To the new activists

Photo: Habibul Haque/ Drik news

It's very likely that I am unknown to all of you -- you, who are on the streets of Dhaka, outpouring your emotion and donating your youthful energy to a cause that belongs not only to Bangladesh's future, but to the future of all humanity. But I am not important, just a silent observer. It's really touching to see how you are drawing on the streets, singing, being vocal about human decency. I am touched not only because once I walked around TSC area like you do, I am touched because through your desperation I felt the desperation of youth all over the world. Like a ripple effect on a lake, an honest desire to uphold human rights and create a better society does reverberate throughout our global existence.
I congratulate you, irrespective of your social background, your gender or age. This is a galvanising moment, a moment of ascent. Yet, I would like to remind you something. First, a simple analogy with an aircraft's flight. Do you know that the riskiest part of flying a plane is the moment of take-off -- the moment when the aircraft's wings go through most critical changes? Same thing can be said about any social change.
Although your activism is focused on war-criminals, deep within its core lies dormant a seed for social change -- an opportunity to create a new direction for Bangladesh, and possibly South Asia in general. That's why it's so risky. People who want to keep things “as they are,” those who want to maintain status quo of power will be afraid. There will be a lot of interest groups who will try to exploit your sincerity, your craving for a positive change; they will try to misguide you, sow the seed of division to contaminate your unity and your innocence.
None can stop those interest groups or forces -- they are too ingrained in the existing social, economic and political system, a system where both the powerful and powerless are victims, paradoxically so. All I want, or I should say “hope,” is that you understand those forces around you that will try to sabotage this moment. Be careful, but be cunning as well. A really smart activist can utilise the strength of the opposing forces to his/her advantage without resorting to violence or instability. I wish you keep your thought process free and clear -- that's very important. It's important that you keep some fundamental questions alive as you walk among the people -- what is good for the society, are we trying to be more proactive or simply reactive?
There is a romance in revolutionary play-acting, and I personally see nothing wrong with that. But, don't waste your energy just on the romanticism -- build something out of it. You will meet a lot of new faces, you will connect with each other, and possibly create few life-long bonds of friendship and camaraderie. You can always use those new relationship to further your social causes -- causes that do not focus on just hanging few war criminals. The national spirit that you all awakened has a tremendous potential and that should not stop at just punishing few culprits -- it should spread throughout the system of governance, administration and cultural pulse of Bangladesh.
I will be honest that some of you may find my letter hypocritical and condescending, since I live in a country far away from your daily troubles, and although I am poor and do not own many things, I enjoy much more freedom than most of you. Yes, one can argue that you love Bangladesh more than I do. Yet, I could not help using my keyboard to reach out through words. When I looked at the photos of you, kneeling on the black asphalt around DU, I was moved and a part of me identified with your plight -- that plight which is beyond any political affiliation, a plight that is utterly human and universal.
You understand that Bangladesh has begun to go through a generational shift, caused by age as well as by equalising effect of technology, no matter how small that equalising effect may appear. You are different --despite poverty and other ills around you, you are more connected to the world, your dreams are not just local dreams of South Asia, your dreams are products of a fusion, like mosaic of a human panorama.
Petty political games have been so much a part of Bangladesh's culture that very few recognise this shift and encourage your dream to grow. I am happy to see that such a large number of you found your own voices, and you are brave enough to express your opinions despite so many discouraging elements around you. Please stay together. You do not belong to any parties; you belong to the land you love so much. You do not belong to any specific leader who is selfish; you belong to a group that welcome and uphold your dreams. Of course, any movement needs organisation; but don't let shadows of tried, old organisational gimmicks hijack your political consciousness.
You will take Bangladesh to the future; so, please march together. You are neither AL, BNP etc.'s youth. You are Bangladesh's youth. I don't want to make any comment about the War Crime Tribunal, but your activism should not end with the demise of those criminals. The force that you have become should keep moving on so that Bangladesh can at last get a chance to get on board the train of progress that it rightly deserves, but never got. May the poetry you write come from your heart, may you succeed in creating a pocket of hope in South Asia, may your resurgence be a motivation to others around the world who want to make this planet a better place.

From San Antonio, Texas, USA.