Monaem Sarkar

Monaem Sarkar, the director of Bangladesh Foundation, a veteran social democrat turned centrist Labor politician and a leading Bangladeshi think tank, was on Khanika twice during his resent visit to Australia in October-November 2008.

In his first interview Mr Sarkar talked about his recent publication on Mujib, the founder of Bangladesh. Mr Sarkar said he travelled around the world in and in the leading libraries around the world he found numerous books on the Gandhi, Allende, Ho Chi Minh and even Hitler, but there was no book on Mujib who fought all his life and were in prison for 25 years to liberate his nation. Mr Sarkar's book on Mujib was published by Bangla Academy and 2,000 copies were sold just in two days highlighting peoples' interest in Mujib 33 even years after his assassination by the Military juna and the deliberate suppression on any publication of Mujib by the military and anti-liberation fascist regimes sustained by General Zia, General Ershad and Zia's Begum in partnership with the war criminals and Islamist militants.

In his second interview on Jail Killing Day, Mr Sarkar shared his recollections on Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, Kamaruzzaman and Capt Mansur Ali. Following the killing of Mujib and Tajuddin Mr Sarkar left Bangladesh in fear of execution by the Military junta and lived a poverished life in the shanty suburbs of Kolkata for three years. On his return from Kolkata he was again kidnapped by the secret military forces unleashed by General Ershad and was imprisoned and tortured in the DGFI secret cells in Dhaka Cantonment.

Mr Sarkar has been a key organiser in most of the political movements launched by the pro liberation forces and been involved in the development of important social and political institutions scuh as Bangabandhu Museum. Mr Sarkar started his political careers as an activist of NAP (Mozaffar) and later joined Awami League with Matia Chowdhury in 1979.

Currently Mr Sarkar is the director of Bangladesh foundation which is frequented by pro-liberation Bangladeshi think tanks and they are engaged in policy development and publication on Bangladesh liberation movement.

Welcome to Khanika Bangla Radio

Broadcast from Sydney, Australia, Khanika (borrowed from Tagore, meaning evanescent, momentary, temporal) Bangla Radio aims to celebrate a brief interaction with its listeners every Tuesday night (10 pm EST)

Bengali is the language of the people of Bangladesh and of the West Bengal province of India. Bengali is a colonial word, the real pronunciation is Bangla. The Bangla spoken people are called Bangalees, not Bengalis. Hence the title of our radio show Bangla language program.

Bangla is the 5^th largest spoken language around the world. Bangla has a very rich repertoire of language and literature. Our great poet Rabindranath Tagore won Nobel Prize in literature in 1913. Despite poverty and large population, Bangla arts, literature and music can emulate the literary discourses of any language.

The history of Bangla language is unique in the world because this is the only language in defence of which the people of Bangladesh gave their lives. In 1952 the Pakistani colonial government tried to impose Urdu as the state language of Bangladesh, then East Pakistan. The Bangalee students took the streets in protest. Pakistani police opened fire on the student protest rally on 21^st February 1952. Many students were killed of which only the dead bodies of Salam, Rafiq, Barkat and Jabbar were found.

Bangalees around the world always celebrate 21^st February as the Bangla Language Day and pay homage to our valiant language heroes. Recently in recognition of the Bangalees' sacrifice for their mother language, the UN has declared 21^st February as the International Mother Language day.

Khanika Outlook

Our Bangla program Khanika is a tribute to our valiant language heroes.

Embracing ideologies of humanism, pluralism and post colonialism, Khanika Bangla Radio is a community based radio program broadcast every Tuesday night at 10pm from Sydney. Khanika is dedicated to create modernist discourses engaging the progressive Bengali intelligentsia across the world. For best Bangla music, thought provoking talkbacks and political analysis tune to KHANIKA Bangla Radio on 99.9 FM or click to http://www.swrfm.org/ to listen to real time live streaming.

