416
There is some subjective value, if fewer heart beats, in tracking a variety of
ecological correlations within these realms, as they apply to our own perceived lives
and any virtue that might theoretically, paradoxically derive. One (not entirely random) event with which to reckon (noting that one of the authors—mt —was there,
on the ground, during the worst of it) was the upending famine that swept across
Bangladesh throughout much of 1974/1975.
46.2 The Tragic Case of Bangladesh
For the 9 months of the Bangladeshi War of Independence from Pakistan throughout
1971, the preconditions for food scarcity and political chaos had been concretized.
Following the return to power of Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the coming years would see him grappling with one of the most densely populated, impoverished nations in the world, ravaged by war, over six million families left homeless,
farmers devastated, the nation’s infrastructure nullified.
1
A sustained drought, followed by floods across 75% of the nation, destroyed all
hope of any staples production: no “rice, wheat, maize, potato, pulses, and [or] oil
seeds.”
2
The resulting famine, which struck in the Spring of 1974 and lasted throughout 1975, elicited little sympathy or support from other nations. The United States
opted not to help the country with food aid because Bangladesh was desperately
seeking foreign revenue by exporting what jute it had to Cuba, a political non-starter
for the rabidly anti-Communist American Congress,
3
even though this majority sentiment blatantly contradicted the then long-standing principle, never let passing
political policies undermine the basic humanity of food aid, a principle dating to the
early nineteenth century in the United States.
Almost from the beginning of his reign (popular culture is vastly conflicted over
his legacy) Rahman had invoked inordinate presidential powers, creating his own
private paramilitary force, the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, allegedly to counter proMarxist left-wing revolutionaries. In fact, history knows that the soldiers and police
involved were guilty of an enormous swathe of murders, rapes, and human rights
abuses. I (mt) was on the ground in Dhaka and saw it with my own eyes. Eventual
estimates of total mortality exceeded 1.5 million people. There were ten million
refugees from the war with Pakistan, either still grappling with homelessness in
their own country of Bangladesh, or having fled to West Bengal in India, most to
Calcutta. There was little food to go around. I spent many nights with those refugees
under the Howrah Bridge, spanning the Hooghly/Bhagirathi River, before and after
my time in famine-deluged Bangladesh. They were, obviously, the lucky ones.
1 See Time Magazine, “Bangladesh: Mujib’s Road from Prison to Power,” Dan Coggin, January 17,
1972.
2 See “Global Yield Gap Atlas,” http://www.yieldgap.org/Bangladesh, Accessed April 28, 2020.
3 See Devinder Sharma, “Famine as commerce,” August 2002, http://www.indiatogether.org/agriculture/opinions/dsharma/faminecommerce.htm.
46 Famine in Bangladesh
There is some subjective value, if fewer heart beats, in tracking a variety of
ecological correlations within these realms, as they apply to our own perceived lives
and any virtue that might theoretically, paradoxically derive. One (not entirely random) event with which to reckon (noting that one of the authors—mt —was there,
on the ground, during the worst of it) was the upending famine that swept across
Bangladesh throughout much of 1974/1975.
46.2 The Tragic Case of Bangladesh
For the 9 months of the Bangladeshi War of Independence from Pakistan throughout
1971, the preconditions for food scarcity and political chaos had been concretized.
Following the return to power of Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the coming years would see him grappling with one of the most densely populated, impoverished nations in the world, ravaged by war, over six million families left homeless,
farmers devastated, the nation’s infrastructure nullified.
1
A sustained drought, followed by floods across 75% of the nation, destroyed all
hope of any staples production: no “rice, wheat, maize, potato, pulses, and [or] oil
seeds.”
2
The resulting famine, which struck in the Spring of 1974 and lasted throughout 1975, elicited little sympathy or support from other nations. The United States
opted not to help the country with food aid because Bangladesh was desperately
seeking foreign revenue by exporting what jute it had to Cuba, a political non-starter
for the rabidly anti-Communist American Congress,
3
even though this majority sentiment blatantly contradicted the then long-standing principle, never let passing
political policies undermine the basic humanity of food aid, a principle dating to the
early nineteenth century in the United States.
Almost from the beginning of his reign (popular culture is vastly conflicted over
his legacy) Rahman had invoked inordinate presidential powers, creating his own
private paramilitary force, the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, allegedly to counter proMarxist left-wing revolutionaries. In fact, history knows that the soldiers and police
involved were guilty of an enormous swathe of murders, rapes, and human rights
abuses. I (mt) was on the ground in Dhaka and saw it with my own eyes. Eventual
estimates of total mortality exceeded 1.5 million people. There were ten million
refugees from the war with Pakistan, either still grappling with homelessness in
their own country of Bangladesh, or having fled to West Bengal in India, most to
Calcutta. There was little food to go around. I spent many nights with those refugees
under the Howrah Bridge, spanning the Hooghly/Bhagirathi River, before and after
my time in famine-deluged Bangladesh. They were, obviously, the lucky ones.
1 See Time Magazine, “Bangladesh: Mujib’s Road from Prison to Power,” Dan Coggin, January 17,
1972.
2 See “Global Yield Gap Atlas,” http://www.yieldgap.org/Bangladesh, Accessed April 28, 2020.
3 See Devinder Sharma, “Famine as commerce,” August 2002, http://www.indiatogether.org/agriculture/opinions/dsharma/faminecommerce.htm.
46 Famine in Bangladesh