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Thursday, February 21, 2008

[mukto-mona] Australia apologies to aborgines for past injustice .

For the Mukto Mona readers:
 
 
 
 
Australia apologies to Aborigines for past injustices .
 
 
 
I am happy to know from daily news paper on February 18,2008 that  Australian Prime Minister Mr. Kevin Rudd delivered an historic apology in parliament to the aborigine's people for the injustices committed over two centuries of white settlement.  The Prime Minister Mr. Kevin Rudd begs pardon to the aborigines in the history of Federal Reserve Parliament system of 107 years. The Prime Minister Mr. Kevin Rudd is only ruler, who is the successor in the Australian history of 238 years. My heartiest congratulation to Mr. Prime Minister and hope his memory will be immortal forever.
Today they have tears of joy! Hope these merrymaking moments will be permanent for the aborigines. The Prime Minister begs to pardon to the aborigines for their fore father's ferocious and barbarian activities. I think it is not only honor to the Australian aborigines, over all the world aboriginals. It is very prestigious and important to the all aboriginals of the world. Long lives Prime Minister Mr. Kevin Rudd!  You are the light and vivid to the every aboriginal. This is universal truth that tortures are not permanent solution; love is only permanent solution forever.  I think every country should follow this precedent.  
 
*****
 
Mohammad Danesh Hawlader
Principal Officer,
Grameen Bank
Email: danesh1963@yahoo.com
 

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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

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Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

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MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

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Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

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Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

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Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


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MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

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German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

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[mukto-mona] An article for publication

Dear Moderator,

The attached article on Ekushey for possible publication in your esteemed
website.

With kind regards.

Md. Anwarul Kabir
Assistant Professor & Research Coordinator
Department of Computer Science
American International University-Bangladesh
Kemal Ataturk Avenue
Banani, Dhaka
Dhaka 1213
Bangladesh

9890415, 8815386 Fax 00 88 02 8813233
url: http://www.aiub.edu
alternative email: kabiranwar@yahoo.com

Ekushey spirit and the young mind

Md. Anwarul Kabir

 'After 54 years, I think we can stop lamenting over the loss of four to five lives. In one launch accident during monsoon we lose as many as 200 lives,' this arrogant comment made by a young university student in an interview-based interesting article (New Age, February 2007) captured the mindset of the new generation centring our glorious 21st February. In the same article, while another student was asked to assess the significance of Ekushey, his short snapped answer was,  'It is a holiday'. Although, in that article, many members of the same generation evaluated our language movement rightfully focusing on the actual spirits of Ekushey, the quoted numb statements negating significance of the Ekushey, indeed, support the prevailing common perception that the new generation has been uprooted from our cultural heritage, a crucial element of identifying oneself. In other word, it can be argued that the new generation has been severely suffering from identity crisis. If we objectively assess the whole picture and analyse the young generations, specifically of the urban middle class and their practices in various cultural aspects, a sort of identity crisis on their part will definitely surface on the ground. Here, emphasising on the young generation of urban middle class is purposeful because evidences dictate that the young people from urban middle class of present highly polarised social structure brewed out of neo-capitalism eventually set themselves at the power centre of different social strata of the state and Bangladesh is no exception.

Before outlying cultural practices of the young generation, it is prudent to identify the spirit of Ekushey and its relationship to Bengali nationalism. A simplistic notion on our language movement is that the spirit of Ekushey lies in getting proper recognition of the majority spoken language Bangla under the framework of post independent Pakistan. This notion, in fact, fails to capture actual spirit of Ekushey.

