Garments industry
Yet another violent incident rocked the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DPEZ) at Savar , leading to suspension of operations in all units there for a couple of hours.
Garment workers enraged by a rumour about the 'killing' of one of their fellow worker ransacked their factory and engaged in a fierce clash with the police. The situation came under control following the intervention by the 'joint forces'
Many suspect that the issue had been engineered by vested quarters trying to take over part of the Bangladesh apparel market, particularly in the USA. One can easily guess who could be immediate beneficiaries if the move was successful.
Many tend to suspect that some outside forces had engineered it to project the Bangladesh RMG as an unstable sector in the major importing countries and grab the Bangladesh's portion of the market.
August 29, 2007, BBC once again ran a report by British run charity Action Aid on MADE IN BANGLADESH garments. This year, every few days, reports have been aired and published in Britain highlighting the exploitation and misery of Bangladeshi workers. It appears Bangladesh is unique in the field. As a result, consumers have begun to boycott Bangladeshi goods. Some consumers have even demanded that Tesco, Asda and other big supermarkets stop all imports of Bangladeshi goods.
In the United States, the British campaign is having its effects. Students have gone on demonstrations demanding ban on Bangladeshi goods. Some 12 students were arrested at one demo. Italy and other European nations are slowly removing production out of Bangladesh into Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia and Vietnam. Of course, those nations are not free of abuse of workers! Propaganda seems to be cleverly directed at Bangladesh.
Action Aid and War Against Want- two charities most active against Bangladesh trade- even use people with Bengali heritage in their campaign. Fact remains people of Bangladesh origin are amongst the most naive, and easily manipulated.
The problem for Bangladeshi industries is that too often the industrialists themselves have been too busy playing politics or being led by political agendas to concentrate on developing the made in Bangladesh brand. The industry associations and Bangladesh embassies have weak intelligence on the work of anti-Bangladesh propagandists.
It is important for the industry and the government to spend at least a $100 million per year on PR and lobbying as a matter of priority. If such sacrifices are not made the country will face a calamity. By the way PR means publishing positive books on the country and its culture; promoting music, dance, drama, arts and festivals in Bangladesh; developing excellent websites. These are the indirect methods of promoting MADE IN BANGLADESH goods and services. Also, rather than denying that rouges exist, as they do in all parts of the world, invite people on tourism trail to come to textiles factories and experience the environment. All the above maybe ways of generating further revenue (money is a dirty word in Bangladesh for some reason) and employment in the country, as well as giving the country a positive and forward looking image.
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