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<title>Counterpoint &#45; : Society</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/rss/category/society</link>
<description>Counterpoint &#45; : Society</description>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Copyright 2025 counterpoint&#45; All Rights Reserved.</dc:rights>

<item>
<title>Bangladesh at a Crossroads: Confronting Corruption to Unlock Its Future</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-at-a-Crossroads%3A-Confronting-Corruption-to-Unlock-Its-Future</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-at-a-Crossroads%3A-Confronting-Corruption-to-Unlock-Its-Future</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh has all the ingredients for success -- a dynamic private sector, a young and hardworking population, and a strategic geographic position connecting major markets. Its achievements over the past decades demonstrate what is possible when determination and policy alignment come together. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b01b68e9252.jpg" length="110240" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:19:05 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>A Gafur</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Vietnam, Singapore, Sri Lanka</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Quiet Crisis We Keep Ignoring</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Quiet-Crisis-We-Keep-Ignoring</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Quiet-Crisis-We-Keep-Ignoring</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Universities need to fund counselling services as a genuine commitment, not a box-ticking exercise. Policymakers need to allocate budget to mental health as a first-order public health priority. The private sector needs to stop treating employee wellness as a branding exercise and start treating it as a structural responsibility. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69db195d3e441.jpg" length="50963" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 20:40:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shazia Omar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sleep deprivation, Mental Health, Anxiety</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Wrath of the Religious Right</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/wrath-of-the-religious-right</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/wrath-of-the-religious-right</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It is very true that the religious right in Bangladesh have found a new voice that had been brutally suppressed by Sheikh Hasina all these years, and that the group has now taken the opportunity to abuse this new-found freedom. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d636b493323.jpg" length="111732" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:32:32 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Riaz Osmani</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>LGBTQ, Sharia Law, Awami League</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Armed in History, Unarmed in Memory</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/armed-in-history-unarmed-in-memory</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/armed-in-history-unarmed-in-memory</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Women were not mere supporters; they were shapers of conditions, bearers of risk, and, in many cases, decisive actors. The war cannot be imagined without them, but its written history has often proceeded as though it could. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ca294416983.jpg" length="66732" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:45:33 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Lubna Ferdowsi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Women, 1971, Liberation War</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Patriotism is Democracy’s Strongest Glue</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Patriotism-is-Democracy%E2%80%99s-Strongest-Glue</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Patriotism-is-Democracy%E2%80%99s-Strongest-Glue</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A stronger Bangladesh will not emerge overnight. But with patriotism and civility, it will rise -- steadily, confidently, and together. To the conscious citizens of Bangladesh: This is your moment. Do not wait for perfect leaders or ideal conditions. Be the example. Act locally. Think nationally. Stand firmly for honesty and integrity, nurture skills, and practise good manners persistently. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c8d9671945a.jpg" length="103605" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:49:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Muhammad Abdul Bari</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Patriotism, Democracy, Youth</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Leadership Shares the Road</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-leadership-shares-the-road</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-leadership-shares-the-road</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Sometimes the most revealing view of a country is not from above, but from within the flow of its everyday life ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c8c96c73a66.jpg" length="152430" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 12:31:21 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Yasir Azman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Leadership, Information, Tarique Rahman</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nation&#45;Building in Bangladesh and the Global South</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Nation-Building-in-Bangladesh-and-the-Global-South</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Nation-Building-in-Bangladesh-and-the-Global-South</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Marginalizing Sylhet and other peripheral districts is more than a regional grievance. It is a strategic mistake that weakens Bangladesh’s national economy, even as policymakers tout the country’s global competitiveness. Yet it also reveals the contradictions and idiosyncrasies in modern nation-building exercises. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ba3ef39330a.jpg" length="342613" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:59:23 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Atif Ahmed Choudhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dhaka, Sylhet</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Transition Becomes a Gendered Battlefield</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Transition-Becomes-a-Gendered-Battlefield</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Transition-Becomes-a-Gendered-Battlefield</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh does not lack visible women, women in campaigns, women in commemorative posters, women seated at consultation tables, women repeatedly invoked in speeches. But visibility without authority is not empowerment; it is performance. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69afb7decac08.jpg" length="42104" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:00:05 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Lubna Ferdowsi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia, Benazir Bhutto, Indira Gandhi</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Against All Odds</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/against-all-odds</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/against-all-odds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ To return to democracy, we endured another undemocratic government after removing one. During this time, there were many human rights violations, many provocations. The people of Bangladesh gritted their teeth and waited for stability. