Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 2d

I played one of my favourite characters, Augustus 'Gullu' Ashcroft-Chokroborty, a fan of lasers and taking his daily walk.

Character portrait is of West Bengali actor Utpal Datt.

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Reposted by Zoheb AKA Klow

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 10d

jane goodall releasing a video of her listing the people she dislikes and ending with a vague message of hope is so iconic. truly someone i aspire to model myself after

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 10d

Bold move from the people who regularly introduce themselves abroad as being from 'Detroit' or 'Arkansas'.

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Reposted by Zoheb AKA Klow

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 12d

Greta Thunberg says she is being detained by Israel in cell ‘infested with bedbugs’

Exclusive: Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has told Swedish officials she is being subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody after her detention and removal from a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian. According to the correspondence, Israeli forces are also reported by another detainee to have taken photographs where Thunberg was allegedly forced to hold flags. The identity of the flags are unknown. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 13d

Reading the British home minister claim that being named Jihad is weird and unusual for a Muslim really tells you that the diaspora has no business being the interlocutors for 'their' communities in the West

Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 19d

Can't overstate how good long, aimless walks have been for my mind and body. Cheap too (I usually buy a treat so it isn't free)

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 24d

We need a book accurate Godfather adaptation with the vaginoplasty plot arc

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Reposted by Zoheb AKA Klow

Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

My debut game is out now with @plusoneexp.bsky.social!

Midnight in a Perfect World is about 4 survivors of a revolution gathering for dinner. You count down to midnight, the anniversary of the revolution. You reflect on your lives, and the ghosts of those you lost.

plusoneexp.com/products/mid...

Midnight in a Perfect World

It is the anniversary of your country’s liberation. The struggle for independence was bloody, and left you bereft. You have a tradition of gathering for a dinner before heading to the public plaza to ...

plusoneexp.com

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

Delicious in Dungeon.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

It is my hope -- but not my belief -- that in doing so we will slowly get closer and closer to something like a perfect world.

I hope to see you all on the road to it.

Joy Bangla.

Free Palestine.

Trans rights are human rights.

Burn the watchtower.

Let the bastards hang.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

We live in times of great evil. We must refuse this for ourselves. We must refuse this legacy to the children. We must revolt.

Regrettably, in our revolt we will break our hearts, bodies and spirits. We will create the world our children must in their turn revolt against.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

I wrote my game before July 2024. It comes out after the anniversary. I was writing about the past. I wrote about the present. And I am writing about the future.

Midnight in a Perfect World is about the aftermath of revolt. Revolt is a continuous necessity in the world.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

I do not live in Bangladesh. I left in 2017. For a long time I feared return due to the fascist state. At this point I fear return for other reasons. I fear the future.

But there is hope, still.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

July 2024 had its own martyrs, including Abu Sayed, murdered by the police. Bangladesh is run by an interim government, with elections slated for February 2026. The nature of Bangladesh, and the memory war over 1971 and 2024, are crucial questions for what happens next.

Screencap of TV footage: protester Abu Sayeed, arms open, seconds before being murdered by the police.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

1971 and national memory wars led in 2024 to the toppling of the fascist government of Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League. The AL, led by Hasina's father, had spearheaded the revolt of 1971. After 14 years of tyranny, Hasina herself was ousted by a popular revolt.

August 5 2024: Bangadeshis stormed the Prime Minister's palace.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

Bangladesh's relationship to 1971 is too complex to unpack. We live with the fate of the collaborators in Pakistan's atrocities. With Bengali violence against ethnic minorities. With the legacy of a systemic program of racialized mass rape enacted by Pakistan.

www.dukeupress.edu/the-spectral...

The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories, and the Bangladesh War of 1971

www.dukeupress.edu

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

I had the poster of the Bir Shreshtho on my door. In 2010 my older brother experienced a psychotic episode after which he became a different person. The thing that really tipped me off was that he started kicking this poster for no apparent reason. Seeing him disrespect the Bir Shreshtho broke me.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

Every Bangladeshi learns the names of our war heroes. They are the 7 Bir Shreshtho ('Finest Heroes'). It is our highest military award, bestowed posthumously. Bangladeshi children are taught how and why these men died. Martyrdom is embedded into the Bangladeshi national consciousness.

Poster of the 7 Bir Shreshto, cover image for Jahanara Imam's book 'Birshreshtho'.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

A common trope for a school drawing exercise in Bangladesh are Pakistani troops firing at Bengali protesters in 1947, or the Mukti Bahini guerillas defeating the Pakistani occupiers in 1971. Children drawing bloodied civilian corpses. The trauma is handed down.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxAK...

Mukti Juddo | The 1971 Bangladesh | Liberation war... Picture | Oil pastel drawing for beginners

YouTube video by Farhad Hossain

www.youtube.com

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

'Midnight in a Perfect World' is based on my experiences growing up in Bangladesh. All politics depend on the memory of the war of 1971. Everyone in my generation was born from survivors of a genocide. It is a haunted country.

1971 Time Magazine cover: 'The Bloody Birth of Bangladesh' displaying a young man with a Sten gun celebrating amid a crowd.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

The game is GM-less, but one player character is the Host. This player is responsible for guiding the game through the phases; their character is responsible for the dinner itself. The Host manages the tempo of the game. Players are expected to help them do so.

'30 Minutes to Midnight' chapter excerpt from Midnight in a Perfect World.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

Character creation is loosely guided by Tarot card draws. Let your imagination run wild with character concepts. You are also creating 'ghosts', people who died in the revolution, whose absence haunts the table. You will, over the course of the dinner, speak of them.

List of example characters for Midnight in a Perfect World.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

The game uses a strict timer. You have 3 hours of real time to play out the dinner and the gathering-together for the midnight celebration. The game has rules for what topics and actions are available at each phase. Beyond that it is a freeform roleplaying game.

Page of contents for Midnight in a Perfect World.

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Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · 26d

My debut game is out now with @plusoneexp.bsky.social!

Midnight in a Perfect World is about 4 survivors of a revolution gathering for dinner. You count down to midnight, the anniversary of the revolution. You reflect on your lives, and the ghosts of those you lost.

plusoneexp.com/products/mid...

Midnight in a Perfect World

It is the anniversary of your country’s liberation. The struggle for independence was bloody, and left you bereft. You have a tradition of gathering for a dinner before heading to the public plaza to ...

plusoneexp.com

1 9 17

Zoheb AKA Klow @zohebmashiur.bsky.social · Sep 12

Very excited! Thanks for making it happen, Wes

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