Contributors: Debabrata Mukherjee (Kolkata), Haraprasad Manna (Kolkata), Shahriar Kabir (Dhaka), Swadesh Ray (Dhaka), Ajoy Dasgupta (Dhaka), AGC (UK), BB Chowdhury (UK), Kamrul Khan (ACT), Sabbir Khan (Sweden)

.

Audio source

Khanika Bangla Radio

A Radio Program for Bengali Diaspora
Tuesdays 10-11pm on 99.9 FM
PO Box 387 Beecroft NSW 2119 Australia
T: 61 400 505 122 M: 61 409 409 286
E: Khanikaradio@gmail.com
W: www.khanika.net
SkypeID:Khanika.Betar

Khanika supporters

Most of the leading Bengalis from Bangladesh and India often participate in Khanika programs in odder to reach the wider audience in Australia. In 2008 quite a few leading Bangaldeshi academics and intellectuals took part in Khanika interviews: Prof Anu Mohammed from Jahangirnagar university, CPB president Manjurul Ahsan Khan and Director General, Bangladesh Foundation, Mr Monaem Sarkar. The photo on the left shows Mr Sarkar with Dr Ronald Patra and hosts Molly and Zia Ahmed.

Mostafa, an ardent theatre activist with IT and media background is a member of Khanika team and contributes on issues and topics related to theatre and film.
Mostafa has been actively involved in cultural and theatre activity and movements in Sydney and Melbourne.

John and Moushumi are a couple actively involved in performing arts (theatre). John's area is more of script writing and direction where Moushumi casts spell on her audience by her extra ordinary acting and presentation. John and Moushumi recently contributed special programs on leading Bangladeshi Theatre movement leaders and playwrights: Selim al Deen and Abdulla al Mamoon.

Tito

With backgrounds in English and European Literature, post colonialism, critical thinking and social policy, Tito conducts the interviews on Khanika.

Tito's academic interests include: Heraclitus, Kautilya, Nietzsche, Marx, Russell and Foucault.

Tito's reading list includes: Eco, Barthes, Bakhtin, Said, Chomsky and Pilger. Favorite poets: Baudelaire, Lorca and Octavio Paz; novelists: Proust, Joyce, Borges, Eco, Rushdie and Kureshi.

An ardent literary and social critique Tito has human rights and welfare background.

Zia

An architect by profession and an explorer by spirit Zia was a heartthrob DJ of Bangladesh Betar in the 70s. With John Lennon's hair style and large glasses, bell bottomed Zia was the legendary presenter of the World Music show on Bangladesh Betar (Radio) for whose autograph the Bangalee chicks used to que up in the bookshops of New Market. Zia also took part in many plays on Bangladesh TV. An inept sound and multimedia expert Zia keeps all Sydney concerts and performances loud.

On Khanika Zia runs the most popular segment of the show News Review which includes commentaries on political and social issues. An ardent political critique Zia keeps Khanika listeners tuned and focused.

Scyma

Scyma covers the books and film reviews on Khanika and occasionally contributes to issues related to women and gender. Her background is literature, media and welfare. As a human services professional, Scymas area of interests include: advocacy and lobbying for migrants and refugees, community based project management, social capital development, social policy and social change. Scyma loves to travel, read, recite and write poems. Her favorite Bangla poets include Robi Thakur, Jibananada Das, Buddhadev Basu, Bishnu De, Purnendu Patri, Abul Hasan, Samsur Rahman; favorite novelists: Tarashakar, Manik B, Shawkat Ali, Bimal Mitra, Dilara Hashem, Selina Hossain, Akhtaruzzaman Elyas, Suchitra Mitra, Ashapurna Devi, Sangeeta B.

Molly

A a devout reader in Bangla literature primarily from West Bengal, Molly presents the weekly news and community profile segments on Khanika. Molly's favourite authors are: Syed Mujtaba Ali, Shiershendu, Sanjeeb, Tarashankar, Bimal Mitra, Shankar, Suneel, Samaresh Majumder. Molly loves Tagore's songs and always wear Tater Saris without jewelleries. Molly loves to travel and has extensively travelled Australia, Europe, India and the US.