When One Powerful Woman Threatens Millions of Others...

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bangladesh's Prime Minister is threatening the future of millions of poor women in her country: she's clamping down on the one rural bank that helps them, the Grameen Bank! Once again the poor are downtrodden, beaten down by their own politicians, a scandal! Join the fight for justice, all it takes is a CLICK on your computer!

The Grameen Bank has enabled millions of women to lift themselves out of poverty by giving them tiny loans to buy animals or equipment to start earning money. But Bangladesh's jealous Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has fired its Nobel Prize winning founder Muhammad Yunus and now wants to seize control of the bank, all to silence a political rival. This takeover could break the bank and destroy millions of people's hope.

I worked in humanitarian and development aid  for 25 years, I know personally of the Grameen Bank's work, it has simply done an OUTSTANDING job helping the poor! The international community has recognized Yunus's remarkable work by awarding him the Nobel Prize - AVAAZ is right: we can't let one powerful, envious woman destroy the hopes of millions of poor rural women - a small Grameen Bank loan is their only hope to break out of poverty and feed their children!

Help AVAAZ to force Hasina to back down. Sign the petition, I just did. Here's the link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_world_best_bank/?cAXfecb



Save the world's best bank
sign the petition


To Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina:

    Over the past three decades, Grameen has empowered millions of women and families in Bangladesh to break the shackles of poverty and inspired a worldwide microfinance revolution. You have the power to keep that hope alive. As global citizens, we urge you to stop the government takeover of Grameen Bank, starting with reversing the Grameen Bank Ordinance amendment that allows the government to bypass the people-elected board and handpick who runs the Bank.


As of October 9, Rome time 8 am: 73,428 have signed. Help AVAAZ get to 100,000!
Here's an interesting article that explains it all - gives you the info you need to take your decision:
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Comments

Unknown said…
It seems that politician from as far back as history is recorded has beaten down women. That is shocking. Now a woman prime minister is beating down women. That is criminal.
Yes, shocking, Caleb, you're right! And the Grameen Bank has really changed international aid, the way it's now provided to the rural poor, with so much more understanding and respect than before. It's been a watershed - like Shakespeare was for the theater!

Then comes this woman along, trying to destroy everything...
Jack Durish said…
A suggestion: "Like" the petition website on StumbleUpon as well as this blog posting and others that refer people to the petition. I did. This should also help drive traffic there.
Thanks Jack, that's an excellent idea! You're always so much better than I am at networking!
Laura Zera said…
Hi Claude, thanks for posting this with the petition -- I am also a fan of Grameen Bank. I met Yunus when he was in Seattle in 2007 and worked for the Grameen Foundation (its U.S. offspring) in Cameroon. It makes me shudder to think that *anyone* would try and take over the bank, as the intricacies and intention behind the way it is set up is based on years of testing and evaluation, and any organization who hasn't worked in microfinance *in the field* would not understand the mechanics.

David Bornstein (who wrote the NYT article) is certainly a good source on this topic, although I wonder if the removal of Yunus was overblown outside of Bangladesh. While in line for Topkapi Palace in Istanbul last year, I struck up a conversation with two Bangladeshi fellows. They said that his removal occurred due to Bangladeshi laws regarding maximum length of years as a Managing Director, and that it happens all the time to other MDs in Bangladesh. Maybe Yunus's case got so much attention just because of who he is... or maybe there really is ill will and a vendetta against him... it's hard for anyone outside of the inner circles in Bangladeshi government to know.
It is truly awful to think of a woman trying to squash other women, especially when she has so much and they have so little. Terrible. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Emma Calin said…
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Sonia and Emma, yes, I think you're right: what is particularly shocking here is the gap - a chasm! - between this one wealthy and powerful woman and the millions of helplessly poor rural women in Bangladesh!