Social justice is a core issue at Mukto-Mona

 By A.H. Jaffor Ullah

 

Soon Mukto-Mona is going to be one year old.  Let there be jubilation for its one-year anniversary.  Similar to human being or any other animal, the first is very difficult one as far as the solvability is concerned.  However, to our amazement this forum has not only survived but is flourishing at an unprecedented rate.  Much kudos to forum moderators Avijit Roy and Lopa Tasneem for their tireless work.  Also, credit is due to everyone starting from the moderation team members to who wrote articles, rebutted articles written by others, and above all who posted articles of extraordinary merit to educate us.  Education is a lifelong process.  For me, I am always learning new things, new ideas, and it is exciting to be a lifelong student.

 

I know others will write on Mukto-Mona’s superlative achievement in the field of dissemination of truth as far as democratic humanism, secularism, freethinking, and the entire gamut of things those that come close to humanism.  However, allow me to dwell on other aspect of human life.  As you are well aware of, we do not live in a just world.  As I write this short piece, many injustices are being perpetrated all over the place.  However, only a miniscule of these injustices is being mentioned in the leading press.  Only a handful of these injustices committed against minorities are being mentioned and discussed in newspapers and cyber forums.  There is no dearth of cyber forums in the Internet where people discuss lighter topics.  Religion is also a big topic amongst many participants.  In the last couple of years as the bandwidth of the Internet expanded to a reasonable degree, many folks are coming to cyber forums to meet other.  Therefore, many Bangalees are also joining various forums to discuss social, political, economical issues pertaining to Bangladesh and her neighbors.  But a careful look at these forums will reveal that most forum members would gloss over the problems of Bangladesh societies that are showing up on the surface.  For example, the preponderance of crime in the main streets is symptomatic of decay in our moral fabrics.  Nonetheless, in many forums the participants are discussing how to stop to these crimes.  Others are blaming the politicians in charge of manning the law and order department.  However, I think many will agree with me that the problem is very deep seated.  And it took years of negligence on Bangladesh’s part not to see to it that the society has become very immoral.  Wrong values were promoted through propaganda machine.  Petty lies were not considered a crime anymore.  The society has become more materialistic and as such, end justified the means.  As I write this short article, it pains me to see that my motherland has some serious problems with humanitarian values.  That is precisely why every time we have election or other major political upheavals, the minorities get the shaft from the majority.  In the parlance of Bangladesh, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians are the minorities, and Muslims are the majority. 

 

In the aftermath of October 1, 2002, parliamentary election, the majority Muslims unleashed a rein of terror in Southern Bangladesh.  Consequently, many Hindus were beaten up very badly and their women were violated in certain instances.  Some women also complained that the thugs in the process had looted some gold ornaments too.  AS these news percolated through the media, Mukto-Mona forum became very active.  Many participants including the moderators focused on the issue of minority repression in Bangladesh.  This is very commendable.  We can talk about some heavy-duty concepts in any forum but if we fail to redress the social justice issue, then what are we fighting for.

 

Going forward, I think Mukto-Mona could be a champion for social justice issue in South Asia.  We should be vigilant on social injustices.  It hardly matters who are the victim.  If the village Mullahs in Bangladesh is targeting women for repression in the guise of fatwa and whatnot, we should speak up against the Mullahs.  If Hindus are barred from attending any religious festivity in the remote village because Islamists are having a field day everywhere in Bangladesh, then we should sound the alarm bell.  If the Siv-Senas in Gujarat or Maharashtra try to stir up communalism, then we should raise our combined voice and we should do it in the forum.  I have noticed that Mukto-Mona did carry out a signature drive when Bangladesh government clamped on Shahriar Kabir who went to neighboring West Bengal to collect evidence of repression.  While other forums were involved in nitpicking on Shahriar Kabir characterizing him as one of the “betrayers,” Mukto-Mona forum members were pushing an agenda to denounce the draconian action of the newly elected Islamist government of Bangladesh.  In this sense, Mukto-Mona is light-years ahead of other forums.  It is a no surprise that Mukto-Mona forum members have mentioned well ahead of Mr. Bertil Lintner’s article in FEER about the religious fanaticism in Bangladesh, which is on the rise.  The bottom line is that Mukto-Mona is on the forefront of social justice issue in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.  This is very reassuring that common sense will prevail over biased views.  Mukto-Mona forum members should be on the lookout for social injustices everywhere but in particular in South Asia. 

 

As we move forward, we will realize that the birth of Internet as a media is far more valuable than say the introduction of Gutenberg Press in circa 1434.  Eventually, the printing press technology affected life on earth.  Knowledge, which was once closely guarded, was made available to most people.  The same thing is going to happen now in a very big away.  The Mukto-Mona forum members are the pioneers in disseminating mind-broadening knowledge.  I hope our journey has just begun.  This forum will continue to spread the gospel of humanism as we move forward.  Let us turn this small forum into an institution in which we will not only discuss issues pertaining to freeing one’s mind from the bondage of religious dogmatism but we will also be a vanguard when it comes to social injustices.  Let Mukto-Mona be the champion for the cause of downtrodden minorities where they may be.  Protecting the rights of minorities should be one of the main concerns of every Mukto-monas.  With that note let me bring to a close this laudatory piece on Mukto-Mona’s first year birth anniversary.