Publish : 01 Dec 2021, 12:25 AMUpdate : 01 Dec 2021, 12:25 AM
I forget who it was that said that we often defend the status quo long past the time of the “quo” having lost its status. The status quo of relative positions of women and men in society, vis-à-vis the power balance between them, has existed for generations and centuries, if not since the beginning of homo sapiens.
Gatherers versus hunters. Child-bearers and child-rearers versus bread earners. Cooks at home versus chefs in restaurants.
Has that status lost its quo?
I watched Rehana Maryam Noor (RMN) twice in a span of two weeks. The first was at the invitation of a former colleague who is a co-producer of the internationally acclaimed film that received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in July.
The second was where I was the host to a couple of hundred colleagues from the government and some development partners. I became the host because I felt, after watching it the first time, that everybody should watch this film.
Why?
Because sometimes we need a hammer to change the way we think and feel. Especially when that thought and feeling defends the status quo -- long after the quo has lost its status.
RMN is that hammer. At least that’s what I felt.
The intensity of that feeling was even higher in the second viewing. It was almost visceral. The unsettling camera work and the use of blue tint in all frames to produce a feeling of suffocation. Rehana’s futile quest for justice in an unjust society, combined with her arrogance, yet helplessness, contributed to the viewer feeling haunted. The film leaves you with more questions than answers.
I don’t see it as story of aggressive feminism even though the protagonist’s portrayal may be construed as such.
I don’t see it as a #MeToo story even though the male doctor told Rehana: “It is women like you who get raped.”
I see it as a hammer squarely striking at my acceptance of the gender divide that is rationalized by all of us in society. Men promote that divide out of convenience because they are generally and universally the beneficiaries.
Women sustain that divide because it’s the dominant pattern and custom in society.
How many lunatics like Rehana are there in society to be irrational enough to make one’s own life and the life of those around her a living hell to pursue justice? Or, should I say, the illusion of justice?
As we make various reflections and commitments through the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, as we celebrate the 50th year of our country’s inception, as we renew our pledges to realize Bangabandhu’s dream of a just and equitable Shonar Bangla, it is the rationalization of the gender divide that we must deconstruct. We must rebuild a new narrative.
As a thinker and doer who must come to terms with and address the digital divide, I just realized from RMN that all divides share a common trait: Rationalization of the status quo by both ends of the divide.
Education does not derationalize it. Wealth does not derationalize it. Civilization does not derationalize it.
That is the very nature of rationalization: We don’t realize anything wrong with what we have rationalized because it’s been done with intellect and emotion, with head and heart.
But a new reality will not happen if a new narrative does not emerge. A new narrative will not emerge if heads and hearts do not change.
Water chips away at the strongest stone, changing the course of a stream. But that takes centuries. We don’t have that time. To that, there is no alternative to exponential actions.
Industrial cutters have given water exponential power by increasing the pressure in waterjets. These jets can cut metal or stone. Sometimes, these waterjets mix water and abrasive substances to allow cutting of the hardest of materials.
RMN is not just a hammer, it is that abrasive waterjet for exponential action to change our heads and hearts.
As we plan and design the Bangladesh of 2041, centuries of divides will have to be bridged in the next 20 years. It is the exponential actions that we require to achieve that reality. Yet, the question arises: What are these actions?
Anir Chowdhury is a US techpreneur turned Bangladeshi govpreneur serving as the Policy Advisor of a2i in ICT Division and Cabinet Division supported by UNDP.
Change begins in the head and heart
I forget who it was that said that we often defend the status quo long past the time of the “quo” having lost its status. The status quo of relative positions of women and men in society, vis-à-vis the power balance between them, has existed for generations and centuries, if not since the beginning of homo sapiens.
Gatherers versus hunters. Child-bearers and child-rearers versus bread earners. Cooks at home versus chefs in restaurants.
Has that status lost its quo?
I watched Rehana Maryam Noor (RMN) twice in a span of two weeks. The first was at the invitation of a former colleague who is a co-producer of the internationally acclaimed film that received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in July.
The second was where I was the host to a couple of hundred colleagues from the government and some development partners. I became the host because I felt, after watching it the first time, that everybody should watch this film.
Why?
Because sometimes we need a hammer to change the way we think and feel. Especially when that thought and feeling defends the status quo -- long after the quo has lost its status.
RMN is that hammer. At least that’s what I felt.
The intensity of that feeling was even higher in the second viewing. It was almost visceral. The unsettling camera work and the use of blue tint in all frames to produce a feeling of suffocation. Rehana’s futile quest for justice in an unjust society, combined with her arrogance, yet helplessness, contributed to the viewer feeling haunted. The film leaves you with more questions than answers.
I don’t see it as story of aggressive feminism even though the protagonist’s portrayal may be construed as such.
I don’t see it as a #MeToo story even though the male doctor told Rehana: “It is women like you who get raped.”
I see it as a hammer squarely striking at my acceptance of the gender divide that is rationalized by all of us in society. Men promote that divide out of convenience because they are generally and universally the beneficiaries.
Women sustain that divide because it’s the dominant pattern and custom in society.
How many lunatics like Rehana are there in society to be irrational enough to make one’s own life and the life of those around her a living hell to pursue justice? Or, should I say, the illusion of justice?
As we make various reflections and commitments through the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, as we celebrate the 50th year of our country’s inception, as we renew our pledges to realize Bangabandhu’s dream of a just and equitable Shonar Bangla, it is the rationalization of the gender divide that we must deconstruct. We must rebuild a new narrative.
As a thinker and doer who must come to terms with and address the digital divide, I just realized from RMN that all divides share a common trait: Rationalization of the status quo by both ends of the divide.
Education does not derationalize it. Wealth does not derationalize it. Civilization does not derationalize it.
That is the very nature of rationalization: We don’t realize anything wrong with what we have rationalized because it’s been done with intellect and emotion, with head and heart.
But a new reality will not happen if a new narrative does not emerge. A new narrative will not emerge if heads and hearts do not change.
Water chips away at the strongest stone, changing the course of a stream. But that takes centuries. We don’t have that time. To that, there is no alternative to exponential actions.
Industrial cutters have given water exponential power by increasing the pressure in waterjets. These jets can cut metal or stone. Sometimes, these waterjets mix water and abrasive substances to allow cutting of the hardest of materials.
RMN is not just a hammer, it is that abrasive waterjet for exponential action to change our heads and hearts.
As we plan and design the Bangladesh of 2041, centuries of divides will have to be bridged in the next 20 years. It is the exponential actions that we require to achieve that reality. Yet, the question arises: What are these actions?
Anir Chowdhury is a US techpreneur turned Bangladeshi govpreneur serving as the Policy Advisor of a2i in ICT Division and Cabinet Division supported by UNDP.
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