Society

They Knew

Who is the Facebook or Instagram of this era? Which AI platforms are being deployed into children’s bedrooms, classrooms and social lives without full transparency about internal research? Which companies are already measuring how certain prompts, filters or recommendation engines affect adolescent self-image, loneliness, or compulsive use?

Epstein, Redactions, and the Theatre of Accountability

The Epstein files test a basic democratic claim: That no one is above the law. If the outcome is curated transparency, where victims are exposed and the influential are obscured, the test will have been failed. If the outcome is a victim-centred process, the files might finally serve the purpose they were invoked to serve

No Prince Above the Law: What Bangladesh Can Learn From Andrew's Arrest

Andrew's arrest is a reminder -- imperfect, belated, incomplete -- that has sometimes been possible for a society to rebalance kinship and the law so that even the most protected men eventually face the consequences of their actions.

What It Means to Be Bangladeshi Today

Bangladesh remains socially conservative in many ways, but voters demonstrated political moderation. Economic stability, welfare support, and social peace mattered more than ideological confrontation. The electorate did not reject religion. It rejected restriction. It did not embrace radical liberalism. It embraced balance.

Consent, Promises, and the City That Tests Them

Bangladesh has debated itself intensely this season . Now the debate shifts from imagination to implementation. Dhaka is not beyond saving. But it will not be saved by manifestos alone.

Dhaka-8 and the Politics of Trolling

Trolling is hit-or-miss politics. It is unstable, often unserious, and frequently destructive to governance. But when it works, its impact is asymmetrical -- geometric, even gigantic-- compared to traditional campaigning.

Fear, Fragmentation, and an Uncertain Election

The greater challenge lies not in predicting who will dominate a flawed structure, but in recognizing how much uncertainty -- political, institutional, and informational -- has been baked into its foundations and may reflect in the vote itself.

Why Peace Cannot Be Built on Division

As Bangladesh prepares for the long-awaited national election, it is important to remember that strengthening democracy and building peace on the foundation of collective amnesia will be a disaster for our nation.

An Open Letter to the Afghan Leadership

Under the Prophet’s leadership women’s contribution was embedded in the building blocks of the new Islamic era of Madinah al Munawwara.

How Jamaat is Still Maududi's Party When it Comes to Women

The problem here is not Islam. The problem is the elevation of one man’s subjective, historically contingent interpretation to the status of immutable religious truth. To present such views as 'Islamic policy' is intellectually dishonest and politically dangerous.

A (Darwinian) Manifesto for Dhaka’s Walkers

Dhaka’s walkers are not Darwinian subjects -- they are Darwin’s teachers. They have mastered the art of evolving within the apocalypse, turning every sidewalk and sewer into a classroom.

Let's Not Turn a Blind Eye to the Kol Displacement

The Bengali nation is one of the largest in the world, a people of immense resilience and rich culture. Our greatness is not diminished by lifting up our smallest communities; it is defined by it. To stand with the Kol people today is to affirm the sentiment captured on a wall during the recent peoples uprising: "This country doesnt belong to any one group. It belongs to all of us".

How Religion-Based Politics Harms Women

Rejecting religion-based politics does not mean denying religion; rather, it means taking a stand for equality, human rights, and justice. Without women's liberation, no society, no state, and no politics can be truly just.

The City That Kills You on Your Walk Home

Ashfaq Chowdhury Piplu’s death is a question thrown at our feet by the city we are building. The falling rod asks: What do you value more? The abstract future value of a building, or the concrete, present life of a person walking?

When Citizenship is Redefined by Faith

The path forward begins by refusing to accept the silent exclusion as normal. It requires naming the disagreement for what it is: an attack on the pluralistic foundation of the state.

“Bacho, Becho” (Survive and Sell)

In complete idiocy, that nation, while it prepares to scan the citizens’ history and moral character, in order to judge their citizens eligibility criterion, they forgot that the digital space has records of all they once were, all they currently are and all that they will become in the near future