Magazine
Issue 31, Cultural Genocide
November 2022
In this Issue:
Essay
Contested Constitution?
As we celebrate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ marking the 75th year of Indian independence, serious questions regarding constitutional order and morality underline the observances. At one level, these questions have been provoked by debates on democracy backsliding and rising majoritarianism in India. Global publications like Economist Intelligence Unit and Varieties of Democracy show a drastic decline in the quality of democracy. The Economist report shows India’s position deteriorated from 27 in 2015 to 53 in 2021. At a more quotidian level, news of lynching over food, imprisonment of activists, journalists, even comedians, the passage of laws without parliamentary deliberations, and religious polarisation has reinforced opinions about the subversion of the constitution. Such a grim prognosis is vehemently countered by the incumbent regime and its supporters, who argue...
Introduction by Latika Gupta and Chaise LaDousa:
For Shuddhashar FreeVoice's Education issue, published May 2022, Latika Gupta and Chaise LaDousa described their conversation in which they identified and discussed some of the issues that have been confronting educators in India since the onset of the pandemic. One of its consequences for teachers was a complete shift to the digital at all levels of education from nursery to Ph.D. course work. The conversation brought out a complex set of observations and experiences on how young people enrolled in teacher education and master in education programmes dealt with the shift. The shift was conceptualised and implemented in a jiffy with a combat-like approach. Here is a problem and here is the solution. The solution lacked a post-pandemic vision for the students and...
Youth Journal
Commentary by Professor Chaise LaDousa
Shreeti Shubham joins scholars like Frank Cody and Sahana Udupa in questioning and critiquing ideologies that celebrate the digital sphere in India for its promise of making possible democratic activity and participation by those who have traditionally lacked access to the public sphere. Whereas digital technology in India is widespread, Shubham shows that thinking about the digital sphere in India entails much more than questioning who possesses what technology — although the distribution of smartphones, for example, is highly unequal and exhibits inequalities. Shubham’s focus is on the ways in which the digital sphere has made possible social activity and cultural production such that Brahmin subjects and Brahmin subjectivity have found articulations in groups fostered by the internet. Such groups require explicit identification for membership,...
Interview
Bangladeshi literature has historically been insulated from the world, floundering, thriving, and existing in a cocoon of its own making. To that end, the advent of Bangladeshis writing in English has been a catalyst for change. As Bangladesh adds its literature to the world’s, we speak to novelists Nadeem Zaman (In The Time Of The Others and Up In The Main House And Other Stories) and Arif Anwar (The Storm) - two prominent voices amongst the nascent Anglophone literary scene of the country - about being writers, being Bangladeshi, and being both. They offer a glimpse of the trials and triumphs of the lives of writers, especially of those from lesser-known nations of global literature, of being from the global South and writing in the world’s lingua franca, and of the...
Translation
অনুবাদকের ভূমিকা: যে-কোনো একটি বিষয়ে মত প্রকাশ করতে গিয়ে পক্ষ-বিপক্ষ ভাগ হয়ে বিশাল কলহ বাঁধিয়ে তোলার ব্যাপারে আমরা বিশেষ দক্ষতা অর্জন করেছি। বিষয়গুলোর কোনটা কেমন গুরুত্ব পাওয়ার দাবিদার সে প্রসঙ্গেও আমরা নিশ্চিতভাবে বিবদমান দুটি পক্ষকে মাঠে পেয়ে যাব। উভয়পক্ষ তাদের মতামতকে ‘একমাত্র’ সত্য ও ন্যায্য বলে দাবি করে থাকে। যুক্তির পথ অনুসরণ করে যদি আমরা এই মতামতগুলোর মধ্যে সত্যতা অনুসন্ধান করতে যাই, তাহলে কী দেখতে পাব? ব্রিটিশ প্রয়োগবাদী দার্শনিক জন স্টুয়ার্ট মিল তাঁর বিখ্যাত গ্রন্থ অন লিবার্টিতে (১৮৫৯) সমাজ ও রাষ্ট্রের মধ্যে স্বকীয় নৈতিক মত প্রতিষ্ঠা করতে গিয়ে সত্যতা সম্পর্কে আলোচনা করেছেন। ইউরোপীয় সভ্যতার ইতিহাস ও ঐতিহ্যের মধ্যে খ্রিষ্টীয় নৈতিকতাকে আমলে নিয়ে তিনি উদারনৈতিক ব্যবস্থার কথা বলেছেন। বিরুদ্ধ কোনো মত যদি সমাজ ও রাষ্ট্রে কোনঠাসা হতে হতে হারিয়ে যায় তাতে মানবজাতির কী ক্ষতি হয় তা তিনি আমাদের স্মরণ করিয়ে...
