are kept for test and re­search purposes, and also in the plastics and glue industries. For traders in a hot climate without refrigeration and/or with unreliable power supplies, formalin greatly extends the shelf life of produce and, therefore, profits. Three years ago it was reported that much of Dhaka's daily milk supply was also contaminated with formalin.

Adulterated as they are, prices of basic commodities continue to rise well above wage gains. In the garment industry the bosses, despite massive expansion in exports to the EU and USA in the last year and billions in profits, have still refused to honour deals agreed after last year's mass revolt of garment workers. By now the the agreed wage rises, which have never been paid, have anyway largely been wiped out by inflation. The average garment wage is still incredibly low at $22 a month (EU17/£11). Just over 2 weeks ago, after a worker was shot during protests in Dhaka over pay and job conditions, another 7 factories were burned down. This use of fire is now an established tactic of the garment workers; one can presume that it's continued use in the class struggle means that it has shown its effectiveness.

In the light of such workers' actions, the garment bosses have been for some time calling for Army control of the factory zones. With strikes, protests, unions and nearly all other political activity banned, with the Army patrolling the streets - where next for the class struggle?