Mahfuz Anam

There are two realities of today’s Bangladesh – the reality of graduation to a developing country and that of the repressions of digital security act, the former we celebrate and the latter we condemn. Today, however, we only celebrate.

Mushtaq Ahmed, the writer, the commentator, the socially conscious citizen, the articulate but moderate voice of dissent and a critical observer of current events is dead.

In the recent past, our honourable members of parliament have been known more for their legal actions against journalists—first under the ICT Act, then the Digital Security Act (DSA)—than for any consequential legislation in any of the vital fields of economic, social or democratic advancement.

He was a journalist, turned writer, turned columnist, turned public intellectual -- meaning he devoted all his intellectual and physical abilities to promoting public causes.

We commend the army chief, General Aziz Ahmed, for having the moral courage and fulfilling his duty to explain to the public, through a press gathering, his own position regarding the recent media reportage on his brothers and his links with them.

Thirty years ago, the coming together of a regionally famous editor and a near-novice at journalism along with some visionary investors—Azimur Rahman, AS Mahmud, Latifur Rahman, A. Rouf Chowdhury, Shamsur Rahman—gave birth to what we called in our first editorial the “Independent Voice”.

The Al Jazeera report on Bangladesh titled “All the Prime Minister’s Men”, aired early Tuesday morning, revealed some vulnerabilities of our power structure that pivots around connections, cronyism and corruption. It has also, inadvertently, exposed the weaknesses of our media and the state of its freedom.

Every government is hungry for praise and ours is no exception. Media becomes a government’s favourite when it does nothing but praise. That, however, does not serve society or its people.

The happy ending of this story came about due to a mixture of pure chance and the laudable inquisitiveness of a Detective Branch (DB) police constable, Mahfizur Rahman.

Americans exercised their democratic right and elected Donald Trump as president in 2016. Four years later, they exercised the same right again and corrected what had turned out to be a disastrous mistake.

He wanted to be an excep-tional journalist, and he was. It was as if he willed himself to be what he wanted to be.

Here is a story that should alert us all. On December 29, a law student named Rejaul Karim Reja, 30, was having tea with friends at a roadside tea stall around 8 pm near his home in Barisal town.

The question of the moment is with what learning we are entering the new year.

The Election Commission (EC) must be above question. But to be so, it must answer all questions. To ignore, evade, downplay or malign citizens who ask the questions is the surest way to sow doubt in the public mind that an attempt is being made to hide, something that is neither good for the EC and definitely not for the future of democracy.

The United States has always grabbed global attention for just being what is it—the United States.

What was once a startling thunderclap passed off as a whimper, what was welcomed by millions and celebrated as the rebirth of our democracy, went hardly noticed, what was termed as the victory of the people over the military did not receive any public attention.

Historian Yuval Noah Harari, of bestsellers “Sapiens”(2011) and “Homo Deus”(2016) fame, talks about the importance of stories in human history which have the power, he says, to transform the fortune of peoples -- turning groups to tribes, to communities, to nations and, to civilizations and make them achieve wonders.

Winston Churchill’s comment in November, 1947 that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried before” remains as pertinent today as it was when he stated it in the immediate post war period.

Aly Zaker, our most iconic theatre personality, has left us for eternity. He singlehandedly brought theatre out from an obscure corner of our cultural world to its very centre.

Aly Zaker, our most iconic theatre personality, has left us for eternity. He singlehandedly brought theatre out from an obscure corner of our cultural world to its very centre. He along with his co-actors in Nagarik, and fellow travellers in other theatre groups, made the stage the most powerful and effective vehicle of inculcating critical thinking and intellectual freedom so vitally needed for social change and progress.