Democracy in the Making - Parliamentary Election - Beyond CG
Except for a very small minority at farthest ends of the polarized political spectrum and a few habitual skeptics thrown-in, there is general agreement that Bangladesh should have a democratic system of government. With such broad consensus on the basics, it is exasperating for most citizens to be caught in the battle over how the next election is to be conducted. This controversy has been driving the political crisis for some time now, manifested in endless agitations, disruption of normal life, loss of work-days & income, property damages, violence, even loss of lives. It is extracting exorbitantly high price from individuals as well as society as a whole. Expression of dissent is expected in a democracy, but anarchy serves no useful purpose.
Speak, for the Cup of Hemlock is not yet on Your Lips (by- Asif Mohiuddin)
[Moderator's Note: Asif Mohiuddin who is currently in prison, considered as one of the most outspoken atheist and humanist bloggers of Bangladesh. His writing—which was heavily critical of religious dogma, bigotry and superstition—and his political activism including the Jagannath University protests angered the government, as well as marked the beginning of the threats he received from fundamentalists. These threats eventually led to action in mid-January this year. Mohiuddin was brutally stabbed and severely injured by three suspected but unidentified Islamic fundamentalists. When Asif returned from hospital and started writing again, the BTRC (The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) allegedly told the blog communities to stop spreading his messages. Complying with the threat, Somewherein, Bangladesh's first Bangla language community blog site, ultimately banned Mohiuddin, who used to write there regularly (and was even 2012's User Winner for "Best Social Activism Campaign" at the Deutsche Welle's International Blog Awards). Now he has been arrested and still in jail. While Asif has been an object of criticism for a number of groups for various reasons, many young freethinkers in Bangladesh look to him as a nonconformist idol who has fought against the tyrannical state machinery until the very end. The arrest of Asif Mohiuddin, came a day after the detention of three other bloggers (Subrata Shuvo, Mashiur Rahman Biplob and Rasel Pervez) and ahead of an Islamist march towards the capital Dhaka to demand the death penalty for online atheist writers. While three other bloggers recently were released on bail, Asif Mohiuddin are still in jail.
The dreamers
They burned the witches for the day and tried to clean the air. But the air's never clean where their breaths have been. The smoke of ideas just circle around and infect. Once infected the symptoms are clear. Your laughter grows too loud, your songs become too free, your eyes see too much. Don't fret, simply wait to die. Some are ashes. You now are the smoke.