Thu 27 Jul 2006
____ VS _____ 
photo: Abdus Salique, who is leading the campaign against the filming of Brick Lane. Photograph: Guardian/Sarah Lee, Monica Ali, picture washington post
Monica Ali is again in the headline in the community in England. The shooting of her film got cancelled due to some members of the community protesting.
For a bit of a background for those who don’t know much about her, here is a recent video interview from BBC.
Also check out this piece on Washington Post about her writing life
where she incredibly says the following:
When Brick Lane was published, I was repeatedly asked how much research I had done. How did I go about it? When I said that I had done research but didn’t consider it hugely important, I was met with a baffled response. Now, with Alentejo , I can say again, truthfully, that I have done the research. It seems to satisfy people. For me, research is a useful means of procrastination. (I’m not being entirely flippant. One needs to hesitate.)
But research is about knowing, and knowing is easy. Anyone who cares to can find out that there is overcrowding and drug abuse in the Bangladeshi community in London’s East End. You don’t even have to go there. You only need to know how to use a search engine.
Do you agree or disagree? Is research really a form of procastination for the writers? What are the thinking of the writers and readers out there? How important is research for a fictional book?
Update: Also if you want to participate in the debate on the protest. There is a good debate going on in Guardian. Jonathan Heawood’s piece (did he pick the title from our previous blog entry?) sums up the issue pretty well. Take a look and participate and see how one sweetshop owner can have the nationals going ga ga over his protest. Overreaction by the media and the production house? Do people really feel that strongly against that film.
On the other side, Germaine Greer explores whether this shopkeeper has a point. What Greer said has summed as the crust of the protest is here:
Ali did not concern herself with the possibility that her plot might seem outlandish to the people who created the particular culture of Brick Lane. As British people know little and care less about the Bangladeshi people in their midst, their first appearance as characters in an English novel had the force of a defining caricature. The fact that Ali’s father is Bangladeshi was enough to give her authority in the eyes of the non-Asian British, but not in the eyes of British Bangladeshis.
Ironically, when you piece together Ali’s comment about research or lack of it for Bricklane, the discontent makes a bit of sense. Ali, recreated the sterotypes from a very superficial level. Whatever the case, this allowed us to have a dialogue on the issues that plagues the community. However, with the pseudo censorship, that door is now closed.
July 27th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
I don’t agree with censorship, i.e. banning filming.
But I understand where the Sylhetis are coming from. The impact of a negative MOVIE will be far bigger than that of a negative book. The entire country - hell, the entire world - will view Sylheti Bengalis as backward peasants who stomp on their women.
I find the Sylhetis entirely within their right to protest Monica’s hatchet job.
Remember, this is NOT about “Bangladeshis” in the abstract. This is very specifically about Sylhetis and the contempt with which they are viewed by non-Sylheti Bengalis, specifically Dhaka people.
The mutual dislike or mistrust is quite obvious wherever you turn in Bengali London. Especially so if you spend any amount of time in Tower Hamlets/East End.
A Dhaka girl can piss on the Sylhetis as much as she likes. However I agree with Greer that it shows up a culture in an extremely negative light, the very first time that they are getting national exposure.
If the Sylhetis protest, more power to them. I’ve had nough of these elitist, Oxbridge educated brown people whose sole passport to literary fame and wealth is by whoring their origins to the Western book reading public. Screw them.
July 28th, 2006 at 7:37 am
Gram: I agree the patronising attitudes some non-Sylheti Bengalis have towards UK Sylhetis deserves criticism and debate. (Although at the end of the day as the UK Bangladeshi community is 90% Sylheti, in the long run this sort of attitude can only do more harm to the minority non-Sylheti portion - who if they have sense, take common pride in the hard fought achivements of the British Bangladeshi community as a whole.)
But its very unlikely given Monica Ali’s background and the types of sociological studies she seems to draw on in her work, that her book was about taking sides in the Sylheti v non-Sylehti stereotype debate.
And none of this justifies censorship - or as is happenning now with the film company pulling out of filming locally - the appearance of censorship.
Wheras a vaguely arty film of a literary brand name can only create curiosity in the real people of Brick Lane, thanks to a couple of Guardian articles , we now have a word association in the minds of non-Bangladeshis that Bangladesh=Brick Lane=Book Burners - ie; something far more damaging and more untrue to all British Bangladeshis.
The lesson to draw here is not just to be careful never to support anyone who talks about ‘burning books’ - but to be aware that supposedly ‘liberal minded media types’ at the producers Ruby Films and Film 4 - are highly susceptible to believing negative stereotypes so that one unrepresentative threat of violence can be used to pull out an area - with all the negative impressions that creates - even though - and this is what really concerns me — they have been working with local Bangladeshis for many months now and the area around Brick Lane is considered highly popular and safe for film crews - compared to other ethnic and socially diverse parts of London
July 30th, 2006 at 10:26 am
I think that the sensitivities of the local people should be taken into account when deciding to shoot.
The Bangladeshis who reside in the UK are mostly Sylheti and Monica Ali insulted them. She should have known there would be consequences. There is no *absolute* right of expression. This would be anarchy.
I suspect it was a result of a lack of research, as she admitted at an interview, which lead her to regurgitate these false stereotypes. Just as Dhakaiyas are viewed as tightfisted, selfish and poverty-stricken by most Sylhetis because they have not emigrated in large numbers.