অনুবাদকের ভূমিকা: বৈরিতা বিষয়টিকে স্লাভো জিজেক (Slavoj Žižek) তার বিশ্লেষণ পদ্ধতিতে তাৎপর্যপূর্ণ হিসেবে বিবেচনা করেন। কেননা বৈরিতাকে স্বীকৃতি প্রদানের মাধ্যমেই সবার্ত্মকবাদী তৎপরতাকে নির্মূল করা সম্ভব। একসময় ফুকো-হাবারমাসের চিন্তাকে ঘিরে সামাজিক বিশ্লেষণমূলক তৎপরতা গুরুত্বপূর্ণ হয়ে ওঠেছিলো। কিন্তু তাদের উভয়ের সাবজেক্টের মধ্যে এ বিষয়টিকে আমলে নেওয়া হয়নি। যার ফলে তাদের সাবজেক্টের ধারণা বৈরিতাকে স্বীকৃতি না দিয়েই এর সাথে সামঞ্জস্য বা অসামঞ্জস্যের সম্পর্ক গড়ে তুলে। এখানে জিজেক আলথুসার ও লাকাঁর চিন্তাকে অগ্রবর্তী হিসেবে বিবেচনা করেন কেননা তারা উভয়েই বৈরিতাকে গুরুত্বের সাথে স্বীকৃতি প্রদান করেছেন। বৈরিতাকে স্বীকার করার ফলাফল হচ্ছে বিভিন্ন ধরনের মৌলিক বৈরিতাকে উন্মোচন করা। প্রত্যেকটি মৌলিক বৈরিতাই এককভাবে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ এবং এর মোকাবিলাও এককভাবে করতে হয়। সাম্যবাদ, পরিবেশবাদ, শ্রমিক আন্দোলন প্রত্যেকেরই তাদের নির্দিষ্ট জায়গা থেকে বৈরিতার সাথে মোকাবিলা করতে হয়। কোন সার্বজনীন তৎপতার মধ্য দিয়ে এগুলো সমাধান করার প্রেষণাই হচ্ছে সর্বাত্মকবাদী প্রেষণা। তাই...
Review
Joker is the most enigmatic anti-capitalist hero for comic-book readers and cinema-goers. Thus, it was inevitable that the FBI officially warned about potential violence before the Joker (2019) movie was released. The Joker and The Batman movies have always had an anti-capitalist sentiment, but ultimately capitalism prevails in Gotham City. It’s a given condition for this city. In each of these films, capitalism repeats itself over and over again; nothing changes. Rather than reforming or restructuring Gotham city, Batman wants to restore this city. At the end of each film, Gotham city returns to its peaceful state. Batman restores the events that predate the Joker’s birth. This achievement shows that historical restoration is enough; there is no need for radical change. Ultimately, the Batman universe has very conservative political...
John Waters is a globally acclaimed queer icon. His films have accentuated the meaning of queer cinema and helped create a space for queer media in mainstream show business. Often known as the “Pope of Trash” and “Prince of Puke”, Waters has successfully established his personal brand by making experimental black comedies with elements of post-modern humor and surrealism. He often worked with The Dreamlanders, a group of cast and crew who appeared regularly in his films. The group was named after Waters´ production company called Dreamlands production.
Polyester was released in 1981 starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. The film is a parody of heteronormative women´s pictures and revolves around protagonist Francine Fishpaw, a Christian housewife living in the suburbs. It focuses on topics such as...
Blog
“Today, they brought a little boy to the shelter again. He was beaten violently by his mother and step-father. Both of them are drug-addicted people, the child is not well, and we took him to hospital. The incident has already been reported to the relevant authorities.”
This text was written by Kamala Aghazade, a director in Shelter and Rehabilitation Centre for Children. Kamala shares reports about the activities they do in the centre and the children coming there. Generally, these children come from families in which parents suffer from different types of addiction, are prone to perpetrating violence or cannot take care of their children for some reason. However, most of the texts she shares are about children with drug-addicted parents.
Kamala says such parents and families are on the increase...
