[Reader-list] To The Polls, Unless Your Name Be Das, Tripura, or Roy

[NAEEM MOHAIEMEN]

I hate the word "minority", so incomplete and somehow
always patronizing. But for lack of alternative, have
used it in activist projects related to Bangladesh.
Growing up, the "Hindu question" angered and saddened
me -- to watch my classmates, friends and colleagues
become dissected into haves/have nothings based on
religion and class (and a deadly co-joining). I wrote
about it for a long time, and then gradually became
exhausted. Even worse, I became what Bangalis call
"used to."  We all became "used to." This is the way
things are.

I was stirred from slumber by an e-mail I got from
Dhaka last week. With the most volatile elections of
Bangladesh history approaching in two months, the
minority vote (Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Paharis,
Adivasis) is a target as they are expected to vote for
the left-of center AL (Awami League) en masse, vs. the
rightist-islamist ruling coalition of BNP (Bangladesh
Nationalist Party).

In the e-mail, my friend wrote:
"I have already received 3 independent e-mails from
contacts in Bangladesh (2 Hindu, 1 Christian) who are
terrified after threats their families have received
in the last few days ("don't vote, or we'll kill you",
basically). As the rumor-mongering kicks in and
accusations are traded, the minorities will again
become a pawn between the two main factions."

I wrote the text below in response. An abbreviated
version of this was published in the main Dhaka
newspaper yesterday. You can also go to the URL to
read it.

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http://shobakorg.blogspot.com/2006/11/das-tripura.html

To The Polls, Unless Your Name Be Das, Tripura, or Roy
by Naeem Mohaiemen
DAILY STAR (Bangladesh), November 3, 2006


"Why can small numbers excite rage? They represent a
tiny obstacle between majority and totality or total
purity. The smaller the number and the weaker the
minority, the deeper the rage about its capacity to
make a majority feel like a mere majority."
[Arjun Appadurai, Fear of Small Numbers]


"Hey Ghosh, don't do so much Ghosh-Ghoshani!"

Another day in school, another round of mutual
teasing. Young boys specialize in quiet brutality.
Schoolyard taunts can be cruel, but nicknames are
nothing to be upset about. Everyone at St. Joseph had
one. Even the son of the Police IG had been renamed
"fangface" (from the cartoon) and "kaula" (lovely
reference to his hue). In that context, teasing Ranjan
Ghosh by his last name seemed very mild.

Who cares, right? Just another tiffin break. Everyone
run to Peter's canteen to ask for an oily burger.

But something about this particular dig stuck, even
though my class 6 brain couldn't navigate the cause of
unease. Much later, many years on, I realized that it
was the first time I was forced into awareness of a
"minority" surname. Ghosh, Das, Sankar, Goldar,
Adhikary, Purification, Lal, Trivedi, Larma, Gomes,
Bhattacharjee[i]. They were all part of me once,
before we started taking on names from elsewhere.
Ahmed, Ali, Mahmud, Hossain, Jahangir, Rahman. Our
elders started saying, "You see, we came from the
mountains or beyond, perhaps Persia."

Yes, right.

Relative to all things we have seen in this epoch of
Bangla life, St Joseph now seems to be(retroactively)
a model of communal balance. Propelled by an
affirmative action policy in admission, enforced by
the Jesuit brothers, almost half the students were
Hindu and Christian. Besides the Ghosh incident, life
was fairly uneventful. Even my hyper-active brain
can't locate other examples of communal tension (but
perhaps I'm not looking hard enough). At that age, the
only difference we saw was that the Hindu students
studied Geeta in a separate room during Islamiat. Who
cares, to each his own...

The mind soaks up many fragments and saves it for
future processing. Even at that age some part of me
vaguely registered that the wealthy students all had
last names like Rahman, Ahmed and Hossain. One day a
teacher asked for a collection of money to help Gomes,
poorest student in the class, buy the required
Geography Atlas. Scattered chuckles in the room. But
perhaps at his plight, not his name. Still, a strange
unease, but nothing I could pin down.

In 1985, we anxiously crowded around a notice board to
find the SSC results. Star Marks, Letters, First
Division, Ranking. Magic symbols of future success and
prosperity. Two decades on, many in my graduating
class (sometimes referred to as Generation 71) have
become industrialists, bankers, television directors,
ad firm creatives –– executives of every stripe. When
I sit with my old Dhaka crew, there's a palpable air
of "masters of the universe." But when I take a closer
look, not a single non-Muslim among my classmates has
made it into this magic circle. 1985 was perhaps the
last moment of parity between us. The in-between time
has been rough for those who don't fit the national
identity project. When I ask my classmates about this,
they shrug. Not my problem. One of these bright souls
even said to me, during a BUET strike, "Hindu students
protesting again! They are always making trouble.  lai
dithe dithe mathai thule rekhechi." Yes, really, we
have spoilt them so!