I thought Drishtipat was a human rights organisation, so why not start a campaign on behalf of those who oppose this book/film? The right to be free from racial attack (whether intended or not) is also a major human right.
July 30th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
[...] k. An ethnic community. A film. Extreme controversy. A challenge for multiculturalism. The UK Bangladeshi community debates. 0 comments [...]
July 31st, 2006 at 10:26 am
Subject: FW: Rushdie vs Greer on Brick lane
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1204519.ece
Last night, Greer refused to be riled by Rushdie’s words. She told the IoS: “Salman may go on about this as much as he likes. But I believe there should be a public debate on the subject.”
More on it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/07/31/do3104.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2006/07/31/ixopinion.html
Bbc news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5229872.stm
Numbers began to swell, and everything seemed orderly enough until a young Asian man stepped forward to ask if anyone had actually read the book. This provoked a furious reaction from one of the protesters, who shouted and moved toward the dissenter.
He was swiftly stopped in his tracks by a hug from Dr Hasanat Husain, one of the organisers of the protest, and the incident quickly cooled down.
I am rather puzzled to see there is no representation from the Brit Bengali professional community on this issue.
August 1st, 2006 at 4:45 am
the cornershop owner might be clean shaved but he is an insecure bigot nonetheless. Thank Allah we live in a country where a woman like Monica Ali can write without fear of opressive bigots.
I don’t like Greer for what she said about female circumcision! Maybe she should go to Somalia or Ethiopia and try the treatment herself!
August 1st, 2006 at 7:00 am
I think Drishtipat is a non-Sylheti dominated organisation closely linked to the Awami League party in Bangladesh in it’s politics. It is led by a Dakaiya from America by the name of Asif Saleh, if I’m not mistaken. Most members are non-Sylheti and most of it’s projects benefit Dhaka, not Sylhet. As if the capital isn’t taking more than it’s fair share of investment already!
Helping garments workers is all very well, until you notice Sylhet, Habigonj, Moulvi Bazaar and Shunamgonj don’t have any garments factories because the government only invests around Dhaka, where there are over 1000 such factories.
Most development in our region is helped by expatriate Sylhetis. The very people attacked in this book. I wonder which way most Sylhetis in Sylhet would react! I think 75% of Sylhetis will at least feel uncomfortable about the way Ali has written her book.
August 1st, 2006 at 7:21 am
Thara,
Drishtipat is not a Dhakaia org or a Sylheti org. It is a Bangladeshi org. In case you forgot, Sylhet is part of Bangladesh. Also it is not an awami league org. It started during Awami League with the first project against the MP of AL Jainal Hajari.
No matter how much you want to say that this is a fight between two regions, you have not been able to proove it yet. I have read a lot on the controversy and not a single person has said this. Like someone said in a previous entry, that there may be genuine grievences about the book and we quoted her interview where she said she has done little or no research on it which even fuels that fire. But let’s think about for a second whether burning books and giving threats help the community’s image outside Bricklane. Do you seriously think that this has helped the Sylheti’s image in Bricklane?
At a time, when Lebanon is getting massacred and the middle east is in tatters, we are demonstrating about some fictional characters! Don’t we have better things to do? Let’s talk about REAL issues in the community. If you are not aware any. Read this report
http://www.bwhp.org/pdf_bank/publications/Report%20on%20mental%20health%20training%202000.pdf
It is a scientific research done by someone (sylheti) on the women from Bangladeshi community. Here is a brief highlight:
Even though I detest your attempt in dragging drishitpat down into this so called regionalistic feud as you claim it to be, I should say that Asif himself is from Sylhet. You should read today’s article in Guardian. Oh i forgot, a Dhakaia must have paid to have this written. I am sure that will be your reaction.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1834544,00.html
August 1st, 2006 at 8:54 am
Thara:
You were offended because Ali stereotyped Sylhetis living in London, yet you yourself stereotyped (or at least tried to) DP members as “Dhakaiyas…. tightfisted, selfish and poverty-stricken…”. You just don’t get the DP agenda.
You made some very offensive and derogatory remarks about expat Bangladeshis (all over the world, not just U.S.) who are taking the time out of their busy lives and trying to “do something good” for the people in need, instead of calling names or trying to cause a divide in a unified BD.
Ali’s novel is a fiction; it’s not a research document on Sylheti Bangladeshi life styles in London. The story revolves around a woman who was married off young with someone who she never connected with on an emotional level, and as a mature young woman she started to recognize the voids in her life. A lot of Bangladeshi women living abroad who experienced arranged marriage can relate to this situation. It’s a venue in literature that has been seldom explored – that’s what made the story so remarkable IMO.
Ali chose the character to be of Sylheti origin may be because in your own words “The Bangladeshis who reside in the UK are mostly Sylheti”. A lot of the things you wrote are completely self contradictory. The deshi people in general never feel that Sylhetis are any different, it is always people like you who are causing the divide (as if Sylhet is not within BD boundary) and isolating the Sylheti community, even going as far as portraying Sylhetis a different race (as you called Ali’s writing a racial attack!).
I am not trying to disparage the sentiments of the Sylhetis in Brick lane, but how does the closing of production help them? The movie can still be made elsewhere by somebody else.
