Civil society and the media
ALL over the world civil society works as a motivator, moderator and mediator, and as a prime mover of ideas and ideologies that befit the hopes and aspirations of its members. The icons of civil society sit together to provide, promote and purvey to its members those schemes that either settle disputes after due deliberation or protect as guardians the values, norms and standards of the society. The disputes and disagreements that beset a society are vast and varied. Therefore, the civil society should accommodate people of all hues, regardless of their cast creed, culture and religion.
History stands as a witness to the vital role that the civil society played in changing the orthodox bias against feminism, protectionist trade and commerce, conservative attitude towards social dynamism, social stratification and social mobility, racism and prejudices, and also the culture vultures' effort to protect the dominant role of the existing mandarins. Civil society has to its credit a successful revolution that established justice and fair play and enacted the Magna Carta that guarantees human rights. One would need to write volumes to really highlight the role that the civil society has since played. I will resist my eagerness to write in general about the civil society, rather I will confine myself to writing about the civil society of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a nation of 150 million people, of which a vast majority is unlettered, ill-fed and barely clothed (way better than before though), but brave and resilient against odds. Even though most of us (the haves) have engaged ourselves in self- aggrandisement in the past, it had hardly infuriated the deprived many of our society. Till recently, politicians, traders, teachers and the administration had cooperated with each other, as if to protect their corporate interest in systematically amassing ill-gotten wealth and in establishing themselves as icons in their fields.
Our independence, after a bloody, victorious Liberation War, had sown the seeds of a promise to rectify the society, which was dominated by a deep-rooted feudal aristocracy that prevented the broad majority from expressing their wishes by unleashing brute force. This had frustrated the young freedom fighters, who apprehended that their dreams of making an exploitation free Bangladesh were fading away as a passing show. The indomitable freedom fighters soon found themselves estranged by those political parties which thought that their leaders could be sidelined under the shadows of the freedom fighters (our un-uniformed liberation war heroes). What a national shame!
Today, our civil society is deeply divided. On every intrinsic issue relating to society and social behaviour we find views of opposite directions and, thus, the society is dispatched into a state of limbo. Whenever we talk of issues relating to social justice or our socio-cultural behaviour, we find emergence of multifaceted directions that are poles apart. How then do we address them? Can we close ranks on important national issues?
When civil society is conspicuously prejudiced and divided, then it becomes depleted in strength, and unsustainable. Does it mean that this division of focus is destined to take us into darkness? Does the administration have a conciliatory role to play? Can the omnipresent media form a caucus to iron out misgivings and chain the icons of the civil society to a common national goal? A nexus between people and press can show the way, lead the way, and help us to forge unity of people with common interests. The press should unremittingly pursue a policy of putting people of different views together to help them inculcate tolerance of opposing views and then reach a concord that promises larger good of the society and the people.
One other suggestion is that more and more worthy people should be encouraged to emerge from the darkness to broaden the horizon of civil society, which seems to be captive in the hands of a few. Thanks to Zafar Soban and young Nazim Chowdhury for their pieces in support of the younger generation's readiness to contribute in all fields of socio- economic and cultural life of our nation. Let there be a happy marriage of ideas of the old and the new, and an order which promises to remain in step with the fast changing socio-cultural landscape of our narrowing world.
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