Washington D.C.,

I think it was Lenin who had cautioned about the
propensity of petty bourgeois political parties
towards opportunism. Not that the progressives
should avoid working with them, just that they
should be alert! Awami League’s alliance with the
Khilafat Majlish Party behind the back of its 13
party allies is not an entirely surprising
betrayal, especially given the past instances of
AL ’s efforts to get on the good side of the
proponents of Islamic theocracy. The progressive
allies should have been cautious and made
provision for escape hatch - even if only to save
their faces! Still it is devastating to see AL
actually enter into alliance with a group that
demanded, and AL agreed in principal to
primitive, alien rules and norms, purportedly
replicating those of 6^th/7^th century Arabia , in
a country desperately in need of finding its
place in the 21^st century. The disappointment is
mostly because despite many of its intrinsic
regressive tendencies, liberals see AL as the
last viable broad front vehicle that might steer
the country out of its suicidal conflict between
the demands of overdue social and cultural
progress, and the pressures to become a concocted
model of an Islamic state dreamed up by
psychopaths.

The country faces death by decay and
disintegration if it is overrun by the
fanatically militant assault of a religious creed
that is itself hopelessly mired in conflict with
modernity in its outlooks and ambitions. Those
ambitions are outdated to such an extent that
they are demonstratively and dangerously
destructive, as we have seen in Afghanistan .
AL’s nonchalance regarding the cruel and inhuman
material and psychological impact of its action
on segments of the country’s population, its
traditional supporters, i.e., the minorities -
religious, ethnic and tribal - who have, in this
promised land of secularism suffered more
indignation after 1971, have been relegated to
second class citizen status, are subject to
forced conversion, intimidation, humiliation,
physical elimination, etc., is incomprehensible
even by the standards of the worst Machiavellian
rationalization. Each of the clauses of the MOU
that AL has agreed to is brutally primitive,
oppressive, reactionary, regressive, inhumane &
fascistic, against freedom, and harbinger of more
evil. Bluntly put, the so called ulema in remote
villages will be free to blame little girls when
they are raped by the thugs, and fatwa will be
issued to whip them for good measure, because the
girls would be unable to prove their innocence by
producing eye-witnesses.

It will be OK to burn the Ahamadyas alive.
Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and atheists will
face ultimatum to convert to Islam or face
retribution. Those who doubt that Islam is the
religion of peace will be hanged from the nearest
tree, or get their throats slashed. AL ’s action
as such is reprehensible; in the context of the
declared aims of the Talebanites, and especially
the proof of their willingness to commit murder
and mayhem to impose their beastly practices on
the citizens of Bangladesh , AL ’s capitulation
is simply repulsive. No decent human being can or
should stand for it!

The calculation of the intellectual giants of AL
who came up with this plan is hard to figure out.
Is it an expression of their insecurity that they
will not come to power without votes of the
Islamists, and therefore, to tell the voters that
AL is not much different from those BNP-Jamat? Is
it a way to announce the failure of their dubious
approach to secularism and that the majority of
the country, in a radical shift from the time
before 1971, is moving towards accepting Islamic
theocracy? Or, are they fearful that the jig is
up: since it has taken them for granted
repeatedly and took no steps to secure their
status as full citizens of the country,
minorities and many sympathizer progressives have
given up on AL anyway? It should be recognized
that by agreeing to the terms of Khilafat
Majlish, even if AL does not gain power and in
stead BNP-Jamat cabal does, because AL now has
given them the political cover, they can be
expected to adopt and impose same or similar
rules. It seems that the country is screwed
either way.

This action has now legitimized the ideology of
Islamic theocracy in the country by three major
political parties: AL, BNP & Jamat. The damage it
has caused to the nation by this action is far
reaching; if they are aware of it, AL ’s leaders
and operatives stand accused of knowingly
committing crime against the citizens of
Bangladesh ; if they are not, they have made bare
their moral and intellectual bankruptcy. No
amount of desperate efforts at damage control by
hollow verbal gymnastics by its leaders and
huckster can obfuscate that.

