Health3 Comments

Poor Countries Need to Think Twice About Social Distancing

unnasic

By AHMED MUSHFIQ MOBARAK and  ZACHARY BARNETT-HOWELL

Policies imposed in rich countries to fight the coronavirus could have adverse effects in low-income nations—potentially endangering more lives than they save.

(Reprinted from Foreign Policy magazine where it was posted on 10 April.)

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, varying levels of social distancing have been implemented around the world, including in China, Europe, and much of the United States. Hundreds of millions of people have accepted dramatic disruptions to their daily lives and substantial economic losses based on the reasoning that slowing the spread of the coronavirus can keep health care systems from becoming overwhelmed. Continue reading “Poor Countries Need to Think Twice About Social Distancing”

LiteratureLeave a comment

Agha Shahid Ali by Azfar Hussain

alaldulal

Syed Jamil Ahmed’s first play in two decades, RIZWAN, opened on September 01 at Shilpakala Academy (closes Sep 10). The play, based on an English poem about Kashmir, is experimental, raucous, jubilant, and always challenging the material limits of a stage. The audiences have responded with hunger, Shilpakala has been running sold out shows. Responses have ranged from enthusiasm by those already used to  experimental fare from Prachyanat, Bot Tola, and others, to the nervous responses of an old guard still not able to embrace radical theater for a new Bengal.


Agha Shahid Ali (Source: Academy of American Poets)

Debates about RIZWAN range widely, but few audience members have been curious about the source material- Agha Shahid Ali’s poem on Kashmir, THE COUNTRY WITHOUT A POST OFFICE. Ali’s 1997 poem is a landmark of Indian-American/Indian diaspora poetry. Considering the popularity of the play, paired with the experimental opacity of the on-stage dialogue, we present here the original poem, preceded by a sparkling new translation done by Azfar Hussain.
Continue reading “Agha Shahid Ali by Azfar Hussain”

Culture, LiteratureLeave a comment

Neo-Bangladeshi Collective

alaldulal

by Faruk Wasif

In the name of non-standardising, a luminous (yet stupid) collective wishes to drag Bengali down to a demotic vernacular. However, to remove inherent, traditionalist inflexibility within the language, all dialects – from Tagore to Abbasuddin, from Calcutta to Sylhet – should be used profusely; so that, the real (or main) parts of the language (and its literature) can include tongues of all Bengalis. Continue reading “Neo-Bangladeshi Collective”

Errorism, MediaLeave a comment

Post-Crisis Rumor Mill

Adnan R. Amin

During an unprecedented attack like the one at Holey Artisan Bakery, crisis management is of utmost priority. Looking back, security forces did well to set up cordons to keep at bay meddlesome reporters. The subsequent media blackout, though late, was a good call and could feature in a standard operating procedure. In comparison with regional incidents, commandoes acted with reasonable urgency. However, medical evacuation appeared poorly managed and if not for the proximity of United Hospital, more lives may have been lost.

Continue reading “Post-Crisis Rumor Mill”

Economy, Errorism, ReligionLeave a comment

Holding the Economy to Ransom

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by Firoz Ahmed, translated from Bengali

Bangladesh has not seen this type of ferocious attack and killing of innocent people before. We express our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims, although no amount of consolation can soothe them. Our thoughts are also for the injured and terrified. Everyone in the country is feeling the anxiety and uncertainty. Continue reading “Holding the Economy to Ransom”

Gender, MediaLeave a comment

Dark Side of Our Sympathy

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By Fardin Hasin for AlalODulal

In March 2016, a girl was brutally raped and murdered inside Comilla Cantonment. The crime was surrounded by a lot of mysteries, most of which are yet to be brought to light due to the authority’s unwillingness to do any proper investigation. People were quick to react; protests sprung up in both Dhaka and Comilla along with some other places. The hashtag #JusticeForX (I will not reveal her name here for reasons I am going to explain later) spread throughout Facebook; often complemented by cover photos depicting the words ‘Justice For X’ superimposed on the victim’s picture.

Continue reading “Dark Side of Our Sympathy”

EnvironmentLeave a comment

Rampal: Project of Mass Destruction

alaldulal

by Anis Raihan

[Originally in Bangla for Istishan; Translated by AlalODulal Collective]

Many countries, generally, bar construction of coal-based power plants, which cause dire environmental pollutions, within 15 to 20 kilometers of protected forests and settlements. The proposed 1320 megawatt Rampal coal-based power plant, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report, is only 14 kilometers from the Sundarbans, which is only four kilometers from the government’s designated 10 kilometers of Environmentally Critical Area — and hence, it has been claimed to be environmentally safe. Continue reading “Rampal: Project of Mass Destruction”

Literature, Religion6 Comments

On the Richard Eaton thesis

ôrūpirfan
Awrup Sanyal

[Please note that the review might reveal more than you want to know before reading the book. I would say skip it and read the book.]
Anyone interested in Bengal’s premodern to modern history – through the Delhi and Bengal Sultanates, and the Mughal rule in India, and consequently in Bengal – and more importantly the rise and spread of Islam in Bengal will have to go through this thoroughly illuminating seminal work from Eaton.

