WHAT CAN WE DO?

May 15, 2025

WHAT CAN WE DO?

-Soumil Mukherjee, 1st year

I don’t remember exactly when, but in the recent past, some two three days ago I was arguing with my parents at the dinner table (as usual) while the newsreporters were going on with their conquest of the neighbouring country for our honourable fascist tea seller. I don’t know the exact point from where the argument exploded but thankfully they had finished their dinner and I was very close to finishing so it didn’t lead to anyone storming off from the table. I remember something quite clearly, someway though the argument when I realized I was failing because they simply didn’t want to understand as they had passed long years as an adult and were simply too old to hear of anything like “rebel”. I don’t blame them, this isn’t a stage to pass hate comments on my parents, or as a matter of fact, on anyone belonging to the audience. My mom asked, kintu ki korbo amra which transates to but what do we do? I screamed, remember! Just remember all of this! My mom just smiled and said, osob kore kichu hoyna re (nothing comes by doing that) while my father stormed off saying something else which my mind definitely didn’t care enough to remember.

But that’s true, very true actually. What CAN we do?

I see people protesting, writing long paragraphs in social media, arguing with mindless people and then simply sitting heartbroken, knowing that we’re existing in a god damn dystopian world and there’s nothing to do.

But well…there’s always something to do.

I have been teased for my optimism but people who have been around me for longer than a year have actually praised me for it and some have even found it to be contagious. I too, was a member of the ki hobe esob kore party (what will come by doing all these) but then art showed me the way. Organizations, banners, flags, protest march—all of it is fine, I’m not saying anything at all, but rebellions survive through art…through ideas. What are we but a small soul trapped in flesh and bones? We were all having fun playing with our toys and then suddenly, one random summer day the thought struck us: what will happen if I die? With teary eyes I looked around, searched through the deepest corners of my mind and something else struck me. What if my parents die? W-What if my friends die? I cried some more and then start playing again (I think). Now, death seems like an old friend. It’s a necessary part of the journey—this ending. Death is meaningless but we often ascribe meaning to it. Socio-cultural and religious norms force us to come together when someone close to us passes away. Everyone seems to care a bit more in those days before going back to the same critical stance about every god damn living being on this planet (na ora erom korbe keno/ no, why should they do that). That’s fine. That’s just another chapter in the book, the last one…

But well, books live on. Earlier people used to copy it now there’s print media. Ideas live on. Books are the most successful vehicle for that.

Not only books.

Movies too.

True, movies have degraded over the years and now like everything it too is a corporate product to be produced for consumers to consume. That’s all. Everyone should understand everything as everyone wants to understand. That’s all cinema is now. Escapism, a dose of thrill, excitement and all that bullshit.

But well art blooms in the shittiest of places.

Star Wars.

Yes, yes, I hear you…ever since Disney got the rights to this particular product they’ve been churning out some of the bullshit-est content in the whole universe. Yet still, art finds a way to find you exactly when you need it.

The world burns, the world has been burning for years. Not one single god damn political party will voice the concern of the impeding doom in the form of ecological massacre. We’ll still scream about race, caste and gender and while students are writing essays on those same topics in bengali or english exams, the whole country will be flooded or struck by some natural disaster of a dimension never seen before (forgive me for not using “god forbid” before every single sentence because I believe god truly has forsaken us). Then too we’ll scream upon another country and play juddho-juddho (war-war) and kill some people in a poetic way, strike up wars, involve big names and stuff and scream na na ebar juddho chai (no, no war is the only way now).

So, yes…what to do?

The answer, unfortunately, will sound like it’s coming from an aantel (a derogatory word for intellectual) but well, people speak too much these days and think too little so what can I do but just bear that ugly tag with me and still try to feed some sense into the walking zombies screaming around me.

So before I give my intellectual answer, let me tell you a story (I bet people are screaming the word aantel even more now).

The story is of a rebel named Andor.

He’s not the hero, not by the definition of it and his story isn’t cineamtic at all. He doesn’t fly spaceship and blast through fascist spaceships, steal information from the imperial government in a thriller, have a love affair and then enlist in the army and die holding the photo of his beloved—NO.

He is a piece of the grand narrative, a small piece on which a monumental resistance stands upon. He’s one of the many pieces which aren’t seen because well, they aren’t cinematic, they aren’t cool, stylish, almost perfect.

Cassian Andor is a rebel.

He didn’t want to, not at all, but he saw everyone around him choking slowly under The Empire. He stole…he was a scavenger, a master pilot…but then, he understood that he was loosing everything for The Empire which wanted to colonize every inch of the galaxy in a well-thought, planned way. The Empire is menacing, yet calm, cool and efficient. The bureaucracy works to uphold its fascist regime and offer jobs at the same time. Trust The Empire. You’ll have all the modern amenities, everything you ever wanted…but somethings won’t be there. You won’t speak unless asked, you will do exactly what you’re told to. You’ll be exactly like the shiny imperial droids, manufactured.

Andor would have joined the long lines of kintu ami ki korbo (but what can I do?) but he doesn’t. He doesn’t rebel alone and scream at the Empire like many people around me do. He doesn’t put up posters against the Empire and give speeches where no one is listening to him. He waits, he hears, he listens, he learns, he lurks. These are everything he learnt as a rebel. And why did he rebel?

His mother died giving a monologue which will shake every single viewer’s heart (if they have one) and force tears out of their eyes. I trust the audience and I hope you will actually invest your time in watching Andor rather than the saffron coloured massy movies so I won’t reveal the whole monologue. But she says something like “they’ve been choking us for too long…spreading like a dark shadow”—and the rebellion bursts…but more than that Andor finally believes that he has to do something. So in a way, his mother too is nothing but a piece in his story. What are we but pieces in each other’s story. We always want the big piece, that’s the problem—so big that it can be recognized by a lot of people, But Andor doesn’t shape up to be like that. He joins the rebellion as a spy for Luthen’s who draws in him by dropping deep quotes like “wouldn’t you give it all for something meanngful?” Andor is a story of sacrifice—not the heroic sacrifice about which poems can be written and songs sung but the necessary ones which might go in dark but should be done nonetheless.

In season one, the story ends with Andor saying, yes count me in. From season two, I’ll quote a dialogue scene which can be seen from the trailer also:

Andor

Do you want to fight? Or do you want to win?

Think about it. Everyone is fighting for something…but these rebels, they have given everything up, so they don’t want anything but victory. Victory comes at a price…and victory comes late. Luthern says, I burn my life for a sunsrise I know I’ll never see. Saw Guerrera says, We’ll all be gone before The Republic is back.YES! THEY’RE ALL DOOMED! WE’RE ALL DOOMED! Saw further continues in his ecstatic monologue in a very important episode in season two, Do you think I’m mad? Well yes, I am. You can’t be sane in a rebellion. Look at us. Hunted. Alone. Exactly.

But rebellions aren’t won by flashy posters, catchy phrases and slogans.

Rebellions are won by patience. With hope.

A very important line in the story is Rebellions are built on hope.

Hope is the ultimate religion over all: the sheer belief that things will get better, that things will turn out good. Good luck? Nah, that doesn’t exist. We just want, we believe, we cry, we strive until that is achieved and I will keep screaming all these optimistic shit until I’m down and broken at thirty.

So just believe…learn, listen, hear and lurk. Think. Think more. The fascist regimes aren’t just meme templates. They’re calculating, they’re calm, they’re cool and they’re organized. The rebellion can’t work like that but can certainly adapt the better parts of it. The government is a popular lie (Dune universe) and once that popularity fades, the government falls. It’s a god damn meme and you can just leave the haha react.