What is freedom?

By Mohammad Ali Arafat

To find out what freedom is, ask the Palestinians.

They have been living under subjugation in their land since 1948. Millions of women, children, and ordinary people have given their lives, yet they have not given up the dream of an independent state.

To learn what freedom is, ask the Baloch.

Even before Bangladesh became independent, since 1948, they were fighting against the oppression of the Pakistani state apparatus. They have rebelled repeatedly and become martyrs, yet they dream of an independent Balochistan.

To understand what freedom is, look at the Kurds.

They have been spread across four countries—Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria—for more than a hundred years but have been fighting for a state of their own—armed, politically, and culturally.

To find out what freedom is, ask the people of Kashmir.

They have shed blood for their national identity since 1947 and still live their lives at gunpoint. The word “freedom” is a crime there.

What is freedom? Ask the Uyghur Muslims.

In the Xinjiang region of China, the Uyghur’s language, culture, religion—everything is being destroyed. They want an independent state called East Turkestan, but the Chinese communist state apparatus is suppressing it with the utmost cruelty.

What is freedom? Ask the people of Tibet, Taiwan, the Basque region, Catalonia, Oromo, Western Sahara, and Papua. They all want to breathe in the open sky. They just want freedom: an identity, a flag, and self-possession.

Each of them knows the value of freedom and how terrible the burning pain of subjugation is.

But unfortunately, a section of people in Bangladesh still does not understand the real meaning of the word “freedom” or independence.

They object to the number of the 1971 Liberation War martyrs in the tune of Jamaat-e-Islami, insult the freedom fighters as “agents of India,” and look for stories of foreign conspiracies in the independence of Bangladesh.

Yet this struggle for freedom was a struggle for our rights, freedom from casteism and oppression by the Pakistani ruling class—a war to establish an independent, sovereign state. However, at times, it appears that the liberation of this country by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the courageous freedom fighters was a mistake.

Independence, identity, and the red-green flag—these precious achievements have become meaningless to many today. It is as if this nation has voluntarily bound itself to the chains of subjugation. It is as if this nation is proud to insult those who sacrificed their lives for them.

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Today, even uttering the word “Liberation War” is a kind of taboo. Those who risked their lives liberating this country are today wearing a garland of shoes around their necks.

And those who opposed the independence of this country—the razakars, al-Badr, and those who were allies of the Pakistani occupation forces—are wearing a garland of flowers around their necks.

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This is not just a matter of forgetting history; it is a gross insult to history. It represents a self-destructive acknowledgment of a nation that is in decline. It is as if this nation was forcibly given a taste of freedom, despite having deeply embraced slavery in their minds.

Mohammad Ali Arafat: Central Executive Member, Bangladesh Awami League; former Member of Parliament; and former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting.