AREK KANSAT 

On Tuesday the 31^st of October,

Screening of Bangladeshi Film ‘Kansat –

The Untold Story’ organised by

Drishtipat with National Geographic

Award winner photographer Saiful Huq

Omi

1 Village: 20 Deadbodies :: 1 United Resistence : 1 Country Awakes

 
‘Kansat: The Untold Story’

In April 2006 the inhabitants of Kansat, a village in central Bangladesh, had had enough with the persisting power shortages and corruption which were blighting their lives. They decided to unite under ‘The Action Committee for Rural Power Development’ and lead a peaceful movement for their rights. But their attempt to remedy the power shortage situation and bring about greater justice through protest was met brutal suppression.  The peaceful and apolitical movement of common people for their rights met with an oppressive mindset of the government and trigger-happy law enforcement agency — ultimately leading to the killing of 17 people which included a few minors. During the course of events, the people of Kansat were stripped off their right to protest, they were beaten brutally by the police inside their houses regardless of their age and sex, their homes were ransacked and looted, they were forced flee their habitat, they were arrested indiscriminately, their leaders were tortured while in police custody, and above all, they were denied a trial for the death of 17 people.  

The story of Kansat needs to be told again and again so that it is not repeated — ever. That’s why, we, at Drishtipat, a group working for greater Human Rights in Bangladesh, working with Counter Foto – , a Dhaka based organization of cultural activists , made a documentary on the story of Kansat believing that their struggle has the potential to have an impact on the future of Bangladesh and to inspire people everywhere to rise against oppression and fight for their rights.  This is a true story of courage, conviction and sacrifice in the face of police brutality, rife corruption and elite apathy. 
 
31^st October 2006

Screening: 6.30 pm

Q&A session after that 

In LSE

Room: G108

Portugal Street
(On your left when you walk down Kingsway from Holborn – Opposite Peacock Theatre)

London  

WC2A 2AE 
Tubes: Holborn/Temple 

The Event is free and unticketed

For more on the story look up: http://www.drishtipat.org/kansat

For more info contact: 07732 168 233 or email:

Ahsan Akbar [Ahsan.A@perfectday.tv] /

Annu Jalais [a.jalais@lse.ac.uk]

Hello DP-Kansat team:

Hope all of you are doing well. Probably some of you are wondering what is happening to “Arek Kansat.” Yes, I am here to give you some updates!!

Our Counter Foto’s six-person Kansat team is in Kansat now. Today, Counter Foto had a meeting with Golam Rabbani. Rabbani expressed interest in organizing the premiere show in Kansat. He thinks we can expect at least 50,000 people in the show. Rabbani seemed very keen on creating CDs of Arek Kansat and distribute those to the people at his own expense.

Our team will be back in 4-5 days. It depends on their work progress. So far, the responses they are receiving are quite good. I will let you know more updates if something significant happens. You can hear more when the team comes back.

Ritu

From Omi:

Dear Faustina,
I was planning to answer your mail much earlier . But it seems that we
needed time , because of the issues you mentioned in your mail. We
from Counter Foto sat, discussed, had debates and came to a conclusion
which is mentioned below. We have had several visits to Kansat,
interviewed people, talk to many in the capital city. And to be honest
this process is going still strong. We are now ready to write the
script , then we will send it to all the involved organizations .After
everyone gives a feedback , we will finalize the script , and
hopefully start shooting from the first week of next month.

Our observations about Kansat:

The people of Kansat involved in the movement were clearly conscious
about the position of govt. through the behavior of the police and
the local authority as they had appeared as the govt. representative.
Government, specially the local negotiator Rajshahi City Mayor Mr.
Minu thought people would be scared of as police fire on them. They
were wrong. People burst out to the protest in stead of leaving the
battle field, and they didn’t hesitate to stand infront the bullets.

People of Kansat say that, Govt. stand against the people who elected
them in order to favor a company who are making business through
cheating people. They are very proud now to declare that they have no
interest to cast their vote for neither ‘Dhaner Shish’ nor “Nauka’. So
they are now really ready to confront the state repression.

