Banner Advertiser

Sunday, June 6, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Shafik Rehman on Amar Desh closure



Shafik Rehman on Amar Desh closure
 
 
 
 


__._,_.___


[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] Prof Asif Nazrul on Amar Desh closure



Prof Asif Nazrul on Amar Desh closure
 
 
 


__._,_.___


[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] FW: Reason why Facebook was banned by BAL




 
> Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 14:31:02 -0700
> Subject: Reason why Facebook was banned by BAL
> From: shobujbongo@gmail.com
> To: bangladeshiamericans@googlegroups.com
>
> It would be a wishful thinking on our part if we assume that BAL govt.
> has banned FB because of the offensive cartoon drawing contest of
> Islam's Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). This violent anti-Islam govt. gives a
> damn about Islam rather creates all kinds of impediment to suppress
> the pious folks of BD.
>
> Then what is the reason of the Facebook ban? May be the following link
> has the answer:
> http://www.nagorikblog.com/node/1377
>
> Thanks
> AK
>
> --
> * Disclaimer: You received this message because you had subscribed to the Google Groups "Bangladeshi-Americans Living in New England". Any posting to this group is solely the opinion of the author of the messages to BangladeshiAmericans@googlegroups.com who is responsible for the accuracy of his/her information and the conformance of his/her material with applicable copyright and other laws where applicable. The act of posting to the group indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator(s). To post to this group, send email to BangladeshiAmericans@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to BangladeshiAmericans-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/BangladeshiAmericans?hl=en ].


The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started.

__._,_.___


[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] Farakka barrage : India's water war



Farakka barrage : India's water 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

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Solidarity meet: Closure of Amar Desh, Channel-I protested



Solidarity meet: Closure of Amar Desh, Channel-I protested

A group of Dhaka University teachers formed a
human chain at the Central Shaheed Minar on Sunday to
protest the closure of Channel One TV and Amar Desh
 
Political leaders, journalists and professionals yesterday demanded immediate republication of the Daily Amar Desh, release of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman and reopening the Channel 1.

Otherwise a tough united movement against the government would be formed that would ultimately unseat the government, they threatened.

The demand and threat were made at a token hunger strike and solidarity gathering held at the National Press Club in the city, organised by Jatiya Gonotantrik Party (Jagpa) protesting cancellation of Amar Desh's declaration and arrest of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman.

Jagpa president Shafiul Alam presided over the programme where leaders of different political parties, journalists and professionals attended and expressed their solidarity.

Among them, BNP standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed, opposition chief whip Joynul Abedin Faruk, BNP Vice Chairman Begum Razia Foyez, Assistant Secretary of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Mohammad Kamruzzaman, Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud, former BDR DG Maj Gen (Retd) ALM Fazlur Rahman, NPP President Sheikh Shawkat Hossain Nilu, NDP president Khandaker Gulam Mortuza, general secretary of Bangladesh Jatiya Party Shamim Al Mamun, general secretary of Islami Oikkya Jote Maulana Abdul Latif Nijami, Islamic Party president Advocate Abdul Mabin, poet Abdul Hye Shikder, BFUJ president Ruhul Amin Gazi, Jubo Dal president Moazzem Hossain Alal, Prof Rehana Prodhan, NAP Secretary Gulam Mostafa Bhuiyan and Swadinata Forum president Abu Naser Mohammad Rahmatullah.

Protesting closure of Amar Desh and arrest of its editor Mahmudur Rahman, Barrister Moudud said that the incident is undemocratic, unprecedented and it is a negative signal for the Government.

He called upon the editors of the national dailies, all journalists and owners of media to wage a strong united movement against such fascist and autocratic behavior of the Government saying that otherwise, the government would attack on other media gradually.

About 2 pm, Barrister Moudud finished the token hunger strike by feeding juice to Jagpa president and its leaders.

Meanwhile, professional leaders formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club demanding immediate withdrawal of the decision of cancellation of Amar Desh's declaration and release of its acting editor.

They gave two days ultimatum to the government for fulfilling their demand, otherwise they would observe day-long hunger strike programme on June 8 in front of the Press Club.

Presided over by BFUJ president Ruhul Amin Gazi, it was attended, among others, by prominent journalist Ataus Samad, Press Club president and general secretary Shawkat Mahmud and Kamal Uddin Sabuj, DUJ president Abdus Shaheed, BNP central leaders Narul Islam Khan and Selima Rahman, former BMA president Prof Dr AKM Azizul Haque, Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, former secretary ANH Akter Hossain, cultural personality Chasi Najrul Islam and DU professor Dr Aminur Rahman Majumder.

Over hundred teachers of Dhaka University, which are the supporters of white panel, formed a human chain at the Central Shaheed Minar protesting closure of Amar Desh and arrest of its editor.

The programme was attended, among others, by former Pro VC Prof AFM Yusuf Haider, Secretary of DU Teachers' Association Prof Obaidul Islam, Science Faculty Dean Tajmeri SA Islam, Business Faculty Dean Prof Dr Md Abbas Ali Khan, Law Faculty Dean Prof Burhan Uddin Khan, Engeneering Faculty Dean Prof Shaheeda Rafique, Jahurul Haque Hall Provost Dr Jahidul Islam and Fazlul Haque Hall Provost Prof Mozammel Haque.

On the other hand, Dhaka University Journalists' Association (DUJA) demanded withdrawal of cancellation of Amar Desh's declaration and immediate release of its editor Mahmudur Rahman.

In a joint statement, DUJA president Rakib Ahmed and its general secretary Saidur Rahman said that the action against Amar Desh and arrest of its editor is a threat for the freedom of media and the democracy.
 



__._,_.___


[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] Why hilla organisers won’t face criminal case: asks HC




 
The High Court on Sunday asked the government to explain in three weeks why a criminal case would not be filed against four persons for arranging hilla marriage in a Bogra village in 2007.
   The bench of Justice Mohammad Anwarul Haque and Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain passed the order after hearing a supplementary prayer to a writ petition of May 2007.
   
Counsel Manzill Murshid submitted a report to the court, identifying four persons, Harun ur Rashid, Abu Taher, Azizur Rahman and Ansar Akhi, responsible for hilla marriages that earned bad reputation for the village, Dashtika in Bogra.
   Following the writ petition, the court had on May 6,2007, issued a rule asking the government to explain why it would not be directed to stop 'fatwa'.
   
The court had also asked the government to explain why legal steps would not be taken against the people involved in the hilla marriage
   Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh had filed the writ petition challenging hilla marriage after a newspaper published a report on May 1, 2007 under the caption, 'Dashtika, a village of Hilla marriage.'
  
 In hilla marriage, divorced partners are married to third parties before reunification.
 


