[Reader-list] On Indocentrism & Taslima Nasreen

[Gargi Sen]

Dear Naeem,
Fascinating read. But tell me, what does this narration have to do with the
points I raised? The fundamental one being Art, and artists, are often
attacked if they step into terrains contested by political regimes, ideology
or organised religion.

You picked one sentence from my rather long post, the crux of a long
paragraph, which is, I quote

³The debate to my mind is fundamentally about Art entering contested
terrains. It's primarily about art and artistic freedom in areas of
conflict. So it is incidentally about Jashn-e-azadi and Sanjay Kak but more
about freedom or how we are allowed to engage with it. Nevertheless, it is
also about the two as they - the film and the artist - are being evoked over
and over. Replace these two names with Taslima Nasreen and 'Lajja' (Shame)
or any other two from growing history of art and artists in exile/ silenced/
under threat/ forced to migrate/ killed and tell me has the contour of the
debate sifted in any significant manner?²

Do me a favour, re-read the paragraph/ post but replace Taslima Nasreen and
Lajja with Pablo Neruda and Giberto Gil. Both artists, both exiled for their
political positions articulated through art, both ministers of cultures in
their respective nations subsequently, separated though by time, one dead
and one still singing. ANd please tell me what is your point. I simply don¹t
understand. 

I too will think more and write further. I have just returned home after
being on the road for a few days and the last leg of the journey that
involved endless waiting in a crowded airport and stretched travelling time
to three times the original, has exhausted me. So I will write when
refreshed and energised.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the interesting account.

Gargi


On 9/11/07 10:57 AM, "Naeem Mohaiemen" <naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com> wrote:

>> >Gargi Sen wrote: >Dear friends who fear and abhor Indo centrism, ... >the
>> Indo Centrism that you, Naem and some others talk about ... >I refuse to
>> paint the recent debate as Indo centric ... >I refuse to buy the Indo Centric
>> bullshit. Gargi, The CONTENT of the debate over the film or free speech or
>> Kashmir was NOT what I identified as Indo-centric.  Rather it was the manner
>> in which the volume of that debate was squashing available space for of all
>> other conversations inside Sarai.  It seemed that suddenly the Sarai list was
>> bcoming inhabited, occupied, and dominated by a (un)conscious Indian hegemony
>> -- leaving no space for other debates and discussions within South Asia.
>> Particularly, the manner in which the language of Sarai list recently slipped
>> between English and Hindi/Urdu/Hindusthani without pausing for a second as to
>> whether that alienates and pushes out a portion of the Sarai readership was
>> part of what I was referring to.  Actually the real issue is that the authors
>> never even paused for a second as to whether the language was an issue at
>> all... >Replace these two names with Taslima Nasreen and 'Lajja' (Shame) It's
>> interesting that you have invoked Taslima, she is now, and has been for a
>> while, a totem of Indian progressives.  And she is also invoked to say "look
>> we don't just talk about Indians!" The interesting thing about Taslima is the
>> disproportionate amount of attention she always gets in India relative to
>> others who have taken equally brave stances and remained invisible in the
>> Indian context. Ahmod Sharif who declared as early as the 1970s that he was
>> an atheist. Or Ahmod Sofa, who was both atheist and possibly gay (we have
>> always surmised from reading the subtext of his text). Or Humayun Azad, who
>> was anti-religious (Amar Obishyash) to the point that he was attacked by
>> machette-wielding "Islamists" (and eventually died in Germany).  Or Rahnuma
>> Ahmed (Islami Chintar Punorpothon) who has been debating Islam & the
>> patriarchy for last 10 years.  Or Farida Akhter (Ubinig), who has been a
>> figure in globalization/feminist battles.  Or Salimullah Khan. Or Faruk
>> Wasif. The list is actually endless-- Swadhin or Manosh can jump in with
>> other names. But the reason Taslima is often the ONLY example invoked in an
>> Indian context is because her story is so intricately linked with Indian
>> patronage-- with the Indian progressives' idea of who they themselves are as
>> a beacon to South Asia (a rescuing force that will save all South Asia from
>> itself).  Especially within the Taslima story is the idea of Indian
>> Progressives (and not so progressive, more on that in a few lines) rescuing
>> and sheltering her from the savages next door. Very early on, Taslima,
>> alienated and broke ranks with the Bangladeshi feminist community.  A key
>> moment was in an interview where she said "I am the first proper feminist in
>> Bangladesh."  When a startled interviewer asked her what she then thought of
>> Begum Rokeya (who had written "Sultana's Dream" almost a century ago),
>> Taslima replied "Begum Rokeya, she was all right, but she had many
>> limitations..." (note: not exact, from memory)  A similar sentiment imbued
>> her approach to the entire feminist infrastructure in Bangladesh, always
>> positioning herself as "above" all this. [I write this as someone who found
>> her "Nirbachitho Column" collection like an incredibly valuable interjection
>> into the Bangla patriarchy and appreciated much of her work, including
>> "Lajja".] Around the time of "Lajja", Taslima's trajectory changed.  She had
>> already received the Kolkatha "Ananda" award, something that heightened her
>> sense of distance with the local community of writers, and kinship instead
>> with the Kolkata bhodrolok chokro.  From here on Taslima's story is often a
>> story vis-a-vis India.  It was first and foremost the BJP that pounced on
>> "Lajja" and started making thousands of photocopies and spreading them
>> throughout the country.  It was the BJP that started funding translations
>> into Hindi/Urdu. From here on, Taslima became something championed by India,
>> which increased the antagonism towards her in Bangladesh. Allies of Taslima
>> repeatedly asked her to at the least distance herself from the BJP
>> translations, but she refused to do so.  It was on Indian TV that Taslima
>> gave her famous interview-- designed for maximum shock, holding the Quran in
>> one hand, cigarette in other, and saying [to an Indian microphone, all this
>> matters] "the Quran needs to be revised." The furore that followed: death
>> threats, fatwas, nonsensical spouting by the mullahs, obscures the fact that
>> India-Bangladesh tensions were as much part of this story as was Islam (and
>> of course,  conflated). Meanwhile our progressive mahals were aghast that
>> years of careful work had been derailed by Taslima's "stuntbaji" on Indian
>> TV-- they now watched as the maulvis they had spent years coralling into the
>> mosques were now on the offensive, taking over the entire city with strikes.
>> Taslima of course famously went into exile in Europe, but soon found those to
>> be unwelcoming homes (there was a particular shrill repetitiveness, and lack
>> of tailoring-to-audience, that made her un-useful once she was no longer
>> "under attack by fundamentalists"). Eventually she moved to India.
>> Eventually Hyderabad happened, and eventually the Sarai debate around here.
>> Taslima is the example that is always debated in these forums, because
>> similar to the western relationship with Iranian reformers, there may be an
>> Indian role in resolving, concluding, rescuing her narrative. But stories
>> that happen inside our borders, where there is no Indian
>> oversight/rescue/recognition role, those seem to always be under the radar.
>> (to be continued, I hope....) _________________________________________
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