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!
24.4.07
On being a Political Orphan.
This is about how I feel towards my ancestral lands, which for reasons and events outside my control has been truncated to and defined as a nation state bearing the title Bangladesh. I know who I am, what my forefathers strove towards, but for reasons outside my control their ambitions have been mutilated and distorted to create some mutilated poor man's third rate nationalism. In this country the biggest business is in making money out of other people's misfortune, either by 'developing them' or empowering them in sweatshops dedicated to inexpensive and crude clothes for AngloSaxonia. Sheesh.
There is a lesson here for the lazy. Do not assume that similar geographical origin has anything to do with defining 'Your People'.
You join the political orphanage when the society that you emanate from kills, then burys your past and pretends that it never existed. In its place it grafts a creakingly heavy narrative of emotional blackmail as your story of national liberation. It breeds replicas of itself, each generation engineered to bear its scars and mind blocks.
Sometimes people, when they have had enough, divorce their political parents, skip a generation of tutelage and nurture a new ambience, a new sound. I would recommend Bangladeshis do just that.
The Orphanage is not a virtual community based on the web, in case anybody was getting strange delusions of grandeur.
This post is not to make light of those who's father is no longer with them. Just in case anybody was being literalist.
There is a lesson here for the lazy. Do not assume that similar geographical origin has anything to do with defining 'Your People'.
You join the political orphanage when the society that you emanate from kills, then burys your past and pretends that it never existed. In its place it grafts a creakingly heavy narrative of emotional blackmail as your story of national liberation. It breeds replicas of itself, each generation engineered to bear its scars and mind blocks.
Sometimes people, when they have had enough, divorce their political parents, skip a generation of tutelage and nurture a new ambience, a new sound. I would recommend Bangladeshis do just that.
The Orphanage is not a virtual community based on the web, in case anybody was getting strange delusions of grandeur.
This post is not to make light of those who's father is no longer with them. Just in case anybody was being literalist.
22.4.07
Hasina went to the Airport
Things are a little dynamic in Bangladesh at the moment.
No silly im not talking about the onset of the monsoon or the Turkish washing up powder pictured on the left. It's the *other* type of weather im talking about.
The interim government of Bangladesh is trying to put a stop to the two recent dynasties, the Ahlal Mujib and the Ahlal Zia bringing more ruin upon the people of Bangladesh who keep voting for them. I don't have full information but this seems like a good move. I consider myself politically orphaned when it comes to Bangladesh, the people need better thinking and leadership. We need for new actors to be nurtured, stabilised and ride out with confidence.
We need to understand who we are and what we are doing with ourselves. A collective cosmological and trouble shooting exercise
Forever appealling to the 'Spirit of Liberation' is getting nowhere, and the two trees in the political field, the Ahlal Mujib and the Ahlal Zia were hogging all the sunlight and sucking out all the water. Now they might be over with 'TIMBAAAAAAAAR'.
Amusingly, the queen of Ahlal Mujib is in London at the moment trying to get to Bangladesh. The only problem for her is that the government is not going to let her in as she is a threat to the peace, even though she has murder charges to answer to. She could be seen as a preacher of hate in her home country, where she regularly led her followers to bring the country's economic and transport to a stand still and disrupted Parliamentary proceedings, boycotted them and spread Talibanisation theories about Bangladesh. It would be wise for observers not to forget the events of October 28th 2006 either, when she ordered her fedayeen onto the streets with sticks and oars. Several people were killed. I received eyewitness accounts of them beating 'enemies' to death in gangs then jumping over their bodies. There is some revolting footage here. Secular, moderate, non communal and democratic enough for western utility? Of Course!!!
The Ahlal Mujib were overjoyed to see the 1st Caretaker Government destroyed and the elections delayed. they and the press that shared their agenda, the Daily Star et al helped to create these unprecedented and 'legally creative' conditions. Now they are not so steady. Again and again they get themselves and the rest of us into trouble with their drunken fancies and actions.
