Things That Bang

Taslima Nasreen has been moved to an undisclosed location in India, reportedly New Delhi. In the land of supposed freedom, she has gone into hiding. Her fight is not colored by her gender but by her audacity to go against a culture she was born in. Her writing is at best mediocre but her spirit is that of a warrior. She stands resolute in her fight for freedom of speech, her right to demand changes in a culture that is decaying. Instead of being introspective, the leaders of the community want her removed from the country.

Some call her an attention-whore for writing controversial books to get easy attention and others consider her to be a low life who went against her faith. The truth is that it takes guts to write something so controversial that would get one branded as a traitor and beg for asylum in other countries. Her only crime was to bring to world attention the suffering of the Bangladeshi women under the Islamic fold and for that the author continues to live a disrupted life.

Today the cyclone-hit Bangladesh again draws world attention. Women and children in the worst hit areas find themselves in dire straits:

Approximately half of the homes were destroyed by the cyclone.
Thanks to the radio, women here knew maybe a day or so before about the cyclone. When the early warning reached them, they headed towards safer towns for refuge.

But many people refused to help them or provide a safe haven for the women, because of the stigma attached to sex work.

Many were forced to set up temporary homes on the bridges or roads on the outskirts of towns, while others returned to their homes to fight the cyclone thereThe women told me how it was extremely tough for them, having been shunned by the community, but their main concern was what would happen to their children.

This is how the must vulnerable are being treated in Bangladesh. Isn't this the time when apart from fighting for their rights in Nandigram, the Kolkata Communists/Muslims should be turning their attention to the plight of their brethren across the borders? Instead we find them raising a hue and cry over a woman who feels the most for her country.

Related Articles:
Taslima Nasreen Leaves Kolkata: A Giant Defeat for Secularism By Dweep Chanana

Violence In Kolkata- The Battle For Bengal By Sandeep