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b01b68e9252.jpg" length="110240" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Yasin Shafi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Interim, Sheikh Hasina</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Lost Art of Getting Lost: How Smartphones Messed Up Our Mental Maps</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Lost-Art-of-Getting-Lost%3A-How-Smartphones-Messed-Up-Our-Mental-Maps</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Lost-Art-of-Getting-Lost%3A-How-Smartphones-Messed-Up-Our-Mental-Maps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We now know exactly where we are, but we have lost all sense of where we could be. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69afca1ce99d1.jpg" length="58291" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 13:37:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Boi Mela, Google</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What a Woman Wears</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-a-Woman-Wears</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-a-Woman-Wears</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The masculinity crisis in Bangladesh is not a psychological issue alone. Young men possess smartphones but lack jobs, security, or agency. Powerless in real life, they become powerful on screens. Their remaining sense of control is exercised through digital domination of women’s bodies. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a5533b84554.jpg" length="50445" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 15:07:51 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Lubna Ferdowsi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Zaima Rahman, Zaima, Women</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bridging the Gap Between Cultural and Religious Fronts</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Center-in-Houston%3A-Bridging-the-Gap-Between-Cultural-and-Religious-Fronts</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Center-in-Houston%3A-Bridging-the-Gap-Between-Cultural-and-Religious-Fronts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Certain cultural celebrations are deemed sinful by a segment, and overt religiousness seems inconsistent with culture by another group. Even in my own clan, I have seen relatives disown placing wreaths on the Shahid Minar as un-Islamic, versus those who believe that wearing a headscarf or burqa is being culturally backwards. However, I am grateful to have a place in the US where I can offer my prayers in Arabic and then pay respect to those who died defending the Bengali language, all on the same ground. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_699beae77bf43.jpg" length="72931" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:01:49 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tamim Choudhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cultural Bridges, United States, Immigrant, Bengali</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Every Step You Take Matters</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Every-step-you-take-matters</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Every-step-you-take-matters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This is a silent but sure shift in how our outgoing women are viewing their freedom on the move, and prioritizing their choice of shoes accordingly. They seem to have realized that every step matters, and shoes are there for liberating, not constricting. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a3fa64ea1f7.jpg" length="22599" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:36:24 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Raihana Shams Islam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Empowerment, Women, Fashion</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dhaka After Dark</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/dhaka-after-dark-</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/dhaka-after-dark-</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The night is not one thing. It is a thousand negotiations, a million small decisions about where to stand, how long to stay, who to trust. The city&#039;s soul is not a fixed thing but a process -- an ongoing negotiation between collapse and creation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a7e05725c24.jpg" length="90045" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:03:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dhaka</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Conspiracy Fever: What Draws Us In</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Conspiracy-Fever%3A-What-Draws-Us-In</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Conspiracy-Fever%3A-What-Draws-Us-In</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Critical thinking should not be optional, If young people grow up learning how to think -- not what to think -- the appeal of simplistic grand narratives will naturally weaken. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_699fe3117b696.jpg" length="44913" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 12:03:40 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Muhaimen Siddiquee</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pinaki, Conspiracy, Digital Literacy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Dead Will Be Watching</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Dead-Will-Be-Watching</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Dead-Will-Be-Watching</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ One institution will carry three kinds of weight at once: The grief of a country that has buried its young; the fragile hope that it can still build rules stronger than instinct; and the scrutiny of a world deciding what kind of Bangladesh it must now learn to live with. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69a28dbbeb9ea.jpg" length="153020" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:24:51 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Apurba Jahangir</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Referendum, July Charter, July Uprising</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>They Knew</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/They-Knew</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/They-Knew</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_699bf18e87a66.jpg" length="57116" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:16:57 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>AI, Bangladesh, Digital Literacy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Epstein, Redactions, and the Theatre of Accountability</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/epstein-redactions-and-the-theatre-of-accountability</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/epstein-redactions-and-the-theatre-of-accountability</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_6996b086d671f.jpg" length="58646" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Feb 2026 12:35:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khan Khalid Adnan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Epstein, law, accountability</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>No Prince Above the Law: What Bangladesh Can Learn From