[sacw] [ACT] Perils of fortifying cultural space in Bangladesh

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Wed, 22 Mar 2000 00:05:20 +0100


FYI
(South Asia Citizens Web).
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Essay

The perils of fortifying one's cultural space

By A.H. Jaffor Ullah

"Live for thy neighbor if thou wouldst live for thyself" --
Seneca

The idea of writing this article came from news from my
home state - the Louisiana,
USA. It was not good news at all. On February 28, 2000,
four people died for no good
reason inside a house in the town of Lake Charles situated
few hours drive due East
from the City of New Orleans, my hometown. The victims'
neighbor listened helplessly
as all four residents of a burning home died in a pre-dawn
fire. These poor souls did not
have to die when there were eager folks outside the burning
home waiting to help them.
Nevertheless, no one could get inside the burning home from
outside.

You see, the owner of the burning home had fortified the
placed by placing burglar bars
on all 21 windows of the home, and they also placed
security bars in the front and rear
doors. Thus, when the fire broke out inside the
fortress-like home, the neighbors could
hear the scream but they could not help them because the
security bars did not allow
them to go inside the house to rescue the fire victim. One
neighbor described the scene
by saying that she heard the scream but before she could do
anything one by one all the
scream ended abruptly.

The owner of the house wanted to protect the family from
petty burglars. He had all the
good intention of doing that but in the process of
fortification the owner created a
dangerous situation. They did not realize that if there is
an emergency not only would
they not be able to go outside quite easily, but also no
one from outside would be able
to enter the house either. Thus, for no good reason four
precious lives were lost on
February 28. Is there any thing we could glean from this
horrifying incidence? The take
home message is - Do not ever over-fortify your living space.

In Bangladesh's city where petty crimes are rampant, the
homeowners also become over protective and they erect burglar bars or
gridiron in the windows. In Dhaka and
elsewhere in Bangladesh we lovingly call them "Grill" or
"Window Grill." They often
could be very decorative. These are helpful to protect us
from thieves, but they also
might pose great danger by not allowing the occupants of
the room to get out so easily
by way of the windows if there is a fire or other calamity.

As I was hearing the news of this bone-chilling incidence
in the radio, I could not help
thinking of the perils of over fortification of a building.
Needlessly, so many people
would simply parish from this earth by overdoing things to
protect their assets and their
lives.

As I was thinking more on this line, something that is
remotely connected to death of
people under bizarre situation dawned on me. I was
comparing a house to a nation. I
was thinking if a homeowner can fortify his or her home, so
could we fortify our state or nation. I said to myself - What would be
the results if we could over fortify our nation and by doing so,
should we very easily isolate ourselves from our neighbors? Is this a
good thing to do?

We most certainly live in world where boundaries are
rapidly falling down. Look at
Europe now. The nations in continental Europe have
virtually taken down their
boundaries. European Commonwealth is not only a dream, but
also a reality. The
westerners have realized this before the advent of Internet
Age.

Likewise, Americans also opened up their boundary to the
North and South. North
American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) was an answer to European
Commission's
consolidation of nations in Europe. The bottom line is no
country in Europe or America
is feeling safe being alone. European countries have
another set of problem. Each
country has theirs own language and distinct culture. How
are they going to preserve
their cultural identity under the mounting pressure of
globalization? Nevertheless,
European nations are unfazed. They realized that economic
prosperity should take
precedence over preservation of their culture.

Nowadays, as most country is rushing towards the
Information Age to build a
prosperous world cultural identity is taking the back set,
so to speak. Therefore, instead
of barricading themselves under the guise of cultural
identity, every nation in Europe is
dismantling their borders. We now know what happens when
people over-fortify their
houses. The recent incidence in Lake Charles, Louisiana,
where four family members
died unnecessarily in a house fire is a grim reminder of
what could go wrong when one
built fortress by erecting gridirons and grills only to
protect their valuables.

In Bangladesh, I have learned from talking to people from
all walks of life, how they long to erect a cultural wall'
to get away from the folks from our neighboring states
those belong to India. Yes, you've guessed it right. I am referring to the
Northeastern region of India, which comprises of West
Bengal, and Seven-Sisters Hill states of Meghalaya, Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Tripura.