Continue reading “On the Richard Eaton thesis”

Difference2 Comments

Multiculturalism in Bangladesh: where our political and intellectual debates end

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By Fardin Hasin for Alal O Dulal

The intellectual and political circles of Bangladesh have, for a long time, based their ideas and actions on or around a monolithic image of Bangladesh. Most discussions and debates have considered our ‘Bangalee’ identity as a constant, and the history of ‘Bangalees’ as linear; the other side of the story, as seen by much of the right-wing intelligentsia, seems to focus solely on our identity and history as ‘Muslims’. Both sides have a point, but we are all missing a greater part of the picture, that is, a country cannot progress in peace if it chooses to reduce all its citizens into a singular identity. Continue reading “Multiculturalism in Bangladesh: where our political and intellectual debates end”

Gender2 Comments

Consensual Rape?

unnasic

By Nasrin Siraj for Thotkata, translated by Alal O Dulal

On 25 November 2015 the court sentenced Parimal Joydhar, a teacher of Viqarunnisa Noon School, for raping a girl in Year 10.

The incident happened in 2010. The situation in our country is so bad that the school-authority had tried to protect the criminal in many ways than to take the matter – of this horrific sexual abuse – to the law. The school-authority even expressed its concerns that ‘the attitudes and dresses of girls are inviting’.

Continue reading “Consensual Rape?”

Media9 Comments

#RichKids in an Unlivable City

Adnan R. Amin

In the Dhaka of the 80s, there was a consensus regarding who its richest denizen was. At the rare, lavish weddings, my cousins and I would spot him, with his guards and his clan, and cower at the sight of the wealthiest man in Bangladesh. What it signified, we weren’t totally sure. My cousins could easily name his businesses in real estate, banking and construction. His creamy white Mercedes was instantly recognizable around Dhanmondi streets. In our fantasies, his children’s supposed diet of chocolates and cakes were the source of much envy. Continue reading “#RichKids in an Unlivable City”

Education1 Comment

Why science and technology failing developing nations

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The image is sourced from truthernews.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/

By Fardin Hasin  for Alal O Dulal

Recently, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) branch of one of the leading engineering universities in Bangladesh organised a seminar on cyber-physical systems. There was only one speaker — a CSE graduate from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology with excellent academic record, who is also an assistant professor in a research lab in a reputed American university.

Continue reading “Why science and technology failing developing nations”

IndigenousLeave a comment

Bravo my Santhal, Orao and Munda brothers and sisters!

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Bravo my Santhal, Orao, and Munda brothers and sisters!

by Ahmed Badall for Alal O Dulal 

[Translated by the Alal O Dulal Editorial Collective]

For ages now the ‘civilized’ Bengali gentry have been grabbing lands from the Santhals of Dinajpur. Hundreds and hundreds of Adivasis today are landless and evicted from their homesteads. Continue reading “Bravo my Santhal, Orao and Munda brothers and sisters!”
Media4 Comments

Reinforcing Misconceptions and Uninformed Choice

Adnan R. Amin
Adnan R. Amin for AlalaODulal.org
 A video titled ‘Language Matters’ has been making the rounds in Bangladeshi social-media circles. It explores the utility of Arabic warnings to ward off public urinators. The using of a religious misconception to prevent a social evil is clever. But what if it also reinforces and lends credence to that misconception?

Continue reading “Reinforcing Misconceptions and Uninformed Choice”

Difference3 Comments

Reflections on the Idea of Race

Prashanta Tripura
Black Lives Matter Protest, NYC, Nov 2014, Wikimedia Image
Black Lives Matter Protest, NYC, Nov 2014, Wikimedia Image

By Prashanta Tripura for AlalODulal.org

Baltimore is the latest flashpoint involving massive protests and outbreaks of violence in response to police brutality against Black youths in the US.  Not too long ago, similar turns of events unfolded in other American cities as well, e.g. in Ferguson, Missouri.  Continue reading “Reflections on the Idea of Race”

GenderLeave a comment

A few dos and don’ts in the movement against sexual assault

Nadine Shaanta Murshid

By Nadine Shaanta Murshid 

UNPRECEDENTED levels of outrage and activism surround the Pahela Baishakh sexual assault; we have finally reached critical mass: people are out on the streets and those who are not, are on social media fighting many a battle with individuals who still resort to victim blaming and slut shaming. These are oft-used tactics to further subjugate women and take agency away from people who fight for the rights of women subject to sexual assault and rape. That the synchronised bomb-attack style sexual assault on multiple women have enraged so many people comes as a surprise in a nation where topics of sex and sexual assault have remained taboo, despite extremely high rates of sexual violence against women. This is a welcome change. So while we are at it, here are a few things we should add on to the list:

