Jatin Sarker
Comrade Jatin Sarker will live on through his work
Professor Jatin Sarker has left us. He was not born into a wealthy family, but he was rich in the wealth of knowledge. He belonged to the marginalised. From childhood, he grew up through great hardship, pursuing his education under the same difficult circumstances. But when his thinking became connected with Marxist thought, his worldview expanded. Until his death, he believed in the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. In practice, however, he was rooted in the folk tradition. He was not dogmatic, nor was he blinded by ideology. He had a strong capacity to embrace the new.
I am successful as a teacher, not as a writer
Essayist and educationist Professor Jatin Sarker (August 18, 1936 –August 13, 2025) was a man enriched through the pursuit of knowledge, who, standing on his own soil, could witness the sunrise of the entire world. By reading his autobiographical work The Birth and Death of Pakistan – A Vision, one can easily understand how he became Jatin Sarker. He was a follower of the philosophy of ‘dialectical and historical materialism’, a line of thought reflected in his book “Bangalir Samajtantrik Oitihyo” (The Socialist Tradition of the Bengali). However, he believed that in his work “Prakritojoner Jibondorshon” (Life Philosophy of the Common People), he expressed a distinctive and original perspective. His first book, Expectations from Literature, was published in 1985, when he was fifty. Including all genres, he published nearly fifty books in total. On Wednesday (13 August), this great thinker passed away. Long before his death, poet Shishir Rajan had interviewed him. The interview is being published here in memory of Jatin Sarker.
Ending Discrimination Vital for Embracing Freedom's Ideals
What progress have we made towards the goals that Bangladesh aimed for in achieving independence, 53 years later? Have we moved further away from those goals? Is the development of our political culture heading in a positive direction? Where are the weaknesses, and what does the future hold?