In the view of the larger context of the Bangladeshi politics, people
are not in the centre in their consideration, people are only to cast
vote. So people have nothing but to come out to the protest this
certain manner. No
political party could take even a very small part or to express
solidarity in these incidents, leading is a very far concern. It is
not a matter to be happy that no political party were involved in the
incidents, rather it is unfortunate that the views of the political
parties are too poor to hold the people’s voice.

In kansaat, a big change appeared in the view of the upcoming national
election. People hope Mr. Rabbani will compete in the election and
they are not to be happy to see that only ‘Nauka’ and ‘Dhaner Shish’
are in front of them to have their vote. They want to say good bye
to the both in the coming election.

There is a clear class difference in kansat in the participation in
the protest programs. Most of the people that were involved in the
movement are poor and from labor or peasant class. Middle class
participation is a very rare and exceptional case. There are many
students in Rajshahi
University, who are from Kansat, were in Kansat then as the
university was closed then, but didn’t take part in the movement. All
that are died and seriously wounded are from very poor family. It is
not just incidental. Rather, it proves many calculations and brings
many different dimensions in front of our eyes.

May be, Mr. Rabbani is a people from a middle class family, but people
didn’t hesitate to accept him as a leader as he was involved in the
initiative of agitating electricity from very earlier. Moreover, he is
a very pro-people person.

There were some differences in the feeling of the quantitative and
qualitative necessity of the electricity and its uses. We, the urban
middle class will hardly be able to feel the necessity of electricity
of the Kansatbashi. They even don’t bother in case of the failure of
electricity in home uses like light or fan or TV. They felt that their
food that is going to be allocated for the whole coming year is going
to be spoiled due to the absence of the electricity for irrigation.
Then they had nothing do but to come down in the street and protest.
That’s why they didn’t hesitate to stand over open fire

“,1] ); //–>sacrificing themselves.

We are bound to undertake the historical account of how Kansat
happened, what happened and where it went.

We are not going to show the parallel comparisons of other right based
issues happening in Bangladesh, rather we want to draw an overall and
comprehensive conclusion, how and on what pre-conditions a movement
could reach to the goal, how middleclass are unsuccessful to create
and lead a people based and right based movement. How politics and
political parties are very far from the people and serving the
business companies and their interests.

Our formal fundraising started this week:

Here are some initial responses that are very exciting:

From Tennessee:

The Kansat funding campaign had a good momentum (relatively speaking) at my end. Last Sunday, I had a small gathering and displayed a poster with pics from the Kansat up-rise. After some daal-bhaat I sat down with a handful of grad students (all of them members of the BSA – BD students assoc.), and had some alochona. They seemed interested in the cause. We are planning to have a fund-raising Jolsha in early August (about the time the fall semester will begin). A young couple from Atlanta will be our guest performers.

We are debating on whether to make it a formal event – like reserve a hall and sell tickets, or make it more like an informal sit-on-the-living-room-floor like thing with a donation box placed in the corner.

- Z.

From Wisconsin:

I see it as an opportunity to be part of the history.

I offer to contribute in the following ways,

1. Donate from my limited means.

2. I can be part of the team that will review the historical aspects of the screenplay.

Let me know when and who to send the money.

Rumi.

From Mridul:

This is to inform that Ain O Shalish Kendra has agreed to give us some partial funding. This is very significant since we now have a recognized local partner and also since ASK has a number of lawyers on their board, their input into the approach and content of the documentary will add significant value.

Appeal to raise funds for "Arek Kansat", a documentary

Kansat has now become a distant memory. Yet, the historical significance of the movement in Kansat, which was the focus of the whole country for two weeks in April 2006, in the present Bangladesh scenario, is hard to overstate. Kansat, in short, presents the real state of politics in Bangladesh and shows when the "little people" stand up for their rights, how disdainfully the ruling elites treat them. Now that this story has shifted from the headline with a presumably happy ending for most, this story has to be told to a wider audience because what happened in that little village has a much larger significance to the future Bangladesh.

