The fatalism we are living with
WEEK after week has passed by since we have been living in a state of terror. Blockades and strikes appear to reign supreme in the lives of millions of helpless people in the country. These continue to haunt and hunt lives and properties of all kinds. None can be sure if there is any light beyond the tunnel for we are not even inside any tunnel whatsoever. Our country has been known for centuries as a land where natural calamities like floods, tidal bores, cyclones, tornadoes, etc. take great toll of human lives and cause huge damage to properties. I was brought up in a village in the district of Barisal. I remember the devastations that cyclones, storms and floods used to cause so often. But these are natural calamities.
Most regrettably, we have been experiencing man-made calamity nowadays. Fire is being used for killing human beings for so-called political reasons. Many people are being admitted in hospitals almost daily these days for treatment of burn injuries. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital Burn Units have been packed up with such people, many of whom die. Untold agonies and anguish in the hospitals; also anguish and trauma all over the country. Nobody knows whether he or she will or will not return safe to his or her own people while leaving them for another place. This uncertainty begets a kind of fatalism.
Wise men have said, not without reason, that there are seven real dangers for the human society. They are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, business without ethics, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice, and politics without principle. We long to live in a political culture that will facilitate our lives towards the path of social justice, peace and progress. Ours is a country with many frustrated hopes and dreams of the overwhelming majority of people, who are socio-economically very poor and backward. We have been freed for freedom's sake. Yet our hopes and aspirations for an exploitation-free society is a far cry.
Precious lives are mercilessly taken by petrol bombs, Molotov cocktails, etc. What madness has got into us! I know that every day millions of religiously devout people of all faiths offer special prayers in mosques, temples, pagodas and churches in every nook and corner of the country for peace in the country, and for the Almighty to grant our political leaders all wisdom and insight that they will be guided by the very spirit and ethos that underlie our hard earned freedom. The image of our nation gets often tarnished because of the very intolerant attitude of some of our political and religious leaders towards others. We are in need of creating a culture of mutual respect and tolerance, a culture of respect for the self-evident truths about human dignity irrespective of religion, race, political or ideological affiliations, social status, gender and class.
Our people are socio-economically poor, but they are not poor intellectually, culturally and emotionally. Our people are industrious, religious and patriotic. However, we lack one thing of supreme importance: we need honest leaders, leaders with genuine and selfless patriotism that Bangabandhu and some of his close aides had throughout their lives and work. They will be able to help nurture an atmosphere where people will create new visions leading to authentic growth and prosperity, where human life and dignity will be given due attention in the eye of law and common sense and sanity.
What are we after? Where is our nation heading to? We still seem to be a divided nation on the issues of who first declared independence of Bangladesh, the trial of the people who fought tooth and nail against our independence from Pakistani domination, whether national election should be conducted by a caretaker government or not, and a plethora of other issues of great national significance. We dream the long cherished dream of Bangladesh becoming a country where our people will live in a society where the curse of poverty, illiteracy and injustice will be things of the past.
One of the great things that Bangabandhu said in his historic speech on March 7, 1971 made an indelible mark in mind heart and mind. He said: "I do not want the prime ministership of Pakistan. I want the freedom of my people." Everyone who heard his speech could not fail to understand that these words came from his very heart, from all his being. Today, we want and clamour for position and power, but we do not have enough love and vision for the wellbeing of the millions of poor, backward people of our country. It is their basic human rights that have been always at stake. We have not been able to achieve any consensus over vitally important national issues that affect the lives of the people, or an authentically democratic vision that will help us ushering in a just and peaceful society. "Without a vision people perish," says the book of Proverbs.
The writer is Principal, College of Christian Theology Bangladesh, and a social worker.