__._,_.___


[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] Fwd: Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman



------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zoglul Husain zoglul@hotmail.co.uk

Movement for release of Mahmudur Rahman and withdrawal of the cancellation of Amar Desh's declaration:
 
We have been holding meetings in London with coverage in TV and other media. More meetings and demos are scheduled in London.
 
In Bangladesh, a large number of organisations and important people have already launched a powerful movement. Wherever you are, please give your support.
 
Please read:
http://www.dailynayadiganta.com/fullnews.asp?News_ID=215376&sec=1  
 
http://www.dailynayadiganta.com/fullnews.asp?News_ID=215369&sec=1
 
http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=321045
 
Release Mahmudur Rahman

Editors ask to revive declaration of Amar Desh immediately
Staff Correspondent Daily Star Sunday, June 6, 2010
 
The editors of national dailies yesterday demanded immediate withdrawal of the cancellation of Amar Desh's declaration and release of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman.
In a joint statement, they strongly protested and expressed concern over the decision calling it a threat to people's right to information and state opinion freely.
The editors said, "The decision to close the newspaper would send a negative message to the world about Bangladesh's tolerance to different views and democratic values. At the same time it will be considered as an impediment to democratic norms and culture."
According to the statement, the move would make some 700 journalists of the daily jobless putting their families into miseries.
The signatories of the statement were the editors Mahbubul Alam of
The independent, Reazuddin Ahmed of News Today, Matiur Rahman of Prothom Alo, Mahfuz Anam of The Daily Star, Golam Sarwar of Shamokal, Abed Khan of daily Kaler Kantha, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury of the Daily Observer, Serajul Islam Choudhury of Notun Diganta, AMM Bahauddin of Inqilab, Alamgir Mohiuddin of daily Naya Diganta, Abul Asad of the Daily Sangram, Moazzem Hossain of The Financial Express, Shawkat Mahmud of Akhon, Nurul Kabir of the New Age, Naeemul Islam Khan of Amader Shomoy, Salma Islam of Jugantor, Mostafa Kamal Mojumder of the New Nation, Shyamol Dutta of Bhorer Kagoj, Toufique Imrose Khalidi of BDNews24.com, Shahjahan Sardar of Bangladesh Protidin, Rashid-un-Nabi of Shokaler Khobor, Ekramul Haque of Sheershanews.com, Chief Editor of Manabjamin Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, BSS former chief editor and Managing Director Foyez Ahmed, former editor of daily Amar Desh and weekly Akhon Ataus Samad, Founding Editor of daily Jai Jai Din Shafiq Rehman, Acting Editor of the daily Dinkal Rizwan Siddiqi and Chief Editor of Banglanews24.com Alamgir Hossain.

 


Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail.
Sign-up now.


__._,_.___


[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

__,_._,___

Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: A personal note about Ahmedis



Dear Ezaj - Thank you for your appreciation.

Stay well

 

Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: ezajur
Sent: Jun 2, 2010 3:59 AM
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: A personal note about Ahmedis

 

Dear Robin

Thank you for sending this timely and thoughtful reminder of our common humanity.

Regards

Ezajur Rahman
Kuwait



__._,_.___


[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] HISTORICAL 7th JUNE ---- a day to remember!!!

Dear all,
Today is the HISTORICAL 7TH JUNE ------ a day of MILE STONE of our liberation struggle. On this day FATHER OF NATION BANGABANDHU declared the mass movement on the basis six points, popularly known as "BANGALIR MUKTI SANAD". The subsequent mass movements of '69, landslide victory of '70 election and finally emergence of "INDEPENDENT BANGLADESH" are all BY-PRODUCTS of SIX POINTS!!! Please read the attached article for details:

 

http://www.dailyjanakantha.com/news_view.php?nc=15&dd=2010-06-07&ni=20908

 

Regards,

Dr. Manik

Atlanta





________________________________
From: Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@gmail.com>
To: notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; maxx ombba <maqsudo@hotmail.com>; wideminds <WideMinds@yahoogroups.com>; Sonar Bangladesh <sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com>; Hannan shah <sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com>; dahuk <dahuk@yahoogroups.com>; Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com>; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; zoglul@hotmail.co.uk; Md. Aminul Islam <aminul_islam_raj@yahoo.com>; Anis Ahmed <anis.ahmed@netzero.net>; Mo Assghar <moassghar@yahoo.com>
Sent: Mon, May 31, 2010 3:09:31 AM
Subject: Re: [notun_bangladesh] Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: Rise of the Channel-1 raised many eyebrows

 
Ayubi Bhai

Yes, I am hinting at those "KULANGARS" of the unfortunate nation BANGLADESH for which the Mukti Jodhdha shed ocean of blood with a dream of dignifies life for the nation in future. But the tragedy is that the Shadhinata earned by these Akuta Bhoi Mukti Jodhdhas is being enjoyed by the quislings in guise of "Jibis" distorting the history of the liberation war n placing people who did not care or had any feeling for the Mukti Judhdha as the saviour and to be worshiped.
These "KULANGARS" are tight lipped when the Sonar Cheleys are involved ...... throughout the country n the name of valiant freedom fighters are omitted and is repalced by the hated Janwars name on the street n elsewhere in the country.

PERHAPS THIS BANGLADESH WAS DREAMT BY THE MUKTI JODHDHAS???? ?????? THAT IN COURSE OF TIME THE VALUE OF THE COVETED "LAL SABUJ  PATAKA" BECOME INSIGNIFICANT PAVING THE WAY FOR THE POWER WE ARE INDEBTED TO FOREVER AS OUR PRUDENT,ERUDITE N PATRIOT POLITICIANS/ JIBIS ARE SHOUTING DAY IN AND DAY OUT.
A BIG QUESTION FROM ORDINARY CITIZEN THEN WHERE THE  SACRIFICE OF 3 MILLION MARTYRS WILL STANDS FOR ???????????? ????????? ????????? ??????


Let the heroic sacrifice of the Martyrs remain ever glowing in the "Akash Batash NodiPrantor" of BANGLADESH n the LalSabujPataka to fly high with right dignity n honour forever n ever.
 
