Comment

Secularism to pluralism and beyond

WE have undeniably opened a new chapter in our national history. In the early readings of this chapter citizens are still sufficiently buoyant to expect that the leaders that they have elected to office will be able to take the bold and necessary steps to help this nation of ours, derailed so many times from its core, to make its way back to its founding principles of democracy, socialism and pluralism. For the government the room for error of judgement is little and, as ever, the trick remains in navigating the crossroads of choices between myopic, petty politics and keeping promises to the nation. For this government the task is even more onerous as the promises they are pledge-bound to keep are those that define who we are as a nation.

The recent resolution unanimously passed in Parliament calling on the government to ensure the immediate trial of war criminals is a momentously positive sign of a nation trying to correct the misguided trajectories in its path to its core values. This is a very important first step in healing the open wounds of a people and a nation long denied recognition of its own tragedy. However, I would like to propose that as we go deeper into the process of correcting injustices and seeking just retribution we must also broaden our horizons and take up the larger exercise of healing fissures amongst ourselves as a citizenry.

Let us not only limit ourselves to the immediate mission of bringing to justice the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political entity and the war criminals as individuals for their role in our liberation war. The road to social justice is far more complex and tortuous. We need to repair the damage created by four decades of exposure to propagators of an intolerant, ghetto-driven and supremely egotistic ideology which has held all religious, cultural or different propositions other than their own to be epistemologically illegitimate. Let us begin the conversation of how we can bring back to the table of citizenship all those who have been denied their rightful place on it. I propose we start by revisiting our Constitution.

Out of the four pillars of the Bangladesh Constitution that define our character and the principles we stand for, democracy, socialism and nationalism have each in their own ways been battered and challenged. But it is the high ideal of secularism that has suffered the most direct onslaught time and again, not least through the unforgivable act of its deletion from the Constitution. Reinstatement of the provision of secularism in the Constitution as an immediate corrective measure is vital. I would like to caution, however, that such reinstatement would only be a necessary but not sufficient first step in the larger scheme of nation building. Secularism is but an enabler towards the more wholesome exercise of pluralism, a first step in a process that goes beyond mere tolerance of differences and pushes us towards an active knowledge and embrace of our differences.

The notion of secularism globally has today taken on a much fuller meaning than when we espoused the uniquely subcontinental understanding of the term to mean ‘equal distance from and equal respect to all religions’. There is need to move beyond a rudimentary philosophy of ‘live and let live’ to an active encouragement of plurality. In other words, given our historical baggage of communal politics, while secularism should and must be espoused by the state as a principle of governance, we the citizens too must make an active attempt to open up spaces to cultivate a truly pluralistic existence for ourselves. Our current national and geopolitical reality requires us to embrace tools of inclusion and inculcate an active engagement with diversity, whether on lines of religion, culture, ideology, class hierarchies or narratives. It demands that we move beyond a sterile understanding of equidistance, a principle which ultimately serves to further entrench lines of distinction while doing little to pick up the threads of a common humanity.

Another important step in our pluralist exercise should be to take a close look at the various channels of information that influence our opinions and form the minds of young citizens. We can critically look at the educational materials in schools and institutions of learning. A methodical uprooting of divisive messages that contaminate young minds, must be followed by an active infusion of an appreciation of diversity. There needs to be a systematic flow of messages of interdependence and cooperation as integral to national and community development. We must take up the national challenge to celebrate differences across and within cultures, religions and ideological camps without abandoning the elements we consider essential. Alongside, we need to urgently mount a pedagogic challenge to the Maududian philosophy that has infected our thinking and encouraged anti-development, unconstitutional forces to relegate women, religious and cultural minorities to a second class citizenship. But for all of this to happen, we need to pick ourselves up, put our best foot forward and join in our nation’s healing march forward.

Faustina Pereira

 

* Reprinted from the special issue of The Daily Star, Dhaka, 23 February 2009.