Image by Rezwan
This street in Bangladesh has a colorful world cup celebration
Remnants of Kiandra gold mine at New Chum Hill, #nsw #australia
Europe has never had to worry too much about context or effect because for around 200 years it dominated and colonised most of the world. Such was Europe's omnipotence that it never needed to take into account the sensibilities, beliefs and attitudes of those that it colonised, however sacred and sensitive they might have been.Martin warns:
Racial bigotry is on the rise, even in countries that have previously been regarded as tolerant. The Danish government depends for its rule on a racist, far-right party that gained 13% of the seats in the last election. The decision of Jyllands-Posten to publish the cartoons - and papers in France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere to reprint them - lay not so much in the tradition of free speech but in European contempt for other cultures and religions: it was a deliberate, calculated insult to the beliefs of others, in this case Muslims.
This attitude of disdain, of assumed superiority, will be increasingly difficult to sustain. We are moving into a world in which the west will no longer be able to call the tune as it once did. China and India will become major global players alongside the US, the EU and Japan. For the first time in modern history the west will no longer be overwhelmingly dominant. By the end of this century Europe is likely to pale into insignificance alongside China and India. In such a world, Europe will be forced to observe and respect the sensibilities of others.There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.
Julie of Human Flower Project has posted a nice article about Bangladesh's spring festivities (Basanta Utsabs). The main attraction was a whole day cultural event celebrating 1st day of spring in the Graphics Arts (Charukala) Institute of Dhaka University which was telecast live for the first time by a new private satellite channel, Baishakhi TV. And the crowd presence was phenomenal there and also in the Bangla Academy Ekushey Book Fair nearby. "Basanta Utsab, as well as seasonal, is a cultural pushback, an affirmation of Bangla history and customs as not only spring but Western styles and habits advance."Please read the whole article.
...is not merely a cultural programme, involving music, dance or performing arts; it is rather an effort to introduce the Bangali culture to the new generation."
"It calls for across-the-board overhauling of the total recruitment and promotion system in the universities, because if a few more of the nature of the accused teacher have already got in or are on the way to getting in, our fate is sealed."Scribbles, A 14 year old blogger, a neighbor of the murdered professor writes:
"Outsiders – people outside of the campus – can’t even begin to feel anything that’s felt here. They can’t imagine what people here are going through.Should we continue to overlook the main problems and relish the news of the murders? How can we save ourselves from the anxieties and sense of fear?
I lived in the campus all my life. And it was the safest place in the world to me... now there’s a certain tension in the air that no one can ignore. At nights, I’m scared to look into the darkness around our house, afraid of what I might see there. My imagination goes wild, dreaming up dark figures crouching in the bushes, and masked men hunched behind the trees. There was a murder not three houses away. There’s no guarantee that it will stop there."
"The accused Jaamyat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is active since 1998 and have grown to 10,000 trained full-time operatives, and 100,000 part-time activists, funded with a payroll of more than $10,000 a month (hefty amount in Bangladeshi standard) with the aim of funding an Islamic state. Now wherefrom are the money coming? The trail traces back to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Pakistan."According to the latest confessions of arrested terrorist leaders of JMB:
"It was hard for many in the West to understand why Muslims should be so sensitive to the Holy Prophet being caricatured but he said, it was even harder for Muslims to understand how Westerners can be so insensitive. - Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo"And for the Muslims who are burning flags and embassies:
"What brings more prejudice against Islam? These caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?" - Jihad Momani, editor of a Jordanian newspaper
Me and Rifat arrived within 4 PM. But the guests had started arriving after 4:30 PM. After some sporadic talks, everybody went deep into blogs as Mahfuz, the New Age feature writer wanted to know about blogs. It is not surprising that in Bangladesh blogging is still an unknown phenomenon to many. He was slowly told about blogs, issues of citizen media vs. mainstream media and more. Bangladesh is still lagging far behind in the internet usage comparing to the developing countries. In reply to his question that why people blog, he was told that blogging is a part of the digital life. We have embraced the technologies as a part of our lives and now we can easily express and share our thoughts using this technology. It is really a form of expressing oneself and sharing among the community. He was also notified about the various forms of blogs.
