Banner Advertiser

Friday, January 22, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Re: [khabor.com] Post-modern Razakars



An excellent analysis of Shimul Choudhury. Beside my support to the statement of Shimul Choudhury, as a Muslim I feel bad when "Razakar" is called to a person who neither supported Pakistan Government during Bangladesh liberation War in 1971 nor even was born before 1971. Razakar is an Arabic word which is meant "volunteer" and should not be generalized in using.

How about patriots of Bangladesh like both Jalils (as narrated by Shimul Choudhury) should start calling "shiv shena" who supports Indian government's policies or activities against Bangladesh?

Anis Ahmed

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 3:44 PM
Subject: [notun_bangladesh] Re: [khabor.com] Post-modern Razakars

 

Read this article.
Dr. Manik


From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
To: dhakamails@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, January 20, 2010 8:31:25 PM
Subject: [khabor.com] Post-modern Razakars

 

Post-modern Razakars

 
Shimul Chaudhury

I was born in post-1971 Bangladesh and started to be familiar with national politics and political debates in the late 1980s. The 1990s onwards has been the period of my political come-of-age. Throughout my whole political exposure and experience, I think I have heard the work 'razakar' more than any other terms as far as Bangladeshi politics is concerned. It is at times used as a tool to damage the reputation of rival political groups and as a swearing word during informal conversations. It is used both by educated and un-educated people alike, equally by professors and the street urchins. I have also heard renowned Bangladeshi university academics using the term in a manner which does not befit their status. In the West, children at schools are taught not to use bad language that includes swear words. However, in Bangladesh, with regard to using the term razakar, many educated gentries including university professors seem to bring themselves down to the vulgarity of streetscape. All these facts about the term 'razakar' make me most curious and persuade me to look at it critically.

My curiosity with the word razakar reached its climax on several occasions. On two such occasions, the name 'Jalil' has been at the centre of interest. The first Jalil is Major M A Jalil who bravely and fearlessly fought for the liberation of Bangladesh during the 1971 war of independence. That he was the commander of the ninth sector of the freedom fighters should amply point to his extraordinary contribution to the Bangladesh war of liberation. However, despite his glorious credentials as a freedom fighter and as a sector commander, he had to die with the 'taint' of being a razakar.. My next climax of curiosity is very recent, and it involves the second Jalil. In September this year (2009), the former secretary general of Awami League, Abdul Jalil made known in the UK that the party had come to power through an 'understanding' and that the general election of 29 December 2008 was 'fake'. Few days after Jalil's disclosure, an Awami League rally in Sylhet branded him a 'razakar'.

Apart from the branding of these two Jalils as razakars, I have encountered many other incidents where people randomly call each other razakar. At students' dormitories at the universities in Bangladesh, if a student is regular in masjid and is not involved in antisocial and immoral activities, he takes the risk of being called a razakar. In public offices in Bangladesh, if an officer does not take bribe and stops his subordinates from the unethical practice, he may not be able to avoid the fate of being regarded as a razakar. Sometimes in everyday life, a morally clean person with Islamic leanings runs the risk of being called a razakar. My experiences with the term razakar may not agree with those of many people; but I believe no sensible person will deny that in Bangladesh many good people are being labeled as razakars irrespective of their roles in 1971. People who did not collaborate with the Pakistani army in 1971 and people who were born after 1971 are not necessarily immune to this derogatory term. These anomalies with the term razakar must make a person pause and think in order to get to the root of the issues involved in the contemporary politics of Bangladesh.

Actually, razakar is a Persian word and it means volunteer. However, during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, a group of people aided the Pakistani army against the local freedom fighters, and they were known as razakars. But, current indiscriminate and bewilderingly misplaced use of the term has given it newer meanings in Bangladeshi politics. This will become clearer if we analyze the reasons why the two Jalils mentioned above were termed as razakar. Major M A Jalil became a razakar in the eyes of his opponents mainly for three reasons: 1) his dissociation from secular politics in Bangladesh, 2) his subsequent Islamic leanings, and 3) his writing and political stance against Indian hegemony. Later day Abdul Jalil was branded a razakar because of his criticism of his party Awami League, which implicitly suggests his anti-Indian sentiment as the party's affinity and close tie with India is common knowledge. Theoretically at least, the term razakar should be used to describe a Bangladeshi person who goes against the interest of Bangladesh. But, practically in the current political reality of Bangladesh, any person who goes against Indian interests is generally given the bad name of razakar. Thanks to a number of Bangladeshi newspapers with understood Indian inclination! If Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were alive today and maintained his usual anti-Indianism, he had every chance to be categorized as a razakar by the pro-Indian newspapers in Dhaka.