In quest of discovering cultural discourse of present Bangladesh, Nayanika Mookherjee, an Indian ethnographer (Anthropology Matters Journal, 2001) has argued that after the partition in 1947, the Pakistani government's antipathy towards Bengali culture in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was nourished by the notion that though nominally Muslims, Bengalis are unreliable coreligionists for their 'relatively recent' conversion' from low-caste Hindu status. Portraying the practice of Islam in East Pakistan as too Bengali (hence to Hinduized), the successive Pakistani regimes embarked on a strategy of forcible cultural assimilation towards the Bengalis. The denial of Bengali as the state language and Jinnah's infamous declaration, " There can be one lingua franca and that language should be Urdu and cannot be any other", on the Dhaka university convocation on March 24, 1948 was in fact a part of that plea. This led to instant protest to this declaration by some students of Dhaka University and subsequent massive language movement in 1952 with wide participation of people from all levels of the society. The crucial motivating factors for this mass upsurge can only be explained clearly if we consider socio-cultural, political and economic aspects. To counter Pakistan's different attempts for 'Islamaziation' of cultural aspects of the inhabitants of this region (for instance inclusion of more Arabic/Urdu/Persian vocabularies and exclusion of Sanskrit words from our Bengali script, restriction on Rabindra Tagore's songs ), people of this land participated in the movement to upheld the secular features of Bengali nationalism. In this respect, Nurul Kabir's (New Age, February 2007) proposition that the language movement was a protest against social injustice should also be considered. Imposition of the minority's language Urdu (It may be noted that Urdu was the common language of the Muslims feudal class and the majority of the ruling Muslim League leaders were from this class but it was not any major language of any province in Pakistan.) on the majority population of the then Pakistan was marked as social injustice and a blow to the democratic ethos. Again, the present writer (Financial Express, February, 2007) has observed, the major aspiration for participation of the people of this region in Pakistan movement during last decade of British regime was to achieve their economic salvation. However, the newly emerged country Pakistan at that time utterly failed to fulfil the promises of the Muslim League which they pledged during the Pakistan movement. So, it can be argued that one of the motivating factors behind large scale participation of the common people in the language movement was a sort of protest against exploitation by the Pakistani regime in the economic front.

So, in line with the above explanations, in a nut shell, it can be stated that the spirit of the Ekushey grew out of cultural, political and economic issues. Cultural aspiration of this movement was to uphold the secular Bengali nationalism in all aspects of lives. The political and economic aspirations of this movement were to create democratic ethos with a view to establishing an exploitation free society. It is worthwhile to note that the spirit of Ekushey acted as the vital force in our war of liberation.

Now the question is to what extent the new generation, especially of the urban middle class of contemporary Bangladesh, is following the spirit of Ekusehy in their everyday life?

Over the decade, the salient features of this representative young generation have been dramatically changed. If we closely observe various cultural aspects and the life style of this generation then it would not be that hard to grab the fact that this generation has much deviated from the aforesaid spirit of Ekushey. The intrigue for Bengali literature and cultural aspects on part of this generation has been diminishing to a remarkable extent. A few members from this generation take interest in reading books especially those on Bengali literature as the overall reading habit of the generation has regrettably declined over the period. In day-to-day conversation, in general, they use mangled Bangla infused with large scale English and Hindi vocabularies. In this context Farhad Mazhar (New Age February 2000), a noted poet and writer has asserted that the advertisement of various cellular phone companies capture the language of the urban middle-class youth which is mixed up with English, Hindi vocabularies to a large extent in Bengali dialect in order to appear smart and cool. This new Creole (popularly known as dejuice Bangla) has a greater impact on the everyday conversation of this generation. Even the electronic media, especially private FM band radio stations and some private TV channels are promoting this sub culture of language practice in their different programs . In Bangla practice discourse, Syed Badrul Ahsan, an eminent columnist in an editorial (Daily Star, February 2008) has observed that proper pronunciations and accents of Bengali words are not being maintained by the new generation and the electronic media show little respect to the issue.

In attire, this urban young generation are visibly westernised. The dresses they wear, specifically those of the boys are hardly distinguishable from their counter parts in the west. Even the dresses of young girls have been gradually westernised day by day. Young girls hardly prefer to wear sarees, a symbol of Bengali culture unless it is a special occasion. Shalwar-Kamiz replaces sarees to a great extent. In fact, in case of urban young girls' attire, at present, the influence of Bollywood style is predominant. However, the phenomenon of wearing western dresses, like T-shirts and trousers has also succeeded in creating special appeal to the urban young girls of the country. In everyday life, besides some occasions (e.g. wedding ceremonies, Pohela Baishakh, religious programs), the Bengali attires like punjabi-payjama/lungi/sarees have lost their appeal to the psyche of the young generation. This transformation in attire obviously signifies a visible deviation of this generation from Bengali culture.

