[Reader-list] Bad news from Bangladesh [by Naeem Mohaiemen]

[SPACE]

And you thought news was news, but apparently there's something called
'good news' and another thing called 'bad news', at least in
Bangladesh. Wonder why we don't hear such statements in India anymore.
I remember growing up hearing them.





Daily Star
February 7, 2005

BAD NEWS FROM BANGLADESH

by Naeem Mohaiemen

Once again, bad news about Bangladesh is in the
foreign media.  Eliza Griswold's New
York Times report "Bangladesh: The Next Islamist
Revolution?" has Dhaka's chattering
classes up in arms.  To be fair to the Times,
there was a positive story about Bangladesh a
month back. "Surviving to Export Another Day" was
an article about how Bangladesh was
coping well with the end of MFA quotas in garments export. That glowing article
(accompanied by photos of working women, none
wearing hijab) came out in the weekday
Business Section, which actually has a higher
readership than the weekend magazine
where Griswold's article came out. But because of
the government's furious reaction, the
negative "Islamist Revolution" story will get far more publicity.

What about Bangladeshi expatriates?  Shouldn't
they play some role in publicizing good
news about Bangladesh?  This is a fair argument
and one I faced repeatedly last year.
Through most of 2004, I was in Bangladesh, first working on my film "MUSLIMS OR
HERETICS?", and then screening it at various
venues.  The film is a documentary on
persecution of Ahmadiya Muslims, and ended with
an appeal to withdraw the government
ban on Ahmadiya books.  In the course of the
year, the film was screened at British
Council, Russian Cultural Center, BRAC Center,
Goethe Center, Chittagong Press Club,
Prabarthana and many villages in Bangladesh.

One of the people I met during the screenings was
musician Maqsud, who famously said,
"Ami BNP ba AL er dalal na, Ami Bangladesh'er
dalal". (I'm not a stooge for either BNP or
AL, I'm a stooge for Bangladesh)." At my film
screening, his first question was,  "I don't
understand you expatriates.  Isn't there anything
good in Bangladesh for you to make films
about?"  Maqsud's question gave me pause.  Later
we had a long discussion during an
interview for his website.  My response at that
time is relevant again in the current
context.

Expatriates would love to publicize good news
about Bangladesh.  Good news about
Bangladesh also helps us-- whether in business,
socially or on an emotional level.  The
problem is that our governments (both AL and BNP)
create a constant flow of bad news.
One personal anecdote will illustrate the point.
About a year back, I met Linda Duchin of
New Yorker Films.  "Oh, you're from Bangladesh!"
she said, "You know, we have the most
wonderful film about your capital!"  What she
referred to as "your capital" was the
Shangshad Bhavan, and the film in question was
Nathaniel Kahn's documentary about
Louis Kahn, "My Architect."  According to Linda,
the film was getting a lot of buzz and an
Oscar nomination was certain.

A few days later, I was walking in Soho, and was
struck by a familiar image in unexpected
surroundings.  Among the posters for Prada, Apple
iPod and Jay-Z, was the familiar
Shangshad Bhavan, with a skinny Bangali kid
staring up at it.  "My Architect" had just been
released in New York's art-house theaters, and
the posters were everywhere.  I was
euphoric, excited and above all, proud.  By then
I had seen the film and was convinced
that, finally, this film would show something
positive about Bangladesh.  People started
approaching me at parties to ask, "Have you seen
My Architect?"  Not floods, cyclones,
fundamentalism, or grinding poverty-- finally a
positive story!  I talked to Linda about the
possibility of inviting Nathaniel to come to
Dhaka to screen the film.  Other opportunities
popped up at the same time.  The Metropolitan
Museum of Art was building a "Timeline of
Art History."  I pushed for inclusion of Shishir
Bhattacharya and they accepted.  George
Harrison's estate was belatedly talking about
reissuing "Concert for Bangladesh."  For a
moment, expatriate Bengalis seemed able to
leverage diaspora connections to promote
Bangladesh's image.

With visions of a glorious screening of "My
Architect" (maybe inside the Shangshad
Bhavan?), I headed to India to complete a film
project.  We were filming "Rumble In
Mumbai," a documentary about globalization for
Free Speech TV.  Halfway through the
Mumbai shoot, I talked to my producer: "Look, we
can't just be interviewing Indians.  We
need some Bangladeshis.  Farhad Mazhar is very
prominent in this movement, I'm going to
Dhaka to interview him."  I also thought I would
use this opportunity to set up a screening
of "My Architect"-- perhaps the government could
be convinced to "officially" invite him.

I arrived in Dhaka and interviewed Mazhar, and
then began research into a screening
inside the Parliament Building.  Suddenly, bad
news intruded and pushed my plans aside.
To everyone's surprise, the government announced
a ban on Ahmadiya books in response
to street protests by radical Islamists.  Civil
society was thrown into uproar, Jamaat e
Islami and its allies openly rejoiced and an
emboldened Khatme Nabuwot began attacking
Ahmadiya mosques.  I had ties to the community
(one of my St. Joseph classmates was
Ahmadiya) and was immediately drawn into the
issue.  Human rights has always been my
first priority, so I had no choice but to start
shooting interviews-- with the intention of
making a short film.  Propelled by events and a
sense of looming crisis, I finished the film
quickly.  In the process, I saw that inside this
crisis lay larger issues of religion and state.
What sort of country would we have?  One where
religion was a private matter, or one
where the government interfered in religious beliefs?

What about screening "My Architect" and spreading
good news about Bangladesh?  All
those positive, idealistic projects fell by the
wayside-- a victim of the cloud of bad news
that the government had created with the book
ban.  My final words to Maqsud were,
"Look we expatriates are the first to shout about
good news from Bangladesh.  But the
problem is, there is too much bad news coming
out, and too many things to be fixed, so
we never get a chance to talk about the good
news."  Talking to a government employee at
the BRAC screening, I added,  "The Ahmadiya issue
can be solved in one day.  All the
government has to do is withdraw the book ban.
If my film becomes useless tomorrow
because the ban has been removed, I'll happily go
back to my original project about My
Architect."

I said similar things at all my film screenings
last year.  At that time I felt optimistic that
the government would do the sensible thing.  But
a year later, the government has taken
very few positive steps.  Although police were
sent to protect the Dhaka Ahmadiya
Mosque, the government ban on books is still in
place.  Only the lawsuit filed with the
High Court has temporarily blocked the ban.

As long as there are Bangla Bhais, Ahmadiya book
bans, mysterious arms shipments in
Chittagong, and unsolved bomb blasts, the
newspapers of the world will continue to
report bad news about Bangladesh.  The government
is now on the warpath-- attacking
the Times, sending intelligence officials to find
out who spoke to reporters, threatening to
shut down websites like Drishtipat.org, and
blaming expatriate Bangladeshis. Previously,
another Times reporter was in Dhaka and was
tailed by Detective Branch the whole time
she was here.  Later she told a seminar in New
York that not even in disputed Kashmir had she seen these censorship
tactics.  When Monica Ali's "Brick Lane" was the top seller in
England, the Bangladesh Embassy only saw "journalist" on her visa
application and refused her entry-- creating another media storm.  The
more the government tries to crush journalists, the more the world
pays attention. Because of all this muzzling of press, Committee to
Protect Journalists called Bangladesh the "most dangerous place for
journalists".  Instead of wasting resources trying to squash reports
about Bangladesh, why not try to solve the problems these reporters
have discovered?

Don't waste time looking for 'conspiracies." Start creating some good
news-- expatriates will be the first to publicize it.  It's that
simple