The anatomy of intolerance: Why can't a transgender rights activist speak at NSU?

In 1852, prominent British thinker and the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, John Henry Newman, wrote that universities should exist as a system of engagements with differences. It should be a place where differences of opinions, conflicting thoughts and ideas exist with full energy. 

Why does it seem pertinent to invoke Newman's 'The Idea of a University' after almost 200 years? 

In a recent event, Ho Chi Minh Islam, a transgender rights activist, was forced to step down as a speaker from a panel discussion hosted at the North South University campus. This was a direct result of a protest from a group of university students that laid bare the intolerance of heterogeneous ideas. Or indicates intolerance brewing in our universities. 

Ho Chi Minh Islam was supposed to speak at the Women's Career Carnival 2023, which was scheduled for 24-25 November and aimed to bridge the gender gap in employment following SDG-5 – achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. 

Trouble started to brew when a group of NSU students (especially the members of "NSU Islam Practitioners," a private Facebook group of 1.7k members) saw the promotional posters for the session. Ho Chi Minh Islam is a well-known transgender rights activist in Bangladesh.

Ho Chi Minh Islam. Sketch: TBS

Many of these students started protesting online that they didn't want a transgender individual "propagating and promoting LGBTQ+ text and speech" on their campus. They emailed Professor Atiqul Islam, the Vice-Chancellor of North South University, which they shared on their public Facebook page of the same name, NSU Islam Practitioners. 

Speaking to The Business Standard, Ho Chi Minh Islam said that following the email and anonymous threats, the organisers of the "Women's Career Carnival 2023" decided that it would be too big of a risk to continue her session, especially when NSU's Career and Placement Center (CPC)  couldn't ensure her safety and security. 

CPC hosted the event, which was organised by Heroes for All (HFA) and I-Social. 

"I heard there was a fierce fight between the organisers and the NSU authorities about my session hosted at the NSU campus. The university authorities didn't want me there following the demands of their students. The organisers were adamant – they wanted me to speak at the session at any cost," Ho Chi Minh shared. 

She also added that Dr Rehnuma Karim, the founder and president of Heroes for All, one of the organisers of the carnival, didn't want Ho Chi Minh's voice to be suppressed. Rehnuma Karim kept talking to her over the phone all day on 23 November, and finally, at around midnight, Ho Chi Minh realised that Rehnuma Karim was under tremendous pressure. 

"I told her I appreciate you fighting for me, but I don't want to put you in this position. I don't want to speak at the session anymore," Ho Chi Minh explained. "By this time, both I and Rehnuma apa were getting threats over the phone and on Facebook."

Dr Rehnuma Karim told TBS, "The students who protested against Ho Chi Minh speaking at their campus, of course, don't represent the whole student body of NSU. Still, they are a lot in numbers, and honestly, I'm shocked that students of such a prestigious and leading university in the country would react like that."

Since the International Labour Organisation was one of the strategic partners of the "Women's Career Carnival," the organisers wanted to keep a discussion-oriented session on the need for a decent and inclusive workplace for women belonging to marginalised communities. 

According to Dr Rehnuma Karim, they invited Ho Chi Minh to share her insights and professional experience as a transgender nurse working at the National Institute of Neuro Sciences and Hospital, Dhaka. 

"The student group of NSU started saying that we invited Ho Chi Minh to promote the LGBTQ+ agenda. They also started accusing me, saying since I did my PhD in the West, now I'm promoting Western culture by providing spaces and voices to people like Ho Chi Minh, that I'm encouraging people to be transgenders and queers," shared Dr Rehnuma Karim. "I've no idea how they got ideas like that. Did these students even read the event schedule and the session title?" 

The email text to the Vice-Chancellor from the students was shared on the Facebook page of the NSU Islam Practitioners. The email labels the session 'Know your rights for a decent workplace' as "criminal activity inside the campus," invoking "Bangladesh's Penal Code Chapter 16 Article 377." 

The email also reads, "It is with deep feelings of wound and hurt that we are forced to inform you that the Career and Placement Center (CPC) of our beloved university has invited a member of this LGBTQ+ community … named Hochemin Islam. Not just that, the CPC is doing so with the intent of propagating and promoting LGBTQ+ text and speech inside our campus, which, as we have cited earlier, is criminal." 

What does the law say? 

The Bangladesh government recognised Hijras as a separate gender on official documents on 11 November 2013 in a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Fundamental Principles of State Policy set out in the Constitution mandate the state to provide the basic necessities for all citizens. 

The Constitution of Bangladesh clearly establishes each citizen's right to self-determination and entitlement to basic welfare provisions. These provisions apply to all citizens, which includes Hijras, transgenders and other gender non-conforming communities.

According to Jubdatul Jabed, a legal professional and programme manager working at iProbono, Section 377 is not a gender identity-related law but rather a law that involves the act of sexual intercourse. 

The Penal Code, 1860, Section 377 reads, "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with [imprisonment] for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation: Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section." 

The session in which Ho Chi Minh was invited as a speaker was not about her sexual or gender orientation, Jubdatul Jabed pointed out. "Even if the session was a discussion on Ho Chi Minh's gender identity, it couldn't have been termed 'criminal activity inside the campus', as the NSU student group claimed, since Section 377 is very specific about the nature of the criminal offence."

He also said that Article 39 of Bangladesh's Constitution ensures "freedom of thought and conscience and of speech" for every citizen. "And no individual or institution can take away this freedom from another citizen. Only the state can impose reasonable restrictions upon this freedom," explained Jubdatul Jabed. 

"By listening to the baseless and ridiculous demands of this student group and not letting Ho Chi Minh speak at the session, NSU has violated the freedom of speech of a marginalised individual, which definitely is a human rights violation," he added. 

After sending the email to the Vice-Chancellor on the night of 23 November, the same group of students started protesting with placards in the Plaza area of the NSU campus after Jumma prayers on Friday, 24 November. The proctorial body of the university quickly dispersed the protest. 

However, social media became flooded with the students protesting against Ho Chi Minh. Their handwritten placards showed slogans such as "Trans agenda is against human rights, especially women's rights," "Trans are not intersex," "Trans free NSU," etc. 

Firdous Azim, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of English and Humanities at BRAC University, termed the event unfolding at the NSU campus unfortunate and shameful. 

"University is a place where we learn about inclusivity, a place where we go forward with new ideas as well as a space for debate and disagreement," she said. "If students had objections, they should have been encouraged to engage in a discussion with the speaker. But most of all, I am shocked at the narrow-mindedness and ignorance of the students. What learning are we as academics imparting?"

Indeed, the university should be a space for higher education, facilitating new ideas and cultivating tolerance among the students. More than anything, heterogeneity should be the norm on a university campus. 

North South University, founded in 1992, is the first private university in Bangladesh. It is ranked 851 by QS World University Rankings and 801 by Times University rankings, making it one of Bangladesh's leading private research universities. 

The intolerance and extreme reactions of a group of NSU students and the authority's complicity in silencing a marginalised individual showed that the university failed to encourage the imagination of alternatives among its students.  

The Business Standard contacted Professor Atiqul Islam, the Vice-Chancellor of the North South University, but he did not respond to emails. 

In the meantime, the Public Relations Office of NSU released a press release on 26 November evening, claiming that the VC was out of the country during the time the above events took place and the university wasn't involved in making the decision regarding the cancellation of Ho Chi Minh Islam's session at the Women's Career Carnival. 

Khasro Miah, the director of the Career and Placement Center of NSU refused to comment on the issue. The Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr M Ismail Hossain was also  unreachable.