For the last half a century we have been told repeatedly by
our politicians, first by the
Muslim Leaguers and then by Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) leaders, that we the
inhabitants of eastern part of the Ganges are
ethnologically and culturally very different
from the people the rest of Northeast India. Well, how
valid is this assumption? Does
Bangladesh have a unique culture? Consult a genuine book on
this subject matter. What
you may stumble upon would surprise you. In fact, our
culture had developed over a
thousand years based on our language; the indigenous
Bangalee culture in turn had
borrowed so much from our neighbors to the North (Assam and
Meghalaya), East
(Tripura, Manipur, etc.), and West (Arakan province of
Burma). Mind you, our casual
dress Lungi, which we take for granted to be an authentic
Bangalee dress, came from
Burma. This information would be surely an eye opener for
some Bangalees.
Nonetheless, our people in Bangladesh are so transfixed to
the man-made events of the
last half a century that we tend to think - we are very
different from all people
surrounding us. That includes folks from West Bengal too!
The mindset of our people
these days are such that we do think that Bangalees from
West Bengal are somewhat
different from the Bangalees of Bangladesh, which used to
be known as East Bengal
during my grandfather's time (1906 through 1947).

As a child growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, we were
spoon-fed the idea that
Bangalees of erstwhile East Pakistan are somehow different
from the Bangalees of West Bengal even though a large
number of Bangalees, predominantly Muslims, migrated to
East Pakistan right after the partition in 1947 from West Bengal's Calcutta,
Murshidabad, and Kuchbihar area. Similarly, a big number of
Hindu Bangalee migrated
to West Bengal from all over East Pakistan over a period of
25 years starting from
August 1946 right after the communal riots in Dhaka,
Noakhali, and elsewhere in East
Bengal in the pre-partition days. History books are replete
with the stories of this mass
migration and it is abundantly clear who created this mess
in the then East Bengal.

After the partition, it took several years for the
authorities to re-write the textbooks of
East Pakistan. The primary and secondary school course
curricula were overhauled to
accommodate Urdu, Deeiniyat (religious studies), Islamic
History, etc., so that we the
young ones may become a first rate East Pakistanis. The
administration and its
propaganda machinery - newspapers, periodicals, radio, and
television - those days fed
to the public the potion that propagated the idea that
India is essentially a Hindu country and it
should not be trusted. But in 1965, when Pakistan and India were pitted
against one another over Kashmir and they both fought a terrible full-scale
war, somehow the then East Pakistan was
spared from all this. The Indian Air Force never did
cross the airspace of erstwhile East Pakistan, even though it was reported
that some air force jets from Tejgaon Airport took off for
military mission to destroy some aircrafts on
ground in Northeastern corner of West Bengal. As far as the Bangalees of
erstwhile East Pakistan is concerned, the war of 1965 never did happen. The
Pakistani authorities, however, made us do civil defense
stuffs to show how patriotic we Bangalees
were.

Right after the war of 1965, the intensity of anti-Indian
propaganda increased
many-folds. It was then that the governor of East Pakistan,
Monayem (Monem) Khan,
in his patriotic zeal did the unthinkable thing. He
assiduously tried his best to ban
Rabindra Sangeet from Dhaka Radio and Television station.
The action of his simply did backfire. It nevertheless
infuriated the intelligentsia and the middle class who
revered Tagore as a cultural icon of entire Bengal. The disillusioned
Bangalees of erstwhile East Pakistan rallied
behind Awami League under the famous Six-point
Formula plan. One thing led to another, and in 1970 December's general
election the Awami League won a landslide victory.
After the denial of handing over the power to
Bangalees, the independence of Bangladesh was declared in March 1971 and
after a brutal nine month liberation war, Bangladesh
became free, for once and all.

