Prairie Fire
13 April 2015
New-Power.org
On April 12, 2015, our friend Ananta Bijoy Das was struck down, hacked to death between 9:00 and 9:30 AM by four barbarian cowards. Ananta Bijoy Das was cut-down in the prime of his life. His life was tragically and cruelly ended at only 31. His family and friends will miss him dearly. The masses will miss him dearly. We will miss him dearly. Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) claimed responsibility for the brutal murder.
Although he was not a Leading Light Communist, Ananta Bijoy Das was a friend. He was a progressive voice and friend of the people. He was bright light against the darkness of the medieval, extremist barbarism that is sweeping our country. Ananta Bijoy Das was a champion of progressive causes, secular values, reason, and humanitarianism. He wrote against religious extremism and intolerance. He introduced many scientific ideas to his readers, including the works of Charles Darwin. Ananta Bijoy Das was a member of Ganajagaran Mancha, the forum demanding a ban on Islamist parties and death penalty for convicted war criminals. He called for those who had committed atrocities against our people to be held accountable. He supported the death penalty against those who had waged genocide against the masses during the 1970s. He was a writer for the Mokto Mona, “Free Thinker,” website. He won the Mukto Mona’s rationalist award in 2006. Ananta Bijoy Das was the Founder Secretary of Council for Science and Reason. The former student of Sylhet’s Shahjalal University of Science and Technology edited Jukti, “Logic,” a magazine promoting the scientific outlook. He was the author of several books. He also contributed to bdnews24.com blogs. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was unmarried, and leaves behind no children.
Ananta Bijoy Das’s death comes only four months after the killing of Avijit Roy in Dhaka, another writer for Mukto Mona who was killed in a similar manner. Their deaths also follow the state’s persecution of bloggers who speak out against religious extremism. Ananta Bijoy Das and other victims used words and intelligence to present their views. By contrast, the cowardly barbarians who struck them down have no minds, no words, no reason. They only know murder and death. Think of the future they want for our people, a future of death, oppression, enslavement. Think of what the lives of our children will be like if these fascist killers take power. There will be no free speech. People will not have the right to think for themselves. There will be no education. There will be no rights for ordinary people. The workers, farmers, and poor people will be slaughtered. Women, our mothers and daughters, will be turned into slaves. There will be nothing, no laughter, no song. There will only be death and torture. Just as the extremist reactionaries tried to wipe out our scientists, our writers, our artists, our poets as part of their genocide against the people in 1971, they continue to attack us today. A people who are uneducated, who do not think, are more easily controlled, more easily exploited, more easily oppressed. It is not Allah who is afraid of men’s words. Allah fears nothing. Those who murder in Allah’s name are cowards filled with fear. They fear a people who are educated, who can think for themselves, who control their own lives and destiny.
These killers, these extremist barbarians, are so arrogant that they have even published a list of all those they seek to murder. These death squads and their corrupt leaders do not represent Allah. They are arrogant barbarians who dirty Allah’s name with their cruelty. They lie in the name of Allah; they murder in the name of Allah. Look at how they bring ruin in death to the people of Iraq and Syria. Look how they brought genocide to our people in 1971. Their caliphate of lies is built on mountains of corpses. Although they claim to oppose Empire, they are one of the best weapons by which imperialism kills and tortures our people. With one hand, Empire creates chaos by promoting extremism, with the other hand, Empire claims to be the only solution to the chaos it has created. These agents of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and United States have many disguises, even the disguise of Islam. Empire is an enemy that wears many masks.
Those in power have proven themselves incapable of defending our society from the coming nightmare of extremism. The people must themselves rise up against this medieval barbarism. The power of the people is invincible. These cowardly crimes will not go unpunished. They will face justice, one way or another. These extremists will be remembered in our history for what they are: common killers who wanted the people to remain in darkness. Ananta Bijoy Das, by contrast, will be remembered as a voice of progress, humanitarianism, science, reason, education. Long live the memory of our friend, friend of the people, Ananta Bijoy Das.
NEW POWER 
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