BANGLADESH  ZINDABAD
ZINDABAD  BANGLADESHZINDABAD

Faruque Alamgir



On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 8:19 PM, Salahuddin Ayubi <s_ayubi786@yahoo. com> wrote:

 
>Dear Faruq Bhai,
>                       Are you refering to our intelectual prostitues , who have a price tag on themselves.  RAW has purchaed most of them. This is a point to ponder.
>                           Ayubi
>
>
________________________________

>From: Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@ gmail.com>
>To: alochona@yahoogroup s.com; maxx ombba <maqsudo@hotmail. com>; wideminds <WideMinds@yahoogrou ps.com>; Sonar Bangladesh <sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com>; Hannan shah <sahannan@sonarbangl adesh.com>; dahuk <dahuk@yahoogroups. com>; Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo. com>; notun_bangladesh@ yahoogroups. com; history_islam@ yahoogroups. com; zoglul@hotmail. co.uk; Md. Aminul Islam <aminul_islam_ raj@yahoo. com>
>Sent: Sun, May 30, 2010 3:06:34 PM
>Subject: [notun_bangladesh] Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: Rise of the Channel-1 raised many eyebrows
>

>This is an important point to ponder about.
>To me it is because the international media took it for granted that Bangladesh is a protectorate of bestial HINDUS of HINDUSTAN so, they are least bothered about what is happening within Bangladesh n outside the credit earned by the Bangladeshis.
>Had this success been achieved by Hindustan the world media would have jumped to sing Chorus to highlight the achievement. The"Bighgha( prudent ??)" n hated Jibis n concubine journalist should take into account that why they are made outcaste by the international journalist community??? ???? It is because the journalist community hates lickes and do not consider anyone who gives away ones chasity for the benfit of others accros the border. 
>
>Faruque Alamgir
>
>
>On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 2:14 PM, Mahathir of BD <wouldbemahathirofbd @yahoo.com> wrote:
>

>>Have any one read  the news of Musa conquered Himalys in any international media ?
>> If not, then how this  incidence  can improve image of Bangladesh ?
>>
>>
>>The test of patriotism is not a one-off event for anyone, let alone the political quarters, that once passed is passed for ever. It is rather a perpetual process, especially for the ruling political quarters that have to pass it every moment- Nurul Kabir , Editor , The NewAge
>>
>>--- On Tue, 25/5/10, Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@ gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>From: Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@ gmail.com>
>>>Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: Rise of the Channel-1 raised many eyebrows
>>>To: "maxx ombba" <maqsudo@hotmail. com>, "alochona" <alochona@yahoogroup s.com>
>>>
>>>Received: Tuesday, 25 May, 2010, 11:53 AM
>>>
>>>
>>> 
>>>This is a very good proposal.  If rightly encouraged n funded many youth could be trained to go for the great adventure n bring laurel for Bangladesh.Thanks for the initiative.
>>>
>>>Faruque Alamgir
>>>
>>>
>>>On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 7:07 AM, maxx ombba <maqsudo@hotmail. com> wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>>>
>>>>http://www.thedaily star.net/ newDesign/ news-details. php?nid=139936
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Musa has brought prestige and hope to all of us. He has improved the image of Bangladesh, a land
>>>>so often referred as a corrupt country with poor, hungry people.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Can we help Musa , financially and otherwise, so that Musa can continue to
>>>>enjoy his hobby....after all he is damn good in it!!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>We can also assist him to take " small-but-practical initiatives". 
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Initiatives and actions to encourage, supervise and train other Bangladeshis to reach the peaks of Himalayas.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Anyone close to Musa reading my appeal?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Please tell us about the best method/ avenue to reach Musa and ask him about his needs/dreams.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>How to contact Musa's wife, Soraban Tahura Rimi, an assistant judge in Mymensingh?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Best wishes.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>khoda hafez.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>dr. maqsud omar
>>>>Australia.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> 
>
>


[ALOCHONA] Re: [WideMinds] Re: [world_peace_movement] Re: Amardesh _ Fascist face of BAKHSHALI & their Supporters

Respected Readers,
Our deepest condolences for the sad demises of NIMTALI
TRAZEDY. May Allah(SWT) bless the departed souls and give
enough strengths to the members of the devastated families.
Also heartfelt thanks to the present govt. specially Hon. SK.
Hasina for her personal efforts to handle this grave situation
in a real HUMANITORIAN WAY . This is called TRUE LEADER-
SHIP, this is called "MANUSH MANUSHER JONNE"!! Please read
attached article for details :

 

http://www.dailyjanakantha.com/news_view.php?nc=15&dd=2010-06-07&ni=20906

 

Respectfully,

Dr. Manik

Atlanta





________________________________
From: Anis Ahmed <anis.ahmed@netzero.net>
To: Chanchal <chanchal_ju@yahoo.com>; wideminds <WideMinds@yahoogroups.com>; Md. Aminul Islam <aminul_islam_raj@yahoo.com>; Amra Bangladesi <amra-bangladesi@yahoogroups.com>; Bangladesh-Zindabad@yahoogroups.com; sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; zoglul@hotmail.co.uk; dahuk <dahuk@yahoogroups.com>; delwar <delwar98@hotmail.com>; Md. Mostafa Kamal <mmk3k@yahoo.com>; world_peace_movement@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; mukto_mona@yahoo.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; voice-of-south@yahoogroups.com; odhora@yahoogroups.com; amra-bangladeshi@yahoogroups.com; notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com; bangla vision <bangla-vision@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com>; joybanglanews@gmail.com; faruquealamgir@gmail.com; abid bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com>; rivercrossinternational@yahoo.com; probashivoice@gmail.com; mhkhan71bd@yahoo.com; Eastside Peds <eastside_peds@bellsouth.net>; Muhammad Ali <manik195709@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sun, June 6, 2010 2:40:13 PM
Subject: [WideMinds] Re: [world_peace_movement] Re: Amardesh _ Fascist face of BAKHSHALI & their Supporters

 
To All:
 
World peace movement moderator has taken appropriate step by releasing M H Khan's message containing web linkages of an article written by highly renowned columnist Mr. Farhad Mazhar which was published in the Media Soldier Naya Diganta in Bangladesh.
 
Bangladesh is neither out of the globe nor isolated from other countries of this world. If Bangladesh liberation war was a part of the then world peace movement then why not any cruel action taken by the current Bangladesh government against fundamental rights of the citizen in a Hitler's Goebel way if it effects directly or indirectly in the world's environment, economic, political, social, cultural area?
 
The British government and the US Ambassador in Bangladesh have already raised their concerns about the closure of Sonar Bangladesh. http://www.unbconne ct.com/component /news/task- show/id-22321
 
I fully admire M H Khan, Farhad Mazhar, Naya Diganta and Moderator of this forum for their courageous actions in bringing out to the knowledge of the civilized people.
 
Not to mention, Chanchal should verify English grammar, at least noticeable mistakes before posting his message in English language to this or any other public forum.
 