Amena Mohsin talks about the flaws of Bengali
nationalism –– a structure that sings of Ek Shagoro
Roktho, yet remains blind to the invisible second
class of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Paharis,
Adivasis and all other communities that don't fit
within a Bengali Muslim ethos. The concept of a
singular nation, needing to be produced or naturalized
at any cost, is not unique to us. Hannah Arendt argued
in 1968 that the idea of a national peoplehood was a
fatal flaw in developed societies. Philip Gourevitz,
surveying the brutality of Rwanda, observed that
"genocide, after all, is an exercise in
community-building." But what is remarkable for
Bangladesh is a national memory project devoted to the
1971 Pakistan army genocide (against "us") that fails
to recognize how we are replaying that scenario on a
smaller level against non-Bengali and non-Muslim
identities. "Non" is the key modifier, everything is
about what you are not. When these small groups assert
their presence and refuse to be crushed under a
"Bengali Muslim" identity, spectacular and extreme
violence is our tool for producing a homogenized
national map.

The strange, so very strange, thing is that even
hyper-minority status in other spaces (North America,
Europe, India) have not given the Muslim ummah an
extra sensitivity, or sense of responsibility, or even
historical prerogative (think of the Caliphate's
decent track record vis-a-vis conquered non-converts)
on how it treats its own minorities (can someone
please come up with a better phrase) with respect and
equality. Friends and allies say to me "This is not
the time to bring up these issues. Muslims are under
attack everywhere, we should talk about ourselves
first." I usually respond with an expletive and a
pronoun. A gentleman sent me yet another e-mail about
"Quran desecration." I wrote back that this was not a
priority. Waste of time, I said. Enough already with
our offensensitivity. Our hysteria about the slightest
offense to the Prophet, the Book, the People. Are we
so very weak? A terse reply: "Maybe not a priority to
you, but to us it is." Who is the us? People who value
a book more than a human life?  Gamal al-Banna (who
parted ways with his brother Hassan, founder of Muslim
Brotherhood) says: "Man is the aim of religion, and
religion only a means. What is prevalent today is the
opposite."

My St. Joseph memory trip came while considering the
crucible of the approaching Bangladesh elections. In
keeping with the overall pattern of convulsive
violence, minority communities are already under
threats to stay away from the polls. Unlike 2001, when
the orgy of anti-Hindu violence was enacted after the
elections, the idea is to block these communities from
even daring to vote. As documented by Daily Star,
Prothom Alo and others, a signficant proportion of
minority voters have already been taken off the
controversial voter list.[ii] When even Muslim voters
find themselves missing in large numbers from the
list, what chance for Bahadur, Kumar, or Larma?

The 1991 and 2001 Bangladesh election results could
have been different given the razor-thin margins by
which many seats were won, and the huge number of
minority voters that were prevented from voting in
those very seats. Out of 300 constituencies, there are
71 where minority voters are significant (ranging from
11% to 61%)[iii] and 50 where they are visible
(5-10%). The current election sets every incentive for
the 4-party rightist-islamist alliance to aggressively
choke off the minority vote. The opposition Awami
League's embrace of secularism has always been shaky
(is there anybody with the guts to hold their feet to
the fire and force them to eject Nejame Islam from the
14-party coalition?). But even this weak commitment
has produced many potential Pahari candidates for Hill
Tracts, as compared to the exclusively Bengali Muslim
candidates from the 4-party. For Bengali candidates to
win in Pahari-majority areas, a massive blocking of
the Pahari vote is needed. A similar pattern is
expected in all areas with a significant minority
population. This is not to say that minority voters
should vote en masse for AL –– but simply that they to
be allowed to vote.

I invoke St Joseph because anecdotes sometimes carry
more emotive power than statistics. When the silent
majority continually ignores the pain of others, we
end up at the embryo stages of ethnicide. These days
it is hard to sit still for a song ashor during 1971
commemorations without choking on the failure of the
nation project. Yes, yes, we liberated ourselves from
Pakistan. Yes, they were destroying our adored Bangla
language.  Yes, yes, but and again but. What of the
state that we created since 1971. 22 wealthiest
Pakistani families have been replaced by 22 wealthiest
Bangla Muslim families. Was that what the revolution
was about. Pity Shiraj Sikder, Colonel Taher and all
the other revolutionaries. Actually the bullet in
Sikder's back, and the noose around Taher's neck saved
them -- who wants to live to see this end? Today, our
numerical majority has chosen methods of predatory
nationalism that include racist tactics that directly
echo the Pakistan regime, reify Bengali Muslims, and
render all other identities invisible[iv].

