Nexus and nitty-gritty
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Dr. Hasanuzzaman Choudhury
Human beings are born free and come under statehood as a result of social contract. Political controllers and actors, politicians and representatives, deputies and legislative assembly members, power structure and its occupants, governing and non-governing elites, coercive apparatus and bureaucratic mechanisms may think in a wrongful manner that they do have the mandate, right, strength, mechanism, authority, sanction, support and legitimacy to rule, control, subjugate the body politic and the population geography. This they can do according to their self-styled modus vivendi, modus operandi, socio-economic status (SES) level and considerations, whims and way of looking at things. They can put the people and concerned political geography under slavery and treat them as slaves. In this regard they think that their might give them right to do so. But this is totally incorrect. It is a ridiculous falsehood. Might does not create right. Might only creates might. If you apply force to be in power and to keep mass people under your control, you are indeed inviting force. You are developing counter force, making rebels, bringing rebellion. Force and might only ask for the same. Revolution and forcible overthrow of all ruling conditions and obviously the ouster of the ruling class, government, elites or leaders then becomes imperative. This is a compulsion without any alternative in the way of establishing justice, positive social order and saving civilised contrivance and life. Thus born-free human beings cannot be chained and kept under slavery. If anybody thinks so, then it is evident that he or she himself or herself is a slave of his or her possessive passions and insanity. In today's global situation and in our own context, the power structure, ruling elite, representatives or deputies, politicians and leaders do think that they are being given inalienable mandate, right and authority to control the state body-politic and the mass according to the behavioral pattern and standard that they set up for themselves and think it to be in conformity with the will and welfare of the people. But ultimately or in the long run this above mentioned process and modalities are proved to be false, illusory and illegitimate. This kind of political setup, governmental mechanism, power-play must be stopped and removed with collective force. If you have the entry, existence and dealing pattern going on in a wrongful manner, it is obvious you will have to go out. Eventually you will have to face your ouster or exit from the throne or seat of power by mass upsurge. Arab Spring is the most recent example. So might does not create right and might only creates might. Force and illegitimacy essentially invites force and rebellion. These are the truths that the ruling elites, the power hungry politicians or namesake super-imposed leaders always forget and quite naturally face tit for tat in the end. Jean Jacques Rousseau very aptly assessed the situation and stated: 'Sovereignty, for the same reason as it makes it inalienable, cannot be represented; it lies essentially in the general will and will do not admit of representation: it is either the same or other; there is no intermediate possibility. The deputies of the people therefore are not and cannot be its representatives; they are merely its stewards, and they can carry through no definite acts. Every law the people has not ratified in person is null and void - is in fact, not a law. The people of England, regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing. The use it makes of the short moments of liberty it enjoys shows indeed that it deserves to lose them' (Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762, Trans. G. D. H. Cole, New York , E. P. Dutton and Company Inc., London, 1947). This very penetrating and true observation has become one hundred per cent reality in the case of Bangladesh and its political arena. It is a truth during both erstwhile Pakistani regime and during post-1971 Bangladeshi regimes. Forty years have already elapsed since the war of liberation. But no actual change is found in the state, politics, governmental mechanisms and in the style of thinking, attitude, behavioural pattern and operational aspects and functioning of the politicians, leaders, parties, groups, elites, power-mongers and representatives consisting of touts and doubts. Representation through so called and farcical electoral mechanism, every time and in every regime has elected, selected, chosen, nominated or imposed persons as hired employees or mere servants of the public. These functions are being done for a temporary period to allow them to engage in legislative or any other capacity, giving them absolute power, but without legitimate public, legal and constitutional sanctions. Even then they have arbitrarily thought that they are the commanders, controllers, masters and overlords of the country and the people. But in fact they are being chosen, taken, selected, nominated, or given opportunity to act as mere representative agents. They are in true sense the servants of the public for specified period. The situation thus stands-the real servants are thinking themselves as masters and real masters are being forcefully pushed in a backward and peripheral position of servants or slaves. Truth for both the positions should and must be changed in just the opposite direction. This is the basic philosophy, essential principle and fundamental article of faith regarding the original will, conscious formation, continued existence of our statehood. Bangladesh