Which brings one to the matter of more
opportunism, that of the so-called
progressive/left among the 13 parties that have
gotten on the AL gravy train! It is well known
that the Communist Party of Bangladesh, after
many years of support and close collaboration,
has in recent years publicly expressed its
concern about the sincerity of AL ’s commitment
to a secular democratic progressive program for
the country. The skepticism follows from many
years of experience with AL : its evolution since
1971, policies and practices, activities in and
out of power, its despotic tendencies, etc. In
light of the geopolitical changes of the last few
decades, and because it is beyond their control,
there remain no differences in the economic
policies of the two major parties. Representing
the interests of different segments of the same
class, AL simply is not in a position to propose
economic development agenda fundamentally
different from what BNP/Jamat propagates. In
addition, given the notoriety of corruption it
has earned for itself while in power, only way
for AL to distinguish itself for electoral gain
is to appeal to its past commitment to
secularism, ignoring the fact it has been unable
to hide its inability to avoid the influences of
Islamists in form or in content of its practices.
How thin the veneer of its pretense was has just
been proven, validating CPB’s fears. Given all
that, AL ’s attraction to the lefties among the
coalition is hard to not to be suspicious about.
According to some one in CPB I had spoken to last
summer, there was an agreement among the left
parties to try to create a progressive coalition
to offer the voters a real alternative in place
of the current ’lesser of the two evils’ option.
Apparently, there was progress towards forming
such a coalition, but it fizzled out as a result
of betrayal by the leftists of the 13 parties who
decided they had a more immediate chance to
attain power & privilege with Awami League!

This is a particular manifestation of the tragedy
of the left in Bangladesh today, as it has
succumbed to the seduction allure of political
power through the back door, and delusions about
what they imagine they can achieve. The left in
general is in a sad situation, no doubt, and the
epithet applies not only to the left in the 13
parties that became pawns in the hands of AL
leaders, but to CPB as well. Late Mohammad Farhad
long ago described the tragedy thus: in the
absence of a sizable working class, and deprived
of the experienced leaders of mass movements, who
either migrated or became marginally operational
due to extreme repression by the Islamist of that
time, the leadership of the left in East Bengal
have always fallen on the shoulders of former
student leaders from among the petty bourgeoisie,
whose instinct for personal gain seem to
overwhelm all their good intentions, leading to
opportunism.

Over the years, many with progressive credentials
have also drifted into AL frustrated by the
inability to create a left-led mass movement. One
cannot but note, given the timing of AL ’s
misdeed, how the elimination of the intellectual
and political leaders of the country by the
Islamists in 1971 has added to the deprivations
of today. The left leaders today have been
unsuccessful in making inroads into the labor and
peasant movements in any effective manner and
bring those whose objective interests is in
fundamental change into the rank and file and the
leadership. The CPB person I spoke to bitterly
complained about their own inability to recruit
the younger generation into progressive politics.
Witness the recent movements of the garment
workers in Bangladesh ! These and other mass
movements have taken place as far away from the
left parties as imaginable. The idea of the left
coalition, I was given to understand, was to
create a political base through long term
investment in grass root organization, political
education, support of the labor, peasants’,
minorities’, women’s struggles, etc., by
mobilizing the meager resources of the multitude
of left organizations. It was both a tacit
recognition of the left’s lack of any substantive
foundation in the country, and of the need to
create one. It was also hoped that by remaining
independent of AL , while supporting and pushing
for progressive agenda, the left would succeed in
creating pressure and incentive for AL not to
fall victim to its tendency towards opportunism.
The left parties ignored the lessons of history
that only guarantee of keeping the social
democratic forces committed to a relatively
progressive agenda is the existence of a
well-grounded independent left force. Now the 13
parties are caught with their pants down, out
maneuvered by AL , and its action timed to ensure
that the so-called partners are incapable of
taking any effective steps against it.

Bangladesh is at a cross road, not at the one it
had aimed for in 1971, but at one far behind. It
is a victim of history, and crucial mistakes
committed by its intellectual and political
leaders in the past, which also emanated from
narrow interests of the nascent Muslim petty
bourgeoisie. Now, being a Muslim majority
country, because of its vulnerability due to its
economic dependence, social and cultural
backwardness, in part all results of the past
mistakes, it has become the battle ground for
resolving the irreconcilable differences between
a world under the ideological an economic sway of
the latest phase of capitalism’s global
ascendance, and the insane cave-mentality of a
group adamant in its intent to drag the country
and its people as far back as possible, close to
the times of a mythical Arabia.

