Munem Wasif, Bangladesh
Blood Splinter of Jute

In my childhood, I used to memorise an essay for my exams, titled Jute: Golden Fibre of Bangladesh. I came to know about the biggest pride of our nation. However, this pride has been the cause of our misfortune. After following the prescription of the World Bank and other donors, only 14 of our 77 jute mills survived. An industry which once employed 2.5 million now only offers work to 25,000. The export rate has dropped from 90% to 10%. On the other hand, in India, the private jute industry there is booming day by day.

Workers pass their days with tremendous hardship, as the cash-strapped public-sector mills here are unable to pay them for months at a time. A good number of the workers has already had to send their families back home as there is no way to provide for them here. Khalil, working at Crescent Jute Mill, told me how he has six children to feed, and is desperate for the wages he needs to keep the family running. He was in jail as a result of a raid after a demonstration by workers.

WThroughout the Khulna-Jessore belt, people no longer wake up to the sound of the whistle from the mill.

Even Bangladesh's interim government closed down four mills, putting 14,000 workers out of work without giving them their due salaries. To achieve our freedom in 1971, we had to shed copious amounts of blood. Today, the question is how much more will we have to shed to achieve real freedom from the shackles of countless acts of selfishness? We have to achieve our financial independence from donor agencies and multinational corporations, or our industries will keep shutting down, farmers will keep on losing their right to a proper price, and labourers will be beaten to death for fighting for their rights.