Food habit of the young generation has also been changed to a greater extent. The presence of coca-cola and McDonald culture has driven away the indigenous food habit. Indigenous foods like pithas, chira-muri, doi, even the delicious fruits like mangoes, jackfruits fail to appeal to the contemporary urban young generation. The preference of western snacks like burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, chicken fries, etc. is predominant now. Coca-cola or other fizzy drinks have replaced the indigenous drinks like sharbat and green coconut water. To this generation, on special occasions, Chinese dishes have more appeal than indigenous exotic foods and traditional Mughlai menus. Though the food habit symbolises the uniqueness of a nation, the young generation under question has shifted much away from Bengali cultural heritage.

Perhaps, in independent Bangladesh, the least application of the spirit of Ekushey can be revealed in political and economic arena. Participation in politics by this young generation with a real commitment to the nation is not common nowadays though, in pre-independent Bangladesh the urban young generation upholding the spirit of Ekushey played a significant role in our liberation war. The members of the present young generation are now more self–centred and career oriented. Even those who participate in politics are, in fact, motivated out of vested interest. For them, politics is a short cut way to material gain. To them democracy, economic emancipation etc. signify powerful tools to exploit the poor people of the country. Secularism, which is one of the ingredients of the spirit of Ekushey, has lost its appeal to this generation. Rise of Islamic extremism and increasing participation of young generation in communal politics like Jamat-shibir, Hizbut Tahiri or other fundamental groups support this assertion.

Above discussion has revealed the deviation of the young generation from the spirit of Ekushey. But blaming them solely for this would be a severe injustice as they are the creation of this society. In this case we should rather consider the national and global socio-economic, political and cultural realities of the present time. The following points try to unmask the causes behind the deviation from the spirit of Ekushey on part of the contemporary young generation in general and the urban young generation in particular.

a)The practice of deformed hybrid Bangla is not acceptable at all. In fact an objective analyse will find that this problem lies in our education system. From primary to tertiary levels of our education system Bangla is now the least important subject. Though after liberation, practice of Bangla was encouraged at the state level by adopting Bangla as official language, the subsequent governments failed to chalk out an appropriate policy for promoting Bangla in educational arena. So the members of young generation get less aspiration in learning Bangla adequately in their academic pursuits.

In this context, we can not negate the adverse affect of globalization. Taking the advantage of pervasive globalisation, worldwide infusion of neo-colonial linguistic practice is predominant. Farhad Mazhar (February 2007), on this issue has pointed out that neo-colonial linguistic practice would like to prove that Bangla is a 'failed' language — just like Bangladesh is a 'failed' state. Neo-colonial Bangla is eager to demonstrate that Bangla Bhasa as a language and sign system does not have the capacity to express the day-to-day needs and concepts of a modern society, not to mention serious thoughts; its vocabulary is so poor that one must borrow English words in every sentence.

However, it is our collective failure to resist the aggression of this neo-colonial linguistic practice in order to protect our own language. The young generation, in this case, is simply the victim of the situation.

b)In attire and food habit, as we have revealed, the young generation is imitating western countries. This trend is, in fact, due to our inferiority complex generated out of identity crisis. The older generation has utterly failed to transmit the Bengali nationalism and its uniqueness into the mindset of the younger generation.

c)Lack of participation in politics of this young generation with a real commitment to the nation, lies, in fact, in our distorted political system. The post 1975 era failed to put the country on right democratic footings. From 1975 to 1990, Bangladesh was under either direct or quasi military regimes. This is historically proven that no military regime (either direct or indirect) in the world works for promoting true democracy. However, post 1990 could have been golden era for practising true democracy in the country. But due to rising impact of communalism and terrorism, corruption ridden leadership and intolerance between two major political parties, the country failed to avail that opportunity. Besides, our political leaders are utmost failure to be role models before the young generation due to lack of honestly, integrity and patriotism.

d)The young generation's participation in communal politics, though unfortunate but not unexpected, undermines the teaching of secularism. Post 1975 politics in Bangladesh has reinforced much debated religion based 'Two Nation Theory' in a new package of Bangladeshi nationalism. This can be considered as one of the major causes for the rise of communal politics. Legalisation of the communal politics contrary to the creed of the Bengali nationalism and secularism has paved the way for the young generation's involvement in communal politics.