The Ahlal Mujib will be supported by their freinds in the UK, the US and of course in India. Lord Avebury is a notorious Awami League mouth piece, human rightist and righteously indignant in a predictable white aristo sort of fashion. I'm suprised that Jeremy Corbyn MP (Labour Anti-War) is taking a shine to her cause. It is an open secret in Bangladesh that there are tens of thousands of of its citizens on the payrolls of unfreindly agencies of a next door neighbour. Its one of those sad facts of life.
I hear that yesterday Hasina told a big meeting of her fans in London that she was going to Heathrow airport today to try to board a BA flight to Dhaka, even though the Bangladesh Government has instructed BA and the Brit security agencies not to let her on the plane. Air India is always an option for her, i hear its cheaper.
I hope that Hasina's presence in the UK doesn't mess up things in the UK and in Bangladesh. There are some people quite high up in Labour and other parties with an axe to grind.
The thing i feel with the younger generation is that a more advanced engagement with the Ahlal Mujib can happen in the UK, and the deshis here are (a) a lot less brainwashed with *Bangladesh Atudies*, (b) don't really care about gettign promoted in the Bangladeshi business or government, (c) have food in their bellies, (d) care about their religious idenity beyond ritual and personal morality and (e) have the space and the literacy.
Someone should go over to her sister Rehana's house and do a citizen's arrest. Only problem being they would probably get lynched. I'd wish Shk Hasina Wajed a pleasant retirement but i don't think we have heard the last from her.
No silly im not talking about the onset of the monsoon or the Turkish washing up powder pictured on the left. It's the *other* type of weather im talking about.
The interim government of Bangladesh is trying to put a stop to the two recent dynasties, the Ahlal Mujib and the Ahlal Zia bringing more ruin upon the people of Bangladesh who keep voting for them. I don't have full information but this seems like a good move. I consider myself politically orphaned when it comes to Bangladesh, the people need better thinking and leadership. We need for new actors to be nurtured, stabilised and ride out with confidence.
We need to understand who we are and what we are doing with ourselves. A collective cosmological and trouble shooting exercise
Forever appealling to the 'Spirit of Liberation' is getting nowhere, and the two trees in the political field, the Ahlal Mujib and the Ahlal Zia were hogging all the sunlight and sucking out all the water. Now they might be over with 'TIMBAAAAAAAAR'.
Amusingly, the queen of Ahlal Mujib is in London at the moment trying to get to Bangladesh. The only problem for her is that the government is not going to let her in as she is a threat to the peace, even though she has murder charges to answer to. She could be seen as a preacher of hate in her home country, where she regularly led her followers to bring the country's economic and transport to a stand still and disrupted Parliamentary proceedings, boycotted them and spread Talibanisation theories about Bangladesh. It would be wise for observers not to forget the events of October 28th 2006 either, when she ordered her fedayeen onto the streets with sticks and oars. Several people were killed. I received eyewitness accounts of them beating 'enemies' to death in gangs then jumping over their bodies. There is some revolting footage here. Secular, moderate, non communal and democratic enough for western utility? Of Course!!!
The Ahlal Mujib were overjoyed to see the 1st Caretaker Government destroyed and the elections delayed. they and the press that shared their agenda, the Daily Star et al helped to create these unprecedented and 'legally creative' conditions. Now they are not so steady. Again and again they get themselves and the rest of us into trouble with their drunken fancies and actions.
The Ahlal Mujib will be supported by their freinds in the UK, the US and of course in India. Lord Avebury is a notorious Awami League mouth piece, human rightist and righteously indignant in a predictable white aristo sort of fashion. I'm suprised that Jeremy Corbyn MP (Labour Anti-War) is taking a shine to her cause. It is an open secret in Bangladesh that there are tens of thousands of of its citizens on the payrolls of unfreindly agencies of a next door neighbour. Its one of those sad facts of life.
I hear that yesterday Hasina told a big meeting of her fans in London that she was going to Heathrow airport today to try to board a BA flight to Dhaka, even though the Bangladesh Government has instructed BA and the Brit security agencies not to let her on the plane. Air India is always an option for her, i hear its cheaper.
