Authoritarianism in Bangladesh leaves its rotten underbelly on full display as law enforcement agencies and ruling party caders unleash brutal violence against university students fighting for their right to a dignified livelihood. Penned by Ikhtisad Ahmed, the following poem captures the mood of the occasion.
What is there left to say? Read More »
The discourse on labour in Bangladesh relegates the proletariat to the lumpenproletariat as a means of control by justified oppression. Breaking this illusion in order to emancipate and empower the disenfranchised, should be a priority for nation-building.
Lumps in the proletariat Read More »
Measuring Bangladesh’s democratic health by the index of electoral fairness will not break the perennial five-year cycle of electing monarchs, for the people remain irrelevant in such calculations.
The Gospel of Bangladeshi politics Read More »
Only by unravelling the false narratives that overlook the roles of superpowers, class struggles, colonialism, and the often forgotten intellectual tragedy can we grasp and reclaim the history of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.
Bangladesh’s 1971: A Polemic on Facts and Legacy Read More »
Performance has been instrumental in critiquing faith and encouraging freethinking. In contemporary discourse, it is important to ask what performance is, to determine whether it is progressive or regressive.
Baptise Them in the Name of Melete, of Mneme, of Aiode Read More »
Introduction Bengal, Bangladesh is a marginal region spanning the world’s largest deltaic river basin. The political history of this region was the subject of the rule and exploitation of colonialism and imperialism for centuries. The revolt and protest of the oppressed people warranted attention. Just as these political realities have shaped the people of Bengal
Bengali Poetry of Passion and Rebellion Read More »
I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed at conception, liberated fruits of loins poisoned by fervent nationalism impregnating eggs made fertile by distilled neoliberalism, stark naked foetuses growing daily weekly monthly, drip drip drip-fed dogma gestated over half a century, better to be but never aborted; dragged through brown streets by angry
Pray Howl, Bangladesh Read More »
To defeat Awami League’s authoritarianism, Bangladeshi progressives must dismantle the structure of influence of this faux liberalism, to afford future protesters a fighting chance to develop a movement. The alternative is permanent defeat and the end of progressivism, of hope. Sajeeb Wazed Joy criticises the American police for brutally suppressing its citizens during the
Joy Bangla pseudo-liberalism on the eve of progressive change Read More »
All the conversations surrounding the eleventh general election in Bangladesh, scheduled for 30 December 2018, are about how free and fair it will be, or whether it will be free or fair at all. It is an objective issue as well as a partisan one, with the valid concerns of the former drowned by myopia
Bangladesh looks ahead full of optimism, to a barren wasteland Read More »
Geography lessons from a bygone era teach that Bangladesh is the land of rivers and mosques. The rivers have waned and shrivelled, but the mosques have thrived, many assuming a nefarious cloak. Like his idol Anwar al-Awlaki, Jashimuddin Rahmani, the spiritual leader of Islamists in the country, delivered many an influential sermon at his prominent
The struggle for freedom, against the definitive licensed fraud Read More »