Continue reading “A few dos and don’ts in the movement against sexual assault”

GenderLeave a comment

Stop this Descent

alaldulal

by Zahur Ahmed for AlalODulal

Feedback’s quintessential song for Pohela Boishak, the first day of a Bengali New Year,  “Melay Jaire” has a line on the third stranza, “বখাটে ছেলের ভিড়ে ললনাদের রেহাই নাই — the crowd of ruffians won’t spare the girls”. The lyricist Maqsoodul Haque had a deep insight into our tradition, culture and attitude. What might have been overlooked as a humorous innuendo has become a sad reality during this year’s Bengali New Year celebrations, as a number of women fell victims to horrid gang assaults on broad day light amid the thousands enjoying the festivities.

Continue reading “Stop this Descent”

Politics2 Comments

Zonayed Saki: What could a leftist leader offer Bangladesh today?

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“[Saki’s postion] dislodge[s] current fixed notions of “left versus religion”, “left as irrelevant to modern political and economic formations”, etc in a way that we may be reminded of earlier historical moments when Maulanas could be “RED” and when calls for redistributive justice galvanized movements for democratic rights.” Continue reading “Zonayed Saki: What could a leftist leader offer Bangladesh today?”

Culture, Nationalism, NeighborsLeave a comment

CULTURE: Rift between two Bengals

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By Pratik Deb for AlalODulal

The national anthem of Bangladesh, penned by Tagore, is not exclusively sung on one side of the fence, neither is its use stringently limited for the national occasions of Bangladesh. Unlike the national anthem of most nations, Bangladesh’s national anthem has an everyday appeal in its core that keeps it alive amid the unremarkable occasions, especially in West Bengal where it does not get limited by its officialdom.
Continue reading “CULTURE: Rift between two Bengals”

Media, Sports1 Comment

Cricket Nationalism: Mauka Mauka, 1971

swadhinsen
by Swadhin Sen

“At this moment of masculinist and orgasmic expressions of hatred – communal, ethnic, sexist, partisan, and national – in both real and virtual world, cricket match in World Cup 2015 has become a rallying point of neo-nationalistic tyranny. In contrast to the dominating belief, sports has never been apolitical. Sometimes it becomes a space for solidarity and protest, at other times it becomes the weapons of domination and hegemonic control.”

Continue reading “Cricket Nationalism: Mauka Mauka, 1971”

Neighbors3 Comments

Comparison of India and Bangladesh

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Comparison of Political Culture of India and Bangladesh- A Common Man’s Fantasy!
 By Aminul Sarwar for Alal O Dulal

While we discuss Bangladesh politics- India comes up automatically. Regional hegemony, friendship and bitterness, mutual interest, influence over Bangladesh’s internal politics- hosts of many other issues make India an important and inseparable factor in Bangladesh. Continue reading “Comparison of India and Bangladesh”

Garments3 Comments

LABOR: World in a Shirt and Infinity in a Stitch

chitraracine

 

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre” is an appropriate last chapter for a book that is an amazing picture of the wheels of global capitalism as it lifts some and crushes others over centuries, continuously depleting “the reservoirs of human energy” and “the limited treasures of a wasting planet”. Continue reading “LABOR: World in a Shirt and Infinity in a Stitch”

History, Music, Neighbors, Obituary1 Comment

Red Salute to Gobinda Halder

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একাত্তরে স্বাধীন বাংলা বেতার কেন্দ্রে গীতিকার গোবিন্দ হালদারের লেখা সেই অবিস্মরণীয় গানগুলো হলো- ‘মোরা একটি ফুলকে বাঁচাব বলে…’, ‘এক সাগর রক্তের বিনিময়ে…’, ‘পূর্ব দিগন্তে সুর্য উঠেছে রক্ত লাল রক্ত লাল রক্ত লাল…’, ‘লেফট রাইট লেফট রাইট…’, ‘হুঁশিয়ার হুঁশিয়ার…’, ‘পদ্মা মেঘনা যমুনা তোমার আমার ঠিকানা…’, ‘চল বীর সৈনিক…’, ‘হুঁশিয়ার, হুঁশিয়ার বাংলার মাটি…’।
Continue reading “Red Salute to Gobinda Halder”

Media3 Comments

Monajatuddin: The Minstrel Journalist

Adnan R. Amin

by Adnan R. Amin for AlalODulal.org

The works of Monajatuddin – the Minstrel Journalist – have had more of a shaping role in contemporary Bangladesh than that of many a politicians, development-pundits, editors or litterateurs. Take for example, the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2014, only recently okayed by the cabinet. It was Monajatuddin’s keen, investigative reporting on child marriage that informed and laid the groundwork for necessary social-debates and policy-making. Continue reading “Monajatuddin: The Minstrel Journalist”