I hope that Hasina's presence in the UK doesn't mess up things in the UK and in Bangladesh. There are some people quite high up in Labour and other parties with an axe to grind.
The thing i feel with the younger generation is that a more advanced engagement with the Ahlal Mujib can happen in the UK, and the deshis here are (a) a lot less brainwashed with *Bangladesh Atudies*, (b) don't really care about gettign promoted in the Bangladeshi business or government, (c) have food in their bellies, (d) care about their religious idenity beyond ritual and personal morality and (e) have the space and the literacy.
Someone should go over to her sister Rehana's house and do a citizen's arrest. Only problem being they would probably get lynched. I'd wish Shk Hasina Wajed a pleasant retirement but i don't think we have heard the last from her.
5.4.07
Newish Muslim Posture - DeobandoMutazili
As in (a) know your material and your history (Deoband) and (b) Give your brain a go (Mutazili).
Usually both of these terms are thought of as pejoratives but i think its quite a cool hybridised stance to have, especially if you are into history and education like Fazlur Rahman was.
Of course in defining these terms only the better qualities of mentioned movements are invoked.
Usually both of these terms are thought of as pejoratives but i think its quite a cool hybridised stance to have, especially if you are into history and education like Fazlur Rahman was.
Of course in defining these terms only the better qualities of mentioned movements are invoked.
26.3.07
New word : Ganjineering
I think a FAQ structure is appropriate here.
Ganj?
In Bangladesh, a lot of the towns and districts have the suffix 'ganj'. For example Sirajganj, Munshiganj, Zakiganj, Habiganj and (deep breath) Chapanawabganj. Farsi used to be the language of power in preBritish colonial times, until they banned it, and ganj means 'storehouse' in that language. Over the years the word ganj had transformed itself into more than a storehouse in my mind and those around me. Indeed the *Spirit of the Ganj* is a force to be reckoned with.
What is Ganjineering?
The processes and relationships through which we can interact organically with our ancestral homelands to learn and try to be of use.
You mean NGOgiri do you not?
Nope, though the waqf (the pious endowment), is an authentic means of engaging in collective action that we need to respect more if we expect our societies to advance. Ganjineers tend not to play on the poverty of others to assert any kind of ego trip and earn money using the Development Industry at the same time. They do not try to turn their communities into aliens from their religious heritage and culture, into savages to be civilised with fashionable empowerment speak, decontextualised development indices and glossy reports to donors.
Who are you to intervene? What makes you less imperialist than the NGO lords and sell outs that haunt you?
If you know your history, then you will know where you are coming from, then you wouldn't have to ask me, who the hell do I think I am. (Bob Marley)
Who does Ganjineering?
Ganjineers.
You pretentious fiend give us an example!
Ok, i feel that Akhtar Hameed Khan was the epitome of the Ganjineer. May we learn from people like him.
Ganj?
In Bangladesh, a lot of the towns and districts have the suffix 'ganj'. For example Sirajganj, Munshiganj, Zakiganj, Habiganj and (deep breath) Chapanawabganj. Farsi used to be the language of power in preBritish colonial times, until they banned it, and ganj means 'storehouse' in that language. Over the years the word ganj had transformed itself into more than a storehouse in my mind and those around me. Indeed the *Spirit of the Ganj* is a force to be reckoned with.
What is Ganjineering?
The processes and relationships through which we can interact organically with our ancestral homelands to learn and try to be of use.
You mean NGOgiri do you not?
Nope, though the waqf (the pious endowment), is an authentic means of engaging in collective action that we need to respect more if we expect our societies to advance. Ganjineers tend not to play on the poverty of others to assert any kind of ego trip and earn money using the Development Industry at the same time. They do not try to turn their communities into aliens from their religious heritage and culture, into savages to be civilised with fashionable empowerment speak, decontextualised development indices and glossy reports to donors.
Who are you to intervene? What makes you less imperialist than the NGO lords and sell outs that haunt you?
