e_Paper, Monday, May 15, 2017

Opinion 15
DT
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017
And the
crowd goes
wild
Are we too hung up over petty issues?
• Shuprova Tasneem
There are many reasons
why our generation has
very high hopes pinned
on it, and at the same
time, tends to be on the receiving
end of a lot of criticism as well.
Are millennials entitled goodfor-nothings,
or groundbreakers in
the century of innovation?
Are we changing the work-life
balance and revolutionising the
workforce, or just making excuses
to not get out of bed early and
using that time to constantly
complain on social media?
Are we coming up with
solutions to climate change and
globalised systems of inequality,
or just competing with each
other over the most innovative
hashtags?
There is no denying that we are
faced with many serious problems.
We are essentially the last
generation that can do something
about climate change.
Problems inherited
We live in a “post-truth” world,
and many of us feel the collective
responsibility to stand up for
science and logic and fight the
“alternative news” that is no
longer a footnote on the internet
but coming from the presidential
office of one of the world’s most
influential nations.
We live in a world that is seeing
a resurgence of the nationalist
far-right, and a lot of us worry we
are going backwards in terms of
recognising the gendered, racial,
and socially-structured forms of
inequality that exist within our
societies.
And in a world where
technology and trade continue
to flourish, we are increasingly
struggling to ensure human rights,
especially in sectors influenced by
globalised industry.
In that backdrop, it is truly
heartening to see young people do
what they can to make a change.
While the real impact of the
rising, young entrepreneurs, not
just in Bangladesh but across the
world, is a whole different debate,
there is no denying that there are
many people out there working
to fight for rights, provide expert
knowledge, debunk myths, and
build a more progressive society.
Whether it is breaking the
taboo on discussing sexual health,
providing relief to flood-affected
areas, or working to ensure better
working conditions, there are
plenty of young people out there
doing important work that needs
to be done.
Have you checked your privilege
lately?
And one of the most important
things facilitating this work is
the recognition of privilege.
Development professionals will
tell you of far too many stories
where starry-eyed change-makers
decided to dive into the latest
social catastrophe and make it
worse, simply by not listening to
local voices and needs.
But things are changing, and
changing … fast. I genuinely
believe one of the greatest strides
One of the main points of recognising your own privilege is realising
that your voice is louder than others’, and that it is your duty to try
and share that platform with those who cannot reach it
our generation has made is not in
technological advancements, but
in recognising the many layers of
privilege that make society what
it is.
If you are Bengali and Muslim,
you are more likely than your
parents to realise what sort of
privilege that accords you in our
society.
If you are a man, you are likely
to have a better grasp of the
gendered societies we live in.
If you are proficient in English
and middle or upper-middle class,
you are more likely to recognise
how there are doors that are open
to you but not to others.
Or so one would hope.
A response in kind
But then you get articles like
“Far from the Gulshan crowd,”
What privilege is he enjoying?
published last week, which take
crucial concepts of privilege and
social class and turn it into a
pseudo-intellectual, uninformed
rant that essentially divides Dhaka
-- a city of around 15 million
people, a large portion of whom
are employed in the informal
economy -- into the Gulshan elite
and the Dhanmondi everymen
(which by the way, used to be the
Gulshan of the 80s).
Without even going into the
divisive language and massive
generalisations in the article
-- what really stood out was the
complete absence of the writer’s
own positionality in a discussion
on privilege, while ironically
lamenting the lack of “selfreflective
criticism” in our society.
But what really bothered me
was what was left out.
The sweeping and cynical
statements fixate on the state
of our beloved city and all its
inhabitants, trapped in their
exclusionary bubbles and judging
others, either for their “alcoholflowing
Western-themed parties”
or “virgins making out in shoddy
lounges.”
But what exactly does this
have to do with the thousands of
economic and climate migrants
pouring into our city looking for
subsistence?
What does a Gulshan-
Dhanmondi divide have to do with
the rickshaw-pullers, construction
workers, and sex workers?
What about the 150,000 Biharis
stranded in the heart of our city
-- do they care? How about the
people in squatter settlements all
across Dhaka?
RAJIB DHAR
One of the main points of
recognising your own privilege is
realising that your voice is louder
than others’, and that it is your
duty to try and share that platform
with those who cannot reach it.
I’m not sure how the writer
can advocate for a greater focus
on non-mainstream voices while
painting the entire city of Dhaka
with these ridiculous binaries, but
he effectively did exactly what he
was writing against -- wiped out
the stories of all of the voiceless
inhabitants of Dhaka. If that is not
an exercise of privilege, I don’t
know what is.
There are too many issues
that this city needs to deal with.
There are too many things for us
to bicker about. The “ideological
divide” between the upper classes
and upper-middle classes is not
one of them.
The more we trap ourselves into
this self-constructed divide, the
more solid our own positions in
said classes become. It is truly only
the privileged who have the luxury
of writing about non-issues and
turning them into real ones. •
Shuprova Tasneem is Deputy Magazine
Editor, Dhaka Tribune.