Saudi duplicity and inhumanity
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the protector of two holiest mosques in Islam, is in abject decadent state. It claims to be the holiest place in Islam, but at the same time it ferments internecine conflicts within Islam. It spent more than 50 billion dollars over the past 45 years or so promoting a fundamentalist religious ideology called Wahhabism throughout the whole world. At the same time, it spent untold hundreds of billions of dollars in aiding and abetting Jihadism and supporting terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, ISIS/ISIL, Taliban, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and so forth against the 'infidels'. The duplicity of Saudi Arabia is just unimaginable.
We must talk about hurting 'religious sentiments
This write-up by Mr. Mahfuzur Rahman was published in the daily observer of Bangladesh on Sept 21, 2015:
Is it ISIS' sinister ploy?
Europe is stunned, simply overwhelmed by the sheer size of the incoming migrants – men, women and children - from African and Asian Muslim countries. At no time since the Second World War, Europe had seen such a large mass migration of humans from other continents to Europe. European conscience and its libertarian principles have been subjected to severest strain, which had never been done before.
A Note on Peter Custers
My younger sister called the other night to tell me that journalist Peter Custers, familiar in Bangladesh, died of a heart attack. I had no contact with him for over 43 years, but occasionally bits of information came through the proverbial grape-vine that he is still involved in Bangladesh's (and other places'?) radical politics. I had something to do with him being in Bangladesh, and she thought I would like to know. For a time in the seventies of the last century I lived in Washington DC in a 'commune' in the Adams Morgan area (on Lanier Place, NW). I was a graduate student, had very little money, was having trouble with the girl friend (I am leaving the gory details out, since this is a family friendly write-up), and after sleeping on friends' sofas for several months, I decided to find a place to live, and ended up in the commune. Being a radical-hippy type myself in those days, I found the arrangement in the commune very comforting. No, there was no orgy going on, but you had company of more or less likeminded people if you wanted to, and did not have to feel lonely. I had a room to myself that I could afford; we residents had to take turn cooking and cleaning the house, lived modestly, sustainably. You learned a lot about living with people of different backgrounds and about responsibility, having to make your contribution towards the collective wellbeing. Two of the people in the house were Germans and Peter was a friend of them; they had met at the Community Book Store that used to be on P St. NW, and was the hub of a lot of radical activities in the 60s & 70s. He did not live in the commune, but was a frequent visitor. He was a young budding blond bearded Northern European radical, a student at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in DC, working on his Ph.D. (I was working on my doctoral dissertation on hemodynamics) in search of a cause. I do not mean that in a pejorative sense: most young people look for a cause; I came to the US after a stint with student politics aligned with the communist party, partisan of the pro-Soviet faction, etc. One highlight of the time was my effort (along with a few others) to educate (by that time I was a lecturer) Siraj Sikdar that we are not ready for revolution, that social change requires patience and hard work; clearly we did not change his mind! Peter's tendencies were not unfamiliar to me. After March 1971, I had basically stopped work on my research and devoted all my time to organizing support in US for Bangladesh. One of the major tasks was to set up, with the help of many supportive Americans, the Bangladesh Information Center on Capitol Hill to organize lobbying U.S. Congress to stop arms shipments to Pakistan that was sure to be used to kill more Bangladeshis. That is the time Peter and I met. He was very earnest, intense and lived a very simple life, almost Calvinistic, being a Dutch and all. We hung around, and for a while chased after the same woman; although he was better looking, I was more exotic and I got lucky. Rapidly he became a Maoist (no, not because he lost out in romance) and soon decided that Bangladesh was ready for a socialist revolution lead by the peasants. As if that was not bad enough, he decided that Bangladesh needed him to take a leading role in organizing that revolution. Residents of the commune, especially I and the two German friends, spent endless nights trying to reason with Peter that the idea of a blond European budding radical intellectual needed to lead the Bangladeshi peasants in Chairman Mao inspired revolution was ludicrous. He also somehow came to the conclusion that Indian imperialism will also have to be stopped from taking over Bangladesh; we tried but failed to convince him that India did not need the headache of another 70 million people (population in 1971). Although he seemed to have read some Marxist literature (more likely, Maoist literature) he did not much care about the objective & subjective prerequisites before one should contemplate storming the Winter Palace! But he was passionate about what he believed in, and at heart was a romantic revolutionary with the zeal of a missionary, an itinerant promoter of peasant uprisings. Whenever he was confronted with the question why he was not working for revolution in his own homeland, he had no answer. Underdeveloped world would be better off if socialism worked in Western countries! He did not seem to be aware of the imperialistic arrogance of an upper class European implied in preaching revolution in a third world country. He often