Our distorted national history, especially of our liberation war is also responsible to misguide the young generation in this regard.

In conclusion, it can be argued that the young generation is in a loophole of our present socio-political and cultural setup. To get rid of this, in political front, we need to select the honest, prudent and pro-people leaders who have patriotic vision and mission based on the spirit of Ekushey. In cultural front, we have a long way to go. Mich/ael Billing (1995), a contemporary sociologist of the UK in his book entiltled 'Banal Nationalism' has suggested that if a nation wants to uphold its cultural aspects and heritage in the psyche of its people, continuous flagging of cultural aspects of that nation is a must. This assertion relates the popular Bengali songs, 'Ek tara bazaio na/ Du tara bazaio na/ Ek tara bazaile mone poira jai/ ek din Bangali chhilam re' (Don't play ektara/Don't play duitara/The tunes of ektara reminds me/One time I was Bengali). So, if we want to instil our cultural heritage and traditions into the mindset of the young generation, we need to practise our cultural ethos in our everyday life. We need to beckon the young generation under the parasol of our own culture exposing the richness of our cultural heritages and traditions.


Md. Anwarul Kabir is an educationist working at the computer science department of AIUB and is a freelance writer.


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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

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Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

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MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

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Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary

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Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

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Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari

http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

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German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm


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-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
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[mukto-mona] GREATEST FRAUD OF CENTURY........


Int'l Mother Language day - who are the Heroes?
 
Rafiq / Salam of Vancouver?  Or these thugs?
 
http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=55749
 
Should JAJADI be prosecuted ??
 
 
 

__._,_.___

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

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               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




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[mukto-mona] Human Rights News from HRCBM

Breaking News

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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

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               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




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RE: [mukto-mona] Please publish

It's amazing to see that our MM friends had read my writing on American
President Election. I thank all who had responded.

I have immense respect for Dr. Jaffor Ullah and I am familiar with his
works. Unfortunately his comments did not fit his stature. I did not mind
what he wrote on my writing but I had expected him to be more careful about
commenting on me and where or what shall I write. Anyway, thank you Dr.
Jaffor Ullah.

I have no comment on others who had responded on the writing. Problem is
that people did not comment on the writing but made one sided decision about
me on the basis of this write up, although they don't know me, Funny!

If needed I will respond on the points raised by the readers but believe it
or not, if things go like this Republicans will be living in the White House
this term also.

At the end I should thank Mukta-Mona for it's support to a member.

Thanks again.

Sitangshu Guha


*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari

http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm


*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/


****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
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[mukto-mona] Re: Please publish

WRT: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/46683

--- In mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com, "Dr A.H. Jaffor Ullah" wrote:
Mukto-
> mona was created for freethinkers. In my book neither Mr. S.
Hannan
> nor Mr. Sitangshu Guha is freethinker. I can back my statement
with
> their posts.
>


Cant agree more on that. We have Mohiuddin, S.A. Hannan in one side
who want to see Obama as head of the state, just because of his 'so-
called' Muslim origin (even though Obama repeatedly clarifies that
he is NOT a Muslim but a Church-going Christian), and on the other
hand we Have Sitangshu Guha, who hates Obama for the same trash.
Does it ring any bell?