In a comment on Selig Harrison’s opinion column
in the Washington Post (on 8/2/06) published in
(the internet edition of) The Daily Star on
August 9, 2006, I suggested that Mr. Harrison in
his observations had ignored to point out the
deep-rooted social change towards fundamentalism
that is taking place in Bangladesh. As depressing
as the recent AL action is, and it obviously is
connected to the trend, far reaching changes
towards theocracy taking place in the fabric of
the society is a matter of much greater concerns.
These changes are simultaneously indicative of
the decline of the ideological and cultural
influence of the progressive forces and the
absence of an aggressive, fighting left. As much
as I miss it myself, listening to Rabindra
Sangeet under Bot Tola is not enough ’political
work’ to stem the rising influence of
anti-secular trends, while the Taleban is waging
a low grade but clearly discernible well
orchestrated civil war in the country in all
fronts: ideological, social, cultural,
educational, economic, political and military.

The bloody conflict between the needs of living
in a modern world and opposition to that world by
the religion-mongers will not be resolved without
confronting a basic truth: no matter what the
prophets (and other sages) of the past may have
said, change is essential. Old rules and norms
must be abandoned and new ones adopted to live in
changing times. Muslims of Turkey are Turkish
Muslims; of Egypt , Egyptian; of Arabia ,
Arabian, etc.

These people are not divorced from their native
cultures or their history, neither have they
remained stuck in outmoded forms of statecraft,
not to the extent the Talebanites would like,
anyway. Problem with the Bangladeshi Muslims is
that their religious leaders have not reconciled
with the fact that they are Bengali Muslims, that
their history - both biological and the
civilizational, is rooted here, and no disguise,
western or Arab, can cover that up! Yet, they do
everything possible to avoid any indication that
their ancestors were Hindus, Buddhists, tribals,
etc. In their mission to Arabize the culture as a
part of their march to state power and impose
Islamic rule of the most virulent kind, they are
determined to wipe out any trace of link to our
past. Their particular mission to wipe out the
Hindu population is to be seen in this context.
The pressure to alienate from its roots that
Muslims as a community have suffered for a very
long time from their politico-religious leaders
is what has hurled them into this distorted and
tragic trajectory - from the deception that was
Pakistan to the cage of Islamic theocracy that is
under construction. It is in this conflict with
our identity originates our confusion about how
to adopt to a rapidly changing modern world,
while the regressive forces ideologically
anchored in centuries past try to pull us back.
Deprivation from the experience of living for
sustained period under a stable democracy, and
our refusal to learn, e.g., from neighboring
India about it’s fundamental advantages, have
contributed to the present quagmire.

The electoral crisis of 2006-2007 is yet another
example of how miserably democracy has failed to
take root, how the major political parties have
undermined it by transmitting their own cynicism
on to the voters by abusing power, replacing
governance with corruption, emphasizing personal
ambitions over public good, and making politics
in Bangladesh devoid of any decency.

Bangladesh is never short of intelligent people,
but there seem to be a lack of rational ones
among leaders and apparatchiks of political
organizations. That has to change, and require
rational, humane and realist leaders. I suggest
that a critical step to instigate that change is
to demand the restoration of every secular
component of the original constitution of
Bangladesh , and make those even stronger. A
commitment to do so should be the litmus test of
any one claiming to be secular and democratic in
Bangladesh . There is no rational justification
for, neither is there any justice in imposing any
parochial religious values in matters of public
civic life; to do so is to institutionalize
tyranny of one religion over the others,
including those who do not subscribe to any. In a
democracy, an individual has the right to
subscribe to any personal faith or no faith at
all, but he or she has no right to require any of
others.

Hence, there is no democracy but secular
democracy; every other variation is a fraud. What
is necessary is for all democratic, progressive
forces in the country to come together in this
battle, no less significant than that of 1971,
with a commitment to eliminate once and for all
the forces of darkness, obscurantism and
bigotry - the enemies of freedom, which the Islamists
openly claim to be. The coalition of progress
must militantly confront every move of the
fanatics, exposing their insanity & inhumanity,
their repressive agenda, and their Mirjafari
treachery. Divided, the democratic left are many;
united, they can be mighty. To defeat the
anti-democratic theocratic forces is a central
task in Bangladesh today. The need for coming
together of the progressives, including those
within AL , to create an independent, alternate
political entity to fight this battle has never
been more urgent.