Thanks,
 
Anis Ahmed
Maryland, USA
 
----- Original Message -----
>From: Chanchal
>To: wideminds ; Md. Aminul Islam ; Anis Ahmed ; Amra Bangladesi ; Bangladesh-Zindabad @yahoogroups. com ; sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com ; history_islam@ yahoogroups. com ; zoglul@hotmail. co.uk ; dahuk ; delwar ; Md. Mostafa Kamal ; world_peace_ movement@ yahoogroups. com ; alochona@yahoogroup s.com ; mukto_mona@yahoo. com ; khabor@yahoogroups. com ; voice-of-south@ yahoogroups. com ; odhora@yahoogroups. com ; bangladesh-zindabad @yahoogroups. com ; amra-bangladeshi@ yahoogroups. com ; notun_bangladesh@ yahoogroups. com
>Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 9:38 AM
>Subject: Re: [world_peace_ movement] Re: Amardesh _ Fascist face of BAKHSHALI & their Supporters
>
>
>Dear Moderator Of So called world_peace_ movement
>
>We expect some writing about international issue.
>
>Not national issues specially political.
>
>Please take some step about such kind of non scene writers.
>
>
>regards
>chanchal
>
>
>--- On Sat, 6/5/10, M h Khan <mhkhan71bd@yahoo. com> wrote:
>
>
>>From: M h Khan <mhkhan71bd@yahoo. com>
>>Subject: [world_peace_ movement] Re: Amardesh _ Fascist face of BAKHSHALI & their Supporters
>>To: "wideminds" <WideMinds@yahoogrou ps.com>, "Md. Aminul Islam" <aminul_islam_ raj@yahoo. com>, "Anis Ahmed" <anis.ahmed@netzero. net>, "Amra Bangladesi" <amra-bangladesi@ yahoogroups. com>, Bangladesh-Zindabad @yahoogroups. com, sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com, history_islam@ yahoogroups. com, zoglul@hotmail. co.uk, "dahuk" <dahuk@yahoogroups. com>, "delwar" <delwar98@hotmail. com>, "Md. Mostafa Kamal" <mmk3k@yahoo. com>, world_peace_ movement@ yahoogroups. com, alochona@yahoogroup s.com, mukto_mona@yahoo. com, khabor@yahoogroups. com, voice-of-south@ yahoogroups. com, odhora@yahoogroups. com, bangladesh-zindabad @yahoogroups. com, amra-bangladeshi@ yahoogroups. com, notun_bangladesh@ yahoogroups. com
>>Date: Saturday, June 5, 2010, 10:19 PM
>>
>>
>>Dear Friends,
>> 
>>Please find the details in the following links which unveil the fascist face of BAKSHALI & their supporters :
>> 
>>http://www.dailynay adiganta. com/2010/ 06/04/fullnews. asp?News_ ID=214905&sec=6
>> 
>>http://www.dailynay adiganta. com/fullnews. asp?News_ ID=215249&sec=6
>> 
>> 
>>Thank you,
>> 
>>M H Khan
>>
>>--- On Sat, 6/5/10, M h Khan <mhkhan71bd@yahoo. com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>From: M h Khan <mhkhan71bd@yahoo. com>
>>>Subject: [Sonar Bangladesh] Re: [Bangladesh- Zindabad] Newspaper & Media VS Fascism
>>>To: Bangladesh-Zindabad @yahoogroups. com, "wideminds" <WideMinds@yahoogrou ps.com>, "Md. Aminul Islam" <aminul_islam_ raj@yahoo. com>, "Anis Ahmed" <anis.ahmed@netzero. net>, "Amra Bangladesi" <amra-bangladesi@ yahoogroups. com>, "Sonar Bangladesh" <sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com>, history_islam@ yahoogroups. com, zoglul@hotmail. co.uk, "dahuk" <dahuk@yahoogroups. com>, "delwar" <delwar98@hotmail. com>, "Md. Mostafa Kamal" <mmk3k@yahoo. com>, world_peace_ movement@ yahoogroups. com, alochona@yahoogroup s.com, mukto_mona@yahoo. com, khabor@yahoogroups. com, voice-of-south@ yahoogroups. com, odhora@yahoogroups. com, bangladesh-zindabad @yahoogroups. com, amra-bangladeshi@ yahoogroups. com, notun_bangladesh@ yahoogroups. com
>>>Date: Saturday, June 5, 2010, 7:47 AM
>>>
>>>
>>>This BAKSHALI fascist must be punished first. You shouldn't try to escape calling him a pagiol. Remember Pagol have no punishment.
>>>
>>>BAKSHALI didn't only closed in 1975 but they closed during 1996-2001 and Now.
>>>
>>>Please also see below what they have done to stop & ban opposition voice, newspaper & media.
>>>
>>>
>>>THE HIT LIST SO FAR -
>>>    * Channel One closed
>>>    * Jumuna TV closed
>>>    * DeshCalling blog banned ( http://deshcalling. blogspot. com )
>>>    * Talkshow Point of Order closed
>>>    * You Tube banned
>>>    * Facebook banned
>>>    * Amardesh journalist attacked and beaten
>>>    * Amardesh editor was attacked in Dhaka and in London by Awami league thugs
>>>    * New Age editor Nurul Kabir threatened and car followed by armed men
>>>    * Amardesh publisher is arrested by NSI
>>>    * Amardesh closed
>>>    * Amardesh Acting Editor Mahmudur Rahman arrested and jailed
>>>thanks you,
>>>
>>>M H Khan
>>>
>>>--- On Thu, 6/3/10, Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@ gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>From: Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@ gmail.com>
>>>>Subject: Re: [Bangladesh- Zindabad] Newspaper & Media VS Fascism
>>>>To: Bangladesh-Zindabad @yahoogroups. com, "wideminds" <WideMinds@yahoogrou ps.com>, "Md. Aminul Islam" <aminul_islam_ raj@yahoo. com>, "Anis Ahmed" <anis.ahmed@netzero. net>, "Amra Bangladesi" <amra-bangladesi@ yahoogroups. com>, "Sonar Bangladesh" <sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com>, history_islam@ yahoogroups. com, zoglul@hotmail. co.uk, "dahuk" <dahuk@yahoogroups. com>, "delwar" <delwar98@hotmail. com>, "Md. Mostafa Kamal" <mmk3k@yahoo. com>
>>>>Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010, 6:54 PM
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 
>>>>Manik Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaa
>>>>
>>>>you are very correeeeeeeeeeeect :  how about this if people tells about you:
>>>>
>>>> "PAGOLEY KI NA BOLEY AR CHAGOLEY KI NA KHAI".
>>>>
>>>>THE MAJORITY OPINION IS 100% FAVOURING YOU FOR THE ABOVE !!!!!!!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 7:17 PM, Eastside Peds <eastside_peds@ bellsouth. net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>  
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Dear All,
>>>>>AMARDESH was banned due to gross violations of conducts and rules of publications and Mahmudur Rahman was arrested due to misconduct with LAW-ENFORCING forces. So, OUTCRY OF BNP-JAMAT JOTE is baseless!! More over Mahmudur Rahman, a self proclaimed JOURNALIST, with ILL-MOTIVES was publishing FALSE- FABRICATIVE- FRAUDULENT news to DEFAME the Govt. and BLUFF the countrymen. Mahmudur Rahman as an adviser to Khaleda Zia was instrumental to sell country's interests to TATA, the Indian giant!! He was the main architect of the NOTORIOUS UTTORA CONSPIRACY!! If Mohiuddin Alamgir get JAIL IMPRISONMENT for JANATAR MANCHA, then what's wrong with imprisonment of an UNSCRUPULOUS person like Mr. Rahman !! BNP-JAMAT- PRO PAKI JOTE on and off are outbursting regarding socalled banning of news papers in 1975 ----- ironically they allowed only four like minded news papers to be distributed in Cantonment , Madrashas,etc !! More over they banned BANGLAR BANI, BANGLADESH TIMES, WEEKLY BICHITRA and popular TV Channel ETV during their tenure of misrule!!
>>>>> 
>>>>>NOW OUTCRYING FOR "AMAR DESH AND M. RAHMAN''  SOUNDSLIKE "BHUTER MUKHE RAAM NAAM"!!!
>>>>> 
>>>>>DR. MANIK
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>____________ _________ _________ __
>>>>>From: M h Khan <mhkhan71bd@yahoo. com>
>>>>>To: world_peace_ movement@ yahoogroups. com; alochona@yahoogroup s.com; mukto_mona@yahoo. com; khabor@yahoogroups. com; sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com; voice-of-south@ yahoogroups. com; odhora@yahoogroups. com; bangladesh-zindabad @yahoogroups. com; amra-bangladeshi@ yahoogroups. com; notun_bangladesh@ yahoogroups. com
>>>>>Sent: Thu, June 3, 2010 3:13:25 AM
>>>>>Subject: [Bangladesh- Zindabad] Newspaper & Media VS Fascism
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 
>>>>>Dear Friends,
>>>>> 
>>>>>What is called 1st step fascism, then 2nd, 3rd etc?
>>>>> 
>>>>>We noticed anxiously that the Daily Amar Desh, the most courageous (for this reason gaining popularity rapidly) newspaper of Bangladesh is ban & the brave son of time, Editor Engr. Mahmuhudur Rahman (He was the man who had taken his pen against the inhuman oppression on Sk. Hasina & Khaleda Zia by Moyeen-Fakhruddin illegal CA Government) is arrested. In the history of world there is no such heinous crimes occurred against a popular newspaper by a democratic government. Mentionable that few days ago Chanel 1 & Face Book were also closed. You tube was also closed earlier.
>>>>> 
>>>>>We could remember that in 16 June 1975, the black day of newspaper, all the newspapers were ban by the then one party BAKSHAL government under the leadership by Morhum Sk. Mujibar Rahman except 4 under direct control of BAKSHAL.
>>>>> 
>>>>>We are very sorry that again the heinous crime against newspaper happened on the same month, the 1st June, 2010 by the democratic government under the leadership of Sk. Hasina, the daughter of Sk Mujib.  
>>>>> 
>>>>>For detail pl go through the following links :
>>>>> 
>>>>>http://amardeshonli ne.com/pages/ latestnews/ 2010/06/01/ 435
>>>>> 
>>>>>http://amardeshonli ne.com/pages/ details/2010/ 06/01/34631
>>>>> 
>>>>>Thank you,
>>>>> 
>>>>>M H Khan
>>>>>
>>>>>  
>>>>>
>>>>>  
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___
Penny Stock Jumping 2000%
Sign up to the #1 voted penny stock newsletter for free today!
AwesomePennyStocks. com

