Forum

The first reader made the tart but astute complaint that the column was essentially little more than "a big advert for your concert," while the second commented, equally shrewdly: "I read your op-ed from last week. Liked the disclaimer on your shameless plug."

So it seems that I have been busted! Found out, exposed. It's all true, of course. I can't deny it. My column last week was something of an "advert for [the Take Back Bangladesh] concert" and it would certainly not be wholly inaccurate to describe it as a "shameless plug."

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

I hasten to interject, at this point, that since I received no financial benefit from the concert (quite the opposite, in fact, he says, with perhaps a touch of bitterness), there was nothing overly unbecoming in such choice of subject.

Indeed, I should also point out that, while substantially true, it is not wholly accurate that my last column was nothing more than a shameless plug. If memory (and The Daily Star archives) serves, I believe that I opened with a gloomy report of where the current political situation seemed to be heading (nowhere good), segued to an appraisal of Prof Yunus's "peace formula" (not bad in theory, less promising in practice), before deftly (I thought, perhaps erroneously) weaving in the issue of participatory democracy and the plug for the concert.

And, of course, the concert itself was certainly news-worthy and comment-worthy. Even had I not been involved with it. In the end, thousands attended what can only be described as a land-mark free concert that could be the first step in a US-style "Rock the Vote" type movement to bring young voters back into the political mainstream.

The performances were passionate and top-notch, and the fact that so many artists were happy to perform free and that so many people sat in the sun for hour after hour to listen to the message as well as the music perhaps demonstrates that neither the younger generation nor the underground music scene is as divorced from the everyday concerns of everyday Bangladeshis as some might think.

This lengthy preamble, as you may have guessed, is offered by way of pre-emptive justification for this week's column, which is even more questionable than last week's.

Instead of using my column to plug a free concert to build political awareness and spur political participation among the younger generation (and in which I have no financial stake) I am today using my journalistic real estate to plug a new Daily Star publication: the monthly magazine, Forum.

Of course, I personally have no financial stake in the new magazine (being but a humble employee), but the fact remains that Forum is a commercial enterprise and my bosses would obviously like to see it do well, for that reason, as well as many others.

But there is far more to Forum than that. The original Forum, of course, was launched in 1969, with Hameeda Hossain as editor, Rehman Sobhan as executive editor, and Kamal Hossain as publisher, and for the next one-and-a-half years was a constant thorn in the side of the Pakistani military authorities.

The outspoken and provocative weekly made the case for Bangladeshi autonomy and self-determination, and provided an entire generation of thinkers and activists with a platform to voice their ideas about the economic, political, and sociological self-determination of what was then East Pakistan.

The last issue of the original Forum to come out was the issue of March 20, 1971. The March 27 issue was still at the press when Operation Searchlight was launched by the military authorities and the publication shut down as the country was plunged into the nightmare of the Liberation War.

Now, The Daily Star has re-launched the magazine. There are many differences between the original and the new version. Today's Forum is a monthly and has all the advantages of a major media group behind it, in comparison to the original, which ran to 16 pages of close-set type on the cheapest newsprint available, and had a no-frills, hard-scrabble quality to it that was a part of its charm.

But the essential idea is the same. The idea is to provide a platform for the creation of a national discourse on the crises that continue to trouble the country and the society, and to thus help work towards their resolution.

The Forum team here at The Daily Star has worked hard to provide its readers with something that we feel that Bangladesh has been missing all these years: a "think magazine," in which people can read thoughtful and thought-provoking essays on the current social, political, and economic situation in Bangladesh (also in the region and the world at large), which focuses, not just on the current crises, but also takes a broader and more in-depth perspective on how we got here and how we should move forward.

We have tried to assemble the most insightful and knowledgeable commentators and analysts in the country and given them the space they need to explore their ideas fully and give the readers something new and original to think about.

The inaugural November issue will remain in news-stands for another few days, and includes original pieces by such luminaries as Tariq Ali and Ahmed Rashid as well as must-reads on Bangladesh from the likes of Kamal Hossain and Afsan Choudhury.

The December issue, which will hit the news-stands in the next day or so, is another winner. It includes thought-provoking essays on the current political turmoil in Bangladesh, as well as high-quality original pieces from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Not to be missed is a special in-depth investigative report on the Rapid Action Battalion that will shock and disturb even the most sanguine, and keeping the upcoming December 16 in mind, we also have some superb pieces of historical interest that I recommend to everyone's attention.

Nor is it merely politics. Recurring features are a month-in-review section, photo essay, original translations of classic Bengali poetry, and literary essays, and, going forward, we aim to provide an even wider range of exclusive, original, and in-depth commentary, analysis, and reportage.

Hopefully, the magazine will be what it aspires to be: a forum. A platform where serious issues can be debated and discussed within their appropriate historical, sociological, and geo-political contexts. We hope to be able to help set the agenda every month and be indispensable reading for everyone who wants a seat at the table of our national discourse.

The December issue of Forum hits the news-stands next week. Please pick up a copy and see for yourself.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.