Regressive Islam
The Muslim world is now in utter chaotic and fragmented state both economically and politically after nearly 1400 years of its existence. The cause of its problem lies not so much in its disharmony with the present world but in the very modality of its existence. As the last of the three monotheistic religions (Judaism and Christianity being the other two), it came into existence as the last and final religion proclaiming the ultimate truth from the Creator, the Almighty God. The message was final and nothing could replace it. Whereas other religions kept pace with time and space and evolved (albeit reluctantly) with scientific development and knowledge, Islam steadfastly refused to reform itself. It is indeed utterly constrained by its own proclamation of finality and thereby invariant to changes.
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Islam Should Remain as the State Religion in Bangladesh While Government Plays Safe
A few days ago, the Daily Mail (UK) published a news item entitled "Bangladesh Considering Abandoning Islam as Its Official Religion Following Wake of Extremist Attacks." While it reflects the fact that there will be a hearing in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on the 27th of March to decide whether Islam should remain as Bangladesh's state religion, the heading gives a false hope of solving a major problem. This hearing is not in motion because of the recent rise of Islamic extremism, killing and violence towards the minority. It is not a step taken by the government to fight Islamism, but rather a decision taken by the Supreme Court to look at a petition that was filed 28 years ago.
Lamenting Avijit's Jeopardous Trip to Bangladesh
In the morning of February 26 last year both my wife and I were at our computers in our home office in the greater Washington DC area. I was doing my office work, and she was browsing news on the internet. She was much startled by a news item, and started reading it loudly, so that I could hear it. It was about the murder of Avijit Roy, writer and blogger, at the Ekushe Book Fair in Dhaka. Before she could say "writer and blogger" after "Avijit Roy", my heart started pounding. I felt like I was having a nightmare; I did not want to believe the news. I screamed, no, no! The next phase of my reaction was mostly swearing at Avijit for going to Bangladesh.
War dead has became a political game
It is extremely sad and distressing to observe that the liberation war fatality figure has become a political ping-pong game between the two political parties. It had been purposely turned by the vested interests into a test of patriotism! If anyone expresses any scepticism on the fatality figure of three million, then he or she is scorned as anti-Bangladeshi, pro-Pakistani, pro-BNP etc. person and even as a traitor by the ruling party propagandists. On the other hand, even politely listening to 3 million fatality figure in an objective fashion is considered as irrational kowtowing by the vested interests.
Is America Unfair to Muslims?
Recently there has been a lot of media uproar on the claim that the United States of America was unfair to the Muslims and discriminated against them. It is also claimed that the USA hated Muslims.
Turkey's inexorable descent to extremism
Turkey may be viewed by the developing countries as well as by the Muslim world as an advanced industrialised country very much in tune with the Western democratic system. But this perception is largely misplaced now and very much out of date. The reality of Turkey's position is far from this perception.
Murderous Attacks on Bangladeshi Science Writers and Publishers
This year to date, six people in Bangladesh who have promoted a natural and observation-based view of humanity's place in history have been hacked to death by those who seek to impose a particular supernatural view of humanity's origins and destiny. Other "free thinkers" in that country have been severely injured and threatened. Previously confined to authors and translators, last weekend witnessed the same method of execution applied to publishers of science-based books. These targeted killings have generated both fear and bravery among the community of rationalist advocates in the country. During the same period, two foreigners not associated with science education have also been killed in the south Asian nation, but by a different method of execution: drive-by shooting. While there is debate about whether all these killings were linked, death by hacking has been exclusive to the former group.