When he asked what is the credibility of the bloggers, we asked him back what is the credibility of mainstream media who thinks of commercial interest first. Maqsood Bhai told a story that GrameenPhone sold thousands of faulty mobile SIMs and one day there was a riot like situation when people queued up in GrameenPhone’s office. Apparently no press covered this in fear of loosing advertisement revenue as they were dictated by GrameenPhone. Maqsood Bhai vowed that the Bangladeshi mainstream media do not so far read blogs but they rather should be. Because the online newspapers update after a day, while the blogger can share news to the international community instantaneously. He told how one of his posts was picked up by Reuters within 15 minutes of publishing in his blog. 
Then Arild, the MD of Somewherein.net took the lead. He explained how the Bangla Blogging platform of his company “Bandh Bhanger Awaz” revolutionized Bangla blogging. As of today they have 437 registered users and 27000 page views in its aggregator in a day. That means there are a growing number of blog readers also. Rifat and some others raised some issues like the viewing problems and absence of linking and option of writing in English side by side. The main developer Hasin explained that this limitation is due to not implementing Unicode. They thought that many users are not aware of the configuration required in the browsers to view Bangla. Somewhereinblog’s easy typing interface can be used by any novice but it is very time consuming. Some raised the issue that its feed cannot be viewed in RSS readers like bloglines.com and the contents cannot be picked up by search engines. The somewherein team said that they will think about implementing Unicode. Some raised the issues of filtering the obscene contents in the aggregator which picks posts automatically. Arild said that there might be some garbage alongwith some good blogs. But in the end only quality blogs will prevail.
Then there was an elaborate introduction part where everybody had to say a few things about themselves and how did they started blogging, what are the future plans etc. Rifat was the lone blogger outside Dhaka, who raised the issue of slow internet in many parts of the country. However everybody agreed that in Bangladesh blogging is in initial stage and it is going to explode as soon as the optic fiber submarine cable line starts working. Please read this to know more about the limitations of Bangla blogosphere. Maqsood Bhai thought that there are many opportunities for the bloggers to get international acknowledgement. And as he work from home in data mining field, the next era will be dominated by persons working through one’s own PC, not in someone else’s office. Everybody interacted with each other freely and it was really a great discussion with many things to learn. "We see, we write
We think, we fight,
For the truth
The life, the light.
We write, we show
We love Bangladesh."
- Sadat Shahriar
"Most of the songs evolve around five main topics – 1. Jihad for freedom from social inequality. 2. Criticism against the leadership of Awami League, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami. While the opposition against Jamaat is very mild the resentment against AL is very pronounced. 3. Deep respect for and profound confidence in Osama Bin Laden and Mollah Omar. 4. Deep hatred and resentment against the US, UK. There has been no mincing of words here. 5. Criticism of the bombing in the name of Islam. However, this criticism has been rather weak and not very precise."Please read the whole report for details. Quotes from some lyrics:
"Bangladesh’s parliament is today filled with atheists/They are Muslims only in name, not in action,"Some people argue that you cannot motivate a suicide bomber, they are just protesting the anomalies in the society. I hope they won't try to find a logic that these music are recreational and not motivating the extremists.
"What is the use of being born a man if the power goes to women again and again?"
"If the Quran and Hadith are forbidden in the court, shouldn’t one sacrifice his life?"
"Towards the mid-eighties Islami Chhatra Shibir’s cultural wing Spandan Shilpi Goshthi first initiated jihadi music. There are other producers like Islami Chhatra Majlish (ICM) in this industry.Shouldn't the government take action against these?
Then following the suicide bomb attacks in different parts of the country on August 17, 2005, these cassettes of jihadi music suddenly seemed to have vanished into thin air."