সত্য কী? আমরা সত্য শব্দটির মাধ্যমে ঠিক কী বুঝি? অতিবুদ্ধিমান কেউ ‘মিথ্যার বিপরীত বিষয় বা ঘটনা হল সত্য’ এই সিদ্ধান্তে উপনীত হতে পারেন। কিন্তু এতে স্পষ্টভাবে কিছু বোঝা গেল কী? উল্টো সংজ্ঞা প্রদান করতে গিয়ে সত্যকে বোঝার প্রচেষ্টা অধিক জটিল হয়ে পড়ল।তাছাড়া বর্তমানে আমরা শুনছি ‘Validity of truth expires on’- এর মতো বাক্য। অর্থাৎ একটি নির্দিষ্ট সময় পরে সত্যের গুণগতপরিবর্তন ঘটে। আমরা আরো জানছি, শুনছি—সত্য একটি ‘সাধারণীকৃত’ শব্দ। একে অন্তত তিনটি অংশের সমষ্টি বলে ধরে নেওয়া যায়।যথা : যৌক্তিক সত্য, অভিজ্ঞতালব্ধ সত্য এবং যুক্তি ও অভিজ্ঞতার সম্মিলনে সমন্বিত সত্য। বিষয়টি কি অনেকটা সেই বিখ্যাত দার্শনিকবাক্যের মতো হয়ে গেল—‘আমরা বহুকে জানি কিন্তু দেখি না। এক-কে দেখি কিন্তু জানি না’। সত্যের প্রকৃতি এবং মানদণ্ড কী? এ সম্পর্কেমানবচিন্তার ইতিহাস-ই বা কী বলে?
সঙ্গতিবাদ মোতাবেক একটি উক্তি তখনই সত্য যখন তা ইতোমধ্যে সত্য বলে...
As a writer, my friends on my social media accounts mainly consist of people working in the publishing sector and media: Publishers, writers, journalists, translators. Quite a lot of people on this list are from Georgia, a neighbouring country to my homeland.
Since the year started, posts shared by Georgians on my friend lists suddenly became more intensive and colourful, my newsfeed flowed with dynamic and heart-warming photos and videos from book events in Tbilisi. While I was following those photos and videos with amazement and jealousy, they were not surprising because Tbilisi has been declared “The book capital of the world” in 2021. This has turned the city into a hotspot of culture where writers, poets and publishers from different corners of the world have gathered.
It took me not...
Publication houses play an vital role in sponsoring and promoting writers and thought-provoking work in a marketplace of ideas. Shuddhashar proposes we recognize this by making 31 October Freedom to Publish Day.
Shuddhashar was established in 1990 at a critical juncture in Bangladesh’s history. The early 1990s was a period marked by revolutionary upheavals. A series of mass uprisings eventually toppled the military regime and paved the way for the country’s shift from autocracy to parliamentary democracy. Back then, anti-establishment ideas dominated the cultural and literary scene of the country. These ideas were often radically amplified by an emerging movement of independently run little magazines. Shuddhashar, one of these little magazines, was a platform run with an anti-establishment spirit. It aimed at harnessing the creative power of Bangladesh’s vibrant youth...
It is with horror and anger that we express our strongest condemnation of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie in New York. Rushdie has lived most of his life under the threat of assassination. For his novel, The Satanic Verses, the Ayotollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him in 1989, calling for his assassination. Publishers and translators of Rushdie’s book have been attacked and some killed, including Hitoshi Igarashi, a Japanese translator. Publisher William Nygaard, advisor and friend to Shuddhashar, survived a firearm attack in 1993 in Oslo for his role in having the book published in Norwegian.
While living under constant threat and with a bounty of $2.8 million on his head, Rushdie has been a strong and fearless advocate for freedom of expression. He has worked to protect writers...
We are deeply outraged by the Oslo mass shooting, which has left two people dead and many injured. The fact that a bar popular with the LGBT+ community was targeted suggests that it was a hate crime. Local police authorities are treating the incident as an Islamist terrorist attack.
This is not the first time that Norwegians, known for their support of free speech, have borne the brunt of a paroxysm of hatred. In 2011, Anders Breivik, a neo-Nazi conspiracy theorist, killed scores in Oslo by detonating a car bomb and shooting innocent youth. Despite there being a decade-long interval, both events are eerily similar. In both cases, the perpetrators seem to be motivated by blind hatred — for what other reason is there to gun down innocent civilians? In...
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