{"id":5089,"date":"2020-12-15T16:27:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T10:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/?p=5089"},"modified":"2020-12-15T16:32:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T10:32:53","slug":"shahriar-hossain-coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/shahriar-hossain-coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Shahriar Hossain: Coming Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cKeep in mind that the journey you started is endless. Until your last breath, you have to move forward with your mission and commitment. Activists have to have that commitment not to give up. We may not have the results in our lifetime, but if we continue, the next generations will see results.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

– Dr. Shahriar Hossain<\/em><\/p>\n

The 1990s were not the best of times for Bangladeshi environmentalist Dr. Shahriar Hossain. The decade saw the then thirty-something activist receiving death threats, dodging attempts on his life, and going into exile.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1992-1993, we were running a campaign on a national plastic bag ban in Bangladesh,\u201d Dr. Shahriar recalled, referring to the early work of ESDO or Environmental and Social Development Organization, which he had founded the year prior.<\/p>\n

As the head of the organization, he was at the forefront of the campaign, and inevitably, he got the ire of the industry. \u201cPeople tried to kill me several times. I requested for protection from the government, but I was denied support. I was forced out of the country instead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dumbfounded that the country for which he served as the youngest freedom fighter during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war had turned its back on him, the gentle, soft-spoken Dr. Shahriar packed his suitcase and left for the United States in 1994\u2014carrying with him his vision, but leaving behind his loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very difficult for me. I left behind my family in Dhaka. My children had to stay at home and not go to school for a year. My team in Bangladesh suffered but they continued their work. It was hard, but the good thing is that many came forward to support,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the United States, Dr. Shahriar was provided the support and protection his own country had denied him by the Advocacy Institute of Washington, an organization that trained lobbyists in how to effectively pursue their causes. Its co-founder\u2014David Cohen\u2014took Dr. Shahriar under his wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid was like a father to me. He helped me mentally and supported me financially,\u201d Dr. Shahriar shared, adding that it was through Mr. Cohen that he got jobs while in exile.<\/p>\n

Dr. Shahriar soon found himself working as International Fellowship Coordinator for the Advocacy Institute. Later he became a faculty member at the George Washington University teaching social ecology, and a contributor to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

But it was his work at the Advocacy Institute that proved seminal for the formation of what is now a global network of organizations and activists fighting for a toxic-free world\u2014the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my time at the Advocacy Institute, I learned so much about incineration processes and issues. At the time, I was working in communities. In Delaware, there were communities within the incinerator facilities,\u201d Dr. Shahriar said.<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Shahriar, the incinerator industry had its heyday in mid- to late-1990s, peaking in the early 2000s. \u201cIt was not an easy time. Everybody was moving toward incineration. The incinerator companies were targeting Asia, Latin America, and Africa,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Dr. Shahriar\u2019s work at the Advocacy Institute involved organizing fellowships for environmentalists and activists from around the world, and Mr. Cohen gave him the space to do his own advocacy. He used these fellowships to talk to the fellows about incineration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fellows showed interest in taking on the issue. We thought of creating a global movement. We thought it was high time to talk to the developing nations and bring the activists together. We thought about raising one voice together\u2014one voice saying, \u2018No to incineration!\u2019\u201d\u00a0Dr. Shahriar said, adding that during those times, some of the fellows already had local campaigns against incinerators.<\/p>\n

Dr. Shahriar recalled Ricardo Navarro, Paul Carter, Neil Tangri, Jayakumar Chelaton, and Bobby Peak as among the first ones to respond positively to the idea.<\/p>\n

These conversations were followed by a flurry exchange of letters between and among Dr. Shahriar and the fellows. \u201cThere was no email yet at the time. We had to rely on fax machines and letters, but fax was not accessible in some countries, so we mostly relied on letters,\u201d Dr. Shahriar shared.<\/p>\n

And in December 2000, after years of dreaming together and organizing, the thinkers came together in Durban, Africa, and GAIA (originally Global Anti-Incineration Alliance) was born.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Dr. Shahriar did not make it to the gathering. \u201cI sent a message which was conveyed in the meeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The year after, in 2001, Dr. Shahriar was back in Bangladesh. \u201cThe government invited me back and committed to support my plastic bag movement,\u201d shared Dr. Shahriar, adding that being back home gave him \u201ca feeling of rebirth and return to [his] freedom land.\u201d<\/p>\n

And true to their word, the Bangladeshi government banned plastic bags in 2002, making Bangladesh\u00a0 the first country in the world with such a national ban.<\/p>\n

Immediately after, ESDO\u2014as a founding member of GAIA\u2014launched a national anti-incineration campaign. The organization has since launched many other campaigns, including mercury-free dentistry, Zero Waste, and a ban on single-use plastics, among others.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, GAIA, despite experiencing some ups and downs, has grown immensely, becoming a strong global network, especially in recent years. In 2016, it gave birth to the global movement Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) together with partner organizations.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Dr. Shahriar can\u2019t help but feel emotional thinking about what GAIA has become, and what it has achieved. \u201cWe have obsoleted the idea of incineration. We have put forward the idea of Zero Waste communities. We have established that if we want to have sustainable waste management, we have to move towards Zero Waste,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also considers the birth of BFFP as among the network\u2019s major achievements. \u201cWe thought about it in 2013. We thought of having a space that welcomes ideas even from those who are not members of GAIA, and it\u2019s thanks to Christie (Keith, GAIA InternationalCoordinator) for taking the idea and moving it forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now a strong global movement, BFFP has campaigned, among other things, for the same thing that got him exiled and almost killed nearly 30 years ago\u2014ban on plastic bags\u2014and the movement has had major successes. Single-use plastics are now banned in many cities and countries around the world.<\/p>\n

For Dr. Shahriar, it\u2019s coming full circle. \u201cMy feeling is, we just crossed a hurdle towards a SUP-free planet, and that the war I started with a single issue of plastic bags was a starter to achieve my vision of a plastic-free world,\u201d Dr. Shahriar said.<\/p>\n

Although he has been fortunate to see successes in his advocacy, Dr. Shahriar believes that the work of an activist never ends.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cKeep in mind that the journey you started is endless. Until your last breath, you have to move forward with your mission and commitment. Activists have to have that commitment not to give up. We may not have the results in our lifetime, but if we continue, the next generations will see results.\u201d – Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5089"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5099,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5089\/revisions\/5099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}