[ALOCHONA] Worth a Read - 'Islam, Colonialism, and Resistance': Zia Sardar



'Islam, Colonialism, and Resistance': Zia Sardar

NAKED PUNCH

May 4, 2010

http://nakedpunch.com/articles/61

 

Ziauddin Sardar, writer, broadcaster and cultural critic, is Visiting Professor, the School of Arts, The City University, London. He describes himself as a 'critical polymath' and works across a number of disciplines ranging from Islamic studies and futures studies to science policy, literary criticism, information science to cultural relations, art criticism and critical theory. He was born in Pakistan in 1951 and grew up in Hackney, East London.

 

Interviewed by Bux Qalandar Memon

 

1 - In your recent book Balti Britain you recall racist encounters that you had as a child growing up in East London. Could you explain the operative dynamics behind the racism of your youth and how it operates today? Has there been a change?

 

During my childhood racism was much more overt. It was largely about the colour of your skin. 'To Let' signs on houses often carried the refrain: 'No Blacks, Irish or Dogs'. People would cross the road to avoid you when they saw you coming. I was a regular punch bag for racist bullies and thugs and came home from school routinely battered and bruised. Initially we were all 'blacks'; then all Asians become 'Pakis' and 'Paki bashing' became a favourite sport of racist thugs. The 1960s and 1970s, an era of recession, saw the rise of the fascist movement; and the consequent rise of several youth movements such as the Southall Youth Movement. There were two dominant kinds of racism: police and popular. Various racist murders and cases of police injustice led to a number of riots in places like Birmingham, Bradford and Brixton.

 

During the late 1980s, the generic black identity label began to recede. After the Rushdie affair in 1989, racism acquired a more cultural and religious dimension. Muslims became the new scapegoat. In addition, racism based on perceptions of patriotism also emerged during this period, indicated most clearly by the famous 'cricket test' of Norman Tebbit. When patriotism is contrasted with the charged language of 'immigrants' and 'bogus asylum seekers', minorities become easy targets as unpatriotic outsiders. Bring in the metaphors of 'nation' and the 'national way of life', based as they are on common descent, kinship ties, language, and custom, and every Black and Asian automatically becomes an alien Other. A variation of this form of racism is based on liberal secularism. Cultures and traditions that do not conform to the dictates of liberalism, such as the rural traditions of Asian Muslims in Britain, are constructed as intrinsically and immutably hostile to the European liberal ideals and consensus - that is, as 'alien' par excellence. Arrogant liberals, in my opinion, tend to be as racist as the easily identifiable, extreme conservative and nationalist types.

 

So I think racism in Britain has become broader and widened its parameters. Paradoxically, Britain appears to be a less racist society now than it was during my youth. But apart from religious racism against Muslims, which is openly expressed, the old-fashioned racist attitudes are expressed in more subtle, sophisticated forms - as nods and winks and paternal attitudes.

 

2 - In your book, Postmodernism and the Other, you outline a modern form of a similar practice where the knowledges and ways of being of the Third World are 'de-energized'...and you link this process to post-modernism. This would seem odd - after all, postmodernism stresses multiculturalism. Could you explain the link between post-modernism as an ideology and the continuation of imperial/colonial practices in the Third World?

 

For non-Western cultures, post-modernism is simply a new wave of domination riding on the crest of colonialism and modernity. Alterity (along with other euphemisms signifying the Other or the non-West) is a key postmodern term.

