Every year on the first day of school, students across Bangladesh wait eagerly for their new textbooks. Many have few extravagances in their lives, and for them that day is as thrilling as Christmas morning in other countries. Distributing over 360 million textbooks for free, on time, to more than 42 million children is no small feat, and it was a signature achievement for the ruling Awami League this year.
But public appreciation was quickly overtaken by outrage over the quiet revisions that appeared in books for classes ranging from primary grades to high school.
The Bengali letter “o” used to stand for “ol,” a yam; now it stands for “orna,” a scarf worn by women for modesty.… Seguir leyendo »
Covered in blood, she stands over the body of her husband lying on a sidewalk on the Dhaka University campus. Onlookers, their faces stunned and fearful, circle the protagonists in what looks like a macabre scene from a Bengali jatra, or village opera.
Except this is not a play. The dead man is Avijit Roy, the Bangladeshi-American blogger known for his staunch atheism, and he has just been butchered with machetes. Islamist extremists are suspected in the attack.
This picture was relayed around the world after Mr. Roy and his wife, who were living in the Atlanta suburbs, were brutally attacked during a visit to Bangladesh as they were returning by cycle rickshaw from a book fair.… Seguir leyendo »
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