Today is the Bangladesh Victory Day

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Bangladesh Bijoy Dibosh (Victory Day)
Graphics © Joachim Romeo D'Costa

Bangladesh observes its 38th Bijoy Dibosh (Victory Day) today. This victory was achieved over the West Pakistani forces bent on the nine-month genocide of the East Pakistanis in the area what now is known as Bangladesh. It was a genocide because it was a planned extermination of men, women and children throughout East Pakistan.

This victory was possible due to the guerrilla struggle by our valiant muktijuddhas (freedom fighters), death of over three million people in the hands of the West Pakistani forces and their local allies, rape of about 300,000 women, sacrifices of millions of East Pakistanis who were forced to leave their homesteads to become internal refugees as well as over 10 millions who took refuge to India, active cooperation of India, and moral support of many other countries.

This victory gradually received world acceptance and Bangladesh was recognized as the new and sovereign country. Although West Pakistan, that became 'Pakistan' with the cessation of East Pakistan, gave recognition to Bangladesh and has diplomatic relations with it, failed miserably in extending official apology and making reparations for the genocide.

Today, Bangladesh, in spite of its myriad problems, made its place in the world arena and its people are making contributions in different fields.

Bibliography of Christian Publications of Bangladesh and West Bengal Is Published

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The cover of the Christian bibliography book

The Pratibeshi Prakashani of Dhaka, in recent past, published the Bongio Christian Gronthaboli Porichiti (1715 - 1991) or Bibliography of Christians of Bengal (1715 - 1991). This annotated bibliography is a bilingual (Bangla and English) list of Christian -- both Catholic and Protestant -- publications (books, booklets, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, academic theses, souvenirs, and unpublished manuscripts). This 536-page book covers the period of 1715 to 1991 listing about 4,000 publications published by various Christian Churches, organizations and institutions.

An attempt has been made to include Christian publications that came out in the languages of Bangla (Bengali), English, Bawm, Chakma, Garo (Mandi), Marma, Oraon (Kurukh), Portuguese, Sadami, Santali and Tipra.

Publications included in this book come from the Catholic Church and several Protestant Churches -- Anglicans (Oxford Mission), Assemblies of God, Baptists, and Presbyterians.

Some of the several dozen categories of publications are: Bible, Bible Study, Biography, Blessings, Catechism, Christian Life, Christmas, Cooperatives, Death, Dialogue, Dictionary, Drama, Economic Development, Ethics, Faith, Family, Family Planning, God, Grammar, Health, Heaven, History, Homily, Human Rights, Hymns & Songs, Jesus Christ, Last Judgment, Leadership, Law (Rules & Regulations), Literature (Stories & Poetry), Liturgy, Love and Forgiveness, Marriage, Mass Communication, Meditation, Miracles, Music, Pilgrimage, Prayer, Sacraments, Sins, Truth, Virgin Mary, and Vocation.

The first published Christian book in Bangla was Kripar-Shastrer Ortho-bhed, written in Roman alphabet by Portuguese Augustinian missionary Father Manoel da Assumpcao, who was working at Nagori Mission, located in the present-day Gazipur District, Bangladesh. It was printed in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1743. It was a catechism in the question-and-answer form.

The other Bangla book, Brahman-Roman Catholic Sambad was written by Dom Antonio de Rozario, a son of the Hindu zaminder (feudal lord), converted at a young age to Christianity. This book is in the form of a dialogue between a Catholic priest and a Hindu Brahman. The Catholic priest tries to prove the superiority of Roman Catholic religion over Hinduism.

Boniface Subrata Gomes, the compiler and editor of this book, came up with the idea of having a comprehensive Christian bibliography after he had completed his Dhaka University Library Science thesis on a Christian bibliography covering the period of 1971 to 1980. His idea received an immediate support and an advisory committee was formed with some Catholic and Protestant Church leaders and writers. The project, started in July of 1990 under the guidance of the Christian Communications Centre, Dhaka, came to fruition with the publication of this book this year.

This bibliography is the first of its kind in the entire history of Christianity in Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. It is all the more significant because both Catholics and Protestants actively cooperated in this noble effort.