In 1971, people who collaborated with the Pakistani oppressors were called razakars. In post-1971 Bangladesh, Pakistan has become almost irrelevant. I have not met anybody expressing a desire to re-integrate with Pakistan. Bangladesh now has its new international enemies and neo-colonial masters. One enemy is obviously India, a country that helped Bangladesh become independent. However, although collaboration with foreign powers against the interest of the country is very much true today as it was in 1971, the neo-collaborators comfortably escape any derogatory terms like razakars. The neo-collaborators frequently use the term razakar to describe the erstwhile pro-Pakistani collaborators and to conceal their continuous anti-Bangladesh activities. I call this kind of people post-modern razakars. We should identify the following categories of people and associate them with the hated term razakar:

1) Those who keep quiet when the Indian BSF regularly kills Bangladeshis in the border region.

2) Those who keep quiet when Indian and Western diplomats in Dhaka interfere in our national politics.

3) Those who disregard the public and seek the help of foreign missions in Dhaka to go to power.

4) Those who keep quiet when India goes ahead with building the Tipai dam that will have disastrous consequences for the people of Bangladesh.

5) Those who keep quiet when Indian government and media give Bangladesh a bad name in the international arena.

6) Those who earn money in Bangladesh and spend it in India and other foreign countries.

7) Those who get their children educated at foreign universities and do not show any concern about the continuous degradation of education culture at the universities in Bangladesh.

8) Those who regularly visit Indian high commission to enjoy 'free' wine and remain silent about the trade imbalances and other unequal relations between Bangladesh and India.

9) Those who switch off Bangladeshi TV channels and spend their time watching Indian channels.

10) Those who are negligent about their duties in public offices and universities.

11) Those who take bribe and steal public money.

While collaboration with Pakistani army is a matter of the past which may not harm the national interest of Bangladesh any more, current collaboration with foreign powers is a reality and is destroying our motherland at an alarming rate. We should identify the post-modern razakars, isolate them and stop their anti-Bangladesh activities.. Dear readers, you may know very well that post-modern razakars pronounce the term razakar more often, and that to conceal their anti-Bangladesh activities and divert out attention from down-to-earth issues. Chorer mar boro gola!

Shimul Chaudhury
e mAIL : honestdebater@ yahoo.ca

http://newsfrombang ladesh.net/ view.php? hidRecord= 301388



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Media Disinformation: TV Networks Give Americans a Sanitized Version of War



Media Disinformation: TV Networks Give Americans a Sanitized Version of War



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] FW: [wp] introducing a contemporary Muslim woman writer: Leila Aboulela



 


From: M Mahmudul Hasan [mailto:wpmh12@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:23 PM
To: sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com
Subject: RE: [wp] introducing a contemporary Muslim woman writer: Leila Aboulela

Assalamu Alaikum.

She is a kind of creative writer who we should promote and for whom we may feel proud. We need many more like her.

Mahmud


From: sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com
To: mokarram76@yahoo.com; wpmh12@hotmail.com
Subject: FW: [wp] introducing a contemporary Muslim woman writer: Leila Aboulela
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:09:11 +0100

Please give yourview on her.

 

Chacha

 


From: witness-pioneer@yahoogroups.com [mailto:witness-pioneer@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mahmudul Hasan
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 12:10 PM
To: Witness Pioneer; banglarnari@yahoogroups.com; dahuk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [wp] introducing a contemporary Muslim woman writer: Leila Aboulela

 

 

 

Leila Aboulela

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth519F079C1b0d72542EXnS10B7B07

Author statement

When I write I experience relief and satisfaction that what occupies my mind, what fascinates and disturbs me, is made legitimate by the shape and tension  of a story. I want to show the psychology, the state of mind and the emotions of a person who has faith. I am interested in going deep, not just looking at 'Muslim' as a cultural or political identity but something close to the centre, something that transcends but doesn't deny gender, nationality, class and race. I write fiction that reflects Islamic logic; fictional worlds where cause and effect are governed by Muslim rationale. However my characters do not necessarily behave as 'good' Muslims; they are not ideals or role models. They are, as I see them to be, flawed characters trying to practise their faith or make sense of God's will, in difficult circumstances.