The leadership during 1972 to 1975 may have been inept and
novice, but one thing they
did admirably, that is they made us Bangalee again. They
most certainly had introduced
the catchphrase "Joi Bangla" or "Victory to Bengal." You
see, we were proud to be a
Bangalee again. Come to think of it, during Pakistani-rule,
we were supposed to be a
Muslim first and then our ethnicity would come. Thus, while
some of us were a Muslim
Bangalees, others were Muslim Biharis, Muslim Punjabis,
etc. How funny is it that to
defend Mr. Jinnah's Two-Nation Theory vigorously we had to
give up our cherished
ethnic identity. And we were becoming tired of it after
twenty-four long years from 1947 through 1971.
Muslim Leaguers who engineered this first in early 1940s in
cahoots with H.S. Suhrawardy and A.K. Fazlul Huq were discredited very
badly during 1968 through 1971. Is it a small wonder that
during our liberation struggle, some of the
die-hard Muslim leaguers became the fifth columnists and
became Razakars
(government's informants) alongside with most Jamaatis the
disciple of Professor Gulam Azam? Names like
Fazlul Qader Chowdhury, Sabur Khan, Monem Khan,
Hamidul Huq Chowdury, Farid Ahmed, professor Sazzad Hossain, Kazi Deen
Muhammad, etc., would ring the bell, would not it? Hard times fell on these
folks at the wee end of our liberation war. Suffice it to
say that these folks were the defenders of our Muslim
Bangalee (Pakistani) identity even during our liberation struggle. Old
habits d o not die that easily!

The Bangalees fought valiantly even though they were poorly
armed and untrained. You see, our identity was at
stake in 1971. Had we lost that struggle in 1971, we
would have been in a quagmire as far as our ethnic identity is concerned.
There were talks during 1971 liberation struggle among
Pakistani military and their trusted
Razakars that when the "rebellion" would eventually be quelled, the
Bangalees would be de-programmed so that they would
become a true Pakistani for once and all. The
Jamaatis (Islamic Fundamentalists) and Muslim Leaguers, who has nothing but
disdains for India, were salivating hearing the tough
talk of Pakistani Generals. What an arrant fool these
guys were! Isn't it sad that the liberation war ended in a whimper as far
as Pakistanis and Razakars are concerned?

Nothing could be far from true that the victory in
mid-December 1971 gave us back our evanescent
ethnic identity. Thus, no freedom loving Bangalees were hesitant to
utter the phrase "Joi Bangla" when they saw advancing Mukti Bahini (Bangla
Freedom Fighters) who were accompanied by Indian army
entering the occupied Bangladesh in mid December 1971.
The phrase "Joi Bangla" was magical. It soothed our visceral
anguish after the torturous nine long months of occupation by a brutal
xenophobic force. Joi Bangla was not only our
rebel yell, but it also carried our Bangalee ethos
after all these years of repression by an alien "master" race. Gone is
"master-slave" relationship between the Bangalees
and Punjabi/Pushtuns of Pakistan. At long last, we the
Bangalees were free!

Our newly found identity of Bangalee first and everything
else is next' did not, however, last long.
A conspiracy that brewed in the confines of a cantonment was
executed flawlessly in mid August 1975. The real coup planner, though, was
afraid to show his color until November 1975. When the
General came into the forefront and established
his power, the short-lived catchphrase "Joi Bangla" was
laid to rest albeit immediately. In
its place, however, in comes a brand new catchphrase. We
were horrified hearing the
new slogan "Bangladesh Zindabaad" (Long live, Bangladesh).
And that was not all!
Along with the new slogan comes a new wave - the
Bangladeshi Nationalism. The
arduous task of rewriting the primary and secondary school
textbooks this time fell on
obsequious writers. And they must have done a world-class job.