Bangladesh - the Killing Field
In the Killing Field that Bangladesh has become, brutal assassination of Faisal Arefin Dipan, and attempted murder of Ahmed Rashid Tutil, Ronom Dipam Basu and Tareq Rahim, as heart-breaking and depressing as it is, it is not surprising; and less so is the reaction of Dipan's father, who has, as reported by the media, refused to seek justice for his son's killing; (I understand Avijit's wife also made a similar statement). I do not know the man, but I think he probably actually understands. You see, his son's death has been preapproved by the highest authorities in the country, that is, by the same people who are supposed to bring to justice the killers of Dipan (and nearly killed the other three) this time, and more before. Every time a blogger is killed, the regime in power holds the bloggers responsible for their own death! What is it but condemning anyone who has ideas other than what the insecure, cravenly power hungry, morally bankrupt political leaders who have ruled this country for few decades now? What is it but an invitation to the savages – the so called Ansar Al Islam, a criminal enterprise that interprets religion as it pleases to serve their foreign financiers to brutally kill talented young people, because these ignoramus fanatics and the regime in power have no answer to the questions these young people raise? The latter is doing everything it can to appease the former while sacrificing the best of this country's new generation who have the courage of their conviction and insist on exercising their right to free speech, a universally guaranteed fundamental human right, and have not rented themselves out as mercenary gundas posing as students that the regime maintains.
The reason for the collusion of the regime with these killers is important to understand. Based on its refusal to reinstate the secular commitments of the country as was encoded in the original constitution, today's Awami League is not any different from the Jatya Party or the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in this regard: all are Islamist in various degrees. It is further supported by AL's well know attempts to form alliances with various Islamist parties; it also maintains a subordinate group that is hardly distinguishable from the Jamat i Islam. All indications are, if it could get away with it, bloggers would be shut out, but it does not have the guts to prosecute the bloggers if they are in violation of the constitution. Fundamentalist criminal interpreters of religion are being used in some twisted machinations, the motive of which is only visible in the public expression of what the regime is trying to achieve: keep its hold on political power, permanently if possible. But there might be other use of the plot as well: perhaps because legally denying freedom of expression by a trial would might make it difficult for the Prime Minister to get the Noble Peace Prize, as one of her close confidante, another sycophant, and obviously, a member of the cabinet, recently announced to be the main objective; that, and making Bangladesh a 'middle income country'! One wonders where does the confidence the regime exudes come from, the support of the agents of RAW and the FBI, making sure the world (and perhaps the Noble Prize Selection Committee) remains persuaded that Bangladesh continues to be known as a 'moderate' Muslim country? Surely killing of people who foolishly thinks Bangladesh is a democracy and therefore they have the right to exercise their freedom of speech can't be that important to them & their protectors whose geo-political ambition conveniently intersects with that of the ruling class in Bangladesh.
Blaming the bloggers for their actions – helps to hide another more insidious truth. Religious fundamentalism, sanctioned by the regime, is pervasive in the country, and along with remittance from the Middle East, Hijab Culture, deliberately promoted, has become just as widespread and is slowly corroding away whatever shreds of liberalism the country once had. The regime and the classes it represents have shielded themselves from being exposed to the influence of modernity, gift of the bourgeois democratic revolution in the west, the influence of which wafted to these parts on the wings of colonialism and played an important role in introducing notions of all that is potential under democracy. Its influence on the culture remains limited, however. Anecdotal information suggests wide spread sympathy among the middle class for the self-appointed enforcers of Islam and very little for the critic of the irrational, the absurd, the exaggerated claimants and the unquestioned authority of secret criminal enterprise to decide who is to be executed next. The ability of these organized criminal enterprises to carry out their 'program' by publishing list of their next victims, is proof of a failed government; if not, implication that the regime at least indirectly approves of and considers it necessary to purge the bloggers because of the fear of their potential influence, is frighteningly unavoidable. What is important to note that these killers, their enablers occupy some social place, i.e., they exist among other people; and, surely, some one knows them and if not direct supporters, they must be aware of what these people are preparing to do. Should these people be also held accountable for being accomplices in the crimes of the assassins for not coming out and warning people of the potential impending danger?