NeighborsLeave a comment

Korpan Shah and the Medical Malady

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By Pratik Deb for AlalODulal.org

The brutal death of Korpan Shah has raised enough hue and cry amid the media and public, partly because of its viciousness, and mostly because of its alleged perpetrators. Following an alleged theft of cell phone from the hostel of N.R.S. Medical College, Kolkata, the psychologically challenged Mr. Shah was lynched to death, allegedly by the students of premier institution. Continue reading “Korpan Shah and the Medical Malady”

History, PoliticsLeave a comment

Kabir Suman on the origin of Taliban

alaldulal

By Kabir Suman for AlalODulal.org

In the 80s Kabir Suman was working as a journalist for the Voice of America, under the Reagan administration. This is an inside view from those times as he retraces the genesis of the rise of Taliban. This was written in the wake of the senseless heinous act of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Peshawar where they killed innocent school children in an army school. Continue reading “Kabir Suman on the origin of Taliban”

EnvironmentLeave a comment

Sundarbans in Grave Danger and Our Government’s inaction

tibraali

By Kallol Mustafa from Joymoni, Sundarbans
Translated by Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org

Since the oil spill disaster started in the Sundarbans on the night of the 9th of December many ebbs and flows of the tide have come and gone. The thick and poisonous spilled oil reaches wherever the water reaches during the high tide, via the Shela river (where the disaster originated), Pasur and Baleshwari rivers, and the innumerable canals. Continue reading “Sundarbans in Grave Danger and Our Government’s inaction”

Environment1 Comment

Sundarbans’s Fight for Survival

tokai

Anu Muhammad for Prothom Alo
Translated by Irfan Chowdhury for Alal O Dulal

Whenever we appeal to stop the destructive Rampal project and ORION coal based power plant, to safeguard our great Sundarbans, natural habitat of thousands of lives, whenever we ask to cancel Fulbari open pit project which damages a vast agricultural land and a large civilization, Continue reading “Sundarbans’s Fight for Survival”

Literature2 Comments

Known Unknowns of the Class War

naeem
by Naeem Mohaiemen

When you turn to page 186 of In the Light of What We Know, you encounter an illustration. The novel’s two main characters have by this point discussed many things, and readers may have already been craving visual aids. But this is the first time the text is interrupted by a diagram. You sense, therefore, the arrival of a crucial digression. Continue reading “Known Unknowns of the Class War”

Economy, Garments, Gender1 Comment

Reflections on “Unprecedented Changes” in the Garments Sector of Bangladesh

chitraracine
Garments workers
The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights’ report Unprecedented Changes.

by Farida Khan for AlalODulal.org

The Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse has made many Western consumers shudder at the thought of their complicity with sub-human conditions in the Third World factories where their clothes are sewn. While consumers are often careful to avoid purchasing soccer balls sewn by child labor Continue reading “Reflections on “Unprecedented Changes” in the Garments Sector of Bangladesh”

Garments, Gender1 Comment

Unprecedented Changes in the Garments Sector of Bangladesh

farhadmahmud

by Farhad Mahmud for AlalODulal.org

Soon after the Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse, there were two types of reaction from the buyers who were sourcing garments from Bangladesh.  There was one group who felt they need to move away from sourcing from Bangladesh.  Another group felt somewhat responsible  Continue reading “Unprecedented Changes in the Garments Sector of Bangladesh”

Culture, Neighbors, Politics, Religion1 Comment

The Journey from Shyamapuja to Diwali

alaldulal

For India, it took the shape of Hindu right-wing and their counter-imposition of a false construct of Hindu and Indian identity. The irrelevant political force of Hindutva took the centre-stage, asserting its claim on the identity of ‘Indian-ness’ and ‘Hindu-ness’. And like any two compatible hegemony, down the lane, there were a political pact between the two. Once it was realised that the gullible globalised middle-class can be bought and bribed and made to want almost anything with enough packaging and with enough lucre, the only question remained how long it would take.

Continue reading “The Journey from Shyamapuja to Diwali”

History3 Comments

Munier Chowdhury’s Son Speaks

alaldulal

“One of the reasons that so far GA and JI got all the leniency and privileges is partly due to the divisions in the anti JI, pro war crimes trials and Shahbagh/Projonmo Chottor lobbies.”
[Asif Munier is the son of Munier Chowdhury, a playwright and intellectual killed by Al Badr forces in 1971. He is the Vice President of Projonmo 71, an organization of the children of the martyrs of the liberation war of Bangladesh]
Continue reading “Munier Chowdhury’s Son Speaks”

History, LiteratureLeave a comment

Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury’s Son Speaks: The Unrepentant Man

alaldulal

What is harder to explain, however, are the actions of us independent Bangladeshis. The fact that we allowed him to return to the country he conspired against. The fact that he was allowed to stay here for 16 years – from 1978 to 1994 – on the passport of a foreign country and practice politics, when he did not even have a valid visa.

