Earl R Miller

For weeks I have been working on this article. I couldn’t get it right. What is the best way to congratulate the people of Bangladesh on the 50th anniversary of the founding of this remarkable country and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman?

In late 2019, we learned of the harrowing plight of Suma Akter, a Bangladeshi woman in Saudi Arabia who secretly recorded and shared on social media her story of abuse and exploitation abroad. In Saudi Arabia, Akter said, her employer beat her and at one point poured hot oil on her hand. Later on, when she fell ill, Akter said her employer sold her to another person for 22,000 riyals (almost Tk 5 lakh).

I grew up in the labour movement. I was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, a city so famous for producing automobiles that it was called “Vehicle City.”

Nine year old Sabbir was ill. For several weeks he complained of chest pain and had a bad cough, sometimes coughing blood. His