In Kansat, a village under Shibganj Upazilla in Chapainawabganj district, the villagers for many years, endured hardship due to lack of power supply; their lives were hindered, their crops destroyed. Lack of power supply compounded by limitless corruption of the government officials, ensured that they did not get minimum power supply for irrigation at the height of Boro season. When exploitation reached its limit, the patience of the peace loving agrarian community of Kansat was tried one time too many. They united under the banner of 'The Action Committee for Rural Power Development' (PBUSP). The peaceful and apolitical movement of common people for their rights met with an oppressive mindset of the government and trigger-happy law enforcement agency — ultimately leading to the killing of 17 people which included a few minors.

During the course of events, the people of Kansat were stripped off their right to protest, they were beaten brutally by the police inside their houses regardless of their age and sex, their homes were ransacked and looted, they were forced flee their habitat, they were arrested indiscriminately, their leaders were tortured while in police custody, and above all, they were denied a trial for the death of 17 people. Although, the government gave in to their demand after massive public outcry, till date, no one is held responsible for the killings and no judicial inquiry has been formed.

The story of Kansat needs to be told again and again so that it is not repeated — ever. That's why, we, at Drishtipat, working with Counter Foto – , a Dhaka based organization of cultural activistsa , have decided to make a documentary on the story of Kansat. The objectives of making the documentary are:

1. To document the chronology of events starting from the start of the movement and ending with the government accepting the demands of the people of Kansat.
2. To bring out clearly the extent to which human rights have been violated in Kansat and the government's blind eye to it and even an effort to cover up.
3. To investigate who were the people responsible for this indiscriminate killing and demand justice
4. To investigate the fairness of government policies regarding rural electricity distribution and pricing and also to bring into focus the nation-wide corruption regarding rural electrification
5. To produce a visual documentation of the Kansat-bashis' fight against injustice as a source of inspiration for the nation and
6. To expose the apathy of the political parties to tackle real issues of real people.

To make this documentary a reality we need your help. We need to raise $3000 as soon as possible to cover the cost of production of the documentary. The dedicated team in Dhaka is ready and they have already done the ground work and have started interviewing. By providing the funding, this is your chance to be part of telling the history as it should be told – without political colors. If you were outraged by the events in Kansat like millions of others were, you can now make a difference to help tell this story so that the ruling elite in Bangladesh, regardless of which party they are from, think twice before doing what they did to the innocent people of Kansat.

Will you take a stand with the people of Kansat and help us tell their inspiring story of courage, conviction and sacrifice during an era of unprecedented police brutality and elite corruption? Will you help us document some of the nation's proudest and darkest hours for generations to come?

Hello all,

I have tried to compile all the facts about Kansat in a detailed document.  There are lots of 'cuts & pastes' and surely grammatical mistakes too. Had to obtain info from different sources, hence may be a few inconsistencies too.

Shumon, would really appreciate if you can take the time to proof read/edit it.

Tarik, attached a few photographs, just in case you don't have them.

Asif & Mridul, I will get back to you with the appeal letter as soon as DP London launch is complete.

Please review and give your feedback. Thanks.

Shahed

on behalf of Drishtipat

Dear all,

I found at last a 14 point demand document of kansat. That is as follows,

1. withdraw all sorts of Metre rent
2. Minimmum charge should be 75 taka all including
3. all illegal fine in the name of metre check should be stopped 4. Fine for the side connection should be off
5. No farmer should be liable for the stealing of the line or transformer of palli bidyut nor should be fined
6. All family of the dead persons should be paid 2 lakh taka
7. 25 thousand taka should be paid to the most wonded persons each
8. 5-7 persons that are wounded in eyes should be paid 50 thousand taka each
9. all wounded (i.e. more than 450 person) should be given 10 thousand taka each
10. A monument in the memory of the deads should be built in front of the gate of Palli bidyut office
11. all cases should be withdrawn
12. Due bill should be recieved without fine
13. opportunity to pay the due bils with 6 month installment
14. 4th or 23rd January should be declared as a holiday.