If you know your history, then you will know where you are coming from, then you wouldn't have to ask me, who the hell do I think I am. (Bob Marley)
Who does Ganjineering?
Ganjineers.
You pretentious fiend give us an example!
Ok, i feel that Akhtar Hameed Khan was the epitome of the Ganjineer. May we learn from people like him.
24.3.07
New word : BlogSlip
This is an important term for Our knowledge culture. BlogSlip is a habit enabled by the onset of the Internet, whereby the voice of the fool is drawn further into prominence than is necessary. An important characteristic of BlogSlip is in the empowerment of flawed ideas and bitter thinking
I can BlogSlip when drawn into commenting upon that I shouldn't really get into, because the 'others' ears are filled with lead and/or I really don't have any special knowledge on the matter. BlogSlip also explains BS in the press. The UK Guardians entire 'Comment is Free' section is full of BlogSlip.
In the age where the electronically endowed and righteously indignant collide through the facilities of Web 2.0 as well as the corporate media, there is the strange idea that having an opinion, or carrying an opinion on everything is desirable, a sign of not being apathetic.
This poor attitude can only lead to trouble and gunah, for the one who really believes in Accountability.
Beware.
I can BlogSlip when drawn into commenting upon that I shouldn't really get into, because the 'others' ears are filled with lead and/or I really don't have any special knowledge on the matter. BlogSlip also explains BS in the press. The UK Guardians entire 'Comment is Free' section is full of BlogSlip.
In the age where the electronically endowed and righteously indignant collide through the facilities of Web 2.0 as well as the corporate media, there is the strange idea that having an opinion, or carrying an opinion on everything is desirable, a sign of not being apathetic.
This poor attitude can only lead to trouble and gunah, for the one who really believes in Accountability.
Beware.
10.3.07
Tribute to Prof Syed Hussein Alattas
This post is adapted from a few months back, when i was in less of a bloggy mood. I guess there are people who never knew who he was in the first place, to be able to mourn him.
So here goes.
A mighty Muslim warrior in the intellectual and political battle against evil (corruption, captive minds, parochialism and foolishness) passed away on the 23rd of January 2007 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, of a heart attack.
Our Ummah, Our World is poorer now.
Please pray for him, for his family, friends, supporters..
So here goes.
A mighty Muslim warrior in the intellectual and political battle against evil (corruption, captive minds, parochialism and foolishness) passed away on the 23rd of January 2007 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, of a heart attack.
Our Ummah, Our World is poorer now.
Please pray for him, for his family, friends, supporters..
I had the good fortune to squeeze his brain at his home one night in mid August 2006, he was hilarious and had a complex sociology of the 'fool' and of flattery ticking over in his brain. Into the silly hours we went. One of the few people i have heard of who was an original thinker (Books on; The myth of the lazy native, Problems facing intellectuals in developing societies, Captive minds, The sociology of corruption:nature, efffect and function, Corruption and the future of asia), and contributed to the progressive political scene.
As a justice seeking individual he suffered at the hands of the malaysian state and the pretty gutless intelligensia there. This was particularly apparent towards the end, where he was character assasinated (6 months press barrage) out of his job as the VC of University Malaya under some trumped up political corruption ruse. This happened at the time when he was tackling intellectual corruption (plaigarism) and economic corruption (catering contracts) on the campus. irony is not dead.
Never a fan of the once fashionable 'Islamisation of knowledge' brigade (a movement to sort out our knowledge culture that started in the 70s'), he reflected that this resulted in the creation of an exclusivist discource for the political benefit of some 'islamists', in muslim students not reading as widely as they should and in 2nd ratedness. He felt it that that alleyway was blind and had done a lot of damage.
He was very keen on the regionalisation of sociology. Given 1000s of sociologists in the third world we have a very strong base, but little collective discussion, the eu has a collective discussion, they have a regional interest. I really hope that his thoughts on south east asian sociology (including desh!!) are heeded.
