Apropos the questions “Do we know what time it is?” and “How do we actually inhabit the global condition?”, I’ve been preoccupied these last few weeks by how little the world that I am in, is talking about Bangladesh.
Thankyou for this informative summary! I confess my ignorance of this country's development, and am grateful that you have taken the time to write this report.
Thank you for this particular Chartbook. You may also be interested in your Columbia colleague and artist Naeem Mohaieman’s work on the politics of the left in Bangladesh. Well worth your time to connect.
Adam: As always, I am immensely grateful for your work.
You ask why the media isn't paying closer attention to this, and suggest that we are overwhelmed, that things have become, 'too complicated.' I think that is correct. For me, this stems from, 1. I am witnessing the accelerating collapse of a US-led global order that has existed in some form or other since WWI (per your own wonderful books on the topic); 2) this collapse leads to an escalating, hobbsean 'all against all' regime of brutality across the globe ; and 3) in our attempts to cling to the old, dying global order, this US is involved and implicated (and often direct actors) in some of the worst crimes related to this unwinding.
For many who are invested in an outdated story of America's role (and I include the Western media in this), it's too painful to look at what is happening around the globe. There is also a sense of, 'it's complicated', which is (I think) another way of expressing a loss of faith in the idea of progress, or in a willingness to constructively address issues--be it the homelessness crisis in the US or the refugee crisis (which we call an 'immigration' crisis), or any of the myriad global conflicts (how much are we hearing about Sudan right now? or Congo?) that are the result of shifting political/economic forces.
I've had the same concerns but remind myself that there is also a risk of hubris in thinking it is 'the West' that has more responsibility to inhabit the global condition, or more meaningfully have some responsibility and act in all conditions of violence and crisis and to avoid parochialism. Is that a universal responsibility? Are Venzuealans and South Africans and Indonesians as responsible for, or at least knowledgeable about the plights of Syrians and Congolese as North Americans and Europeans? Should all of us try to be knowledgeable about everywhere where there is violence and trauma? Compare the press words per violent death in the Western and probably African, South American and Asian press for North Kivu and Palestine over the last 10 years. I can't remember where I saw the metric on a Congolese WhatsApp group but it was over a 1000 words per violent Palestinian death for every single violent Congolese death. The same is probably true of Sudan and to a lesser extent Armenia and Xinjiang. What is the metric to judge? Excess poverty deaths or violent deaths? There are I think about 5-10 million excess poverty deaths each year (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/goal-01/#:~:text=Even%20without%20considering%20significant%20underreporting,0.93%20persons%20per%20100%2C000%20population.), 10 times the amount of violent deaths, including homicides https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-violent-deaths-2021-december-2023.
On #1, Belgium seceding from the Netherlands in the 1830s was another case of the larger part by population counting as the "breakaway" state. In turn, by far the stronger secessionist tendency against present-day Belgium is among the Flemish majority, as opposed to the Francophone minority. There are also odd cases like the 1965 expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia, where the smaller part didn't break away but rather had independence thrust upon it.
Thankyou for this informative summary! I confess my ignorance of this country's development, and am grateful that you have taken the time to write this report.
Seconded on all points! The podcast episode and this particular blog post have really enkindled a fascination of Bangladeshi history in me.
That last econ development book is especially interesting!
Keep in mind that turning Bangladesh into Pakistan 2.0 suits the West just fine.
Thank you for this particular Chartbook. You may also be interested in your Columbia colleague and artist Naeem Mohaieman’s work on the politics of the left in Bangladesh. Well worth your time to connect.
https://provost.columbia.edu/content/faculty-profiles-naeem-mohaiemen
Adam: As always, I am immensely grateful for your work.
You ask why the media isn't paying closer attention to this, and suggest that we are overwhelmed, that things have become, 'too complicated.' I think that is correct. For me, this stems from, 1. I am witnessing the accelerating collapse of a US-led global order that has existed in some form or other since WWI (per your own wonderful books on the topic); 2) this collapse leads to an escalating, hobbsean 'all against all' regime of brutality across the globe ; and 3) in our attempts to cling to the old, dying global order, this US is involved and implicated (and often direct actors) in some of the worst crimes related to this unwinding.
For many who are invested in an outdated story of America's role (and I include the Western media in this), it's too painful to look at what is happening around the globe. There is also a sense of, 'it's complicated', which is (I think) another way of expressing a loss of faith in the idea of progress, or in a willingness to constructively address issues--be it the homelessness crisis in the US or the refugee crisis (which we call an 'immigration' crisis), or any of the myriad global conflicts (how much are we hearing about Sudan right now? or Congo?) that are the result of shifting political/economic forces.
I've had the same concerns but remind myself that there is also a risk of hubris in thinking it is 'the West' that has more responsibility to inhabit the global condition, or more meaningfully have some responsibility and act in all conditions of violence and crisis and to avoid parochialism. Is that a universal responsibility? Are Venzuealans and South Africans and Indonesians as responsible for, or at least knowledgeable about the plights of Syrians and Congolese as North Americans and Europeans? Should all of us try to be knowledgeable about everywhere where there is violence and trauma? Compare the press words per violent death in the Western and probably African, South American and Asian press for North Kivu and Palestine over the last 10 years. I can't remember where I saw the metric on a Congolese WhatsApp group but it was over a 1000 words per violent Palestinian death for every single violent Congolese death. The same is probably true of Sudan and to a lesser extent Armenia and Xinjiang. What is the metric to judge? Excess poverty deaths or violent deaths? There are I think about 5-10 million excess poverty deaths each year (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/goal-01/#:~:text=Even%20without%20considering%20significant%20underreporting,0.93%20persons%20per%20100%2C000%20population.), 10 times the amount of violent deaths, including homicides https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-violent-deaths-2021-december-2023.
anything to avoid the zone of interest in gaza
Get wise to the danger of Islam in my podcast here:
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/uPtAXfk1KMb
On #1, Belgium seceding from the Netherlands in the 1830s was another case of the larger part by population counting as the "breakaway" state. In turn, by far the stronger secessionist tendency against present-day Belgium is among the Flemish majority, as opposed to the Francophone minority. There are also odd cases like the 1965 expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia, where the smaller part didn't break away but rather had independence thrust upon it.
For a fascinating and well done podcast about the Bangladeshi war of independence I recommend checking out Conflicted: A History Podcast.