Save the Minorities from peril and let live with equal rights. : petition from Mukto-mona (MM)

Responding to a criticism on Mukto-mona forum

Avijit Roy

Recently Muktochinta forum published a write-up criticizing our forum. This is my response to the write-up. My comments are in Black.

[Mukto-mona (MM) was created to share views against only one religion. That was its main purpose.]

This is a blatant lie! Nowhere in Mukto-mona it�s been mentioned, �Mukto-mona was created to share views against one religion�. The writer could only have claimed, �Mukto-mona forum members doesn�t equally critique all religions�. That might have been partly correct. But what is the problem with that? Many in the forum seem confused on this issue. To portray themselves as neutral one �need not� have to �equally� critique all religions. NO, all religions �need not� be critiqued equally since they are not �equally� violent. Examples? Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism. Looking into their religious textbooks of �these� religions it�s hard to find �intolerant� verses as opposed to Quran, which is inundated, with �intolerant� verses. �All� religion followers didn�t conduct violent terrorism act in the scale of 9/11! �All� religions doesn�t have �Satidaho� or �Sharia�! �All� religions didn�t produce Bin Laden and his blind followers. Therefore, �Everybody need to be equally concerned with all the religions all the time� � can this be an intelligent thought process?

Another possible reason could be that the regular contributors to Mukto-mona such as Syed Kamran Mirza, Abul Kasem, fatemolla, Dr. Jaffor Ullah et all come from Islamic background, hence they feel quite comfortable writing about the negative side of their �own religion�. Hence the issue of �communalism� is irrelevant here. The writer should have noted that even those so-called �Anti-Islamic� contributors aren�t criticizing the �spiritualist sufism� �the peaceful part, rather the �violent wahabism�.

This not only applies in the case of religion but also in the case of politics. Numerous articles get published everyday criticizing USA foreign policy, not even a quarter of that volume gets published about �other� countries. The issue of �neutrality� is meaningless here! Should the person who is criticizing USA foreign policy need to criticize Nigeria, Russia, Bhutan, Somalia, Hungary to prove his / her neutrality? Everybody is aware of the fact that Nigeria is in the first row of most corrupt nations and communist Russia had severe violation of human rights, if anybody wants to write on those issues they are most welcome to do so!

Mukto-mona members are neither encouraged to write �against� any particular religion nor �prevented� to write about any particular religion. Members chose writing topics on their own, with complete �free-mind�.

[The front page of the forum proudly highlighted �Mukto-mona is the breeding ground of FFI�(another anti-Islam group). Because, to me, a forum that claims to be the voice of the freethinkers should be secular minded, but not anti-Muslim. During the nine months I moderated Mukto-mona, I tried my best to give it a different image from what it used to be in the beginning.]

The writer is trying to present the issue here through her �own� interpretation. I would like to see the issue a �little� differently. Nobody prevented the �writer� to act with her �free will�. She acted on her own �freely�. As far as the claim �all the good of Mukto-mona is thanks to her effort�, I would much rather stay quiet about it! By the way, I was the one who detached Mukto-mona from Ali Sina�s organization based on my disagreements with him. I am still holding firm on my stand. My stand is based on logic and humanity, not �pseudo-neutrality�!

[Just see the following link to understand the attitude of the moderator, how he�s misleading people about an article (disguised as a �comment from a reader�) against the Gujarat carnage by the secular and humanitarian writer Harsh Mander.]

The moderator is Rahul Gupta. Due to my academic workload I don�t get chance to oversee the forum all the time. Rahul has been moderating the forum at his own will and own time. Rahul is not any deity but a human being. He can err too. Rahul is a member of the forum. He posted the opinion of a MM �reader� [which he received through a personal e-mail] to stir up a debate. Robin replied to that. Readers have read and digested the opinion of two sides. I don�t understand what�s the problem here? Forums are run in this manner. When the writer was a moderator she also used to add moderator notes. Members didn�t agree with her comments many a times. I am certain many a readers don�t agree with my comments either. Everybody�s opinion won�t converge with everybody else � isn�t that normal? That�s why this is a �discussion forum�! What�s �abnormal� is trying to get the water �muddy� using one of Robin�s responses as an �excuse�.

At the end let me express that �no other� Bangladeshi forum talks about rationalism in the way Mukto-mona does; �no other� Bangladeshi forum takes initiative to post James Randy or Paul Kurtz articles in the way Mukto-mona does; �no other� Bangladeshi forum promotes farmer intellectual �Aroj Ali Matubbor� in the way Mukto-mona does; �no other� Bangladeshi forum takes firm stand against Sharia and Minority Oppression in the way Mukto-mona does! Many across the globe feel Mukto-mona is unique for it�s stand against communalism and upholding humanity. Many humanitarian organizations across the globe are working in tandem with Mukto-mona and presenting their opinion to readers through Mukto-mona. Mukto-mona membership didn�t decrease rather increased steadily. Those who send their articles to Mukto-mona do so because they care for Mukto-mona. Every other day we receive letters of praise about our website and forum. The reason I am saying these isn�t to proclaim �Mukto-mona is the best� but to present to the readers that the �bright side� of Mukto-mona evaded her �neutral� observation! In spite of this we aren�t beyond criticism and we welcome those �fair� criticisms as they provide us an opportunity to improve our forum.

The writer once moderated Mukto-mona, she spent a lot of time and effort. Thanks are obviously due on behalf of Mukto-mona for the same. Presently she is running a new forum �Uttorshuri�. Our best wishes towards the �new� forum.

Regards,

Avijit Roy
www.mukto-mona.com


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