If you have some genuine issues on human rights violations in “your regions” (which are also “our region” by default of being Bangladeshis) please go to DP website and submit your ideas on how to improve the conditions, or talk to Asif Saleh who resides in London.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:11 am
If the regional issue between Sylhetis and non-Sylheti (who we call Dhakaiyas) is not at the heart of it, then why was the initial complaint against the book made by the Greater Sylhet Development Council? Why was it that the letter written in the Guardian on 19/07/06 in counterpoint to PEN’s letter (including Salman Rushdie) in support of the filming, specifically point to the fact that this was a Sylheti-non-Sylheti rivalry issue?Why were most of the protesters Sylheti but their detractors Dhakaiyas? It is convenient to use the label ‘Bangladeshi’ when you don’t want to distinguish between Sylheti & Dhakaiya.
As for Drishtipat, it is only for a few Dhakaiya professionals and students (Sylhetis can tell because you lot speak Dhakaiya shuddho basha). Asif Saleh cannot be a Sylheti because he logs on at ‘Bangla Cricket forum’ (a racist anti-Sylheti forum full of Dhakaiya American freshie immigrants waxing lyrical about Bangladesh) as Sraabon and has made fun of our Sylheti language. In particular, I refer to the thread about the conversation he overheard in the lift between a Sylheti and HE Anwar Chowdhury, the Sylheti High Commissioner to Bangladesh, during the cricketing event at City Hall last year. Why would a Sylheti speak in Dhakaiya shuddho basha and hang around a non-Sylheti forum notorious for attacking British Sylhetis?Maybe he did not know about the reputation of this site?
And I notice that you have not refuted my contention that your projects solely benefit Dhaka. You may get away with this in your New York or Boston branches as these mostly compose non-Sylhetis but not in any European country. Here we say what/who is Bangladeshi and what/who is not. What exactly have you lot done for our regions?
A Human Rights organisation ought to FULLY REPRESENT the people it is meant to help. Your organisation does not/cannot.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:13 am
Here’s my opinion:
http://brockley.blogspot.com/2006/07/germaine-greer-versus-monica-ali_27.html
August 1st, 2006 at 9:38 am
Thara,
I would appreciate if you take me off the discussion. I am not the topic. Don’t shoot the messenger. Let’s stick to the point.
I have not made fun of any Sylhetis in the Bangla cricket site as you mentioned. I just double checked that thread you mentioned in that site where I mention an incident and later someone who was with me and who is also a sylheti like me points out that the whole conversation happened in Sylheti. In fact, that person’s father is one of the pride of Sylhet, Fazle Abed of BRAC. Don’t know how you interpreted it as me making fun of Sylhetis. Also I don’t know how old you are. If you are young, then ask one of your chachas or mamas, if they know Ahiavilla in Sylhet town– that will tell you how far back our roots lie in Sylhet.
I am proud to be a Sylheti and I am proud of our heritage and am not at all insecure about it. I have nothing to prove to anyone about our rich culture and our tradition. But my first and biggest pride is that I am a Bangladeshi. Every other identity comes after that.
Before you start launching a new committee against drishtipat and get media attention, I should say that we do not think of region when we pick a project. Now that you mention it, our first project was in Feni, 2nd one in Bhola, 3rd one is Noakhali, etc…
There was hardly any in Dhaka. We also worked on various issues protesting the bombings in sylhet. If you have further to say, write to us at info at drishtipat dot org and we can discuss offline. This thread has now moved away from the topic of discussion. Like Zafa suggested, if you have a project in mind in Sylhet, please submit the proposal from the projects page.
thanks,
August 1st, 2006 at 9:51 am
Let’s get some things right:
Fact
Drishtipat is a non-partisan, non-political organization. It does support progressive causes, and unashamedly so.
Fact
Drishtipat, as its current membership stands, is composed mostly of Bengali professionals with connections to Dhaka. And yes, most of them speak Shudhho.
Fact
British Bengalis - whether they are from Sylhet or elsewhere - are strongly welcomed to join Drishtipat and make their valuable contribution.
Fact
The current British-Bengali organizations - BBPA, BOB Network - are mostly social networking organizations, with a strong unspoken focus on “match-making”. If their members want to get involved with DP, they will be welcomed with open arms.
Fact
Sylhetis have made plenty of positive contributions, both to this country and to the motherland. MAG Osmani himself was from Sylhet.
Fact
But in general - and I emphasize these words - educated non-Sylhetis in London do tend to look down on the Sylheti community.
Fact
Sylhetis regularly differentiate themselves from those who speak Shudhho. Whether this is because of an inferiority complex or something else, we don’t know. Speaking Shuddho in itself is not a crime.
Fact
The Sylheti community in the UK has plenty of troubles afflicting it - lack of educational achievement, lack of advancement in the professions vis a vis other immigrant groups, ghetto-based poverty, drug abuse, school dropout rates, teen pregnancy, forced marriages with freshie cousins, passport marriages, etc etc.
Fact
Monica Ali has the right to write a novel on anything she chooses. Her regional background however makes her motivations somewhat suspect.
Fact
The Sylhetis have the right to protest LOUDLY if they don’t like the book.
Fact
Book-burning is wrong. The Nazis used to burn books. Intimidation is wrong as well.
Fact
In the propaganda battle, the Sylhetis have lost this round. They’ve come off looking worse.
August 1st, 2006 at 6:57 pm
[...] ish-Bangladeshi experience but, at worst, just guilty of poor research. None of this is to exonerate the self-important and santimoni [...]
