Editorial, 'If We Don't Fight', in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 28 February 2015, Vol. 11, Part 1, No. 4 issueat least let us have the decency to admire those who do. When a person wrote an evasive piece of withdrawal in Frontier recently, this editor was pained and remonstrated in a letter to its editor: “…reference to "Je Suis Charlie? Sorry. No" [Frontier, February 1-7, 2015] It is not the content of the cartoons published in Charlie but the right to publish such cartoons that is at stake. The words of 'Charb' the editor of Charlie Hebdo that "I am already dead if I have no right to speak out" and that "I prefer to die standing on my legs than to live on my knees" are to be the inspiration for journalists but not cowering at the threats and finding excuses to opt out of commitment and support to freedom of speech and expression. … If Biswajit Roy is opting for a totalitarian or bullied society [like ours] which shivers even in publishing cartoons of ostensibly suspicious and fake prophets, then of course his reaction is correct. But I don't think he will shirk to criticize or mock at Hindu [gods and goddesses,] Babas, etc. and perhaps even venture now and then to mock at Christian padiris but he will have no guts to do so to the Islamic brands. The reason is simple – self-censorship due to terror. I confess many of us do engage in such self-censorship for various reasons – 'discretion is the better part of valor' sometimes, it seems. But as Jose Marti spoke out famously: "If you do not fight, at least have the decency to respect those who do"!” This editor stands by it and sadly acknowledges that the ‘virus of faith’ has been claiming innumerable victims all over the world, even in our neighboring Bangladesh, a ticking time-bomb of explosive religious fundamentalist forces. The gory murder of the freethinker and human rights activist Avijit Roy at Dhaka on 27 February is another instance of the ‘brain-death’ and cruelty of such forces and also a pointer to the need for people to zealously and actively fight for the protection and promotion of human rights – including the freedom not to believe and the right to blasphemy. It seems that only a sort of secular socialist humanism can be the real antidote for all this venom spread in the hearts of the people the world over in the name of this or that religion. The ‘virus of faith’ should not be allowed to totally infect and ‘comatize’ humanity and urgent action needed to eliminate it through intelligent education of scientific principles of bio- and human evolution and societal development, combating all myths, superstitions and dogmas spreading hate and intolerance, and courageous campaigns for the promotion of the basic human rights. 

IF WE DON’T FIGHT

at least let us have the decency to admire those who do. When a person wrote an evasive piece of withdrawal in Frontier recently, this editor was pained and remonstrated in a letter to its editor: “…reference to "Je Suis Charlie? Sorry. No" [Frontier, February 1-7, 2015] It is not the content of the cartoons published in Charlie but the right to publish such cartoons that is at stake. The words of 'Charb' the editor of Charlie Hebdo that "I am already dead if I have no right to speak out" and that "I prefer to die standing on my legs than to live on my knees" are to be the inspiration for journalists but not cowering at the threats and finding excuses to opt out of commitment and support to freedom of speech and expression. … If Biswajit Roy is opting for a totalitarian or bullied society [like ours] which shivers even in publishing cartoons of ostensibly suspicious and fake prophets, then of course his reaction is correct. But I don't think he will shirk to criticize or mock at Hindu [gods and goddesses,] Babas, etc. and perhaps even venture now and then to mock at Christian padiris but he will have no guts to do so to the Islamic brands. The reason is simple – self-censorship due to terror. I confess many of us do engage in such self-censorship for various reasons – 'discretion is the better part of valor' sometimes, it seems. But as Jose Marti spoke out famously: "If you do not fight, at least have the decency to respect those who do"!” This editor stands by it and sadly acknowledges that the ‘virus of faith’ has been claiming innumerable victims all over the world, even in our neighboring Bangladesh, a ticking time-bomb of explosive religious fundamentalist forces. The gory murder of the freethinker and human rights activist Avijit Roy at Dhaka on 27 February is another instance of the ‘brain-death’ and cruelty of such forces and also a pointer to the need for people to zealously and actively fight for the protection and promotion of human rights – including the freedom not to believe and the right to blasphemy. It seems that only a sort of secular socialist humanism can be the real antidote for all this venom spread in the hearts of the people the world over in the name of this or that religion. The ‘virus of faith’ should not be allowed to totally infect and ‘comatize’ humanity and urgent action needed to eliminate it through intelligent education of scientific principles of bio- and human evolution and societal development, combating all myths, superstitions and dogmas spreading hate and intolerance, and courageous campaigns for the promotion of the basic human rights. §§§

Editorial, Ascent of a New Left!?, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 February 2015, Vol. 11, Part 1, No. 3 issue

ASCENT OF A NEW LEFT!?

Our good friend Tarek Fatah has equated the resounding victory of the Aam Admi Party under Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi together with earlier convincing win by Alexis Tsipiras of a radical left coalition Syrzia, Greece, and of the still earlier rise of a new left party Podemos under Pablo Iglesias Turrión as the rise of a New Left on the horizon of world politics offering fresh breezes of hope and relief to the downtrodden or deprived people and an alternative to the current exploitative, degrading capitalist order. May be it is too hopeful a characterization and analysis, but certainly these are welcome winds in the present situations of acute misery, corruption, plunder of resources and demeaning of people’s lives by the pro-capitalist establishment forces the world over. This editor heartily acclaims the victory of the Aam Admi Party and its energetic and intelligent leader Arvind Kejriwal, though it would be too hasty to describe him, an avowed theist with the vagaries of a vote-catching populist, as a new left personality. Certainly, there are several pro-people measures he and his party proposed in their manifesto and we wish all success to them against all odds in working in a limited jurisdiction. However, this editor records his disappointment regarding their somewhat opportunistic adjustments if not alliances with communal and conservative forces, especially of the so-called minorities, and refusal/hesitation to openly and firmly condemn the Charlie Hebdo massacres in France that have galvanized secular and leftist forces all over the world in a new manner. Be that as it may, we wish AK would certainly take some pro-people measures to fulfill their very basic needs and rights before embarking on any grandiose schemes and without being embroiled in rote things like the Lokpal Bill once again. The young and active European leaders – Pablo Iglesias of Podemos, Spain and Alexis Tsipiras of Greece, unlike AK, are avowed atheists and professed communists/socialists who would like to restructure their countries in a new humane democratic socialist pattern without in anyway unduly bound by the trammels of any traditional state socialist policies and perspectives that spelt the doom of Soviet type socialism the world over. We sincerely wish them also all success.  §§§