The Brick Lane controversy

You wouldn't think such a small group of protesters could strike so great a blow to the freedom of expression. But it did, and received international media attention in the process. Meanwhile, two powerhouses of literatureGermaine Greer and Salman Rushdiehave been exchanging insults in The Guardian over the controversy, blowing it way out of proportion. So what could have been a quiet local matter eventually ballooned into a huge affair with a tragic conclusion.

Those protesters remind me of bigots in Dhaka marching against the Ahmadiyya community and a minister wanting to clamp down on our journalists' right to free speech. All attempts at restricting freedom. The irony in each case is that angry dissenters need to exercise their own right to free expression in order to curb someone else's. How hypocritical!

"Perhaps the Brick Lane residents have a right to be angry," I thought. After all, life on that road for the heroine of Ms. Ali's story wasn't portrayed very favourably, and a movie might just enhance negative stereotypes about the community. And Ms. Ali is only an outsider looking into a society which has existed for decades. She has never lived on or near Brick Lane and, unlike the overwhelming majority of its residents, is not Sylheti. OK, point taken.

But after a quick hearing of the protesters on the street and on the Internet, you realize they have absolutely no idea of what they're talking about: They talk about hurtful passages from the book and film which don't exist. Why should anyone listen to a group whose only basis for protest are lies and ignorance?

The leader of the Campaign Against Monica Ali's Film Brick Lane, Abdus Salique, has said the protests have both ideological and economic motivations. He and his counterparts are worried that any negative portrayal of Brick Lane will have repercussions on businesses. But I doubt anyone will stop visiting their favourite curry house just because they read a fictional story about adultery and one woman's liberation.

Salique has been a rather animated character since the filming controversy began, quoted in the Guardian as saying: "If she has the right to freedom of speech, we have the right to burn books. We will do it to show our anger. We don't like Monica Ali." Isn't book-burning what Nazis did?

For Salique's group, the heart of the matter is Ms. Ali's background: She is only half-Bangladeshi, not Sylheti and not a Brick Lane resident. Salique believes, "she is not one of us." If by "us" he means"'insecure tyrants pushing conservative views on the rest of the community," he's right. If by "us" he means Sylhetis or residents, then he's speaking an irrelevant truth: travel writers are hardly ever citizens of the places they write about. And if by "us" he means Bangladeshis, he's wrong.

The approach of Ms. Ali's detractors defies logic. Scared that their community's image will suffer, they have taken action which publicly proves them to be bigots. They have warned of violence if any more filming takes place on Brick Lane, threatened to burn books, and flooded message boards on the Internet with hate-filled commentary. What better way tarnish your image?

All this over a work of fiction! Even Ms. Ali has hinted that research certainly did not play a tremendous role in her work. Her detractors should be thankful she didn't write about something absolutely factual, like the story of the maid who works in her house; married at age 12, a mother at 13, and now a single parent with an 8-year old daughter, etc. Far more damning than a bit of adultery, if you ask me.

How should Ms. Ali have portrayed Brick Lane's people? As a group of insecure old men threatening to burn the books of one of the few internationally successful women from their own home country? As a ragtag group of immigrants demanding that the rights given them by their host nation are denied to other people? Come to think of it, we are better off with reality left out of the picture.

I am amazed that this issue has been ignored here in Bangladesh, save for a couple of paragraphs on the middle pages of a Daily Star issue. Someone is making a film about the experience of a Bangladeshi immigrant, and other Bangladeshis have campaigned to prevent that from happening! That sounds almost as bad as Bangladesh rejecting Ms. Ali's visa application in 2003 (which the Foreign Ministry denies).

The Brick Lane protesters are certainly not the voice of the entire community. A lot of residents were in fact pleased with the prospect of a film being shot near their homes, and some even voiced hoped that they could play as extras. It would have generated good publicity and would have been excellent for local business. But a bunch of ultra-conservative morons who did not even read the book are now protesting against non-existent segments of the movie and have managed to deprive their neighbours of all benefits of any filming. What a way to shoot yourself and your peers in the foot!

It is also showing a complete lack of respect to the nation that accepted them. In England, freedom of expression tops the list of rights granted to all residents, and these protesters are trying to take it from the author. They have adopted some tribal mentality, warning the writer to stay off their turf unless she is ready to portray them all as loving individuals living on a golden street lined with roses. And because of their stupidity over the last few weeks, a lot more people are going to watch the movie.

Sajid Chowdhury is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.