reminded me of the title of one of Luigi Pirandello's play, "Six Characters in Search of an Author"! So, with great deal of consternation I had to deal with Peter's plan to move to Bangladesh; nothing could persuade him that he would be more trouble than it would be worth. Since he did not know a sole in Dhaka, I felt obligated to write to my family to let him stay with them until he found a place for himself. He stayed with my parents and my siblings in Kalabagan for a few months, and then he vanished. Next they heard of him was when it was reported in the media that he was arrested while throwing bombs at the Indian Embassy in Dhaka, in the middle of the first series of military coup in Bangladesh. Military interrogated him, found out that he had stayed with my family. Soon word got around that the military was looking for my younger brother, a relatively high ranking government official, and was advised by friends that he should leave the country immediately. So he did, without a penny in his pocket, leaving a pregnant wife at home; he lived like a vagabond, roaming about in cities in Nepal & India for a while. My father, also a government official, could not leave our large family behind unprotected. He was hauled to the military barracks and interrogated for long hours to find out if our family was involved in the bombing campaign that seem to have been initiated by some anti-Indian radical group(s). I understand that Peter either came from an influential banking family or had some link with them, who in turn had strong influence with the Dutch government. That connection was what got him released from Bangladesh jail so that he could resume his radical activities in Bangladesh! I have no idea if Peter had changed over the years. When the chaos was going on in my family I had fantasized about beating him to a pulp if I ever met him for the torment he put my family through; I am glad that I never did encounter him again. As for Bangladesh, it has become what it is, Peter Custers' mission notwithstanding. I hope some people benefitted from involvement with him. I wish his family well.
India's struggle with Russian VVER-1000 reactors at KKNPP
The following article, written jointly by me, A Rahman, and India's V T Padmanabhan, has been published in Bangladesh's Energy and Power magazine on 1 Sept 2015. It may be noted that Bangladesh is also embarking on a similar project at Rooppur with the same reactor vendor, Rosatom of Russia. Here is the article.
An Appeal from Muktomona to Keep Secular Bangladesh Safe from Religious Fundamentalism
Four Writers Killed in Six Months
Al Jazeera The stream - The dangers of blogging in Bangladesh
From "The Stream" website.
Killing of Niloy Chatterjee
If we knew what we know now about what was going on prior to Niloy Chatterjee's killing, we could probably predict this would happen – perhaps even the means and methods of it. For those who are sincerely thinking about eradicating this problem – and I am convinced that there are many in power, who do not – face a very rudimentary obstacle: how to deal with the sadistic killers who, it seems are implementing a strategy of imposing a reign of terror. Since there is no way to engage these marauders in a rational discussion of what is the criteria they use to select their victim, where in their religious system they find the rational for their barbarism, who has appointed them the guardian, protector and enforcers of those rationales if there are any, we have in our hands a problem that does not yield to resolution most civil societies are able to pursue. They pick the criteria and decide who to hack to death next, and so far they have done so with impunity. The did however in the past declared their goal of imposing in Bangladesh a sharia based system of governance; but no one is willing to take seriously or admit to its link to the targeted killing spree. How is this possible in a civilized society? How is it possible that in the name of a religion that claims peace as its fundamental appeal, this barbarism can go on? Yet more puzzling is the thinking and goal of these assassins and their leader or leaders. Do they really think they will physically eliminate (by killing or displacing) a large portion of the population (mostly minorities) to achieve their goal, for what they perceive as criticism of their religion? Is this the true nature of this religion; where are the defenders of the alternate interpreters of it? Are they also cowed by the same beasts so much so that they are afraid of openly opposing them? Do they not see any downside to not standing against those who are hijacking their religion? Out of blood and tears of millions, we created a free country because our experience with religion based politics was to suffer oppression, exploitation, and anti-democratic policies; the religious bond that was the basis of creation of Pakistan soon turned into a tool for oppression. But soon after, our leaders, even those who claimed to be secular, decided on a path of appeasement with the purveyors of politics who use religion as the ram-rod. These are not the ones for whom "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions" (Marx in A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right 1843), these are seekers of power and privilege, of fame & fortune, and they trade in death and destruction to get their way! And it is incredibly depressing to observe how weak and miniscule the organized opposition to the carnage is, and the inability/unwillingness of most of the citizens to recognize that the intent of the fanatics is to do in Bangladesh what was done in Afghanistan under Taliban. If it sounds like exaggeration one ought to look up the latest declarations of the leaders of those who are determined to create a Caliphate, not the kind during which Islam reintroduced to the world the knowledge of ancient Greeks, created places of learning for Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars to contemplate together, learned mathematics from the Hindus, etc., and produced polymaths such as Ibn Khaldun. I understand there are designated operational units for the subcontinent to make sure it is made part of the planned revival! Hope those who are appealing to the authorities to do something about the situation, do not expect much: they ought to do it, but they have not, and will not. The current leader of AL is a poorly educated but street smart, vengeful individual still immersed in feudal culture, driven by insecurity and ambition, and with an affinity for fundamentalism. Someone close to her, a supporter, but a bit more liberal, has reported that she is very interested in establishing an Islamic University in Bangladesh – as if we need more training school for assassins! Like her predecessor she has allowed the fundamentalists to infiltrate the administration at every level, including the military, and in general encourages spreading of a religious culture. She has allowed within her ranks those who are demanding banning of bloggers. These are the people in law enforcement who told Niloy to leave the country – exactly the (minimum) goal of those who are plotting to establish sharia based regime - when he sought protection from killers who were threatening and following him around. They are the ones who admonishes the bloggers not to cross some 'boundary' in what the write. These ignoramuses are the regime's spokesperson defining democracy, freedom of speech, right to protest, etc.! As long as the Supreme Leader can claim that Bangladesh has become a 'middle-income' country, it matters not who gets killed and why. It does not matter that those who do not like what the bloggers (or Taslima Nasreen) write, are not compelled to read those; and that is why freedom of expression is possible and necessary in a democracy; need for new thinking to emerge through debate and discussion, essential for civilization to make progress. So are essential unconditional freedom of speech, press and assembly; the real constraint on these is that if these are against their interest they will reject them; they do not need politician to tell them what their interests are! There is nothing more heinously anti-democratic as politicians in power treating adult citizens like children, and dictate what people should think, write about, listen to, etc. All indications are that the authorities are making it possible, as innocuously as they can arrange for it, to physically eliminate voice of descent. The political establishment is dangerously insecure and this is how ignorant, devious, vengeful, crude, self-serving, despicable politicians behave. Under their democracy, fundamentalists are free to define and decide how others should live; minorities are to live in fear and insecurity of losing their home and hearth – often times more; it is women's fault that they are being raped and assaulted by their 'student' goons in broad day light in front of crowds; non-believers are 'banned'; and the 'civil society' can keep pontificating as long as they do not challenge what the regime hopes is its permanent hold on power. The regime does not care that their effort to curb freedom of expression, press, assembly are pushing the country towards fascism. Bloggers may be critical of religion, but surely, they pose no threat! No religion that has been in operation as long as Islam has can be so vulnerable as to be damaged by subjective observations of a handful of people who are experimenting with ideas. I have come to agree with Avijit's father Professor Ajoy Roy that the killings cannot be happening without direct or indirect connivance of the regime in power. Given the results (or lack thereof), one wonders if they bring in FBI to better hide the evidence that might reveal the tracks of the killers! My humble opinion is that if the bloggers wish to continue, they and their supporters need to organize themselves; one of the thing that make them so vulnerable is their self-designed isolation. And they need to cream at the top of their voices to alert the country that what the killers of Niloy and others before him doing is the continued implementation of the policy that was behind annihilation of the intellectuals in 1971. In this context the deafening silence of the 'civil society', their timidity is all the more pathetic; the slumber they are in is deadly! I will end by observing that there seem to be some truth in the saying, people get the (political) government they deserve. That is the case in Bangladesh. The small contingent of progressives in the country are raising their voices in protest, but their work becomes more difficult: how do you make progress when even the basic democratic rights are being eroded every minute! If people do not see that what the zombie-like followers of the sadistic Ansar-ullah (or Ansar-ullahs, or whoever is actually running this killing machine) is the harbinger of very dark very painful future for themselves, than nothing will happen. Unless they think a messiah will to come to the rescue, people have to reject and rise up against the brutality in the name of religion; unfortunately the messiah thing does not work.
Orgy of killing in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is in a spell of murdering atheists, humanists and free-thinkers, all for upholding secularist views, by the fundamentalist Islamists in the name of religion. All of these victims were secularists meaning they aspired to see a free democratic society with a clear separation of religion – whatever that religion could be – from the functioning of the State. Religion has its place and it should not spill over to politics, economics and other State activities. These are the views the notorious Jamaat-e-Islam and its multitude of sister organisations loath to see and are prepared to exterminate by vicious murder.