 

Postmodern relativism embraces the Other, making alterity far more than just the representations of all non-Western cultures and societies. Alterity is the condition of difference in any binary pair of differences; there is even alterity within the self. Thus postmodernism avoids, by glossing over, the politics of non-western marginalisation in history by suddenly discovering Otherness everywhere and that everyone has its own kind of otherness by which it defines itself. While this proves the triumph of the postmodern thesis that everything is relative, it is incapable of suggesting that anything is in some distinctive way itself, with its own history. The postmodern prominence of the Other becomes a classic irony. Instead of finally doing justice to the marginalised and demeaned, it vaunts the category to prove how unimportant, and ultimately meaningless, is any real identity it could contain. We are all Others now, can appropriate the Other, consume artefacts of the Other, so what does it matter if Others want something different in their future - such as the chance to make it for themselves? Postmodernism is thus several quantum leaps above colonialism and modernity. Colonialism was about the physical occupation of non-Western cultures. Modernity was about displacing the present and occupying the minds of non-Western cultures. Postmodernism is about appropriating the history and identity of non-Western cultures, colonizing their future and occupying their being.

 

It is all the more ironic then to encounter Third World champions of postmodernism and a whole array of Third World postmodernisms. The very idea of Third World postmodernism parallels the conditions of colonial or neo-colonial dependency in which shop-worn and out of fashion goods, irrelevant or useless technology, expensive or banned drugs, are exported to the developing countries where they enjoy a profitable second life. As with the fifties and sixties frenzy of modernization, postmodernism has partly been embraced uncritically and enthusiastically, partly reluctantly and critically and partly rejected and resisted strongly. Modern Indian pop music (including British Asian pop music), Malay hard rock and the work of postmodernist novelists like Thailand's Somtow celebrate postmodernism wholeheartedly. South African township jive music, contemporary Filipino art films, the punk rock culture of Medellin slums in Colombia take a more critical stance towards postmodernism. While Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiongo's decision to abandon the novel and write mainly in Kikuyu and Rigoberta Menchu's striking testimonial narrative of Indian resistance in Guatemala, "I, Rigoberta Menchu" have transformed postmodernism into a culture of resistance. Third World postmodernism is as diverse as Third World cultures themselves. Nowhere in the Third World is postmodernism more contested than in Latin America. During the Reagan era, a postmodernism of the right flourished throughout Latin America. The presidential campaigns of both Mario Vargas Llosa and Fujimori in Peru, the media populism of Menem in Argentina and Collor in Brazil, the transformation of Mexico in prospect of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the complex politics and economics of drugs and terrorism are the high points of the postmodernism of the right. These developments led the Mexican poet and Noble Laureate, Octavio Paz, to describe postmodernism as yet another imported project that does not fit Latin America. The South American left, on the other hand, sees the postmodern project as an important means of renovating its exhausted and discredited political agenda. A 'left postmodernism', based on the 'ethics of survival', emerged to challenge the gains of the right. Perhaps the most noted champions of this variety of Latin American postmodernism were the Sandinistas of Nicaragua who, after their defeat, embraced a whole range of postmodernist goals and policies while still maintaining a broad socialist agenda.

 

My main criticism is that while postmodernism demolishes grand narratives it privileges the grand narrative of liberal secularism. Indeed, liberal secularism is the umbrella under which postmodernism flourishes as well as the guiding principle of postmodernism. So it is an arch ideology pretending to be a force of liberation. The multiculturalism that postmodernism champions is largely window-dressing: it is not about giving power to marginalised cultures but consuming their cultural products. Postmodernism does not give voice to the voiceless, as it is claimed, but speaks for the voiceless. It is all about facile choice: we can choose to be different things. But of course the poor and the marginalised have no choice - you need power and representation to be able to choose. It is worth noting that postmodernism is specifically a product of western thought and philosophy, which has always defined reality and truth as its reality and truth. Now that this position cannot be sustained it seeks to maintain the status quo and continue unchecked on its trajectory of expansion and domination by undermining all criteria of reality and truth. Postmodernism takes the ideological mystification of colonialism and modernity to a new, all-pervasive level of control and oppression of the non-western cultures while parading itself as an intellectual alibi for the West's perpetual quest for meaning through consumption, including the consumption of all non-western cultures.

 

For me the whole postmodernism project is summed up by zapping. We have a seeming cornucopia of choice on our digital and satellite televisions, catering to all tastes however absurd or far out. We hop from channel to channel, zapping away. But we end up with everyone choosing to watch nothing. The raison d'etre of postmodern existence, the meaning of life, universe and everything, the intimate connection we all so acutely desire - all, all of this, is located in the art of zapping, the auto-creation of your very own postmodern spectacle. This is why I think postmodernism has fizzled out. It was empty to begin with; and we now hear nothing but the echo of the inner emptiness of the postmodern worldview.

 

3 - What role has Iqbal's thought played in your writing? What in Iqbal continues to radiate for you? For example, you quote the following couplet:

 

'if thou desirest everlasting life,

Break not the thread between the past and now

And the far future'.

 

You suggest that tradition must not be broken away from but reinvented. Why is this particularly important for the non-west? And how can tradition be used for those from the non-West now located in the West? For example, Muslims in Europe?

 

I dip into Iqbal off and on. He is always there as a source of inspiration and motivation. I find him a deeply traditional as well as futurist thinker. And, of course, he is eminently correct to point out that you cannot remain sane if you cut yourself from your past - a future without a past is no future at all. He wants us to jealously safeguard our traditions. But, as is clearly evident from his "The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam", from time to time, traditions have to be reconstructed, rethought and reinvented. Indeed, traditions remain traditions by being reinvented; otherwise they become ossified, oppressive customs.

 

Iqbal knew all too well that ossified passive traditionalism and militant formalist traditionalism are both easy prey to modernity. I would also argue that postmodernism induces panic in all forms of passive and militant outlooks and thus not only renders them ineffective against its all pervasive nihilism but makes them self-destructive. In other words, modernity simply overwhelms and postmodernism co-opts passivism and fundamentalism with the end result that goals of modernity and postmodernism are promoted. Thus unthinking and simplistic reactions, which shuffle the blame entirely onto the Western world while seeking to best the western demon with its own tools and rationales, lead to further entrapment. The only cultural survival kit for those who would choose to remain alive within living traditions, retain their identity and distinctive moral and ethical vision of themselves and the purpose of their existence - what Iqbal demands - is to see through the limitations of the passive minimalist tradition and the futile trap of militant fundamentalism. For the worldviews of the non-West, the only option is to transcend meaninglessness through living consciously, creatively making, and constantly reconstructing. This is a difficult and complex agenda, yet it is the only worthwhile enterprise that can offer us any kind of sustainable future.