Continue reading “Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury’s Son Speaks: The Unrepentant Man”

History, LiteratureLeave a comment

Shahidullah Kaiser’s Son Speaks: Forgive me father, I could not keep this soil sacred!

alaldulal

“A country whose soil is soaked in the blood of the martyrs, a country whose soil still bears witness to the history of genocide — the soil of that country will receive the body of the Captain of the Rajakars? How are we to answer to our conscience?”

Continue reading “Shahidullah Kaiser’s Son Speaks: Forgive me father, I could not keep this soil sacred!”

NationalismLeave a comment

Piash Karim: The Two Sides of Nationalism

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জাতীয়তাবাদের একূল-ওকূল

পিয়াস করিম


“যে জাতীয়তাবাদ নিজেকে অতিত্রম করার, নিজেকে ভেঙেচুরে আন্তর্জাতিক মানবতায় একীভূত করার নিরন্তন চর্চাকে নিজের মধ্যে ধারণ করতে পারে না, আজকের গণতান্ত্রিক আন্দোলনের কাছে তার কোনো মূল্য নেই।”
Continue reading “Piash Karim: The Two Sides of Nationalism”

Obituary1 Comment

Piash Karim (1958-2014) : Language, nation, and multiplicity

alaldulal

“One doesn’t have to succumb to a teleological faith in historical progress to ascertain that language-based nationalism is a step forward from its religion-based counterpart. But it is also equally true that like any other form of identity, linguistic identity also includes some at the expense of others.”
Continue reading “Piash Karim (1958-2014) : Language, nation, and multiplicity”

Gender, Indigenous3 Comments

Apsari Chakma: Life in the School Room

tibraali

When I was very little my mother used to tell me all kinds of bedtime fairytale stories. I used to think that the fairy princesses from these stories were supremely happy and content. You could say, my life now is the exact opposite of their lives.

Life in the School Room

by Apsari Chakma, translated by Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org Continue reading “Apsari Chakma: Life in the School Room”

EnvironmentLeave a comment

A Period of (Unprecedented) Consequences

ôrūpirfan

A Period of (Unprecedented) Consequences

by Risalat Khan for AlalODulal.org

But the world is changing. The seemingly disconnected events and trends are mere manifestations of something deeper – a neocolonial corporatocracy that controls virtually all major world affairs. It profits from the arms supplied to war and the culture of war, claims all of Mother Nature’s resources as property for its own greed, and condemns billions to poverty and starvation as casualties of progress. This social order – a dark evolution of the colonial era evils – is inculcated and protected by a system of unfettered neoliberal capitalism. But despite its meteoric rise to dominion, it is now desperately hiding the tears at its seams.
Continue reading “A Period of (Unprecedented) Consequences”
Literature2 Comments

In the Light of What We Know: A Novel that Defines Our Times

alaldulal

by Lamia Karim for alalodulal.org

A mathematician by training, Zia Haider Rahman’s debut novel is a literary masterpiece. It is a deeply unsettling novel where the protagonist’s ‘descent of hope’ reveals our loss of a shared humanity. The novel is a magisterial sweep of the landscape of the 21st century that is characterized by war, migration, and rootlessness.

Continue reading “In the Light of What We Know: A Novel that Defines Our Times”

CultureLeave a comment

AJ, Arrival of a Bangladeshi Hero

tokai
AJ, Arrival of a Bangladeshi Hero
by Irfan Chowdhury for AlalODulal.org

Bangladeshis rarely get to cheer their heroes, but when they do they are euphoric. They came out in droves to celebrate the nation’s first ever qualification for the cricket World Cup, and for some memorable wins since then. But wins have been few and far between. There were other celebrities and celebrations – the Nobel Prize for the Grameen Bank and its founder — but they would hardly match the glitz and glamour bestowed by a ‘would be’ Bangladeshi film or a cricket star.    
Continue reading “AJ, Arrival of a Bangladeshi Hero”

GarmentsLeave a comment

TUBA STRIKE: What a country have we become!

tokai
Photo: SouthAsianMedia.net
TUBA STRIKE: What a country have we become!
by Faruk Wasif for Prothom Alo, translated by Irfan Chowdhury for AlalODulal.org
Kidnappers demand ransom after taking innocents hostage. Prisoners are exchanged during wars. But what sort of ransom is being sought for the Tuba Group, where sixteen hundred workers are made captive? If their co-owner, the arrested Delwar Hossain, is not released, the workers will not be paid. Nowhere in the company law is it mentioned that other business-partners will not be able to withdraw money from the accounts in the absence of a partner. The Tuba Group has made this case and Delwar Hossain’s bail has been granted.

