Politics24 Dec 2006 09:25 am
The Islamists have always focused on a 100-year plan, while the main parties claw at each other and think of a 5-year survival plan. Already deep inside the universities, Islamists are quietly infiltrating the civil service (hence the recent upgraded BA/MA status for madrasa degrees), business sector, and army.
Full op-ed @ DAILY STAR
December 19th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
I don’t think Islamists have enough support outside some radicalised urban middle class elements in BD. Most people are too busy scrabbling around making a living to care about grandiose and utopian ideologies. Plus JMB/Jamat violence has put people off.
December 19th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
What on earth is your issue with dignifying, refining and progressing the islamic educational stream?
The BA/MA thing was on the cards for ages and got through late in the past government to kinda appease the madrassa supporting part of society, which i argue is more comprehensive and grassroots that self confessed civil society (though not as adept with power point i guess).
I could easily and arguable more truthfully say (please try some empathy here)
I don’t think seculars have enough support outside some radicalised urban deislamised new money elites in BD. Most people are too busy scrabbling around making a living to care about grandiose and utopian ideologies. Plus AL/communist/anarchist/workers party violence has put people off.
oooo
it is immature to invoke Iran and other countries all the times. Whatever regime gets hold of bangladeshis will bear the hall marks and vices (maybe eventually virtues) of the people themselves.
The Iraq analogy is also a little funny. If chalabi has a phd in Maths, that doesnt make him a master of statescraft. But i suppose that gets in the way of the vox pop bhai.
Iraq’s scenario is sadly very degraded of late. Moqdatar’s elder and more competant (though murdered) relative Baqr al Sadr displayed great insight in his works on economics and philosophy check the wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Baqir_al-Sadr
But Saddam had him taken out.
what im getting at is that the more you lot demonise and marginalise the urge of society, whther thats politically or educationally, the more hostile they will become to you. maybe a more nuanced way of looking at iraq for lessons would be to ask the question of who you prefer.. Baqr or Moqtadr?
December 20th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Fugstar, I have no issue with “dignifying, refining and progressing the islamic educational stream”
The BA/MA decision does not do anything of the sort. There is a long-running list of reform demands of madrassa system, including major incorporation of science+math, none of which was fulfilled before taking this step.
December 21st, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Fog:
I’ll believe Islamist nutters will come to power when I see your average Bengali worship god and not taka, pound, DM and the Doller and equivelants. lol
Bengalis are not in the main ideologically motivated outside some naive student circles. That’s why Islamic parties and commies together poll less than 10% of the votes compared to the Mujib/Zia bhokthos.
December 21st, 2006 at 6:52 pm
Naeem, its a long run thing… To get an education system up and running and the teachers, support and parents functional. Im glad you arent openly hostile to it and empathise.
Respect for higher end madrassah studies, institutions, teachers and studesnts is a starting point. Lets not generalise about curriculums dude, there is such a lot of variety. The others streams can learn from the good aspects too.
Also bear in mind how rubbish private BBA degrees are and the sheer audacity of what they waste young peoples time and money with.
I look forward to qualitatively better people passing the BCS exams and running the state. I look forward to young men and women emerging with the mindfulness to make sense of the world and their place in it, to research and analysis with a little more depth and historical perspective and to a more integrative conception of the different disciplines and their roles.
A soulful intellect, a decent selection of books, teachers and experiences as well as good akhlaq and both creative and memory training are essentially what i am on about. English medium schools could use more than a little ethical content. I think foreign and alienating curriculums in history and geography are abominable.
Lanacian, what im addressing here has a longer timescale, and a wider relevance perhaps 10 bangladesh sized epochs. It is sweet that you know so much about bengalis to speak for all of them. The educational character/culture of knowledge issue is coupled to the polls you speak of but ultimately more consequential. Life isnt about scoring votes or going to human rights heaven(interesting idea).
I wonder how much of this gets censored