As a sociologist he understood how knowledge is produced and constrained and struggled hard all his life to free our 'Captive Minds' and point out various 'Manifestations of the fool'. He advised us not be be jargonists, to hide defective reasoning in layers of jargon, that its a battle between valid concepts and jargon.
When we spoke last summer, i really wanted him to come to the UK, we never invite original contrubuters like this. He seemed very game but his health was basically a limit. I also hadnt sorted my life out enough to know where i would be and when i would be where. I was also worried that UK folks are too far gone, salafised, foolish and parochial to appreciate him.
Still i really do hope that his writings and ideas are read more widely in the colonising, decolonising and especially muslim worlds. I hope young undergrads and postgrads find motivation and clues in his work, that its inspired and helps them to 'go for it', as it were. i implore you to go out there and search hard for his books and writings on the web. SOAS library and British library stock his stuff, so probably do the Other India Bookshop.
"I concentrated on the captive mind because the captive mind is most urgent as far as the developing society is concerned. We are not concerned with the slave holders, we are concerned with the enslaved. And a change, as we all know, can only be achieved if there is an awakening of the downtrodden, of the slave community. Without the change in the slave community, the attitude of the slave community, there can never be any change. As far as the slave holders were concerned, they will not give the freedom away. It had to be wrenched from them. The slave must wake up to wrench the freedom the slave holders."
(Multiversity Meeting on 'Redesign of Social Science Curricula', Penang 2004)
Multiversity was a project through which i first met the Prof, http://www.multiver
Farish Noor's Obituary is here
New word - PragmatoMarxist
The PragmatoMarxist is often found working in the Development Industry, and harbours the belief that he or she is bringing something Southern to the table.
Such characters are common in Bangladeshi Society. I hope I am not one of them.
Definition of terms
Development Industry - The range of interests and God complexes that contrive to convince people that they are working to 'develop' communities and individuals.
Its complicated.
The Development Industry is hard to argue against and resist, it has a virtuous vocabulary and is worth Billions every year. I hope I do not become part of that industry. We should think and act in terms of the Post-Development era.
Southern - Implies a degree of authenticity and autonomy from the hegemon, call it The North, Anglo-Saxonia, 'Western Hegemony', OECD Countries, Orientalist gaze, entrenched powers, recolonisers, victors of WW1 and 2 or whatever. *Southern* politically correct way of referring to Developing countries which in itself is a distraction from the idea that these are decolonising societies and resurgent societies.
Authentic Southern figures I feel include people like Ali Shariati, Hugo Chavez, Franz Fanon, Hussein Al Attas, Mahathir and the like. People who might not fit 100% with readers political-ideological sensibilities, but who really are a different breed. Such characters dont play the Development Game, they just do it.
Such characters are common in Bangladeshi Society. I hope I am not one of them.
Definition of terms
Development Industry - The range of interests and God complexes that contrive to convince people that they are working to 'develop' communities and individuals.
Its complicated.
The Development Industry is hard to argue against and resist, it has a virtuous vocabulary and is worth Billions every year. I hope I do not become part of that industry. We should think and act in terms of the Post-Development era.
Southern - Implies a degree of authenticity and autonomy from the hegemon, call it The North, Anglo-Saxonia, 'Western Hegemony', OECD Countries, Orientalist gaze, entrenched powers, recolonisers, victors of WW1 and 2 or whatever. *Southern* politically correct way of referring to Developing countries which in itself is a distraction from the idea that these are decolonising societies and resurgent societies.
Authentic Southern figures I feel include people like Ali Shariati, Hugo Chavez, Franz Fanon, Hussein Al Attas, Mahathir and the like. People who might not fit 100% with readers political-ideological sensibilities, but who really are a different breed. Such characters dont play the Development Game, they just do it.
28.12.06
Nintendo potential, tenacious d, hajj and Bangladeshi politics!
few warblings today. mostly useless.
i wish somebody somewhere would exploit the nintendo ds and wii capabilities to teach the handwriting and calligraphy of unusual scripts (arabic, chinese, japanese, bengali...) and create 3d art. come on folks, someone out there must have headspace, im sure its not too geeky.
the wii controlers use these funky accelorometers and some crazy IR jive to translate live 3d movement into 3d control
...
