[Reader-list] Shameran Abed on Baul Statue & "walkover for bigots"

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

NEW AGE/Oct 21
Yet another walkover for bigots
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/oct/21/edit.html#2

Our political parties are so terrified of being branded as
anti-religion or anti-Islam by Amini and his like that they too would
rather take down a baul monument, as this regime has done, than
confront intolerance and bigotry by a band of criminals and misfits,
writes Shameran Abed


THE sinister political agenda of Islamist bigots were given a
significant boost on Wednesday when the present regime, weak and
unprincipled as it is, capitulated in the face of pressure from
obscurantist forces and tore down a baul sculpture from in front of
Zia International Airport. Emboldened by their success, the bigots
demanded on Friday that all sculptures in the country be destroyed,
even those that commemorate our war of independence. Then, on Sunday,
Fazlul Huq Amini, chairman of the Islami Oikya Jote and the foremost
champion of religious bigotry, reportedly said that the upcoming
parliamentary elections will be fought on the single issue of
sculptures, between the lovers of sculpture and the lovers of
religion. The intrinsic fallacy of the argument aside, the statement
underscores the fact that the bigots have sensed an opening and will
exploit it for whatever it is worth.
   Of all the disservice that the current regime has done to our
country in the last 21 months, the aiding and abetting of
fundamentalists and bigots must rank at the top. To begin with,
members of the Jamaat-e-Islami were largely spared from this regime's
anti-corruption crusade, as if they are so incorruptible that none of
the BNP's indiscretions rubbed off on them, even after five years of
being a major component of the government that is widely considered
the most corrupt in our nation's history. Then, more than a year after
the anti-corruption drive began in earnest, when this regime finally
did come around to arresting the Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami on
charges of corruption, they were indisposed to keeping him behind bars
for any significant length of time. He was thus released on bail
before any other major politician. If that was not dubious enough, the
monkey business that this government is doing with the Jamaat
secretary general is. Even though a warrant was issued for the arrest
of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid some weeks back, the police apparently
have not been able to capture him until now. Yet, consider this: in
the weeks that he has officially been 'absconding', Mujahid has not
only held public events but has visited, as a member of the Jamaat
delegation, the office of the chief adviser for official talks and
even shook hands with Fakhruddin Ahmed. The chief adviser could have
put the handcuffs on this fugitive himself, if he was so inclined. It
would have made for great television.
   Also, forget not the role this regime played when bigots laid siege
to its women's development policy, which sought to ensure equal rights
for women under the law. Then, like now, the regime capitulated and
amended sections of the policy after bigots took out processions after
Friday prayers for weeks on end to demand that the policy be scrapped.
Yet, when women's rights activists attempted to bring out a procession
in favour of the policy, the regime invoked the emergency powers rules
and broke up the procession. In these 21 months, the emergency powers
rules have been invoked many times to break up many processions and
demonstrations, from those brought out by students at Dhaka University
to those by garments' workers demanding higher pay and rights
activists protesting against human rights violations and gender
discrimination. Not once, however, have the emergency power rules been
invoked to break up a procession brought out by the Islamist bigots.
   It does not end there. When a freedom fighter was mercilessly
beaten by Jamaat activists at a freedom fighters' seminar organised by
the Jamaat, which is a ridiculous proposition in the first place, the
law enforcement personnel neither provided protection to the victim
nor took any action against the perpetrators. This would not have
required the invocation of the emergency power rules. Physically
assaulting a person is a crime under the ordinary laws of the land the
last time this writer checked. What is perhaps most ironic is that the
bigots have been able to hold rallies and meetings at will during this
period of emergency, but when the Sector Commanders' Forum, made up of
bona fide war heroes, tried to organise a convention to generate
support for the issue of trial of war criminals, it faced tremendous
resistance from this military-controlled regime which initially denied
the forum an appropriate venue for the convention.
   The continual appeasement of obscurantist forces by this regime has
naturally encouraged and emboldened the bigots and while the prospect
of the end of its dismal tenure later this year may be a silver lining
of sorts, the situation is likely to be no better once the country
returns to elected rule. This regime has not been the first to give in
to these organised forces of darkness, it has just been the latest.
The truth is, neither the BNP, which has for almost ten years been
allied with the Jamaat, nor the Awami League, which proved through the
2006 Khelafat Majlish deal that it is just as likely to sell its soul
to the devil to come to power, can be trusted to take on these bigots
if and when they come to power. The parties are so terrified of being
branded as anti-religion or anti-Islam by Amini and his like that they
too would rather take down a baul monument, as this regime has done,
than confront intolerance and bigotry by a band of criminals and
misfits.
   For those who feel sickened by sights of bigots rejoicing as
government agencies pull down a monument commemorating Lalon Fakir,
who, by the way, happened to be a great progressive, the options on
offer in the upcoming elections are entirely unpalatable. Even in the
United States where there is apparently little difference left between
the two major political parties as far as economic policies are
concerned, a clear line can still be drawn on the cultural issues.
Social progressives can give their vote to the Democratic Party safe
in the knowledge that the Democrats will not take away abortion rights
of women, just as rural conservatives can give their vote to the
Republican Party safe in the knowledge that their second amendment
rights to bear firearms will be protected by the GOP. In Bangladesh,
the bigots have plenty of choices, but which party can social
progressives give their vote to in the upcoming elections and be
certain that it will fight bigotry and intolerance on their behalf?
   In the last couple of days, thankfully, we have seen the first
signs of a movement to resist the forward march of the obscurantist
forces, originating as these movement always do at Dhaka University,
which for all its degeneration and decay still remains the foremost
bastion of progressive thought. However, in the absence of political
leadership on the one hand and the unwillingness of our civil society
stalwarts to rise to the challenge on the other, will the progressives
who have raised their voice be able to sustain their fight against
forces as determined and organised as the obscurantists are? Time will
tell.