Description

In past few years, there has been several attacks on secular, atheist and critical writers, activists and bloggers. The responsibility of the murders were claimed by various Islamist extremist groups as a reaction to liberal and freethinking blogs which they deemed “insulting to Islam”. Since 2016, Bangladesh has undergone a surge of violence spanning attacks targeting secular journalists, bloggers, academic elite, LGTBTQI groups, tourists and religious minorities.
Additionally, the state government has persistently deployed the rather ambiguous and broad Information and Communication Technology Act which targets groups that are criticizing the conduct and decisions of high government officials; particularly directed against journalists, writers, activists and bloggers.
Together with Bonya Ahmad and Parvez Alam we will talk about the recent situation, about how the Bangladeshi diaspora in Europe continue to write, and what is needed for a more free, just and peaceful society.