My uncle used to tell the story of the maulana who
stood in front of a temple in 1940s Noakhali, using
his body to defy those who wanted to burn alive the
Hindus who had been their former neighbors. This is in
Noakhali of all places, a blight in 1940s partition
narratives for so many examples of brutality,
including the apocryphal story of Muslims who
slaughtered Gandhi's goat (is it true? I have never
been able to find any evidence). If that village elder
found an interpretation of religion that taught
compassion, how are we in this backwards trap fifty
years on?

I shout at all of you with rage, because I refuse to
accept a haven for me that is a nightmare for others.
There is still time to stop this with our words, our
actions and our bodies.

Amra ki ei Bangladesh cheyechilam?

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Naeem Mohaiemen is a filmmaker and media artist based
in Dhaka and New York. He is author of the chapter on
<Hill Tracts Paharis and Flatland Adivasis> in the
2004 <Ain Salish Kendro> Annual Human Rights Report.
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http://shobakorg.blogspot.com
http://disappearedinamerica.org
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Footnotes:
[i] A researcher friend recently explored the
etymology of the names in Bangladesh and wrote in an
e-mail:

"Of course not all surnames are created equal.
Chattopadhyay/Chatterjee, Bandopadhyay/Banerjee,
Mukhopadhyay, Gangopadhyay, Bhattacharya/jee,
Chakrabarty, Mahalanobis, Adhikari etc are Brahmin.
Some names are titles that are usually held by higher
caste including Brahmins, but can also be Muslim names
(as they were handed out by either the Nawabs or the
British to loyal retainers) - Thakur (Tagore),
Majumdar, Talukdar, Dastidar, Ghatak, Chowdhury,
Biswas, Sarkar. Most of these people will still know
their original "gotra" (ie, "apni ghotok? asholey ki?"
- answer: chattopadhyay, sen etc so you can still
signal caste when prompted). Next rung includes Sen,
Das, Ghosh, Bose, Sarkar, Nath, Saha, Dev, Mandal,
Pandey (Parey), etc The rung that you won't hear much
of in academia, business, politics or probashi
communities include Basak, Gain, Bain (as in Goopy &
Bagha), Tisku, Barui, Majhi, Gop (Gope), Dop (Daup),
Soren, Marandi. Many of these names are also found
among Adivasis through intermarriage or loss of
language some time back. Some purely sub-ethnic names
as well. Rajbongshi, Tripuri, Puruli, Pradhan, Bahadur
(indicates Gurkha lineage) etc. In terms of people
left in Bangladesh, hardly any from the Brahmins, and
most are probably at the bottom of the caste hierarchy
- as they are pretty screwed whether in Bangladesh or
in India."

[ii] Daily Star, May 6, 2006: "Religious Minorities
Under Pressure"; Daily Star, May 10, 2006: "Minority
Voters Intimidated"; Prothom Alo, January 6, 2006:
"Voter List Compilers Say They Didn't Go to 4
Minority-heavy Villages By 'Mistake'";
bcdjc.org/mreport-1.html

[iii] According to the 1991 census, the following 71
constituencies have a minority ratio ranging from 11%
to 61%: Rangamati, Khulna-1, Bandarban, Khagrachari,
Gopalganj-3, Moulavibazar-4, Khulna-5, Sunamganj-2,
Dinajpur-1, Gopalganj-2, Dinajpur-2, Barisal-1,
Khulna-6, Satkhira-3, Bagerhat-1, Gopalganj-1,
Chittagong-6, Thakurgaon-1, Dinajpur-4, Pirojpur-1,
Bagerhat-3, Satkhira-5, Moulavibazar-2, Magura-1,
Madaripur-2, Narail-1, Bagerhat-2, Hobiganj-4,
Chittagong-7, Nilphamari-2, Nilphamari-3, Magura-1,
Satkhira-4, Rajbari-2, Lalmonirhat-1, Jessore-6,
Narail-2, Khulna-4, Barisal-2, Satkhira-1,
Netrokona-4, Natore-1, Sunamganj-1, Brahmanbaria-5,
Hobiganj-1, Thakurgaon-2, Satkhira-2, Netrokona-1,
Manikganj-2, Sunamganj-4, Chittagong-1, Kishoregonj-5,
Rangpur-1, Kurigram-2, Pirojpur-2, Dinajpur-6,
Rangpur-2, Jhalokathi-2, Manikganj-1, Faridpur-1,
Natore-3, Bagerhat-4, Netrokona-2, Dhaka-7,
Faridpur-3, Madaripur-3, Khulna-2, Barguna-2,
Mymensingh-1, Dhaka-3, Sunamganj-3. All portions of
the 2001 census were released, with the exception of
the religious figures.

[iv] This can be seen in the drastic drop in minority
populations: 1961 (18.5%), 1974 (13.5%), 1981 (12.2%)
and 1991 (10.5%). Analysts expect the 2001 census to
reveal even further drop, but the government has not
released those numbers.



 
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