August 2nd, 2006 at 5:25 am
Doh! I’m going to miss these demos.
i have a dodjy keyboard. sorry
i like it when non traditional actors actually assert their power and poke about in the industry of media self love.
at soas a few months ago, a bunch of calcattians showed a film about ‘their brit bengali’ identity. trying to fight impressions which habhe been created by the dominant regional grouping, and then gettign tied up in nots saying ‘we dont mean to offend you sylhettis’
i think it is extremely ironic.
fascist cultural identy politics should be allowed to die. its just geographical myth making at the end of the day….. its so 20th century.
congratulations to the resistance. many assumptions have been shaken.
August 2nd, 2006 at 5:35 am
I am rather puzzled to see there is no representation from the Brit Bengali professional community on this issue.
-just let them carry on paying taxes old boy.
why would proffessionals, the most coopted epistemic community hae anything noncoopted or novel to say.
would the Associaltion of Bangladeshi Accountant Who Are Definately Not From Sylhet Or Ummahtic In Any Organised or Effectibhe Way (ABAWADNFSOU) be a useful partner in the fight against criminalising our communities? or providing courageous rolemodels for our dear young cousins?
bless.
note- folks can we not turn this thread into region and political bashing. pipe down children.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:28 am
Please remember the media is against us. Do not ever allow any burning, etc. Please protest peacefully. Learn from the Jewish community, another minority group, about organising protest and media campaigns.
Monica Ali is a racist. She has made statement about her English grandmother’s racism. What she hasn’t told us is how much of a racist was/is her mother. Just because Monica is dark doesn’t mean she can’t have racist and bigotted views about us Asians and Muslims.
Freedom of speech is important and we must never attack that part of our English culture. England is not responsible for creatures like Monica. An opportunist like Monica only has a short shelf life. She has made her money by telling lies that she was a member of the Muslim and Bengali community. It has been exposed.
I am from Dhaka and Monica Ali is not from Dhaka or is her father. I wish people would stop attacking Dhaka people. Dhaka is an ancient city founded by our Buddhist ancestors in the 8th century; it became the capital city of the Mughal Bangladesh (Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Bengal) in the 16th century. We should all be proud of Dhaka for its role in India in the last 200 years during British Empire.
There some 18 million people in Dhaka and they some from all parts of Bangladesh and all over the world. Did you know that Dhaka has 500,000 refugess from Burma, India, Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc?
So, please no more attack on Dhaka!
August 4th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Soraya
Is there anything verbatim that you can provide us with to convince us that Monica Ali is a racist?
What DID her English grandmother and mother say?
August 14th, 2006 at 7:30 am
©The Author and CDCEEL 2006
1230 Hrs GMT
London
Monday 14 August 2006-08-14
Legal locus of this statement and communication:
This is a particular post from the Campaign Against the Defamation of the Community in the East End of London [CDCEEL].
This must only be published in full or not at all.
Text of the CDCEEL statment:
We are the camapgn that issued the first camapgn statement on the ‘Monica Ali book film’ on Saturday 15 July 2006. We are holding a seminar in London on Sunday 20 August 2006 on the subject. Everything that the Guardian has published by way of ‘news’ and comments except the two components in Germaine Greer’s pieces has been a lie. We are NOT going to allow the Guardian inventing the phantom to divert attention way from our community’s comprehesnive rights against being defamed. The Monica Ali ‘book’ was never the core of our camapgn.. Our camapgn was, has been and remains against the racist imperialist and xenophobic anti-Bangladeshi, anti-East End of London use of it as a TOOL for racist and other prejudicial attacks on our community.
A brief word about the posts that we have seen on your site so far
How is it that you have been DERIVING your ‘morality’ from what the Guardian has had to say?
You have not even pretended to know that our own statement was [although in part only] quoted ion the London INDEPENDENT newspaper.
To any reasonable and fair-minded viewer and visitor, that should have given a clear position as to how the whole diversion has occurred.
So, why have you failed to include what the INDEOEDENMT reported?
What is ‘Bangladeshi’ about following the lead of the racist Guardian?
What is the moral achievement in allowing a phantom, book-burner-image of the ‘Brick Lane Bangladeshi community’ [one of the phrases that have been used in several websites] to be projected upon and around the campaign that is rational, factual and excceedingly socially responsible?
Did you think about checking any of the key facts before launching on the apparent ‘debate’?
Should there not have been the basic facts established from us?
Or did you think that it was okay as long as there was ‘presence’ by your site on the ‘big issue’ regardless of the fact that your primary assumption was wring and that you have throughout the ‘debate’ relied demonstrably on the racist lying Guardian for your ‘moral guidance’ on THIS issue?
Who issued the statements in the first place and when and w3ith what aims and objects on the matter of the ‘Monica Ali book film’ and how was it that the BBC and the Guardian fell over themselves to give a very strange publicity to the phantom book-hating image attaching to the Bangladeshis and the East End of London on this occasion?
August 14th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
CATDOTCITEEOL
Whether it’s the Guardian, the Independent, or any other paper or website, we need to take it with a pinch of salt. Some of us, with a Bengali connection and a little tertiary education, read papers and websites with genuine objectivity and aren’t so easily fooled by what people say.
Those of us who communicate via drishtipat aren’t interested making an ass of those who have a Bengali connection.
