Hindu devotees seated with lights pray, Nov. 5, in front of the Shri Shri Baba Lokanath Brahmachar Ashram in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during their fast. Brahmachar lived in the 12th century and is now a household deity for millions of families. He is regarded as a saint by Hindus, sometimes even considered to be a living god. © Monirul Alam http://monirul.photoshelter.com/
“No one can help me, and I don’t have any other way to live except through begging. I live on the street and everyday earn Taka 30 to 40 and I am taking drugs as I am frustrated by life.”
-Zahid, a street beggar and drug user
A lame man walks the streets at night. He is Zahid, who has lost the use of his left leg as a result of a childhood illness. He came to Dhaka from his village in Bagura, in the northern part of Bangladesh and started begging to survive.
“No one can help me, and I don’t have any other way to live except through begging. I live on the street and everyday earn Taka 30 to 40 and I am taking drugs, as I am frustrated with life. Sometimes the police pick me up from the street and release me on the outskirts of Dhaka. We suffer a lot but no one can help us get a good job or rehabilitate us.”
Like Zahid, there are many people, especially women and girls whose human rights are violated daily. These can include physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse, and they cut across boundaries of age, race, culture, wealth and geography.
Drug abuse in Bangladesh is a national issue of concern as it directly impacts the economy and society. There are millions of drug-addicted people in Bangladesh and most of them are young, between the ages of 18 and 30 and they are from all strata of society. The country as a whole is deemed by the UN to be “low-risk.” However, the disease is spreading at an alarming rate among the intravenous drug addicts who reuse dirty needles in the urban slums of the capital. The first HIV positive patient in the country was identified in 1989. According to the Health Ministry statistics for last year 123 people died of AIDS, 365 others got infected and 1207 were found HIV positive. According to UNAIDS statistics, the number of HIV-positive drug users more than doubled between 2001 and 2005. Health experts warn that the risk of an epidemic is increased by that fact that many of the addicts also admit paying for sex and only 10 percent say they always use a condom.
Most of the addicts are young, homeless and unemployed. Some of them don’t know anything about the diseases they have. Frustrated with lives they have turned to drugs. When you talk to them you realize they are just waiting for death because they have nothing else to do.
Artist statement
“A deadly game” is my self-photography project. My work started many years ago when I got to know about HIV/AIDS. As a photojournalist, I find the street drug users suffer more and face more problems as they do not know their basic rights. At the same time they don’t know enough about diseases to be concerned about them.
My main focus is on the street drug user is to show their actual condition in a humane way . At the same time, I also would like our society to see the drug users and to respect their human rights through my photo story.
Note: Recently Bangladesh Human Rights Networks, banglarights.net published my Photo Story, A Deadly Game to their on line publication. Please visit on the following link pages
Link: http://banglarights.net/a-deadly-game-moniul-alam.html
Note: One of my video reports “Millions of Bangladeshis take to the roads during last days of Ramadan … at the risk of their lives” published on Observers France 24 International news, Please click on the Image to see the link page or click the following link.
Note: One of my picture “Bangladesh Mob Beating” published on AP, The Associated Press .Please click on the Image to see the link page.
Recently my work published on The Wall Street Journal. Please click on to see
the link
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304803104576428510105575924.html
http://www.photojournale.com/categories.php?cat_id=190
Rafiqul has been forced to move 22 times in as many years, a victim of the
annual floods that ravage Bangladesh. There are millions like Rafiqul in
Bangladesh and in the future there could be many millions more if
scientists’ predictions of rising seas and more intense droughts and storms
come true. Bangladesh is a country that stands to be one of the first to
suffer from global climate change, and the time to act is now.
Climate change already touches every corner of the world and every aspect of
people’s lives. As global temperatures increase, its impact will become even
more extreme. The impact of climate change worldwide is already causing food
and fuel crises. World Bank and IMF have sounded a larger alarm pushing 100
million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty.
In Bangladesh we are seeing rice-crises first hand every day. The long
queues on the roadside subsidizing rice sale centers are probably an
indication of the coming hunger, when 30 million people will face
starvation. In Bangladesh natural disasters like SIDR, river erosion,
drought and flood mass migration of people from the countryside to the
cities. Experts say a third of Bangladesh’s coastline could be flooded if
the sea rises one meter in the next 50 years, creating an additional 20
million Bangladeshi displaced from their homes and farms.
Photodocumentary / photojournal by Bangledeshi and Deputy chief photojournalist for
The Daily Prothom Alo newspaper, Monirul Alam
Note : My photo story Published on Photojournle . Please click above link
When I come back to my home I really surprised to see my computer table, PRIVATE! Yes, International review of photographs magazine PRIVATE, on my table- Private global report published my photo story ” People’s Struggle”. I pick it up and shortly look it’s nice, collectable and should be archives value. Around the globe total 17 photographers work published in this winter 2010-11 edition.
The issue is [Anthropology] As unique and special the scenes are that the photographers for this issue have chosen to focus on,the similarities (what we have in common,what we share) that can be found around the globe are striking said their editorial. . .
Canadian photographer DONAL WEBER work Chernobyl issue,his work titled “Bastard Eden,Our Chernobyl” Donald began visiting this region, as he says, because he wanted to see what was there. His question was simple: What was daily life actually like, in A POST-NUCLER WORLD?
Hans Durrer write his editorial on my work, […] from “People’s Struggle” with the floods that ravage Bangladesh each year to a Kalahari previously not seen (my favorites pics of all are the two first ones in blue).
Hear I am write the photographers name who their worked is Published in this Magazine at the same time I am very glad to Private Magazine to published my work and well reviewed . . .
Photographers:
Donald Weber
Isabelle Pateer
Kirk Ellingham
Guido Gazzilli
Nadia Shira Cohen
Daniel Traub
Antonia Zennaro
Alex Tomazatos
Monirul Alam (me)
Silvia Boarini
Martin Errichiello
Tessa Bunney
Nicola Lo Calzo
Tamas Paczai
Alessandro Toscano
Lene Munch
Matteo Bastianelli
7, December 2010
Tuesday, Dhaka
The Daily Star News paper published my photo feature Climate Refugee of Bangladesh to their Monthly publication FORUM Vol. 4 Issue 10 October 2010. Please see see the link http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2010/October/p_feature.htm
and would like to request send your opinion.
Climate change has touched every corner of the world and every aspect of our lives. As the global temperature increases, its impact will become even more extreme. As part of the initial effects of climate change, the world is already facing food and fuel crisis. The World Bank and IMF have sounded a more serious alarm: 100 million people in low-income countries will be pushed deeper into poverty.
In Bangladesh, we are experiencing rice crisis firsthand. The long queues in front of the subsidised rice sale centres are an indication of the impending disaster: 30 million people will face starvation.
Natural disasters like SIDR, constant river erosion, drought and flood have led to mass migration of people from the countryside to the cities. The migrants were lured by visions of money, food and a better life, but many of them till now have failed to realise their dreams. As a consequence, the rural poor have become the urban poor.
During the course of documenting the state of poverty in urban areas of the country, my investigation finally led me to the plight of the numerous climate refugees in Dhaka city. These are but a few glimpses of a much larger picture.
MONIRUL ALAM 