Andrew&amp;apos;s Arrest</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/No-Prince-Above-the-Law</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/No-Prince-Above-the-Law</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Andrew&#039;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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_699aa21311bde.jpg" length="95721" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Feb 2026 12:25:57 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Whit Mason</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, London, Royal Family</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What It Means to Be Bangladeshi Today</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Election-2026-627</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Election-2026-627</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69886e5c1f16d.jpg" length="86197" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 11:10:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Muhaimen Siddiquee</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Jamaat, Election</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Consent, Promises, and the City That Tests Them</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Consent-Promises-City</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Consent-Promises-City</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698d59e51cd60.jpg" length="95884" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 10:41:21 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nafew Sajed Joy</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>After the Polls, Election, Dhaka</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dhaka&#45;8 and the Politics of Trolling</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Dhaka-8-and-the-Politics-of-Trolling</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Dhaka-8-and-the-Politics-of-Trolling</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69886fe29217c.jpg" length="48145" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 17:14:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shafquat Rabbee</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections, Nasiruddin Patwari, Dhaka-8</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Fear, Fragmentation, and an Uncertain Election</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Fear-Fragmentation-Election</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Fear-Fragmentation-Election</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69886e5c1f16d.jpg" length="86197" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 17:07:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Cynthia Farid</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Peace Cannot Be Built on Division</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Rebuilding-Trust%3A-Why-Peace-Cannot-Be-Built-on-Division</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Rebuilding-Trust%3A-Why-Peace-Cannot-Be-Built-on-Division</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698483784ff36.jpg" length="35816" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 17:37:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>MD Sariful Islam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Peace, Elections, Democracy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>An Open Letter to the Afghan Leadership</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/An-Open-Letter-to-the-Afghan-Leadership</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/An-Open-Letter-to-the-Afghan-Leadership</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Under the Prophet’s leadership women’s contribution was embedded in the building blocks of the new Islamic era of Madinah al Munawwara. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_697844b1ef33e.jpg" length="88579" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:50:31 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shiban Akbar OBE</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Afghanistan, Feminism, Regime, Islam</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Jamaat is Still Maududi&amp;apos;s Party When it Comes to Women</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/maududis-thought-and-jamaat-e-islamis-women-policy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/maududis-thought-and-jamaat-e-islamis-women-policy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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 &#039;Islamic policy&#039; is intellectually dishonest and politically dangerous. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_6982c38f68dd5.jpg" length="71376" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2026 09:57:58 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Monica Beg</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Maududi, Jamaat, Women</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A (Darwinian) Manifesto for Dhaka’s Walkers</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Darwinian-Manifesto-for-Dhaka%E2%80%99s-Walkers</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Darwinian-Manifesto-for-Dhaka%E2%80%99s-Walkers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_6980380f4191e.jpg" length="520908" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:22:26 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dhaka, Urban Planning, Rebellion</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Let&amp;apos;s Not Turn a Blind Eye to the Kol Displacement</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Where-the-Walls-Once-Stood%3A-The-Kol-Community%E2%80%99s-Displacement</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Where-the-Walls-Once-Stood%3A-The-Kol-Community%E2%80%99s-Displacement</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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: &quot;This country doesnt belong to any one group. It belongs to all of us&quot;. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696ddca3c9d36.jpg" length="239052" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2026 13:09:26 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nafew Sajed Joy</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Indigenous Communities, CHT, Land rights</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Religion&#45;Based Politics Harms Women</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Women-and-Religion-Based-Politics</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Women-and-Religion-Based-Politics</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Rejecting religion-based politics does not mean denying religion; rather, it means taking a stand for equality, human rights, and justice. Without women&#039;s liberation, no society, no state, and no politics can be truly just. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_697b49e719e3c.jpg" length="23790" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Monica Beg</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jamaat, Women&#039;s Rights, Women</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The City That Kills You on Your Walk Home</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-city-that-kills-you</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-city-that-kills-you</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_692963e77634e.jpg" length="98620" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 18:11:31 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dhaka</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Citizenship is Redefined by Faith</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Citizenship-is-Redefined</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Citizenship-is-Redefined</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_69771ec65efdc.jpg" length="45839" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 21:42:09 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Discrimination, politics, Religioun, Islam, Jamaat-E-Islam</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>“Bacho, Becho” (Survive and Sell)</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/bacho-becho-survive-and-sell</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/bacho-becho-survive-and-sell</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_697319a7362f3.jpg" length="92435" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 16:15:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rubana Huq</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Citizens, Survival, Greed, Power</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Memes Rewrite the Law</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Memes-Rewrite-the-Law</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Memes-Rewrite-the-Law</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh’s second marriage law hasn’t changed. What has changed is the way people have been talking about it. Social media has turned a technical legal issue into a viral topic without context. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_6967db09cc6ae.jpg" length="124162" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:41:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shanim Tasnim</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Marriage, Memes, Second Marriage</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Zaima Said and Why It Matters</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Reflections-from-Zaima-Rahman%E2%80%99s-first-address</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Reflections-from-Zaima-Rahman%E2%80%99s-first-address</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The most enduring line of her address may be her insistence that empowerment must reach homes, institutions, and mindsets simultaneously. This is not a comfortable demand. It implicates everyone. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696def935c6a6.jpg" length="71419" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:19:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Zaima, Lineage, Zaima Rahman</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lessons from Mother Mary Comes to Me</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/lessons-from-mother-mary-comes-to-me</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/lessons-from-mother-mary-comes-to-me</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Mother Mary Comes to Me reminds us that real activism is not performed but lived. And only this kind of activism -- rooted in courage, contradiction, and conviction can move us forward ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696c77e6665bc.jpg" length="296877" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:32:17 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tasmiah T. Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mother Mary Comes to me, Arundhati Roy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Happens After We Tear Institutions Down?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Happens-After-We-Tear-Institutions-Down</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Happens-After-We-Tear-Institutions-Down</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The most dangerous question remains unasked: What norms, procedures, and moral commitments should replace what we are dismantling? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_69574caf241f1.jpg" length="184244" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:48:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ahmed Javed Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anger, Youth</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Should Mahfuj Alam Get a Second Chance?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Should-Mahfuj-Alam-Get-a-Second-Chance</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Should-Mahfuj-Alam-Get-a-Second-Chance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Second chances are possible. But history does not reward clever positioning or carefully worded distance. It honors courage, sacrifice, and fidelity to truth -- especially inconvenient truth. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696495f0ca1ab.jpg" length="50934" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 12:52:56 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mahfuj Alam</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Colour of Prejudice</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Colour-of-Prejudice</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Colour-of-Prejudice</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It is often the person of colour who has to bring up colonialism in the room. To name racism even when it makes everyone uncomfortable. To remind people that representation is not neutral, and that curiosity does not absolve power. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_6959e299839d5.jpg" length="74429" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:31:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rubaiyat Hossain</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Legacy Did She Leave For Us?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Legacy-She-Left-for-Us</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Legacy-She-Left-for-Us</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Her entry into politics in the early 1980s was a response to national crisis, not personal ambition. She became more than a political leader. She became a symbol -- of democratic resilience, of refusal to capitulate, and of the belief that political legitimacy must come from the people, not from force. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_695a10a96a6a7.jpg" length="39732" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2026 12:03:11 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Salah Uddin Bhuiyan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Khaleda Zia, Begum Khaleda Zia, Death</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Biman&amp;apos;s Crossroads: A Billion&#45;Dollar Gambit in the Shadow of Giants</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bimans-Crossroads</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bimans-Crossroads</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The message for Bangladesh&#039;s policy-makers is clear: ground this decision in data, not delusions of grandeur. Commission and publish an independent, peer-reviewed fleet plan. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_6956340576193.jpg" length="43257" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 03 Jan 2026 14:10:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Biman, Airbus, Boeing</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Goodbye 2025. Please Be Gentle, 2026.</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Goodbye-2025</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Goodbye-2025</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As a Bangladeshi Millennial, looking towards 2026 gives me the feeling I used to get before riding a roller coaster in my childhood. I fear it’s going to be a horrifying ride, but I can’t skip it now because I’m at the front of the queue and the next turn is mine. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69550f4a90ff6.jpg" length="61749" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2025 17:38:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shanim Tasnim</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>New Year, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Moral Policing Is Teaching Us to Stay Silent</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/How-Moral-Policing</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/How-Moral-Policing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The moment you raise your voice, people come rushing -- not to listen, but to remind you of your past silences. It doesn’t matter if the incident they cite happened months ago, years ago, or even decades ago. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69491db47d9a0.jpg" length="44992" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:31:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jannatul Naym Pieal</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Outrage, Expression, Compassion</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is This the Bangladesh We Wanted?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/is-this-the-bangladesh-we-wanted</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/is-this-the-bangladesh-we-wanted</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As we move forward to build a new Bangladesh, we need to put minority protection and minority rights front and centre, not because of inflammatory accusations from across the border from those who frankly need to do better protecting the rights of their own minorities, but because it is the right thing to do. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_694a377ed84dd.jpg" length="47365" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:44:57 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zafar Sobhan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dipu Chandra das, Lynching, Minority Rights</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Rise of Leviathan</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-rise-of-leviathan</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-rise-of-leviathan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What happened in those few violent hours at Savar was not an isolated event; it was a revelation -- a rupture that exposed the bones of a much larger story, one about the decay of our collective empathy and the silence of power meant to safeguard our people and our institutions. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69369637c470f.jpg" length="142347" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2025 15:03:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ahmed Javed Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Savar, University</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Victory is Ours, and Ours Alone</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Victory-is-Ours%2C-and-Ours-Alone</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Victory-is-Ours%2C-and-Ours-Alone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Our Liberation War was basically about human rights and dignity. It was a call to refuse to be oppressed, to fight on behalf of the right of self-government, and to struggle in support of the values that unite us as a people: freedom, justice and equality. We must take pride in this history on Victory Day, as it represents not only a past victory but also a promise for the future. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69400a9711884.jpg" length="158482" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2025 07:00:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arman Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Victory Day, 1971</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The True Story of December 16, 1971</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-true-story-of-december-16-1971</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-true-story-of-december-16-1971</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On this day, Bangladesh did not yet know what it would become. It only knew what it had endured. The newspapers recorded surrender, denial, diplomacy, return, and rebirth. The people carried something else entirely -- a heavy, wordless knowledge of survival. That knowledge, more than any headline, is what remains. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_693fe47b4e84a.jpg" length="112111" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>December 16, 1971, Victory Day</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Digital Jester’s Plea</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Digital-Jester</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Digital-Jester</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We need laws that protect us from genuine harm without imprisoning our sense of humour, and platforms accountable to local contexts. Most of all, we must remember that the ability to laugh at power -- cleverly and without fear -- is not a Western import. It is a homegrown, centuries-old Bengali tradition. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_6936a51c6b8e1.jpg" length="147078" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 06:02:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Education in Bangladesh: Force or Farce?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Education-in-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Education-in-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Too many young people complete the school years without the skills they need, families are financially squeezed, and the system still treats education more like fee collection than nation-building. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69353f505506a.jpg" length="92641" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 12:01:49 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Asifur Rahman Khan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Education, Bangladesh</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How an Unhealed Society Keeps Reproducing Discrimination</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/how-an-unhealed-society-keeps-reproducing-discrimination</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/how-an-unhealed-society-keeps-reproducing-discrimination</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Ultimately, the effectiveness of any anti-discrimination law will depend not only on its clauses but on the political will to confront uncomfortable truths, reform abusive structures, and build a future in which neither static nor dynamic forms of discrimination can take root. Only then can Bangladesh move toward a truly just and rights-respecting society. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69318f5848a84.jpg" length="94185" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:33:26 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Zarif Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Discrimination, politics</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When the Joke&amp;apos;s on Democracy</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/when-the-jokes-on-democracy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/when-the-jokes-on-democracy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Here&#039;s the test: Can our leaders take a joke? Can they handle criticism without reaching for handcuffs? Can they distinguish between dissent and disinformation? Because if they can&#039;t, we haven&#039;t replaced one authoritarian regime with democracy. We&#039;ve just swapped the faces. And that&#039;s not funny at all.