 

At the heart of any culture and its traditional forms is a distinctive moral and ethical understanding, a worldview. Traditional culture in all its forms is about expression and communication of this moral vision, about working out its contemporary significance and relevance for a people with a strong historical identity. It can only remain alive when it becomes the living language through which contemporary questions, problems, choices and decisions are articulated. Form is not tradition, that is the misconception of Western theory that has been imposed upon all of the non-West to become a self fulfilling, self sustaining delusion. Traditional forms were constantly in the process of being created, mutated and radically revised, that is the story of history. For the non-West history will really end, the project of modernity will be complete and postmodernism will rule un-assailed unless the worldviews of non-Western cultures become the medium through which economy, politics, social, industrial and ecological conventions are negotiated. Culture is not an optional extra that can be indulged after working hours in the privacy of the home, or on certain high days and holidays. If that is what culture becomes then it is the rotting corpse of a dead system of thought and understanding, the dried husk of a worldview that no longer interacts with the real world we inhabit. It is not just one worldview, but every worldview that makes up the rich mosaic of our world that must be brought back to life if we are to defy and resist western cultural hegemony and the seductive path into total dependency and ever expanding decay it offers. Moral and ethical considerations are never easy, they are the greatest challenge to our humanity and our intellect. Becoming cantered in the moral and ethical concepts of our worldviews cannot mean renouncing all old interpretations or abandoning all that is of the West. It does, however, require recognizing and transcending the limitations of both as part of the process of taking responsibility for the present and creating a future that answers to and is a function of what we believe to be of enduring value and meaning.

 

I think Muslims living in the West have a great opportunity to rethink and reinvent their traditions. We have to make our traditions meaningful to both: contemporary times and the societies we live in. To some extent this will be painful. We have to ditch the ossified and oppressive forms of our tradition, for example, those relating to suppression of women. And rediscover the life-enhancing dimensions of our culture, for example, the emphasis that women should be treated with respect and dignity in public space. Instead of being obsessed with the outward forms of culture - such as dress and facial furniture - we need to promote its spirit: the principles of equality and social justice, the concerns with community development and community life, the emphasis in our tradition on knowledge and learning and on consultation, criticism and self-criticism, and debate and discussion.

 

4 - You have suggested, in a private conversation, that a difference has to be made between 'historical Sufism' and 'contemporary Sufism'. Could you elaborate the difference?

 

Let me begin by pointing out that Sufism is integral to Islam; and it has played a great part in our history. Iqbal himself was a great Sufi. Perhaps he is the greatest Sufi of the twentieth century. But this is not widely recognised. Largely, because he did not go around wearing his Sufism as a badge. Historical Sufism, I would argue, was deeply grounded in life-enhancing tradition, devoted to social justice, thought and learning and thus played a major part in the spread of Islam. It was due to their concern for social justice that great Sufis like Shah Waliullah and Osman dan Fadio took up arms against the imperialist. It was their concern for education and the welfare of the people that enabled Sufis like Nizamuddin Auliya and Datta Gunj Buskh to spread Islam so successfully in the Subcontinent.

 

Contemporary Sufism has a totally different makeup. Popular Sufism throughout the Muslim world is mostly about saint worship, veneration of graves, and exploiting the gullible with charms and amulets. In some cases, as in Turkey, it is a tourist attraction. Notice also that in contract to classical Sufism, which was anti-imperialist, contemporary Sufism has served the neo-con agenda. Suddenly, the Sufis are in fashion and being promoted as soft Islam in answer to the hard Islam of the fundamentalists. In Britain, contemporary Sufis played virtually no part in promoting social welfare amongst the Muslim communities. But were ready to support that agenda of the government in the form of the Sufi Muslim Council.

 

My main criticism of contemporary Sufism is its authoritarian character. Virtually all the Sufis I have met in my extensive travels around the Muslim world want total submission and obedience to their Sheikh: who has to be venerated endlessly, obeyed without question, and treated like a demi-god. This is not a prescription for creating a healthy, dynamic society.

 

5 - You have prefaced the new edition of Franz Fanon's "Black Skin, White Masks". What was your experience of reading and understanding Fanon.

 

Reading Fanon is always a volatile experience. His prose is full of anger - as it should be - and he writes with some immediacy and urgency. One also experiences slight disorientation as his texts, for example, "Black Skin, White Masks", are full of discontinuities, changes in style from academic to journalistic, mixing of genre, switches from analysis to pronouncements against the West, strange similes, extended metaphors and a string of contradictions. But all this was very refreshing when I first came across Fanon. I found myself constrained by disciplinary borders and found Fanon's ability to cross disciplinary boundaries - from psychoanalysis to medical analysis, literary criticism to Marxism - quite refreshing. I think he was consciously subverting genres, styles and disciplines. Something that I also try to do.

 

During my student days, "Wretched of the Earth" was the Bible of radical students from the Third World. Fanon was our route to discovering what colonialism was all about, how the minds of Third World elites were colonised, and why it was necessary for us to resist western imperialism. It is a good place to start finding what it means to be black, or Asian, in a world dominated by modernity and western civilisation. To understand Fanon is to learn to speak. As he says, 'to speak means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilisation'. We need to speak for, about and with our culture; and culture has true meaning, and is expressed best, within a framework of civilisation. In other words, resistance to the West begins with understanding our own culture and civilisation, and the cultural and intellectual products of our civilisation are in fact the main instruments of our resistance. Ultimately, the goal of all resistance should be to create a multi-civilisational world, where a plethora of difference civilisations exist in dynamic equilibrium.

 

6 - Are enlightenment values, or what are articulated as such, compatible with Islam? Many, Muslims and non-Muslims, have suggested they are not.

 

I think the first question to ask is: where did the Enlightenment values actually came from? Did they emerge, ready-made, from within Europe? Or do they have some other source? Where did, for example, Europe learn about Greece in the first place? From the perspective of Islam. There is a double irony here. It is not just that Islam introduced classical Greek civilisation to Europe, but also without Islam, Europe would not have been able to manufacture its Greek roots. Islam not only preserved the Greek heritage, it added and expanded it in numerable ways. Few of the great names of the European Middle Ages could actually read Greek: so what they in fact read was not Plato but Latin commentaries on Plato by al-Farabi, not Aristotle in the original but the Latin translations of Ibn Sina's commentaries on Aristotle, and not the Neoplatonists but the works of the Brethren of Purity, the tenth and eleventh century philosophers of Basra and other Neoplatanist philosophers and mystics of the Muslim world. The translation of Greek texts was a major intellectual undertaking in the Muslim civilisation from the eight to the twelfth century. The translations of Arabic text became a major intellectual activity in Europe, starting in the early twelfth century right till the middle of the fifteenth century. It is hardly surprising that the Post-Columbus Renaissance started in the independent city states of Italy, cities whose long history of trading contact with Muslim lands provided familiarity with its sophistication and ready access to Arabic texts.