The Bangalee generation within the age group 18-38 years
were fed a concocted history
of who did what during our liberation war. The Indo-phobia
(read Hindu phobia) was
brought to a new height by the new military leader of
Bangladesh. It became the
cornerstone of Bangladesh Nationalism. Hardly a year could
pass by a brand-new
identity crept up all over Bangladesh. According to this
"new" identity, we are no longer
a Bangalee. We should identify ourselves as "Bangladeshis."
Our neighbor, India, who
helped us gain independence from a viscous occupied force
is no longer our friend but a
foe. Instead, the nations of Islamic bloc that steadfastly
refused to recognize Bangladesh,
as an independent sovereign nation in our early days of
existence, are to become our
newly found friends. And that was not all. The new regime
in Bangladesh was busily
daubing the nation as a quasi-Islamic nation. Although the
government changed in
Bangladesh once more in 1981, the policy of Islamization
continued unabated through
the courtesy of new military junta and it went on all the
way up to 1990. Finally, when
democracy did land in Bangladesh in 1991, we thought that
things might change for the
better. But how wrong we were.

In the general election in 1991, the party that gave us
Bangladeshi Nationalism was
victorious and it came into power. From 1991 to 1996, the
party essentially carried out
the original policy of veering towards Islamic bloc, which
was put in place when the first
military junta took control of Bangladesh in November 1975.
The second military
general who took power in 1981 cemented this policy too.
Finally, when Bangladesh
Nationalist Party came to power through an adult suffrage,
they also fortified the policy
of the past two rulers. In essence, Bangladesh was derailed
>from the original line -- to
use the Railway metaphor -- and she was never allowed to
tread the path of secularism.
In fact, the first General maimed the constitution
wittingly. For the span of twenty long
years -- from 1976-1996 - the country's preamble was in
essence Indo-phobia (fearful
of India) and Islamic-philia (loving of Islamic bloc
States). Bangladesh showed solidarity
with the countries based on religion. A gentle reminder is
in order here, though. All
through our liberation struggle in 1971, not a single
Islamic country came forward to aid
in our just cause. This is not the end of story. After
December 1971, when the nascent
republic was desperately in need of recognition from any
countries throughout the world,
not a single country from the hardcore Islamic-bloc lend
theirs helping hand. And they
did so because Pakistan begged them not to recognize the
"breakaway province of
Pakistan." How the military junta of Bangladesh forgot this
truth -- in a short span of
time -- is a mystery to this scribe.

During the dark period of 1976 through 1996, not only did
we change our demeanor,
but we also rehabilitated in a mass scale the Razakars and
the Fifth Columnists in
Bangladesh. Many folks with questionable loyalty were
promoted to high positions in
government. Even one of the identified Razakars became the
President of Bangladesh
under the aegis of Mrs. Khaleda Zia, the party leader of
BNP. All of this happened in
broad daylight. The society had all but decriminalized the
unpardonable crime of
Razakari. It was so bad that some even thought it was a
Badge of Honor' to be a
Razakar or Jamaati with questionable background. The spirit
of 1971 Liberation War
was on the wane even in late 1970s. The Mukti-Juddhas
(Bangalee Freedom Fighters)
were disenfranchised at the same time. The whole thing
smell like a conspiracy and it
was truly a conspiracy.

In 1996, the old party - The Awami League - came to power
through a fair election.
We thought the leaders of Awami League would redress all
the wrong that was done in
the past twenty years. We thought the party would rekindle
the spirit of 1971 and
facilitate the trials of those who participated in the
killings of about three million
Bangalees during our liberation period. Instead, all we saw
was well-publicized trial of
Sheikh Mujib and his family killings, which took place in
August 15, 1975. In all
honesty, the present Prime Minister only provides a lip
service to the cause of liberation
struggle and the loss of three million lives never ring the
bell in her amnesiac mind. Well,
truly speaking, these are the caprice of the present Prime
Minister, Mrs. Hasina Wazed.
It is, however, noteworthy that while her celebrated father
never bragged about
Bangladesh being the Muslim-majority country, the present
Prime Minister at the inkling
never forgets to mention the Islamic identity of
Bangladesh. Indeed this is a glaring
about-face of the present leadership of Awami League.

