Another struggle begins
As the nation celebrates the 39th anniversary of independence, of freedom from oppression, of standing up against a significant 'them', of a call to unite and fight for our motherland, one may wonder where 'we' are now, or if 'we' as a concept exist in present day Bangladesh at all. On 26 March 1971, it was 'us' against 'them', a fight for our freedom, a fight for respect. On 26 March 2010, it is 'us' against 'them' all around, but, unfortunately, now it is nothing but a fight for political supremacy, power and the systematic annihilation of each other.
Even 39 years on, we are yet to end the debate on who declared our independence, who fought our war and who our heroes are. Even worse, we, the 'oshadharon' of society are yet to realise how distanced the 'shadharon' are from our petty fights; take the garments worker or the rickshaw-wala or the mother who loses her child to political violence. Our history, our identity, our struggle for independence are all part of a political game only the 'few' can play and make no mistake. It is a vicious game. In this game the winner takes all, writes history and paints the nation in its colours while the loser faces the full wrath of the winner. 'Change', now is a wholesale good; everything is changed or will be changed, except, of course, the fates of the garments worker, the rickshaw puller or the grieving mother. Nothing changes for them.
With yearly natural disasters, a fast-moving world constantly outpacing us and the multitude of invisible forces operating within our territory, we are hardly in a position to relax. Yet, vengeance and mud-throwing dominates our political discourse while poverty, unemployment and climate change take a back seat. The burning question is, is unity that hard to find? Well, it can't be. While we may differ in our political views, religious affiliations or even our interpretations of history, all of us have a common debt to repay. We promised our motherland a 'Sonar Bangla' and the opportunity to do so still knocks on our door. United, our prospects of prosperity are endless, divided, our failure is but a matter of time. The choice is ours.
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