British papers are, at the moment, engaged in subtle and not so subtle vilification of certain religious and ethnic minorities.
I’ve been keep track of what Tony Blair, John Reid, etc, have been saying. British media takes its cue from British politicians.
If there’s is a book-burning and book-hating group of Sylhetis or Bengalis, we must transform them into book-buying and book-loving, shelves-increasing people.
Muhamad Lodhi
August 15th, 2006 at 5:48 am
“If there’s is a book-burning and book-hating group of Sylhetis or Bengalis,” raises the question: where is such a group?
Who said that such a group exists?
These and other questions arise precisely because of the lies that the Guardian told. They went looking for a phantom and they did so in order to create an image that you have accepted.
All we are asking for is: let’s have the facts and have the accurate reports. Let us not falsify the evidence.
When we had our first campaign meeting on 15 July 2006 held in the East End of London, we agreed with not a single dissent from anyone present, that we would issue the statement that Mr Haque wrote.
That statement is also the text of our petition which is being signed and which we shall put to all concerned on completion.
That statement reads as follows
“The Campaign against the
Defamation of the Community in the
East End of London
15 July 2006 campaignaqainstdefamation@yahoo.co.uk
We the undersigned members of the local community in the brick lane London E1 area are very concerned to note that a film based on a most distortive “book” is being recorded with the participation of certain alleged professional artistes including some from India. we are calling on all supporters of a cohesive, tolerant society to stop all cooperation with the making of the film and that any support given to the project by the local authority [london borough of tower hamlets council] and by any other public body will give unwarranted excuse for the project -makers to claim legitimacy for a programme that represents a most unforgivable attack on the community. The Monica Ali ‘book’ is untrue in its thesis. It reinforces pro-racist, anti-social stereotypes and confuses the image of the target community. It also contains a most explicit, politically calculated violation of the human rights of the community. it reinforces social exclusion and sets a bad example thus creating a most dispiriting and discouraging role-model before the new generation growing up in the area that has been focusud on by monica ali [in and via 'the book'] fifty years of work against discrimination, intolerance is being negatived by the trend towards reinforcing the prejudices against the multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious community in the east end of london. We call on all right-thinking people to join us in preventing this attack on good social, ethical standard and ideal.
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE DEFAMATION OF THE COMMUNITY IN THE EAST END OF LONDON
THE CAMPAIGN PROGRAMME HAS BEEN SPONSORED BY CBRUK
obruk@hotmail.com
“
August 15th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
That e-mail address [ obruk@hotmail.com] should read
cbruk@hotmail.com
August 30th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Interesting debate.
I’m from Greater Sylhet and I never came across this mutual dislike from people that come from non-sylhoti areas of Bengal before reading this website discussion. Although to be honest I haven’t met that many non-sylhetis in this country.
I haven’t read the book. Was going to since a Bangladeshi writer is a novelty but if she’s playing for controversy like Salman Rushdie then I think I’ll give it a pass. Literary merit above all, in my opinion.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:28 pm
We need some facts to work with here:
FACT
Most Bengalis in the UK are Sylheti by ethnic origin. They speak their own language (Sylhoti) and have their own habits and culture. Similar to the other Bengalis but NOT the same.
FACT
Sylhetis are by sheer force of numbers going to dominate the face of the British Bengali group culture in this country. This means issues concerning Sylhet region rather than the whole of Bangladesh will hold more interest for them.
FACT
Members of Drishtipat themselves admit that their grouping is Dhaka-centric in it’s membership & focus. It deals too much with Deshi party politics and not with the British Bengali/Sylheti communities needs and aspirations.
FACT
Again by sheer force of numbers most Bengali professionals like teachers, solicitors and doctors and elected politicians are going to be Sylheti. Also Sylhetis have resided in the UK the longest and are amongst the most integrated. People can relate to those from a similar racial, cultural and religious background.
FACT
The Non-Sylheti minority in this country needs to sort it’s own problems out. Why are so many Non-Sylheti foreign exchange students spending thousands to study here but end up working in Next and flipping burgersat McDonald’s? Sooner or later the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) will catch up with them. What about the endemic problems of HIV and other sexually transmitted desease and prostitution in Dhaka?
FACT
The overwhelming number of Sylhetis living in this country and who have never heard of Rushdie or Greer but know about Non-Sylheti prejudice are going to oppose Monica Ali. Whether their motives are high brow or not is irrelevent.
FACT
Monica Ali’s book, whether intentionally disrespectful to the Sylheti majority or not, will simply lead to increased discrimination against Non-Sylhetis residing in this country.
ps. I changed your entry on wiki to reflect the Sylheti-Non Sylheti controversy because your group is not representative of the people Drishtipat claims to represent.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:49 pm
starman/thara,
please don’t change the wiki entry.
1. Drishtipat is just not based in london. It has 7 chapters all across the world. 5 in america and 1 in canada and 1 in australia
2. It does not claim to represent sylhetis rather it represents bangladeshis
3. I have not seen any controversy about this other than your comment. Can you cite a newspaper article which highlights this so called controversy?
September 8th, 2006 at 2:33 am
After the initial bout of rolling over in laughter after reading some of the comments in this thread, one has to wonder if Sylhet is about to secede from either the Republic or the Union, or perhaps both?
We should put aside the childish discussion on whether Drishtipat is composed of the correct % of Sylhetis or not. We might as well all take blood tests and see if any pure Sylheti blood is running through our veins - I have a quarter myself but fear that may not be enough to be spared.