Do not watch borat, i almost laughed my way to hell. its a dehumanising experience.
However, 'Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny' is a fine pice of entertainment.
BattleStar Gallactica is a fine series, though its sad how decent galactic-political sci-fi has cranked up the randiness in recent years.
...
Lots of would be hajis got messed around this year. visa and flight procurement. it is a real 'sabr' (patience) workout for those involved. Anyway, im not a haji, so am i free to go nuts and distribute an adequate supply of slaps to the fools who buggered up? I'm wondering how blameworthy and sincere a 'im not going on hajj until the saudi occupiers sod off' attitude would be. I mean, its the fifth pillar, a major conference, the performance of ancient and soulfully powerful acts of ritual worship in the sacred geography and history of islam, its the real deal.
...
The Awami League party in bangladesh has got itself in a pickle by signing an MoU with an Islamic party Bangladesh Khelafatul Majlish (BKM). BKM is actually a sub splinter of the Khelafatul Majlis party which is still in the BNP led coalition. Abdul jalil, the gensec of the Awami league, famous for repeatedly threatening to 'pull down the government in 30 days' and wearing a rather dangerous looking moustache, met with the hadith scholar Allama Azizul Huq and soon after was being hung drawn and quartered by his other political pals.
The content is quite blindingly obvious (dont legistate against quran, sunnah and shariat, dignifying madrassa teachers and students, insulting the prophets of god isnt a good idea, Muhammad (pbuh) was the last messenger etc.) but the predictable hoohaa was stirred amongst the usual suspects amongst the ultras (self confessed civil society, 'progressive', right thinking individuals, human rightists and my favourite... 'intellectuals).
Society is too polarised. effing democracy accentuates and creates these fissures.
I think this occurance is interesting because in recent decades bangladesh's people and institutions have been steadily deislamised. It is so bad in places that it is impossible to have informed knowledge seeking public debate about concepts and institutions like... shariah, madrassa, fatwa and alim with many bangladeshis, especially the ones with anti islamic ideals plinging around their skulls. They can get quite agro, hateful and presumptive. Its like an angry wasps nest, fueled by DFID, USAID, the UN and all elements of the 'development industry'.
I remember challenging a dhaka uni prof who was spouting some inteligent sounding crap about madrassas to 'flipin come with me and empirically study the people and the institutions with a supportive mindset, you do the girly ones ill do the boys'. She was not interested in anything more than being demonisingly unhelpful.
Maybe this is a sign of the pendulum swinging the other way? Away from the secular end and towards the spiritual end. Maybe its just election weirdoness. The Awami League are always changing their minds about things. Its a high stakes game, however loses the election next month will find themselves under physical attack, vulnerable leaders and students will die.
Democratic tradition.
Many would say that the Awami-khelafat relationship is a temporary marriage. like muta! I see it as more of a sign of where the culture is heading sourcing its moral, ethical framework. Thats probably what id like to see!
So lets also get real. The electoral tactition from the awami view wants to assure the public that a vote for them is not against islamic principles, so it needs to cover its arse. I wonder if it will work. so much of the election result will depend on local personality cults, thug networks and whatnot, i doubt that fundamental paradigmatic differences mean a thing.
'vote for this guy, he is your uncles son inlaws buffallo keepers second owners grandfather, he protected our arses the other day, from the raging buggalo theives'
Personally I find bangladeshis of my generation(in desh and abroad) more and more interested in mentally and spiritually engaging with their islamic identity. The book stores are better stocked, the cultural invasion is being modulated, the institutions are becoming more rubust and accustomed to religious practice. Cultural J is a slow and a fast process, but i feel its well underway. Elections cant really stop it. no matter how worker up we get by the temporary change in the fleecers political outlook.
a few posts ago i mentioned 'Probe News' an english weekly from dhaka. Well i found the link. www.probenewsmagazine.com
its really fab. kooky fresh, thoughtful and a pleasant suprise.
i wish somebody somewhere would exploit the nintendo ds and wii capabilities to teach the handwriting and calligraphy of unusual scripts (arabic, chinese, japanese, bengali...) and create 3d art. come on folks, someone out there must have headspace, im sure its not too geeky.
the wii controlers use these funky accelorometers and some crazy IR jive to translate live 3d movement into 3d control
...
