Editorial
Before the wound was dry, we started dreaming again. We started talking in a broken voice with the desire to get everything right and started writing with broken hands. No, no-one has imposed this responsibility, this need on us. No-one pays us, rewards us for this. By virtue of being born, and out of love do we feel this responsibility, and dream of a secular, progressive, democratic and open-minded global society.
However, the reality is that new wounds are inflicted on the old, and we break all over again. Any writer is the target of attacks on the charge of atheism in Bangladesh. From a baby of eight days to an elder of sixty years, no-one can be protected from rape and unwelcome sexual harassment. There is no proper investigation, nor are the culprits caught, and justice, reduced to withering fig leaves – that certainly is not served. Rather, pedophile rapists who are caught, are released by the courts due to investigative failings. The government is carrying out arbitrary extrajudicial killings in the name of “crossfire”. The desire to hold power under one-party rule is exceeding the many terrible dictatorships the world over. Desperately helpless, we are witnessing the relegation of the ideals of education, democracy, governance, and culture, to pawns of partisan politics, unable to bear any fruit. Collectively, these are turning Bangladesh away from democracy, effective economic freedom, and the possibility of surviving in the world’s competitive market of ideas.
More salt is rubbed into our wounds as communal clashes erupt in India, with the federal government fanning the flames alongside regional party allies, to create the fertile ground for human and civil disaster. Moreover, the situation pertaining to Rohingyas and Myanmar is heating up. There is little hope of a positive outcome to the Rohingyas being forced on Bangladesh in this manner. The fear is that the situation in Afghanistan and Syria is being played out in the Indian subcontinent.
Broadening the lens, Islamophobia, the emergence of the great USA, socio-political volatility, unfair and inhuman trade practices that see low-cost trading between the West and the so-called developing countries, have left the world permanently facing a difficult and complex reality. This is but a matchstick for the engulfing spark of unrest, the complete opposite of a humanitarian-communist world. We hope that global politics will be truly committed to the human-democratic world system in opposition to imperialism and war plunder, and adopt policies and practices to that effect.
Shuddhashar has arrived at its 7th edition online. We would be delighted if we could publish an issue every month, for we believe that writing assists people to think. We want to continue the fight, to keep fighting, to create a democratic, secular, progressive, freethinking national and global society.
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প্রয়াত লেখক হুমায়ূন আহমেদের ঘেটুপুত্র কমলা ছবিটিতে বিত্তবান জমিদার যখন দরিদ্র ঘেটুপুত্র কমলাকে তার কক্ষে নিয়ে দরজা বন্ধ করে দেয় এবং কিছুক্ষণ পরেই কমলার ‘মা’ বলে আর্তচিৎকার শোনা যায়, তখন শুনেছিলাম হলভর্তি দর্শককেও ঘৃণা আর লজ্জায় ফিসফাস করে উঠতে। এই গুঞ্জন পরে কলরব হয়ে ছড়িয়ে পড়েছিল মূলধারার বিতর্কে । আলোচনা-সমালোচনার ঝড় উঠেছিল ছবির মূল উপজীব্য
“নক্ষত্রপুঞ্জের মতো জলজ্বলে পতাকা উড়িয়ে আছ আমার সত্ত্বায়। মমতা নামের প্লুত প্রদেশের শ্যামলিমা তোমাকে নিবিড় ঘিরে রয় সর্বদাই। কালো রাত পোহানোর পরের প্রহরে শিউলিশৈশবে ‘পাখী সব করে রব’ ব’লে মদনমোহন তর্কালঙ্কার কী ধীরোদাত্ত স্বরে প্রত্যহ দিতেন ডাক। তুমি আর আমি, অবিচ্ছিন্ন, পরস্পর মমতায় লীন, ঘুরেছি কাননে তাঁর নেচে নেচে, যেখানে কুসুম-কলি সবই ফোটে, জোটে অলি
এগারো {s} সারা রাত না ঘুমিয়ে নিজের স্টাডি রুমে বসে কাটিয়েছে জায়েদ। ওর চোখ জোড়া ভয়ানক রকম লাল হয়ে উঠেছে, যত না নির্ঘুম রাতের জন্য তার চেয়ে বেশি মাথার প্রচণ্ড যন্ত্রনার কারণে। গতকাল যখন মা ওকে ফোন করে জানিয়েছিল, রাহেলা; তাঁকে ধাক্কা দিয়ে সরিয়ে ঘর থেকে বেরিয়ে গেছে তখন থেকে মাথার যন্ত্রনার সূত্রপাত। মায়ের ফোন
অনেকদিন হয়ে গেল অসলো বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ছেড়ে বার্লিন-এর ফ্রাইয়ে বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের আন্তর্জাতিক গবেষণা কেন্দ্রে থিয়েটারের জটিল বিষয় নিয়ে কাজ করছি। থাকতে হচ্ছে বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের নির্বাচিত অ্যাপার্টমেন্ট- আই. বি. জেড-এ। ঠিকানা- ১৮ নম্বর ওয়াইসবাড্নেরস্ট্রাসা, ঠিক রডেনহাইমের প্লাটস-উ-বান স্টেশনের গা ঘেঁষে। কর্মস্থল খুব একটা দূরে নয়। নিবাস থেকে মিনিট দশেকের পথ, ফলে যাওয়া-আসা করতে সময়ের ব্যাঘাত ঘটার কোনো সুযোগ নেই।