More seriously, one has to wonder why some of the UK posters of Syhletis origin here are so bigoted towards non-Sylhetis (unceremoniously and inappropriately dismissed as Dhakaiyas)? One hopes you don’t speak for anyone other than yourselves. If you do it would be sad that Syhletis, despite being widely viewed as the most economically successful ethnic Bangali group in the UK, cannot find it in your hearts to pull up the newly arrived Dhakaiya immigrants from their burger-flipping stations. While you have every right to “take care of your own”, bigotry based on trivial district and dialect based differences among Bangalis is exactly why we as a people cannot make progress. It’s pitiful.
And if your beef is with Dhaka’s dominance of Bangladeshi affairs, that may be well founded but it is silly to take out your frustrations on random organizations and websites that have nothing to do with the matter.
What are the human rights issues in Sylhet and how are they different from other parts of Bangladesh? I don’t see why Sylhetis in the UK cannot engage with the London chapter and highlight issues they feel can fall within our overall scope.
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:35 am
The book isn’t all that. Monica Ali seems to live in a world coloured black and white. Cardboard caricature figures devoid of individual will. They must live out the authoresses own distorted and partial view of East Londoners. The book isn’t so much an insult to Sylhetis as good writers everywhere.
October 7th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Monica Ali shouldn’t have written about us like that in her book. I don’t go around making unwarrantied generalisations about non-Sileti people, and I expect reciprocation. It’s totally unnecessary to start this fight because we got so many problems here and in Bangladesh. Lets talk about real issues like poverty, population control, drinking water, womens empowerment and the list can go on.
October 8th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Brick Lane and the furore in Brick Lane
Ekram Kabir
The recent furore in London’s Tower Hamlets over the filming of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane is a great reminder to many of us of the struggles of our ancestors. Many of them came to Bangladesh for the sheer reason of improving their livelihood. I am captivated by the story of my great-great grandfather, an Afghan peasant who left his home for survival. It must have been quite a struggle for him. Still, after arriving in his new home country, he couldn’t achieve prosperity until his son obtained a few acres of land and started tilling it.
Now that, a century later, our family has moved far beyond peasantry, would a look-back at our roots embarrass us? It requires contemplation from a very honest point of view.
The reactions of London’s Bengali community, first, to the novel, and then to the filming of the novel, were a bit too harsh and self-demeaning. They called Monica Ali’s novel “vulgar and insulting” towards the community. Bangladeshis - Sylheti to be more precise - living in Brick Lane launched a campaign to stop the production of the film. Community leaders said Ali had portrayed them as backward and uneducated. One representative in Brick Lane was quoted as saying: “Monica uses words like ‘illiterate’ that reflect us in a bad light. Not only that, the plot is based on infidelity and has shown a Muslim woman having an extra-marital affair.” He also expressed fears that the film would promote “anti-social stereotypes” about Bangladeshis in England. “We want everyone to join our battle as this film could damage our identity,” he said.
Yes, these remarks and allegations surely warrant serious consideration about the contribution and successes of the community in the UK. These remarks might seem true if looked at from a superficial mindscape.
The story of Ali’s Brick Lane is about a Bengali girl, Nazneen, who travels to Britain with her husband knowing only two words of English. Getting accustomed to a new kind of life she becomes more and more conscious of her identity. Over the next 17 years, she gradually finds her way, bringing up two daughters and eventually starting an all-female tailoring business. During this period, she also goes through many changes which are not compatible with her highly educated elderly husband, Chanu. This is where the Bengali community finds the novel to contain derogatory elements. Her husband - an English graduate from Dhaka University who thinks very highly of himself - constantly criticizes the Sylheti community in Brick Lane. Judging whether he is right or wrong would be irrational if you’re looking at it from a writer’s point of view. This is simply part of his character: speaking ill of his countrymen.
The depiction of the Sylheti community might be seen as rude, but to a discerning reader the depiction closely resembles the state of Sylhetis living in Britain. Ali, a non-Sylheti Bangladeshi herself, ‘might have’ gone to the extent of portraying the Sylheti community from a western point of view, but does that really change the real picture? Are some of the existing social trends in Brick Lane less humiliating than Ali’s character depicts them?
And there are some historical facts that should be accepted by the community. Does the fact that their ancestors jumped from ships, were uneducated and didn’t have enough to feed themselves bother them? Some would certainly say that these facts don’t embarrass them, but most would feel outraged at anyone who would try to bring the fact to the fore. There’s no denying that the the very first batch of London-bound Bangladeshis - abused by the local elite morols and jotedars as well as the British - were an unemployed, poor and harassed bunch. But these facts seem to hurt the ego of most members of the community.
Ali’s work can be strongly criticised in many aspects, especially on how poorly informed she is about Bangladesh. Also, she should have done more research on the community in the UK, such as Gloucester University English professor Manzu Islam did while writing his novels Burrow and The Mapmakers of Spitalfields. But there is no disputing her ability to draw vivid characterizations in the novel. Negative elements of the community are part of the baggage. However, she didn’t adequately portray the significant contribution the Sylheti community has made both in Bangladeshi and British societies. Their contribution to the landscape of British life has served to strengthen the cultural and personal links between the UK and the outside world.