is a social contract of its almost one hundred and seventy million people. This contract is among them and came from within and must act as supreme social, legal, constitutional, moral and practical core value. It is the legitimate binding and the working formulae for political consensus to attain unity, collective entity, development, justice, peace and harmony. Yet this is being denied, disobliged, dashed behind and in every way operationally shattered, demolished and destructed. Here lies the breach of the social contract-the fundamental will of our people that gave birth to Bangladesh. This is the treachery and farce that every time and every regime Continued from page 1 has imposed and demonstrated pushing behind the basic and all-comprehensive constituency of the 160 million Bangladeshi people by not admitting and by totally dismissing the fundamental precondition of Bangladesh state that its people are the masters. Elitist representatives, mechanisms, parties, leaders and followers were, are and will have to remain as public servants appointed by their public masters to serve the latter and for the time being only. Hence the absolute denial of this basic truth and understanding should be denounced. Because these actually lay at the very foundation of Bangladesh state and they have become the real problem to be addressed immediately to save the future of this people and country. This is definitely the biggest challenge to be resolved first, fast and with foremost urgency and once for all. Now any state or in our case Bangladesh state and its power structure and politicians must admit the following facts of different dimensions that have strong underneath correlations and same root with the basic social contract of the general mass. It is for establishing the social-political order to live with common will, goal and objectives. This is the real spirit of our liberation war of 1971. 1. Social contract is the fundamental precondition and underlying legal, constitutional, moral all-surpassing core value. 2. People's vivid consent, real sanction and proper recognition are modus operandi mechanism for all concerned. It is binding upon state, government, ruling and non-ruling elites, leaders, parties, followers, representatives, bureaucracy and for all other institutions and individuals. 3. Governmental mechanism must have 'some effective way of finding out what its citizens do and do not want and then translating those wishes into government action or inaction'. 4. Equality endowed by the Almighty Allah and equity for attaining social, economic, political, cultural, religious justice. 5. Admitting and establishing inalienable rights of the mass to life, liberty, security, honor and happiness. 6. Representatives in all forms are mere public servants and they are being taken for a specified period and with the presence of the condition of recall operating in-between. 7. General mass are not servants. In no way this is acceptable. They are the real masters and determinants. 8. Every law, every act of legislation, every treaty with foreign countries and every key decision of decisive consequence will have to be agreed upon by the people and in the real sense of the term granted or ratified by them. Discussion, consultation, referendum and seeking opinion of the public would be a compulsion. 9. People's approval in all state affairs and governance is a must and last word remains with the people. 10. 'Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests..parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole - where, not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole' (Edmund Burke, "Address to the Electors of Bristol, November 3, 1774, quoted in Austin Ranney, The Governing, Prentice Hall, May 10, 2000). Now, can anybody declare with honesty and integrity that any single aspect of the above mentioned ten conditions is seen present and meticulously practiced in Bangladesh towards fulfilling the basic principle of social contract for the formation, existence and continuity of our statehood? The answer will be obviously negative. There may be many reasons behind these problems. But the main difficulty and impediment lie with the practical non-recognition and absolute denial of the fundamental article of faith accepted by the social contract that representatives and government machineries as well as elites and leaders were and are public servants hired and appointed for the time being with is the specified limit of responsibility. It is the general mass who is the basic constituency. They are the real masters. The public servants are also part of the society and state. But the moment they represent, they become separated and take distinct position of responsibility having the status of public service-givers. Now if you look at present Bangladesh, you will see that income, safety, preference, opportunity, scope, rewards are all taken and enjoyed by the few elites and their conglomerates-in political, social, economic and cultural fields. Bread, butter, gains, hegemony, and public exchequer - everything is under their control and being plundered. All the key decisions of decisive consequences are taken by them from a narrow perspective and parochial interests. For instance - giving corridors to India, avoiding route-41 of the Asian highway, undue trade facilities to India, secret treaties with India, allowing India to construct Tipaimukh dam and Sari river dam, not making effort to get back Tin Bigha corridor, not protesting Farakka devastation, not making any effort to make a proper treaty of water sharing with India on Tista river water, not making any protest against