Do not watch borat, i almost laughed my way to hell. its a dehumanising experience.
However, 'Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny' is a fine pice of entertainment.
BattleStar Gallactica is a fine series, though its sad how decent galactic-political sci-fi has cranked up the randiness in recent years.
...
Lots of would be hajis got messed around this year. visa and flight procurement. it is a real 'sabr' (patience) workout for those involved. Anyway, im not a haji, so am i free to go nuts and distribute an adequate supply of slaps to the fools who buggered up? I'm wondering how blameworthy and sincere a 'im not going on hajj until the saudi occupiers sod off' attitude would be. I mean, its the fifth pillar, a major conference, the performance of ancient and soulfully powerful acts of ritual worship in the sacred geography and history of islam, its the real deal.
...
The Awami League party in bangladesh has got itself in a pickle by signing an MoU with an Islamic party Bangladesh Khelafatul Majlish (BKM). BKM is actually a sub splinter of the Khelafatul Majlis party which is still in the BNP led coalition. Abdul jalil, the gensec of the Awami league, famous for repeatedly threatening to 'pull down the government in 30 days' and wearing a rather dangerous looking moustache, met with the hadith scholar Allama Azizul Huq and soon after was being hung drawn and quartered by his other political pals.
The content is quite blindingly obvious (dont legistate against quran, sunnah and shariat, dignifying madrassa teachers and students, insulting the prophets of god isnt a good idea, Muhammad (pbuh) was the last messenger etc.) but the predictable hoohaa was stirred amongst the usual suspects amongst the ultras (self confessed civil society, 'progressive', right thinking individuals, human rightists and my favourite... 'intellectuals).
Society is too polarised. effing democracy accentuates and creates these fissures.
I think this occurance is interesting because in recent decades bangladesh's people and institutions have been steadily deislamised. It is so bad in places that it is impossible to have informed knowledge seeking public debate about concepts and institutions like... shariah, madrassa, fatwa and alim with many bangladeshis, especially the ones with anti islamic ideals plinging around their skulls. They can get quite agro, hateful and presumptive. Its like an angry wasps nest, fueled by DFID, USAID, the UN and all elements of the 'development industry'.
I remember challenging a dhaka uni prof who was spouting some inteligent sounding crap about madrassas to 'flipin come with me and empirically study the people and the institutions with a supportive mindset, you do the girly ones ill do the boys'. She was not interested in anything more than being demonisingly unhelpful.
Maybe this is a sign of the pendulum swinging the other way? Away from the secular end and towards the spiritual end. Maybe its just election weirdoness. The Awami League are always changing their minds about things. Its a high stakes game, however loses the election next month will find themselves under physical attack, vulnerable leaders and students will die.
Democratic tradition.
Many would say that the Awami-khelafat relationship is a temporary marriage. like muta! I see it as more of a sign of where the culture is heading sourcing its moral, ethical framework. Thats probably what id like to see!
So lets also get real. The electoral tactition from the awami view wants to assure the public that a vote for them is not against islamic principles, so it needs to cover its arse. I wonder if it will work. so much of the election result will depend on local personality cults, thug networks and whatnot, i doubt that fundamental paradigmatic differences mean a thing.
