Nazifa Raidah

Nazifa Raidah is a journalist, researcher and development practitioner.

They want our silence, but we will not give it to them

From late Thursday night through the early hours of Friday, December 19, my colleagues at The Daily Star were trapped on the roof of their burning workplace, unsure if they would survive.

22 December 2025, 02:00 AM

ED 2 - Lets safeguard every childs childhood_9aa7.jpg

World Children’s Day / The children who work while we look away

It is baffling how normalised we all are to child labour.

20 November 2025, 03:00 AM

International Day of the Girl Child / Girls hold the future; but we aren’t shaping the one they deserve

For how long does a girl truly get to be a child in our society?

11 October 2025, 03:00 AM

World Water Day / New leadership, old rivers, and the long road to clean water

New efforts to clean Bangladesh's rivers offer hope, but community involvement and innovation are key.

22 March 2025, 01:51 AM

THE SHELF / Storytelling, struggles, and reimagining identity

Patriarchy would have you believe that women are inherently complicated—creatures who must be defined, boxed in, or reduced to stereotypes.

27 November 2024, 18:00 PM

The Great Wave / Fascism, self-censorship, and the 'new Bangladesh'

No other government in this country's political history has been labelled “fascist” with such intensity, despite similar tendencies having existed before—at times to the same extent. The current context is unique in that it reflects the 15-year-long authoritarian rule of Awami League and its trickle-down oppression. Yet, understanding fascism is crucial if we seek to avoid the rise of another such regime.

10 October 2024, 12:20 PM

Battling against the current: The river governance puzzle we must solve

Multiple ministries, overlapping mandates, and the exclusion of key stakeholders make streamlining water governance a challenge.

29 September 2024, 02:00 AM

This is not the Bangladesh we stood in the line of fire for

It is time for us to be vigilant on all fronts, it’s so much harder to protect freedom than to achieve it.

7 August 2024, 05:00 AM

Realistic things to do in Dhaka traffic

Talking about Dhaka traffic and talking to a wall is almost the same thing. You can scream and shout all you want, but at the end of the day you realise that it feels like talking to a wall, and unfortunately, this wall doesn’t have ears as the Bangla saying goes.

3 February 2023, 18:00 PM

Is ‘Faraaz’ just another movie?

How is it that such a seasoned director did not seek consent from the victims’ families when making Faraaz?

3 February 2023, 04:00 AM

The art of moderating literary conversations

Rifat Munim highlighted how a moderator can be a catalyst to an engaging dialogue between the panellists and the audience,

13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Stirring social change through theatre

Fatima Begum (not her real name) is from Datiar char, located in Kurigram’s Chilmari upazila. She lived with her husband Baniz and three sons, all of whom are married.

16 December 2022, 18:00 PM

Waffle Up: worth the fuss?

If you’re having a bad day and you need a pick-me-up, Waffle Up is definitely a place you should visit.

11 December 2022, 16:55 PM

All male panel gives out ‘Best Female Award’

To honour the women who have proved to be young and promising from different walks of life, Beti Foundation along with Tara Barta jointly organised the “Best Female Award”.

2 December 2022, 18:00 PM

In remembering the 'Queen's legacy', why do we forget the suffering of our ancestors?

To remember and to be informed are the most important duties that the colonised bear.

8 October 2022, 10:00 AM

Of strength and togetherness

Festivals have always been a cornerstone of the country’s culture. It’s not only about the rituals and traditions that promote a sense of community but also about the various customs and the spirit of Durga Puja that buzzes in the air.

4 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Where tradition meets craftsmanship

It is very easy for one to get woefully lost in the crevices and back alleys of Old Dhaka even with a guidebook. When one thinks of visiting Old Dhaka, Shakhari Bazar is a place that gets mentioned by almost all who either have lived or visited the area, thanks to its history associated with craftsmen.

3 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Deprived of parents’ love, cop keeps taking it out on civilians

In a recent development of curious events in the city, a local policeman, on multiple occasions spacing out in different timelines, was found beating the excrement out of students.

23 September 2022, 18:00 PM

Yass Kweeners rejoice as they’re the only queens in the game now

Instagrammers, bloggers, vloggers and content creators of all kinds who are part of the Global Yass Kween movement, rejoiced as they could now not only mispronounce, but also make “Kween” the new queen as the real monarch has left the lands.

16 September 2022, 18:00 PM

The youth motors on two wheels

For many, motorcycles act as a mode of escapism.

15 September 2022, 00:00 AM

A deep dive into a poet’s mind

He had lost touch almost completely with his craft, so much so that he wondered if he even had it in him. But even so, for the sake of writing, he wrote. When the pandemic hit, Helal batted off the dust of his desk and sat down to write. Sitting from a foreign land, the ink flowed again.

7 September 2022, 18:00 PM