Bangla Bhai and revolution

These days, it has become fashionable for the Western media to make a mountain out of a mole, especially if it concerns Islam. They simply would not let go off this subject. Perhaps it makes fine journalistic sense and more importantly, sounds a right chord with the western image of an ideological enemy -- presence of an ideological enemy, real or imaginary, is crucial for pursuing the capitalistic goals of the imperialists both at home as well as abroad.

The US economy is so much anchored on defense industry that it will always need an ideological enemy to create an ideology of terror to justify internally, enhanced defense budget and externally, increased arms sale. During the 60s to the mid 80s the so-called fear of communism and portraying of communists and communist regimes as ideological enemies were orchestrated to such a height that became quite handy to pave the way for arms build-up and massive sale of defense equipment, both at home and abroad. This suited well the nexus of vested interest that existed and continue to exist, between the Administration and the manufacturers of defense equipment.

However, the defense sector encountered slow run since the mid -eighties, especially after the collapse of the Soviet regime. This was disturbing, not only to the industry itself, but to the Administration as well, the latter was losing revenue from the arms it was selling in the name of combating communism, to its third world allies. Therefore, to revive the public support for the defense industry or what Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky would term as, to support "Manufacturing Consent", a new ideological enemy that can contribute to an ideology of terror had to be created. The so-called Islamic fundamentalism fitted the shoes very beautifully. Saddam Hussein was not an Islamic Fundamentalist, but never mind he is a Muslim and was ruling a Muslim country - enough to hype up the ideology of terror and justify the war followed by, among others, the push for building up of a modern Iraqi army! The Iraqi oil money will now end up in the same very country from where the main investment in the Iraq war came, the US. There are now other ready buyers among a host of "axis of willing".

Now about "Bangla Bhai"(BB). The guy is an absolute thug and needs to be brought to justice as soon as possible. But for an American journalist to see him as a milestone to an "Islamist Revolution" in Bangladesh is not only far fetched, but downright malicious. There is also no evidence to suggest that Bangla Bhai's activities are supported either by the ruling BNP or the Islamic parties. Though the government's( or local police forces'?) initial encouragement to BB's brigade to tackle communist militants and later, the ineptness of its police force to curb their activities deserve total condemnation and put to question its legitimacy to govern, to say that the ruling BNP and its coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami directly or indirectly supported BB to advance an Islamic Fundamentalist movement in the country is, to my mind, stretching the imagination too far.

In this context, it may be interesting to note how the Western intellectual discourse has changed its canvas over time. For example, Ms. Grisworld states in her article that Bangla Bhai formed his group to fight the communists. In another time, the same author would have hailed the guy as a hero and indeed, his work would have been acknowledged as a great contribution to humankind's search for liberty and freedom. Alas, times are different but not the fundamentals of the basic underpinnings of the Western vested interest, especially those of the US- the relentless search for opportunities to subsidize the dominant industry and in this case and as far as the US is concerned, the defense industry, is on. In this game, heroes of a bygone era may look like a devil today. As far as the Western mind is concerned, there is nothing hypocritical about it. Any challenge to their political and economic dominance and the space needed to pursue that dominance must be advanced at all costs, by means fair or foul. Regrettably, it is more of the latter that the world has to cope with these days.

Finally, if Ms. Grisworld is concerned about rise of fundamentalism per se in Bangladesh, then I dare say that it is a monopoly neither of Bangladesh, nor of Islam. If recent trends are any guide, there indeed is a rise of Christian fundamentalism ( or Evangelicalism) in the US itself and the stark difference between the two is that while the former( the Islamic one) is nothing but a response to defend itself against the economic, social and cultural assault of the West against its people and their countries, that of the latter is simply a State engineered act, aiming to influence its own citizens and those of the rest of the world to bolster support to advance its hegemonic ambitions!