unilateral withdrawal of water by India from Mahananda, destroying our national security, making Hill-tracts vulnerable in favor of across border sharks, not protesting but consciously allowing and encouraging Indian political, economic and cultural aggression, etc. Inside the country the present ruling elites through unilateral amendments have destroyed the constitution, making public safety and security a mirage. Plunder of share market, division of DCC, use of EVM in the elections are also glaring examples of monopolized decisions. Neither domestic, nor foreign-related issues have been declared openly. Nothing is being given to the people of Bangladesh as information. No consultation is being done with the people, concerned stakeholders, political opposition and intelligentsia. No referendum is given and opinion sought. Nothing has been disclosed even to the ruling party-dominated parliament. These examples clearly demonstrate that all the conditions discussed for preserving the basic social contract have not been observed. Thus the lessons to be taken go like the following: 1. It is not the possessive impulse that gives recognition to the social contract of our common livelihood. Rather it is the creative impulse that brings us to the right direction. 2. It is not the 'auxiliary' role that the mass people should take which is the unwanted present scenario. It is the 'essential' role that the mass should and must adopt. 3. A citizen community being conscious, knowledge based, participatory and with zealous sleepless guards maybe in a position to assert their principal and dominant role in the state affairs. Governance in Bangladesh must go in line with the social contract. 4. Neither tradition-directed nor other-directed, rather it is an alert and enlightened community having the quality of inner-direction or self-direction that is required most for establishing the control of the general masses over the state and governmental affairs and thereby making basic social contract - a meaningful and practical one. 5. Hegemony of the elites, political leaders, sycophants and touts must be uprooted and destroyed. People's control must be established with conscious efforts, positive initiatives, dynamic drives and through significant consensus. In all respects enhancing public spheres without any break through unity and communicative action of the people is needed. It is neither 'Wretched of the Earth' and 'One Dimensional man', nor 'Lonely Crowd,' which will give us the solutions and ensure liberty, rights, justice and true position of the people as masters. It is not the pillage of globalization, farce of post-modernism and 'democratic unfreedom' which will free us from bondage. It is our faith in the Almighty Allah and our collective effort and nonstop struggle against evil, tyranny and injustice that will Insha'Allah bring good, common welfare, victory in the positive direction and proper justice for our peripheral geography and ultimately for the entire human community all over the world. Silence is the worst type of betrayal and rebellion against tyrants is obedience to Allah. If someone tries to hide his character in a masked ball, it is obvious that every time he reveals it. According to Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH), best jihad is to protest directly in front of the tyrant ruler. Quran says not to show your back during the struggle, to fight honestly and with full faith and urges to do jihad as instructed by Allah to do. It is a bounden duty for an honest human being to establish proper justice, common social welfare and happiness for himself, neighborhood, and countrymen and for the humanity. These are teachings of Al Quran and Sunnah. Muslims must not be passive, parochial, inactive, 'Outsider', 'free floater', 'stranger' and 'sublimated slaves'. They must not be in position of 'walking lies' like the regularly demonstrating 'pathological liars' in the country of 'horror', 'jail' and 'killing' which was once upon a time our beloved Bangladesh. This is an era when 'cash tie', 'cash nexus' and 'cash feeling' are the all comprehensive practices and simultaneously the situation is 'terror-directed' and 'terror-erected'. Sycophants and sociopaths when run the show, it is obvious that 'Law of inverse sanity' works in full swing. This is a symptom of 'Fast Rated Madness'. But all these are true simultaneously with 'Marketing of Evil'. The people of Bangladesh must not adopt the course of German submarine captain and thinker Martin Nailomer. He remained silent and alone for his personal security. He was caught by Hitler and ultimately repented. Let the people of Bangladesh be united, be active and fight injustice to emancipate individual as well as collective entity. This is the critical juncture and historical moment to show proper consciousness, to rise up for just cause and act with conscience. It should be kept in mind that 'every time an intellectual has the chance to speak out against injustice, and yet remains silent, he contributes to the moral paralysis and intellectual barrenness that grips the ..world' (Harold Laski). 'For freedom, we know, is a thing that we have to conquer afresh for ourselves, every day, like love; and we are all losing freedom, just we are always losing love, because, after each victory, we think we can now settle down and enjoy it without further struggle...the battle of freedom is never done, and the field is never quiet' (Henry W. Nevinson, Essays in Freedom,London: James and Nisbet Co.22 Berners Street, p.XVI). ........................................................... The writer teaches political science at Dhaka University and can be reached at: hasanuzzamanchy@gmail.com
