[ALOCHONA] Re: Ah, here is your democracy, brother!

You have written superbly too.

Take heart for you and I are not alone.

Best wishes

Ezajur

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "A.S.M. Jahangir" <asmjahangir@...> wrote:
>
> Superb indeed. But how many of our so-called politicians have the capacity to dig out the inherent message from this write-up. Very few. Even those who get the message are hostage to the host of party cadres and goons for their survival in party politics, overwhelmingly dominated by these elements.
>
> We hoped some real, positive changes would occur when Awami League got people's overwhelming mandate in the last election. However, to our utter dismay, things started sliding back to what we experienced with the past elected governments practically from day one. And this time the routines were reenacted with an added grain of salt.
>
> At times I wonder where buried are our conscience, honesty, integrity and patriotic feeling and how deep they are buried. How do our politicians sleep at night after so many wrong doings and unethical acts that not only stymies the democratic  process, but also causes miseries to rank and file citizens. Are their still some means to exhume the dead human qualities from the burial ground and resuscitate them back to life? Well, this thought itself makes me wonder even more since people's expectations have been negated time and again by our known spoilers called politicians.
>
> Hopes and dreams inspire people to work harder to better their life. This in turn brings about social and economic development at the national level. When frustrations overtake hopes and aspirations,  its effect is bound to be felt nationwide. I believe our politicians are still not totally bereft of ethics and ptriotism. They will soon realize political bickering, vengeance and lawlessness lead us no where. The politicians of various caste and creed will one day find a common ground to carry the nation forward. They will set aside their petty differences in the greater interest of the nation and its people. They will aim to win elections through their good deeds, rather than muscle power.
>
> Hello politicians, are you awake? Are you listening? You better listen and do something positive before it's too late, before our future goes down the drain. It made me lough as I remembered even the drains in Dhaka city do not work as they are clogged. 
>
> Well, there are people from different walks of life among us who are honest and sincere. My hats off to them. Their good deeds will always help our hopes and aspirations to stay alive. There will surely come a time in the future when such people will dominate our nation. Sooner it comes better for us. Changed attitude of our politicians will help make it happen sooner. We will do our best to keep your hopes and aspirations alive in anticipation of that day.
>
> ASM Jahangir
>
>   
>
> ________________________________
> From: ezajur <Ezajur@...>
> To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 7:18:13 AM
> Subject: [ALOCHONA] Ah, here is your democracy, brother!
>
>  
> Superb...
>  
>  
> Ah, here is your democracy, brother!
>
>  
> Dedicated practitioners of democracy?Photo: Shawkat JamilShahnoor Wahid
> A good number of "highly democracy-minded" talk-show experts should be feeling mighty happy to see the matinee show of democracy ... the free flow of blood in the free-for-all show that is going on all over the country. It's a blockbuster, indeed.
> So, here is your democracy, brother, that you have been waiting for and canvassing for, since the fall of the "un-democratic, autocratic government of General Ershad."
> So, you must be happy now! Democracy let loose at last. Democracy gone berserk. From parliament to robber-infested parks, democracy is being practiced in full gusto in this country.
> The deaths, you ask? Fallout of democracy, perhaps? You see, the more there is death, the more solid would democracy become. That is a popular notion here. It is the ladder made of dead bodies that takes politicians to the citadel of power, isn't it? So, some faceless people will have to die. No big deal. They would die anyway ... in road accidents .... in launch capsizes ... of tuberculosis. Then, why not for the party?
> The beauty of politics here is that people are made to believe that there is glamour in dying for a cause like democracy. It would earn them the short-lived status of a hero, with photos coming out in newspapers for a couple of days. And electronic channels would show interviews with their wailing parents for the city audience. All for democracy, brother. Our right to know is ensured.
> Come to think of it, in their oppressive and lacklustre life, violent death on the altar of politics is a big achievement. They get such massive coverage! But, wait a minute. Where was this beautiful, blood-spattering, all-problem- solving, all-disease- healing panacea called democracy all these years? Why didn't we have the opportunity of seeing those hand guns, knives, cutters, bamboo clubs, bricks and stones and the filmy-style action in real life fights and real deaths for some years?
> Oh, I remember now! There was a lull for two years when the "most villainous," "non-political, " "corrupt," "inefficient, " "opportunistic, " "ambitious," and "illegal" caretaker government had ruled the country. They had the audacity to deny us our "democratic" rights and stop the wonderful and exciting shows; the real fights on the streets with blood-chilling calls to become "Gazi" or "Shahid" ... that we watched from the safe distance of our office windows.
> Today, the whole world looks on in amazement at the demonstration of Bangladeshi brand of democracy. We may brand it "DemoBangla" or "Banglacracy, " if you agree. It is indeed unprecedented ... unparalleled ... unbelievable ... and unheard of. The entire world sitting around the coliseum cheers the show of brute courage as party supporters club opponents to death ... the spilling of blood ... the chase and counter-chase on campus by over-aged student leaders and their supporters ... the eviction of one group from student halls by another ... and so on. All so familiar!
> Don't these remind us of those democratic days that existed before the caretaker government? The days of exploding bombs in 64 districts ... blowing up courtrooms ... killing judges ... cracking skulls of opponents ... discovering Hindu-Islamic militants ... bricks and stones flying ... police batons breaking ribs ... mass arrests of ordinary workers going home ... and last but not least ... the inevitable "bibriti of Babor"?
> Oh! How we missed everything! Thank you, God, that you have listened to our prayers and given us our wonderful democracy back once again! We were kind of suffocating in the state of tranquillity ... in the state of no action ... no excitement during the caretaker government. They were such spoilsports, really. But now, after long 2-3 years, tendon cutters ... throat slitters ... suicide bombers ... black-marketers ... river grabbers .... graveyard robbers ... forest eaters ... toll collectors ... religion peddlers et al are back in business.
> Now why shouldn't students of public universities do all these? Many of the senior politicians, especially those who were in student politics, have been unabashed toll collectors ... or indirect extortionists ... collecting monthly chanda from industrialists of Tejgaon, Tongi and Narayanganj and from those in their localities. Chandabaji had started on day two after our independence and it continues today.
> These politicians and student leaders of yester-years were also great beer-buddies (Hotel Intercontinental later Sheraton, Ruchita, Nightingale, Chalet etc) of corrupt businessmen who made them drunk every night and then gave them bag-full of money to get an import licence for TCB, Tibet, BCIC, BADC, BTMC, BJMC quota/allotment. Those licences and quota/allotments used to be sold in the black market. Oh, sorry, you can't touch them because now they are big guns and big goons in some big political party ... hence above the reach of the very weak hands of law.
> Is the term "reform" in politics synonymous with "blasphemy" in this country? If religious edicts could undergo reforms, why can't stale, age-old political system do so for the good of the country? How long shall we remain hostage to this debilitating "politics"?
> To march forward in the 21st century along with other developed and developing nations of South Asia , we need a modern, vibrant, inclusive, pro-people and pro-development politics to be carried forward by a new crop of educated and enlightened politicians who never did chandabaji.
> Shahnoor Wahid is a Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star. He can be contacted at shahnoorwahid@ yahoo.co. uk. Courtesy Daily star 23/2/10
>

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