Just as it is a crime to use hapless humans as shields in wars, the Tuba group has committed a crime by using hungry and wage-depraved workers. The Labour Minister has legitimised this use. The Shamim Osman(s) rely on the support of the party in power, and garment factory owners rely on the government support. What a dreadful situation.

Continue reading “TUBA STRIKE: What a country have we become!”

GarmentsLeave a comment

Do they know it’s Eid Mobarak?

khujeci
Shilpi, a worker of the Toba Group broke down while giving an interview to the media
Shilpi, a worker of the Toba Group broke down while giving an interview to the media

জিয়া হাসান: “আজকে যদি এই রাষ্ট্রে একটা মানবিক এবং নৈতিক সরকার থাকতো, তবে তার দায়িত্ব হতো, তোবা গ্রুপের সকল ডাইরেক্টরদের স্থায়ী অস্থায়ী সকল ধরনের সম্পদ এবং মেশিন বিক্রয় করে, এই গ্রুপের শ্রমিকদের বেতন পরিশোধ করা।”
Continue reading “Do they know it’s Eid Mobarak?”

Literature, Obituary2 Comments

তোমার যাওয়া হবে না কবি/You Can’t Yet Leave, My Poet

alaldulal

by Shamit Mahbub Shahabuddin

English Translation by Awrup Sanyal for AlalODulal.org

তোমার যাওয়া হবে না কবি 

আর একটু হাঁটো কবি

পথ চলা এখানে থামালে যে চলবে না,

আমার তো এখনও অনেক শেখার বাকি।

Continue reading “তোমার যাওয়া হবে না কবি/You Can’t Yet Leave, My Poet”

Music8 Comments

AOD Interviews Kabir Suman — Kobigan, the lost musical heritage of Bengal and more

Nadine Shaanta Murshid

Kabir Suman, a songwriter, a singer, a musician, a journalist, an author, an activist, and an ex-parliamentarian (Lok Sabha, Parliament of India, 2009-2014), probably needs little introduction. About a quarter century back when Suman burst into the musical firmament of Bengal it was a never-before-seen phenomenon in the contemporary cultural world of Bengal — he had an instant cult following. In this exclusive interview with AlalODulal Suman talks about music, religion, and Bengal. Continue reading “AOD Interviews Kabir Suman — Kobigan, the lost musical heritage of Bengal and more”

Difference, History, Nationalism3 Comments

The Killings at Bangladesh’s ‘Bihari Camp’ – Murder Mystery or Murder with Impunity?

Nadine Shaanta Murshid


The Killings at Bangladesh’s Bihari Camp – Murder Mystery or Murder with Impunity?

By Nadine Shaanta Murshid

There are multiple stories. We are either to believe one of them or cast aside the whole incident as an accident. The stories are important to note, however, given that each story has a different set of perpetrators and actors, as well as a different motive behind the killings. What remains unchanged in all these stories is this: 10 Urdu-speaking non-Bengali Bangladeshi citizens who live in ‘Kalshi’ were killed, 8 of the deceased are from the same family. Continue reading “The Killings at Bangladesh’s ‘Bihari Camp’ – Murder Mystery or Murder with Impunity?”

History, NationalismLeave a comment

A Place to Call Home

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A Place to Call Home

by Hana Shams Ahmed

A young girl writes a poem where she asks a simple question — one which no one can answer. She asks, “Who am I?” Her forefathers were born in India, they immigrated to Pakistan, she was born in Bangladesh. India has given up on them a long time back, Bangladesh will not accept them as the children of the land and Pakistan will not take them back. She says that she has many names ‘Bihari’, ‘Maura’, ‘Muhajir’, ‘Non-Bangalee’, ‘Marwari’, ‘Urdu-speaker’, ‘Refugee’, and ‘Stranded Pakistani’. But she only wants one: human. This is the state of being of the 1.6 lakh camp-based Urdu-speaking community in Bangladesh. Continue reading “A Place to Call Home”

Difference1 Comment

Touching The Untouchables 

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The politics involving various minority groups have become a veritable concern. Well-meaning views, dialogues, and inceptions of new laws are very important. Yet, unless and until the complacent ‘majority’ makes a conscious effort, even causes an outcry to promote and protect their ‘minority’ siblings’ rights, real change is very hard to imagine. For their society to be ‘vaguely equal’, the ‘majority’ has to come out defending the rights of ‘minority’ protesting, condemning, and help in prosecuting the perpetrators of all forms of discrimination. The country’s proposed Anti-Discrimination law, hopefully would provide impetus for such collective actions.