  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_693662c219f44.jpg" length="83089" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2025 11:32:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faruq Hasan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dissent, Satire, Earki, Freedom of Expression</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Unheard Song: How Abul Sarkar&amp;apos;s Arrest Reveals Bangladesh&amp;apos;s Fractured Soul</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Abul-Sarkar-and</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Abul-Sarkar-and</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The arrest of Baul singer Abul Sarkar exposes a deeper struggle over who gets to define Bangladesh’s cultural and religious identity, portraying a growing state-backed exclusion of syncretic and minority traditions from the national narrative. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_693038cb713c6.jpg" length="58512" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 17:45:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Shrine Baul Mystics</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Tale of Two Leaders</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Love-for</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Love-for</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This emotional polarity is not irrational -- it is Bangladesh rediscovering its moral compass. It is the people reclaiming ownership of their history, their pride, and their right to choose who deserves their trust: Not through coercion, but through character. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69301859a840e.jpg" length="107508" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 16:43:40 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Toffael Rashid</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Is It Only Majoritarian Religious Sentiment That Matters?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/why-is-it-only-majoritarian-religious-sentiment-that-matters</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/why-is-it-only-majoritarian-religious-sentiment-that-matters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Here is the cruel asymmetry that exposes the game. Hurt religious sentiment is always, unfailingly, something felt by the majority or by those who claim to speak in its name. No minority, no freethinker, no ordinary citizen can ever demand accountability for the trampling of their own emotions. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_692d9bcc9f96e.jpg" length="23127" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:01:24 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mirza R. Ahmad</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Religious Sentiment</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Generation Unbound: Message From Kathmandu</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Generation-Unbound</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Generation-Unbound</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Across Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and far beyond, the message is clear: no one is above accountability. Corruption carries a heavy cost. Leaders who imagine a country belongs to a privileged circle will find themselves confronted by a generation unwilling to be silenced. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_69254ce16c832.jpg" length="42438" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:38:10 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mustafa Kamal Rusho</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nepal. July Uprising</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Nation Losing Its Soul</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Nation-Losing-Its-Soul</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Nation-Losing-Its-Soul</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The King’s Party and the Queen’s party just perpetuate the cycle of dysfunction and corruption, while the people yearn for change. Into this vacuum step the Islamists. But the only change they can deliver will be to further divide us. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6922cab8b3b70.jpg" length="53614" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Nov 2025 14:26:14 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jamaaat-e-Islami, 1971, Sheikh Mujib, Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Panopticon Paradox</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-panopticon-paradox-how-cctv-is-creating-a-new-more-terrifying-reality-in-bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-panopticon-paradox-how-cctv-is-creating-a-new-more-terrifying-reality-in-bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ How CCTV is creating a new, more terrifying reality in Bangladesh ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_691d6fd95e57b.jpg" length="37221" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 14:24:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Men We Forgive, the Women We Destroy</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-men-we-forgive-the-women-we-destroy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-men-we-forgive-the-women-we-destroy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ So yes, what Tangia did was wrong, absolutely no doubt. But let&#039;s not pretend this outrage is about justice. Justice would mean holding everyone to the same standard. This is about control. And we really need to talk about who we&#039;re controlling, and why. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_691d632fad220.jpg" length="56562" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:47:31 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faruq Hasan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tangia, Misogyny</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Call From The Past</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Call-From-The-Past</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Call-From-The-Past</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If our leaders want to know where this road leads, they do not need to look far. Pakistan chose the path of appeasing extremists. The consequences have been catastrophic. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_691ad05592cb6.jpg" length="136809" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2025 12:04:02 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ahmadiyya</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Do Young Bangladeshis Want?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Do-Young-Bangladeshis-Want</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Do-Young-Bangladeshis-Want</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fully 62% feel positive and hopeful about Bangladesh’s future. This is the hope that gives Bangladesh a second chance. But hope, must be met with policy, leadership, and delivery. When young people stop trusting the system, they change it. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_691d68c065a56.jpg" length="41144" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2025 14:36:58 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tahsinah Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Youth, Survey</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Fragile Pact Between Heaven and Earth</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-fragile-pact-between-heaven-and-earth</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-fragile-pact-between-heaven-and-earth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The real challenge is separation: Can parties driven by faith transform national strength without narrowing citizenship to lines of belief? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6907a079150fc.jpg" length="36668" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Nov 2025 18:29:39 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Pial Islam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Islam, Islamism, Islamist Parties</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Gulshan Is Not Dhaka</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Gulshan-Is-Not-Dhaka</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Gulshan-Is-Not-Dhaka</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If you attend these festivals, you owe it to yourself and to Dhaka to also step outside the gates. Don&#039;t be someone who celebrates local and artisanal only when it&#039;s packaged with a price tag and a velvet rope. Don&#039;t be someone who feels cultured because you paid for the privilege. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:36:17 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samridhya Sarkar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gulshan, Festivals</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Disguised Democracy of the Global South</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Disguised-Democracy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Disguised-Democracy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Until democracy regains its moral soul -- until citizens can question without fear and leaders can lose power without vengeance -- it will remain a performance, not a principle. And if this performance continues, one morning we will awaken to discover that democracy has quietly turned into its opposite. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2025 14:02:33 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Democracy, Elections</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ringing Out the Old, Ringing in the New</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Ringing-out-the-old%2C-ringing-in-the-new</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Ringing-out-the-old%2C-ringing-in-the-new</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The conventional view of politics is an old-fashioned journey ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 17:34:40 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jaglul Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July Uprising, NCP</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Rise and Fall of the July Revolution</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Rise-and-Fall</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Rise-and-Fall</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The choice lies with us -- the collective will of the people across all sections of society. The coming months, leading up to the election, will determine which road Bangladesh takes. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:37:41 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ashraf Ud Doula</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July Uprising, Interim Government, Election</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>From Fate to File: The Modern Tragedy of a Man Killed by Development</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/From-Fate-to-File</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/From-Fate-to-File</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A nation’s worth is not measured in kilometers of rail, but in how it values those who walk beneath them. When a government can proudly announce five lakh taka for a death it caused, it tells us not how poor the country is, but how impoverished its conscience has become. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_6901b481ed1c4.jpg" length="343643" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:31:56 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ahmad Sabbir</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Abul Kalam Azad</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Culture of Cunning</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Culture-That</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Culture-That</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The damage is not only ethical but psychological. Once the collective mind learns to justify wrongdoing as survival, no institution can function. Our tragedy is not that we lack intelligence, but that we misuse it. We have mistaken cunning for cleverness and substituted wisdom with opportunism. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68ff3c5702e92.jpg" length="26088" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 02:17:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ethics, Morality</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Taking Greening Bangladesh Seriously</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Pledge-to-Plant</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Pledge-to-Plant</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Without proper planning, scientific implementation, public engagement, and addressing the root causes of deforestation, the pledge to plant 250 million trees will not succeed ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68f493aa83fd9.jpg" length="39934" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Oct 2025 16:14:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faysal Kabir Shuvo</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Makes a Soldier? The Bangladesh Army Faces a Moral Catharsis</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Makes-a-Soldier</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Makes-a-Soldier</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The army as an institution must not be tainted by the criminal misdeeds of a few. Those officers betrayed their sacred oath -- service before self, death before dishonour. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68efbad959494.jpg" length="99084" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Oct 2025 21:18:01 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ashraf Ud Doula</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Army, ICT Tribunal</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Orchestrated Crash: Why Bangladesh’s Roads Are a Laboratory of Chaos</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Orchestrated-Crash</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Orchestrated-Crash</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Traffic accidents and the devastation they wreak are not inevitable. We can fix this problem, if we have the will. