THE streets of Bangladesh are filled with Bangla 鈥� on signboards, in conversations, woven into the fabric of daily life. Yet, a closer look reveals something more layered: 鈥樴Λ唳距Π唰嵿Ξ唰囙Ω唰�鈥� 鈥樴Λ唳距Ω唰嵿 唳唳� 唳曕Π唰嵿Θ唳距Π,鈥� and 鈥樴Ξ唰嬥Μ唳距唳� 唳膏唳班唳唳膏唳傗��. Bangla script carrying foreign words, a blend so common that it often goes unnoticed. On social media, Bangla shifts between alphabets, appearing...
BANGLADESH鈥橲 2024 national Victory Day (16 December) is significantly different from all such days in its past. It is an outstanding moment of national achievement and celebration; it is a critical point for political learning and truth-telling; finally, it is an occasion for nurturing wisdom, unity and courage in the face of what is happening across...
AN IMPORTANT factor in the liberation war of 1971 was the sharp economic disparity between the then West Pakistan and East Pakistan. The proclamation of the liberation war, therefore, spoke about the desire to establish equality, human dignity and social justice. The country gained independence through the liberation war, but even after 53 years of...
THIS piece is not about the crisis or the chaos that the country is now facing after successfully toppling the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina. Rather, it is about the crisis of confidence and social capital or trust 鈥� interlinked, nonetheless...
WHAT started as emancipatory self-expression was soon subjected to the dominant aesthetic regime. What started as 鈥榗hika mara,鈥� a signifier of direct state repression, was soon turned into a sanctioned practice. But graffiti remains graffiti by virtue of its unsanctioned nature 鈥� the defiance and the subversive potential it...
EARLY on July 15, I woke up in Washington, DC to Facebook posts from Dhaka friends about Bangladesh Chhhatra League members ruthlessly attacking and beating up students at Dhaka University who were peacefully protesting to reform an outdated and regressive job quota system which shut them out of employment...
THE saying 鈥榓 bad apple spoils the whole barrel鈥� perhaps applies to any group of people. This means that, in certain circumstances, it takes only one or a few elements to ruin the reputation of an entire community...
ON AUGUST 5, the world witnessed a significant political upheaval in Bangladesh, as the long-standing autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country amid a revolution led by students and citizens. Her 15-year rule had deeply corrupted and politicised various government institutions, including the...
ON A pillar of the metro station in Shahbagh, within view just after the flight of stairs by the side of the Pubali Bank, is a graffiti. While the form has drastically exploded in popularity during and after the July uprising of Bangladesh, there remains a political distinction. This one, evidently hastily sprayed on well after the fall...
AS THE euphoria surrounding Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 ouster to India slowly died down, we have slowly begun to excavate the wreckages of her authoritarian rule in our surroundings as well as our collective memories. If we look critically, the immediate past 鈥� the period immediately preceding her departure 鈥� appeared to be...
BANGLADESH experienced its first transition from autocratic rule after the fall of the regime of president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975. The second instance of transition from autocratic rule commenced with the fall of president Ershad in 1991. The third transition from autocracy to democracy has started with the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5 this year...
