I know a lady who lives in Canada. She is a widow: her husband died during the civil war of 1971 in the then East Pakistan.
She has had to bring up her two children by herself, and the best possible route for her was to emigrate. Now, when she comes to Bangladesh, she hardly wants to leave the country and go back to her adopted nation. She is in her seventies, and does not expect to live much longer.
When Benazir Bhutto was killed, I was overjoyed – but I noticed an outpouring of sympathy for that woman. Thus Robert Fisk observed: “however corrupt she may have been, let us never forget that this brave lady was indeed a martyr”! He calls her “this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country”.
Incredible!
In Bangladesh, we remember her father all to well: he was the man who unleashed mayhem on Bangladesh, mayhem that killed 500,000 people (I owe this figure to David Reynolds’ history, One World Divisible).
The Bhutto family’s respect for democracy is famous: Bhutto pere refused to accept that Sheikh Mujib had won the election throughout Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto was popular because her father was a demagogue who literally split the country for the sake of power: the people of Pakistan (like the people of South Asia) apparently believe that “virtue” descends from father to child. If virtue can be inherited, then so can vice. And South Asians have a passion for those – and the pathological products of their loins - who have failed their country.
A few days after Benazir Bhutto shuffled off her mortal coil, I spoke with the lady widowed in 1971. She sounded pathetically apologetic for feeling good that Bhutto had been killed – she, of all people!
“You see,” she explained, “I lost my husband in 1971.”
I assured her I was just as happy as she – which could have been nowhere near the truth, because nobody I loved had died in 1971.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
school of evil
How can anybody bring up children in Bangladesh?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
school of evil
How can anybody bring up children in Bangladesh?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
Friday, January 18, 2008
In Quest of Happiness
http://www.opednews.com/articles/life_a_iftekhar_080115_in_quest_of_happines.htm
(click above for article)
“When is enough, enough?” Civilisation is a constant overreach for material possessions. Enough has never been enough, and some people, like the Cynics and the hippies, have reacted against the tyranny of matter.
(click above for article)
“When is enough, enough?” Civilisation is a constant overreach for material possessions. Enough has never been enough, and some people, like the Cynics and the hippies, have reacted against the tyranny of matter.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Eternal Vigilance
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2811.shtml
(click above for article)
“Eternal vigilance is the price of chastity” conveys far better than Thomas Jefferson’s line (quoted ad nauseam) the anxiety his female slaves must have felt at the constant prospect of being raped by their freedom-loving, concupiscent master.
(click above for article)
“Eternal vigilance is the price of chastity” conveys far better than Thomas Jefferson’s line (quoted ad nauseam) the anxiety his female slaves must have felt at the constant prospect of being raped by their freedom-loving, concupiscent master.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Who hasn’t heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali?
She it was who wrote the script for Theo van Gogh’s film “Submission”: the film depicts a beaten, naked woman whose body is covered with verses from the Koran. In case you didn’t get the message: that’s what Islam does to you, especially if you are a woman.
Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Dutch-born Muslim of Moroccan origin, and he threatened to do the same to Ms. Ali. The lady had since then been kept under police protection. However, she was caught having fibbed about her asylum claim, and the Dutch withdrew the welcome mat. Since then she has headed for more accommodating climes, namely, the United States of America (where else?).
In her book “The Caged Virgin”, she argues that it is clear what the west must do: force Islam to go through the civilising effects of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. She fiercely opposes multiculturalism: the west should come out of the closet and proclaim its superiority over the benighted Muslim world.
As history books helpfully point out, the superiority of the Dutch over the barbaric hordes is beyond reasonable doubt: after all, they it was who collaborated to hand over almost all the resident Jews to the Germans to be shipped to concentration camps.
Now, that’s western civilisation for you: superior!
She it was who wrote the script for Theo van Gogh’s film “Submission”: the film depicts a beaten, naked woman whose body is covered with verses from the Koran. In case you didn’t get the message: that’s what Islam does to you, especially if you are a woman.
Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Dutch-born Muslim of Moroccan origin, and he threatened to do the same to Ms. Ali. The lady had since then been kept under police protection. However, she was caught having fibbed about her asylum claim, and the Dutch withdrew the welcome mat. Since then she has headed for more accommodating climes, namely, the United States of America (where else?).
In her book “The Caged Virgin”, she argues that it is clear what the west must do: force Islam to go through the civilising effects of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. She fiercely opposes multiculturalism: the west should come out of the closet and proclaim its superiority over the benighted Muslim world.
As history books helpfully point out, the superiority of the Dutch over the barbaric hordes is beyond reasonable doubt: after all, they it was who collaborated to hand over almost all the resident Jews to the Germans to be shipped to concentration camps.
Now, that’s western civilisation for you: superior!
A Modest Proposal
Since we in South Asia in general, and Bangladesh in particular, are addicted to dynastic democracy, may I make a modest suggestion?
In Bangladesh (and the model may be worthy of emulation), we should try and bring the 21st century into our politics by cloning our dynastic leaders. They will then look exactly like the real thing, and the people will be no whit wiser.
At the same time, we should apply modern genetic technology to remove aggressive genes from the clones, and make our leaders less assertive and violent.
This way, the two dynasties would be able to coexist in harmony, and we’ll have a virtual national government, with each bowing out gracefully after every election. They can then dispense with their thugs, armed students and violently faithful teachers and bureaucrats.
And if any nasty atavistic, recessive gene turns up, well, we can simply clone the clones and remove that gene.
There will be only one problem, albeit a minor one: what to do with the real McKoys?
In Bangladesh (and the model may be worthy of emulation), we should try and bring the 21st century into our politics by cloning our dynastic leaders. They will then look exactly like the real thing, and the people will be no whit wiser.
At the same time, we should apply modern genetic technology to remove aggressive genes from the clones, and make our leaders less assertive and violent.
This way, the two dynasties would be able to coexist in harmony, and we’ll have a virtual national government, with each bowing out gracefully after every election. They can then dispense with their thugs, armed students and violently faithful teachers and bureaucrats.
And if any nasty atavistic, recessive gene turns up, well, we can simply clone the clones and remove that gene.
There will be only one problem, albeit a minor one: what to do with the real McKoys?
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