 

Leila Aboulela



Back | Genres | Bibliography | Prizes and awards | Critical perspective
Author statement | Further reading on this site | Contact details | Related links | Printer-friendly version

 

 *

 *

 *

 *

Photo: © Mark Pringle

 *

Biography

Leila Aboulela was born in 1964 in Cairo and grew up in Khartoum. She studied for a degree in Economics at Khartoum University, then moved to England to obtain a masters degree in Statistics at the London School of Economics. She worked as a part-time Research Assistant while starting to write.
 
She has had several short stories published in anthologies and broadcast on radio, and one of her short stories, 'The Museum', won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000. Her collection of short stories, Coloured Lights, was published in 2001.
 
She is also the author of two novels: The Translator (1999); and Minaret (2005), the latter telling the story of Najwa, an aristocratic Sudanese woman forced into exile in Britain.
 
BBC Radio 4 broadcast a 5-part adaptation of The Translator in 2002, and a dramatization of 'The Museum'. She has also had several radio plays broadcast, including The Mystic Life (2003) and The Lion of Chechnya (2005).
 
Leila Aboulela lives between Abu Dhabi and Aberdeen.
 
 

 Top of page

 *

Top of page

 

 

Genres (in alphabetical order)

Fiction, Radio drama, Short stories
 
 

Bibliography

The Translator   Polygon, 1999
Coloured Lights   Polygon, 2001
Minaret   Bloomsbury, 2005
 

 Buy books by Leila Aboulela at Amazon.co.uk

 *

Buy books by Leila Aboulela at Amazon.co.uk

 


 Top of page

 *

Top of page

 

 

Prizes and awards

2000   Caine Prize for African Writing   ('The Museum')
2000   Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award   (shortlist)   The Translator
2002   PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award   (shortlist)   Coloured Lights
2003   Race and Media Award   (shortlist - radio drama serialisation)   The Translator
 
 

 Top of page

 *

Top of page

 

 

Critical Perspective

In her relatively short career Leila Aboulela has established a significant reputation, winning several literary awards and receiving critical praise from two of Africa's leading contemporary writers, Ben Okri and J.M. Coetzee. Both Okri and Coetzee applaud the quiet anger and restraint which typifies the prose of Aboulela's first three works: The Translator (1999); Coloured Lights (2001); and Minaret (2005). The protagonist of The Translator is Sammar, a Sudanese widow living in Aberdeen and working for a Scottish academic. Rae Isles is a lecturer in Middle-Eastern History and Third World Politics, and Sammar is translating the work of an extremist group for him. However, the question of translation transcends their working relationship in the book. Sammar is narrated in the third person, which means our access to her thoughts and motivations is always oblique, open to translation. Meanwhile the growing personal relationship between Sammar and Rae, like Sammar's relationship with her local environment, is caught up within the fraught dynamics of mistranslation, untranslatability. When they first meet Rae asks of her name '"Do you pronounce it like the season, summer?"', she replies '"Yes, but it does not have the same meaning"'. At a later meeting in Aberdeen's Winter Gardens, she wonders how she will translate her past to him. Back in Sudan, Sammar rejected her family in order to marry Tarig. The couple move to Scotland so that Tarig could pursue his medical studies, but he is killed in a car crash. As a result of this trauma, Sammar temporarily rejects their young son, who in turn rejects her.
 
The repressed dimensions of her past, and of the text, raise further issues of interpretation both for Rae and the reader, who is often placed in the role of analyst trying to translate the workings of Sammar's unconscious from an external perspective. Tantalisingly, the novel opens with a dream:
 
'She dreamt that it rained and she could not go out to meet him as planned. She could not walk through the hostile water, risk blurring the ink on the pages he had asked her to translate. And the anxiety that she was keeping him waiting pervaded the dream, gave it an urgency that was astringent to grief.'
 
Condensed in this passage (if we choose to translate it) are the discourses of romance and religion that saturate the novel as a whole. The relationship between Rae and Sammar progresses over the Christmas and New Year period. They talk repeatedly on the telephone, and once again the question of translation looms: their professional talk conceals personal desires. But when Sammar finally gathers the courage to ask Rae to convert to Islam, he hesitates, and they part company. Sammar leaves for Africa, but feels an exile at home and her feelings for Rae persist. On discovering through a third party that Rae has converted to Islam she decides to make contact: 'She was going to write two letters in two languages. They would say the same thing but not be in translation.'. In this sense The Translator is less a novel about translation then it is a meditation on translation's limits.
 
