Letters
C
for Confusion
I really enjoyed reading the article "B for Bangladeshi"
in SWM's July 9th issue, which was beautifully written by
Srabonti Narmeen Ali. But what about H? Our history, which
is changing much too rapidly! Different political parties
when in power change our Liberation War's history as much
as they want for their personal gains. But if we are confused
about our history and identity then it will raise other
questions, like who we are and where we come from. Which
story do we believe? Is this confusion over something that
make us proud?
Shantanu Saha Subrata
Rangpur
Kudos
To You and Your Team!
My introduction to the SWM happened during my recent visit
to Dhaka. I picked it up for a glimpse. Reading between
the lines, I realised it is strongly addictive. Your subjects
might be mundane but it is matched with a treatment of tact,
perceptiveness and styled with sensitivity and an unending
tone of humour and finesse, all of which make the magazine
an amusing read. The accuracy of wit with which Shawkat
Hussain and Chintito write their articles, the elegance
of Neeman Sobhan's writings, the extra topping of humour
in the most trivial things in the Slice of Life column and
much more. All make the magazine a work of outstanding credit.
I have also read many articles, which I find are an assembled
gamut of inedible words and lacklustre thoughts, but SWM
has aroused my interest in diverse fields just by the style
of its writing. It's easy, simple, funny, yet thought-provoking,
because the message is conveyed with a much greater impact.
The anniversary special issue was a feast with so many talented
writers sharing chapters of their life.
Anuradha
India
Democratic
killer
Hartals are a type of democratic protest. They cripple the
economy and take away valuable life. Sadly the government
and opposition party are not taking any necessary steps
to stop hartals. None of them want to ban it as AL needs
it now to protest against the government and the BNP will
need it if they are in the opposition in the future. But
are hartals more important to BNP and AL than our people's
lives? How many more deaths do we have to see because of
hartal?
Nayeem Islam
Class-VIII, The Aga Khan School.
Uttara, Dhaka
The
Patriot's Act
It is nice to know that not all Americans think the way
George W Bush does. I would like to thank SWM for publishing
the article by Michael Moore called, "The Patriot's
Act". The article was simple and effective. There were
no frills and sugar coated excuses for the way the United
States and Bush's cronies have conducted themselves since
September 11th. As Moore rightfully asks to his fellow Americans,
"Are you proud that the rest of the world, which poured
out its heart to us after Sept. 11, now looks at us with
disdain and disgust?" These are real and harsh home
truths that I feel the citizens of the United States should
consider. Since no one else can speak out against the US
without fearing some kind of social or economic repercussion,
it is nice to know that one who can -- meaning a non-immigrant
American -- is using his automatic advantageous position
to educate those Americans who (for reasons of their own)
may not know any better. I think SWM should definitely continue
printing more such articles in the future, as well as writing
their own -- like the article by Mustafa Zaman in the July
9th issue titled "The Land of the Not So Free".
This, too, was a very well written article in which the
author discussed the shameful conduct of the Bush administration.
I think that it is important to write articles such as these
against the grave injustices being committed around the
world today.
SNL
On Email
On
B for Bangladeshi
In her passionately written piece "B for Bangladeshi"
Srabonti Narmeen Ali rightly points at the vacuum that the
Bangladeshis are in. And this vacuum is our own creation.
Even after 33 years of our independence the idea of a good
government seems elusive. As a nation, we have witnessed
the decimation of our cultural heritage as well as gross
deterioration of political practices. Politics is not supposed
to be about one party defeating the other in the elections,
it is about an agenda for a nation, which is implemented
collectively. This notion of thinking politically is absent
in our national psyche. The word politics has taken so much
flak that it almost seems synonymous with what is all around
us -- as Ali so emphatically pointed out -- corruption,
exploitation, extortion. She was right in stating that our
previous generation has been wailing over the current situations
without ever paying much attention to the changing world.
Perhaps, it is the job of our generation to try and put
Bangladesh back on the right track.
Elora Mahmood
Uttara, Dhaka
Are
we a democracy?
I am as confused as the whole nation is. People should enjoy
the right to vote and elect their representatives, but some
people enjoy the right to vote so much that they vote more
than fifty times. Sometimes people vote under false names
as well. The High Court had ordered the government to deploy
the army in every polling centre. Instead of being concerned
about security and fair voting rights, the government made
a mockery of the High Court order. The army was too busy
patrolling the streets to be manning the poll booths. Major
(retd) Mannan, the BDB candidate, had no other option but
to boycott the election. However, the Election Commission
insists that these irregularities are not sufficient to
cancel the election. Now citizens of this independent and
democratic country will always wonder whether their votes
are secure.
Elias Saif
Letters to the Editor, Dhaka Diary & Write to Mita with
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