James Delorey: Tragic Story of an Autistic Boy

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James Delorey of South Bar in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada
Photo courtesy: www.nationalpost.com/

In recent past, we were moved by the story of 6-year-old Elena Desserich, who, before her death by cancer, left loving messages and drawings on papers hidden in nooks and corners of her house in the USA. Now another story deeply moved us again.

This is the story of 7-year-old James Delorey, an autistic boy of South Bar in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It is the story of this boy, his dog, a frantic community search for him in the woods during snow storm, a surprising feat of his survival, but also a sad end of him from hypothermia.

James Delorey was last seen with his dog outside his home on Saturday, December 5. He must have followed his dog in the nearby forest. When he was not being found anywhere, the police were searching for him in the neighborhood, affected by wet snow storm and low visibility. A big hurdle the searchers faced was that, the boy, being autistic, did not speak or respond to calls. He was also not properly dressed for cold weather with temperature going minus four degrees at night. Neighbours also joined the search but were unsuccessful.

Next day was Sunday. The storm was still razing. Several teams of rescuers were busy searching the boy in nearby thick and marshy woods. Military helicopter also participated in the search.

Around 10:00 in the morning of Monday, December 7, James' dog Chance returned home from the wooded area. Following the dog's footprints, one of the rescue teams at around 12:15 p.m. found James Delorey crouched under a thick brush 1.5 kilometres away from his home. He was suffering from severe hypothermia. He was flown to a hospital. The news of his rescue brought a great relief to all. Those, who were following this story with apprehension all over Canada and other countries, were expecting the best for him.

Paul Maynard, a spokesman for Nova Scotia's Emergency Health Services, said: "He did have very weak vital signs. That's why we transported him and are trying to warm him up and get those vital signs back to normal range. Our fingers are crossed. Hopefully a miracle will happen and he will pull through."

Dashing all hopes and frantic efforts of the physicians, James Delorey died in a Halifax children hospital in the night of December 7.

"The family would like to thank everyone involved in James' care," wrote his mother Veronica in a statement following his death. "It was amazing to see how everyone would come together. It really kept my hopes alive. We will have more to say later after we've had some time," reports the National Post.

James Delorey died quietly, but he left a loud mark in the hearts of many.

Toronto Experiences Its First Post-Autumn Snow

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Snowfall in Toronto
Photo (Toronto: December 9, 2009) © Ujjal Peter D'Costa

Snowfall in Toronto

Photo (Toronto: December 9, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

The first winter storm, emanating from the Mid-west of the USA, blew over Ontario and Quebec provinces of Canada today. The city of Toronto got more than 10 centimetres (about four inches) of snow. Rain, coupled with strong wind, made snow soggy and slushy and roads became slippery.

The eastern Canada experienced its winter storm on Sunday, December 6. The western Canada has been under bitter cold temperatures.

This is the first time in last 162 years that Toronto experienced no-snow in the month of November this year.

Denmark Hosts the UN Climate Change Conference 2009

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The logo of the UN Climate Change Conference 2009
in Copenhagen, Denmark
Photo courtesy: www.cleanskies.com

The two-week UN Climate Change Conference opened today with fanfare in Copenhagen, Denmark, where several thousand government, non-government organization, and other delegates are in attendance from 192 countries. The conference opened amidst both optimism and skepticism. A great number of the delegates are optimistic that a uniform policy will come out of the conference resulting in regulation of greenhouse gases and lessening of global warming.

On the opening day of the conference, 56 newspapers in 45 countries published the same agreed upon editorial, "One World, One Voice." The editorial said, "Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year's inflamed oil prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world's response has bee feeble and half-hearted."

At the conclusion, the editorial said, "Overcoming climate change will take a triumph of optimism over pessimism, of vision over short-sightedness.... The Politicians in Copenhagen have the power to shape history's judgment on this generation: one that saw a challenge and rose to it, or one so stupid that we saw calamity coming but did nothing to avert it. We implore them to make the right choice."

You may read the full editorial in The Toronto Star today.

Squirrel Nests Add Beauty to a Denuded Tree

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Squirrel nests on a maple tree,
just recently denuded by fall of the leaves
Photo (Toronto: December 5, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

Squirrels are our neighbours. They can be ash-coloured, reddish brown or black. Their presence is felt all over during the Spring and Summer. Their prancing and jumping are a beauty in action. In the Fall, when trees shed their colourful leaves and become naked, squirrel nests become visible to our eyes.