Human beings are born free and come under statehood as a result of social contract. Political controllers and actors, politicians and representatives, deputies and legislative assembly members, power structure and its occupants, governing and non-governing elites, coercive apparatus and bureaucratic mechanisms may think in a wrongful manner that they do have the mandate, right, strength, mechanism, authority, sanction, support and legitimacy to rule, control, subjugate the body politic and the population geography. This they can do according to their self-styled modus vivendi, modus operandi, socio-economic status (SES) level and considerations, whims and way of looking at things. They can put the people and concerned political geography under slavery and treat them as slaves. In this regard they think that their might give them right to do so. But this is totally incorrect. It is a ridiculous falsehood. Might does not create right. Might only creates might. If you apply force to be in power and to keep mass people under your control, you are indeed inviting force. You are developing counter force, making rebels, bringing rebellion. Force and might only ask for the same. Revolution and forcible overthrow of all ruling conditions and obviously the ouster of the ruling class, government, elites or leaders then becomes imperative. This is a compulsion without any alternative in the way of establishing justice, positive social order and saving civilised contrivance and life. Thus born-free human beings cannot be chained and kept under slavery. If anybody thinks so, then it is evident that he or she himself or herself is a slave of his or her possessive passions and insanity. In today's global situation and in our own context, the power structure, ruling elite, representatives or deputies, politicians and leaders do think that they are being given inalienable mandate, right and authority to control the state body-politic and the mass according to the behavioral pattern and standard that they set up for themselves and think it to be in conformity with the will and welfare of the people. But ultimately or in the long run this above mentioned process and modalities are proved to be false, illusory and illegitimate. This kind of political setup, governmental mechanism, power-play must be stopped and removed with collective force. If you have the entry, existence and dealing pattern going on in a wrongful manner, it is obvious you will have to go out. Eventually you will have to face your ouster or exit from the throne or seat of power by mass upsurge. Arab Spring is the most recent example. So might does not create right and might only creates might. Force and illegitimacy essentially invites force and rebellion. These are the truths that the ruling elites, the power hungry politicians or namesake super-imposed leaders always forget and quite naturally face tit for tat in the end. Jean Jacques Rousseau very aptly assessed the situation and stated: 'Sovereignty, for the same reason as it makes it inalienable, cannot be represented; it lies essentially in the general will and will do not admit of representation: it is either the same or other; there is no intermediate possibility. The deputies of the people therefore are not and cannot be its representatives; they are merely its stewards, and they can carry through no definite acts. Every law the people has not ratified in person is null and void - is in fact, not a law. The people of England, regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing. The use it makes of the short moments of liberty it enjoys shows indeed that it deserves to lose them' (Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762, Trans. G. D. H. Cole, New York , E. P. Dutton and Company Inc., London, 1947). This very penetrating and true observation has become one hundred per cent reality in the case of Bangladesh and its political arena. It is a truth during both erstwhile Pakistani regime and during post-1971 Bangladeshi regimes. Forty years have already elapsed since the war of liberation. But no actual change is found in the state, politics, governmental mechanisms and in the style of thinking, attitude, behavioural pattern and operational aspects and functioning of the politicians, leaders, parties, groups, elites, power-mongers and representatives consisting of touts and doubts. Representation through so called and farcical electoral mechanism, every time and in every regime has elected, selected, chosen, nominated or imposed persons as hired employees or mere servants of the public. These functions are being done for a temporary period to allow them to engage in legislative or any other capacity, giving them absolute power, but without legitimate public, legal and constitutional sanctions. Even then they have arbitrarily thought that they are the commanders, controllers, masters and overlords of the country and the people. But in fact they are being chosen, taken, selected, nominated, or given opportunity to act as mere representative agents. They are in true sense the servants of the public for specified period. The situation thus stands-the real servants are thinking themselves as masters and real masters are being forcefully pushed in a backward and peripheral position of servants or slaves. Truth for both the positions should and must be changed in just the opposite direction. This is the basic philosophy, essential principle and fundamental article of faith regarding the original will, conscious formation, continued existence of our statehood. Bangladesh is a social contract of its almost one hundred