Continue reading “Touching The Untouchables ”

Culture, Neighbors, Politics2 Comments

A Way of Living Lost In ‘Selfie’ and ‘WhatsApp’

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A Way of Living Lost In ‘Selfie’ and ‘WhatApp’

By Garga Chaterjee for Alal O Dulal

Our neighbour of many years, Ananda Santra, died yesterday. Anandda kaku lived in our apartment complex in the Chetla locality of Kolkata (Ward Number 82 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation). Continue reading “A Way of Living Lost In ‘Selfie’ and ‘WhatsApp’”

Migration, Neighbors, Religion10 Comments
image: Telegraph India

Open Letter to Narendra Modi

Nadine Shaanta Murshid

By Nadine Murshid for AlalODulal.org

OPEN LETTER TO NARENDRA MODI

Dear Mr. Modi,

It has come to our attention that you are about to head the next government in India. Many congratulations. It has also come to our attention that you have been saying un-neighborly things about us, Bangladesh and Bangladeshis. We are deeply hurt by your comments, but we are open to forgiveness. We are not the forgiving type, really, but we do make exceptions. And we will for you if you carefully consider the following: Continue reading “Open Letter to Narendra Modi”

GarmentsLeave a comment

‘Beauty’ for the Owner, ‘Deformity’ for the Labor

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In scores of rallies and public meetings, workers raised questions about the luxurious life led by factory owners while they lived in sheer misery. `While you (factory owners) eat the chicken’s thigh, we chew its feet, its claws.”

‘Beauty’ for the Owner, ‘Deformity’ for the Labor
by Saydia Gulrukh Continue reading “‘Beauty’ for the Owner, ‘Deformity’ for the Labor”

LiteratureLeave a comment

Remembering Garcia Marquez: Latin & Bengali novel, finding the self, or the map of the human apparition

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লাতিন ও বাংলা উপন্যাস: আত্মের হদিস কিংবা উপন্যাসে আদমসুরতের নকশা
ফারুক ওয়াসিফ

যে জগতের গিঁট ছিঁড়ে গেছে, যার মন থেকে মুছে গেছে দুর্ধর্ষ সব কল্পনা, যে হারিয়ে ফেলেছে স্বপ্নজননক্ষমতা, সেই জগতে মার্কেসের মতো কথাকারেরা ফিরিয়ে আনলেন পুরাণপ্রতি কল্পনা৷ Continue reading “Remembering Garcia Marquez: Latin & Bengali novel, finding the self, or the map of the human apparition”

Difference, Religion9 Comments

Is this the Bangladesh we wanted? Analyzing the Hindu Population Gap (2001-2011)

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Is this the Bangladesh we wanted?
Analyzing the Hindu Population Gap (2001-2011)

In October 2012, Prothom Alo published a frightening report that stated, in plain words, that over the last decade (which spans BNP,  AL, and Military “CTG” government), the Hindu population of Bangladesh has dropped dramatically and continuously. Continue reading “Is this the Bangladesh we wanted? Analyzing the Hindu Population Gap (2001-2011)”

Neighbors1 Comment

Stars, planets, black-holes – West Bengal’s glamorous turn

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Stars, planets, black-holes – West Bengal’s glamorous turn
By Pratik Deb for AlalODulal.org

The recent announcement of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary election by Trinamul Congress supremo and the current chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee created unprecedented uproar and commotion in the state as she chose a large number of candidates belonging outside of the political arena. Continue reading “Stars, planets, black-holes – West Bengal’s glamorous turn”

History, Image1 Comment

Liberation through the Gunday lens

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Liberation through the Gunday lens
By Fahima Durrat for AlalODulal.org

Factual errors made in a fictitious storyline may seem like a trivial matter, but they can hide icebergs. The iceberg that showed its tip in the film Gunday seems to have reappeared again in the headlines of Indian newspapers. Bangladesh protests against “distortion” of history, they report. Those inverted commas reveal a deeper source of offence.

Continue reading “Liberation through the Gunday lens”

Garments1 Comment

American Apparel, gain cheap popularity, but do not act as the grand savior

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“more than three million women have been guaranteed jobs through the RMG sector, thus uplifting their status within the family, the society, and the state. If anyone has demolished the wall of repression, these are the millions of women workers of Bangladesh. If anybody has tasted freedom in whatever sense, it is these women. American Apparel, gain cheap popularity with your tantalizing ad all you want, but do not act as the grand savior…”

Continue reading “American Apparel, gain cheap popularity, but do not act as the grand savior”

History, Migration7 Comments

Left Behind By the Nation: ‘Stranded Pakistanis’ in Bangladesh

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AlalODulal Editorial Board condemns in the strongest terms the violence that left at least 11 Urdu Speaking people (“Biharis”) dead. Anthropologist Dina Siddiqi’s research on the conditions of “stranded Pakistanis” (inaccurately called “Biharis,” but more accurately “Urdu speakers”) after 1971 is newly relevant. In the current discourse around the 1971 war, the fate of the Urdu speakers at war’s end is elided. It is one of the zones of silence because it does not fit with the Bangladeshi discourse around the war. Nor does it fit Pakistan’s convenient discourse, especially after a 2008 high court decision granted them Bangladeshi citizenship. We at AlalODulal feel it is crucial to highlight those left behind in multiple nation projects.

