Our grief is not a cry for war. I saw this sign in Union Square Park, New York. September 12th, 2001. We had gone there to put up signs for the Bangladeshi waiters killed in the Windows Of The World restaurant. The Bangladesh embassy was asleep at the wheel, so a small group of us had gone out to collect names. I looked at that other sign and thought, isn’t that obvious? Grief is mourning. Surely no one will try to turn this into a war cry. But I hadn’t been watching enough television. The next eight years many people bent mourning into rage and war. And the world isn’t any safer, in fact it’s worse.

I’m thinking of that sign again as I think of Mumbai. Visiting India last month, I commented to a friend that coming from Bangladesh gets you a varied welcome at airports. Sometimes, warmth and chitchat (the renegade cricket team of “Dhaka Warriors” creating a splash in India). Recently, after Jaipur blasts, nervousness about “illegal Bangladeshi migrants”. On the balance though, a welcoming tenor so far.

Two weeks ago, in Intelligent Pune newspaper, there was a full page white cover: “India under attack from Pakistan and Bangladesh”. Turn the page and it’s a news spoof. The reverse of that cover is a huge poster for the Cricket Leagues: India vs Pakistan vs Bangladesh vs Australia. Oh! Sports as a war metaphor. I chuckled at the time. But now, I get nervous thinking of that ad.

After the Mumbai attack, tones have changed– as the attackers intended. Angry mailing lists, angry blogs, angry SMS. But in a sign of how things have changed for positive since ’01, there are calm voices as well– even within the first days. We have learned to guard against retaliation and skapegoating.

by Naeem Mohaiemen

Archana Hande, who curated a show at World Social Forum/Nairobi, keeps me posted on Indian TV coverage. One channel claiming some of the attackers are “Bangladeshi”. A day later she pings me– they are now reported to all be “Pakistani”. I am relieved? Relieved that the cycle of anger will not engulf my own city as well? We pause to mourn the dead and immediately fear collective retaliation.

I email and read friends/allies in India, and feel there is hope.

On Kafila, Shuddhabrata Sengupta talks about the long-term damage: “No redemptive, just, honourable or worthwhile politically transformatory objectives can be met, or even invoked, by attacking a mass transit railway station, a restaurant, a hotel or a hospital. The holding of hostages in a centre of worship and comfort for travellers cannot and does not challenge any form of the state oppression anywhere. The terrorists (I unhesitatingly call them ‘terrorists’, a word which I am normally reluctant to use, because their objective was nothing other than the terror itself) who undertook these operations did not deal a single blow to the edifice of oppression in this country, or in any other country. On the other hand, they strengthened it.”
Aarti Sethi (Kafila), thinks of an example that seems unfashionable but is so essential: “Maybe there are lessons to learn, as others have said, from an old man who died, attempting to transform the rules of engagement. He learned that if you attempt to confront the system with an equality of violence, you will always be outmatched.”

Delhi based curator Deeksha Nath talks about the need to break out of “art that deals with political critique, but never attains the effect of discourse. It seems that people would much rather not be emotionally and intellectually affected. There is an apathy, as if to question the very purpose of dialogue. But it seems now more then ever we need to hear a variety of voices, not merely the angry ones, the uninformed or the fundamental (all these of course defined from where i stand).”

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While India’s tragedy and aftermath fold out, in Dhaka, a group of “Islamists” attacked the Balaka statues in Motijheel near midnight. A sequel to last month’s attack on Baul statues at the airport. Balaka are several storks. Poor birds, what did they do? We headed to Motijheel thinking to avert another travesty. Not this statue too! If only we were fond of the artwork, but free speech is also about defending unpopular speech. But later, when it turned out that after all they hadn’t broken it, we veered uneasily into gallows humor. That the rod in the stork legs were not Chinese, mojbut maal, not 2 number. That it was a band of irritated art critics. That it was a stunt by people who hated the 1971 installation at the Dhaka Biennial, that most despised art event.

At midnight I photographed the spooky fragments of broken plaster, while an Al Jazeera crew asked “who do you think did it?” (that insistence on rapid, bite-size answers). As soon as we start snapping, a crowd gathers. The camera makes the event or just brings it into focus I don’t know. The police ask which paper we are with. We’re not with anyone. Ah, he says nodding, that’s why you’re late.

More here–>

Balaka Statues (Photos+Text)
http://tinyurl.com/balaka

Balaka Statues Dodge Bullet (Same text as above, but scroll down for
blog debate)
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/2008/11/30/balaka-statue/

Smash Palace (last month’s statue attack)
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/2008/11/02/smash-palace/

Don’t Talk, Don’t Vote (the missing minority in Bangladesh)
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/2008/12/01/cht-missing-pahari-vote