We haven't forgotten that the same Shitangshu Guha unashamedly
supported Bush's preemptive Iraq war showing no remorse, shame, or
need for apology, and was utmost vocal for Bush's second term
presidency. His aggressive comments and naïve debate with Nalinaksa
at that time are still in our site:

http://mukto-mona.com/Articles/current_issue/support_bush.htm

http://mukto-mona.com/Articles/current_issue/support_bush_nalinaksha.htm


Now, after observing 4 years of Bush's failed policy Mr. Guha again
comes just before this year's election to support another war-monger republican Senetor McCain, and guess why? It is because of his adopted "Bangladeshi" child. Ya..sure!

Avijit


*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

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Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


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MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari

http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

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German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm


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-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
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[mukto-mona] Ajoy Ghosh's 100th birthday

 
A forgotten communist and revolutionary by Sankar Ray

Ajoy Ghosh, an outstanding communist ideologue, and the general secretary, Communist Party of India, who foiled the bid to split the party at its Sixth Party Congress (Vijaywada, 1961), the last jamboree of undivided CPI, was born on 22 February 1909.. It would have been a pleasant surprise for many of us, veterans,  if CPI whose headquarters Ajoy Bhavan is named after him organized a meeting to begin the centenary year of one whom Boris Ponomaryov, alternate member of the now-defunct Communist Party of Soviet Union for about two decades, described as a 'sterling leader', produced by the Communist International alongside Ho Chi-Minh, Dolores Ibaruri, the legendary leader of Republican struggle of Spain, French communist stalwart Maurice Thorez, Antonio Gramsci's comrade-in-arms Palmiro Togliatti, German communist leader Walter Ulbricht and the British scholar-communist Rajani Palme Dutt among a few others.  But mandarins at Ajoy Bhavan have kept up the painful  tradition of pushing the comrade-in-arms of Bhagat Singh to oblivion after his death on 13  January, 1962

Top brass of  CPI, whose power to intervene in the national politics has been waning beyond recognition during the last decade or so, has practically sent Ghosh to the  recycle bin of history – at least for the vast majority or rank and file who joined the party after the split in CPI (1964). Ghosh fought against both the lines inside CPI in the 1950s and until his death – national front-liners ( those who remained with the CPI) and democratic-front-adherents (those who split and formed the CPI(M)) . EMS Namboodiripad and A K Gopalan were with Ghosh until his death before completing 53 years of life. However, CPI(M)'s founding polit bureau member M Basavapunnaiah characterized  Ghosh, 15 years after his death, as "the skillful architect of Indian revisionism" in a pamphlet CPI(M) and the Right CP.  Dr Sen , a PB member between 1952-56, refuted this. "Comrade Surjeet, Comrade Sundarayya, Comrade Basavapunnaiah all voted for the draft political resolution moved by Comrade Ajoy at the Palghat Congress in 1956. An alternate draft was placed by Comrade P C Joshi on behalf of NF-liners. If Ajoy were a revisionist, why was MB silent? Why the rebuttal came from Ajoy? EMS of course gave a sober and solid reply to Comrade Bhowani Sen who spoke in favour of PCJ", Dr Sen told this scribe who served as his private secretary in his twilight years. Dr Sen was  a member of the first CC (1933) of undivided CPI and the lone communist to have been uninterruptedly in the CC (later national council)  until the CPI split in 1964.

The majority of old guard and sympathisers of yesteryears are disillusioned with the mandarins of Ajoy Bhavan ,  led by its octogenarian general secretary A B Bardhan who opposes even friendly ideological debate with the CPI(M). Ajoy Bhavan is virtually a dependant entity under the  A K Gopalan Bhavan, the seat of CPI(M)'s national leadership. Bardhan did not care to humiliate Dr Sen in his twilight years. Nonagenarian communist  requested Bardhan in June 2001 to publish an article -Relevance of Ajoy Ghosh in the Indian Communist Movement in June 2001 to Bardhan in the CPI central organ New Age ( incidentally, with this writer as his junior co-author).  The article suggested initiation of friendly ideological debate with the CPI – emulating Ghosh – to pave the way for reunification of Indian communist movement. The Shah-en-shah of CPI  wrote to Dr Sen to say that the article would "open a pandora's box of controversies and mutual attacks, without, in our view, helping in any way to further the process of unity" and gave it a pass. Dr Sen, former AITUC president shot back, "Our Party began shrinking gradually. Now it is a very small party and truly speaking, under your leadership, CPI is a satellite of CPI(M), thanks to your leadership."  The article remains unpublished although Dr Sen told me to publish the piece in my name.  Pitiably,  CPI's subservience to CPI (M) is deeper . The  AITUC general secretary and CPI's Lok Sabha group leader Gurudas Dasgupta's speech at the Lok Sabha  defending CPI(M)'s capture-Nandigram operation of November 2007 confirms the depressing depth of subordination to the CPI(M) top brass. His  speech disrobed himself of his usual firebrand style the viewers of LS TV have been accustomed with. 