Ali hasn’t tarnished anyone’s image, neither has she tried to humiliate anyone. If Ali was trying to tarnish the image of the community then no one within the community has tried to improve it either. Doesn’t the Bengali community still make headlines in London papers fighting among themselves over visits of the political elite from Bangladesh? Hasn’t the community experienced divisions among themselves, endlessly forming factions of Awami League, BNP and JSD – not to mention the associations one after another? You might say that it doesn’t give Ali the right to portray the community negatively through one of her characters. Well, if Ali had not, someone else would have.
There are writers who have praised and upheld the struggle of the residents of Brick Lane; being harassed and attacked day after day, they made a place for themselves in the heart of London. There is a vivid description in Manzu Islam’s Burrow about how the first generation of newcomers withstood racist attacks on the community, boldly facing all the complications of a new culture, whereas the second generation of British-Bangladeshis tried their best to melt in. Manzu Islam’s works, much more mature than any other work written about the community, reminds us of movies such as Bend it Like Beckham and East is East. No one within the community has ever tried to make a movie that artistically portrays the community. After more than a century in UK, the community has not produced a novelist of the stature of Jhumpa Lahiri or Bharati Mukharjee. Living in the heartland of the English language, the community has only brought out a few Bengali dailies to cater to the needs within the community. Hardly any move has been made to orient the community to the outside world. We in Bangladesh may live in a cocoon, but the community members in UK do not. Manzu Islam tried in his own small way, but no one in Bangladesh or in the community in Brick Lane ever knew about his writings – let alone promoted his his works. He also portrayed a Brick Lane where powerful ‘holy men’ dissuade immigrants from sending their daughters to school and where drug addicts give a bad name to Bangladeshi immigrants in the UK.
From that perspective, Ali has done a great service to the Sylheti community in the UK; it’s only after her novel and the subsequent furore in Brick Lane that the whole world has come to know about the community, its contribution to the British society and its successes. The community needs to open enough to also accept the facts about their past and present weaknesses. Weakness and backwardness don’t belittle anyone. The history of the Bangladeshi community is a saga where each and every person living in Brick Lane has a tale to tell.
As for me, I would have considered myself lucky if I were a member of that community, able to tell its tales of heroism to the world. I would have loved to tell the world that my great-great grandfather, who jumped ship onto English soil a hundred years ago, now owns many of the best restaurants there, changing the cuisine and taste of an entire population!
Ekram Kabir is a Dhaka-based journalist.
October 8th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Kebir wrote:
‘Hasn’t the community experienced divisions among themselves, endlessly forming factions of Awami League, BNP and JSD – not to mention the associations one after another?’
This simply isn’t true. Are you living in the UK?
Most British Sylhetis that are born in the UK are not interested in Deshi politics. Most people like me look down on people that get involved in tribal Bangladeshi party politics.
It’s dirty politics.
Based on personality not substantive policy.
A small minority of older people and freshies straight from Desh might get involved in these faction fights but more Sylhetis are members of the Labour party in this country than know who Sheikh Mujib or General. Zia are.
Anyway, factional fighting based on personality is a lot more prevailent amongst non-sylhetis in Bangladesh simply because tribal politics works in a feudal third world country more than a first world one.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Thanks, When I say “community”, I mean the entire Bangladeshi Diaspora in UK - not just the Sylhetis. I admire the Sylhetis for being the trail-blazers. Well of course, I know the new generation has come out of the cocoon of their parents, but there’s a lot lot to do. I wrote this article based on facts. You may not be interested in politics from Desh, but there would always be people coming from Desh [remember, there's a Desh to think of; you better not look down upon them; rectify them] and there’ll be people creating factions of the politics they leave behind.
Best regards,
EK
January 13th, 2007 at 8:00 am
This regional bashing brings a shame and sadness to those who fought for our freedom, those who gave their lives fighitng for our independnce and our right to speak our mother tongue, whatever it may be - shuddo, sylhetti, etc.
True Monica Ali should have reserached more into what she was writing about but her issues are somehting to bring to more attention. If such things are happeneng to our Bangali community we do need to help. Would it have been a better if lets say a Bangladeshi newspaper brought this issue to light? Maybe we’re hating on her b/c she happens to be a half breed and doenst have much knowledge about the Bangladeshi community and with all due respect having a Bangladeshi father doesnt give her credibility either. She should have known more about what she was writing about.
As for the Sylhetti brothers and sisters, I ask why separate yourself from rest of Bangladesh? Bangladesh is composed of many regions and ppl who speak differebt dialects and are not well funded by the government. Sylhet is not the only place. There is no big conspiracy against you. The rest of Bangladesh think of Sylhet as Bangladesh. This distinguishment has to stop at a certain level. At the end of the day we’re all “machey bhatey Bangali”.
As to Monica Ali…she is those elite bred brown ppl trying to make big bucks and earn her fame by bashing her origins and feeding what the west craves. There will be ppl who will support her whole heartedly, even our very own Bangladeshis and ppl who will be against her. IT’s all freedom of speech. However it does have a limit- book buringing itself is disrespectful in our culture/values.
Overall this issue is sensitive and people will alwyas be very emotional. We all need to respect that.
JOY BANGLA!!
BANGLADESH ZINDABAD!!!
August 29th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Being genetically a Bangladeshi(Sylhet),though politically an Indian,I have been torn into idntity crisis.But it’s indeed sad to see countrymen of Bangladesh(someof themsetteled in UK and other countries),much like Indians, fighting for the legacy or supremacy in the name of sect and culture.
