Here are a few examples of knotted thinking and emotionalism. They are pieces of mind killingly engineered common sense that I wish would be re examined. I present them as highly contratictory paragraphs. These mythologies, or incomplete and inconvenient half-thruths hold us back. Big Time.
JI are responsible and are the cause of all our social ills even though they can't vote themselves in alone. If the two main parties are out of the picture, great green serpent Islamists will jump up and bite us<>. My best strategy is to be trapped by my fear of the unknown and the prospect of actually doing some hard thinking and working and I should stick to the present 2 party system like a proper goat. The spirit of Liberation is enough for me Shoo go away caretaker government, grown ups playing.
People without food in their stomachs cannot be expected to be interested in 'high' talk. My party is a grass roots party, i speak for the hungry masses. They speak through me, even though i dont share their beliefs. Oh look at all these beautiful riots, what great lovely people power. Rural people are too backward, they should be turned into replicas of myslef then everything would be ok.
All who didnt follow Mujibs ideology and activities in the lead up to Bangladesh are collaborators, murders and rapists.
All who dont espose a secularism are communal.
In 9 months in 1971, loyalists and others mudered 3 000 000 people in Bangladesh.
India and the West are responsible for our vulnerability to environmental calamity. We are an independant country. We are free thinkers. Everyone is responsible for our problems apart from ourselves. Can i have some development dollars? What do you mean you are fed up? Ok, can i have some climate change bucks please?? Did i forget to tell you we are a sovereign nation? <>
Bangladesh is a vibrant liberal secular moderate freedom loving Muslim country with high levels of communal harmony. we have deep secular bangali traditions. There is no such thing as brahminical control theory and practice. Our history is fertilised in 1952, and is fully born in 1971. Nothing ever happened before.
Bangladesh is the most developed Least Developed Country.
The cricket team beats a few international sides in one day cricket. Whoopee we are not minnows. (waves finger wildly). Dr Yunus is a posterboy in the West. Whoopee what great empowerment! Goldman Sachs includes Bangladesh in its 'Next 11'. Whoopee All Hail their indepth contextual research (NOT).
And some comments on Pansiness
Last week there was a report of tens of little school girls in Barisal hospitalising themselves with grief at their teachers being transferred. Begum literally means Mother of Warriors. oh dear oh dear oh dear.
I wonder whether the genderising of the national symbol of 'mother land' in the case of Bangladesh encourages an effeminate sense of cultural and territorial identity. Passivity rather than interaction and initiative, of being subjugated rather than beings strong
The Bengali language tv channels in the UK must be making a killing during their nightly shows on BD politics. £1 a minute! thankyou media, you really bring out the worst in us AND you make moeny at the same time!
15 comments:
There's a lot I'd like to respond to here, but I have an exam tomorrow. Just wanted to say that I'm really, really glad to see you put up the Richard Eaton book link on your other blog. It's a GEM of a book. Just out of curiosity, did you get the link off my blog?
I'm totally with you there about "secularism" being the opposite of "communalism"! Just not true.
No. Richard Eaton has been bouncing around my head for a while. I don't agree with much of his answer to why we accepted Islam (why can't it be because our forefathers accepted the truth?!), but his fascination with it is amusing nonetheless. Bringin in the environmental factors of the Bengal Delta was an interesting idea.
Heres to bangladeshi's figuring out who they are!
Have you read the history of muslims in bengal by the late Md Mohar Ali. BD Islamic Foundation republished it recently.
bwt Are you a medic at Dhaka Medical College. and where did I refer to Eaton?
I hope your exam is easy for you.
dear FUGSTAR
I like the way you put comments in various issues.
So i add the blog addy in my blog.
Aww thanks brother!
aww (again) you gots a fan
"Richard Eaton has been bouncing around my head for a while. I don't agree with much of his answer to why we accepted Islam (why can't it be because our forefathers accepted the truth?!), but his fascination with it is amusing nonetheless."
Although Eaton makes a fascinating argument; 'Islam of the plough and the book' he sort of dismisses the Muslim immigrants in Bengal who have been present, as sources show, as early at the 9th century. Think, more research needs to be done, because I've come to think, maybe majority of the Muslims in Bengal were immigrants after all, who traveled from Muslims lands and settled in Bengal before Muslim Rule and it was these Muslims that took the plough, not took the plough first then the religion of their rulers...
In what ways does it matter?
DNA testing should reveal all I would imagine. Then again we are all Bani Adam, which comes back to my original question.
It matters because it's (our) history. Think one should know where/how one's forefathers came to be and mostly how Islam came to them - it's all relevant on moving forward in life. Plus, it's alternative what Eaton and others argue, low-caste conversion; agriculture; force conversion etc. It's more about seeking the truth...You rather live in ignorance?
I don't see how it would help me move forward in life?
collectively, i think if deshis knew who they were. there place as human beings in the universe, their identities as successors to previous generation.... they would move a little less like headless chickens.
Its always great to know how Islam entered your country. Whether it was by the sword or a great alleviator of brahminical pressure. Present political nasties are always drawing from a silly immature idea they have of history.
I sense that you may have enjoyed Eatons book because it was talking about your local universe, no?
Well from Eaton, I gathered that the idea that they were immigrants was very popular in Bengali Muslim "ashfaq" circles. This is because, even though they did not believe in castes, they were ashamed to be associated with the "lower castes" anyways.
Purple, do you have anything more than a hunch that most Bengali Muslims were immigrants? If so, let us know. As anonymous puts it, we're all bani Adam after all...
Yes, knowing one's place in the set-up of things is good for any people and knowing where we came from would help.
The ashraf stereotypes were probably true. However, Eaton does not elaborate on why the "mass" Muslim would not be immigrants after all as Muslims have been present in Bengal as early as the 9th century, as mentioned. And surely having been there for seven centuries before Muslim rule the Muslim population must've grown in that time. 'Course it would be very hard to analyse population growth of that era, but I don't think you can rule out that theory completely, it's still valid with or without the ashfaq/ashraf prejudices.
It's good to know the possibilities.
yes, completely agreed on alternate possiblites. But again, it's Eaton who asks why North India was not settled by these migrants whereas Bengal was.
I think the better question you asked was: did they take up the plough because they were Muslim or did the plough make them Muslim? Excellent avenue of inquiry and I'm not satisfied with Eaton's answers at all there.
fugstar,
I am in complete agreement with you as far as our social weaknesses are concerned, e.g "passivity" as you point out. However, I do wish you had more solid factors contributing to it than some mistaken, colonial notions about "Bangali effeminacy".
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