 

But it was not just Greek thought - Europe borrowed freely the thought and learning of Islam. There is a huge swathe of Islamic history that shaped Europe and its so-called Enlightenment, the seven hundred years between the Battle of Tours and the fall of Constantinople: all this history has been rendered invisible by Europe. It is during this period that Islam actually transformed Europe and turned it into a world civilisation. The conventional, manufactured history, defining this period as the Dark Ages, sees the long gestation of embattled Europe forged by the antipathy that sustained the Crusades. Unwittingly, the enemy prompts the rekindling of the flame of civilisation when, phoenix like, classicism arises from the fall of Constantinople. The warlike intervention by the Turks permits a flood of Greek manuscripts to come to the West. This inspires the Renaissance obsession with all things classical, permits Europe to recover its Greek roots, invent modernity, discover the rest of the world and recover the destiny of world domination implicit in its Roman ancestry. It is, of course, all a fabulous fabrication.

 

This manufactured history does get one thing right. The barbarian hordes who overthrew Rome did a thorough job of vandalism. The Roman Church became the custodian of all the learning rescued from the wreckage. Knowledge was housed in the monasteries where the fashion was to keep books in chains, as can still be seen at Hereford Cathedral. The largest monastic library had little more than 500 books, mostly on theology, precious few of which were works of the classical scholars of antiquity.

 

In contrast to Europe, the cities of the Muslim world had free public libraries and the public purse financed the search for the works of classical scholars that were translated into Arabic, the common language of a world civilisation. The greatest libraries of Muslim cities, such as Baghdad or Cordoba, contained some 250,000 books. There was a vibrant publication industry with new books being added to the stock at a rate that compares favourably with today's publisher's lists. There was a well-established network of universities, the public financing of what we would call research, and the practice of private industry supporting technological research and development that produced a string of innovations.

 

Quite simply, Europe became an eager student of Islamic learning and Islam conducted itself as a good teacher. And the teaching began at the beginning: Islam taught Europe how to reason, what is the difference between civilisation and barbarism, and what are the basic features of a civil society. It trained Europe in scholastic and philosophic method and donated the model of its institutional forum of learning: the university. Europe acquired wholesale the organisation, structure and the very terminology of the Muslim educational system. Islam not only taught Europe the experimental method and showed it the importance of empirical research, but it also very considerately worked out most of the mathematics necessary for Copernicus to launch 'his' revolution! It showed Europe the distinction between medicine and magic, drilled it in making surgical instruments and told it how to establish and run hospitals. And then, to top it all, Islam gave Europe liberal humanism.

 

The differences between Islam and Europe are often highlighted in terms of liberal humanism. Yet, the liberal humanism that is frequently cited as the hallmark of the Enlightenment has its origins in the adab - literally, the etiquette of being a human - movement of classical Islam. Islam developed a sophisticated system of teaching law and humanism that involved not just institutions such as the university, with faculties of law, theology, medicine and natural philosophy, but also an elaborate mode of instruction including work-study courses, curriculum for teaching grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, medicine, and moral philosophy, and mechanisms for the formation of a humanist culture that produces men of letters such as academic associations, literary circles, clubs and coteries. When Europe adopted this system in its totality, including the text books, the European humanists felt that they could match the classical Arabic only by another classical language, Latin, a language not quite their own. They thus reproduced the same errors that are associated with Islamic humanism: the horror of barbarism and solecism. There was hardly any aspect of Islamic humanism, good or bad, which Europe did not copy: from slogans to dress; from emphasis on eloquence and display of literary prowess to the cult of classical language; from the works on government administration as part of moral philosophy to the history of cities, the novella, practical and speculative grammar to historical and textual criticism. What is there then to distinguish Enlightenment from Islamic humanism?

 

The truth is that many values we identify with the Enlightenment are Islamic values: the love of knowledge and learning, equality of all before the law, accountability in governance, contractual basis for rights, and liberal humanism - all these were and are the values propagate by the Qur'an, the examples of the Prophet Muhammad, and were practiced, on and off, in early Muslim history. From the Muslim point of view there is a double two-fold irony here. First, after appropriating these values, Europe not only consciously severed the Islamic connection and suppressed the history of Muslim contribution to science and civilisation, but now claims that Muslims have no such values themselves. And Muslims, after originating and shaping these values, not only lost them but now claim that they are alien to Islam.

 

7 - Radicalisation of Muslims in Europe towards a jihadi agenda has in large part been a reaction to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. How, except through violent counter-attack, are such invasions to be countered?

 

Clearly radicalisation amongst Muslims has increased since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. But I think it has longer and deeper roots. The Iranian revolution played a part in increasing radicalisation. And the Saudi petrodollars and support for mosques and Muslim organisations is also responsible for promoting fanaticism and fundamentalism. I would argue further that ossified traditionalism, and the closed minds it produces, also has something to do with the emergence of fundamentalism in our time - this only makes my agenda of reinventing tradition that much more urgent.

 

Before we talk about the futility of violent counter-attack, let me say that I subscribe to the analysis of the Moroccan scholar Malek Bennabi, a contemporary of Fanon, who argued that nations are not simply 'invaded', they invite invasion, the attention of imperialist vultures, by the state they are in. More precisely, his thesis concerned what he called 'colonisibility': to be colonised, he said, a society has to be in a physical and mental state which makes colonisation almost inevitable. Bennabi, an electrical engineer, studied in Paris and had spent over three decades in Europe. Colonisation was not the basic cause of Muslim decline, Bennabi argued against common assumptions. It was the phenomenon of colonisibility, which had set in centuries before, that made the Muslim world ripe for colonisation. Bennabi was suggesting that Europe was not invincible, rather it was the weaknesses of Muslim societies that was the major hurdle to decolonisation. Similarly, I would argue that the real problem, both in Iraq and in Afghanistan, is the weakness of civil society, the disunity and intractable warfare between Muslims, and the general corruption and moral decay of these countries. If Iraq had been a thriving democracy, instead of a brutal and inhuman dictatorship, it could not have been invaded so easily by America and its allies. So I would say that our prime task is to reform our own societies - this is the best way of resistance.

 

Violence is where I depart from Fanon. Fanon thought violence was necessary to resist imperialism. Gandhi proved him wrong. Thoughtless violence, I would argue further, serves only one purpose: to increase the pain and agony of Muslim people. Consider this: the most brutal and savage violence in Iraq and Afghanistan has been meted out by Muslims to other Muslims. Think of Shia-Sunni violence in Iraq, and brutal murder of innocent people, including children and women, by suicide bombings in Pakistan and Iraq. Violence only begets violence.

 

- So what is to be done?

 

I would argue that our main goal should be to build strong civil society and establish transparent and accountable governments in these countries. Governments that actually reflect the needs and desires of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. And Muslims in America and Britain need to mobilise themselves and put pressure on their respective governments to get the allied troops out. In Afghanistan, as I have always advocated and written about in the New Statesman, we need to negotiate with the Taliban. You can't beat the Taliban into submission. Our counter-attack has to come in the shape of politics, not violence.

 

Courtesy: Naked Punch. Interview by Bux Qalandar Memon. This interview will be published in Naked Punch's forthcoming issue



__._,_.___


[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

__,_._,___