'vote for this guy, he is your uncles son inlaws buffallo keepers second owners grandfather, he protected our arses the other day, from the raging buggalo theives'
Personally I find bangladeshis of my generation(in desh and abroad) more and more interested in mentally and spiritually engaging with their islamic identity. The book stores are better stocked, the cultural invasion is being modulated, the institutions are becoming more rubust and accustomed to religious practice. Cultural J is a slow and a fast process, but i feel its well underway. Elections cant really stop it. no matter how worker up we get by the temporary change in the fleecers political outlook.
a few posts ago i mentioned 'Probe News' an english weekly from dhaka. Well i found the link. www.probenewsmagazine.com
its really fab. kooky fresh, thoughtful and a pleasant suprise.
5.11.06
Political Situation in Bangladesh 101
Something a little regional but timely. You may have heard that things are going a little more ape than usual in Bangladesh, please remember the whole society in your duas.
Some people feel that all the parties are the same in Bangladesh. I wrote this for those people but hope you like it, and will be better informed about the contemporary politics in the lands of my ancestors, International relations, Development and 'civil society.
I think the best way of knowing what somebody is like it to look at what they do and find out how they deal with problems. Studying natural disasters is one of these ways. Extrapolating stuff onto a ridiculous scenario is another. Its a bit like the 'you have two cows' email.
Imagine a huge swarm of carnivorous locusts the size of Jackfruit (see image ) land in a packed Dhaka Stadium and start making a meal of Mohammeddan and Abohani(two famous sporting clubs) as well as the spectators.
What do our various social forces think and do?
BNP: Blame RAW(Indian intelligence). Faff around until figuring that it is in their interests to actually do something. Deploy the military (minus any important people), sit on the political 'credit' for decades. If that doesn't work, because the army is busy making startup capital in Africa as UN peace keeper, induce some Afghan jihad veterans to have a go.
Jatiya Party: Something very crafty indeed, I'm too young to know anything other than FAP (Flood Action Plan - big money investment after nasty floods of 87/88) and cant extrapolate. Suggestions are welcome.
Awami League: Invoke the spirit of liberation, electronically hack into the commentators box and lead the spectators in an earthshaking rendition of Amar Sonar Bangla (national anthem), from Singapore of course. kinda like on the Titanic.
Communist Party of Bangladesh: Declare Mohamedan Sporting a class enemy and the others some kind of collateral damage. Make any other initiative difficult.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (rubbish thinktank): Write an agreeable sounding technocratic proposal to the queen of the locusts praising her population control methodology but urging a little more of a participatory approach. Because Bangladesh is the next Switzerland ( a claim one of their founders made around the time of the creation of the country).
Susheel Samaj(NGOs and civil society): Run away from dhaka, in planes and neat cars.
Tablighi Jamaat: Try to improve the character of the players and the spectators while their own limbs are being fiendishly nibbled at.
50% of ricksha walahs, CNGs and cabbies: Make a killing on getting people out of there.
JamaateIslami: Think "Lets turn dhaka stadium into an Islamic State!(don't ask what that means, its what we do!)" Deploy a weary but willing shibir (student wing) to kick some arse.
US: Send a multidisciplinary team of hot scientists to study and learn from the behavior gnawing insects. Create a climate of panic with an exaggerated sob-story account of one of their citizens that got eaten to further manipulate International institutions and geopolitics in their unipolar favour.
UK: Urge UK citizens not to travel to Bangladesh and mumble something to whatever victors of the conflict to act with restraint, protect democratic institutions and uphold the rule of law. Threaten to stop funding shushil samaj.
China: Probably contribute something very useful like, 'We faced this problem 100000 years ago, try this out'. We try to apply it, but can't read the instructions.
Japan: Send in JICA(their foreign technical assistance outfit), who conclude that we aren't disciplined enough to make any of their plans work.
India : "I guess you wont be needing this water then."
Greenpeace: This is further evidence of the biological mutations enabled by climate change. whoopee!
Christian Science Monitor (News agency): "Political scenario in Bangladesh might favour the Islamists." "Bangladesh's minorities fear persecution."
Half of Malaysia : Send us their peace corps.
The other Half: Wonder how they are going to get rid of these foreign workers.
My fellow Sylatians in the UK: Fund the expansion of Osmani Airport in Sylhet.
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