and seventy million people. This contract is among them and came from within and must act as supreme social, legal, constitutional, moral and practical core value. It is the legitimate binding and the working formulae for political consensus to attain unity, collective entity, development, justice, peace and harmony. Yet this is being denied, disobliged, dashed behind and in every way operationally shattered, demolished and destructed. Here lies the breach of the social contract-the fundamental will of our people that gave birth to Bangladesh. This is the treachery and farce that every time and every regime Continued from page 1 has imposed and demonstrated pushing behind the basic and all-comprehensive constituency of the 160 million Bangladeshi people by not admitting and by totally dismissing the fundamental precondition of Bangladesh state that its people are the masters. Elitist representatives, mechanisms, parties, leaders and followers were, are and will have to remain as public servants appointed by their public masters to serve the latter and for the time being only. Hence the absolute denial of this basic truth and understanding should be denounced. Because these actually lay at the very foundation of Bangladesh state and they have become the real problem to be addressed immediately to save the future of this people and country. This is definitely the biggest challenge to be resolved first, fast and with foremost urgency and once for all. Now any state or in our case Bangladesh state and its power structure and politicians must admit the following facts of different dimensions that have strong underneath correlations and same root with the basic social contract of the general mass. It is for establishing the social-political order to live with common will, goal and objectives. This is the real spirit of our liberation war of 1971. 1. Social contract is the fundamental precondition and underlying legal, constitutional, moral all-surpassing core value. 2. People's vivid consent, real sanction and proper recognition are modus operandi mechanism for all concerned. It is binding upon state, government, ruling and non-ruling elites, leaders, parties, followers, representatives, bureaucracy and for all other institutions and individuals. 3. Governmental mechanism must have 'some effective way of finding out what its citizens do and do not want and then translating those wishes into government action or inaction'. 4. Equality endowed by the Almighty Allah and equity for attaining social, economic, political, cultural, religious justice. 5. Admitting and establishing inalienable rights of the mass to life, liberty, security, honor and happiness. 6. Representatives in all forms are mere public servants and they are being taken for a specified period and with the presence of the condition of recall operating in-between. 7. General mass are not servants. In no way this is acceptable. They are the real masters and determinants. 8. Every law, every act of legislation, every treaty with foreign countries and every key decision of decisive consequence will have to be agreed upon by the people and in the real sense of the term granted or ratified by them. Discussion, consultation, referendum and seeking opinion of the public would be a compulsion. 9. People's approval in all state affairs and governance is a must and last word remains with the people. 10. 'Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests..parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole - where, not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole' (Edmund Burke, "Address to the Electors of Bristol, November 3, 1774, quoted in Austin Ranney, The Governing, Prentice Hall, May 10, 2000). Now, can anybody declare with honesty and integrity that any single aspect of the above mentioned ten conditions is seen present and meticulously practiced in Bangladesh towards fulfilling the basic principle of social contract for the formation, existence and continuity of our statehood? The answer will be obviously negative. There may be many reasons behind these problems. But the main difficulty and impediment lie with the practical non-recognition and absolute denial of the fundamental article of faith accepted by the social contract that representatives and government machineries as well as elites and leaders were and are public servants hired and appointed for the time being with is the specified limit of responsibility. It is the general mass who is the basic constituency. They are the real masters. The public servants are also part of the society and state. But the moment they represent, they become separated and take distinct position of responsibility having the status of public service-givers. Now if you look at present Bangladesh, you will see that income, safety, preference, opportunity, scope, rewards are all taken and enjoyed by the few elites and their conglomerates-in political, social, economic and cultural fields. Bread, butter, gains, hegemony, and public exchequer - everything is under their control and being plundered. All the key decisions of decisive consequences are taken by them from a narrow perspective and parochial interests. For instance - giving corridors to India, avoiding route-41 of the Asian highway, undue trade facilities to India, secret treaties with India, allowing India to construct Tipaimukh dam and Sari river dam, not making effort to get back Tin Bigha corridor, not protesting Farakka devastation, not making any effort to make a proper treaty of water sharing with India on Tista river water, not making any protest against unilateral withdrawal of water by India from