The question that should be asked at this time is - Why is
Awami League making an
about-turn so glaringly when they are asked about the
national identity? Why don't they
even whisper about the secularism any more? The answer to
all this lies in the fact that
Bangladesh had changed over the last quarter century. Some
analysts in Bangladesh
think that so much Arab petro-dollars have moved into this
impoverished land
clandestinely to spread Wahabi-brand of Islam that it would
be almost a difficult task
not to recognize it even superficially. The sign of
Islamization of fundamentalist-kind is
everywhere in Bangladesh. Every year in winter, Bangladesh
hosts an Islamic
congregation by the name Iztema in the outskirts of capital
Dhaka where an estimated
2.5 million devotees assemble for 3 days to hear the
clerics glorify Ummah. The number
of Waaz-mehfil hosted in the country has gone up
dramatically in the last three decades.
Similarly, enrollment in Madrassah also has risen fast.
While the land remained the same,
as it was for the last three decades in the villages, the
culture has significantly changed as
if the nation is bracing for isolation. The Islamic
clergies, Tabligi volunteers, front
organizations of political party Jamaati-I-Islami, etc.,
are all working to erect a cultural
wall between Bangladesh and its neighbors, notably West
Bengal with whom we share
common language, and culture.

The newly erected cultural wall in Bangladesh reminds me of
the fortification of the
house in Lake Charles, Louisiana. That well-fortified house
in Lake Charles could not
protect the lives of the inhabitants when fire broke out in
the house. The neighbors came
to aid the folks who were trapped inside the house but they
could not help because the
homeowners barricaded themselves from their neighbors.
Could a similar situation arise
in Bangladesh? If the Islamists could poison the mind of
common folks of Bangladesh,
which they are doing steadfastly, by telling them that our
neighbors are not to be trusted
because they are Kafirs (non-believers), and they are not
one us, then we would erect
the same wall.

If there is a disaster, which does happen in Bangladesh
periodically, how could we ask
our neighbors to come and help us out? I hope the fire that
has been lit by our zealots
already would not spread very fast. Because, if it does,
then our people would be in big
trouble. Would the Saudis and other Middle Eastern
countries that are financing the
Islamization of Bangladesh come forward to help us in the
time of distress? If the history
is any guide then, it looks as if they would not come
forward. You see, in 1971, when
the trouble started in the land, our neighbors West Bengal,
Meghalaya, and Tripura
came with an open arm to help us out. Didn't they feed us,
clothed us, gave us the
medicine, and above all gave our Mukti Bahini a place to
regroup, and train the
untrained and raw foot soldiers. But in return, what are we
doing? Efface the good
relations we had with them and build a cultural wall. A
manifestation of this was obvious
in early part of 1999, when some leading intellectuals of
Bangladesh made some
comments after they returned from an ill-fated Calcutta
Book Fair. Supposedly, they
were not treated "well" by the intellectuals of West
Bengal. Some of the Bangladesh
delegates even went that far by saying that West Bengal and
Bangladesh have taken a
divergent route in theirs cultural trip and quest for
national identity.

The tension between the intellectuals of Bangladesh and
West Bengal is reflected rather
well in the Internet. Sampling some of the postings in
various newsgroups and discussion
sites one may encounter how jealously the Bangladesh
writers would defend the cultural
space of their nation. While West Bengali writers would
like to maintain their cultural
touch with the fellow Bangalees from Bangladesh, the
reverse is not true at all. If given a
choice and resources, some of the fanatical Bangalees from
Bangladesh would like to
erect barbwire, fences, and wall to separate the eastern
part of Bengal from the rest of
Northeast India. They mostly opine that Bangladesh's
culture has changed over the last
half a century and the culture would even diverge more as
we move forward in time.
This myopic view of some of the very conservative Bangalees
is disconcerting, to say the
least.

Let us all hope that Bangladesh's intelligentsia would come
to their senses and they
would recommend the orthodox fanatical Bangalees to
dismantle the wall they are
erecting to separate two Bangla cultures. These two Bengals
could stay separate
politically, but are there any pressing reason to separate
them by building a wall? We
should think twice about the plight of the family in Lake
Charles Louisiana who were all
killed because they jealously guarded their home. Let
Bangladesh not get into the same
predicament or else things could come to a pretty pass by
the time they realize that the
wall is unbreakable.

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A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
His e-mail address is -
jhankar@b...

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