Fostering the collective memory thanks to the native language
| IN THIS ISSUE | |
| PARTICIPATING [citizen involvement] INDONESIA
Farmers’ Organizations Mobilizing to Take Back the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DEMONSTRATING [public activism] INDIA
Heavily into Debt, the Farmers’ only Harvest is Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TRAINING [knowledge for action] PHILIPPINES
For Children not in School, Mobile Unit Comes to Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COOPERATING [sharing resources] PAKISTAN
NGOs Affirm their Independence . . . . . . . . COMMUNICATING [confronting ideas] INDONESIA
Radio used to make rights known and recognizable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TESTIMONY [culture and solidarity]
BANGLADESH
Fostering the collective memory thanks to the native language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PORTRAIT [a meeting with ...] NEPAL Profile of Jagat Basnet, founder of the land rights movement for the landless and tenant farmers fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
The twelve strokes of midnight sounded in Dhaka, and on this 21 st of February the president lajuddin Ahmed is the first to lay a garland at the feet of the Monument of the Martyrs. It is the middle of the Ekushey Book Fair [1], an event of the highest importance designed to promote Bengali. The country doesn’t forget this fair on the 21 st , the date of the world wide celebration of native language, both here and throughout the world. This tradition is now fifty-five years old and comes from Bangladesh, in commemoration of the events of February 21 st 1952. At the time, five students from Dhaka were killed by the Pakistani police [2] because they were demanding that Bengali, the language spoken by 95% of Bangladeshis, be recognized as the official language.
Gathering around Bengali
More than 800 volunteers from the BNCC [3] were transformed into tour guides for the day, all in the service of the population. Some 10,000 security agents were also deployed around the Monument and the campus of Dhaka University, where the memorial is situated. Still, everything turned out well. Governmental and non-governmental organizations alike played a part in commemorating this day. The Bengali Foundation and the Nazrul Institution organized discussion forums, poetry readings, and painting and graphics events for youth. This proceeds directly from the Ekushey Book Fair which has, for a month, been involved in promoting Bengali. Organized by the Bangla Academy, under the patronage of the Minister of Culture, some 300 publishing houses have participated in it. More than 50% of their annual sales take place at the Fair, with a discount of up to 20%.
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more questions of social or caste differences while the nation celebrates their heroes / © Hershad Ahmed |
In this way, the Union of
Swedish Authors came to join the national poetry festival organized from
February 17-18 th
by Jatiya Kabita Parishad
[4]
in the memory of
the late poet Shamshur Rahman. As for the Nazrul Manch, the plaza
dedicated to the poet Nazrul Islam, who worked diligently in favor of
Bengali, it was the center of a number of cultural events during this
month.
Again this year, there were
millions who stopped their daily activities the 21 st
in order to pay homage
to their national heroes. Thousands came to the Bangladeshi capital
to lay flowers around the monument of the martyred students, called Shahid
Minar. Dressed mostly in black and white, they chanted an elegy
- “Amar bhaiyer rakte rangano ekushey february ami ki bhulite pari”
[5]
- in the streets
of the town, which is decorated for the occasion with the Bangla alphabet
and the national flag. The university students also find themselves
around a different monument, erected specially in the confines of Dhaka
University, which represents the deceased students.
A great occasion, a great mobilization
Personages from around the country such as the Parliament member Ahter Ahmed Siddique, the mayor of the city of Dhaka Sadeque Hossain Khoka, as well as foreign diplomats and members of international organizations, gathered around the monuments until the middle of the day.
The
Bangladeshi people don’t want to forget the heavy sacrifice
that is represented by the death of these youth. It is not
sufficient to establish on February 21 st
a national holiday,
but to raise awareness throughout the country about what this day
represents. |
The fight which led the youth towards the Language Movement, and to which they gave their lives, made the world become aware of the importance of native language. The current objective: to avoid having the ubiquitous presence of globalization make these languages disappear. Finally recognized by the Pakistani government two years after the deaths of the students (in 1954), Bengali or Bangla has become a symbol, and is commemorated by Ekushey [6] or Shaheed Dibas [7]. Each February 21 st is a chance for the 150 million Bangladeshis to pay homage to these sacrificed students, named Abdul Jabbar, Rafiq Uddin, Abdus Salam, Abul Barkat and Shafiur.
Notes :
[1] The book fair of the month of Ekushey (February) : the sale of Bengali books that begins a few days before Ekushey
[2] From 1947 to 1971, current Bangladesh was called East Pakistan
[3] Bangladesh National Cadet Core
[4] Organization of local poets and artists
[5] “Can I forget the 21st of February colored by the blood of my brothers?”
[6] From the Bengali Ekush, which means twenty-one and Ekushey to say 21st day of the month of February
[7] Martyr’s Day
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