Posts

Is the Bangladesh Public Service Commission Dead?

An institution can perish through through abdication and silence while the house burns. By every meaningful measure -- the ability to reassure the public, to clarify recruitment, to protect fairness -- the PSC has ceased to function.

When the State Becomes a Party and the Party Becomes the State

Whoever sits in power today must imagine themselves out of power tomorrow. If they cannot accept that thought, then their governance is not democracy but monarchy in disguise.

Nur and the Grammar of State Violence

The roots of this violence lie in the lame-duck interim government’s refusal to do the hard thing first: clean the stables. More than a year into its tenure, we have endured announcements in place of reform and committees in place of consequences.

Forget the Elite. We Need To Think About Aspiring Elites.

What happens when the interests of the elite class collide with those of an ever more assertive aspiring elite? We're about to find out.

Our True Liberation

A rejoinder to "We Must Honor 2024 Without Diminishing 1971"

We Must Honor 2024 Without Diminishing 1971

1971 built a nation from nothing. 2024 has given us a chance to repair it. Independence is absolute; democratic reform is fragile.

The Reluctant President

History does not present Ziaur Rahman as a schemer, clawing for power. It confronted him with moments when silence or paralysis threatened to suffocate the Bangladeshi people. Each time, he stepped forward because no one else would.

We Need a National Artificial Intelligence Policy

We are already behind, but it is not too late and it need not continue to be that way. AI can help Bangladesh take a quantum leap into the future.

The J-Z Show। Ep. 3। Can we ever get out of history wars?

Episode 3 of The J-Z Show confronts Bangladesh’s “history wars,” asking whether the nation can ever move beyond the divides born of 15 August 1975.

A Return to Roots

We need to revive Bengali Islamic architecture. The eight new mosques recently announced would be the perfect place to start.

Gaza and the Shadow of End Times

On the ground, Gaza is a military and political struggle. In the imagination, it is an eschatological war, stretching from the Crusades to 1948 to today.

Gaza, Power, and the Politics of Indifference

If Gaza becomes the example that law is conditional and morality negotiable, then the costs will be felt far beyond its borders. And when history renders its verdict, it will not be kind to those who turned away.

When Propaganda Meets Corpses: Counting the Dead of 1971

Why this obsession with minimization? Because to reduce the deaths is to reduce the crime. To reduce the refugees is to erase the moral claim of independence. To dismiss the rapes is to absolve collaborators.

Student Politics in Engineering Universities: Can BNP Think Differently?

The time has come to reimagine student politics and free the nation's campuses from violence and criminality. Is the BNP up to the challenge?

Whatever Happened to the Bangladeshi Elite?

Are there signs that the old elite consensus that governed Bangladesh for five decades is breaking down, and, if so, what will replace it?

Post-July Bangladesh: Between the Fall of Fascism and the Struggle for Genuine Reform

The AL may be gone (for now) but that doesn't mean that fascism has been eradicated from the body politic