Continue reading “Left Behind By the Nation: ‘Stranded Pakistanis’ in Bangladesh”

IndigenousLeave a comment

আদিবাসী শিশু পড়বে নিজ ভাষাতেই

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একুশের সংবাদ: আদিবাসী শিশু পড়বে নিজ ভাষাতেই
by Biplob Rahaman for AlalODulal.org

কিছুদিন আগে বিশিষ্ট আদিবাসী গবেষক, চাকমা রাজা দেবাশীষ রায়ের সঙ্গে আলাপ-চারিতা হচ্ছিল আদিবাসী শিশুর মাতৃভাষায় লেখাপড়ার বিষয়ে। Continue reading “আদিবাসী শিশু পড়বে নিজ ভাষাতেই”

Indigenous3 Comments

সুপ্রিয় তালুকদার: মায়ানমারে চম্পকনগরের পথে

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মায়ানমারে চম্পকনগরের পথে
সুপ্রিয় তালুকদার for alaodulal.org

[ বংশানুক্রমে জানা যায় যে চাকমারা চম্পকনগর নামক স্থান থেকে পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম ও তৎসংলগ্ন অঞ্চলে এসেছে। কোন চম্পকনগর থেকে এসেছে তা নিয়ে মতভেদ থাকলেও নৃবিজ্ঞান, বিখ্যাত গবেষকদের মন্তব্য, প্রাপ্ত নির্ভরযোগ্য তথ্য এবং মায়ানমারের ইতিহাস বিশ্লেষণে আমি নিশ্চিত ছিলাম যে চাকমারা মায়ানমারের চম্পকনগর থেকে এসেছে। Continue reading “সুপ্রিয় তালুকদার: মায়ানমারে চম্পকনগরের পথে”

History, Nationalism, PoliticsLeave a comment

Placing the Voices of Shahbag in Modern Narratives of Transnational Youth Protest – Part 2

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If trolling through history reveals involvement of youth in political or socioeconomic upheavals, in case of Bangladesh their raison d’etre has been simple and straightforward: to bring about (political) change. Continue reading “Placing the Voices of Shahbag in Modern Narratives of Transnational Youth Protest – Part 2”

History, Nationalism, Politics1 Comment

Placing the Voices of Shahbag in Modern Narratives of Transnational Youth Protest – Part 1

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If trolling through history reveals involvement of youth in political or socioeconomic upheavals, in case of Bangladesh their raison d’etre has been simple and straightforward: to bring about (political) change. Continue reading “Placing the Voices of Shahbag in Modern Narratives of Transnational Youth Protest – Part 1”

Difference, MediaLeave a comment

Eternal Othering and Presentation of Communalism on the World Stage

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by Nasrin Khandoker, translated by Hana Shams Ahmed for Alal O Dulal

“We need to get a grasp of which edge of the crater in the global imperialist politico-economic map we are situated, how and in what name we exist there. Who is constructed and presented in what role in the world theatre of Islamophobia. Continue reading “Eternal Othering and Presentation of Communalism on the World Stage”

Gender, ImageLeave a comment

Publishing the images of teen sex workers is nothing but a showcase of poverty

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টিনেজ যৌনকর্মীদের ছবি প্রকাশ, দারিদ্র্যতা শো করা ছাড়া অন্য কিছু না  – মৃদুল শাওন

ফেসবুকে কয়েকজনরে দেখলাম একটা লিঙ্ক শেয়ার দিতাছে। ‘BuzzFeed’ নামের একটা আমেরিকান ওয়েবসাইটে বাংলাদেশের টিনেজ-যৌনকর্মীদের তিরিশটা ছবি। শিরোনাম- “30 Tragic, Beautiful Photos Of Teenage Prostitutes In Bangladesh”। Continue reading “Publishing the images of teen sex workers is nothing but a showcase of poverty”

Nationalism, Politics1 Comment

Perils of Bollywood-Dhallywood copying Amadmi to Am Janata Party of Bangladesh

Zia Hassan

by Zia Hassan, translated by AlalODulal.org

Those who want to float a party for the common people, who dream of rescuing Bangladesh from the two predators, must not only take away the name of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party. They must also learn from their 20 year-old activism. Continue reading “Perils of Bollywood-Dhallywood copying Amadmi to Am Janata Party of Bangladesh”