In the Spring and Summer, squirrels run and jump all over eating fruits, nuts, seeds, plant pods, and the like. They gain weight and collect fat in their bodies. They also begin to gather food in the Autumn to use them during the bitter and snowy Winter.

Some squirrels make their nests with twigs, small barks, moss and leaves in tree hollows (natural or woodpecker-made) or branch joints. They make their nests in such a way that their offspring may be safely kept there and bitter winter may not affect them adversely.

One pair of squirrels may build more than one nest to move their offspring from one to the other in case of attack from predators.

In different parks, we can see friendly squirrels coming close to people to get their feeding of nuts and seeds.

Switzerland Bans Mosque Minarets

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An anti-minaret poster used by the rightwing People's Party
to influence votes for banning further construction of minarets
on mosques in Switzerland. This poster says: "Stop! Yes for the
ban on minarets." The poster depicts a Muslim woman in burqa
and behind her there is the Swiss flag through which
minarets are in growth mode. It means, more minarets will
spread the radical Islam which will take away freedom of
women and cause more problems in Switzerland
Poster courtesy: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Voters in Switzerland, in a country-wide referendum on November 29, approved a proposal to ban the construction of further minarets on Muslim mosques. Out of some 2.67 voters, 57.5% voted for the ban, that will find its place in the Swiss constitution after an amendment.

The Swiss government, which had opposed the ban, said in a statement: "The Federal Council [government] respects this decision. Consequently, the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted," reports Aljazeera.net.

In Switzerland, out of a population of 7.5 million, about 310,000 are Muslims, who are immigrants mostly from former Yugoslavia and Turkey. Out of 200 mosques or Muslim prayer houses in Switzerland, until now only four have minarets.

The Rightwing and Nationalist Influence on the Referendum

The rightwing and nationalist political party, The Swiss People's Party (SVP), and Federal Democratic Union party forced this referendum by collecting 100,000 signatures from eligible voters within 18 months. Switzerland has the system of referendum on important issues if a significant number of people request for it. If the proposal passes by the majority people, it gets inserted in the country's constitution.

The rightwingers, in their pre-referendum propaganda, tried to show that more minarets would increase the radical Islamic influence in the country. To them, the minarets also represent the growth of foreign ideology and Islamic Shariah law that have no place in Swiss democracy. Ulrich Schlueer, co-president of the Initiative Committee to ban minarets, said: "Forced marriages and other things like cemeteries separating the pure and impure -- we don't have that in Switzerland, and we do not want to introduce it. Therefore, there's no room for minarets in Switzerland."

Swiss radical feminists also drummed up support for the ban by arguing that the tower-like minarets are "male power symbols" and reminders of Islam's oppression of women, reports atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com. Julia Werner, a local housewife in Langenthal, a small town near Bern where Muslims wanted to put up a minaret next to their prayer room, said: "If we give them a minaret, they'll have us all wearing burqas. Before you know it, we'll have sharia law and women being stoned to death in our streets. We won't be Swiss any more."

Daniel Zingg, of the Federal Democratic Union party and belonging to a Protestant Christian fundamentalist group, said: "Minarets don't mean integration. Minarets represent a refusal to integrate. The minaret is connected to Islam which does not include tolerance, religious freedom or any other freedom." He also said that "minaret is only the first step." Minarets are "symbols of Muslim victories over newly conquered lands" and "precursors to the introduction of Islamic Shariah law."

Many Catholic Christians, on the other hand, supported the Muslims in their plan for construction of minarets. The Swiss Catholic bishops in last September opposed the proposal of banning minarets. They said: "The minarets, like the bell towers of churches, are a sign of the public presence of a religion."

Giusep Nay, a Catholic and former president of the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, said: "The Muslim minority is being attacked. The initiators of this anti-minaret campaign says they want to set an example. Well, this is setting a very bad example of how to exclude a minority. This is an exclusion campaign hindering all kinds of ongoing integration efforts," reports euronews.net.

The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities was also against any ban on minarets. Dr. Herbert Winter, the president of this federation, said: "As Jews, we have our own experience. For centuries we were excluded: we were not allowed to construct synagogues [Jewish temples] or cupola roofs. We do not want that kind of exclusion repeated."

