Depopulating Bangladesh 

Depopulating Bangladesh  Essays on the Politices of Fertility & Reproductive Rights; Farida Akhter; Published Narigrantha Prabartana, First Editon: June 1992-Jan-96 Sept 05- Jan 08 Fith Editon: 2022. Page: 228. Price:400/=

Foreword to the fifth edition

The fifth edition of ‘Depopulating Bangladesh’ is now being published after a long gap of 14 years. I am happy that we can make the book available again. The articles, which are mostly presented in different national and international seminars and conferences are included in this book alongside articles published in various newspapers since 1991.

Three more articles are added in the new edition of the book. I have mentioned earlier that the book is a compilation of articles that I have written on the depopulating strategy dictated by Western ‘donor’ countries and have been pursued and implemented by the governments of Bangladesh. I tried to grasp how people of a nation are reduced to mere numbers so that they could be targeted and terminated in the women’s bodies. This is an exercise of what in the recent philosophical literature is now known as the exercise of ‘bio-power’, a means of disciplining, controlling, and managing peoples’ bodies, particularly women (Foucalt, 2009).

I started to write on the global politics of population control even before our organization UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternative) was formed in 1984. It was the period when few of us used to hold regular study circles, led by Farhad Mazhar on issues concerning development and social change. Such study circles further deepened our understanding of the politics of international development and the nature of the strategic intervention of powerful western countries. This had led to our thinking of forming an organization, which is now UBINIG.

In the study circles, we read several books on population. Some books had left a lasting impression on our thoughts and research. particularly those written by Bonnie Mass (Mass, 1976), Mahmud Mamdani, and many other related books and journals. It was a time when an authoritarian military government was pursuing population control as the number one goal in the development programs. No criticism of the population programs, or the so-called family planning, was allowed. During those difficult times, these articles were written as papers presented at various international conferences and seminars. After 1991, with the transition to civilian governments, the situation slightly improved as we could publish articles in the newspapers. Nevertheless, silencing the critique of population control programs continued under various excuses. These articles resulted from our collective efforts and works in information collection. The objective has always been sharing of our concerns about violence and coercion of population control and donor-driven development politics.

The period of the articles is more than two decades of our understanding of ideologies and operations of depopulating Bangladesh and how ‘family planning’ practically turned into population control programs. These are compilations from many articles I wrote in the 1990s. At UBINIG, apart from the need to expose the ideology, operation, and violence of depopulating strategy, we are very much concerned about the promotion of harmful, unsafe, and experimental contraceptives. These were promoted as ‘modern inventions’ but mainly benefit multinational corporations and relevant vested interest groups. Technologies are not neutral devices, they are designed to fetch profit for corporations. The coercive sterilization programs were an assault on persons and a violation of human rights.

We are not against family planning, which means couples planning their own families, free from coercive ideologies and corporate propaganda of ‘modern contraceptives’. A couple may desire one, two, more, or even no child depending on their income and stability. If they take any contraceptive method it should be an informed decision of both the couple. The right of a woman to decide in this respect is an objective we wanted to establish to protect her from patriarchal oppression. The health of women is another most important concern (Mamdani, 1972). We have been working to develop a strong health program with a component of safe family planning methods.

For the fifth edition, the articles are re-organized into four chapters.

Chapter 1 deals with the history of population control or the de-populating strategies that were pursued by international organizations and imposed on countries like Bangladesh. Chapter 2 is about the politics of reproductive rights and also a critique of reproductive rights from the realities of Bangladeshi women. Chapter 3 deals with population, ecology, and development and how the environmental questions are posed to justify population control. Finally, Chapter 4 highlights how women have become a ‘discovery’ in the population discourse and how technologies have captured women’s desires for a child. Articles in Chapter 4 were mostly written because of my relationship with FINRRAGE (Feminist network for Resistance against Reproductive and Genetic Engineering) as a member. I have attended many conferences as a member of FINRRAGE. My FINRRAGE friends Prof. Maria Mies, Prof. Jalna Hanmer, Dr Renate Klein, Dr Robyn Rowland, Dr Janice Raymond, Gena Corea, and Helen Zweifel have always been an immense source of inspiration. Whatever I have written reflects their work as I internalized from them as a member of the global feminist network, from my friends at FINRRAGE, from the members of the Resistance Network. Above all, I am indebted to village women who directly experienced the coercive global politics of fertility and they shared their pains. I have also learned from the critics - those who did not agree with me.

The encouragement I received from all my colleagues and friends gave me the strength to fight against the monstrous population control establishments and institutions. Prof. Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak, who is known to us at UBINIG as our ‘DIDI”, during her visits to Bangladesh made it very clear that "I was doing some important work". This was enough for me. Farhad Mazhar has always been behind all the writings and without his support, this book would have been just impossible.

At UBINIG, Shima Das Shimu, Rokeya Begum, Sayyida Akhter have been actively working on this issue since UBINIG's inception. Their contributions are enormous.

Finally, I must say, the mistakes may still be there. I apologize for my shortcomings.

Farida Akhter
29 March 2022,
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Contents

Foreword to the fifth edition 11
Chapter 1: History of Depopulating Bangladesh 15
A Brief History of the External Intervention into the Reproductive Behavior of a Society 17
Pre-Intervention Period (Before 1952) 19
Intervention Begins (1952-60) 20

Mass Scale Operation (1965-70): State as Apparatus 21

Short Gap (1971-72) 23

Multinational and Multisectoral Intervention (1973-78): A Phase of Experiments 24

The phase of achieving ‘Drastic Decline’ (1978-85) 29

Time has come to resist the population control activities 38

Contraceptive technology and coercive reorganization of society 44

Contraceptive Methods 47

Hazards of Contraception 49

State of contraceptive technology in Bangladesh 50

Sex without Conception: Institutionalization of Bourgeois Birth Control 51

The Pill 53

Intrauterine Devices (IUD) 54

Injectables and Implants 55

Sterilisation 56

Conclusion 58

New Shift in Depopulating Strategy: In the Context of Bangladesh Cyclone 60

The shift in the Discourse of Depopulating Policies 62

Population in the South: a security concern for the North 66

Conclusion 69

Huntington’s 'Clash' Thesis & Population Control 70

World Population Day 2010: Reliable and Accurate Data for whom? 74

Chapter 2: Politics of Reproductive rights 77

Reproductive relation and political economy: A note on the nature of feminine subjectivity and history 79

Procreative Capacities & Social Relation of Reproduction 80

Procreative and Productive Capacities Error! Bookmark not defined.

Reproductive Relations & Private Property 81

Reproductive Relation, Commodity Production & Capital 81

Nature and Political Significance of Feminine Subjectivity 84

On the Question of Reproductive Right 87

What Does Reproductive Right Mean 88

How then should we pose the question? 92

Historical Realities Faced by Bangladeshi Women and the Demand for Reproductive Rights 94

Racist & Eugenic Background of Reproductive Right Movement 98

Conclusion 102

Reproductive Rights: a critique from the realities of Bangladeshi Women 103

What does Reproductive Rights mean for Bangladeshi women? 105

Reproductive Rights: Population Control in Disguise 107

Technological coercion and Reproductive Right 109

Need to dismantle capitalist patriarchy 112

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