We live in the 21 century, and I believe that, we should sportively encourage criticism irrespective of caste, creed, language etc and consider it to be the filtering-seive for the betterment of the self,country and the world in a whole.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
The point is that the criticism is unfounded - based on myth, fantasy , which itself cannot tell anything about British Bangladeshis except give the Sun Newspaper what it wants to hear about Bangladeshis.
Books that can only be the equivalent of Catherine Cookson’s type of novels of the England at the turn of the century do not tell anything to us about the poor, rural English except how the narrow, conservative socical class wrote about the poor - typically badly. 100 years on we shouldn’t let Monical Ali write inaccurately and badly of working class Bangladeshis for the literary pleasures of a white audience -mostly middle class I hasten to add. Surely DP can understand that poor people might object to mis-representation, but sure, book burning by all accounts is wrong.
The average Brit doesn’t know regional differences. Monical Ali has written disparagingly of all Bangladeshis. As is the case when minorities take offence , it is only British Bangldeshis who have taken offence at mis-representation because they are the most marginalised group in the UK where Monica Ali s writing from… What seems obvious to me is that the Bangladeshis who mind Monica Ali the most are the poorest ones and those Bangladeshis that rise in staunch defence are mostly educated - give or take a stereotype or two.
DP has a fine tradition of supporting minority sentiment , and reactions to Monica A might be one of them.
Why have reverted to this old discussion BTW…
November 29th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I am reading Monica’s novel and she writes with inside knowledge of the Bengali community. Many Bengali women do not have any say on their own lives.I am seeing how a simple village girl does understand what is good in life and for her and her children.
I have enjoyed the book so far and Monica’s writing is so good that I was encouraged to write my own bit on Nazneen.
This I give below:
) Nazneen had invited Razia, her first friend in the estate in Tower Hamlets for lunch. Razia was a bit unconventional but good at heart. She was now cooking a meal for lunch with Razia - some bhaji at the moment. In the pan she had dropped sliced baigun, chopped potatoes, pieces of courgettes along with paach poron and a vegetable cube. She never knew about veg cube in Gauripoor but Razia showed her how to use it and she liked the flavour this added to any curry including meat.
The cooking was almost finished and the pan was on low heat - just simmering. The aroma was coming out beautifully - she thought. She then heard a cheerful gurgle coming from the cot where Ruku was. He had awakened and was making happy sounds. She went to the cot and saw how pleased he was. Nazneen touched his cheeks softly and tidied his crumpled hair. ‘You like the smell of the bhaji, my sweet baby. It tastes really nice. Razia will be getting a treat. Luv, you are too young to taste this masala. Wait till you are a bit older’, she said with a soft smile.
2) Nazneen was getting to know the sounds of a new language, English, since she came to London with Chanu. It sounded strange in the beginning but by listening to Razia and TV she could now say a few words though she did not fully understand them.
This day she rested on the arm chair and picked up one of Chanu’s many books. He liked books - what were in them she wanted to know. But Chanu would just read pages from the books, look at her and raise his eye brows - but she just stared blankly at him. Wish he would explain what he read to her.
Today she picked up one of his books lying on the carpet. It had a nice colourful picture of a young girl with golden hair entering a huge garden where a huge rabbit sat with a big toothy smile. Nazneen recognised the alphabets and these were ‘Alice and ….’.
She tried to read the title but could only say ‘aalees’. She laughed lightly and felt shy - surely if I said this in front of others they would find my sound to smile at. She felt a bit frustrated for she wanted to speak English sufficiently well to do shopping on her own and to be able to speak with Razia. Razia had asked her to join basic English classes which was being taught close to her place but Chanu had yet to agree.
Nazneen tried again and this time she almost shouted ‘Aaah–lee–es’. She said Bah! loudly and dumped the book on the carpet. Ruku woke up and said ‘waaah, waaah, waaah’. She rushed to the cot and said ‘Ruku sweet do not scold me for I am just trying my best on my own. I will get better and then I will read you many exciting and happy tales of far away places like Gauripoor, China and Glasgow. Be patient with me dear. I did not want to make you cry. Ninni ninni - sho jah sho jah’.
More people should take the pen and write about life in their community as is the custom in Britain.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I am reading Monica’s novel and she writes with inside knowledge of the Bengali community. Many Bengali women do not have any say on their own lives.I am seeing how a simple village girl does understand what is good in life and for her and her children. She is encouraging Bengali women to take some control of their lives. An educated women helps the family in many ways from extra income to children’s education and family health and if their men object to them becoming educated they are going against the way of life in Britain and taking away the freedom of another human being. The message is also about Bengali men growing up and not to live in the domineering way they would have done in Bangladesh.
I have enjoyed the book so far and Monica’s writing is so good that I was encouraged to write my own bit on Nazneen.
More people should take the pen and write about life in their community as is the custom in Britain. Through this sharing members of a community learn from each other and everybody benefits. Monica has written about goodness too. And she has showed that goodness can be seen in all communities but wrongs need to be talked about too - in full honesty which is not done so in Bangladesh. It is the British way and I hope British Bengalis are brave/considerate enough to follow the custom of our country here.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:23 am
How dare Dhakaiyas attack us sylheti peepz. If not for us Bangladeshi economy would sink years ago.