Bangladesh: Culture of Impunity

[reverse_swing]

[One World]

Very informative. Nothing that we don't know but the presentation was thought provoking. The "Sheela Mollik" case was a slap on my independent face.

But, I have few questions.

1. If I go and buy some land in Chittagong Hill-Tracts I am instantly called a settler/land-grabber, while if it was Srimongol or Kuakata I would be considered a business man.

2. Boneheaded politics will always be part of democracy, i.e., British BNP. The main fault was division of Bengal and later during independence two separate countries based on religion emerged, with the common consent of the mass, knowing the aftermath that a huge amount of rehabilitation is about to happen. As the riot became a regular event since the colonial sun started to set. Now, how much we are to blame when I occupy Nitai's land as I am hungry and do not have money and my family has been oppressed hundred years ago by Nitai's family, all of whom left to India and there is no effective law stopping me instead encouraging. I guess this was the case before "Enemy Property Law" was introduced. From the naming you can assume that the religious nationalism was so strong during those days.

3. The claim of raping indigenous women was exaggerated, since coming to BD so far I have not seen one such rape stated in any of the news, while the average molestation case per day currently exceeds 5. If a woman is raped, we go for the culprit and help the victim, regardless of anyone's heritage and ethnicity.

4. When world is moving at a vibrant pace, the indigenous people not only in BD, everywhere has been found to hold on to there old ways. It is a basic natural process to getting extinct. Look at the Indians in USA and other Latin American countries. If the mainstream population is regularly finger pointed for not helping them, they should also realize they did not do much to improve their situation.

But I feel for Kalpana Chakma as much as I feel for the girl who was gang raped in Gazipur.
Because, we all are Bangladeshi, something which I want everyone to realize regardless of ethnic and religious identity.

[Zeeshan]

3. The claim of raping indigenous women was exaggerated, since coming to BD so far I have not seen one such rape stated in any of the news, while the average molestation case per day currently exceeds 5. If a woman is raped, we go for the culprit and help the victim, regardless of anyone's heritage and ethnicity.

No we don't One World. That was the whole point of the video. (Btw, I only caught half of it, will watch the later tonight...) But the whole point was there is not outrage for the minorities.

Anyways sometimes videos like this makes us aware of the incidents from a foreign or alien filter, where as our bias may come into interplay due to our emotions. Thanks for the share.

[Roey Haque]

Will watch the whole thing later. But for God's sake, isn't it time people learned how to pronounce "Bangladesh" right? It's Bangladesh with the Ba pronounced as in Bar. Not Bang-ladesh. All these documentaries keep getting it wrong. I correct people whenever I can. These documentary makers should do a bit more research.

[cricket_king]

Good video. Somewhat disheartening, though. I'm confused over the "secularism" issue - I thought we are secular. If we weren't, wouldn't our official name be "The Islamic Republic of Bangladesh", as opposed to "The People's Republic of Bangladesh?

[Maysun]

^ I had the same doubts as well, but if I can recall correctly what Navo bhai told me, not long ago Islam was declared as the official religion of Bangladesh but the state shall ensure equal rights to other faiths.

[reverse_swing]

Between Delhi and Rangamati: Contrasting display of protests

Recently, two gang rapes took place – one in Delhi and the other in Rangamati. In the first case, a 23-year-old Delhi medical student was raped on a running bus on December 16 by six men and then was thrown off on the street. The victim later succumbed to her injuries and died in Singapore. In the second case, a Marma school-girl of class-eight was gang raped on December 21 in Rangamati. Three “Bengali settlers” raped the 14-year-old girl and then killed her. Both the incidents were quite symmetrical in its forms and consequences and thereby expected to trigger similar reaction and protests demanding commendable punishment of the perpetrators. However, shockingly it happened otherwise in the Rangamti case which unveils the unequal power-relations between the center and periphery as well as an ugly face of minority-majority politics prevalent in Bangladesh.

Read More: http://openanthcoop.ning.com/profile...-of-protests-1

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by reverse_swing
Read More: http://openanthcoop.ning.com/profile...-of-protests-1

Majority on minority crimes will always be reacted differently than majority on majority crimes. If the cops who beat Rodney King were all black, it would have drastically changed the complexion of the incident. If the Delhi woman had been a Muslim or a Dalit (presumably she was upper caste if not Brahmin), reaction would have been far less noisy.