Support for Professor Yunus gains momentum at home and abroad, ahead of High Court hearing, rescheduled for 5th April; Friends of Grameen welcome Esther Duflo and Salman Khan as members of Executive Committee.
Paris, 4th April 4 2011
As the High Court Hearing scheduled to take place today has been pushed back to tomorrow, support continues to mount, at home, but also abroad as Bangladeshi non-resident community and Spanish Government speak out against Grameen Bank attacks.
On 3rd April, a Solidarity Meeting in Support of Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank was held at the National Press Club in Dhaka. Several hundreds of Grameen Bank borrowers, their children engaged in higher studies, as well as eminent Bangladeshi citizens gathered together with a request for the honorable Prime Minister to ensure the survival of Grameen Bank as an independent organization, owned by the poor.
Supporters also came with an ambitious petition for the Prime Minister, signed by over 3.5 million people, including members of Grameen Bank, their families, and members of the public. Exposing their concerns over the current situation, they explained that: "Nothing should be done which would shake the trust that these 8.3 million women have placed in Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank."
A few days earlier, on 1st April, the Los Angeles Bangladeshi community came together in front of the Bangladesh Consulate, forming a human chain and asking for Justice. They later entered the building to deliver a signed petition to the Consulate General, and stressed that the “international reputation of Bangladesh was being ruined by this farcical political posturing by (our) government and it's spokespeople”.?
Speaking out on social networking site Facebook, supporters explained that they knew “more than anyone how Professor Yunus, his work and his reputation had brought so much goodwill and respect towards Bangladesh. And how, with the events following the March 2nd ousting, Bangladesh was losing all of that goodwill like water trickling away between cupped hands”.
Meanwhile, Soraya Rodr?guez, Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation, expressed her government's concern at a press conference in Madrid last week, months before Yunus is to preside over the Global Microcredit Summit, held in Valladolid from 14th to 17th November 2011. She said: “We hope that this undesired and complicated situation can come to a satisfactory conclusion for this important institution……and that the episode will be a part of the past when we are celebrating the Global Microcredit Summit in Valladolid”.
Friends of Grameen are honored to welcome two new members to the Executive Committee:
Leading economist Esther Duflo, joined the Executive Committee of Friends of Grameen as Vice President. Specialized in Development economics, she is currently the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in? Boston, USA. In 2010, she received the John Bates Clark Medal for economists under the age of forty who are judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.
She said: “What is at stake is not one person, Professor Yunus, but his legacy to the global poverty alleviation policy. As an economist specializing on development, I am well aware that microfinance is not, in and by itself, the remedy to all poverty issues. Yet, through my studies both in India and elsewhere, and through the work done by J-PAL, I am convinced that microfinance is a useful tool in alleviating poverty and giving people greater control over their lives. It is also one of the most widely spread programs. Microfinance is under political strain in several countries, and its very survival may be at stake. For the sake of Grameen's 8 million shareholders, but also of the more than 150 microfinance beneficiaries worldwide, Yunus must be overseeing a management transition at Grameen Bank without political interferences.”
Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, also joins Friends of Grameen as Vice President of the Executive Committee. The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit educational organization with the stated mission of "providing a high quality education to anyone”. Its website supplies a free online collection of over 2,200 micro lectures via video tutorials teaching mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and economics.
Khan said: “As someone with deep Bangladeshi roots, I can see wherever I travel the damage created to Bangladesh's image with what is going on with Grameen Bank and Professor Yunus. The current situation does not appear to be helpful to anyone. Grameen Bank and Professor Yunus are our best ambassadors and have inspired millions around the world. Bangladesh should use them to continue to bring more positive change to the country".
Friends of Grameen are delighted to see the organization grow from strength to strength, as Jacques Chirac, Former French President, and Head of the “Fondation Chirac”, and Michel Rocard, Member of the European Parliament, and former Prime Minister under President Fran?ois Mitterrand joined the Honorary Committee last week.
About Friends of Grameen
“Friends of Grameen” is a voluntary association established under the French law of 1901. The purpose of the association is the promotion and development of microcredit and social business, in particular the microcredit activities of Grameen Bank and its affiliates.
The Honorary Committee is chaired by Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Executive Committee is chaired by Maria Nowak, President of ADIE, a pioneering French microfinance institution created in 1989.
Press contacts: Burson-Marsteller Paris
Vincent Dujardin : 00 33 1 41 86 76 48 / 00 33 6 14 11 38 67
Emilie Rapley: 00 33 1 41 86 76 14 / 00 33 6 29 22 82 01
Xavier Bossaert: 00 33 1 41 86 76 97 / 00 33 6 19 41 50 18
Emilie Rapley
Burson•Marsteller for Friends of Grameen
Phone: + 33 1 41 86 76 14
Mobile: + 33 6 29 22 82 01