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68eb521758afe.jpg" length="126031" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2025 11:37:06 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Traffic</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Ballad of the Missing Bullets</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Ballad-Missing-Bullets</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Ballad-Missing-Bullets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Each missing gun is a potential shooting at a street corner, a robbery, a killing. As national elections approach, the fear is not hypothetical. It is Chekhov’s gun multiplied by a thousand: if a weapon hangs on the wall in Act I, it must go off by Act III. And Act III is the election. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e22475a8175.jpg" length="41156" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 12:20:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Election, Guns</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Riddle of Shrine Attacks: Why Intra&#45;Muslim Violence Surprised Us</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Riddle-of-Shrine-Attacks</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Riddle-of-Shrine-Attacks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ To protect shrines is to protect a vision of Islam that is inclusive, creative, and rooted in ordinary life. The riddle of the shrine attacks is solved only when we see that the real threat is not just the loss of Hindu-Muslim peace, but the erosion of Muslim-Muslim coexistence. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e89127e16e0.jpg" length="106028" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Oct 2025 05:54:59 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ahmad Sabbir</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sufi, Shrine</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Erasure of Jahanara Imam</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-erasure-of-Jahanara-Imam</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-erasure-of-Jahanara-Imam</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At SUST, Bangladesh has chosen to forget Jahanara Imam. It has chosen to betray its mother to appease its murderers. It has chosen to sanctify cowardice with religion. The dormitory that should have carried her name now bears the name of a saint, not because the country lacks martyrs, but because it lacks the courage to honor them. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d8e64561bfc.jpg" length="62791" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 28 Sep 2025 06:26:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jahanara Imam, SUST</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Rohingya Crisis Through Student Eyes</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Rohingya-Crisis-Through-Student-Eyes</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Rohingya-Crisis-Through-Student-Eyes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What four students at the university of Chittagong have to say about the Rohingya crisis in 2025 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68c260ece36ab.jpg" length="32094" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Sep 2025 09:48:25 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mizan Rehman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Withering Roots of Dignity</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Withering-Roots-of-Dignity</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Withering-Roots-of-Dignity</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Humiliation is the tool of the weak pretending to be strong. True strength lies in restoring dignity -- not just to the self, but to others. Only then can the roots of our society regenerate. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6885e16af2c9b.jpg" length="47003" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2025 07:07:12 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dhaka In Peril: We Can No Longer Fly &#45;&#45; and Build &#45;&#45; Blindly</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Dhaka-in-Peril%3A-We-Can-No-Longer-Fly-and-Build-Blindly</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Dhaka-in-Peril%3A-We-Can-No-Longer-Fly-and-Build-Blindly</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A training jet crash into a school -- amid a pattern of avoidable disasters -- must shatter our complacency and ignite real reform ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_68835b2b46320.jpg" length="106835" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2025 10:01:52 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sajedul Hoq</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Beyond the Formula: Why Inheritance Reform Must Be Gender&#45;Just</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Beyond-the-Formula-%E2%80%93-Why-Inheritance-Reform-Must-Be-Gender-Just</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Beyond-the-Formula-%E2%80%93-Why-Inheritance-Reform-Must-Be-Gender-Just</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A one-size-fits-all formula cannot deliver justice in today&#039;s world. The Bangladeshi legal system must reflect the lives and needs of the people it serves. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_68761ff1598c2.jpg" length="52869" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2025 07:59:52 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mariha Tahsin</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Ties That Bind</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Ties-That-Bind</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Ties-That-Bind</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The United States and Bangladesh were both born of a war of independence that pitted ordinary men and women against the might of a formidable army. This spirit was renewed in Bangladesh one year ago and shared responsibility will always be the backbone of true strength. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686b708243bd8.jpg" length="113944" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:47:50 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ehteshamul Haque</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>United States, Bangladesh, 4th of July</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Satellite City and Why It is Needed in Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-satellite-city-and-why-it-is-needed-in-bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-satellite-city-and-why-it-is-needed-in-bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Creating satellite cities is essential to easing Dhaka’s growing urban pressures and distributing resources and population more evenly across the country ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_6860db0c9c27a.jpg" length="74487" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2025 13:28:39 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Waleed Morshed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Urban Planning, Dhaka City</media:keywords>
</item>

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