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The Shahbag Protest and Imagining an “Ideal” Bangladesh

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Partition and the Practice of Memory

Abstract

This chapter discusses how the Shahbag protest demanding justice in the face of genocide became a political struggle that involved a return to the moment of Bangladesh’s independence—itself a violent conflict—to interrogate the ways in which Partition has produced unstable contexts which propagate violence, trauma and ultimately a form of failure. The question addressed is as follows: how did the memories of the Liberation War and war crimes inform the consciousness of the generation that took part in the protest? The essay examines how individuals attempted to construct an ‘imagined community’ of the nation through pro-Shahbag blogs. Further to this, I discuss the emergence of Bengali blogs in which individual accounts of national belonging received a platform for expression in Bangladesh, articulating new ideas of an ‘ideal’ Bangladesh. How does the imagination of this ‘ideal’ Bangladesh help to create the momentum necessary to organise resistance? This chapter will suggest that the past represents a point of tension between the state and contemporary protest.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sanchari De, “Debates About Religion and Secularism Turn Lethal in Bangladesh: The Case of The Shahbag Movement,” Religion Going Public Blog, Last modified January 29, 2017, http://religiongoingpublic.com/archive/2017/debates-about-religion-and-secularism-turn-lethal-in-bangladesh-the-case-of-the-shabag-movement. Accessed 8 May 2017. The demand for the capital punishment in the name of justice seems to be very decisive one in the case of the Shahbag protest. While the demand for death might seem to be inhumane, in the context of Bangladesh it remains a legal demand which the activists term as “highest punishment.”

  2. 2.

    Bina D’Costa, Nationbuilding, Gender and War Crimes in South Asia (Oxon, NY: Routledge, 2011), 41.

  3. 3.

    Amena Mohsin, The Politics of Nationalism: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Bangladesh (Dhaka: The University Press Limited), 25.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., 26.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 3.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., 67.

  7. 7.

    Navine Murshid, “The Genocide of 1971 and the Politics of Justice,” in Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh, ed. Ali Riaz and Mohammed Sajjadur Rahman (Oxon, NY: Routledge, 2016). Navine Murshid notes that the number of people killed during the genocide is disputed. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 3 million people were killed.

  8. 8.

    Rounaq Jahan, “Genocide in Bangladesh,” in Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts, 3rd ed., ed. Samuel Totten and William S. Parsons (New York: Routledge, 2009), 245.

  9. 9.

    De, “Debates About Religion and Secularism.”

  10. 10.

    Emily Keightley and Michael Pickering, The Mnemonic Imagination: Remembering as Creative Practice (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).

  11. 11.

    A.B.M. Hamidul Mishbah, “Media Law in Bangladesh,” in Bangladesh's Changing Mediascape: From State Control to Market Forces, ed. Brian Shoesmith, Jude William Genilo, and Md. Anisuzzaman (Bristol, UK: Intellect, 2013); Naeem Mohaiemen, “Fragile Fourth Estate: A History of Censorship in Bangladesh (1972–2012),” in Bangladesh's Changing Mediascape, ed. Shoesmith et al.

  12. 12.

    Naeem Mohaiemen, “Fragile Fourth Estate: A History of Censorship in Bangladesh (1972–2012),” in Bangladesh's Changing Mediascape, ed. Shoesmith et al.

  13. 13.

    Fahmidul Haque, “Bangla Blog Community: Opinion, Virtual Resistance or the Hunger for Creating Community of the Detached People,” Yogayog 10 (2011).

  14. 14.

    Moiyen Zalal Chowdhury, “The Internet as a Public Sphere: Blogging ‘Liberation War vs Jamaat’ Issue in Somewherein … Blog, a Case Study,” The Academis.edu (2012), last modified June 25, 2012, http://www.academia.edu/2241606/The_Internet_as_a_public_sphere_Blogging_Liberation_war_vs_Jamaat_issue_in_somewherein...blog_a_case_study. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    Nazin Tithi, “Gano Adalot: The Rallying Cry of the Masses for Justice,” The Daily Star, last modified January 23, 2016, http://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/gano-adalot-205765. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  17. 17.

    Online Desk, “22nd Death Anniversary of Jahanara Imam Sunday,” The Daily Samakal, last modified June 25, 2016, http://www.samakal.net/2016/06/25/6810. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  18. 18.

