Counterpoint BD

Acknowledging historical wrongdoing does not mean that present members inherit the criminal guilt of their predecessors. It means something more politically mature: Refusing to make the past innocent simply because the present finds it inconvenient. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Mia Golam Porwar’s argument about 1971 does more than reinterpret history. It shifts the source, nature and ownership of responsibility. Imagine that armed men break into a house in the middle of the night.

A serious opposition does not merely show that something is broken. It identifies who is responsible, produces evidence, demands a remedy, and keeps the issue alive after the cameras leave. That is harder than shouting. It is also politics. Photo Credit: Ahadul Karim Khan/Dhaka Tribune Anyone who has waited at Shahjalal Airport for a baggage trolley knows the frustration is real.

Bangladesh has inherited a tax system that leans hardest on those least able to bear it. That was decades in the making, and it will not be undone in a single budget. But change it must. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Last week, the heads of Bangladesh's largest microfinance institutions did something unusual. They wrote together.

What Tarique Rahman’s UNGA address says about Bangladesh’s emerging role in the Global South Photo Credit: Shutterstock “If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?” asks Anton Chigurh, the main protagonist of the Oscar-winning movie No Country for Old Men -- and eight decades into its own rulebook, the United Nations might reasonably be asked the same question by every refugee, every displaced minority, every small state whose faith in the Charter has yet to be...

To save agriculture, we must bring back the farmer's lost traditional wisdom. Establishing community-based seed banks at the village level to preserve indigenous seed varieties is the ultimate demand of the hour. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Due to various work assignments, I have been traveling across the roads and fields of the Kolkond char in Rangpur for the past few months. As I move along the paths cutting through the green fields, a sharp chemical odor constantly hits my nose.

Our academics, civil society, and the media must urgently mobilize to stand beside the public. Civil society must venture beyond the comfortable confines of elite, conventional discourse and aggressively advocate for the legal protection of the most marginalized communities. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Brutal vigilantism and systemic lawlessness are not inherent cultural traits; they are the desperate symptoms of a public that has lost faith in a weaponized legal system.

If Puja holidays damage the economy, calculate the economic cost of holidays demanded for one's own religious occasions as well. If religious processions blocking roads are unacceptable, demand the same rule for every religious and political gathering. Photo Credit: Shutterstock At this rate, Bangladesh may soon need a ministry to determine exactly how much Durga Puja the economy can survive.

If Bangladesh is to emerge from this transition with institutions genuinely stronger than those it inherited, power must become harder to capture, harder to personalize and easier to restrain. Photo Credit: Shutterstock A house can be repainted. Its walls can be scrubbed, its portraits removed and its furniture replaced. The people who once occupied its rooms can leave, and before long, it may look as though an entirely different family has moved in. But appearances are deceptive.

For music lovers of my generation in Bangladesh, those names bring back fond memories. Music then required effort. Albums had to be found, borrowed, bought or recorded, and collections grew slowly. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Before I can play a record, I have to get up. I slide it out of the sleeve, place it on the turntable, and lower the needle. 20 minutes or so later, the music stops, and I have to get up again and turn it over. Side A, Side B. None of this is convenient.

The decline in volunteer participation has several negative effects. Communities lose energetic young leaders who can organize awareness campaigns, environmental projects, and emergency responses. Photo Credit: Shutterstock In the 2000s, we saw frequent voluntary activities in schools, colleges, universities, societies, and more. We have also seen voluntary organizations' activities, for example, Scouts, BNCC, Red Crescent, Girl Guides, and Various clubs in educational institutions.