Maruf

Dear Asif bhai and our Kansat group:

I am very happy to let you know that Omi has won All Roads National Geographic award for his work on "Stolen Dreams: The story of the abandoned victims of political violence." The award is given every year to only four people from all over the world .  Omi's work will be exhibited in the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival, to be held in Los Angeles, California September 28-Oct. 1 and in Washington D.C., Oct. 5-8, 2006. Omi will go to US to accept the award, discuss his work, and participate in one of the panel discussions in the festivals.

  On behalf of Counter Foto, I would like to thank all of you who have appreciated Omi's hard work and supported him in many ways. His exceptional ways of taking challenges in every sphere of work made him take the initiative to start many projects from almost nowhere. The Kansat documentary is one of those many.   I am very happy that Drishtipat is working with us on Kansat documentary and I will be very happy to see "Arek Kansat" creating significant impact in the future.

As Omi is going to US in September it might be possible for him to go to New York and California and exhibit his works in those places too. Drishtipat may consider taking the initiative to organize the exhibition and raise fund for the victims if possible. It could definitely be an impact creating initiative if properly organized.

 Ritu

I and Akram have return from kansaat last night. The progress is briefly as follows,1. We met Mr. Golam rabbani yesterday noon. He is happy as the government is agreed with all the claims. The cases had some cofusions and that's why they took more two days (18 May) to fullfill the claims. Rabbani says that, It is our victory. A meeting is called at the Kansaat Rajbari Maath at 3:00 pm on 24 May to declare the victory and pay the compensations to the death and wonded families.

2. We met with the victims, one of the death family, the Family of Anwar, the youngest dead (11) at the Kansaat. They says that, they might have to loss their children but all Bangladeshi people will be served the decreased amount of the Palli Bidyut. The boy was fond of playing with his friends, and on that day he was playing. Plice opened fires and they went to see what are happening. Anwar tried to back home through the street and was fallen in front of the police, one policeman trget him slowly and get him.

3. One paralysed old men was left in the home alone and police came to search the houses, he beg with bonded hand to leave him alone, police fire in his hand.

there are many more sketches in such way that is extremely inhuman. One of the dead went to challenge police why they insulted his old mother. Police just fire him as the answer.

People says that, If govt. don't response this time like earlier, they are quite ready to start fight again. They recognised this fight more than the 71. Because those who saw 71 says that this time police acted more brutally than the Pakistani Army.

Mr. Shahjahan, who was elected repeatedly for 5 times as the MP, has totally ignored the people's agitation. He just said that he knew nothing. That's why people get angry on him. People denyed to vote him this time. The Awami league opponent Mr. Brig. Anamul also didn't took part in the movement, thoght it could be big chance to fight back in the vote battle in Kansaat. But he also regreted.

Rabbani is going to take part in the coming election. This have a mixed reaction in the public. Some are very much agree with him, they want him as a elected leader so that he can do something more being in the government. But some people think that like other elected people's leader in the history he forget people after being elected.

There are 16 Unions in that election area. 6 of them are fully supporting for Rabbani, But the other are not countable. This is very uncertain. On the other hand Mr. Shahjahan is quite confident about his victory in the coming election.

Rabbani was a very popular person since last two years. He always helps others with his own costs. He had a dream to take part in election in any space like Union Council or MP. In the mean time he got a chance to take part in the election for Directors of Pali Bidyut Samity. He took the chance and win. He promised people that if he win he will try to reduce the minumum charge of the palli bidyut. He tried but he faild. then people started to say the all candidates make fake promises. then Rabbani make a big pressure in the authority and as a result he is suspended.

Then he started the movement with the people.

But there is some obscurious. Two claim is deleted from the list, i.e. one is Palli Bidyut must supply uninterrupted electricity to Kanssat, and the 2nd is Mr. Shahjahan's withdrawal from the MP post. some people are not agree with these. because the movement started with the claim of uniterrupted electricity supply. Becaus they have lost their paddy thi season due to lack electricity as it was supplied only 2-3 hours a day.

There is many more issues and findings about Kansaat. But the important thing is to shoot the meeting on 24 May beacause there will be more that one lakh people in the meeting.

Tahnks,

best  regards,

maruf

on behalf of counter foto