    Tithi, “Gano Adalot.”

  19. 19.

    Interviewee 3, in discussion with the author, 16 April 2016.

  20. 20.

    Interviewee 12, in discussion with the author, 9 June 2016.

  21. 21.

    Interviewee 3, in discussion with the author, 16 April 2016.

  22. 22.

    Interviewee 2, in discussion with the author, 17 April 2016.

  23. 23.

    Interviewee 7, in discussion with the author, 4 June 2016.

  24. 24.

    Interviewee 7, in discussion with the author, 4 June 2016.

  25. 25.

    Interviewee 1, in discussion with the author, 27 February 2016.

  26. 26.

    The Rajakar force also known as Razakar was formed by the Pakistani Army during the 1971 Liberation War. In the post-liberation context, the word “Rajakar” refers to those East-Pakistani people who collaborated with the Pakistani Army. “Rajakar” is used pejoratively to mean “traitor.”

  27. 27.

    Hussain Muhammed Ershad was the tenth president of Bangladesh; he was in power from 1982 to 1990 and imposed martial law. He became president through a bloodless coup against President Abdus Sattar on 24 April 1982. Later he founded a political party named the Jatiyo Party. In 1989, during Ershad’s presidency, Islam was made the state religion. The Anti-Ershad movement, a series of popular protests, was led by Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, and was active from 10 October 1990 to 4 December 1990.

  28. 28.

    Interviewee 8, in discussion with the author, 11 June 2016.

  29. 29.

    Oippapotyik Oikyapatya, “Sayeedir Raay,” trans. Sanchari De, Mukto-mona blog, last modified September 25, 2014, https://blog.mukto-mona.com/2014/09/25/42687/. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  30. 30.

    Keightley and Pickering, The Mnemonic Imagination, 7.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 7.

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    Ibid.

  34. 34.

    Interviewee 5, in discussion with the author, 16 April 2016.

  35. 35.

    Interviewee 2, in discussion with the author, 17 April 2016.

  36. 36.

    Interviewee 10, in discussion with the author, 5 June 2016.

  37. 37.

    Keightley and Pickering, The Mnemonic Imagination, 92.

  38. 38.

    Sparsher Baire, “Shahbag Anodoloner Pichhoner Manushgulo: Parbo 1,” SonarBangladesh, last modified February 15, 2013, http://www.mediafire.com/view/?ycsyrn4auinbqc7. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  39. 39.

    Reporters Without Borders, “Four Bangladeshi Bloggers Arrested for ‘Blasphemous’ Posts,” ifex, last modified April 4, 2013, http://www.ifex.org/bangladesh/2013/04/04/bloggers_arrested/. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  40. 40.

    The Associated Press, “Hard-Line Muslim Rally Demands Anti-Blasphemy Laws in Bangladesh,” The New York Times, last modified April 6, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/asia/rally-demands-anti-blasphemy-laws-in-bangladesh.html. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  41. 41.

    De, “Debates About Religion and Secularism.”

  42. 42.

    Khaledur Rahman Shaqil, “Shahbag Kon Pothey?,” trans. Sanchari De, Mukto-mona, last modified September 30, 2014, https://blog.mukto-mona.com/2014/09/30/42857/. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  43. 43.

    Avijit, “Jara Bhor Anbe Boley Pratigjna Karechhe,” trans. Sanchari De, Mukto-mona, last modified March 29, 2013, https://blog.mukto-mona.com/2013/03/29/34609/. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  44. 44.

    Athithi Lekhak, “Shahbag Anodoloner ‘Carnival Mood’ Sesh, Ebar Mukhosh Khule Jabar Pala,” trans. Sanchari De, Mukto-mona, last modified April 1, 2013, https://blog.mukto-mona.com/2013/04/01/34723/. Accessed 8 May 2017.

  45. 45.

    Amena Mohsin, The Politics of Nationalism: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Bangladesh (Dhaka: The University Press Limited), 50.

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  1. Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

    Sanchari De

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  1. Department of English, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

    Churnjeet Mahn

  2. Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Anne Murphy

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De, S. (2018). The Shahbag Protest and Imagining an “Ideal” Bangladesh. In: Mahn, C., Murphy, A. (eds) Partition and the Practice of Memory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64516-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64516-2_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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