Political satire / Men to the rescue: A modest proposal for women’s political relief
26 January 2026, 00:50 AM
In a generous act of national service, men across the political spectrum have stepped forward to rescue women from the exhausting burden of political participation.
26 January 2026, 00:50 AM
Violence in Bangladesh’s RMG sector: Disposable lives, dispensable labour
6 September 2025, 03:00 AM
Can we imagine and construct a political system that refuses to subordinate human dignity to the demands of global accumulation?
6 September 2025, 03:00 AM
Opinion / The consensus to keep women out
13 August 2025, 03:09 AM
The project of egalitarianism cannot be subcontracted to the very custodians of inequality.
13 August 2025, 03:09 AM
Are we backtracking on our commitment to gender equality?
18 November 2024, 10:00 AM
The interim government needs to quickly set an agenda that reaffirms its commitment to upholding women's rights.
18 November 2024, 10:00 AM
A nation's need for soul searching
5 October 2024, 17:58 PM
We have done the unthinkable—bring down a dictator—only to realise that the fascism within the body politic—and within ourselves—is much harder to dislodge than a once-invincible regime. If we are to do better as a nation than we have in the past, we must do the hard work of looking inwards and collectively figuring out the root causes of our dispossession and deprivation.
5 October 2024, 17:58 PM
In conversation with Syeda Rizwana Hasan: ‘It’s been most challenging to reach those marooned in Feni’
22 August 2024, 11:52 AM
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the environment ministry, speaks with The Daily Star about the ongoing floods.
22 August 2024, 11:52 AM
Did we have to pay such a heavy price for this verdict?
21 July 2024, 18:00 PM
The verdict is in. The Appellate Division through its observations has recommended that quotas be restricted to seven percent: five percent for freedom fighters’ descendants, one percent for ethnic minorities, and one percent for people with disabilities.
21 July 2024, 18:00 PM
Death is built into our cityscapes
5 March 2024, 02:00 AM
Why do authorities gamble with our lives?
5 March 2024, 02:00 AM
The devil in development
The word “development” - eliciting as it does grandiloquent notions of progress - has become, at least in Bangladesh, something of a red herring.
3 August 2016, 18:00 PM
“Is the Forest Department to be a landlord without any responsibilities?”
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association's (BELA) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan talks to Sushmita S Preetha of The Daily
6 June 2016, 18:00 PM
If our democracy could talk, what would it say?
When people resist what the government would like to wholesale, impose, or force-feed as “development”, democracy seems quite at ease to quell people's resistances, violate pledges and dismiss the age-old demands of the adivasi communities.
1 June 2016, 18:00 PM
Who says we're not free?
Last week, Freedom House, an independent watchdog organisation that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom...
2 May 2016, 18:00 PM
When only men make the news
On the onset, it seems women are everywhere in the media. You switch on the TV, there is inevitably an attractive woman luring you
19 April 2016, 18:00 PM
A lesson on lessons not learnt
Eleven years ago, on a hot, stuffy day not unlike today, a building had come crashing down on the sweating workers of a sweater factory.
10 April 2016, 18:00 PM
What do we celebrate when we celebrate 'special' days?
We are quite happy, thank you very much, to superficially engage with an issue and then sweep it under the rug as soon as the day is over.
2 March 2016, 18:00 PM
In the land of the Bangalis
AS we celebrate another Amar Ekushey, we remind ourselves of the importance of language in forming and defining our identities. We
20 February 2016, 18:00 PM
You can't pass a donkey as a horse!
AT the risk of sounding “anti-growth” and “anti-exports” – and heck, of damaging the “image” of the country (because, apparently,
17 February 2016, 18:00 PM
Whose city is it, anyway?
The impassioned descriptions all collide against, but dissolve into each other – the past, present and future, stories of pain, aspiration, fear and anger compete against each other to be heard.
27 January 2016, 18:00 PM
A fifteen-year-old wait
We must confront the uncomfortable truth that beyond paying lip-service to the “ideals of secularism and tolerance” (if that!), we have done precious little to show we care about the Hindu population of this country.
12 January 2016, 18:00 PM
Breaking of spirits and bones
Forty-four years since independence, must we remain a caricature of a dysfunctional, postcolonial state where law enforcers...
9 December 2015, 18:00 PM
Do we really remember?
We have been taught contradictory versions of history that are outright lies at worst and simplistic at best, to the extent that we now either disavow the atrocities of the Liberation War or use “Muktijuddher Chetona” as a pretext for justifying repressive measures and silencing dissent.
25 November 2015, 18:00 PM
Is the parliament above question?
Wouldn't any criticism against the government or any form of dissent then be reason enough to have an NGO's registration cancelled? In addition, going by Sengupta's comments, are we to accept that the TIB – and by corollary, any other NGO – can never make a comment on the parliament?
19 November 2015, 18:00 PM
WOMEN WAGING PEACE
When she first landed in earthquake-ridden Haiti, Rockfar Sultana Khanam, commander of the first ever all-female UN peacekeeping
13 November 2015, 18:00 PM
LIVING WITH INJUSTICE
We were “assured” after the attack that the in/action of the law enforcers would be “looked into” and “action taken against anyone found negligent of his duties”. However, till now, no administrative or legal action has been taken against any person
6 October 2015, 18:00 PM
Not just a hashtag generation
Kudos, young comrades, for making the impossible possible – for making the government rethink its position at a time when our policymakers often stubbornly stick to their guns, no matter how foolhardy their decisions. Kudos to you for making us believe,
23 September 2015, 18:00 PM
Negligence most foul!
It is a hopeful sign that after three years and relentless pressure from activist groups, a Dhaka court has framed charges against 13 people, including the two owners of Tazreen, Delwar Hossain and Mahmuda Akhtar, for the death of at least 112 workers.
8 September 2015, 18:00 PM
The definitive writer's guide to surviving this democracy
Are you a writer, journalist, blogger or Facebook user? Do you find yourself thinking long and hard about the dwindling state of affairs in the country?
26 August 2015, 18:00 PM
“We need to separate speech that is offensive and insulting from speech that actually leads to imminent threats to people's lives and well-being”
David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, shares his observation on Bangladeshi blogger killings and state responsibility, the distinction between hate speech and offensive speech, and surveillance in the name of national security, in an exclusive interview with Sushmita S Preetha of The Daily Star.
19 August 2015, 18:00 PM