US Elections: Representation matters but it is not enough
Before the elections, a five-year-old boy asked his mother, my friend, if he would ever be able to be the President of the United States because of the colour of his Brown skin. This is a question that American girls, too, have been asking their parents forever.
Magical thinking in the time of Covid-19
I don’t remember exactly when I heard about the 2019 version of coronavirus, Covid-19, but I do know it was during my travels in Asia this past January.
If not now, then when?
Rupa Khatun was raped and murdered on a bus near the Tangail-Mymensingh road in Tangail's Madhupur upazila last August.
In the wake of Cyclone Mora
As the news of the cyclone named Mora (a Thai word which means 'star of the sea') erupted on social and traditional media, I couldn't
#ResearchMesearch / Only yes means yes
As we try to make sense of consent, we have to recognise that consent is a nuanced issue. We have to unlearn what the media and mainstream entertainment have taught us about rape—that it has to be violent and involve physical coercion for it to be rape. We cannot underestimate the power of coercive control, or manipulation.
Violence: An inevitable outcome of a world unequal
What do you think about when you think about violence against women? Do you think about sexual harassment on the streets?
Reproductive coercion or business as usual?
Maleka (not her real name) found herself in a whirlwind relationship in which she felt she has no control. She got pregnant because she couldn't negotiate condom use with her partner and then her partner blamed her for it, even though they both had a role in it.
Saving flood victims as we look for solutions
The year was 1988. My uncle was going to the United States for his undergraduate degree. He was the first family member to do so. The trend in those days was England. And, not just England, but Oxford and Cambridge.
Spot the patriarchy
What do you do when someone infantilises you because you're a young(ish) woman? There were men in that room with the same credentials as I. Did anyone ask them if they were teaching assistants?
The case for angry women
When I “talk back” (bell hooks, 1989) at institutional and personal oppression I am labelled an angry woman. As if my anger is not just. Justified.
Minority lives matter
It is not a coincidence that Bangladesh survived Cyclone Mora with few casualties while a landslide in the Chittagong Hill Tracts caused by torrential rains has left over 150 dead. Deforestation and hill-cutting are known causes of “natural disasters” like landslides, but illegal land grabbing in the CHT is at the root of deforestation and hill-cutting in the first place.
Coal-fired power plants and related stories
Those claiming that Rampal will generate employment are not wrong. Not at all. But, we must ask: at what personal cost? Who will bear the cost of their health? Who will be held personally responsible?
Cap-Dem-Rel
Capitalism prioritses policies that promote efficiency in resource allocation, while democracy espouses ideas of equality and fairness.
Has the world gone mad?
To understand the violent world in which we live today, it is important to understand that with neoliberal policies came rapid globalisation (that fostered international trade, privatisation of national institutions, deregulation, and competition) and that includes, as we can see, globalisation of terror and acts of terror.
Untangling our collective chaos
We're not new to disproportionate experiences based on class. So when class dynamics unfolded in the aftermath of the attacks, we yet again remained silent.
