Nothing Learned, Nothing Forgotten

-Ziauddin Choudhury After the French Revolution a large number of Bourbon loyalists migrated to other countries to escape the concessionary policies of Louis XVI and the violence of the republicans. When the Bourbons were restored in 1814, these migrs returned to their country with exactly the same mentality they had left 25 years earlier. The great statesman and diplomat of that era, Talleyrand had said of them: They learned nothing and forgot nothing. This statement was rephrased by an Italian professor recently as Nothing learned, nothing forgotten (N-L-N-F). The professor further elaborated N-L-N-F as a class of people who judge today's events with exactly the same criteria as those years ago. Only six years ago the country was in the brink of a civil war because of intransigence shown by the main political parties that time in agreeing to a peaceful transition of power brokered by a transient neutral government. The party in power that time had a grand view that the country had given it authority to rule it for infinity, and all it required was to secure the means to ensure it. So it went about the way to put in place the mechanisms and retrofit the institutions that will facilitate the perpetual hold on to power. We are all aware of what happened then. We had intervention from the armed forces to foist on the country a long enduring caretaker government backed by the forces the ire of which was borne by the leaders of both sides that are currently engaged in the political crisis. Six years down the road we are back to where we started. It seems that two years of Army backed rule, months of detention behind the bar of many of the current leaders who are at loggerheads with each other now, and public accusations of venality against many of them have disappeared from the memory of our political leaders like water under the bridge. As it happened six years ago the political parties and their leaders are impervious to the sufferings to the economy, to the people, and to the daily bread earners their actions are causing. They are unmoved and unaffected by the mayhem that their acolytes are launching on the streets; they are not concerned if their actions lead the country down the drain. In fact they are threatening that more of such bedlam and anarchy are to visit the country if their demands are not met. We have the classic group of N-L-N-F, Nothing Learned and Nothing Forgotten people all over again. They have not learned how a crisis created by intransigence of political opponents can bring to the entire country to halt. They never learned how such crisis brings about international stigma to the country and makes the country vulnerable to foreign interventions. They also did not learn from the public humiliation a good number of them went through when they fell out favor and out of power. They also did not forget the taste of power as they did not forget what the purse and the privy power brought them. The looming crisis in the country carries worse forebodings now than six years back as the major opposition party and its leader have gone on a warpath supporting issues that defy the spirit of the liberation war of 1971. And the most ominous part of the looming crisis is the call by the leader of the party to turn the country into a wasteland if the demands of the party are not met. One wonders if it is

really the voice of a person who once held the helm of the country. One wonders if this is really the voice which can be won over by reason. There are serious concerns both home and abroad about the looming crisis and how this can be averted. Surely a crisis cannot be averted by slamming the spontaneous rallies of people demanding trial of war criminals as anti-religious and partisan politics. A crisis cannot be averted by having political rallies ostensibly against the government, but in reality to incite people against spontaneous mass movement by labeling them conspiracies against religion. A crisis cannot be averted by loosening political acolytes to attack government property, waylay roads and transports, and by generally terrorizing people. This can be averted only if people who voice such unreasonable thoughts truly understand history, have the ability to reassess their own political beliefs, and relate to all people beyond the narrow confines of their political coterie. The sadness of the current madness fast developing in the country is that we are really a people dominated by the N-L-N-F (Nothing Learned, Nothing Forgotten) class. They dominate both our political parties, and we are held hostage by them. They have not learned that the majority in Bangladesh have long rejected use of religion for political purposes. They have not learned that the majority in Bangladesh are products of a sovereign nation that takes pride in its birth as a Bangali Nation. They have not learned that the people of Bangladesh know which leadership can deliver and who they will ultimately trust as leaders. These leaders may not have forgotten the taste of power and what it brought them. But they will be well served if they realize that rhetoric may incite their acolytes to do their bidding, but this will not bring them to where they want to be. If they truly want to serve the country and its people they need to first respect people and their wishes. And the people of Bangladesh do no not wish to go back to an ideology that brought down Pakistan. They also do not want a repeat of the experience of 2007. It may be too much to hope for an easy solution to the impending crisis such as settling of thorny political differences rationally. But as history has shown when these differences assume a daunting proportion and take the country to a precipice people overtake and dictate. We can only hope that we will avert a crisis before people step into their role to guide these leaders.

Ziauddin Choudhury is a former staff member of the World Bank in Washington DC.