Significantly her next novel, Minaret, opens with a string of untranslated words: 'Bism Allahi, Ar-rahman, Ar-raheem'. Divided into five sections, the novel shuttles between the mid-1980s, the early 1990s and the present, between Khartoum and London, as we follow the trials and tribulations of its protagonist, Najwa. Najwa's family are members of the corrupt elite in Khartoum. As such, she makes a novel postcolonial protagonist: she prefers the material worlds of Marie Claire and Cosmopolitanism to the political narratives she encounters at University. Even when Najwa's crush on Anwar, a former member of the student Communist Party in Khartoum, is rekindled through a chance meeting in London, she remains a passive and naïve figure.
 
But things are set to change. Following a coup, her father is arrested and Najwa flees with her brother and mother to London. Living in drastically reduced circumstances she becomes a domestic hand and baby sitter. In her spare time she attends the mosque having converted to Islam. However, this is not a story of straightforward conversion. As Mike Phillips notes in a review in the Guardian newspaper:
 
'Najwa's conversion is not an easy surrender to tradition. Instead it is a hard-won dedication to service, a kind of restitution for her former life, and the ending of the book is a disturbing hint that the peace she has achieved is contingent and subject to perpetual challenge.

In a narrative of complex reversals, Aboulela takes a huge risk in describing her heroine's religious conversion and spiritual dedication. She succeeds brilliantly. This is a beautiful, daring, challenging novel. '

 
The experiences of contingency and uncertainty that pervade Aboulela's novels also help explain her success and accomplishment as a short story writer, where curtailment, and brevity become positive formal qualities. In the title story of her collection, Coloured Lights, we have a nod to this formal impressionism in the splodges of primary colour that recur in references to 'colourful posters' and clothes ('Wools, rich silks and satin dresses'), Christmas lights in London's Regent Street, and the lights that decorate wedding houses in Khartoum. These colours converge in the consciousness of the narrator as she journeys home on a bus through London, all the time recollecting the tragic death of her beloved brother, Taha, who is electrocuted setting up the lights for his wedding. If within the logic of multiculturalism, coloured lights suggest an illuminating, and positively colourful diversity, here they are associated with mourning, death, and the deceptive surfaces of metropolitan capitalism: 'The progress of the bus was slow in contrast to the shoppers who swarmed around in the brightly lit streets. Every shop window boasted an innovative display and there were new decorative lights in addition to the street lights.' The narrator prefers the darkness between the lights in much the same way Aboulela prefers to dwell on the gaps between languages: 'The English word "homesick" is a good one; we do not have exactly the same word in Arabic.'
 
Like Minaret and The Translator, Coloured Lights deals with questions of cultural misunderstanding and mistranslation. In her prize-winning story, 'The Museum', an unlikely relationship develops between Shadia, a wealthy visiting student from Khartoum, and Bryan from Peterhead, Scotland. Both are studying for an MSc in Statistics, both from marginal, 'unknown' locations beyond each other's immediate reality. Despite the charming association that emerges between them, and which culminates in a visit to a Scottish museum exhibiting 'Africa', Bryan can't understand Shadia, and Shadia can't understand Bryan. The coloured lights of Aboulela's collection share a fragile proximity that gives off a temporary warmth, but they never ultimately join up. Like all her works to date it dwells on the synaptic spaces between languages, words, images, identities and cultures.
 
 
Dr James Procter, 2009
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 Top of page

 *

Top of page

 

 

Further reading on this site

Walberberg Seminar
The Walberberg Seminar is the British Council's largest and longest running annual literature seminar overseas. The most recent Walberberg Seminar was held in January 2009 at Akademie Schmockwitz, Berlin on... more...   (15/12/2004)

 
 

 Top of page

 *

Top of page

 

 

Contact information

Publisher (General enquiries)
Bloomsbury Publishing plc
38 Soho Square
London  W1D 3HB
England
Tel: +44 (0)20 7494 2111
Fax: +44 (0)20 7434 0151
E-mail: publicity@bloomsbury.com
http://www.bloomsbury.com

Agent
Stephanie Cabot
The Gernert Company
136 East 57th Street
New York 10022  
USA
Tel: +1 212 838 7777
E-mail: scabot@thegenertco.com
http://www.thegenertco.com

Also published by
Polygon
Berlinn
West Newington House
10 Newington Road, Edinburgh  EH9 1QS
Scotland
Tel: +44 (0)131 668 4371
Fax: +44 (0)131 668 4466
E-mail: info@birlinn.co.uk
www.birlinn.co.uk


 

 

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!



Do you want a Hotmail account? Sign-up now - Free

__._,_.___


****************************************************
Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585

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

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




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___