Mahananda, destroying our national security, making Hill-tracts vulnerable in favor of across border sharks, not protesting but consciously allowing and encouraging Indian political, economic and cultural aggression, etc. Inside the country the present ruling elites through unilateral amendments have destroyed the constitution, making public safety and security a mirage. Plunder of share market, division of DCC, use of EVM in the elections are also glaring examples of monopolized decisions. Neither domestic, nor foreign-related issues have been declared openly. Nothing is being given to the people of Bangladesh as information. No consultation is being done with the people, concerned stakeholders, political opposition and intelligentsia. No referendum is given and opinion sought. Nothing has been disclosed even to the ruling party-dominated parliament. These examples clearly demonstrate that all the conditions discussed for preserving the basic social contract have not been observed. Thus the lessons to be taken go like the following: 1. It is not the possessive impulse that gives recognition to the social contract of our common livelihood. Rather it is the creative impulse that brings us to the right direction. 2. It is not the 'auxiliary' role that the mass people should take which is the unwanted present scenario. It is the 'essential' role that the mass should and must adopt. 3. A citizen community being conscious, knowledge based, participatory and with zealous sleepless guards maybe in a position to assert their principal and dominant role in the state affairs. Governance in Bangladesh must go in line with the social contract. 4. Neither tradition-directed nor other-directed, rather it is an alert and enlightened community having the quality of inner-direction or self-direction that is required most for establishing the control of the general masses over the state and governmental affairs and thereby making basic social contract - a meaningful and practical one. 5. Hegemony of the elites, political leaders, sycophants and touts must be uprooted and destroyed. People's control must be established with conscious efforts, positive initiatives, dynamic drives and through significant consensus. In all respects enhancing public spheres without any break through unity and communicative action of the people is needed. It is neither 'Wretched of the Earth' and 'One Dimensional man', nor 'Lonely Crowd,' which will give us the solutions and ensure liberty, rights, justice and true position of the people as masters. It is not the pillage of globalization, farce of post-modernism and 'democratic unfreedom' which will free us from bondage. It is our faith in the Almighty Allah and our collective effort and nonstop struggle against evil, tyranny and injustice that will Insha'Allah bring good, common welfare, victory in the positive direction and proper justice for our peripheral geography and ultimately for the entire human community all over the world. Silence is the worst type of betrayal and rebellion against tyrants is obedience to Allah. If someone tries to hide his character in a masked ball, it is obvious that every time he reveals it. According to Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH), best jihad is to protest directly in front of the tyrant ruler. Quran says not to show your back during the struggle, to fight honestly and with full faith and urges to do jihad as instructed by Allah to do. It is a bounden duty for an honest human being to establish proper justice, common social welfare and happiness for himself, neighborhood, and countrymen and for the humanity. These are teachings of Al Quran and Sunnah. Muslims must not be passive, parochial, inactive, 'Outsider', 'free floater', 'stranger' and 'sublimated slaves'. They must not be in position of 'walking lies' like the regularly demonstrating 'pathological liars' in the country of 'horror', 'jail' and 'killing' which was once upon a time our beloved Bangladesh. This is an era when 'cash tie', 'cash nexus' and 'cash feeling' are the all comprehensive practices and simultaneously the situation is 'terror-directed' and 'terror-erected'. Sycophants and sociopaths when run the show, it is obvious that 'Law of inverse sanity' works in full swing. This is a symptom of 'Fast Rated Madness'. But all these are true simultaneously with 'Marketing of Evil'. The people of Bangladesh must not adopt the course of German submarine captain and thinker Martin Nailomer. He remained silent and alone for his personal security. He was caught by Hitler and ultimately repented. Let the people of Bangladesh be united, be active and fight injustice to emancipate individual as well as collective entity. This is the critical juncture and historical moment to show proper consciousness, to rise up for just cause and act with conscience. It should be kept in mind that 'every time an intellectual has the chance to speak out against injustice, and yet remains silent, he contributes to the moral paralysis and intellectual barrenness that grips the ..world' (Harold Laski). 'For freedom, we know, is a thing that we have to conquer afresh for ourselves, every day, like love; and we are all losing freedom, just we are always losing love, because, after each victory, we think we can now settle down and enjoy it without further struggle...the battle of freedom is never done, and the field is never quiet' (Henry W. Nevinson, Essays in Freedom,London: James and Nisbet Co.22 Berners Street, p.XVI). ........................................................... The writer teaches political science at Dhaka University and can be reached at: hasanuzzamanchy@gmail.com