The very name of Sammilita Sangskritik Jote (SSJ) itself carries some extra weight because of its playing due role in the field of cultural movements in Bangladesh.
And that a serious gap has been opened between the said elite and the Bengalis popular masses that the unity of Bangladesh is founded first and foremost on its History, that the affirmation of cultural identity denotes a concern common to all people of Bangladesh that its cultural diversity the expression of a single identity, is a factor making for equilibrium and development in the service of national integration that it is imperative to edify educational systems which embody the Bengalis' values of civilization, so as to ensure the rooting of youth in Bengali culture and mobilize the social forces in the context of permanent education that it is imperative to resolutely ensure the promotion of Bengali language mainstay and media of cultural heritage in its most authentic and essentially popular form that it is imperative to carry out a systematic inventory of the cultural heritage, in particular in the spheres of traditions, history and arts by a common determination to strengthen understanding among our people and co-operation among our people in order to meet their aspirations and see brotherhood and solidarity reinforced and integrated within a greater cultural unity which transcends ethnic and national divergences that culture constitutes for our people the surest means of overcoming our technological backwardness and the most efficient force of our victorious resistance to imperialist blackmail that Bangladesh's culture is meaningless unless it plays a full part in the political and social liberation struggle and that there is no limit to the cultural development of a people that a common resolve provides the basis for promoting the harmonious cultural development of our country.
Sammilita Sanskritik Jote complements all events with a showcase of well-crafted local goods. It ensures the freedom of artistic expression and the democracy of visibility for all with a series of spontaneous, independent happenings around the main events.
Bangladesh recognizes the need to take account of national identities, cultural diversity being a factor making for balance within the nation and a source of mutual enrichment for various communities.
The country recognizes that Bangladesh's cultural diversity is the expression of the same identity; a factor of unity and an effective weapon for genuine liberty, effective responsibility and full sovereignty of the people.
The assertion of national identity must not be at the cost of impoverishing or subjecting various cultures within the country. SSJ has been working tirelessly to promote those values in the truest sense of the term in Bangladesh.
The country recognizes that it is the working people who make history and establish the foundations and conditions for the advancement of culture. As culture has an innovating and beneficial influence on the means of production and on men and women, each Bangladesh's people agrees to work out a national cultural policy.
This policy should be designed as a codification of social practices and concerted activities whose aim is to satisfy cultural needs through the optimal utilization of all the available materials and human resources to integrate the cultural development plan in the overall program for economic and social development; that individual person shall be free to establish his or her priorities and select the methods they consider best suited for attaining their cultural development objectives and to that end, individual people regard the following priorities and methods as guidelines: the transcription, teaching and development of national language with a view to using them for the dissemination and the development of science and technology; the recording, conservation, use and dissemination of information on oral tradition; the adaptation of educational curricula to development needs and to the national and Bangladesh's cultural and social realities; the promotion of cultural activities, encouragement to artists and assistance to creativity in the people; the protection of creative artists and cultural assets; the development of research and the establishment of permanent research centers in the field of culture; and research, on the basis of modern science, in the field of Bangladesh's medicine and pharmacopeia.
The introduction of Bangladesh's culture into all national educational systems; the introduction and intensification of the teaching in national languages in order to accelerate the economic, social, political and cultural development in our country; the establishment of appropriate institutions for the development, preservation and dissemination of culture; the training of competent staff, at all levels; the concrete and effective establishment of links between the school and the national realities as well as the life of the people, a link which should be apparent in the school curricula and structure; the sensitization and exhortation of all citizens to ensure their willing participation in the field of culture; the provision of a budget corresponding to the needs of culture and of research in the humanities, natural sciences and technology; the financing of cultural programs essentially out of national resources in order to implement certain cultural projects; the organization of competitions offering prizes; and the organizational of national and Bangladesh's cultural festivals, in the spirit of this Charter.
Bangladesh recognizes that the driving force of Bangladesh is based more on development of the collective personality than on individual advancement and profit, and that culture cannot be considered as the privilege of an elite.
The country agrees to undertake create conditions which will enable our people to participate to the full in the development and implementation of cultural policies; defend and develop the peoples' culture; implement a cultural policy providing for the advancement of creative artists; and to, whenever necessary, abolish the caste system and rehabilitate the functions of artist and craftsman (griots and craftsmen). And SSJ has been contributing enormously in these fields since long.
The need for active participation by youth in national cultural life is of paramount importance. Continuous cultural development in Bangladesh rests with its young people. Therefore, the country should create conditions for the active and enlightened participation of young people in Bangladesh's cultural life.
The country shall endeavor to raise continually the cultural awareness of young people through the introduction of Bengali cultural values into education and through the organization of national and Bengali festivals, conferences, seminars and training and refresher courses.
The cultural policies of the various places of the country shall ensure that young Bengali people also have the means of familiarizing themselves with the whole of Bangladesh and other civilizations in order to prepare them for fruitful inter-cultural relations.
Professional training is as important both for cultural development as for economic and social development. Consequently, the country should devote itself to creating conditions favoring large scale participation of culture by Bangladesh's working class and peasant at the actual work sites.
To achieve the aim laid down in the preceding paragraphs should adopt a training policy for specialists at all levels and in all fields.
Professional training for creative artists should be improved, renewed and adapted to modern methods, without breaking the umbilical cord linking it with the traditional sources of Bangladesh's art. Hence, specialist training should be provided in national, regional and sub-regional training centers.
The Bangladesh government will have to pay special attention to the growing importance of life-long education in modern societies. It should take steps to organize continuous training in a rational way and to establish an appropriate system of education which satisfied the specific needs of our people.
Bangladesh recognizes the imperative need to develop its language which will ensure our cultural advancement and accelerate our economic and social development and to this end, SSJ should endeavor to formulate a national policy in regard to language, culture and heritage in collaboration with the present government.
I am a Bengali. I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the lakes and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land.
Our differences are our strength as a species and as a world community... Culture is coded wisdom... wisdom that has been accumulated for thousands of years and generations. Some of that wisdom is coded in our ceremonies, it is coded in our values, it is coded in our songs, in our dances, in our plays.Culture defines who we are and how we see ourselves.
A new attitude toward nature provides space for a new attitude toward culture and the role it plays in sustainable development.The aesthetics of traditional Bangladesh's culture has become a powerful influence among our people which has formed an avant-garde in the development of modern art, music, dance and so many other things.Culture does not change because we desire to change it. It changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.
Human history has been recorded as a succession of wars and changing empires. But a ray of hope has been carried forth throughout the ages by dreamers who have envisioned a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. SSJ's endeavors are aimed at quantum leaps forward in our collective quest for a better world.
We still have far to go, but we can help create that better world countless dreamers have imagined and wished for and endeavored to make come true. Every moment has brought us to this moment. We are the ones we have been waiting for to manifest our shared willow bell dream.
The evolution of humanity says that Bangladesh reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes. Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now!
Whatever the difficulties, Bangladesh shall be at peace! Sammilita Sangskritik Jote shall constantly be the fore-runner to uphold the true spirits and values of our glorious Liberation War of 1971.
The writer is a freelance
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