Birangona discussion held

Ansar Ahmed Ullah ::

‘Rising Silence’ a fundraising panel discussion on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Birangona Women of Bangladesh was held on 5 November, Kobi Nazrul Centre, East London as part of A Season of Bangla Drama festival.
Birangona means ‘Brave Woman’ and this was the honorific granted to the hundreds of thousands of survivors of the campaign of rape carried out by the Pakistani military and their Bengali collaborators in the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.
Komola Collective who is producing the film ‘Rising Silence’ in partnership with Openvisor, Making Herstory and Jatrik aspires to give a voice to the survivors of rape, but not only about rape – but about the strength of women who had picked themselves up after facing brutal physical and emotional abuse.
The event started with the ‘Rising Silence’ promo film, followed by a panel discussion and ended with live music preferences by EvaRahman & Sohini Alam paying tribute to Birangona Women. The panellists included journalist Masuda Bhatti, Nari Diganta’s Rumana Hashem, community activist Ansar Ahmed Ullah, and secular activist Pushpita Gupta, history researcher Onjali Rouf and was moderated by TV personality Urmee Mazhar. Leesa Gazi of Komola Collective also made an emotional plea to assist these women to make their stories heard. Nari Diganta and A Season of Bangla Drama co-hosted the event with Komola Collective.