Thomas Wipf, the head of the Swiss Federation of Protestant Churches and the Union of Protestant Churches in Europe, said: "This campaign against minarets is dangerous because it assumes that different religions cannot live together, that they have to fight each other. But we have to approach each other. We have to learn how to talk to each other. This is the real challenge."

Reactions to the Referendum

Switzerland's Muslims said that the referendum fuelled anti-Islamic feeling in the country. They also said that the recent construction of Sikh temples and Serbian Orthodox churches is proof that Islam is being singled out for discrimination.

"The initiators have achieved something everyone wanted to prevent, and that is to influence and change the relations to Muslims and their social integration in a negative way," said Taner Hatipoglu, the president of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Zurich. "We are frightened, and if the atmosphere continues to be like this and if the anti-Islamic hate increases, then the Muslims indeed will not feel safe anymore. This of course, is very unpleasant," he said.

Amnesty International has warned that such a ban would violate Switzerland's commitment to religious freedom.

The Swiss Catholic Bishops protested the minaret ban. In a communique, published on November 29, said that the people's decision to prohibit construction of minarets in the country "represents an obstacle and a great challenge on the path of integration in dialogue and mutual respect," reports Zenit.org. The communique also affirmed that this ban implies "a manifest omission to show the people that the prohibition of minarets does not contribute to a healthy coexistence between religions and cultures but, on the contrary, it deteriorates it."

It also said: "The campaign, with its exaggerations and caricatures, demonstrated that religious peace does not happen on its own, but must be defended every day."

Monsignor Antonio Maria Veglio, A Vatican official with the Pontifical Council on Migrants, talking to the Italian news agency ANSA, said that he shared the position taken by the Swiss Catholic bishops, who called the vote a "hard blow to religious freedom and immigration."

Reasons for this Undemocratic Stance

It is sad that this undemocratic behaviour is coming out of a fiercely democratic country like Switzerland. It is a country where, the population being small, almost every one enthusiastically participates in one's democratic rights.

This proposal for banning minarets comes from deep fear among the Swiss people. Many of them fear that an increased Muslim influence will destabilize and cause division in their country.

• They saw how a number of mosques in Europe were used by radical Islamist mullahs to denigrate Western culture and lifestyle and influenced certain immigrant Muslim youths for the cause of extremism and terrorism.
  
• They saw how some of the 9/11 terrorists were Muslim immigrants in Germany. Some other Muslim terrorists from other countries had visited these people in Germany to plan and execute the New York twin tower bombings.
• They also saw, how, in the name of Islam and restoring family's honour, several dozen Muslim teenage girls and adult women in different European countries have been bodily harmed or even killed by their own family members. The so-called "honour killing" is completely alien to the culture of Europe.
  
• The present Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was once a member of Turkey's Islamist movement. In 1998, he had publicly read a poem that, among others, said: " The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...." This sort of talk will definitely not sound sweet to the ears of the Christians and other non-Muslims.
  
• A few years ago, North African Muslim immigrants in France had caused riots and widespread arson. Millions of dollars worth of properties were destroyed in those riots.
• Muslim youths, invoking Islam, participated in deadly terrorist activities in some Western countries, such as the USA, the United Kingdom, and Spain.
  
• Western countries do not understand whey good Muslims, who are greater in number, keep silent in face of un-Islamic activities (terrorism, killing of the innocents, etc. in the name of Islam) of a small number of Muslims. This silence or non-opposition in such cases gives the impression that good Muslims also favour terrorism against Christians.
  
• Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and few other Middle East countries still ban public depiction or display of Christian cross and construction of churches in their lands. In most of the European countries, Muslims are allowed to construct mosques. In Rome, just near the Vatican, where the Pope -- the leader of the Roman Catholics -- lives -- Muslims constructed the second largest mosque in the world. Pope Benedict XVI on a number of occasions emphasized upon the reciprocity on the part of the Muslim countries to allow building of places of worship to Christians in their countries as Muslims are allowed to build mosques in Western countries.
• Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and some Middle East countries do not grant citizenship to non-Muslims, but Muslims of any country in the world can get citizenship in most of the Western countries.

Conclusion

We hope that from both sides of the aisle there will be increased efforts in accepting each other and respecting freedom of religion of every person. Peace cannot come from one-sided effort, but only from the give-and-take of both sides.