:: Friday, November 08, 2002 ::

Free Trade in Southern Asia:

While India is trying to establish a free trade agreement with Thailand and the ASEAN countries in general, a free trade agreement with Bangladesh countinues to flounder.

As we have discussed before in this forum, the Indian government claims to be a regional power, but acts like a mercantile power with its poorer cousins. A free trade agreement with its neighbors would ultimately be beneficial to India. Discrimination against Bangladeshi imports is short-sighted, especially in terms of promoting regional development. A strong regional trade would help the region brace for the cyclical swings in the global markets. The establishment of vibrant regional markets would provide India with a hedge against international markets.

India needs to work harder to set up fair/free trade arrangements with its neighbors -- India needs to put more on the table than it takes.

:: Vikash Yadav 11:31 AM [Permanent Link] :: ::
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Times to Come:

- The Guardian

:: Vikash Yadav 11:47 PM [Permanent Link] :: ::
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On the Lighter Side...:

"India's Top Physicists Develop Plan To Get The Hell Out of India"

- The Onion

:: Vikash Yadav 11:37 PM [Permanent Link] :: ::
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Airport Stories:

Last week as I took a train from Pennsylvania to Ohio I met a ("white") businessman who told me that he was going to be on the train for three days as he was bound for Los Angeles. This was the man's third such trip this year. When I expressed my surprise at his willingness to sit on a train for three days, he explained that he was afraid to fly since 9-11. He told me, while looking nervously around the cabin, that he did not feel safe on airplanes anymore. But he also did not feel safe on the train because there was so little security screening. He almost seemed to be confessing, albeit with a sense of self-loathing, that he was afraid of me and my kind. I wanted to tell this man that I too did not feel comfortable flying on airplanes since 9-11, but not for the same reasons.

Almost every South Asian that I have talked to in the last year has told me an "airport story" of being searched and/or harassed. While non-South Asians are also being searched, it is becoming patently obvious that persons of South Asian and Middle Eastern heritage are the targets of these searches. There have been some horrific cases of harassment, but most of the mid-level harassment and racial profiling seems to be going undetected. And not all of the harassment is limited to searches by airport authorities, some of the harassment deals with way in which service is delivered before and during the flight.

What should we do as a community in response? I don't think that there is an easy solution. Some friends have indicated that non-American airlines are less inclined to harass and profile based on "race" (i.e., heritage). If this is the case (and if there is some solid evidence) then perhaps it is time to boycott all American owned airlines. Pay the higher cost if you can afford it, but don't fly on an airline where you will be treated like a second class citizen. Will this make a dent in the airlines industry? Probably not. But why give your business to racists? We should also report all cases of harassment, insult, slights no matter how small as they form a pattern which may be of service in a court case.

Minorities must not accept the argument that their civil liberties need to be restricted for the greater good. An open and free society must accept security threats of all forms as a cost of being free. This is why there is a right to bear arms protected by the constitution. This is why the criminal justice system places such great emphasis on procedure over outcomes. Our civil liberties trump their suspicions and anxiety.

Screeing selection must be based on rational criteria that do not contain a racial or ethnic bias. If an ethnic or racial bias emerges, then selection criteria must be re-evaluated. We must demand sensitivity training for all screeners, security guards, airline employees, and all airmarshalls.

America is becoming a land of the somewhat free and the home of the terrified. It is up to this country's minorities to make America better. Thus, it is our duty to fight each and every infringment on our civil liberties. We are doing a service to the country and the constitution by asserting our rights.

:: Vikash Yadav 2:08 PM [Permanent Link] :: ::
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