IN 2025, Bangladesh鈥檚 54th anniversary of Independence Day cannot be observed by bypassing the July 2024 movement. Some people may not endorse the epithet 鈥榮econd independence鈥�, the outcome of the student uprising that ended Hasina鈥檚 autocratic rule and created a 鈥榥ew鈥� Bangladesh. They may have a reason. It may be that they compare the second..
NINETEEN seventy-one arrived, not as a year, but as a violation, a savage tear in the thin skin of what we dared call life. I was a child, a splinter of a being, four years old, yet the tremors of that brutal rending still reverberate in the hollow spaces of my bones. They call it the Liberation War, a tidy phrase for a messy, monstrous thing. It was the air we choked on, thick with...
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...
THE fifteenth amendment of the Bangladesh Constitution mentions, 鈥楾he state shall take steps to protect and develop the unique local culture and tradition of the tribes, minor races, ethnic sects, and communities鈥�. The suffix 鈥榓divasi (indigenous peoples)鈥� is not in the constitution. The 鈥楽mall Ethnic Groups Cultural Institutions Act, 2010 broadly defines the term...
FEBRUARY 21, 2025 marks the first observance of the historic language movement since the July 2024 mass uprising in Bangladesh. The groundbreaking political change brought about by last year鈥檚 student-led movement is likely to provide new or more nuanced ways of reflecting on the language struggle of the Pakistan period that, among other things, fundamentally...
IN MY small town, Bheramara, Ekushey February was a ritual. Barefoot we roamed, demanding the same of every passerby 鈥� a shedding of shoes, a mark of respect. Bangla, bhasha shaheed 鈥� these weren鈥檛 just words, they were close to the heart, a pulse. And how could they not be? Bangladesh, a nation birthed from language, its very being woven into the...
IN THE quiet spaces between history and memory, where the weight of time presses heavily, there are forces unseen but deeply felt. Military might, cold and calculating, intertwines with the raw, untainted zeal of youth, pulsing with the hope of a future unshackled. From the dust and blood of 1971 to the turbulent echoes of 2024, the struggle for sovereignty...
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...