Imprisoned along with Bhagat Singh in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, Ghosh opposed both Hindu and Muslim communalism while agreeing that the  Hindu variant was a much bigger threat to the democratic polity. A few days before breathed his last in an article, For the Unity of our Motherland, in CPI weekly New Age , he wrote, Hindu communalism was permeating India's ' social and political life' and 'is even more dangerous' , but he did not spare other communal variants. "When I say communal parties, I have in mind all communal parties, whether Hindu, Muslim or Sikh". He categorically said, "any opportunistic association or alliance would be a positive disservice to the cause of national integration". This unalloyed  secularism is missing in the lexicon of CPI and CPI(M). The CPI(M) central organ, People's Democracy, in an editorial on 7 October last wrote proudly, "We had continuously exposed the illegitimate nexus between imperialism's trimurti – the World Bank, IMF and WTO –and the communalism's trishul." The silence about the threat from Islamic fundamentalist reflects the party's disingenuous commitment to secularism.  African Marxist economist Samir Amin in  an essay in Monthly Review (December 2007) wrote -  "Political Islam in the service of imperialism", Amin wrote  that 'radical secularism' is a contribution of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution."Atheist or agnostic, deist or believer, the individual is free to choose, the state knows nothing about it",  he added. Ghosh's position t, unlike the CPI(M)'s,  was identical with Amin's.

A CPI PB member in the late 1930s, Ghosh wrote in party organ National Front (1 January 1939) an article, Communal Unity , exposing the entente between the 'reactionary  Hindu landlords and Muslim League biggies ('allies of imperialism')  in opposing the pro-ryot Tenancy Bill of the UP government and asked the Congress government to help Muslims rid of 'cultural and general backwardness'. The Left Front government in West Bengal did very little for the Muslims. Only 2 per cent of government employees in the state are Muslims who account for over 21 per cent of state's population. The sham sympathy for the Muslim community is evident in CPI(M)'s national outlook. In 43 years, no Muslim could find a place in the PB. Even Mohd Ismail who was for sometime West Bengal state committee secretary of CPI in the very early 1950s was ignored. 

Moscow, not CPI,  published Speeches and Writings of Ajoy Ghosh , after his death. But he never wooed the CPSU leaders. In 1956, New Times, carried a piece A non-capitalist path for underdeveloped countries by Modeste Rubinstein who found elements of socialism in Nehruvian concept of democratic socialism (Avadi resolution). CPI monthly New Age reprinted the article alongside Ghosh's rebuttal.

Cynics inside the CPI used to say that the party headquarters was named after Ghosh to please Moscow. This may be a conjecture but he remained ignored  as now. When this writer was private secretary to Dr Sen, he was fond of saying that Ghosh " was head and soldier above all the general secretaries before and after split, even in the CPI(M),  as an ideologue specially in  inner-party politico-ideological struggle ". In the preface to Marxism and Indian Reality: Selected Speeches and Writings by Ajoy Ghosh in 1989, CPI leader S G Sardesai who brought him to the communist movement in jail wrote, " How I wish Ajoy were with us today when the unification of the Indian communist movement has once again become an urgent need of history!". The late Sardesai's wishful thinking dies down in the cacophony of  Ajoy Bhavan's canine subservience to CPI(M).

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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

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Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
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MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

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Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
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Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

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Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona 
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/


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MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

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German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/


Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

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Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

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VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

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"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




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