Sheikh Taslima Moon(Translated by Sadia Rahman):
A psychiatrist has to undergo a two-year therapy after earning the degree. This is because you have to be neutral and before giving therapy to others you have to make yourself distant from the same kind of complexities that lie within you. You have to make peace with your own sufferings first. In the same manner, a leader who leads an entire country has to be healthy in every way to carry out the responsibility.
It was a few days back when the present liberal party leader of Sweden was driving to home with her husband and two kids. They had a terrible accident. Due to the rough snowy weather, she lost her husband. After that, she was resigned from the post.Losing her husband, the dearest one had affected her so intensely that it was not at that moment possible for her to carry out such a heavy responsibility. She was considered unfit until she is able again to differentiate between her personal and professional life.
The scenario is totally different in our country. Daughter of the “Bongobondhu”; Sheikh Hasina had to take the lead of the team, had to take the massive responsibility; who just lost 22 family members within a night. It is unknown if she took any councilors help to cope up with this unbearable pain. On the other hand, Begum Zia became a leader weeping over husband’s coffin.
Here in our country women who will speak for women rights, who are women rights activists, in other words, “feminists” suffer from a major problem. One of our major drawbacks is they themselves are not free from their own sufferings. They suffered so much that they cannot leave the chaos behind them. A woman’s rage or suppressed emotions are not something that should be ignored. If one cannot make oneself distant from that then most of the works will only reflect the map of her psychic condition. When you start reflecting whatever that was suppressed inside you; it only condenses the complexity. The entire protest gets too personal which fails to bring justice to the real cause. This is why it is most important for an activist to be objective in point of views. One should totally give up the sense of “self”. One should leave behind the experiences and bitterness that follows. To be able to distinguish between “subject” and “self” is essential here to be an activist.
When a doctor becomes a patient, sometimes it fails to diagnose the disease. The doctor paradoxically fails to be of any use to a patient. A doctor has to listen to thousands of problems and has to be able to diagnose the disease. One thing is must for the profession is to distance one’s own “self” from the profession. Without distancing self; professionalism is impossible.
The same analogy works for female activists. Feminist’s movement is a recent movement here. It is important to be educated in this certain area to keep the movement fueled, to direct it in the right way. The people in western have realized it better than us. In the western, all the people, organizations even political parties now studying feminism. They realized there’s something going missing in education system without the education on feminism. All the parties, for this reason, are now considering it compulsory to have ideas and education on feminism.
A leader like Trudo is intrigued to say “I’m a feminist”. Again it is necessary to mention Sweden. All the parties here claiming they are feminists. Politics is impossible without it here. This is another form of politics another sector to make a living.
Women in our country are burdened with bitter experiences. They have scars of experiences in their lives. Whenever they open their mouth to say something blood comes out as words. They overflow, gloominess surrounds them. No one listens to them. Their words feel like a storm that was about to flood everything. They have to suppress that and work for others and for themselves. This is not something easy to do.
But suppression is such a thing that cannot make you forget the class structure of hundred years. Here class structure gets more prominent than ever. Even the pattern of sufferings reflects the structure. A society that is divided into classes cannot conceal the reality here. Confliction is inevitable in that place.
The point is this confliction is not unnatural where feminist movement is still new. Almost two decades ago Taslima Nasrin started protesting against inappropriateness of this society in our country. Weren’t there any female writers in our country back then? There was. But they were then fighting to make a position among privileged patriarchal writers. This is also another kind of ascension.
Back then it was enough for writers that a woman is writing a novel and people accepting it. But Taslima Nasrin broke that tradition and threw light on the importance of being feminine. It invited criticism back then. She failed to make it alone. No one stood beside her not even any female writers.
Taslima was exiled. She was banished but she left her spark. So many girls out there are writing today. They are standing for themselves. Women rights movement, feminist movements were just confined in few N.G.O and other charitable funds. The territory has become endless. Women have taken the feminist movement to another dimension now. They have expressed their rights and protests starting with their very own body and going beyond everything.
So to know the demands, to understand the depth of the movement everyone must know about the theories too. There is no other option than learning, studying. Even a woman cannot understand the demands related to her bodies if she doesn’t know her body. How will she speak for that without proper core knowledge? If she wants to question all the rituals that fell upon her by default then she must understand the system, patriarchy, she has to know the core points. Economical discriminations, religion, regional cultures all are related closely. One must be open about all these. Social science, psychology, political science everything is related to this topic.
Without proper knowledge, one cannot face irrelevant, repugnant questions and discussions. Without knowledge, it is not possible to unveil an opportunist party. This is why education has no other alternative in this case. Proper knowledge is the foundation of this field, on this movement. Women here have to stand up with both theoretical and self-education. Men when besides women will learn about these; they will get unnecessary of war against women. They will get that they were only fighting with their shadows and themselves. Male feminists basically carry a country ahead. A country’s position is now being determined considering women’s conditions.
Spontaneity is one precious gift. Education furnishes that gift. With education, each and every one becomes a resource to themselves. Proper education and knowledge do not speak for divisions or do not promote pride. Proper education makes one liberal and modest. Proper education looks into everyone’s strength, not for weakness. That can see beyond weakness and strengthen and can see the power that is built on both of these pillars.
Otherwise, you’ll again fall into the hole of patriarchy. That does not make a way ahead but snatches to back.
Link to the original article: https://womenchapter.com/views/25662
About the writer:
Moon Taslima Sheikh originally hails from Bangladesh and is currently living in Sweden. A social democrat, Ms Sheikh is actively involved in Swedish politics. She studied law from Stockholm University in Sweden. She is also a prolific blogger/writer and writes on issues such as women’s rights and perils of religious fundamentalism.
About the translator:
Sadia Rahman is pursuing Masters from Rajshahi University, Bangladesh. Other than writing, her passions include writing, debating and anchoring. 