Politics of Words and Narratives: Boiling Frog Syndrome

Opinion

In the era of politics of words and speech, I acknowledge Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku’s comment on the slogan ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ with importance. Unfortunately, a group of certified ‘civilized in appearance, but idiots in reality’ have used their stupidity in the country’s politics to make this politics of words, shouting freedom of speech, freedom of speech, and making my news feed as dirty as a chicken coop, maybe I wouldn’t have talked about it.

This politics of words is actually the ‘boiling frog syndrome’ of the cola frog. Thanks to the internet, everyone knows it now, if anyone doesn’t know, then let me explain it very briefly. If a frog is placed in a pot of water, it will swim happily. Then you put a fire under the pot. The water will start to heat up little by little. The frog won’t notice it. It will adjust its body temperature tolerance little by little. But over time, this heat will reach a point where the frog will have nothing to do. It will be completely boiled.

This politics of words and speech has been fed into our culture for a long time. Those of you who are our age, just think about how the culture of saree gradually emerged in this country. It started like a frog taking a sip of lukewarm water. First one woman, then two women; in this way, saree gradually emerged. Lightly speaking against the tip began. We called them goats, laughed at them, spoke in favor of their freedom of speech, and calmed down after earning two likes.

But the reality is that now our Bengali women feel embarrassed to go out with a tip on their forehead. Outside of special circumstances, it is now impossible for a girl wearing a tip on her forehead to travel from Gazipur to Shahbagh on public transport without hearing some kind of comment. However, in the nineties, girls wearing a tip and applying kajal to their eyes were the natural identity of Bengalis. In this way, our culture, our naturalness has been gradually invaded, and in the name of freedom of speech and civility, we have accepted all this.

To win in politics, you first have to take over the culture of the society, it’s a simple calculation. This work has been going on in front of our eyes for a long time. I remember, when Mamdoohra organized a qawwali at TSC and Chhatra League prevented it, I protested about it in my own way. I even teased Chhatra League President Saddam about it on a TV talk show. The next day, a friend of mine called from Canada and said, ‘You can get a lot of praise on TV for calling Saddam’s goons, but I think they did the right thing. The cultural aggression that is starting, these so-called progressives are the front face of it. These ‘fukka kulle nizamin’ are the feu walking before the tiger. No one is afraid of feu, but the day the tiger falls in the village, your behavior like shepherd boys will make the entire village suffer, you will be happy.’

This is a war. I may lose this war for now, but I will not back down from the war. I remember that Sepoy Mutiny. Our forefathers, the Sepoys, were defeated. The British hanged the rebel Sepoys and left their bodies hanging for miles. They were defeated, but they were not wrong. It was because that Sepoy, the son of a mud-spattered farmer from that remote village, sacrificed his life that we gained freedom from the British after a hundred years.

Cultural aggression is visible to us because the leaders of our generation were school students. Almost all the leaders of the current generation of Zenji are madrasa students. Those who won in DUCSU are madrasa students, and the VPs of those who lost in a fight are also madrasa students. Urdu and Persian are very familiar to them because they were in their syllabus. For them, these are very good languages ​​to connect with. That is why it is fashionable to say justice instead of justice, freedom instead of freedom, and oppressed instead of oppressed.

But this should not be seen as just an attack on language, it is actually a continuing attack on politics.

Language is just the smoke of the beginning, the heat of the fire is following it.

Every seat in Dhaka has been contested, half of the seats have already been captured by the ‘Fukke Kulle Nizamin’s’ owner party. If women and progressives had not come to vote in droves to save their backs, then the entire Dhaka would have become Inqilab Zindabad this time.

But perhaps this sandbar will not be able to stop the revolution. Part of his plan is to attack this language and culture. We, the bulls, do not realize this. We earn likes by puffing up our throats in favor of freedom of speech. We do not want to earn the abuse of the bot army.

Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku has come at this time and raised a good question, whether he understands it or not. You can insult him and get a lot of likes. But I will endorse Tuku’s question at this time of night and sehri. I will also say that when there are so many beautiful words in my own language, why do I have to bring Nizamin to the village to contain my hatred and anger?

We have not come to earn likes. We will live in abuse and hatred. We are the next generation of the teenage soldiers of that Ajapara village of the Sepoy Mutiny. We will hang in the Antaghar Maidan, our bodies will be pecked at by crows and vultures; we are not destined for a grave. But after a hundred years, that Antaghar Maidan will be named Bahadur Shah Park. Two teenage girls will walk under the tree where we were hung, talking in Bengali, our souls will be calmed by seeing that.

If a handful of people from our generation have to stand as a sign between the extreme right and the millennial Bengali; we will stand on the Antaghar Maidan, having suffered all the insults, all the disrespect, neglect and torture. We believe that we will be evaluated after 100 years.

Whether I can or not, I will stand against the beast of political aggression that will invade my town with the guise of linguistic aggression.

Stand against any aggression against language and culture. Even if it comes in the guise of progressiveness from your dearest friend, be careful of the knife under the sleeve of that assassin. This is my and your collective responsibility to the next generation of Bengalis in a hundred years.

-Arif Jebtik

Writer, journalist, blogger and online activist