{"product_id":"pakistan-as-a-peasant-utopia","title":"Pakistan As A Peasant Utopia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"During a substantial stay in some East Bengal villages in the summer \u003cbr\u003eof 1971, when East Pakistan was in the traumatic process of being \u003cbr\u003etransformed into Bangladesh, it first dawned upon me that peasants \u003cbr\u003ewere not stupid, devoid of political consciousness. Discussions with \u003cbr\u003edifferent types of peasants revealed that at least the upper echelons \u003cbr\u003ewere aware of the implications of the liberation struggle for \u003cbr\u003eBangladesh and the superpower involvement in it. Richard Nixon and \u003cbr\u003eIndira Gandhi were familiar names. Ordinary peasants often quoted \u003cbr\u003ethe Bengali news readers and commentators of the BBC world service \u003cbr\u003eand the Voice of America. Well-to-do peasants who owned transistor \u003cbr\u003eradio sets regularly tuned into the British, American and Indian radio \u003cbr\u003estations. Many inquisitive and worried peasants asked me (then a fresh \u003cbr\u003egraduate from Dhaka University) how their cherished Sonar Bangla \u003cbr\u003e(golden Bengal) would improve their socio-economic conditions. Many \u003cbr\u003epeasants also took part in the liberation struggle as members of the \u003cbr\u003eMukti Bahini or freedom fighters. Almost everyone, with a few exceptions \u003cbr\u003ewho collaborated with the Pakistan armed forces, was a keen \u003cbr\u003esupporter of Bangladesh. After the emergence of Bangladesh, things \u003cbr\u003edid not change to the expectations of the masses, but rather deteriorated \u003cbr\u003eso much that Henry Kissinger is said to have coined the phrase \u003cbr\u003e''bottomless basket\"\" as a denotation for Bangladesh, because of the \u003cbr\u003erampant corruption of a big section of the Bengali bourgeoisie at that \u003cbr\u003etime. I was provoked to write the history of the peasants' glorious role \u003cbr\u003ein the Liberation Struggle which was being overshadowed by claims \u003cbr\u003eand counter-claims of heroism and sacrifice by members of the \u003cbr\u003eprivileged, parasitical urban elites. This work may be regarded as a \u003cbr\u003eprelude to the history of the freedom struggle that eventually led to the \u003cbr\u003ecreation of Bangladesh. This is an attempt to shed light on the peasant \u003cbr\u003epolitics, almost synonymous with Muslim politics in the region, during \u003cbr\u003ethe significant period between 1920 and 194 7 when East Bengal was \u003cbr\u003egoing through the political process that culminated in the creation of \u003cbr\u003eEast Pakistan in 194 7.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54227624460632,"sku":"9780367282158","price":192.2,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780367282158.jpg?v=1777110342","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/pakistan-as-a-peasant-utopia","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}