What is necessary to rescue the society from the plague of fundamentalist attempt to impose theocracy on the country is for the citizens who still carry in them the spirit of liberation to take up arms against these forces of regression, and eliminate them at their roots. But that is not easy, because of the head-start they had in growing those roots, by their presence in every village (and city) mosques, where the indoctrination in obscurantism starts. It starts in the form of teaching children to read religious texts without understanding, and never allowing questioning, for fear that they might rebel against things they might find do not reconcile with all the other virtues they are taught by the society, say for example, tolerance of diversity. This is institutionalized in the madrasas, especially in the qoumi variety, which seems to have the singular goal of subverting democracy. It is astonishing that the society sees no danger in the extent of proliferation of religious 'educational' institution in the country beyond any social control, encouraged by the autocratic military regimes, and vigorously supported by the two major political parties. Yet, there are ample indications that some of these are in fact training facilities where the ignorant young are turned into killers, trained psychologically and tactically to turn into murderers without a soul and kill in the most brutal way possible without a shred of remorse.
What is to be done? At least two sets of problems confront the people of Bangladesh. First is the regime in power. By sheer force of arrogance and complete disregard of norms that are subsumed in a democracy, it blatantly manipulated the election, under a leader surrounded by a cabinet that is a collection of sycophants, who tells her what she wants to hear. It seems all she cares about is staying in power, and according to some speculation, being able to hand it over to the crown prince. As the protector of the interests of the native bourgeoisie practicing a version of capitalism comparable to the brutality of the Ansar Al Islam, it is able to consolidate its hold. But it exists on the assumption of popular support, and hence people have the ultimate authority, if they choose to exert it, to decide who is best capable of dealing with the dangerously anarchic situation. To do so, it is necessary to be free from the opiate like dependency on false choices between the two established parties, both beholden to the same dominating socio-economic class, and with proven affinity for religious state. To counter this currently dominant trend, organizing alternate formation by shedding off petty difference among the progressive forces is the only hope for escaping the fate set by theocrats intent on dragging the country several centuries backwards.
Unfortunately, for dealing with Ansar Al Islam, the options are limited - and complicated by the uniqueness of those who are carrying out the killing operations - because of the success of the ruling class in keeping its opposition (not the nearly dismantled official opposition party), the left formations - disorganized and weak. The regime has enslaved most of the potential critics by trapping them in the snarl of largess it can supply to keep them straight and narrow.
What makes the task of eliminating the fundamentalists scourge in the country so difficult is that these people, and more so their foot soldiers, live in a reality they have concocted that has no relation to the one most of us live-in. You simply cannot have a rational discussion with these – ISIS, Taliban, Ansar Al Islam, etc. – for, they live in a place and time which most people would consider an asylum for the insane. Even the few religious leaders who have raised even the feeblest voices against the unreality of their goals and the crimes against humanity perpetrated by these demented religious fanatics, have not done well.
There is the problem: how do you peacefully and rationally resolve the problem among people who live in entirely opposite realities? Yet, without resistance and direct actions to eliminate the cancer, how would humanity survive? Do we not owe it to these heroes of our time who have sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom that we all deserve? Is it not essential that the coalition of the sane, the democratic, the progressives, set aside petty differences and respond to the onslaught and purposefully decide to do whatever is necessary before they kill our next friend and comrade in struggle?
As a first step, can we organize a million young bloggers to step up and practice freedom of speech, and begin their self-paced training in becoming the citizens of a modern progressive democracy? Will the assassins of Dipan and all others before him kill million bloggers?
The Shame of Ban on Beef in Secular India
India's beef ban came into spotlight recently in horrible ways. On September 30, 2015, a mob of more than 100 people lynched a 50 years old Muslim man, named Mohammad Akhlaq, in Uttar Pradesh. They also roughed up his family, including seriously injuring his 22 years old son. What was the reason? There was a rumor that the family had beef in their fridge. On October 8, 2015, an MLA of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, named Engineer Rashid, was beaten up by some of his colleagues for hosting a party where beef was served. On October 9, 2015, a mob beat up two youths and clashed with the police in Uttar Pradesh. What was the problem there? There was a rumor that a cow was slaughtered and skinned.
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.