Pandemic has laid bare weaknesses of capitalist society: Prof Serajul

Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury has said the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the weaknesses of capitalism, such as inequality, as he believes capitalist development has brought Nature’s adverse reaction upon humanity.

The professor emeritus of Dhaka University’s Department of English spoke to bdnews24.com on Wednesday as he turned 85, his second birthday amid the pandemic.

The award-winning writer is spending his time writing in the housebound days during the pandemic crisis.

“This coronavirus is nothing unusual. It’s an outcome of the capitalist society,” said Prof Choudhury, a leftist.   

“The development of capitalist trend is apparent today. This development has separated us from Nature. And Nature has become adverse.”

“The general public do not have security. Corruption and irregularities are everywhere. The rich-poor gap is widening. This inequality is giving a rise to oppression of people.

“These are the weaknesses of a capitalist society and the coronavirus attack has glaringly laid bare those weaknesses.”

Prof Choudhury thinks it will be possible to tackle the pandemic by using vaccines and inventing treatments, but the danger shall not be over. “Climate change will hit our country hard.”

The professor also thinks the pandemic has left scars on the education sector that cannot be healed. The institutions are closed for around one and a half years due to the pandemic.

“The state should give this sector due importance, just like it did to industries.”

Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury was born on June 23, 1936 in Srinagar of Munshiganj district. After passing his Matriculation exams from St Gregory’s in old Dhaka and later his IA from Notre Dame College, he took admission in English literature at Dhaka University.

On obtaining a degree in English literature, he joined Haraganga College, Munshiganj, as a teacher. He was simultaneously a part-time teacher at the then Jagannath College in Dhaka.

Joining the English Department of Dhaka University as a lecturer in 1957, Prof Choudhury subsequently proceeded to the UK for post-graduate studies at Leeds University. He stayed on in the UK and earned a PhD from Leicester University before returning home.

Besides teaching, he has penned more than 100 books.

As a teenager Choudhury used to produce hand-written journals, do translations and write for the children’s pages of newspapers.

As a university student, he was treasurer of the Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) for nine years. He was a leading figure at the Dhaka University teachers association. He has served as a dean.

The Dhaka University senate nominated him for the office of vice-chancellor on two occasions.

“I don’t think about my own future anymore. I now count the days. But society and the structure of the state still keep me thinking.”  

“The changes our state should have seen have not happened. The same bureaucracy in the state and capitalism in the economy that had been persistent during the British and Pakistani rules have continued even after the establishment of an independent Bangladesh.” 

While teaching at Dhaka University, Prof Choudhury served as editor of three literary journals – the monthly “Porikroma” (1960-62), the Dhaka University Journal (1972) and the trimestral “Shahittopatro” (1984).

He now edits a literary journal called “Notun Diganta”.

The widely loved and deeply revered academic has received several national and international awards and honours in his lifetime. Among them are the Bangla Academy Gold Medal, the Justice Ibrahim Award, the Alokto Shahitto Award, and the Begum Zebunnesa and Kazi Mahbubullah Foundation Award.

“What I have done are exactly the things that I should have done. I might have done something better in a qualitative sense had I given focused more concentration and effort on them,” said Prof Choudhury.

“Writing, thinking about society, culture and education, and joining social and cultural movements are the biggest achievements of my life. I have no regrets about what I have had in my life.”