[Reader-list] I'm Sorry Choles Richil

[Taraprakash]

Thanks for this touching post. Reminds me of Tahmima Anam's description of 
brutalities by pro-Pakistani soldiers "on those who wanted to live with 
dignity and peace", in her novel, I recently read, "A Golden Age". The title 
sounds ironical now.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NAEEM MOHAIEMEN" <mohaiemen at yahoo.com>
To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 10:24 AM
Subject: [Reader-list] I'm Sorry Choles Richil


> Arendt's "banality of evil" can be extended: any
> people have the capacity for infinite
> cruelty/violence. The once meek can also become most
> cruel.
>
> Bangladesh, on the receiving end of violence in many
> historical moments, repeats that impulse on those who
> don't fit a Bengali nationalism project. In particular
> two groups of ethnic minorities (or "non-Bengalis",
> every term is about what you are not): Paharis &
> Adivasis. The Paharis because they have been waging a
> three decade long civil war to gain autonomy in
> Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Adivasis because they
> demand land rights and block neoliberal projects such
> as Modhupur Forest "Eco Park" and Asia Energy coal
> mining.
>
> A non-Bengali's life is worth little. But even our
> blase psyche was stunned by the brutal torture-murder
> of Choles Ritchil, Adivasi activist who had been
> fighting against the infamous "Eco Park" project
> (supported by Asian Development Bank) which would
> displace thousands of Adivasis from their ancestral
> Modhupur forest home. Particularly frightening is the
> fact that these abuses happened in an army camp, in a
> country currently under a quasi-military "interim"
> government.
>
> There is a smug, self-congratulatory rhetoric that
> talks about Ghraib+Gitmo without interrogating other
> country's equally abysmal record on torture.  G/G is
> of course a failure of ethics+morality in the American
> body politic. But a capacity for absolute power
> leading to unthinkable abuses lurks inside all nation
> states and people.
>
> Below is my op-ed from today's Dhaka paper, and
> related link.
>
> #############################################
> OP-ED: I'm Sorry, Choles Ritchil
> http://shobakorg.blogspot.com/2007/04/sorry-choles.html
>
> FACT SHEET: Torture of Choles Ritchil
> http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/04/03/choles-ritchil/
>
> [includes Petition]
> #############################################
>
> I'm Sorry, Choles Ritchil
> - Naeem Mohaiemen
> [Daily Star, April 6, 2007]
>
> I'm sorry, Choles Ritchil. I didn't believe the
> evidence of your body.  I kept thinking the torture
> report was a hysterical invention.  So much damage to
> one corpse, it seemed impossible. No, it is
> impossible. Isn't it? It must all be lies. Those human
> rights groups, we know they always exaggerate -- just
> to get foreign funding and create a bad image for
> Bangladesh.
>
> I'm sorry, because I couldn't find the courage. We're
> all so invested in getting out of the AL-BNP strangle
> corridor, we're so euphoric that the godfathers are
> being arrested, we don't want to upset the process by
> drawing attention to your case.  Must be an
> aberration, somebody got a little too enthusiastic.
> Anyway, let's move on. For heaven's sake, don't make a
> fuss.
>
> I'm sorry, because I couldn't find tears. How easy it
> was to dismiss your face on that poster. You look
> nothing like me. You have what my classmates so
> crudely called "chinky eyes". No one in my family has
> ever married anyone who looks like you, and even if we
> did we would make sure you converted to our religion.
> You see, you don't really exist. This is a country for
> Bengalis, not anyone else. Now you realize that,
> slowly, surely.
>
> I'm sorry, because I read Nirmalendu Goon's poem with
> a stony heart.  Then I busied myself with translating
> it.  E-mailing friends and asking, "What is Chuniya
> village"? Is Goon being sarcastic about March and
> "freedom"? Is "elegy" a better translation than
> "requiem"? Distracting myself with aesthetics,
> anything to blank out the memory of those pictures.
>
> I'm sorry, because when a blogger posted the report,
> somebody else complained about the gruesome picture.
> The picture was quietly removed to page 2.  A nice
> disclaimer was added: "Warning: Graphic Photo".
> Anything to protect our delicate sensibilities. How
> inconsiderate of you to die with so many wounds.
>
> I'm sorry, because I said to a Pahari friend the other
> day, "Welcome to shadhin Bangla", and she replied,
> "Ami tho Bangali na, how am I shadhin?" I laughed and
> dismissed her. Oh these people! They will never be
> satisfied. What do you want anyway? Land rights? Your
> Language? Parliament Seats? Ministries? Quotas?
> Autonomy? Come on, that was for us, that was 1969.
> It's 2007 now. Don't you remember what Sheikh Mujib
> said?  "From today you are all Bengalis."  And some of
> you are now dead Bengalis, that's equality.
>
> I'm sorry, because I know how this will go down.
> There will be outrage. NGOs will issue memorandum.
> Bloggers will buzz. Newspapers will write. Thrithio
> Matra will debate pros and cons. Seminars will be
> cranked out. And always, some "hero" filmmaker will
> make a documentary and win awards. Then, just as
> quickly, we will forget. Amnesia is our gross national
> product.
>
> I'm sorry, Choles Ritchil.  You lived and died
> protecting the Adivasi people and Modhupur land you
> believed in.  You were gentle and nonviolent, and we
> paid you back in a different coin.
>
> I'm sorry, because I'm a citizen of a nation that
> after 36 years fails to see you as anything more than
> a nuisance. My class, ethnicity and religious
> privilege (and army family) gives me insurance to
> write these words. You don't have any such protection
> -- naked to the world, to Eco Park, and to our
> vengeful fury.
>
> But don't think you're an agacha on our national boto
> brikkho. When there are visiting dignitaries or sports
> events, your people are very useful. You sing, you
> dance, you wear exotic, colorful clothes.  A readymade
> National Geographic  tableau. "Hill People of CHT".
> "Gentle People of Modhupur Forest". Ah, the
> permutations are endless.
>
> We want to keep all of you in a museum vitrine, and
> bring you out on special occasions -- when we need a
> dash of color. But please don't demand your rights.
> And don't even think of raising your voice. Etho boro
> shahosh! You see what happened to Choles. Don't make
> us be sorry again.
>
>
> <Naeem Mohaiemen wrote the Ain Salish Kendra chapter
> on ethnic minorities (2003 Bangladesh Human Rights
> Report) and religious minorities (2006 Bangladesh
> Human Rights Report).>
>
>
>
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