Home for the Hartal

Hello everyone!

 We have decided to have our own "international symbol for Hartal" Please see image below.

As you can see this what a typical Hartal day looks for us.... not much going on.... there is nothing open, people are moving S---L---O---W---L----Y, and we are guessing most people spend this time catching up on sleep or watching movies like us. Mind you, quite the opposite is happening for a significant amount of other people. The whole purpose of Hartal's is to protest something. However in our own little sector, we see that this image more accurately captures what we see them as. We had a 48 hour Hartal this week- Monday to Tuesday. As we were praying it was a mistake our students were likely jumping for joy because of the subsequent cancelled exam on Tuesday.

Hartal's are a really interesting concept here in Bangladesh, and we expect to see them a lot more in the next coming year. They are planned strikes by a political party or group, usually located in the 'centre' of Dhaka- by Parliament, the National Mosque, and Dhaka University (don't worry our university is called IUBAT). They are supposed to remain peaceful, but as you can probably imagine when thousands of active and often angry people gather together in a small space it has the potential to get out of hand. 

Our most recent Hartal was related to the war crime trials that are happening within Bangladesh. 

Coles notes: In 1971 the Liberation war took place; Bangladesh separated from Pakistan. A long history of abuse and neglect existed between the two, now separate, countries; and so when Pakistan declared the official language of the country was to be Urdu in 1952, Bangladesh was gearing up to fight. Unfortunately, also during this time a significant amount of criminal activity took place. Crime ranging from rape, abuse, torture, and murder- oh and did we mention a total of 3 million people died? So, all of this brings us to the current War Crime Tribunals. On Tuesday a 'prominent' leader (read what you can and you can determine if the at the time 23 year old was actually the biggest leader) was convicted to life in prison for crimes committed during 1971. Prior to the sentence the political party Jamaat-e-Islami  called a Hartal in advance (Monday) and post sentence (Tuesday) to dispute the unreasonably harsh punishment. On the flip side of this there were many other groups protesting against the 'lax' punishment and were demanding the death sentence. 

So in conclusion: many groups of people are upset with decisions made here in Bangladesh and therefore Hartal's are just a way of life. Plans, school, appointments, exams, activities, and just about everything else gets cancelled from time to time, and all you can do is just roll with it. 

Here are some articles if you need some before bedtime reading :)

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21568349-week-chairman-bangladeshs-international-crimes-tribunal-resigned-we-explain

http://www.asianewsnet.net/Thousands-protest-against-Bangladesh-war-crimes-tr-42448.html